Chain Mail and Butterfly Wings

I pried Aiden’s hand away from my mouth and pulled away from him to the point where I was still hidden in the shadows of the boulder while I was also at a comfortable distance that allowed me to breathe better. I gave him a glare that practically screamed “do that again and I shank you while you sleep”. Aiden shrugged and jerked his thumb in the direction of the lead bandit and our camp.

I mouthed the words “I know” and then inched along the side of the boulder, barely allowing myself to peer around the side of it before pulling back, just in case anyone had seen me. Once I was certain that I was in the clear and no one was watching me, I peered around the side of the boulder again.

As I had thought, there were seven bandits still in our camp, one being the bandit leader. He was an average sized man, with broad shoulders, and dark hair, any other feature of his was hidden by the darkness. The other six bandits seemed small aside from two larger men with double-headed axes…They might pose a problem.

Alright, them first then. I told myself, tapping my fingers anxiously on the boulder before leaning back into hiding. I stole a glance at Aiden who was watching me suspiciously, I shrugged innocently and stared at the ground. If I still had my damn baton this would be much easier, stupid Aiden and his disarming skills, then of course he just had to leave it back at the castle didn’t he? Oh well, it looked like I’d be knocking people out by pressure points.

Without so much as hinting at my next movement I flung myself from the safety of the boulder and into the dim firelight. There was only a moment of confusion in which the bandit leader struggled to find words, but I was already heading toward my first victim.

When I reached one of the larger men I placed my fingertips against his mid back and shuffled quickly to keep behind him while I found my first pressure point, the one that would keep oxygen from reaching his brain. Before I could reach it he swung his colossal arm around and forced me to duck. I rolled and crouched behind him, kept my fingers stiff and thrust them into the back of his knee. The man howled in surprise and fell to one knee while I rose to my feet, finding the pressure points in his shoulder and striking them too. His arm was asleep now as well as his leg. He swung his good arm around to grab his axe but I was faster than him, I caught his wrist and spun him around, leaned my weight against his and pinned him to the ground with his arm behind his back. Knowing I didn’t have much time I struck the pressure point in the back of his other knee and rolled away from him. He wouldn’t be interfering anytime soon.

About thirty seconds had passed and the lead bandit finally bellowed, “Capture her!”

It took him long enough.

I chose my next victim as I ran toward a group of three, the first one to pull out a sword and wave it in front of him. I dodged to one side and spun in the opposite, then launched myself toward him. Catching the wrist of the hand with the sword I twisted it downward and he dropped his weapon with a cry of pain, I kicked it to one side and thrust my shoulder into his chest, sending the man skittering into his companions.

Another thirty seconds passed.

As the man struggled to get to his feet I found his exposed pressure points and struck them efficiently, making his arms go limp, but I left his legs alone, I had to focus on my next attacker. It was a man that had been hit by my newest victim, I didn’t have time to look for exposed pressure points, so I thrust my palm up against his nose, hearing it crack with a smirk, that ought to distract him for awhile. While the man howled in pain and dropped his club I found the pressure points in his thighs and punched them, leaving his arms alone as he dragged himself away from me.

Three down, that left four including the bandit leader.

The third man from my last two victims struggled to his feet with a short sword, but lunged at me with a fist instead. I couldn’t quite dodge it but moved so that my shoulder absorbed the brunt of the attack, rather than my face. I skidded backwards a few feet but made sure that I was still facing my opponent, however when I looked up, he was sprinting away from me toward the forest…Alright. That works too.

I turned to face the last three, one being a large man with a double-headed axe, and the other a shaky-kneed novice with a thin curved blade. The bandit leader himself had somehow conjured a broadsword from thin air and was now holding it in a defensive position in front of him.

“Ralack!” he shouted, gesturing toward me with his hand before placing it back on the hilt of his blade.

Was that some sort of order? I could only wonder. But soon realized it was a name when only the larger man lurched toward me with his axe drawn. I held my ground and dodged to the left when he used a chopping action aimed at my right shoulder, if it had hit I probably would have been cut from shoulder to waist. Luckily, I was much faster than him. I turned in a tight circle, dodging away from yet another strike but the man stopped in mid-strike to change direction and sweep his axe toward my torso. I exhaled in surprise but didn’t make any sound other than that as I thought, This is gonna hurt…and I backpedaled just far enough to have the axe cut through my shirt and some of my chain mail to reach my right side.

I gritted my teeth against the pain, yeah, that definitely hurt. I grumbled several unlady-like swears and tried to reestablish my balance, but only managed to fall backwards onto my butt with a grunt. My eyes widened at the realization of my mistake at the same time that the large man drew his axe high above his head, intent on bringing it down on my neck. I’ve always thought decapitation was a clean way to go, but I also heard that the head lives separately from the body for at least five seconds. Which would be just long enough for me to scream in agony and realize how much pain I was in before I died. That sounded quite unpleasant to me.

I closed my eyes tightly and tried to roll away to one side, but the large man planted his huge boot firmly on my gut, knocking the wind out of me. I sputtered and gasped for air, forgetting the axe that was about to come down on me.

“Ralack! Look out!” A squeaky voice shouted, obviously not the bandit leader.

My eyes opened wide when Aiden appeared--seemingly out of nowhere--and parried the large man’s strike with his own. What was really surprising was that he met the man’s axe with a dagger. His grip on the dagger shook slightly as he pushed up with all of his strength and knocked the man’s axe astray, but lost his balance in the process. I gasped and moved my head as far to the side as possible to avoid having Aiden’s ass on my face. It was still next to my face, but it was better than actually having it on my face.

“Watch it!” I barked, trying to sit up, but forgetting the man’s foot on my stomach. I rose my knee into the back of his and the man stumbled forward…hmm…probably should have thought that one through. Aiden moved fast enough, avoiding being crushed by the man’s humongous girth, but I on the other hand, only managed to move the upper half of my body, while my legs were crushed. I heard a strangled cry leave my lips, but rotated my torso so I was facing the man and somehow managed to turn my legs as well.

“Fat bastard!” I cried angrily and thrust my palm against the pressure point at the base of his neck, knocking him out instantly.

My mistake was underestimating the man’s weight once he was unconscious. I struggled valiantly to get my legs free but to no avail. “Aiden!” I yelled in exasperation, but when I looked up, Aiden was already preoccupied. The scenario: Aiden holding the bandit leader against a tree with a dagger--my dagger--to his throat, while the novice dropped his sword as Aiden ordered.

With what little strength I had left, I lifted the large man as much as possible before finally getting my legs free, although one of my boots came off in the process. With a grumbled of annoyance, I pulled my boot free and refastened it before standing up and hurrying to Aiden’s side.

“Where’s the chain mail?” I asked harshly, grabbing the novice bandit by the collar and shaking him once.

“I-in the, th-the pack th-there.” He gestured weakly toward a pack beside the lead bandit’s feet.

I dropped the novice and hurried over to the pack, dug out my chain mail with a relieved sigh and set it over my shoulder, nodding to Aiden, who looked at me with a glare that said “satisfied now?” I was.

“Let’s get out of here,” I demanded, making it seem as if I were the one in charge, to make it seem like I had the situation under control and when the bandits reported back to General Darren he wouldn’t be so worried. If he was worried at all, anyway.

Aiden obediently dropped the bandit leader to his feet and took several steps backwards, almost making it seem as if he was gliding. It was hard to think that Aiden was capable of traveling so lightly. He was a well-known assassin, and I couldn’t even picture him killing anyone.

With that done, I turned and sprinted toward the forest, not completely sure that Aiden was behind me, since I couldn’t hear his footfalls, but I had to assume, since even if I did look behind me, it would be too dark to see him.

After about ten minutes of running I finally slowed to a jog, a walk and then a dead stop. I doubled over to rest my hands on my knees and panted, sucking in large amounts of air to compensate for the air I hadn’t taken in as I ran. I looked around me for a sign of Aiden but he was no where around, I took a deep breath of air and asked through a pant, “Aiden? You there?”

I moved to stand upright again, but my father’s chain mail slid off my shoulder and onto the leaf-littered ground. I growled in annoyance and stooped to pick it up again, I examined it carefully through the darkness to make sure it was still in tact. I was happy to find that it was just how I had left it.

I refocused on Aiden’s whereabouts and frowned, whispering fiercely, “Aiden?” I wasn’t about to shout if the bandits were still somewhere nearby. I scowled to myself, thinking absently that I had backtracked, we were supposed to be going through the mountain pass by now, and yet we were now back inside the forest. “Great…” I muttered to myself, thinking that I had both lost Aiden and traveled in the wrong direction.

Giving up with a scowl, I turned in the opposite direction--the direction I had been heading in--and gasped when I bumped into a dark figure. I acted on my first instinct and struck with stiff fingers at the closest thing to the figure’s shoulder, finding a pressure point on mere luck.

“Ow! Son of a--” I could have laughed when Aiden cut himself off mid-swear and glared at me with a now limp right arm. “What’d you do that for?” he asked loudly, trying in vain to lift his right arm.

“Sorry. You snuck up on me,” I pointed out with a shrug, “The feeling will come back in a little while,” I added with a smirk to myself.

“Jeez…” He grumbled, rubbing his shoulder absently, “Can’t you just heal it or something?” Aiden whined with a grimace.

“Why? It’s just numb,” I pointed out stubbornly, I actually thought this was pretty funny. I should have made his arm numb a long time ago.

“Come on Angel!” he pleaded, sticking out it bottom lip in a pout, “Please?”

I rolled my eyes and moved to his side, quickly I found the counter pressure points that released the cramped muscles that I had hit and pushed gently against them. “There,” I said and then asked, “What are we going to do now? If we’re going to get through the mountains, the pass is the safest way, but they’re probably expecting that. So--”

“That was amazing Angel!” Aiden exclaimed, putting a hand on each of my shoulders, his amber eyes boring into my own. “I had no idea you could fight like that,” he said at a level tone, realizing that he was being a little too loud for someone that was being searched for.

“It’s nothing, it’s just the fighting style that my dad taught me. Besides, of course I can fight! Why else would I want to be a guard?” I muttered embarrassedly. “More importantly, how are we going to get--”

Aiden interrupted me again, “It wasn’t ‘nothing’! It was awesome, how’d you do that?” He waved his hands absently in front of him as if he were debating where to hit me to have the same effect.

“It’s based on precision, now would you shut up and help me figure this out? You sound like a little kid at a magic show. How are we getting over the mountains?” I said sharply, although I was actually extremely proud of myself for impressing Aiden.

Unexpectedly, Aiden did a strange version of a karate chop, striking my collar bone with exceptional force. “Ow! Hey, don’t do that!” I shouted, smacking his hand away.

“Did it work?” Aiden demanded excitedly.

I smacked him upside the head with my right hand--which would have been the arm that was numb if he had done it right--and said sternly, “No, it didn’t, if you’re so interested, I’ll show you some of the right places later. Now. Focus.” I grabbed his face in both of my hands and made sure he was looking at me when I said it.

“Alright, alright.” Aiden grumbled, “It’s easy, we’ll just go over the mountains. The mountain pass would certainly make things easier, but it isn’t necessary, we’ll just go the long, more interesting way over the mountains,” he said as if it were obvious, I think he had actually had it planned out even before I attacked the bandits.

Which brought something to mind. “Hey, why’d you wait so long to help me with those bandits?” I demanded, cross despite myself.

“Well you looked like you had it under control, and besides, I didn’t want to be seen if I could help it. It would have been best if they thought you were traveling alone, or that I had deserted you. You would have been safer that way if they captured you.” Aiden replied simply.

I stood in silence for a moment. Sometimes I think that flirty, childish part of Aiden is all an act. Maybe he really was a deadly assassin, and yet here I was, traveling with him.
“Pfft.” I retorted and scowled, “Well, I’m not talking to you for the rest of the night.” I stated firmly, deciding it was torture enough for him, since he couldn’t stand being quiet and he wasn’t very good at talking to himself.

“Aww, Angel! What’s that for? Are you mad at me? You know I can’t stand it if you’re mad at me.” Aiden poked my side to get my attention and I gasped, remembering quite abruptly the cut on my side.

“Shit…” I murmured to myself, pressing my hand lightly to my side to judge the amount of damage done. The cut itself was shallow, but it had already bled a lot, I was surprised I wasn’t light headed yet.

“What? Angel, what’s wrong?” Aiden asked, suddenly serious.

“Nothing, nothing. I’m just bleeding.” I said quietly, stripping myself of the shirt that Aiden had given me earlier that day, and managing to get my chain mail off as well before sitting carefully on the ground and setting my father’s chain mail aside along with my own. I examined the wound through strained eyes, it was hard to tell how urgent of attention the wound would need, would I have to heal it right away?

I blinked for a long moment, there was the light-headedness.

“You’re bleeding?” Aiden asked incredulously, probably because I had dismissed it so easily.

“Yeah, now, shut up so I can focus,” I ordered softly, opening my eyes only to glance at him for his reaction. I held my hand near my wound, I would definitely need to heal it right away if we were going to keep traveling tonight. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, vaguely feeling the coolness of my healing pass through my hand and reenter my body through my side, before it spread throughout my body and dimmed. “See? I’m fine.” I gestured to the portion of my skin that was exposed, considering I wasn’t very tan, it was easy to see my white skin even in the dark.

I couldn’t see Aiden’s facial expression very well, but he seemed hesitant to accept my reassurance. I gestured for him to lead the way and he muttered something incoherent before actually taking the lead.

I felt my eyelids getting heavier as well as my limbs, but I didn’t say anything, we didn’t have time to rest, and I wasn’t about to give Aiden any incentive to do so. So I would trek on with what little strength I still had left. If I hadn’t lost so much blood and hadn’t performed that last healing on myself I would have been more fit to travel, but it seemed I had little energy to go on.

Lady Luck was never my friend, but I never thought she might try to kill me like this.