The Eye of Chaos (Council of Champions Book One) ✔️

Chapter Thirty-Five: Contract

                Kei narrowed his eyes as he took to a fighting stance. His feet shifted to shoulder width and he brought his hands up. With a shrug of his arm, his cloak tumbled to the floor and Kei reached down with both arm to unsheathe his weapons.

                “Let’s see what you are capable of,” Kraven mused, running his hand through his hair with his free hand. Without responding, Kei slammed his foot down on the ground and used it as momentum to propel himself forward. Quick drawing both swords, he crouched and watched as the blades past through Kraven without resistance. The thought of triumph was quickly squashed as he spotted a shadow flying on the ground.

                Kei leaped out of the way and crossed his swords in defense. He felt Kraven’s sword clash against his, redirecting his jump. Using the man’s push, Kei planted a foot on the ground and twirled on it, landing a solid round house on the side of Kraven’s head. At the same time a foot crashed into his ear. Both fighters slammed into the ground in opposite directions.

                Stumbling to his feet, Kei shook his head in attempt to get rid of the red in his eyes. He tightened his fingers around both hilts and growled at Kraven, getting ready to attack again.

                But Kraven was barely able to stand. Kei had guessed that this man was getting on in his years, but this much? As he was about to sheathe his swords, something in the back of his mind forced him to duck.

                His ears caught the sound of buzzing wind above his head and then a loud thump as a knife ripped through the chest of a by standing thief.  

                “Cheap shot guild master.” Kei spit out a glob of blood and cleaned his brow of sweat.

                “There are no cheap shots in war,” responded Kraven with a tilt of his head. “There are only moves that your opponent expects and those that they don’t.”

                Kei tore off his eye patch and allowed the violet light to spread its mystery through the eyes of the viewers. Instead of wasting the power of the goddess, Kei used the instant surprise to advance onto Kraven’s blindside.  A moment to late, Kraven turned to defend, but found himself standing with a sword on the side of the neck.

                “Now that was a cheap move.” Kraven didn’t move but Kei felt the man’s eyes on him. “What was that exactly? Your eye is…”

                “That’s not the worry right now.” Kei removed the swords and placed them into their respective sheathes. He then faced the crowd and announced his win. “As agreed, this man will join my alliance to defeat the oncoming army of Fileatte. Others who want to join need simply to speak up and sign a binding paper in front of a thieves gathering. Should any one of you betray the alliance or believe you can back out, everyone will know and you will be hunted down and slaughtered like pigs.” With that, Kei kneeled down and from his cloak removed a rolled up paper.

                He unrolled it and read, “The alliance of thieves is hereby formed under these following signatures. Signing ones name onto this paper, entails them to the following responsibilities, and should any one of these be broken, the signer and his guild will killed on sight from any member of the alliance;

1)     They shall obey the elected commander general

2)     They shall not betray the alliance

3)     They shall not back out of the alliance

4)     They shall fight any opponent that is considered an enemy to the alliance or Vraik