Chapter 5

The following morning I decided to have a walk around the town, partly to see if it was somewhere worth staying, but mainly, just for something to do. I knew from experience that walking was good for my thought process. It was a process that I was deep into when I heard a sneering voice cry, “well look who it is? The little bastard that got us kicked out of the guard.”

I looked up and saw the two guards that’d been on gate duty when I’d arrived, along with three other men. All looked the worse for drink, which considering that it was still mid morning was a concern.

“Reckon he needs a little lesson boys?”

“Too right Jonny boy. Let’s knock some manners in him.”

“Too good for him, I say we skewer him. Closest to the heart wins.” With that comment, the former guard, pulled his sword from its sheath, an inane grin plastering his unshaven face.

“He has a sword.” Stated one of the other three, with just a hint of concern, as I drew Atom.

“Yea! Look at it, it hasn’t got a single mark on it. I bet that’s just for show.” Laughed the man whose idea it was to skewer me. “On three, we all go. One...”

Sadly for him, I wasn’t prepared to play his game. I closed the gap between us and swung Atom, intending to slice his sword in two, or at least knock it from his grasp. I was aiming for just above the tang but he chose that moment to raise his arm. Atom went cleanly through his wrist as if it wasn’t there. All six of us were shocked when his hand, still clutching his sword, fell to the ground with a clang. Fortunately for his colleagues, that sobered them up instantly and they made no further attempt to attack me. On the contrary, two turned and ran. It took me a few moments to take in what had happened. I had not intended to harm the men, relying on my shield to protect me, whilst I destroyed their weapons. As I looked at the injured man, I suddenly realised that there was no blood. Atom had cut through the flesh and bone, cauterising as it went, something that Master Cohn had neglected to mention. At least he wouldn’t bleed to death, I thought. Because of that, I decided that I could leave him to his friends and I set off to see Richard, again.

I was not so lucky with this visit, as he was already in a meeting, so I had to wait in the large entrance hall. There were six men at arms also waiting, no doubt the retinue of whoever was seeing Richard. With nothing else to do, I studied the men. These were clearly a large step up from the guards I’d seen around town. These were professional men. Each also gave me the once-over but all quickly dismissed me as unimportant. Suddenly the doors swung open and a large, powerful looking man stormed out.

“You’ll regret this, I promise.” He shouted back into the main hall, presumably at Richard.

I examined the man, feeling that I may see him again. He was tall, well over six feet, and shoulders as broad as any smith. He had unruly hair which contrasted to a neatly cut beard. I put him, age wise, in his late thirties. He did not have the appearance of someone you wanted to cross. With a nod to his men, he left. Even with this unexpected departure, his men still moved with purpose and composure.

It was only then that Richard appeared at the doors, there, I think, to ensure that his visitor had actually left.

“Ah! Powell,” he said when he saw me. “Come to give me your answer?”

“Not yet, just to report another attack on me, this time by those gate guards and some of their friends.”

I could see his body droop slightly. “We’re not doing much to attract you to stay, are we. What happened?”

I explained, in detail, what had occurred. He was amazed that only one man was hurt and even more so, that that one man wasn’t me.

“Five to one, and even allowing for their inebriation, they are, or at least two of them were, town guards, trained in combat.” He murmured as much to himself as to me.

Having seen the half dozen soldiers that had just left, I didn’t consider the town guards to be trained to anywhere near the same degree.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who was that man that just left?”

“Now, he is a real worry. His name is Baron D’Ankh and he’s decided that he want Cassandra for his second wife, his first died in childbirth, although I wouldn’t put it past him to have killed her for delivering a girl. He originally asked father, but he turned him down flat. Now, with father at the King’s court, he thinks he can browbeat me into agreeing. We have major issues with him. If he were to marry my sister then I suspect that myself and our father would be in line for fatal ‘accidents’. That would leave him in charge here, as well as his own barony.”

“What does Cassandra think. Judging by his attitude, I would have thought that to be a marriage made in heaven.”

“Cassandra hates his guts!” Came a statement from behind me. “And what do you mean by that anyway?”

I smiled, Cassandra had seemed to have developed a habit of appearing at the worst moment. “I mean, that he appears self-centred, arrogant and totally lacking in manners. Remind you of anyone?” I said looking directly at her.

Richard found it funny, though, unsurprisingly, Cassandra didn’t.

“I’m not like that at all... “, she started, “ ... am I Richard?”

Her brother’s silence was her answer.

She then tried a different track. “He only wants me because I’m the most beautiful woman in the country. He just wants to prove he has the best.”

Once again, I failed to amuse her when I laughed at her statement. “Talk about egotistical? You may be pretty if you smiled, but as that is something I’m unlikely to see, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. As for beauty, not a chance, real beauty shines through from the inside, it’s not a mask used to hide the real person.”

The look of hatred she gave me swiftly changed to one of fear when we all heard a skirmish outside. Richard quickly selected one of the three swords that I’d left previously and still sat on the table. I drew Atom and waited. Almost immediately, the doors were thrust open and the Baron D’Ankh stormed in.

Upon seeing Cassandra he grinned, “Good, you’re already here, saves me having to search for you.”

“I’m going nowhere with you and I’m certainly never marrying you.”

“Oh I do like a bit of fire in my women, but you will soon learn to obey me.”

“I think not.” Said Richard. “As I told you before, she will not be marrying you.”

The large man laughed, “and just who is going to stop me? I’ll cut you down like the dog you are.”

Whilst this was going on, it gave me time to put a shield around the siblings. I then stepped in front of the bully. “I am going to stop you.” I stated simply.

As I expected he laughed again. “Step aside boy before you get hurt.”

“The only ones that will be hurt are you and any of your men who try to help.”

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

As soon as he finished he swung his two handed broadsword at me. Before it got close I flicked Atom at it and although it didn’t cut cleanly through it, it did stop it dead. Surprisingly I felt no jarring. He was clearly battle hardened for his shock was only momentary before with his left hand he drew his dagger and ordered his men to kill me, whilst he tried to get at Richard.

Before, when I’d heard that, the person was drunk and wasn’t planning to harm anyone but me. This time, my opponents planned to kill me and my friend and seize Cassandra. I relaxed and let Atom take control of my movements. In just a few seconds, three men were dead in front of me, including the Baron. The rest backed away smartly, as they saw just how easy I’d sliced through their comrades’ defences. After a slight hesitation, the remaining men, turned tail and ran. I did not even attempt to follow them further than the entrance hall. I wanted to check on Richard’s guards and much to my relief, they were okay, if a little dizzy after being knocked down.

Richard had followed me and he too was happy that his men were relatively unhurt. “I think I need to review how the guards operate.” He said, I guessed to me, even if he wasn’t looking my way.

“Their training needs improvement too.”

“Could you do that?” He asked with concern.

“No! My skills are not in fighting. In fact, without Atom, I’d be absolutely useless.”

Ignoring his sister’s comments, I decided that I could trust Richard. “I know it doesn’t seem that way, but that was my sword taking control. Master Cohn was a superb swordsmith, but he was also a very good wizard, and he empowered Atom with almost a life of its own.”

“I assume that Atom is your sword?”

I nodded.

“Makes sense, I thought it felt really special when I held it. Let’s go back and clean up the mess and see how my sister is coping.”

Turns out, she wasn’t coping at all. She’d managed to find a chair and was staring into space as if her mind had just shut down. Richard told me that it was the first time that she’d come across death in other than theory. Her grandparents were all dead before she was born, so, to witness such a gory death close up, had shocked her to her core.

“You easily defeated those men.” Snapped Cassandra. “You had no need to actually kill them!”

I looked at the bodies, one decapitated and one cut in half, the last sliced open. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I only just managed to keep my breakfast down, something I don’t think I would have managed if Atom hadn’t cauterising the wounds, preventing the place swimming with blood. Richard seemed unmoved by the scene, more concerned with his sister. It was he that answered Cassandra’s accusation.

“They were about to kill him and me, then take you. Although he needs to marry you he’d probably just give you to his men when he’d finished with you. Is that what you would have preferred?”

She had no answer, or if she did, she gave it after I’d left.

I told him that I was going back to the inn and that I’d see him on the morrow. He nodded his acceptance. I walked back to the Broken Drum in a daze and could remember nothing more until I woke very early the following morning. I’d slept for over twelve hours. My thoughts really troubled me. Was I evil? I’d already killed four men and maimed another. Should I dispose of Atom and just rely on my shield?