THIRTY-TWO - Silvan

Silvan faces off against an unlikely adversary.

Silvan tore out of the house after Esmarine.  “Esmarine!  Where are you going?!” he called, but she was too far ahead of him to have heard.  He started to give chase when he remembered Atherton was still inside his house.  He turned around and poked his head through the doorway.

“Stay here,” he said.  “You’ll be safe.”

“Where are you going?” Atherton asked.  “When will you be back?”

He wants to know if he has time to escape.  “I have to find my daughter and stop her from doing anything too stupid.  If you’re thinking about running away, just know that if you leave, there’s nothing I can do for you.”

He ran back out of the house, slamming the door closed behind him.  I don’t even know if anything the boy said is true, but I don’t have time to question it.  Esmarine seems to believe every word of it.  Is she just easily convinced of things, or does she know something she isn’t letting on about?  After all her strange behavior lately, there must be something going on…  He turned towards the castle, knowing full well that there was no chance he would be able to find his daughter now.  But I can’t let that stop me from trying.

Before he even took his first step, he heard a voice from behind him.

“What a coincidence.  I was just coming to see you.”  The gruff voice was unmistakable, and Silvan turned around quickly to see Zultan standing before him.

“I don’t have time for this right now.”

“I’m afraid you don’t have much of a choice,” Zultan said with a smile.

“I’m just trying to find my daughter.  We can sort this out afterwards, whatever it is.”

“Your daughter is a waste of life, just like her despicable father.  And now you’re never going to see her again.”

“You want to do this now?” Silvan said.  “Fine.  I’ve had enough of this.  You’ve been talking down to me and spewing your hatred for too long.”  He pulled out his sword.  “And now I hear that you’re planning on murdering me.  Whatever differences we’ve had in the past, I�"”

“Differences?  After everything you’ve done, you say we’ve had differences?”  Zultan drew his sword as well.  “I’d say it’s a little more than that.  You never earned a single speck of what Xanthus has given you.  Your entire position in this city is based on lies.  And he can’t see it.  Even after everything, he’s blind to your deceit.  You’re still his favorite guard.  I’ve sat by and watched for too long.  It’s time you finally get what you deserve.”

Zultan let out a primal howl and charged Silvan.  He swung his sword violently; Silvan stepped backwards, parrying the blows.  Zultan shoved hard and sent Silvan backwards into a wall.  Silvan spun to the side and stepped back into the center of the street to catch his breath.  He held out his sword in a defensive stance.

“The only thing I want is to find my daughter,” he said.  “I don’t want this!”

“You should have thought about that before you sold out your friends and stole this job.”

“I didn’t steal anything!  This job was given to me!  I worked for it, like anyone�"”

“TEN YEARS!” Zultan roared.  “I stood on that wall for ten years before I was offered this job.  Don’t tell me you worked for anything.”

“And you’ve never seen a Hunt.  You’ve never had to walk into the Barelands and watch your friends torn apart in front of you.  You’ve never known what it was like to watch your family starve because you couldn’t find enough food to feed them all.  You didn’t have to watch your wife die in front of you.  So don’t even think about telling me how hard you had to work, standing safe on top of a wall!”

“You’re nothing.  You don’t deserve this.”

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about!” Silvan shouted.  “You’re wasting your time and energy hating me.  We need to focus on the real issue here�"the fact that Xantom is dying!”

“I know things are about to change around here,” Zultan said.  “I know King Xanthus is a dead man.  I know things are about to be a whole lot different around here.  And I know the new Xantom will be a much better place without you in it.”

Zultan charged again, sword swinging wildly, but Silvan stepped backwards and parried, the same as before.

“Listen to me, Zultan!” he said, blocking a blow that would have taken his head off.  “If I don’t talk to Thaddeus soon, all of your plans will be for nothing.”

Zultan just laughed.  “They aren’t my plans.  They’re Thaddeus’s!  He’s not going to listen to a word you have to say.”

“Then he’s a fool!  Every person in Xantom is going to die, and there’s nothing he can do to stop it!”

“And you can?”

“No.  But at least I know what the problem is.”

“I’m done with this conversation.”

“So am I.”  Silvan turned and ran towards the castle.  If I can make it to the castle steps, I’ll have the advantage.  And once I kill him, I can find my daughter and we can figure out what the next step is.

But Zultan had other idea.  Suddenly a heavy object struck Silvan in the back of the head and he collapsed to the ground.  He managed to roll over just in time to see Zultan standing over him, raising his sword for the killing blow.  Silvan rolled out of the way and got to his feet as quickly as he could, putting distance between himself and Zultan’s sword.

“Once our useless King and all of his lazy friends are out of the way, we’ll finally be able to bring Xantom back to the greatness it used to be,” Zultan said.  He seemed strangely calm for a man who was attempting to murder someone.

“It doesn’t matter who the King is,” Silvan tried to explain.  “The city is going to be under water.  The Dome is flooding.  Every single person is doomed unless we can find a way to fix it!”

For the first time since the start of the conversation, Zultan actually seemed to consider what Silvan was saying.  His sword lowered the smallest amount, but Silvan noticed it.

“What proof do you have?”

“The boy.  The one we exiled.  He traveled to the other end of the Dome, and he saw it with his own eyes.  The flood is real, and it’s happening now.  Water is pouring in, and it’s pouring into an underground tunnel.”

Zultan’s didn’t respond.  Does he believe me?  He has to; I don’t have the time or energy to continue this fight.  Then Zultan lowered his sword to the ground, letting it dig into the dirt.  He closed his eyes and brought his available hand to his forehead, massaging it gently.

This is going to be my only chance.  Silvan quickly lashed out with his sword, swinging at Zultan’s neck.  But Zultan must have heard it coming, because he stepped backwards, dodging the blow, and his eyes flew open.

“I knew it.  The whole thing was a trick.  You’re planning something, and you’re going to use the boy to help yourself.  I’m not going to allow it.  You’re a dead man.”

Zultan charged.  In a second, Silvan’s sword was back up and parrying against the onslaught of blows coming at him from Zultan.  Left, right, up, down… it was like Zultan had transformed into a wild animal, a Bareland Beast in his own right, and the blows wouldn’t stop.

This time, Silvan didn’t have the chance for a counter-attack.  That was stupid.  I almost had him convinced.  At this level of combat, it was obvious to Silvan that he wasn’t as experienced in sword fighting as Zultan.  He was probably the least experienced member on the King’s Guard, having lived outside the city walls almost his entire life.  The other guards had all been training since first being accepted as guards, but Silvan had only begun taking lessons after being promoted.

Throughout the fight, Silvan stepped backwards, hoping that eventually he would end up at the castle and find a way to gain the upper hand.  He blocked blow after blow, his arm growing heavier and heavier.  After the eighth or ninth strike, he knew it was getting close to the end.  I should have grabbed a shield, but how could I have known I would need one?  I should have paid more heed to Castiel’s warning.  Esmarine running off threw me off my game.

Silvan jumped backwards, barely dodging a side swing from Zultan’s sword.  Zultan matched Silvan’s movements and stepped forward, bringing his sword down towards Silvan’s head.  He stepped aside, again barely avoiding his own death.

I’m not going to be able to hold out much longer.  Then Silvan felt his back smack into a wall.  No.  How could I have missed that?!  It wasn’t just a wall�"he had backed himself into a corner.  Zultan’s attacks came fast and sloppy, but Silvan was wearing out faster by the second.

“Zultan, stop this!  You don’t have to do this!”

“Yes… I… DO!” he said, grunting between swings.

Silvan made a snap decision and dropped his sword, which clattered loudly on the ground.  But in the brief moment of confusion he had caused Zultan, he charged forward, head down, and collided full-force into Zultan’s stomach.  The force of the blow caused Zultan to drop his sword, which also flew through the air and came to the stop on the ground somewhere beside them.  The two of them toppled over together into the dirt, Silvan on top of Zultan.

Still disoriented, Silvan sat up and began pummeling Zultan hard in the face with his fists.  He felt the pain of every blow, but didn’t stop.  Zultan held up his hands to try to stop Silvan from continuing, but it was futile.  Silvan unleashed his rage, punch after punch went straight through Zultan’s arms and collided with his nose, his teeth, his eyes.  His legs locked around Zultan’s hips, giving him extra force as he continued with the beating.  By the time he was finished, Zultan was unrecognizable; his face a bloody mess.  Silvan lowered his fists to his side and exhaled.

“Had enough?” he asked.

“Never!”

Zultan shoved off the ground with his pelvis, sending Silvan forward and off of Zultan.  His face smashed into the dirt and Zultan was standing behind him.  The force of hitting the hard dirt with his face made Silvan dizzy.  He tried to roll over and gain his bearings, or at least see what Zultan was up to, but his head was spinning, he couldn’t move at all.

When he finally managed to get the world into focus, Zultan had gathered his sword and was swinging for Silvan’s face.  Silvan launched himself to the side, out of reach of the long swing.  The sword sailed over his face, and Silvan kicked upwards with his legs, connecting with their target in Zultan’s groin.  Zultan keeled over in agony.  He took two steps back before falling to his knees.

“Do not attack me again,” Silvan said, rising to his feet.  He spat and a wad of blood landed in the ground in front of Zultan.

Zultan looked at the blood splatter on the ground in front of him.  He wiped his hand on his face, which was dripping with red.  He saw the blood smear across his arm and looked at Silvan with fury.  “You want to play rough?”

“Don’t try it, Zultan.  Stay in the dirt where you belong.  I don’t want to have to kill you.”

“You couldn’t kill me if you tried,” Zultan said.  Silvan reared back and punched him in the nose.  Zultan’s eyes crossed and he fell backwards.  He spun around towards the castle, his only thought on his daughter.  Maybe there’s still time to find her.

He found his sword, sheathed it, and began limping towards the castle.

Through the sound of his own breathing and the frantic, panicked thoughts about Esmarine, Silvan didn’t hear Zultan stand up behind him.  He didn’t hear him walk quickly towards him and raise his sword.  And he never felt it when Zultan’s sword sliced into his neck.