Days passed one after another. One day I walked through a birch forest, the next I walked through the desert, sometimes my body was freezing with cold and other times it was 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 and one of them was watching me patiently across the branches.
I sat up and looked around to see if there was 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, because traveling light was more pleasant for me. 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 pulled the hare by the ears and in the next moment I killed it. It was getting colder, so winter was coming. Every winter he wondered if this was the last one. Fortunately, the way I traveled, I was able to avoid the harsh conditions for the most part. I skinned a 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. I personally didn't pay much attention to them in my belief, but that was probably one of the reasons I hadn't died yet. Some places were unsafe to travel because there were flocks of Karites, or packs of Daren. Karites are man-sized predators that hunt mostly livestock, but they don't disdain humans either. I've met and killed a few of them before, but when they attacked me like that in my sleep, I was really close. Daren are similar to wolves in many ways, but they are larger, faster, stronger and, like the shea, have a more mutated demonic form. Fortunately, most villages keep up-to-date information about their presence and send mercenaries and soldiers to eliminate them.
Today's hare was relatively thin, but that was enough for me for now. I gathered my equipment and set off again. I traveled lightly, with only a few spare clothes, a sword, a dagger and a few other small items necessary for life in the wild. The deciduous forest gave way to a spruce forest and the sun rose higher. I was walking along a narrow path when suddenly I heard a rustling sound. I became alert and placed my right hand on the hilt of my sword. Maybe I was just dreaming. I thought to myself. I was ready for a fight, so I set off again along my path, expecting that when it charged 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 I suddenly 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 on 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 and one Jrengr. Grasioni are one of the races that fall under the human race. They are quite similar to humans, but they are taller and much stronger. About two heads taller than the average person. I would compare them to overgrown pigs who think that muscles are everything. Otherwise, they are one of the most common races for hard work. The last of the bandits was a Jrengr. Or a feline that walks on two and is only slightly shorter than a human. Compared to Grasioni, they are quite smart and calculating, but their most dangerous abilities are speed and extremely fast reflexes, against which no race can match. Unless these are exceptions. They are not very common in society, as they usually live isolated in their own villages.
An unknown person appeared nearby, covered in a dark purple hood, when the bandits saw her, they became alert.
"What do you think you are doing here," Grasion exclaimed.
"I'm just passing by, elephant," the person replied. Judging by the voice, it was a woman. Grasion frowned in insult.
"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. Jrengr 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 push the clash of weapons more to get a chance to land a deadly blow. However, the girl could see very well in the combat area. She did not hesitate and immediately threw the second dagger at his face, the bandit dodged the dagger, but that was not the true essence of the attack. He lost his concentration for a moment. 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 chances. At the last moment she dodged the sword's swing. Jrengr suddenly appeared behind her. Surprise and fear were suddenly visible on her face. She jumped aside, but 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 her dagger, which he immediately knocked out of range.
"Hmm, so what do we start with?" Jrengr removed her hood. Her brown hair fell over her eyes. She could be pretty if it weren't for all the blood and dirt from traveling. She looked around. Her azure eyes stopped at the place where I was hiding. Did she know I was hiding here?
"I haven't had such a pretty face in a long time," Jrengr said contentedly. The girl tried to fight back, but she wasn't strong enough. Grasion grabbed her hands to stop her from twitching so much. I couldn't watch it anymore. Those bandits probably had a bounty on them, which would solve my rusty and dull sword.
"Help!" she shouted. In an instant I was behind them. I had no idea where I got such speed from. The bandit who was holding her legs didn't have time to do anything when I stabbed him through and through. My sword was obviously very blunt, as I had to exert enough force just to get through. The bandit screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Jrengr and Grasion immediately stepped back and raised their weapons. I stood between them and the girl. I heard a small sigh from behind. I wanted to turn around and clearly indicate to her that it was far from over. I made a quick lunge at Grasion, who brought down his sword with full force from above. The creak of blades echoed through the forest. We both stepped back. They were good fighters. I had to use my speed to get rid of Grasion. Something flew through the air and I just barely dodged Jrengr's blade, and it slightly cut my face. The next moment, Grasion lunged at me. It was a pretty strong 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 fight continued on and on, I blocked one attack 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 from above, exposing his lower body. Grasion lunged again. I immediately dodged and lunged at his waist. I slashed empty-handed and caused a wound the width of his entire abdomen. The Grasioni were quite persistent, their barbaric will to win was obviously keeping him alive. It would take a sharp sword, I thought. If I had it a little sharper, Grasion would have been cut in half. I parried Jrengr's thrust. Grasion was still trying to fight, but his thrusts were getting slower and weaker. I parried another thrust, 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. Jrengr 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 Jrengr off and raised my sword again. I was losing a lot of blood, fortunately my organs were not damaged.
Jrengr 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 couldn't catch up. I swung my sword into the air behind me. Blade after blade fell. In my condition, I probably won't be able to defeat him, although he only has one dagger, but he would have to make a mistake. All he had to do was hold out until we lost more blood and fell unconscious. I covered another attack. The fight stopped for a moment, my lungs were literally burning. I coughed up blood. Jrengr standing opposite me smiled, wanting to make a deadly attack. I raised my sword. He ran straight towards me. Suddenly, as if time had slowed down. I saw how he suddenly changed direction to the right. It seemed too easy to me, so I bluffed and indicated that I would cover it and prepared the direction of the cut to the left. When Jrengr 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. Jrengr fell to the ground. He struggled desperately a few more times, so I slit his throat. I won. I took a few steps and collapsed by the caravan. The elderly gentleman who owned the caravan had apparently taken advantage of the confusion and fled. I put a piece of my clothing over the wound. The girl limped over to me. Her clothes were torn and she could barely stand. It was also covered. A nice last view. I thought to myself.
"Get up and climb onto that wagon," she ordered. I tried to get up, but my legs gave out. "Ahh.. are you so weak that a woman has to help you up?" she scolded me with a slight smile on her face. Why was she smiling when we both almost died here?
"If I were that weak, I wouldn't have intervened and let them rape you and then kill you," I replied angrily. I wasn't in the mood for jokes when I could bleed to death at any moment. She knelt down so I could lean on her. She hissed in pain when I leaned against her and lightly touched her wound. With my last 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 has plunged into darkness.