The Blood Soaked Sword

A dull sound appears in the back of my head, a shout no a horn, the warning horn! Scrambling out of bed I pick up my dagger and run out side to see a scene of sheer horror, tents and huts on fire, bodies cover the ground and bandits galloping around on their horses, I just stand there in shock not knowing what to do not knowing what to say. I feel my eyes burn I fight off the tears and ready my weapon Thunck

Nghh my eyes open I try to move my arms they’re roped tight my head throbbing I look around to see a few familiar faces Chi’ea, Zar’t and Jor’n three of my tribes most fearsome warriors tied and bound and beaten… I regain focus. That was 9 years ago when I was just a mere child of 6, now I am the only survivor of the 4 hostages, the others tried to escape a week after we were taken prisoner but the guards over heard and they were all killed in front of everyone the next morning, brutally hung. I think the only reason that the leader of the tribe Knoras Kvinor hasn’t killed me is that because I was so young at the time of the raid they thought I would forget, they thought I would forgive but no the Kviet Tribe will pay for what they did to me and my Tribe. I am J’hark Norklin last remaining member of the Nrok Tribe and I am thirsty for revenge.

“Get up Kroen (My slave name) you has lots of work to do” Yelled Kiek (My master). I get out of bed and stumble out into the bright morning light shielding my eyes I look around and see Kiek waiting for me with an axe “I’m coming” I groan picking up my gloves from outside my small hut I jog across to Kiek he chucks me an axe and whilst grinning he explains “The village is gone ta be in need of some more wood to supply tha fighters with some new spears and axe handles so yar on wood duty harhar” I scowl and follow Kiek off into the forest. After a few minutes tramping through the forest I find some good sized trees and start hacking away all the while Kiek sits on his fat bottom telling me all the things im doing wrong. I swear when the time comes for revenge Kiek is going to wish he never angered me.

We return to the village within a few hours with a decent amount of wood which I have to haul back myself, the villages weapon smith greets us and takes the wood off our hands then I attend my daily weapon training with the tribes second best warrior Master Kiroi a tall bossy man with big arms and hands, he may be cocky but he is probably one of the only people in this whole village who I respect, he knows his way around the axe and is actually not too bad of a teacher. Each day I must attend a 2 hour long training session with him so that when my birthday comes in 3 months I will be able to become a warrior. We do the same thing each day me and 2 other 13-15 year olds from the village start with fitness then move onto using axes, throwing spears etc. All the other kids in the village ridicule me everyone knows I am different even if they don’t actually know I come from the Nrok tribe. You see

despite our two tribes living so close together my tribe was out in the open plains while theirs is on the outskirts of Rakr Forest. Because of this my tribe has a darker complexion and most commonly have dirty blonde hair while the Kviet are quite fair skinned with jet black hair. I am all alone here, I sleep in a small hut on the outskirts of the village, I have no friends and no family, no reasons to stay that’s why in 3 days time It will be time for revenge I have 3 men on my list all will feel my dagger pierce their skin.

The next day passes quickly the only thing on my mind is revenge, the chores I am made to do during the day don’t matter, my weapon training in the afternoon doesn’t matter all that matters is my family and my people are avenged.

The following day is mostly the same but tomorrow is the time I have been waiting for all these years, every day I have been pushed around, all the jobs I have endured, all the training I have undergone tomorrow is my moment. Every chance during the day I go home and sharpen my dagger and axe and stitch some of my clothes made of hide together to make some armor in case things go bad, I constantly go over the plan in my head:
1. Go to Kiek’s cabin and slit his throat in his sleep.
2. Go to Garantek’s cabin (one of the tribes many warriors the one that saw a 6 year old boy and smashed him with his shield then took him back to his wretched village) for this one I will wake him up dagger to his throat then with him wide awake I shall plunge the dagger into his throat as he is the reason I was taken prisoner.
3. If it all goes to plan then this is going to be the hardest part, I must somehow get into Knoras Kvinor’s hut the chief of the village then kill him without being detected. It will be hard as he is a fierce warrior and if he wakes up then I don’t think there will be much chance of me winning.
4. Run off into the forest with only a satchel of food, my axe, a spear, my dagger and my armor.

The day has arrived, I wake up early put all my food into a satchel I lay my armor out on my bed sharpen my dagger and hide it under my armor, and leave my axe in its usual place resting against the walls in the corner, my spear is waiting behind my hut for when I run past on my way out. I let out a sigh “these people have raised my now I am going to scar them all for life, but my tribes vengeance must come before any pity over these people they have always been my tribes enemy nothing will change” I mumble to myself. Who am I trying to convince I think but my thinking is interrupted by Kiek whacking on the door of my hut. “I’m coming” I growl walking out into the fresh air ready to start my day of work my Last day for work. The work passes quickly but a day attaching spear heads to sticks is still mentally damaging work but the plan in the back of my head keeps me going. The weapon training is quick today just about hunting techniques with the spear which will actually come in handy over the following weeks.

Night is finally here I am released from weapon training and hurry over to the campfire where the village cook is serving stew, I take my place in the line and get a bowl I fill it up and I eat my last meal from here, then slowly I walk back to my hut, looking out the door most people are leaving the fire when the fire is put out it should only be a few minutes before everyone is in their homes and asleep luckily for me Kiek’s cabin is also near the edge of town so it shouldn’t be too hard sneaking in there, Garantek’s should be equally easy but Knoras’s will be more of a challenge at the head of the village and next to the barracks if anything goes wrong I will be quickly…my train of thought gets interrupted the cooks put out the fire and start heading home this is my queue I close the door and start to put on my armor, dagger concealed and axe sitting comfortably on my back I am ready.

I open my door no one seems to be out I creep round to the back of my hut about 4 meters from the edge of the forest where in a few short minutes I should be disappearing into. I jog towards Kiek’s cabin sticking to the edge of the forest and the shadows I reach the door unnoticed I open the door quietly he is lying on his bed snoring slightly I unsheathe my dagger and creep in closing the door behind me, closer and closer a meter from his bed, half a meter, I reach his bed he is still in deep sleep I hold my dagger up above his throat shhhh Schlok the dagger whistled through the air and found its target directly into his throat his body jerks his eyes flash open he gasps and blood streaming from his neck he lays still his neck still oozing out blood I withdraw my dagger wipe it on his bed sheathe it and creep back out the door. Crap did I just do that I think to myself realizing that I kind of liked the thrill of killing someone I despise so much, a cold chill goes down my back I shudder and continue on to my next destination.

Garantek’s cabin isn’t far a quick jog again sticking to the shadows and I arrive, this cabin bigger than the other is tedious I must wait till optimal time to wake him up he must wake and see my blade and my face just before I strike. My anger is welling up inside me as I push open the door slightly it creaks open and I slip inside silently closing it behind me. I creep towards him a few big cautious strides and I am only centimeters away from his face, he has a blanket over his whole body except his head I unsheathe my dagger and flick the blanket off with it then touching the cold metal to his neck I whisper angrily “Garantek nine years ago you hit a six year old kid over the head with a shield” His eyes opened and closed and opened then he rubbed them and quietly uttered “If you’ve come to kill me your out of luck”, he quickly flew the blankets off his body but too slow I force the dagger down into his neck blood oozes out his arm slides off the bed his eyes seem to squint then all movement stops I breathe heavily looking down beside his leg I see that underneath where the covers were is a small rusted crude sword. Phewww I breathe out that was close I withdraw my dagger from his bloody neck. In one sense I’m scared having come so close to blowing it but in another I’m just ecstatic that I managed to survive. I sheathe my blood laden dagger and exit his hut silently closing the door behind me I start pondering if I should actually go through with the next kill, I mean the last one was close but this one will be extremely hard taking out the chief and with his hut so close to the barracks one chance for him to yell and it would be all over. Garantek’s pride was all that kept him from yelling because he thought he could beat me, but the chief as well as being a revered warrior, he is not stupid and will almost definitely alert everyone else at any sign of danger I let a long sigh, and take another big deep breath. I toss the idea about but decide to just leave now while I still have a choice I hurry back to my cabin.

I go inside grab my sharpening rock and my satchel of food then hurry outside and around to the back of my cabin I pick up my spear and disappear into the forest…