Day after day, one day I walked through a birch forest and the next I walked through the desert, sometimes my body was freezing with cold and other times boiling with heat, I didn't even remember where I was going, but something inside me kept pushing me forward. I woke up to the pleasant chirping of birds, one of them was watching me as if it remembered me.
I sat up and looked around to see if I was in any danger. At the same time, my stomach rumbled. On my journey, I often went for several days without food, because I deliberately avoided cities and only exceptionally stopped in a village. I didn't take much with me, I found traveling light more pleasant. I leaned against a tree and stood up. I went to a nearby meadow, where I set traps for hares. One of them was successful.
I was glad that it was finally spring, every winter I wonder if this is the last one, apparently the Nimer don't want me to die yet. I skinned the hare and skewered it. I said a short prayer to the Nimer fire and began to roast the meat. The Nimer created the world so that if we despised them, they could bring down disasters that had destroyed entire nations in the past. The hare was thin, but for now it was enough for me. I gathered my equipment and set off again.
The deciduous forest gave way to spruce and the sun rose higher. I was walking along a narrow path when suddenly there was a rustling sound. I became alert and placed my right hand on the hilt of my sword. Maybe I was just dreaming. I thought. I was ready for battle, so I set off again on my path, expecting that when it came at me, my counterattack would surprise it. After an hour I forgot about it.
I reached a crossroads and headed towards the village. I met various trading caravans who wanted to offer me their goods, each time I just continued on my way. I passed one spruce tree after another, when suddenly I saw a caravan with several bandits. "Take everything valuable." one of the bandits shouted to the rest. I hid behind a small slope. I didn't want to interfere. I'm capable of fighting, but I wouldn't be able to handle about five bandits. I didn't want to bet on that. It was a good place to ambush. The caravan was in a bend, so you could see no further than twenty meters. I peeked out from behind the slope, two of the bandits were humans, two Grasioni, who are quite similar to humans, but are taller and much stronger and, let's face it, have quite barbaric tendencies. The last of the bandits was a yrengr, a feline called a cheetah from the Krespas continent, but has developed thinking to a human level and is upright. Yrengr is a relatively unusual race, they are known for their speed, which often exceeds the speed of a horse. An unknown person covered in a dark purple hood appeared nearby, when the bandits saw her they fell silent.
"What do you think you're doing here?" Grasion called.
"Just passing through." The person replied. Judging by the voice, it was a woman. Grasion was quite offended.
"Do you think a young lady like you is safe here?" Saliva dripped from his mouth. He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. Before he could even draw, the girl whizzed past him, slitting his throat with two daggers. Blood began to spray everywhere and Grasion fell to the ground. Yrengr drew two daggers and the rest of the bandits drew their swords. The girl began to fight the other two, but she no longer had the element of surprise, so the fight was very even. One of the people tried to get closer and land a deadly blow. The girl could see very well in the fighting area and immediately found a weakness. She threw a dagger at his face, the bandit dodged the dagger, but that was not the true essence of the attack. For a moment he lost consciousness and she appeared right in front of him and with a single stroke of her dagger she ripped open his stomach. He screamed in pain, his intestines spilling out of his stomach, it was a miracle he was alive. He tried to get out of range, but he couldn't avoid another cut that cut off his head. The second Grasion rushed at her with all his strength. She tried to draw back and deflect Grasion's sword, but it was too strong. She only had one dagger left, so she couldn't afford to take any risks. At the last moment she dodged the sword's swing. Yrengr suddenly appeared behind her. There was a sudden look of terror on her face. She didn't have time to dodge completely. She screamed in pain. She caught a clean cut across her back. She fell to the ground. She crawled to the caravan and turned to face the bandits. All three of them smiled uncomfortably. She could only raise the dagger, which he immediately deflected out of range.
"Hmm, so what do we start with?" Yrengr removed her hood. Her brown hair fell over her eyes. She looked around, her azure eyes stopping at the place where I was hiding. She might have been pretty if it weren't for all the blood and dirt from traveling.
"I haven't had such a pretty face in a long time." Yrengr said. She tried to fight back, but she wasn't strong enough. Grasion grabbed her arms to stop her from twitching so much. I couldn't watch it anymore. The bandits probably had a bounty on them, which would solve my rusty and dull sword. Yrengr tore her blouse.
"Help!" She shouted. In an instant, I was behind them. The bandit who was holding his legs didn't have time to do anything when I stabbed him through and through. My sword was obviously quite blunt, because I had to exert quite a bit of force just to get through. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Yrengr and Grasion immediately stepped back and raised their weapons. I stood between them and the girl. She breathed a sigh of relief. I made a quick lunge at Grasion, who brought down his sword with full force from above. The creak of the blades echoed through the forest. We both stepped back. They were very good fighters. I had to use my speed to get rid of Grasion. Something flew through the air, I just dodged Yrengr's blade, cutting my face slightly. The next moment Grasion lunged at me. It was a pretty powerful combination. As soon as I blocked Grasion's blow, Yrengr was already flying at me. Obviously Yrengr didn't want to risk accidentally hitting Grasion, so he was quite careful. The girl slowly started to crawl away. The wound on her back had already healed. The fight continued on and on, I blocked one lunge after another. I couldn't continue this fight for long. I started to get short of breath and my lungs were burning. During Grasion's attacks, I noticed that he was attacking more from above, exposing his lower body. Grasion made another lunge. I immediately dodged and threw myself at his waist. I just barely managed to hit him. Blood started to flow from the wound the width of his entire abdomen. Grasion was quite persistent, their barbaric will to win the fight was obviously keeping him alive. It would take a sharp sword. I thought. I blocked Yrengra's lunge. Grasion was still trying to fight, but his lunges were getting slower and weaker. I blocked his next lunge, but this time I was able to parry his sword and gain momentum. I slashed from the left as hard as I could, but my sword jammed immediately. Something flashed behind me, I didn't have time to react. Yrengr appeared behind me and stuck his dagger in my back. I hissed in pain, but something else flashed as well. Suddenly a dagger flew past and stopped in Grasion's head. I shook Yrengr off and raised my sword again. I was losing a lot of blood, fortunately my organs were not damaged.
Yrengr hissed: "What do you think you are." He paused. "You are both injured and now with my speed I will simply kill you both." I barely managed to turn around to cover my attack. He disappeared and appeared behind me. I didn't catch anything. I swung my sword into the air behind me. Blade fell on blade. I can't defeat him in my condition, although he only has one dagger, but he would have to make a mistake. I covered another lunge. The fight stopped for a moment, my lungs were literally burning. I coughed up blood. Yrengr standing opposite me smiled, wanting to make a killing attack. I raised my sword. He ran straight towards me. Suddenly, it was as if time had slowed down. I saw him suddenly change direction to the right. It seemed too easy, so I bluffed and indicated that I would cover him and prepared the direction of the cut to the left. When Yrengr was almost at me, he changed direction. I cut to the left. I ripped him open pretty deep across the stomach. He screamed in pain. Yrengr fell to the ground and didn't move anymore. I won. I took a few steps and collapsed by the caravan. The elderly gentleman who owned the caravan had obviously taken advantage of the confusion and fled. I put a piece of my clothing on the wound. The girl hobbled over to me. Her clothes were torn and barely covered her. A nice last view. I thought.
"Get up and climb onto that wagon." She ordered. I tried to get up, but my legs gave way. "Ahh.. are you so weak that a woman has to help you get up?" She scolded me with a slight smile on her face.
"If I were that weak, I wouldn't have intervened and let them rape you and then kill you." I repeated. She knelt down so I could deny her. She hissed in pain when I lightly touched her wound. With the last of my strength, I swung myself onto the wagon. My consciousness gradually began to fade from the lack of blood. "Thank you." The girl whispered and sat down next to me. The world plunged into darkness.