Kingdom Tales Book 2: Balance

A moment after Vincent draws his sword the door is forced open allowing four men with spears and axes to charge in. Vincent side steps out the way as one of the men jabs a spear at him, but the move lands him in the path of the other. He blocks it with his sword blade down while at the same time forcing the blade and spear up and over his head. Quickly he takes the opening and jabs the blade in the second spearman’s face.

He switches hands removing the sword with his left as he evades the first spearman with a quick spin of foot work. Catching slight movement out of the corner of his eye Vincent brings up his sword to block a downward swipe from an axe to his head. Locked he thinks fast and kicks his opponent in the stomach before disarming with an over arching motion. Continuing the motion he drives his sword through the axe wielder’s chest. He spots the second axe wielder trying to attack Hugo, who uses a barrel to block him before pushing him and the barrel away. As he removes his sword the sound of crushing wood causes Vincent to turn and see a stock of what appeared to be tangled vines trapping the spearman.

“Where did that-”, he starts to asks but stops when he sees Ryanah with an outstretched hand. “How did you do that?”

“No time to explain! We have to go now!”, she says.

At that moment more men begin to enter the room, but Ryanah forces them back with another summon of vines pushing them back. Vincent refocuses and begins to move to the door only to remember the other man with the axe. Taking a dagger Vincent turns around and throws it at an opening in the man’s armor near the shoulder. As the man recoils from the sudden pain Hugo takes the dagger and jabs it in the man’s face.

Vincent realizes how careful they would have to be since these men wear armor that protected their back, abdomen, heads, arms, legs and thighs. It dawns on him that Argon must have been preparing something likes this for a while.

The three of them head back into the main part of the tavern to see people being rounded up and forced out. Vincent reaffirms his grip on his blade. He is glad to see that not all of Argon’s men had armor. That would give them the opportunity for either some quick kills or simply immobilizing them.

He charges in and swipes one man across his back causing him to fall to the floor. He and Ryanah continue to engage troopers as they make their way to the door while Hugo helps the villagers find somewhere safe to hide.

They make it to find the village swarming with soldiers and villagers screaming and crying for help. Panting Vincent looks to Ryanah and Hugo.

“We have to do something.”, he says to them.

“What can we do? You are the only knight here, Sir Vincent. The best thing we can do is get back to the capital.”, Hugo tells him quickly.

“Yes, but we still need to get Argon’s attention and the only way to do that is to stop him from taking this village.”, Vincent replies. He sees that everyone is being taken to the center of the village and heads off in that direction. He catches up to one group being escorted by three soldiers.

“Hey!”, he gets their attention just as he throws another dagger at one beside the villagers. As that one falls he charges the other in front who attempts to strike him with a diagonal downward swipe. Vincent moves half a side of his body back; the blade barely missing. He turns around with a reverse grip on the blade in his right hand bringing it to slice the man’s chest downward. Before he can retaliate Vincent stabs his stomach.

Instead of engaging Vincent the third soldier flees. Vincent turns to the villagers.

“Go! Hide!”, he tells them. They quickly do as he says and Vincent goes after the man.

He arrives to where the other villagers are surrounded by soldiers and across from him Vincent spots the former lord, Argon.

“Well, well look what we have here.”, Argon says slowly, spotting Vincent. Not in the mood and in a hurry to warn Prince Winston Vincent stops the former lord by holding up his sword to him.

“I’m done talking and there is nothing you can say.”, Vincent tells him plainly. He charges the closest soldier. He has armor and is bigger than him, but Vincent doesn’t care. With a reverse grip on the sword Vincent rolls as he draws nearer to avoid a punch and jabs the end of his hilt in his stomach. Thankfully it has some effect and Vincent is able to bring himself back up in time to slice the man’s exposed throat.

Catching his body Vincent uses it to block an attack from a spearman only for Vincent to throw the heavy corpse on him. Another soldier attempts to attack Vincent with a mace. He is able to block it by adjusting his grip and moving his sword over his head to his back, but another soldier follows close after. Thinking fast Vincent twist his body around and with quick footwork barely evades the initial attack while dislodging the mace out of its wielder’s hands. He follows by striking the man’s leg and stabbing him in the chest as he goes down.

More soldiers follow. Though Vincent is able to hold his ground his movements slow and one of them is able to swipe him in the side with a sword. Before he can move away another strikes him in the leg. This causes him to kneel, but before he can get attacked again the ground moves in a wave motion causing the men around him to be flung back.

Vincent looks to see Ryanah and Hugo. Ryanah has both hands on the ground. Vincent guesses she is the one who caused that strange motion in the earth. The sound of a horse causes Vincent’s head to turn. He catches sight of Argon coming to him. Vincent prepares to block his attack since it is the best he can do, but Ryanah steps in and sends a force of air knocking him off the horse.

Hugo runs to Vincent’s side and helps him up while Ryanah catches the horse. She mounts it and turns to Vincent and Hugo as they make their way to her.

“We have to go.”, she says to them. “Argon should follow us now and Vincent you need healing.”, Vincent nods his head in agreement being not in the best condition to argue. Hugo helps him up on the horse before getting on himself. Ryanah snaps the reins sending the horse on its way.

Vincent reflects on what just happened. Although the people were able to get away and Argon would leave the village alone to chase them he couldn’t help but feel that he should have been able to do more. He looks to Ryanah. He also thinks of the feets she had performed and knows he will have to ask her about it, but instead his eyes close taking him to a world of black.