Chapter 6: Lust, and Paying for It

The Tale takes a detour back to the Wandering Journer to track what Willard has been doing since Talon's absence. As the Blue Knight deals with his own issues, he learns of his friend's danger.

Kilvren took center stage in the battlefield, as his subordinates backed up.  The other mercenaries watched as their leader walked calmly out from the shade of a tree with both awe and fear of his strong presence.  Talon took this moment to catch his breath, as he had been dodging sharp weapons  for a while, and he knew the worst was yet to come.

“Miguel.” Kilvren called out to one of his subordinates without even looking at him. “Hand me one of your short swords, then you and the rest of the survivors of our squad take Gilgor and get him the proper medical treatment.  His face is severely damaged, but he’ll be fine.”

The mercenary who wielded two short swords, who had taunted Talon earlier, the same who Talon  hopped off of to jump onto the tree that Gilgor knocked down a few minutes ago, threw one of his swords in Kilvren’s direction.  Without even looking, Kilvren caught the blade by the hilt.  Miguel, and the rest of the eleven mercenaries all gathered around the large purple knight, Gilgor, and working together, picked up his large body and hauled him away.

“So are you not using that pretty black sword that you boasted about so much earlier?” Talon asked, as he glared at Kilvren, “Don’t tell me that thing is just for show…do you even know how to use it?”

“My sword is not meant to cut down inferior opponents.” The Sword Master clothed in black spoke without any emotion. “The black metal that was used to create my blade is considered one of the hardest metals ever discovered on this planet.  It is nearly unbreakable.  As a result, most swords that come into contact with my Night Blade simply shatter upon contact.  The unfair advantage I have with my sword isn’t the real reason I don’t fight with it right now.  To be honest with you, I’m waiting to use it to slay my former teacher, Atticus.  Until I meet him in battle, I do not intend on using my black sword.”

"That’s poetic,” Talon mocked his advisory's sentiment. “but completely stupid!  How can you get better if you don’t fight every battle at your full potential!  Kilvren, you’re pathetic!  You accused me of being cocky, but you’re the one who refuses to really fight me with everything you have!  You’re so sure of yourself; it’ll be your downfall!”

“I wouldn’t worry about my true battle potential, if I were you.” Kilvren said, unresponsive to Talon’s condescending remarks. “You’ll find that I’m more than enough for you with this poorly crafted sword Miguel loves so very much.”

---Meanwhile---

Back in town of Silverthorne, the knight clad in blue armor, Willard, stormed out of one of the Wandering Journer’s rooms frustrated.  His loud feet could be heard halfway across the tavern, as he stomped down the stairs in anger.  There weren’t many people in the tavern at this hour of night.  The majority of the customers were the town’s regular drunks who held their head downs as if to be invisible when they saw the large man walk past them as he made his way to the bar, grumbling under his breath.  Not to long ago, there were a lot more people here.  The blue knight wondered what could have happened in such a short time that would have caused most of the customers to leave.  Willard guessed that probably a couple of rough brutes probably had too much to drink and got into a heated argument that led to the drawing of steel.  The tall, handsome, muscular, and disgruntled knight found his way to the bar, took a seat, and smacked his fist onto the table, as if to command the bartender to come his way.

“So, you had a bad night eh?” The bartender said as he came, and pushed a pint of brew in front of Willard.  “This’ll fix you right up, it’s our tavern’s finest brew…it makes anyone’s worst night worth living!”

Willard nodded in gratitude towards the bartender, as he walked off to serve another customer.  The blonde haired man looked around the tavern, wondering where his bow wielding partner had run off to.  Unable to find Talon anywhere in the tavern, Willard shrugged and stopped worrying about it.  He was to angry right now to really care.  The handsome man dressed in heavy metal armor's mind returned to the events that had taken recently taken place.

When Willard and Talon entered the tavern, Talon made his way to the bar to get a drink, but Willard was worried about far more important things.  His eyes quickly skimmed the, at the time, crowded tavern, searching for the most beautiful girl in the room.  Willard was a firm believer in the reality that the world was full of beautiful women all of which were waiting for their “knight in shiny blue armor” to come sweep them off their feet, and it was his responsibility to help them fulfill their destiny!

Willard’s eyes fell on one particular lady, who sat alone at a table in a corner of the tavern.  His eyes, which have been trained in the art of evaluating the fairer gender, scanned the woman.  Typically, the smooth talking flirt was not a fan of short hair on women (he was a firm believer that short, easy to deal with, hair was for men while long beautifully cascading hair was for female), but this particular girl had short blue hair…and she was pulling it off very well.  The most appealing thing about her was her emerald green eyes.  As soon as Willard started to stare at her, the woman looked up at him.  Her beautiful green eyes, which seemed like they could have the ability to stop time, were so inviting…with her eyes alone, the blue knight felt like she was inviting him to come to her.  Willard also could not help but be distracted from her eyes to her body, as it was the perfect tone of tan, it almost seemed unnatural!  And man, was she in shape!  She wore a tight dark red top with which showed enough skin to leave any man wanting, but not enough to be overkill.  She also wore very tight black leggings, which revealed that she had wonderful legs!  Willard couldn’t help but notice she was sitting by herself, so he knew it was his chivalrous, manly duty to go over and keep the fair lady company.  Looking back, he should have known that a girl that was this outwardly attractive was trouble…but sometimes a man can’t help himself!

The large man sauntered smoothly over to the beautiful female and sat down, and gave his finest smile to her.  In the back of his head, Willard knew that no woman, however beautiful or ugly, young or old, smart or dumb, could resist his smile.

“I couldn’t help but notice you are here by yourself.” Willard said, as he smiled at the woman, “Somebody as beautiful as you shouldn’t be sitting by yourself…it just doesn’t seem right!  A woman like you without a man is an injustice above injustices that I just cannot live with!”

“And so here you are.” The woman spoke softly.  Her voice was as divine as an angel, and yet as tempting as a nymph’s.  “You’ve come to right the wrongs of this world…my own personal hero…a girl like me can’t help but feel so lucky to be in the presence of a large, handsome, man like yourself!  What can I say…I’m a sucker for blue! 

The young lady stood up as she took Willard’s hand. “This tavern has many nice rooms upstairs, brave knight.  What do you say we go upstairs and continue our conversation?”

Willard was in luck, as it appeared that this woman was just as interested in finishing this conversation as he was!  He followed the lady upstairs and into the first vacant room.  He gently let go of her hand, and moved his hand down to her body.

“May I be so lucky to hear your name?” the former enlisted knight asked softly to the blue haired angel.

The woman turned around and moved very closely to Willard, putting her hand on his steel breastplate.  “What does a name matter in days like these?  Your armor must be so heavy!  The fact that you can wear it so easily, even at a place like this, speaks volumes of your strength!  But even a man your size must find heavy armor like this burdensome…why don’t we take it off and give your body a much needed break?”

Willard couldn’t help but smile as the woman started to gently remove his gauntlets and as she helped him remove the rest of his armor.  She gently moved Willard, now in his cloth tunic and pants and without armor, to a sitting position on the bed, and started to massage his shoulders.  He closed his eyes in bliss…This was probably the closest thing to heaven that the lance wielder would be able to experience!  Abruptly, the woman stopped massaging Willard and stepped off the bed.

“Where are you going?” Willard asked, hoping that wasn’t the end of his massage.

“I just got a really fun idea!” She said seductively, with a time-stopping smile, “But I need to go downstairs to retrieve something…I’ll be right back.”

At this point the girl got very close to Willard, brushed her hand softly and slowly against his face and whispered into his ear, “Wait for me and I promise you won’t regret it!”

The woman left, and Willard stayed seated on the bed…For about thirty minutes.  Towards the end of his waiting, it became infinitely clear to the lustful knight that this seductress would not be coming back.  Willard was filled with frustration and a little sadness as he suited back up and walked back downstairs to get a drink, or a dozen, to drown off his disappointment.

“So how’s that drink?” The bartender said, as he approached Willard, interrupting his reflective stroll down memory lane.  “It won’t solve all your problems…but it certainly helps, doesn’t it?”

It’s very good.” Willard admitted, “Probably the best I’ve had in a while.”

“It’ll cost you five gold coins.” The bartender said, “Typically it’s ten…but you look like you need it to be five tonight!”

Willard reached under his steel plated leggings to get his money pouch out to pay the bartender, only to find that there was no pouch!  Willard checked his other side and found no money there either.  The warrior started wondering…did he take his money when he left the Valor Mercenaries?  Surely he did…Then it hit him like a ton of stones…he had been robbed!  That woman wasn’t just a pro at stealing the heart of any man…she was a thief who took Willard’s money!  To make matters worse, Willard felt his neck and discovered that his solid gold pendant had been taken as well!  This was the pendant that was given to him by his brother, and his most priceless possession.  The pendent that the thief had stolen was a constant reminder to Willard that should he ever meet his older brother, he had a very important score to settle.  It was also an very important part of his plan to best his sibling.

The knight stood up, cursing under his breath.  He walked over to a man sitting at a nearby table.  He grabbed the man by his tunic, and gazed down at him with a very stern look.

“You haven’t seen an absolutely beautiful girl with short blue hair, absolutely stunning eyes, and not clothed in very much clothing leave this tavern recently have you?” Willard asked the poor victim.

“Um…” The man stuttered, “Yes…she just left, not too long ago…I think she was going towards the dock.”

“Listen here,” Willard threatened the man, “I’m going to go catch her before she sails away…you were just telling me how much you wanted to pay for my drink, weren’t you?”

Willard tightened his grip on the man as he finished his sentence, which was the knight's way of trying to get the point across that this wasn't much of a choice for the citizen.  The man swallowed nervously and replied, “Um…yes, yes sir…It would be my honor to pay for your drink.”

The mercenary left the tavern and rushed towards the dock.  It was dark and the streets were empty, but he knew where the dock was as there was a massive lighthouse not too far from him.  He ran down the main street.  The only thing he could think of was how stupid he had been.  Any woman that could remove the armor of a knight that quickly had clearly been educated in the ways of a warrior, and should not be trusted.  When he reached the dock, Willard saw the green eyed woman paying the ship keeper with money out of the stolen wallet.

“How insulting,” Willard thought, “She has a lot of nerve!”

She noticed Willard from her side and started to run towards her boat.  He chased after her.  The ship keeper noticed Willard and tried to stand in between him and the path to the docked ships, but the knight  simply threw him in the water and kept running towards her.  She was much faster than the large man, and he knew that he would have to do something to cut her off before she reached the ship.  Willard noticed that he was coming upon a stack of logs on the side, probably used to build ships.  He picked up a reasonably large one, and threw it towards the woman, hoping to knock her out, or at least knock her off of her feet.

Willard was amazed when the swift thief saw the log coming at her from the corner of her eye quickly jumped up and did a back flip, dodging the lumber.  Willard couldn't help but notice the similarity of her evasive and limber movements to that of Talon’s.  When the beautiful thief jumped aboard a boat and removed the anchor…Willard knew he had lost her.  She turned around him and flashed a beautiful and yet mischievous smile, and gave him a cute wink.

Willard cursed loudly as he left the dock.  He had been outsmarted, by a woman!  Typically the knight considered women as nothing more than objects to manipulate and serve his cause…Objects of lust and desire, only meant to fulfill natural manly needs…and yet this woman used his own charm against him…How embarrassing!

As Willard was walking down the main street hopes to meet up with Talon, two men walked out from an alley.  One was a large man, slightly bigger then Willard, who looked very rough.  The other was a much smaller, elderly man wearing a black cloak and hood.  At first the knight paid no attention to the guys, but their conversation stole his attention.

“Bruno, I felt my enchantment wear off on my dust I gave to Talon…the same dust he thought was gold coins.” The elderly man said to the other, “I decided to do a  Recon spell to learn aboutTalon's current progress on the job I gave him.  It appears the sniper I was so confident would do my dirty work decided to let Oceana live, and now he’s battling the Unforgiving Sword.  As we speak, he is fighting with Kilvren.”

“Well so much for me getting to have a real fight with Talon.” Bruno grumbled, “If he’s up against Kilvren, he won’t stand a chance.  What a pity, Morphus! I was really hoping to kill that cocky little weasel myself!”

“You’re too quick to jump to conclusions.” Morphus said harshly to his partner, “Talon  is indeed badly injured from his fight from Kilvren, but it appears that during the time of their battle, Oceana has recovered her spell book.  Oceana is a very powerful Sorceress, and if I know my old friend, she’ll put an end to the fight, either convincing Kilvren to leave them alone, or killing him.  Since Talon saved her, she’ll feel the need to repay the debt.  My guess is then she’ll use her healing powers to restore the archer’s strength as an act of gratitude." 

"There is more too, that blue haired fool isn’t aware of it, but he’s a very special kind of human, one of which would hold the interest of someone such as myself and Oceana…she won’t let him die.  But that’s where you come in, my large friend.  After healing Talon, Oceana will be temporarily weakened…if you were to stumble upon them at that point, the powerful sorceress would be temporarily powerless…Bruno, go clean up Talon’s mess…go kill Oceana…then you can do whatever you want to Talon.”

Bruno chuckled as he strapped on a massive axe to his back.  “Don’t worry about it Morphus…I don’t really care with whatever is going on between you and that witch…but killing Talon would be an honor…and from my point of view, one less of the Ancients would make this world a more human place…so I’ll kill Oceana as well!”

Morphus ignored the statement Bruno made against his kind, and faded into the shadow of the night.  The Necromancer smiled maliciously to himself for he knew that there was a good chance based on where the blue haired archer may be in his development, Bruno may stand no chance whatsoever.  If Talon survived this ordeal with Kilvren and then Bruno, and with Oceana out of the picture...the dark mage made a mental note that he would have to pay the arrogant blue haired assassin another visit sometime soon. 

Willard heard the entire conversation and knew that Talon would need his help.  He had no idea where his fellow mercenary was, so he decided to follow from a distance Bruno and wait for just the right time to strike the large axe wielding ruffian.

Reviews

[Shep]

A lot going on here and i like it. I hate it and love it when writers cut off and begin another part of the story and then merge them back again. Awesome Job So far moving on.


Grammar Idea

The other mercenaries watched as their leader walk(ed) calmly out from the shade of a tree with both awe and fear of his strong presence.

(clean this up a bit feels very rough here)
You’re too quick to jump to conclusions.” Morphus said harshly to his partner, “Takib is indeed badly injured from his fight from Kilvren…but it appears Oceana has been using the time that the two have been battling to recover her spell book. Oceana is a very powerful Sorceress, and if I know my old friend, she’ll put an end to the fight, either convincing Kilvren to leave them alone, or killing him…If I know Oceana, since Talon saved her, she’ll feel the need to repay the debt…My guess is then she’ll use her healing powers to restore the archer’s strength as an act of thanks too. There is more too, that blue haired fool isn’t aware of it, but he’s a very special kind of human, one of which would hold the interest of someone such as myself and Oceana…she won’t let him die. But that’s when you come in, my large friend. After healing Talon, Oceana will be temporarily weakened…if you were to stumble upon them at that point, the powerful sorceress would be temporarily powerless…Bruno, go clean up Talon’s mess…go kill Oceana…then you can do whatever you want to Talon.”

[DarkCrono15]

Its always a risk to jump to a different part of the story! I try not to do it much, but every now and again it helps the story progress.

I'll check that section and see what i can do to clean it up, thanks for the heads up!