An Ongoing Struggle

“Fisk Coutts! This is the last time I am going to tell you!” His father was in an outrage. “Don’t you understand this could kill you?”
“I am sorry father, I was only practicing,” Fisk carefully avoided his father’s eyes. Rumors in the town said that Fisk’s father, Huart, could convince you whatever he said was right, and you would have no choice but to obey his words right away. Fisk shivered at the memory of past experiences. “I didn’t mean to cause harm, it won’t happen again.”
Fisk had been in the woods at Cartwood, working with a tool he alone had. Only his father and himself knew about it. At a young age, no more than two or three, his mother had placed her hand on his forehead and had done something… What it was, was unknown to everyone who was there to witness his birth. Then Fisk’s mother had died without another word. Her hand still resting upon his head. This is what his father had said. Words couldn’t describe what Fisk felt, a mix of both unbearable pain and a wave of euphoria at the same time. Fisk woudl go about using his “tool” as a sort of mediation, a plane of existence far from the every-day perspective of the world. He could lapse into this area, through great effort and achieve things he couldn’t fully understand, much less explain. He had been going down to the river to get some water for the dishes when his father had seen him from the clothes line but fifty yards from the shore. His father had stomped down to the line to hang up some freshly scrubbed cloaks when he noticed his son doing something rather peculiar. Sneaking up quietly, he noticed a pained expression on Fisk’s face. Following his eyes to the water in front of him, Huart noticed the water swirling, becoming a slow-current whirlpool. As soon as it had started circulating around itself, the water immediately stopped the abnormal flow and regained its proper direction heading downstream. Huart hadn’t mentioned anything to Fisk until now.
“Go on, eat your dinner then go to bed ” His father always seemed to be in a bad mood, which made it hard to talk to him like normal fathers and sons should. Ever since he was fired from the trading business for losing two horses on a journey, and transferred to the job of a guard for the queen, he seemed to always act like a jackass. He disliked it in so many ways, mostly because of the way he had to wait basically all day in front of the palace. Another reason was because he thought it was waste of his talent.
Huart had grown up with a sword in his hand wherever he went. He needed the training to defend his cart full of the goods he was transporting. He was a very strong man with an unbelievable intelligence. He knew mostly everything about the art of war, and when he was not in a horrible mood, he would teach Fisk how to handle himself with weapons. That is when Fisk appreciated his father, but other then that he despised him. His temper always seems to get the best of him.
Fisk finished the rest of his trout and walked out of the room. Fisk was also a very well built man, he had always worked with his father, laboring at chores he was always assigned. Fisk was easily picked out of a crowd, he was tall, had thick arms, and to the town girls, quite handsome. To pass the time while his father is away from the house, he usually spent time with his best friend, Brice Symes. He was a very good friend, quite shy, but also very good with weapons. He was the only one of Fisk’s friends that his father respected. The rest were only rats to his father. Brice was a great man to Fisk. He was the same age, 17, and just a little bit shorter then himself. He wasn’t as well built as Fisk, but instead, skinny and quick. His eyes were very sharp, and he was exceedingly agile. He was as good in the ways of stealth as Fisk was fighting with power. It seemed almost embarrassing to hunt with Brice because he would always be telling you to quiet down or to stop scaring the game away. The best thing about Brice though, was that he always listened to all of Fisk’s problems, mostly about Huart. Brice usually kept to himself, not bothering himself with thinking about the women. Fisk was somewhat the same except for the fact that he was deeply in love with this one girl, Alexis Armitage. She was a young beautiful woman, with thick golden hair, long eyelashes, a gorgeous smile, and most of all, amazing curves on her body. It all took Fisk’s breath away. He daydreamed of her constantly, and loved her with all of his heart. Alexis was always looking in his direction, which gave Fisk a clue that maybe she felt the same way towards him as he did for her. They never really got together, Huart didn’t let Fisk go away from home much, especially with girls. When he did meet her though, he cherished every moment of it. They usually just went for a walk, but nothing serious happened. He hoped that he would be able to spend the rest of his life with her. That would all change now. He hated it here, and he was going to leave it all behind.
Fisk entered his little room and lay down on his bed. He was waiting for Brice now; he had to talk to him. He had sent a message telling him to come to come over two hours past sun down. He really didn’t want to leave the town, only because of Alexis and Brice however. The rest he could easily live without. Why should he live with a careless father, unbearable chores, and a boring life? It again all came to Alexis… But I can’t stay here, he thought. He would just have to continue on without Alexis. Where would I go? He constantly asked himself. He thought of going to Fort-Grath where he could serve the king in the army. They would happily accept him he knew. He just couldn’t stay here in this town.
There was a sudden light tap on his window, and the window slowly opened, as if the person outside were cautious of what might be inside. Fisk had known there was somebody out there before he heard the sound, his being able to touch the source of power had its many gifts. He knew it was Brice, who was careful in whatever he did. Fisk had always admired him for that. He went to help Brice up through the window, but he was not needed. Brice nimbly leaped into the room landing without a sound on the ash floor with as much agility as a cat.
“Thank you for coming Brice.”
“No problem,” he said in a soft voice. “What’s going on?”
“I have something to tell you, and I hope you won’t get upset. I hardly think you will blame me.” Fisk didn’t like the idea of leaving Brice, he had always been an awesome friend.
“Oh, what is it?” Brice wore a confused look.
“I am thinking of running away,” Fisk said this barely above a whisper. “I probably won’t be returning in a very long time.”
“What ” His face showed his outrage, but his voice was just as steady as ever. “You are leaving? For good?”
“I am so sorry… But I have to; do you really blame me? My father is an ass to me, and all I do is work. Don’t you agree?” By the expression on Brice’s face, Fisk was ready to give way to the whole idea of running away and to stay right in the miserable town.
“You are right, of course, but I don’t like the sound of it. You mean a lot to me Fisk. You are right though, and no, I don’t blame you. You have always been treated rough and unfairly. That is what has made you so tough, even if you won’t admit it.”
“I know, but I just have to go away.” Once again, Fisk was unable to face the other’s eyes; he cast them towards the floor. He was never able to face Brice’s sharp penetrating eyes, they looked as if they could read all of your secrets.
There was a moment of silence as Brice stared at him, then finally Brice cleared his throat quietly so he didn’t bring attention to Huart, who didn’t allow visitors at this time.
“What time will you be leaving”
“I was thinking tonight, after my Pap goes to bed.” Fisk pointed to the floor behind his bed where a bundle was stored, indicating that he was already packed.
Brice started to rub his small beard. Then spoke in a slow manner, “I will be ready in an hour.”
“What? Do you mean you are going with me? You can’t What about your family? You can’t just leave them ” No matter how much Fisk wanted him to go, he just couldn’t take Brice away from his family. If he had had a family like Brice did, he would never be leaving Cartwood.
“Mum and Dad have always known I have had the desire to travel, they will understand. Plus, I would never leave you out on your own, you would surely die of stepping into to many bear traps.”
“I really don’t think you should just give up on your...”
The rest wasn’t heard from Brice, who had just ducked his head and jumped out of the window without any hesitation. It was a pretty long jump, but he struck the ground lightly, sprang into the woods and started running, covering ground quickly towards his house.
Fisk plopped into his bed. He was both overjoyed that Brice had decided to come with him, but then, he was sad that his friend was running away from such a nice family. He was an only child, and his parents cared for him dearly. He then went to the bundle by the bed, which held all the things he planned to take with him on his journey. He opened it up and checked to see if he had everything he would need. He had a broad sword, a long knife, and a small axe for weapons. The axe would serve as both a wood splitter, and a weapon in fighting. In the pack, there was also a cloak, a thick wool blanket, one extra shirt, and a necklace that he was given by his dad. It had supposedly been from his mother. It was intricately designed. It had two swords crossed, then above that, a hand holding a tornado of sparks. He had always treasured this object, for it was the only thing he had to remind him of his mother. After looking at it for a minute, he put it on. He packed everything back up, and decided to get some sleep before Brice returned.
He awoke with the feeling somebody was close and he got out of bed. Sure enough, there was a tap on the window, and it slipped open slowly. Brice once again jumped in and landed without a sound. Fisk stared at him with surprise.
“Where is all your supplies? Weapons?”
There, Brice took off his cloak to reveal what lay under it. On his belt, eight razor sharp throwing knives lay strapped. Four of them were six inches long, two were eight inches long, and the last two were four inches. All of them being double-edged. These lethal objects had always been Brice’s favorite weapons, and he was very skilled at using them. Practically nothing could outdistance his throw. After Fisk looked at the knives approvingly, Brice then turned around, revealing a short sword strapped to his back. With that, he turned back around and showed Fisk a pouch of flint strapped to his belt beside the knives, and a metal can, which Fisk was sure was filled with grease.
“This is all I would need to survive beyond this town. Out there are many animals, even the grotesque creatures you were told about in order to scare you when you did something wrong. They are real, there are many creatures out there that are very dangerous, and we need to go prepared.”
“Yeah, let’s go to the stables now, my father has already fallen asleep..as you can probably hear. Let’s go quickly.”
They both went out the window, and started towards the stables. Then suddenly Fisk remembered to do something, and ran back into the house. He was back in five minutes.
“What were you doing in there?”
“I had to say “Bye” to my dad, I left a note, but no clue as to where we are going.”
They then went to the stables.
Suddenly, horses screamed and a man in black rushed out of the stables. He stopped when he noticed them, hesitated, and then ran towards the woods, obviously not taking any time to be secret about it after he had already been noticed.
“Hey Stop ” Fisk ran towards the man yelling.
Brice grabbed his arm and pulled him back, “He’s gone Fisk Don’t mind him.”
Fisk then, without ease, grudgingly trotted back towards the stables. Inside the stables they found their horses and started saddling them.
“What do you think that man was up to?”
“I don’t know... His skills in sneaking were appalling.”
Without another word they finished saddling their horses, then started out of the city. They didn’t know it, but they were being carefully watched from a person inside one of the houses near by. When Fisk and Brice were almost out of sight, the person wrote a quick note to their parents saying they will be gone for a while, and that they are going for a journey, to see the world. They then grabbed a few things from their room, and with that the person ran to the stables, quickly saddled a horse and started following the two men. This person knew one of them very well, and wanted to be sure not to let any distance be put between them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fisk and Brice had been riding for a few hours, their horses trotting down a nicely packed road, it had rained the night before settling the dust. After they had gone four or five leagues, they decided that they needed some rest. When they left Cartwood, they knew they would be facing many dangers, therefore always needing to have their eyes open. There were many creatures out in the wild. Nothing had ever bothered Cartwood; creatures just never seemed to wonder by it. No one knew the reasons why they didn’t come near to their precious town, but there was a rumor that it was protected by a very strong magic. Nobody believed this of course, so Fisk didn’t plan to either. Fisk and Brice then set up for camp. They made a little fire, and ate a small meal of fish that Fisk had brought. Brice said that he would take the first watch, so Fisk got out his blanket and drifted into a deep sleep.
Brice was a person to himself. He only had one friend not including his family, and that was Fisk. There was something different about Brice, something special, but he had always kept it secret, and he had never bothered to ask what it was. Brice was feared by some of the village children because of the way he moved and acted. He wasn’t mean to them, he just kept away from them. They probably just didn’t appreciate his devious ways.
Ever since he was a little child he had always wanted to travel. He didn’t like being cooped up in an irksome town. He loved his family more then anything, but like Fisk, he just had to get away.
A rustle in the bushes caught his attention, and Brice swiftly seized two knives, one in each hand.
“Who’s there,” he asked calmly. “Make yourself known.”
“You men, always so careless.”
“What are you doing here Alexis, do your parents know you have left?”
“I left them a note, I plan to travel with you and Fisk. You two are not the only ones who have always had the zeal to travel.”
Fisk had been long awake with the feeling someone was approaching, and he jumped into the argument quickly.
“You can’t go There are numerous creatures out there that would devour you alive, Alexis. No matter how much I would love for you to go, you just can’t.”
“You have no right to say that I cannot go, I will do as I choose. I will not get in the way or slow you down, that I promise. Now let’s get our sleep.”
“Right, let’s get some shut-eye, but we are taking you back tomorrow Alexis, even if it risks our being caught for running away. Fisk reluctantly called the watch as Brice and Alexis curled up for sleep. He had never been very good arguing with girls, especially with Alexis. Her beautiful smile and wondrous hair made it almost impossible to disagree with her. This was too serious a matter. She just couldn’t come He found a stump near by and sat down surveying the surrounding trees. There were many things out there, like Brice had said. He would know too, his father used to be a traveler, and told many stories of his pioneering.
He then had the feeling somebody was close, besides Brice and Alexis, and he swiveled in that direction. There between trees he could see a man in a black cloak. Others wouldn’t have noticed him but Fisk could see him plain and clear. The man moved stealthily between the trees seeming quite interested in the encampment that lay before him. The man moved like a fox, without making any noise. The memory of the man by the stables struck Fisk and he involuntarily jumped up. This man was very dangerous he thought to himself, and he felt a pain on the skin of his chest, but he didn’t pay any attention to it. The man seemed to stare right at Fisk, and he suddenly brandished a wicked looking dagger...
SSSSSTHUNK There was an unmistakable hissing noise as an eight inch knife dug deep into a near by ash, three inches from the man’s head. Fisk had not noticed before, but Brice had propped himself up on one elbow and had another knife in his hand. The mysterious man took one look at the nearly-fatal weapon next to him and dispatched into the woods.
Fisk let out a long sigh, and cast a questioning look at Brice. He shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t like it any more then you do, but following him could lead us into a trap, we would be better off just keeping a careful eye out for him.” He got up and moved to the edge of their campsite and retrieve the knife from the tree he had struck, the knife had gone in at least four inches. “Should of killed him,” was all that Fisk heard from him as he was coming back from the perimeter of trees. Fisk was barely able to hear Brice, for he only had brought up his voice above a whisper.
“Lets both take watch the rest of tonight, I don’t want to take a risk bringing danger to Alex.” Fisk was quite surprised that she had slept through the whole thing, he looked at her in wonder for a few minutes then returned to his stump. He never remembered the fiery pain on his chest.
Alexis lay there with her eyes closed. She was moved of how Fisk cared for her so much. She would have to prove to him that she could take care of herself on the trip. She loved him too much to let him go.

Fisk woke up to hear the birds singing. A light dew had fallen over night, and his blanket was a bit damp, but it would dry out on the ride. He wasn’t used to taking watches, but partly through the night, Brice had insisted that he could take care of it himself, so Fisk had gone to bed. All at once Fisk noticed that neither Alexis nor Brice was at the campsite. He suddenly grew frightened for them, but decided that whoever was with Brice was safe. So he set up another small breakfast and started to prepare food. Within 10 minutes Brice was seen walking out of the woods. Behind him was Alexis, who had a bowl in her hand and water sloshing out of it.
“Where have you two been?” Fisk asked in bewilderment.
“Alex decided that we should need water for breakfast, and went out into the woods, alone.”
“That was very nice of you Alexis, please be more careful though, you don’t know what lurks out there. Just ask either Brice or I to take you, and we would be happy to.”
“You know, I can very well take care of myself, Fisk Coutts.”
“I know, but…” Fisk was then interrupted.
“I am going to go with you, if something happens to me, which I doubt something will, you will not be held responsible, it was my idea for me to come.”
“I would never be able to live with myself if something did happen to you though.” There was a moment of silence as all three of them were in their own thoughts, then Brice broke the silence.
“I myself do not see any harm in her coming, but we will need to show her how to survive out here, or she will die.” Fisk winced at the word; he couldn’t bear to hear of Alexis dying.
“Okay, I don’t want anything to happen to you, so stay close to me.”
Alexis put on an innocent grin on her face, and mumbled to herself, “No problem there.”
“Ok, what’s for chow?” Brice asked with an even wider smile on his face.
“Some bread and a little jam my dad had in the cellar. It shouldn’t taste too bad.” Fisk handed them each a slice, and passed around the jar of jam. He was ecstatic that Alexis would be traveling with him, even though he didn’t show any of it. He cared for her very much, and hoped that she loved him too. Why else would she travel with him? He thought to himself.
“All right, saddle your horses.” Brice said this in a calm voice, but there was a hint of haste in it.
“What’s the rush Bricey?” Alexis asked in a sweet/mocking voice.
“Please don’t call me that Al, and I think we should hurry to put as much space between us and Cartwood. We will head west toward Fort-Grath. I know a good deserted road that there probably won’t be any people on. We should go now so we don’t waste any day-light.”
“Good idea, would you like some help into your saddle Alex?”
“Please, thank you.” Fisk lifted her easily onto the saddle, being extra gentle. She was little weight to him, he could do the same to Brice, or anybody else who wasn’t considerably over weight. He then went to his own horse, and saddled. Brice waved his hand for them to follow, and started down a dirt road. The air was nice outside the city, there weren’t any loud children screaming and crying because they had lost a toy, there weren’t all kinds of wagons going by, and there wasn’t the smell of hot forges making tools. Outside the city there was a sense of serenity. The wind was cool, the air was fresh, and the sounds around them were delightful. He could here the birds chirping, and the sounds of small rodents in the underbrush. Fisk looked over at Alexis, and noticed that she had been looking at him, he hoped he hadn’t been wearing a foolish frown on his face. He smiled at her, and she moved her horse closer to his.
“It is a very fine day,” she said suddenly, “A perfect day for riding.”
“Yes it is, I completely agree. You are looking especially beautiful today Alex.” Fisk turned away in embarrassment. He couldn’t believe what he just said; he had been staring at her not paying attention to what he was saying. He looked back at her, and she wore an attractive smile.
“Thank you Fisk, that was very sweet.”
“Errrumph...” Fisk and Alexis looked ahead at Brice as he mumbled. “People in love…” They couldn’t here the rest. The couple started laughing behind his back.
In the next moment, Brice stopped with worry etched on his face. He brought his horse back a couple of steps, and pointed into the ditch by the road.
“Look there.”
As all three of them looked, they noticed foot steps in the mud. In the middle of the shoe imprint, there was a large “X.” They followed the footsteps, and when they reached the end, the footsteps just stopped completely. They didn’t turn into the woods, but instead, just vanished, as if a great bird had come and picked them up.
“That is not normal,” Brice said, as if to himself, “I have never seen anything like this.”
“Well, we are not doing any good just sitting here staring at the tracks. How old are they?” Alexis seemed nervous.
Brice unsaddled and went over to the tracks. After examining the tracks, Brice informed them.
“They are a little over an hour old, if he still continued down the road like he had been, then we would be able to catch him if we quickened our speed a little.”
Brice then saddled his horse, and they commenced riding. Fisk was surprised to see that Alexis kept right up to them, she seemed comforted by the speed. Brice looked at her in wonder; she was so beautiful with her hair streaming out behind her.
Alexis looked out of the corner of her eye. She could see Fisk staring at her. Yes She thought, he does have feelings for me. Now how am I going to prove to him that I feel the same way towards him? She faced him now, her bright blue eyes staring at him. Fisk’s brown eye pierced hers, but he then straightened in his saddle and peered ahead.
Brice was now lost in his own thoughts. What had those footprints been, and how did they suddenly stop like that? He thought to himself. Suddenly a figure appeared around three hundred yards down the path. It was a fairly straight path, so you could see an extensive distance. Fisk came riding up beside him.
“There is a creature…”
“I know, I see it clearly.”
“What do you think it is Brice?” Fisk asked as he signaled for a halt.”
The creature seemed to be very slow moving, but as it shortened the distance between them, it turned out to be immense. Brice chewed on his lip worriedly.
“We should try to avoid it, most likely, all three of us couldn’t harm it. Let’s go off the road and hide. That might help, only if it hasn’t seen us already.
With that, all three of them moved cautiously into the woods. After a while of waiting, Fisk went over to Alexis.
“Here, take my hand.” It was somewhat an order, but he didn’t intend it to be. “Sorry, please though, take my hand.”
She gradually took his hand. He then lead her through the woods to a fallen over tree where he let go of her.
“Please, don’t cause an argument, but it is for the best, wait here, it is much more safe for you. I don’t want to risk you getting hurt.”
“I should be with you I can handle myself ”
“I am sorry Alex, please stay here, I love you.” There was a long moment of silence. Fisk had just enough courage to keep looking at her. Finally she leaned her head towards his and kissed him on the lips. His cheeks flushed, and he was thinking of how stupid he must look.
“I love you too.” Fisk looked at her a moment longer then turned and went back through the trees towards Brice. When he got there, he strapped on his axe and his broad sword. He then saw that the hulk had gained a lot, and was only one hundred yards away. There Brice and Fisk waited patiently. When the beast got within seventy-five yards away, it raised it’s massive head and let out an almost exaggerated snort.
“He’s smelling for us. He must have seen us.” Brice said quietly.
Fisk could see it clearly now, it had a grotesque face, with gnarled features, and bones sticking out of its upper neck. Saliva dripped out of the ogre’s mouth, and made a stream behind it as it moved. The eyes seemed clouded and were full of yellowish-gunk. It seemed to pant like some of the village dogs, and inside its mouth were razor sharp teeth that, surprisingly, were of the purest white. They clamped and unclamped with a sickening chomp.
“A Grunzel. I have heard my father talk about them.” Brice’s face was twisted with disgust. “Virulent beasts.”
The beast was only 20 yards away, and not for the first time, Fisk felt the butterflies in his stomach. He was terrified. He felt a searing pain on his chest and looked down. His jewel on the necklace seemed to be incandescent. He looked away, and tried to forget the pain. The beast was even closer now, taking its time. All of a sudden, the beast picked up speed and was heading right towards them; it was closing in fast. It no longer sniffed the air, but charged wildly directly towards them.
“Run ” Brice screamed the word as his agile body jumped up and ran, with his swift body dodging trees. Fisk lumbered behind. He was considerably slow compared to Brice, but he was incredibly fast for his size. Fisk took a nervous glance behind him, and saw that the Gunzel was closing in on them. He remembered that Alexis was straight ahead and to avoid bringing the beast towards her, he yelled for Brice to change direction. The burning on Fisk’s chest grew worse, and he gasped in spite of it. What was going on? He asked himself. He had no time for thoughts, he just had to think about putting one foot in front of the other. Just when Fisk thought he couldn’t run anymore, they broke into a clearing.
“Wait ” Fisk desperately yelled to Brice, and they ran just to the edge of the clearing. “I can’t go further, I would rather face him.”
“So be it.”
They watched as the huge beast lumbered up at the far side of the clearing, drool coming down its chin and making a puddle. Fisk got out his axe, he knew there was going to be some fighting done. Fisk noticed that Brice seemed very unprepared. He had no weapons out, or it seemed that.
“Brice, aren’t you going to…”
“Shhh ” Brice was staring right at the Grunzel. The beast once again started picking up speed and started running swiftly towards them. No matter how big it was, there seemed to be a hint of grace in its sprinting, something that would make you think twice if it was really that big, or it just looked that size.
Fisk then got himself in a ready stance, one foot before the other, and both hands resting on the sword. Again he noticed Brice was just staring at the beast, as if he had been hypnotized.
Then, when the Grunzel was less then twenty yards away, eight-inch daggers magically appeared in his hands and Brice swiftly loosed one of the lethal weapons. Before Fisk was able to see the first gone, Brice threw another. The two eight inch daggers buried themselves in the beast’s chest, but it only seemed to fuel that monster on. With one giant leap the beast hurled itself at Fisk. Without knowing what to do, Fisk put his hands out before him. Two more daggers hit the beast in the neck. As if he did this every day, Brice had two more six-inch knives were set in his hand, but they were not needed. As the two men looked at the Grunzel, the two fatal weapons struck its chest with such a force, that the wild beast stopped in its tracks. It then sagged to its knees, and fell on its face. Brice looked as calm as ever. Fisk dropped his axe; he was both terrified, and astonished at the same time.
“You…you…killed it ” Fisk again felt the burning on his chest, and was confused. The jewel only burned when something evil was by. He quickly scanned the trees, but saw nothing. Fisk then went to the beast that lay on the ground. The burning got worse on Fisk’s chest. Brice followed Fisk to the insane animal.
Suddenly, one of the Grunzel’s eyes flickered open. It still lay motionless. There was only a second’s time of hesitating before Brice jumped onto the beast’s body and drove another dagger into its heart. The dagger seemed to have no effect, and before Brice could drive another home, he was caught off-balance, and grabbed by one of the wicked looking arms.
Fisk found himself staring, and he felt the necklace burning his skin. Then he felt dreariness come over him, and a supernatural tingling throughout his body. He then noticed that he had left the axe back where Brice had first thrown the knives. He hesitated, then remembered the sword strapped to his back. He reached back and unsheathed it. It somehow burned to the touch, but not enough to inflict pain. He raised it in front of him, and got in a warrior’s stance like Huart had shown him. The sword he noticed was literally glowing with light, and it felt as light as a dead twig. He swung the sword in arcs, and advanced towards the Grunzel. The horrified look on the beast’s face seemed satisfying to him. Fisk’s body seemed to flow with the sword, and know everything to expect. He was ready to counter anything that the beast tried on him.
The Grunzel threw Brice aside who fell limp to the ground and only looked up at Fisk, unable to move. The beast then moved towards him, its massive claws set in front of him. Fisk moved to the beast and swung his sword in a swift motion severing one of its arms. It dangled there motionless. Before the Grunzel could give something in return to Fisk, his sword flashed again, slicing its belly. All emotions were forgotten and he was able to focus on just the thing he planned to demolish. He dodged a wild sing of an arm, but was caught off guard as the arm came back around. Fisk was knocked to the ground, but tucking in and rolling allowed him to come back to his feet in a ready position. Another swing of the monster’s arms left part of it’s body vulnerable. Before it could react Fisk brought his sword down on the creature’s head. It stood there, with three daggers protruding from its chest. Then Fisk found the chance, while the Grunzel stood there half-paralyzed, he drove the short sword into its chest, and heaved upwards, running it through. The wild animal let out a ghastly scream and fell flat on its face.
The burning on Fisk’s chest seized, but the tingling in his body was still active, but seemed to be fading. He realized that the burning had continued because the beast had not died yet, but now that it had, the ablaze on his chest stopped. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw another object move. He was relieved when he realized that it was Alexis. He turned and stared as she ran towards him. When she came to him, she embraced him and hugged him tightly.
Alexis then released her grasp and rushed over to Brice, who lay on the ground. Alexis put two fingers on his throat and then let out a relieved sigh, he was still alive. Next, she lifted up his shirt to see what damage had been done to him.
Fisk flinched at what he saw. There were deep gashes along his rips, and blood had flown out of the wounds, but were dried up now.
“Get some water, please hurry Fisk.” Alexis demanded, but not in a commanding voice. Fisk got a canteen from Alexis’s saddle, ran to the edge of the clearing, and followed it until he heard the sound of water. He went into the woods and followed the sound until he saw a spring flowing out between rocks. He lay on his stomach and took a quick drink of water; he could feel the refreshing water trickling down his throat. He then filled the canteen up with water. When he broke into the clearing again, he ran over to his moribund friend. He passed the water to Alexis.
“What can I do to help?” He asked with eagerness in his eyes.
“Nothing right now but keep quiet, I will need to concentrate.” Fisk looked at her for a moment, then nodded his head. He walked a few steps to a fallen down tree and sat upon its trunk. He watched in silence as Alexis applied water on Brice’s chest then wiping a cloth over it. She repeated this procedure many times, then, as a final step; she put a wad of herbs onto his chest and wrapped it with a clean piece of cloth.
Brice lay motionless on the ground, but Fisk could see the steady rise and fall of his chest. He prayed that he would be all right, he just couldn’t lose his best friend for something he caused, or any reason at all.
Dusk came earlier then Fisk expected it to, and he went over to Alexis.
“It is time that you get some sleep. I will take the watch, thanks for helping Brice.”
“I would have helped anybody who had gotten hurt. I am not the one to be thanked, you are. Please tell me Fisk, you have been keeping something back from me for a long time. In fact, all of your life. Brice and I know you haven’t told us everything and probably everyone in the town has noticed too. I love you Fisk, I want you to know that you can tell me anything, and that I won’t think any less of you then I did before.” She turned around to go to her bedroll, but Fisk grabbed her by the arm gently, but his gentleness was still equal to the power of a regular man’s roughness.
“I am sorry, I didn’t mean to grab you like that Alexis. I meant to be gentle.”
“It is ok, a man such as you can forget his own strength.” Fisk felt the brightness in his cheeks, then wondered if that had been a compliment or an insult.
“There has been something I have been keeping from you, and I don’t mean to any longer. I have something that any man should not have. It’s…”
“It’s what Fisk?” She looked at him like a dog would when it was being teased with a bone.
“I have these ways with things… He trailed off, leaving a silence. When he noticed that Alexis wouldn’t break it he continued hesitantly. “I can do many things other men cannot do, and I guess being “one with a sword” is one of those things.”
“Being one with a sword? Stop speaking riddles Fisk.”
“Not just a sword either, I can almost become a part of the sword and can work it with my mind. I just…have these powers that allow me to do many things, don’t be afraid. I can use Wisdom.”
Alexis gasped when she heard the word “Wisdom.” Wisdom was a forgotten thing by most, and was only talked about in fairy tales. It was the strongest sort of magic, and it was very powerful. Rarely, there was one person in a town that contained any magic, but the chances were very slim. For Fisk to have magic and the most powerful type was unbelievable.
“Fisk…”
“Please don’t be afraid Alexis, I will learn to control it, I won’t harm you, I promise.”
“Its not that I am afraid of you, I am just…afraid for you.”
That’s enough of that, but please don’t worry, it will be all right. Now get some sleep.” Then something totally unexpected came. Alexis inclined her head toward Fisk and gave him a deep kiss. They stood there for a while kissing, each of their tongues in one another’s mouth. They kissed passionately for what seemed like hours. Then Alexis departed and got into her bed.
“I love you.” She whispered over to Fisk.
“I love you too, Sweet Dreams.” He then sat on the fallen down tree and took the lookout.
Throughout the night Fisk thought of two things, Alexis and Brice. His mind usually wondered over to if Brice was going to be ok or not. Other times his mind would become occupied with the thoughts of Alexis. She was so perfect to him. The way she kissed him made him feel like the luckiest man in the world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the morning Fisk was at Alexis’s side.
“Wake up Alex.” He very gently shook Alexis’s shoulders, and she was awoken. “Come see Brice.”
They both walked to where Brice was sleeping soundlessly. Alexis put her hand on the injured man and pulled it back as if burned.
“He is burning up. There is nothing for me to do but to soak his head in cool water, I am afraid that might not be enough.” She looked very worried. She then turned and grabbed the canteen of water and soaked a rag. She then lay the rag over Brice’s forehead. Fisk was as frightened as ever, he was so worried that he couldn’t help but shake. Within twenty minutes, Alexis took the rag off his forehead, and put her hand again where the rag had been. She then looked up at Fisk and shook her head. She started sobbing uncontrollably. Fisk knew what this meant, that there was no chance for Brice. He felt hot tears from within spring into his eyes, but he shook them away. There must be a way He thought. Then he remembered his power. If he used it too much he knew it would destroy him. If you used any power too much it could destroy you. With the skills he had, it was much more dangerous. He had to use it, but he didn’t know how; he had never used it in healing before. He had to try though, and so he made up his decision.
He walked over to Brice and placed his hands on the smaller man’s chest. He then cleared his mind of everything but that of what he intended to do. He saw himself kneeling beside an injured man, just like he was now. Alexis wasn’t in the picture at all, just himself and Brice. Then Fisk summoned every ounce of strength from within and seemed to let it flow out of his fingertips and into Brice’s body. He could feel his strength draining from his body and leaking into Brice. Fisk could feel the pain that Brice was enduring. The pain caused by a poison the beast must have produced in its claws. Fisk fought the poison, not knowing what he was doing, but what he did felt right. The pain and internal toxin seemed to incinerate as he probed it with his mind. After a moment, Fisk felt nothing, he just had his mind blank until he suddenly hit the ground. Then his vision of his surroundings returned. He saw Brice lying there, and Alexis kneeling beside him.
“What happened?” Alexis seemed even more worried.
“Nothing, nothing happened.” Fisk got up, his limbs felt like rubber, and stumbled back and sat down hard on the ground. Alexis offered her hand, but he stubbornly avoided it. With all of his energy he stood up and looked down at Brice.
“Wake up Brice.” Fisk said this in an almost impatient voice.
“Fisk, I don’t think he is going to…”
“Watch. Fisk, wake up, come on, we need to get going.” Fisk was sure he would get up, he knew that his energy had gone into his body, and that his wounds had been healed.
Suddenly Brice started mumbling to himself. Leaning closer, Fisk barely heard what he was saying.
“Well isn’t that pretty damn embarrassing, got me right when I least expected it, if that ever happens again..” Then Brice must have realized someone was near because he opened up one eye, then after a couple of moments, opened the other.
“You were knocked unconscious by that animal.” Fisk pointed to the Grunzel.
“Yeah, I remember now, you killed him.” After a few seconds, “You killed him?”
“Yeah, it was nothing with your help, you are the one who got three knives in him.”
“But that sword That sword…you were invincible, he didn’t touch you You were barely trying.”
“Well, whatever happened, happened. We better be going, we have a long way to go if we are going to reach Fort-Grath in the next five years.”
The two men hadn’t even been paying any attention to Alexis.
“What happened? How is Brice suddenly so full of energy that I am almost disappointed? I am confused, was it your power Fisk?”
“What power Fisk?”
“I will tell you on the way, but we need to be on the trail, come on, it’s a long story.”
The three of them packed their horses and jumped into the saddles. They started out into the woods down a narrow trail that would take only one abreast. Their horses made absolutely no sound on the tightly packed soil. The dew had left a faint mist in the air, and the three of them breathed it in thankfully, for it was refreshing. As they were heading down the path, Fisk struggled silently on how he was going to explain to Brice what he had kept from him all of his life.