Chapter 10; Gory Thorne

 

      Spike was the first to awake the next morning. His eyes slowly opened to stare up at the leaves and branches overhead. It was completely quiet around them; there wasn't a single sound of raindrops falling towards the earth. The dark-haired boy soon noticed the strange weight that seemed to be on his chest. He looked down to see Skylar's head resting on it. Spike let out a yell of surprise and shot up into a standing position, leaving Skylar's head to bump onto the hard earth beneath him. Immediately the amateur warrior woke up and started to look around, looking around for any signs of danger.

      “What is it?” Skylar asked as he continued to peer about.

      “I-it's nothing,” Spike replied while looking away to hide the light red that colored his cheeks.

      “Why the hell did you scream then?” Skylar questioned a little angrily.

      “No reason.”

      Skylar sighed before mumbling something about being scared out of his sleep for nothing. Since both of them were up and wide awake now, they figured they would continue on their way. They checked their clothes to see that they were still pretty damp. When they put them on, they were a bit uncomfortable in them for a little while until they got used to the wetness.

      The two continued their travels towards the city north of where they currently were. After walking for several hours, they finally came to a dense forest. They wandered around it, having a little difficulty with finding their way through it. Some of the time they found themselves walking around in huge circles. Both of them became a little frustrated, but they continued regardless.

      Two hours passed and the two were still trying to find their way out of the forest. It would be about another hour before the sun would begin setting. The two weren't ready to give up just yet though. They wanted to try to cover as much ground as possible before stopping for the night.

      As they walked though, Spike couldn't help but to get the feeling as though they were being watched. He peered about their surroundings, trying to look for any other signs of life. However, there were none. Actually, he hadn't heard a single bird chirp for about an hour now. The forest was completely silent. Knowing that something must be up, Spike kept alert at all times. It wasn't long until he noticed vines shooting out of nowhere towards Skylar. The splendid warrior leaped towards them and cut them with his twin blades. Skylar noticed this and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword as he looked around the area.

      “Well what do you know, they were onto us Gore,” a feminine voice stated.

      Skylar and Spike stood where they were, looking in all directions, trying to tell where the voice had came from. Soon enough, two figures jumped down from a nearby tree. One of them was Gore and the other was a woman in her twenties. She had green hair and emerald green eyes. She was wearing wooden sandals, a skirt that appeared to be made of leaves, and a green sleeveless shirt. In her left hand was a rose.

      “So you two are the ones causing this mess?” Gore said a little coldly. “It seems that I should've killed you two on the mountain when I had the chance.”

      “Don't think you're going to get to kill both of them,” said the woman.

      “Fine, take the blond then,” Gore replied. “Just don't get yourself killed Thorne.”

      “I don't think you have to worry about that,” she said back.

      Right afterwards, vines shot out nowhere and wrapped around Skylar's arms. Skylar tried to break free of them, but it was no use and he was yanked out of the clearing. Thorne quickly followed after her prey and Spike tried to chase after them. However, Gore ran to stand in between them.

      “Where the hell do you think you're going?” he asked, his voice even colder than usual. “Your fight is here with me.”

      A katana suddenly formed in Gore's hand before it was swung at Spike, who leaped backwards, barely evading the slash. Based on what the old lady told him, Gore was the toughest out of all the subordinates. Spike couldn't have actually asked for a better opponent for this entire expedition. It would be a way of showing him whether or not he was ready to fight Blade. However, he knew he would have to be extremely careful because one false move could be his last.

      Gore didn't hold up the advance. He quickly closed in the gap between them before slashing at the brilliant warrior. Spike quickly unsheathed his twin blades before blocking and dodging each attack that came his way. After a while, Spike jumped backwards. As soon as his feet touched ground, he thrust one of his blades into the earth before shooting a fireball at the enemy. Gore sidestepped it before rushing forward. Before he was able to reach the dark-haired youth though, Spike quickly used the stalagmite spell. Blade's follower was stopped in his tracks with a stalagmite lodged into his side.

      “Heh, you must not be as good as I thought you were,” taunted Spike as he smirked a little. “If you were truly a skilled warrior, you wouldn't have been hit by a simple spell like that.”

      Gore stared at Spike for a moment before bursting into a laughing fit. Spike looked at him as though he was crazy, but based on the laugh, something told him that something bad was going to come soon enough.

 

      The vines relinquished Skylar about a minute later. He now stood in the middle of a fairly big clearing. Thorne emerged from the brush moments later. Skylar quickly looked towards her as he drew his sword. Blade's subordinate smirked as the stem of the rose she was holding grew longer. When it stopped, Thorne held it the same way one might hold a whip. She didn't bother charging, but instead tried to attack Skylar from that distance with her weapon. Skylar sidestepped the rose whip before advancing forward with his blade poised for the attack. When he was within range, he tried slashing at her. Thorne quickly moved out of the way though before kicking Skylar to the side.

      Skylar rolled to the right to avoid getting lashed at by the whip before jumping up onto his feet. He saw vines shooting towards him from a nearby tree and leaped forward to avoid them while closing the gap in between him and his opponent. However, this was a bad mistake: While in the air, Thorne quickly lashed at Skylar with her whip. It wrapped around him so that his arms weren't able to move, the tiny thorns on the rose whip digging into his skin. The rookie warrior kicked his feet, helplessly trying to get free. Thorne couldn't help but to laugh at his futile efforts.

      “Don't even bother trying to get out kid,” she told him. “You won't be able to break free, no matter how hard you try.”

      “Oh yeah?” replied Skylar, with a small smirk. “I'll prove you wrong; just watch me.”

      The rose whip tightened around him. Skylar grimaced a small bit from the thorns digging deeper into his skin. He ignored the pain though and tried to concentrate. About a few seconds later, angel feathers appeared around them and softly fell towards the forest floor. Thorne looked around, completely confused about this. When the feathers touched the ground, the energy burst from them. Some of it hit Thorne and with a cry of pain, she was sent flying backwards into a tree with Skylar following her. The rose whip unrolled itself from Skylar right before he fell to the ground. The blond quickly got back up to his feet to look towards Thorne, getting ready to continue the fight.

 

      Spike and Gore continued their fight. For the most part it dealt with close-quarters combat, which both were pretty equally good at. Whenever he had the chance, Spike tried for a spell or two, but they all missed. The wound at Gore's side continued to ooze blood though, but Blade's follower ignored it entirely.

      Gore quickly tried for a thrust of his blade at Spike, who flipped over him to dodge. When he was right side up, Spike quickly spun around in the air and tried for a slash of his weapon at the enemy's back while landing on his feet. The blade met with the skin and a bit of blood flew out of Gore's back. Spike didn't let up the attack and quickly followed it with a few more slashes before Gore finally jumped forward to avoid further damage.

      “You're pathetic at fighting,” Spike taunted, smirking a little more. “I can't believe people actually fear someone like you.”

      Gore cackled like a maniac for a few seconds before turning around to face Spike, a wide grin on his face.

      “Go ahead, make fun of me all you want!” Gore said crazily. “You'll be the one to die here. Actually, I'll let you in on a little secret, something no one I've battled has figured out yet. You can cut me up all you want, but I won't die.”

      “What the hell are you talking about?” questioned Spike as his eyes narrowed some. “You'll die of blood loss.”

      “That's what you think,” Gore replied, the grin turning into a smirk now. “But my blood regenerates too quickly for me to be die like that. I can bleed for all eternity and not feel any effects from it. And you want to know something else? This sword isn't my only weapon.”

      Spike mentally cursed at this. He figured the only way he was going to be able to end this was making a fatal blow. As for the other weapon, Spike wasn't concerned with it. He figured he would be able to handle any weapon that was used against him.

      Just then, the blood that had accumulated on the ground below shot up at Spike in the shape of needles. The dark-haired youth was quickly able to dodge them in time by jumping out of the way. When his feet touched ground, he rushed towards Gore to attack.

 

      Skylar moved to the side to dodge a lash of the rose whip before closing in on Thorne to attempt another slash of his sword. Blade's disciple tried to evade it, but received a glancing blow. Blood slowly started to leak out of the cut that was on her arm, but Thorne ignored it as she tried lashing out with her rose whip once more. Skylar was able to evade this as well and as the blond charged, Thorne controlled a nearby tree root to grow out further into the ground to trip the boy. When Skylar fell, he accidentally threw his sword forward. Before he was even close to being able to get it back, a vine out shot from a nearby tree and wrapped around it before throwing it somewhere off in the distance.

      “Oh, what do you know?” Thorne said as she smirked. “It looks like you don't have a weapon anymore. Whatever will you do?”

      “I don't need it to beat you,” replied Skylar as he rose to his feet. However, it was all talk. Skylar knew that he would need to get his sword back if he expected to beat Thorne at all. He never tried to learn hand-to-hand combat, and so it probably wouldn't help him in any way.

      A few more vines shot out to try to grab Skylar. The boy saw them in time though and jumped out of the way. However, this was all just a diversion. The rose whip was sent forward and it struck him on the torso. Right afterwards, blades of grass shot up from the forest floor and at him. Small cuts opened up whenever the grass hit bare skin. The barrage of grass ceased shortly afterwards though and before Skylar could land on the ground, the rose whip wrapped around him, leaving only his neck up free. It then brought the boy close to Thorne.

      “What are you gonna do now, hm?” she asked with a smirk.

      Skylar quickly knew what to do. He tried to use Angel Feathers again, but his concentration was broken when the rose whip tightened around him. The thorns dug deep into him, a lot more so than they did earlier. He grimaced from the pain and Thorne laughed.

      “Don't think I'm going to let you use that spell again,” she told him. “I'm not going to fall for the same thing twice.”

      A curse word slipped from Skylar's mouth before he threw his head forward. It struck Thorne's forehead with fairly great force. Blade's follower gasped in pain from this before pulling her head away from Skylar's.

      “You b*****d!” she screamed before using her whip to throw him somewhere off into the distance.

      Skylar let out an “oof!” when he landed on the ground. Ignoring the blood that was slowly leaking down his forehead, he scrambled to his feet and looked around. To his relief, he was thrown near his sword. Before he was able to go retrieve it though, Thorne came into the clearing before quickly trying to strike the boy with her whip. This time Skylar rose an arm in front of him so the whip would hit it instead. The end of it wrapped around his arm and right when it did, Skylar grabbed onto a bit of the whip, ignoring the pain caused by the thorns digging into his hand. With a strong yank, Thorne was thrown towards Skylar, who punched her square in the face when she was within striking distance. He let go of the rose whip right then so that she would be sent backwards with the whip trailing behind her.

      Taking advantage of this time, Skylar sprinted over and picked up his sword. By the time he did so, Thorne was already on her feet again. The blond warrior charged forth with great speed. When the rose whip lashed at him again, he simply moved to the side while continuing his advance. Once the gap was finally closed, Skylar thrust his sword forward and it impaled his enemy's chest. He slowly pulled out his weapon afterwards to let the body drop to the forest floor.

      He looked down at Thorne for a moment, the look of guilt on his face. That definitely wasn't something Skylar was comfortable with doing, but he knew it had to be done if he ever expected the fight to end. A sigh escaped his mouth as he expelled the thoughts from his mind. He had no time to think about things like that right now. Instead he ran off in the direction of where Spike and Gore were fighting to go aid his comrade.