Chapter 31

The Final Chapter of Book 3. The final book was going to be in 2 parts but this is now the second to last, part 2 is now a book... Are you ready for the cliff-hanger of the century?

Chapter 31

Unfulfilled Prophecy

“It simply doesn’t make sense” Emily told me as we sorted through what supplies we might need and wouldn’t need for a trip to see Surine and the other elves. It was two weeks after having faced Zamar, and thanks to Some Magic healers we had all recovered Even Amelia’s Broken leg was as good as new only two days after the fight. “Are you still going on about that?” Daniel asked as he came down the stairs and finished buckling on his sword.

“Em’s Right Daniel… I have a feeling the prophecy isn’t fulfilled and were not done here”

“So the prophecy was wrong” Ryan Said Coming into the room “so what?”

“Ryan do you honestly believe it would get something wrong after everything you have seen?” I asked him. Ryan Hesitated a moment then fell silent. At that point Amy Came in through the front door Carry food she had just bought at the market she was calm as she came in shut the door and then put the food down she straightened up and looked at us a moment then the blades in her gloves flashed out.
“I’m being followed” She said simply.

“That you are” A new voice confirmed. My instincts kicked in and as I spun around I drew my sword however no sooner had my sword cleared the scabbard than the point became unimaginably heavy and it dropped to the floor.

“Could you warn us next time Old man rather than just suddenly speaking?” Daniel asked the man who had appeared to me last in the arena.
“I possibly could but I’m rather lazy”

“And yet you help us” Emily stated.

“Speak for yourself. We would have been fine without his so called warnings” Ryan said his pride getting the best of him. We all looked at him until finally he sagged “ok so he helped a little maybe”

“Who are you?” Amelia asked.

“An old man who wishes to help” he replied.

“That’s all he has ever said” I told Amelia “he always tells us something important though so we listen” I turned back to him “What is it this time”
“Two things” he said holding up two fingers “First is about the near future. In a couple of minutes some women are going to break down your door or you’re going to open it for them. Either way you will be here and they will try to kill you. This will be one of the hardest fights you have ever had but do not kill them” he put one finger down “The second is about the past, the present and the little more distant future. Your right… all of you. The prophecy has not been fulfilled… it was started too early. The war you were meant to stop has not begun yet. The war that is now finished since you killed the necromancer Controlling Flina is not the war you were meant to stop. The real war will begin soon. I suggest you make all haste to the elves for they will need your help. They will be the first ones attacked in this new war… oh… and be careful of Bandits when crossing the sea to the forest” with that he disappeared and I felt the weight vanish from the tip of my sword.

“Water bandits? Does he mean Pirates?” Amy asked. Before any of us could answer we heard the pounding of feet outside then I heard Daniel whisper Loud enough for everyone inside to hear.

“Open the door and step aside on my signal Amy” we waited for a moment then Daniels hand shot down in a cutting motion. Amy flung open the door and a group of women that had been expecting the resistance of a door stumbled through Amy closed the door again as Emily Banged two heads together and Ryan Bounced his staff of the side of two more women’s heads now and then changing its shape to bring the women closer together again as they moved away from each other a little dazed and trying to avoid the bouncing staff. Eventually they crumpled to the ground. Ryan laughed maniacally with a gleeful smile he said
“that was fun!”

“That was Funny to watch” Amy conceded but it would have been funnier if you were one of the two heads being wacked!” I drew my sword.

“Now it gets interesting” I stated. Ryan came forward to stand beside me on my left holding his staff with one hand so half the staff was behind his back and the rest was clearly seen on his left. Daniel’s sword sang as he drew it and stood beside me on my Right. A whirring filled the air as Emily swung one of her chained swords in the air above her head. Amy extended her glove blades and placed them at neck height directly across the door way however as the banging started she thought better of it and dropping to one knee placed them at ankle height. The door burst from its hinges and over Amy’s extended blade. And the first few Women through the door fell with cuts on their ankle and as Amy vanished a few women tripped over their fallen friends but more women were climbing through and knew to tread carefully. Emily threw her chained sword and with expert timing she 'coat hangered' one woman with the chain however the impact of neck on chain caused the end to move and it wrapped around another woman’s neck. Emily began pulling the woman towards her the woman was struggling to no avail though Emily was able to pull her faster when Daniel ran past and hit the woman on the head with his hilt. Amy appeared for a moment spinning low her arms outstretched on either side like rotor blades. She disappeared again before the owners of the legs she had cut hit the floor. Ryan jumped forward spinning his staff and hit one woman on the side of the head before jabbing another in the chest. Amelia was flitting around grabbing Woman from behind or tripping them up so someone could hit them. I simply jumped forward and cut arms or legs it wasn’t long however before they recovered from their initial surprise and then things started to go wrong. Daniel was the first to go down I had seen him struggling and having to use his pendant to stop himself from being killed but even so every time I glanced at him he was bleeding in a new place. After a few minutes I witnessed a woman slash her sword across his chest and then his legs Daniel jumped back fast but not fast enough his shirt and a pant leg were both cut and blood began to seep out of his skin. I began to fight my way over to him as he clumsily blocked a strike and then halted the woman’s hand with his telekinetic ability but he was concentrating on what was in front of him and not what was behind which was, at this point, another woman who had circled around And was now raising her sword to strike. As her blade came whistling down I tucked and rolled under another woman’s swing at me I came up directly behind Daniel and blocked the overhead cut from the woman behind him. She spun away from Daniel and myself stopped a moment to study me and then spinning her blade expertly came lunging at me rather than side step or attempt a parry I stepped toward her only twisting my body so the blade scratched my side lightly. I grabbed the back of the startled woman’s head and pulled down while bringing my knee up to connect with her face. I let go as she reeled back blood running freely from her nose I followed up quickly slamming the heel of my palm into the bottom of her jaw snapping her head back painfully but not breaking it. She collapsed to the ground unconscious. I turned and was immediately hit by a stumbling Daniel who as he fell grabbed me pulling me down with him. I hit the floor but rolled to my feet again almost immediately but Daniel was to hurt and had to use his sword to pull himself up he back off out the area of the main conflict Amelia cut the back legs of the woman who had been fighting Daniel and before I could shout a warning was hit in the back of her shoulder by a throwing knife which I had seen glint for a moment as it had spun towards her. I noticed Amelia had been badly injured before the knife had even struck her.

“Go join Daniel” I told her and as she did so I looked around and spotted the Woman who had thrown the knife. Amy who had remained visible for a few minutes now passed me and as she did I slid one of her ever present throwing knives from her belt and threw it at the woman as she drew back her hand to throw her own knife at Ryan. Amy’s knife slammed into her throwing arms shoulder and her own knife simply dropped from her hand.

“Nice shot” Amy told me after biting a woman who had grabbed her as I had thrown her knife. “please ask to borrow it next time though” she added “we wouldn’t want me to think your someone else and have me cut your hand off by mistake” she stuck her tongue out at me and was kicked in the back she stumbled and began to fall but turned invisible a moment later she appeared next to Amelia and Daniel. The right side of her face was bleeding and cut like you might expect a scraped knee to. She was trying to get a shot off with her missile like glove blades but obviously couldn’t get a clear shot I was furiously blocking and parrying blows from the woman that had kicked her who kept switching her sword from one hand to the other. Eventually I spun bent one knee and stuck my other leg out to sweep the woman’s legs out from under her. As she came down I went up spinning the whole way until I was standing up straight again then I slashed my sword across the front of her legs and kicked the woman’s sword away. I saw Emily throw one of her swords but this time a woman caught it and pulled Emily stumbled forward right into the woman’s outstretched fist before Emily could recover she was kicked in the stomach forcing her to stumble back against a wall where one woman held her and another punched her twice in the stomach so fast she vomited they turned away from Emily letting her collapse to the floor panting and limp but not fighting any time soon. Weather from Pain, exhaustion or both I didn’t know. There was now 6 women left against me and Ryan Both of us had numerous minor cuts and bruises. As the remaining women encircled us, Ryan and I stood back to back.

“If you have any ideas man, now’s the time” he told me.

“One or two” I replied “the first is to stay alive the second is you take those three behind me and I’ll take these three behind you”

“I like the first but I’m not so sure about the second” Ryan Said “we all know out of the 6 of us I’m second only to you with my sword skill but s**t man they have the same magic as your pendant I’m doing ok against one but I’m struggling I can’t face three alone” it surprised me a little that Ryan admitted this. He had begun to admit that there were some thing’s he couldn’t do only after coming here to Germo for the first time but it was still an irregular occurrence.

“How good are you with your staff? Good enough to use both ends to good effect?” Ryan answered my question with one of his own

“Are you good enough to take four while I take on two?”

“As long as you can swing round now and then to hit one away from me it shouldn’t be much of a problem”

“I like that idea then. That idea sounds…” without finishing his sentence or me waiting for him to Ryan and I both jumped forward. The women who had seemed content to wait until me and Ryan had finished talking were caught only a little off guard and it was only their magical skill that saved them. However Ryan was quick to hold up his end of the bargain, he spun around and used his staff to stop an attack on me while I spun out of reach of the other 3 women (switching my grip so held my sword back ward) and up close to the woman whom Ryan had stopped and then I slashed across the back of her knees. As she fell Ryan turned back to the other women just in time to defend himself. I spun my sword shifting my grip again so I held it properly in my hand once more watching the other three women after a moment I grabbed the hilt in a two handed pose and waited. Ryan’s staff continued to clack behind me on the swords of the women he was facing but I could hear him breathing heavily. We had to end this soon. I placed the point of my sword on the ground and jumped spinning holding my sword until I was doing a hand stand balancing on the point then I fell toward the women one stood still surprised but the other two moved one stepped forward ready to meet me as I landed the other used their sword to sweep mine out from under me just before they did however I pushed off from it. The push covered the small distance between me and the woman who had stepped forward and as my feet came down one hit her on the head and my sword clanged from the sweep of the other woman. Despite no longer being balanced on my sword the sweep threw me a little off balance as I landed and rather than try and keep my balance I let myself drop to the ground and roll coming to my feet balanced and ready in a two handed grip. The woman I had kicked flipping over my sword was starting to recover so I stepped forward hitting her on the head. However this placed me directly between the other two women. Both swung high at me so ducked and punched both in the stomach both stumbled back but the woman on my right who had hesitated at first backed into the wall I jumped toward her and wrapped my right leg around her neck. I jumped twisting toward her and used my left leg to kick her side. We fell with the woman between me and the floor turning below me. The impact as we landed drove my left knee hard into her sola plexus. That left one woman for me But Ryan still faced two and it was easy to see he was tired. His shoulders were heaving and his movements were slow and clumsy. Suddenly the woman in front of me fell as one of Amy’s glove projectiles appeared in her leg and it gave way. I ran past to help Ryan slapping the flat of my blade against her head as I did. I reached Ryan just in time to see One of the woman’s swords Go right through his left shoulder. He screamed though weather from agony anger or both I wasn’t sure but his staff changed to a short sword and he started attacking the woman who had injured him with a newfound ferocity, so much so he began driving her back and he continued to scream savagely at her all the while. Finally she backed into the wall and stopped surprised for a moment, it was long enough for Ryan though and he nailed her to the wall driving his sword through her sword arm shoulder and into the wall behind then as she screamed in pain he picked up her sword and drove it through her other shoulder. She screamed louder for a moment before passing out from pain then Ryan sagged the final woman who had watched in surprise and then horror as her friend fought Ryan dropped a moment later as my hilt connected with the top of her head. I stood there for a moment looking at the others as they looked back at me. Amelia, with a questioning look on her face. Daniel, smiling nervously. Emily resigned. Ryan, impassive but a hint of something in his eyes. Amy, calm and collected but it clearly took a lot of effort. Finally I tipped my head back and screamed in frustration.