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barbarian on the run
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barbarian on the run lustkovar had been on the run for two days,since leaving hurriedly from the village along the river. a good sized settlement for this barren land it was well known for being a haven for outlaws and bands of cutthroats willing to pay tribute to the local warlord ,ragnor... but lustkovar paid tribute to know one and had quickly drawn the wrath of the cheiftain by insulting his manhood and killing several of his guardsmen. enraged ragnor had put a price of a thousand pieces gold on lustkovars head which had mobilized the entire town to start hunting him. wishing to see another sunrise he decided it was probably best to take his leave of the place. with out retreiving any of his possesions he set off across the steppes with only his loinclothe and sword belt which carried his sword ,dagger and a small water skin. after twenty years of life as a wandering rouge this was more than enough for survival..at a ground eat pace borne of iron will and rock hard muscle he had covered many leagues dodging and avoiding the patrols hunting him..the first morn after leaving he stopped at a small stream to fill his water skin..after doing so he laid a false trail toward the west and civilization..then back tracked and headed north into the teeth of a brisk gale blowing down from the distant mountains still many days travel to the horizon...on this flat and open ground his gaze never stopped sweeping the land ahead and behind for in this desolate land a moving man could be seen at long distances so he relied on his eagle sharp sight to catch a glimpes of the hunters before they seen him and on two occations today his vigilence had paid well...the first time he had to stop and lay low while a small patrol had passed by a mile off..the second time was considerably closer..he had spotted a battalion size mob coming straight for his position..quickly he found a small depression in the lomenenous peat and pulling his dagger he cut a three sided flap from from the springy turf ..pulling back the flap he used his knees to pound a shallow hollow in the the soft soil beneath..as the mob approached he lay down and pulled the turf flap over himself..laying still as death he could feel the hooves of there horses thumping the ground on both sides of his hiding place..knowing the horses would avoid the depression for fear of turning a fetlock..he felt reasonable concealed and secure for the moment..after waiting for many minutes since the hoove beats had faded from hearing he eased the flap from this bolt hole and tentatively poked his head up..the backs of the riders were disappearing to the distance..after quickly repairing the grass to hide his disturbace he had moved on...the rest of the day he covered many miles each step bringing him closer to the foot hills and a fighting chance..as the sun set on his first day on the run he neared another small stream with a tree line along it..the only cover he had seen since early morn..with the light fading he found a windblown downed log..as with the turf he beat a slight hollow under one side of it and crawled in pulling some of the limbs in front of himself ..enough to hide easy sight of himself but still leaving a good view of his surroundings..pulling his sword and gripping it at the ready he closed his eyes and caught a couple hours of whisper light slumber..as the moon rose and shed its pale watery light down into the glade..he rolled from his lair and headed into the night taking advantage of the cover of darkness to increase his pace he ran at full speed all night ..knowing the city bred brigands and cutthroats on his trail had stopped for there blankets and wine....as morn dawned on the second day he knew this would be more of a test than the first..they had expected to ride him down quickly and when that had not happened they would be getting edgey about there pay day..shortly after sun rise he spotted the long ears of a steppe hare ahead of him a bit..with out missing a step he drew his dagger and heaved it end over end stiking the hare with the butt end sqarely in the back of the head..quickly and bloodlessly killing it..in stride he scooped it and his blade up as he ran by..carefully pulling back the skin as not to leave fur drifting on the wind he tore into the warm raw flesh with his teeth as he continued to cover ground..his attentivness to the meal almost cost him dearly..while stopping briefly to make the carcass appear killed by a natural predator he had almost missed the approach of a small group closing on him fast from the west..he had guessed right they were growing impatient and had broken into smaller groups to cover more territory in there search and he was caught in the open with no time to hide..the best he could do was lay low in the grass and hope they had not seen him yet..if they had he would have to fight..he was confident in his ability to kill all four in rapid sucession but he had taken great pains to conceal his trail and destination and did not want his efforts so far to be in vain by giving himself away by leaving a path of corpses...for the moment though the his gods showed him favor..at less than a quarter mile with nothing between him and battle save a few wispy stands of grass the riders turned off to the north..the direction he wanted to go...throughout the day he seen many such small groups...he had seen all of them well before they had the chance to spot him and had avioded all easily but his hopes of getting away without a fight were fading..all that he had saw were heading northward..he had been figured out and they were trying to cut him off..the warlord had not been as big a fool as lustkovar had thought..he had saturated the other three directions which would have been the more obvious choices for salvation..and coming up empty handed he had puzzled out the barbarians plan..now he was sending his men to to cut off lustkovars escape route..the path was choosen and the die cast too late to change now..by late afternoon the terrain had started to change slightly to gentle rolling hills and dipping gullys with patchs of brush in the bottoms..it made concealment for lustkovar easier but it also contained the weighter risk of hiding unseen watchers and ambushes..so he prceeded with extreme caution..weary as field mouse under a sky full of hawks...then the gods turned there backs and his luck ran out...while creeping from one gully mouth across the opening to another a<b> rider </font></b>popped over the hill top above him and to the left..the mans eyes instantly caught the movement below and he spurred his mount down to investigate..lustkovar hearing the sound of leather and chainmail, froze still as the rocks moving only his eyes and focusing his ears...he knew it was only one man and his exact location so no need to let the man send up an alarm...best to take him quickly then plan from there...standing up and spinning like a flash of lightning lustkovars sword was in the air before the man could even fathom that the ground had came alive before him..flying like a short spear it took the<b> rider </font></b>through the throat cutting off a gurgled cry that had formed on his lips...with a dull thud he tumbled backwards off his to lay motionless on the grass....the confused steepe pony swung its head to look at his master wonder why the man had fallen and in the next instant lustkovars hand closed on its reins before it could realize there was danger and flee...tieing the reins to a stubby bush he retrieved his sword wiping the gore on the dead mans trousers..hurridly he removed the mail ,tunic and conical steel cap the man wore and donned them himself...then he carefully concealed the body...swinging on to the mount he again turn to the north...this disguise would work only as long as he kept his distance from any others but at least it let him move faster and with out risk another such encounter...as the light started to wane on this second day he knew a real fight insued...before long on this track the smell of smoke from many cook fires was stinging his nostrills and he could make out the glow coming from them against the bottoms of the dull gray clouds...as he came to the crest of a hill in front of him in the valley below lay a large encampment in a more thickly wooded hollow..the fires streched off for quite some distance to the left and right...the angered warlord had called upon more men than could have possibly been in town..where they had came from lustkovar had no idea..but 1000 or 5000 it made not much matter....as he sat and pondered his next move he caught a flicker of movement at the base of a stunted tree deep in the shadows...dismounting he circled back up to the hill top and over to a position just above the tree ...silently as a cricket on moss he slid down toward the senties outpost...within minutes he reached a spot within five feet from the man ...a peek around the trunk assured him of the mans position...with a whispered lunge he he reached around the tree and locked his sinewy arm under the chin of the startled guardsman...with a heave and twist his neck snapped like a twig under foot...releasing the limp body with out looking down to see where it fell he quickly went to gather up the and return to his nights bivwack... after two days on the run he needed a few hours rest and time to think..for in the morn he would fight for his life yet again.. (switch from third person to first person narrative) an hour before first light my eyes open as if they had just blinked for an instant....finishing off the warm water in my skin i go through the pockets of the dead man before me ...a crust of bread and a wedge of hard cheese wrapped in a oil skin tucked into the nook in his vest will do nicely to break my fast..a bit stale and moldy but satisfying none the less...i dont like running and i have had enough..they want a fight i shall give them one...walking carelessly down the hill toward the center of camp..i care not who sees me..just another sentry coming in from the nights watch...as i come to the first of the fires burnt low in the night i am mindful of the still slumbering men..few are up and about at this hour except the cooks and farriers and they wont pay me any mind..but a weary soldier just might and i need to reach the highest lodge pole before i am noticed for who i am...a scrawny rises from beside on tent to give a hackles raised growl but a well placed kick sends him scampering out of sight with his tail between his legs...so far so good..the ridge pole is in sight and no warning cry yet...i reach up and take the helm from my head and toss it down ...the chainmail comes off and is flung on the nearest ember pile sending a shower of sparks into the pink dawn...one more ring of tents to go..as i stride from between them into the circle in the middle of camp the suns upper ring peeks over the eastern horizon...the tunic comes off with a hard yank to its front splitting down the back it tears away..i wrap it around my left fore arm tucking the ends in at the top and bottom...i draw my sword as i approach the front of the largest tent...the two guards by its door while awake are so muttled with the nights wine they barely notice me...until i stop ,place my sword tip in the dirt between my feet, hands resting on it pommel and bellow at the top of my lungs.... "ragnor skull splitter i call thee coward and demand right of battle...ragnor skull splitter i call thee coward and demand right of battle"..drunk as the guards may be by this time they had regained there sences and were rushing forward maces swinging...in a fraction of a heart beat my sword came up and i stepped to the right flashing steel to fast for the eye to see then in a whirling spin to the left another singing arch of death from top to bottom the sword tip coming to rest between my feet once more as the two headless bodies fall in unisome behind me..."ragnor skull splitter i call thee coward and demand right of battle"...at the third bellow the flap was thrown bak and ragnor emerges..who wishes to die and calls on me for right of battle...by this the entire camp had come alive and was starting to gather round the center circle..none other than the two guards wished to challenge me after my personal call to battle...ragnor stepped forward ...YOU ,barbarian ,wish to challenge ME..no i wished to be left to my cups and the dice and wenches back in town but that was not in my fortunes..so now here i stand..in your camp calling you coward..the fact that i'm doing so proves my readiness to die..are you ? SWORD..he spat over his shoulder and a naked wench ran forward from the tent to give him his curved blade cavalry simatar...he took it and with a viscious grin started to circle me...still i stood sword point in the dirt..waiting..every muscle tensed for the rush that was to come..my head and eyes followed him around me never twisting my body to become unballanced...at the point directly behind me where i had to turn my head to pick up view of him from the other side he saw his opening and lunged..the fool.. exactly as i was expecting and did he think i did not have ears to hear his exhaled breath as he jumped..i ducked low into a roll ahead barely getting out of the way of a massive chop from above..his speed for one so large was suprising..but nothing i had not seen before..as i came out of the roll i spun to face him blade over head in praying mantis position..like a tawnt bow string i sprang..steel flickering in the morning sun rise..he parried my over hand chops deflecting them into back hand swings that kept him moving backwards on the defensive..knowing he was looking weak in front of his men he finally side stepped and let my blade whistle by his ear..so he could change positions ..he aimed a thrust at my exposed ribs and stabbed out..with an instinctual twist i heaved up and the blade just sliced skin..as i spun to his front again..i could feel the warm blood running onto my breachclout cord..but not a serious wound..nothing a little binding wouldnt fix later...he sneered and laughed thinking to press his advantage he started circling again..this time i turned with him..free arm to my wounded side slightly dragging the leg on that side too..with this charge he swang for my legs to immobilize me..but his sneer changed to wide eyed shock as i sprang straight into the air..legs kicking up from behind me and over my head ..twisting as he passed beneath me i drug my blade down his back from shoulder to buttocks as i landed behind him...he went to his knees then flat.. rolling to the side he scrambled up..a scared look on his face this time..his blade held low...i went into stalking heron stance and waved him forward..come and taste the kiss of my steel and lets end this...with bellowed fury he rushed ..sword swinging wildly in in a fit of rage.. i turned aside his blows easily and my bloody free fist thudded into his throat making his eyes bulge and knocking him back a step...in that instant i went into leaping panther position and unleashed a mighty over head two handed blow...he brought his simitar up weakly but it was not enough to stop the desending arch..merely deflect it slightly..instead of catching him on top of the head it bit into the base of his neck and continued down ward through the shoulder to the top most rib...with a heaving pull i yanked the blade free...stepping back i placed the point in the dirt between my feet...his blade fell from his useless arm..he knew he was finished..he looked around at the gathered crowd of his men...that were watching to see the out come...kill him ,kill him ,cut this barbarian down....kill him damn you..kill him..no one moved and for such a large gathering it was mostly silent except for hushed whispers...voice fading as his life blood poured to the ground he was still pleading for his men to kill me when his eyes glazed over and he fell forward on to his face....i looked around the circle with out moving.. every eye was on me...does any one wish to challenge your new chieftain in right of battle i shouted out...i take all comers ..just step out and we will dance here and now...no one..none of you wish to challenge a wounded winded barbarian...so be it then...i am lustkovar and you are all now my dogs to command....so strike camp and lets be back to town..i'll have the wine and wenches i came for............now i had my own private band of brigands...but that is another story for another time........  , GIVE IN TO YOUR LUST |
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