My liberator stepped softly and warily down the hallway. After perhaps one hundred paces, the space around us widened into what appeared to be an anteroom of some sort. He took us through the anteroom and then swiftly sidestepped through an open doorway, pulling me in behind him. We waited anxiously as steps approached. I could hear the guttural sounds of orcs talking as they passed by our hiding place. My pulse was racing with fear, and it was an effort of will to come back out and follow him when he went back into the passageway after the orcs had passed,

Three more times we dodged the brutish warriors until we came upon a much wider open area. It was a vestibule of some sort, and at the opposite end I could see a set of huge wooden double doors. They were open, and the dim light of morning shone through them.

Eager to escape, I leapt forward towards the exit, only to have myself brought up short by a painful grip on my shoulder.

The man in brown shook his head and then pointed emphatically at the doors and gestured to look beyond. In my excitement, I had missed the signs that there were guards on the outside of the doors. You could just glimpse the tip of a spear and an elbow from around the edge of the doorframe. The guards must have been facing outwards. He pulled me back.

He whispered, “This is the only way out that I know. I had hoped that there would be no guards. The leader of this band is formidable in his own right, and from what I could see, he came with but a skeleton’s crew to invest the fortress. It’s not their firepower that he needs, just their hands to prepare the keep. Unfortunately, it appears that they are taking at least the rudimentary caution of posting guards at the entrance. We will need to eliminate them.”

I asked, “You know the leader?”

He grimaced. “We’ve met in the past. Let’s hope we escape without drawing his attention. It would make for an unpleasant encounter.”

He pulled out the battered short sword and waited for me to draw Veritas. Fighting the sick, anxious feeling in my stomach, I drew my new sword and shook it in readiness.

Veritas was beautiful. I hadn’t gotten a good look at her before, but now that I held her in my hand I realized what a work of art she was. Those etchings that I had seen before flowed up and down the length of the blade. They were a graceful script that looked like waves rolling over the metal. Her edge was keen, and my grip on the well-worn hilt was firm and comfortable. Holding her bare in my hand, I felt suddenly stronger. Quicker. She moved through the air as if eager to get to work. I considered the magnificent weapon I held, and it almost felt like a friend was by my side, ready to fight for me.

The two of us sidled towards the entrance, careful to stay out of the direct sunlight beaming in. When I could see enough of the orc on the left, Analyze did its work.

Orc. Level 2.

So it would be stronger than the one I had killed before. I couldn’t see enough of the guard on the right, so I was unable to Analyze him. I hoped it wasn’t any stronger than its partner.

The man pointed to the one on the left and then to me and then tapped his chest and pointed to the hidden one on the right. I nodded in confirmation. He held his hand up and began closing his fingers in a countdown.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

We moved. I swept forward, slicing down at the orc on the left. At the last moment I realized that the creature was wearing a protective helmet. Veritas slid noiselessly through the air, sliced cleanly through the helmet, and clove the orc’s head in two before he even realized he was being attacked.

Backstab! CRITICAL HIT! You strike orc for 39 damage.

Orc has died! You gain 500 EXP.

Congratulations! Your Swords skill has increased to Level 2.

Congratulations! You are now Level 3! You have 6 attribute and 4 skill points to distribute. Choose wisely as your decisions are irreversible.

Those words really were getting distracting. I was going to have to do something about that. Maybe there was a way to turn them off?

When I turned to help my partner, I saw that he had dispatched his target as easily as I, despite his inferior weapon. He was pulling the sword out of the orc’s neck which was now just barely attached to its body. Maybe he had a fondness for decapitation.

Remembering what he had done after killing Tozk, I flicked my sword to the side and all the blood that stained it whipped away, leaving it shining in the sunlight.

The man in brown jerked his head forward and strode out of the keep. He had been right that there wasn’t much outside. A ten foot stone wall circled the castle, but the gate was only a couple of hundred paces away. He ran for the gate, and I followed. Apparently, the orcs hadn’t yet gotten around to repairing it because it was still partially blocked by what appeared to be a smashed portcullis. Getting through the gaps in the remains of the gate would be no trouble at all.

We raced as fast as we could, and excitement leapt in my breast. We were close now. Escape!

From the shadows of the broken portcullis stepped a man, the man that I had seen before talking to Tozk. He stood calmly, dressed all in black and with his rapier at his side. His stance bespoke confidence...arrogance. My companion and I came to a halt.

The rapier wielder stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“You,” he said as he considered me with dark, piercing eyes, “must be our guest. In a hurry to leave our hospitality? Hardly polite of you to do so without so much as a by-your-leave.”

His gaze flicked over to the man in brown.

“You, however, I do not know. What are you doing with our guest?”

My companion replied back in a clear and reasonable voice, “I don’t want any trouble. We just want to be on our way. I give you this chance to stand aside and let us pass.”

The man before us put his hand on his rapier.

“I think not. My Master has questions for this one, and I suspect he will want to talk to you as well. Surrender your weapon and perhaps he will be merciful. Who are you?” he demanded as he drew his sword.

My companion sighed. He murmured softly to me, “Be ready. After I have killed him, run as fast as you can for the gate. The clash of our blades will undoubtedly rouse the orcs in the castle, and we will need all the head start that we can get.”

I found his confidence encouraging.

The man in brown drew the battered piece of metal he had taken from me.

His opponent raised a brow at the poor quality of the orcish sword and then shrugged. He began to step carefully towards us with quick, graceful movements. My companion stood protectively before me, in between me and this human who consorted with orcs. The man in brown held his blade pointed down and loose in his hand, seeming in no hurry to fight.

When the duel began, it came so quickly that I would not have realized it if I hadn’t heard the clang of the two swords striking each other. After being blocked, the rapier thrust forward swiftly without a pause. Our opponent was attempting to end the encounter quickly. My companion parried and riposted with even greater speed, and the rapier wielder stumbled backwards, a small tear on the side of his free arm.

He looked down at the cut, and his face tightened in anger. With a shout, he rushed back into the duel, and the fighting began in earnest.

The two men flowed around each other, feet sliding to retreat and then attack and then retreat again. The clatter of their blades was loud and rapid, like a staccato of steel. I stumbled backwards, trying to stay out of their way.

Amazingly, the man in brown had the breath to speak because he remarked, “You are quite good. Your Master has taught you well.”

The rapier flew with even greater speed in an attempt to get through my companion’s defenses. To my novice eyes, my companion’s sword seemed to create a curtain of metal before him, such was the speed of his movements. His weapon was clearly inferior, but that didn’t seem to affect his ability to withstand the attack. I wondered at their Swords level. Did high levels grant any special abilities? I could barely follow the play of their blades. How could they be so fast?

“Unfortunately, you should have studied your Agrippa.”

With a sudden move forward, my companion was abruptly within arms length distance of his opponent. The two fighters went from frantic motion to immediate stillness in the space of a breath, and it was only then that I realized that the orc blade had penetrated all the way through the fencer’s gut and out his back.

With a strangled groan, the fencer dropped his rapier and fell to his knees. My companion withdrew his ugly blade from his opponent’s body and raised it for the coup de grace when the sound of clapping fell upon our ears.