Aias had slept well through the night, he had enjoyed being nestled up against Varja’s large body. The hay in the stalls was also quite comfortable, he had slept on worse back when he stayed outside the orphanage.

O’jghar didn’t seem to complain about sleep deprivation either however did go on through a part of the day lecturing Aias on the racism throughout Antrim.

Antrim is a large country however it is mainly populated by humans. Most other species are feared or despised by Antrim due to wars and skirmishes throughout history.

The Klenod have never directly been to war with Antrim however many Klenod mercenaries had sided with Antrim’s enemies in the past. Antrim’s nobles didn’t help the issue either, many directly oppose allowing other races to pass the borders, while others help spread propaganda to the populace, issuing warning of the dangers that other races can bring.

These views were now common in the north as there is almost no civilisation further above Antrim. This leaves the humans of northern Antrim alone to hear the nobles propaganda without the possibility to meet other races and see that they aren’t what the nobles say they are.

Four days passed traveling down the large wheat fields until finally they came upon a large forest. Going into it reminded Aias of when he first entered Baigia-chami forest to gather herbs, the trees around him were very similar. The trees were short but had branches that stretched out all around them.

This however unlike Baiga-chami forest is not a wilderness. The only wildlife around should be animals, if any beasts appeared it would signify that a beast from a wilderness had gotten passed the guards that are regularly making sure nothing gets out, then traveled to this forest.

Now after several days of traveling on dirt road could Varja finally ‘run’ free. Varja had been forced to travel the path together with O’jghar and Aias and couldn’t move freely thanks to the large farm fields surrounding them. But now here in the forest could Varja move as he pleased, upp the thicker trees, around and over the large rocks. Nothing was holding the serpent back from moving as it pleased.

Aias layed there looking over every now and then from his training, smiled in delight at the view, then continued his training.

…….

It was starting to get late, Varja had come back after a few hours of disappearing into the forest and O’jghar had gotten off the cart to begin setting up camp.

However then from the silence it came, a single “T’chi”, followed by many more. Aias and O’jghar both recognised the sound, the release of a bowstring. O’jghar as if flying jumped over Aias and grabbed one of the sacks lying in the waggon.

O’jghar twisted his body around in a flash, three arrows hit the sack but only bounced off, another four pierced where he had stood before jumping onto the cart. It had only taken a moment, if not for his teacher’s quick reaction Aias would now be a pincushion for those arrows.

O’jghar pulled a short buckler out from within the sack and stood ready. But before Aias could even get a chance to thank him he was thrown into the driver seat by O’jghar. “RIDE!” O’jghar screamed at both Aias and the horses. Neither without delay began working, the horses started galloping and Aias did his best to steer their reigns.

Holding the reigns took some strength, Aias felt the burn in his still recovering arms, it was tough but Aias bit down and held together. Aias looked back to the campsite to see Varja quickly slithered after them.

However behind Varja was a more worrying sight, ten men were riding after them, three of which were on top of large wolves. The wolfriders were quickly catching up to Varja, however they appeared sceptical of getting close to the far larger serpent.

The men that weren’t on wolves rode regular horses, they didn’t seem to want to catch up to Aias and O’jghar’s waggon but instead held a distance and readied bows to shoot from further behind.

O’jghar dug through a sack near his feet and pulled out his own bow, he sat the arrows down next to him to quicken the reload. He also set up a position where he could quickly reach for either his buckler or bardiche.

As the three wolfriders surrounded Varja to deal with the serpent O’jghar let loose an arrow that almost hit one of them if not for the wolf halting its step. The moment one tried to go for an attack on the beast O’jghar would fire another arrow. However the defense was short lived, the enemy archers were ready.

All together they fired a volley of arrows at the waggon. The whistling sound of the arrow, as a signal let the wolfriders know to attack. All three jumped onto Varja’s body. Varja managed to whip his tail at one of them smashing him to the side of the road. The other two however managed to get onto Varja’s back, where they bit into the hard scales. Once the wolves fangs were in place the riders also joined in and began cutting with their own weapons.

Aias eyes began to tear up as he saw his beloved Varja getting hurt. He didn’t even notice as the seven arrows rained down at him, O’jghar did however. He pulled the shield to his side onto his arm and stood to protect Aias. Five arrows hit the shield and were of no danger. One of the remaining arrows pierced into O’jghar’s left legs shin.

The pain was severe, O’jghar barely managed to stand after feeling the intense stab of the arrow through his tibia. However when looking at Aias he couldn’t help but force himself to keep it together. Aias right shoulder had an arrow piercing straight through it. His eyes however were no longer looking back, he was looking at the road ahead to make sure they could make it away.

O’jghar turned back to his own task, with an arrow in his shin he could no longer stand and fire the bow. He got onto his knees, nocked an arrow into the bow, drew and fired it in a single swift motion. The arrow was infused with both ki to give it more power, and a curse energy spell to paralyze his opponent. The arrow was far faster than his last one, he shot it at the same moment one of the wolfriders was about to swing down his axe.

O’jghar’s archery was excellent, the arrow pierced into both the rider's foot and the wolf he was riding. The curse spell activated, the rider’s leg became hard as stone and he was unable to move it whatsoever. The arrow had lodged into the wolves ribs making the paralyzes restrict it’s left lung. Without a leg it was hard for the rider to balance on both the wolf and the constantly resisting snake, he could no longer attack and had to hold on for his life. The wolf without it’s full lung power was no match for the intense action and had to let go of its jaw. The wolf and rider rode to the side of the road and stopped. Both were now out of commission from combat.

O’jghar was far faster at reloading than the opposing archers, he fired another arrow towards the remaining wolfrider, he however was ready. He pulled up his large cleaver and parried the incoming arrow. But the moment the metals hit each other the arrowhead exploded, the force was enough to blast the rider off his wolf, now he laid only a short bit away from being hit by the oncoming archers horses.

Because of the sudden man in the way three of the archers had to veer their horses out of the way and were unable to fire their arrow. Four arrows were now incoming, O’jghar had had to sacrifice time to take out both of the wolfriders and was late on his shield, he would be unable to protect both Aias and himself. He jumped towards Aias to try and at least shield him from the oncoming danger.

Now the arrows were approaching but Aias was ready, he pulled the reigns of the horses and quickly the waggon moved to the right. All four arrows got lodged into the crates and chests loaded on the waggon. Aias had already been aware of what was happening, from when he saw the first volley. He had been counting the time it would take for the next to come.

O’jghar didn’t miss a moment to surprise, he drew his bow once again and let loose more arrows. He ignored the wolf still biting into Varja and aimed for the horses, he managed to hit one of his two arrows, since he no longer had to aim carefully at the evasive wolfriders he still had time to get the buckler over their heads before the arrows came. Thanks to Aias previous evasion with the waggon all the arrows now fired were aimed slightly to the side of them, this to hit once they tried to dodge. Aias however didn’t try to dodge, he simply went straight. Not even a single arrow hit O’jghar’s shield, or their targets.

O’jghar let loose another two arrows, both hitting their targets. The horses hit collapsed immediately, they were hit close to the heart, it getting paralyzed wouldn’t kill however would be similar to a weak heart attack. Now there were only four targets left, “Stop the waggon, I will deal with the remaining ones!” O’jghar commanded Aias.

Aias slowed down the waggon to a halt. It hadn’t been long since the combat started but he was exhausted. The arrow in his shoulder had further burdened his already sore muscles. The horse archers kept themselves at a distance, still letting loose arrows whenever they could, however O’jghar easily parried them with his buckler. When an opportunity struck he would fire an arrow back at them. Being on a horse and dodging arrows was very hard, however they managed every shot. But they had forgotten something very important, O’jghar wasn’t alone! As they drew their bows after O’jghar’s third arrow missed it came from the woods. A jaw so large it could swallow a person in a single bite, Varja’s bite killed immediately. The surprise from seeing Varja up close was also a moment where they left themselves open for O’jghar. Another fell to his arrow.

And as the two remaining archers tried to escape a last arrow pierced into one of their backs. There was only one alive now, “We will come back for you!” Was all he said, there was clear anger in his voice, not fear. He quickly rode away on his horse back to where they first came from.

“Humph, think you can beat me!” O’jghar clearly wasn’t having their threats. “Teacher we should hurry, they will most likely gather more men!” Aias felt uneasy, after losing a ten vs two there shouldn’t be such hostility in someone's eyes. One would normally be more fearful of their opponent.

“You could be right, go, you handle the horses! I will prepare formations for if they attack again.” O’jghar started creating a formation on top of the carriage. Aias got the horses to continue running on the road.

During the fight Aias had been forced to use all his attention on the road and the archers, not being able to concentrate on the wound in his shoulder. Now that the enemies were gone could he begin channeling heavenly energy through his body. Aias energy wasn’t much but it was enough to halt some of the bleeding, he had sensed O’jghar circulating heavenly energy in his leg throughout the fight. In that fight his teacher had used three energies at the same time, curse, ki, and heavenly. Aias couldn’t even use one energy while concentrating on the combat around him, he felt weak, what was he to do with himself, even his classmates had been able to fight to an extent two years ago during their sparring.

After an hour of continuing their escape O’jghar finished the last of his formations, he had made three in total. Aias didn’t know what their functions were but could tell the energy used, one was of curse, another of mana, and the last and most powerful was of an energy he had never felt before. The energy felt wild like a roaring inferno ready to be set on a rampage.

They continued rushing through the forest, O’jghar began properly treating his leg, Aias would have to wait. For now getting O’jghar to prime condition would be important, if someone attacked he was the one who would be fighting. O’jghar pulled out several creams, lotions, powders, and potions from the sacs in the waggon. He sat down and began treating his wound. Another hour passed before he was finished, but now when Aias looked there didn’t even seem ever have been a wound to begin with.

The arrow had never gotten deep into O’jghar in the first place, ki, bone, and leather armor were enough to stop it from breaking the bone or harming the muscle. O’jghar began treating Aias wound, it was far worse, he had not wore any armor, not used any energy to protect himself, and worst of all his bone structure was already weakened by the years of not moving and only recuperating.

Fully healing the wound like his own would be difficult for O’jghar, it had gone all the way through Aias shoulder after all. As Aias was told this he realised a better option, O’jghar only needed to stop the bleeding, after which he could heal Varja’s wounds. Varja would be a far better companion during a battle than Aias. Varja is a powerful beast, even now as they traveled through the forest and he had large cuts from the wolfriders attacks was he not slowing down at all.

O’jghar agreed that Varja was a better option, Aias was given a potion to slowly drink while O’jghar began treating Varja. The serpent's wounds may be large however it is a beast, beasts unlike humans, animals, and all the other races, can use the energy within them freely. As they had been traveling Varja’s wounds had already been regenerating considerably fast. There wasn’t much left for O’jghar to do however he balanced himself on the quickly slithering snake and began applying his many treatments on the wounds.

………

It was already night, the forest was dark, O’jghar and Aias had been traveling for roughly seven hours since they were attacked. Even Aias shoulder had been mostly healed since the encounter, however now more than ever was the fear setting in. They could hear it in the distance, the storming sound that was a stampede of horses riding after them.

They had heard it about an hour ago, more riders were coming, then the sound was far away in the distance. They had hurried their horses, however after a whole day of rushing the horses could barely go any faster than they already were. Now they were right behind them, it would only take a few minutes for the army like horde of riders behind them to catch up.

Aias looked at the horses galloping in front of him, frothing from the mouth, crazy eyes, they would most likely die before the enemy reached them. “Teacher, we should stop.” O’jghar looked to him, he also understood their situation. Trying to fight like this would kill them. If it was five hours ago he could use his formations while riding to cause some major damage to the enemy and maybe force them back, but if the horses collapsed he would simply get run over by the cavalry after using his first formation.

“Damn, do we have to die like this?!” O’jghar cursed to himself. “Could we set up a trap?” Aias asked as if pleading to his teacher. But he just shook his head, “I dont have the materials for something practical, or time to build another formation. Just stop the horses for now”

Aias stopped the horses, which upon stopping collapsed. All they could do now was wait.

It didn’t take long, they now saw it in the distance. As if a long caravan was coming many lights were traveling in a long row. As they got closer Aias began seeing the figures of riders, counting them all there were about fifty riders incoming. Ten wolfriders, around thirty horse riders, and lastly seven waggons. Normally one would think it was just a caravan, however no caravan would be rushing in the dark like this.

O’jghar went out and started lighting up the path that they were going to be coming on. There was now a hundred meter stretch lit up and the large horde was riding in through it. Aias could now see it, all the waggons carried the same two flags, four riders were also carrying the flags as well. One of these flags Aias had learned since he could first see, a white flag embroidered with large red teeth on top. The flag of the Bitten’s bone!

From eastern to northern Antrim they were the largest most destructive bandit gang around. Many of Aias friends from the orphanage had lost their families due to the raids of the Bitten’s bone’s many divisions. The second flag underneath the first signified the division, this one Aias wasn’t familiar with, it was a skeleton hand holding a gold coin.

Aias wasn’t sure what they could do, now that they were on the brightly lit path he could see them all. Ten wolfriders, two of which he recognised from earlier in the day, the one O’jghar had shot with the explosion arrow wasn’t to be seen. Thirty six horse cavalry, some wore heavy armor and had large weapons while other wore leather armor and had short swords and bows. Then there were the waggons, each had two men onboard heavily armored and holding large crossbows. This troop of bandits were well armed, they weren’t just one of the smaller divisions under the Bitten’s bone’s banner.

The large horde of bandits stopped about twenty steps from their waggon. Aias could get a good look at their expressions, vicious and violent people. These people hadn’t gone mad, they simply led themselves by their desires and would do anything to get what they want.

One of the riders rode his horse forward, he was a large man, far bigger than any other in the crowd surrounding him. The man also rode a horse far bigger than the other horses, it was geared up in full chainmail armor, with a black helmet. The horse alone looked intimidating enough but the man on top made it look terrifying to a new extent. The large man carried a great sword the size of a person. It looked to weigh more than any man should be able to carry, however he held it in one arm while letting it lightly rest on his shoulder. Only through use of energy should that be possible however Aias sensed none.

The large leader like man cleared his throat before speaking, “You have hurt and killed my subordinates, now there is only death in your future! Any questions?” The whole gang of bandits started laughing. He was toying with them, his words carried no emotions for the dead or damaged. He just wanted a taste of blood.

Aias however couldn’t speak up, what was he to say, how would he say anything to someone flaunting such cruel killing intent. “If you want to die then come here, doesn’t look like you will take long to deal with.” O’jghar however wasn’t fazed, he wouldn’t go out lying down.

The crowd stopped laughing, the large man’s smile quickly turned into an angered frown. No one was going to talk down to him, “I am Morgor, fourth division leader of the Bitten’s bone, come out and I will destroy you myself.” Morgor jumped of his horse, his large body looked even larger once he was standing. He looked gigantic, he had the build of a wrestler, with the height of a mountain, far above two meters tall.

O’jghar grabbed his bardiche, he was ready for combat. Before going out he activated one of the three formations, the one made of mana. A bubble appeared around the waggon, it didn’t look strong enough to take a lot of damage however did seem capable of dealing with a few arrows. After he stepped of the waggon Varja coiled his body around the waggon and stayed in a defensive position in case the bandits tried to make a move for Aias.

O’jghar and Morgor slowly walked towards each other, the spectators lined up, all wanting to see the spectacle. As the two combatants now stood face to face Aias noticed something he hadn’t acknowledged in a long time, his master was ripped. The opponent was far larger than his teacher however Aias eyes could see the immense strength emanating from O’jghar’s back, he couldn’t lose!

Both at the same time swung their weapons, the large great sword came down as if from the heavens to cleave the world in two, but O’jghar’s axe was in the way. A match of power, both weapons clashed, sparks flew, and as if thunder roared a bang was heard from the strike. Both men stood there holding their weapons, neither pushed back or damaged. A flurry of strikes began, both parties skillfully parrying and blocking the opponent's blade as it came for their life. However neither took even a step back or tried to dodge, this was a competition of strength and pride, and only one could survive.

O’jghar barely parried a swing from the greatsword and got cut across his shoulder. Morgor guard was too slow and his neck took a deep cut to the blade of the bardiche. Either side could win, they were an equal match.

Minutes passed, the spectators could barely breath to the suspense in the air. Both sides were a mess, O’jghar had several large cuts over his body but worst was his left arm, it was barely holding on to his body, only a small bit of the muscle and less than a string of bone. Morgore’s body was also covered in wounds, the biggest was in his stomach, it had been cut open and his bowels were clearly visible. Still neither side had taken a step since the fight started, now both were exhausted and could barely hold their weapons. This would be the last strike that decided it.

O’jghar gritted his teeth readying his axe to pierce into Morgor’s exposed internals. Morgor’s eyes couldn’t focus, he was at death’s door, as if reflex he dropped his sword and pulled his arms to his body to defend against the incoming steel. It was enough to stop the blade, his arms had been pierced through but his guts were still safe from the tip of the blade. “RAAAGH!” O’jghar screamed out as he tried to push the blade further in.

Morgor coughed in pain from his arms getting further cut apart. He could barely stand, if he fell O’jghar’s victory was certain. Then that sound came again, “T’chi” One arrow was enough, O’jghar body fell to the ground, no longer breathing.

Aias mind went blank, him and all the other spectators looked to the sound of the arrow. Aias remembered him, he had been the one to tell Aias and O’jghar that they would come for them. Aias whole body began to shake but before he could even mutter a word someone else bellowed, “SNVA BTCH TH MI KLL” Morgor lying on the ground screamed at his subordinates barely able to speak due to the pain.

Aias anger had exceeded his rational mind, “Varja. Kill” In an instant Varja was was on top of Morgor. Morgor who couldn’t move layed there looking up at the large serpent as its jaws opened, in an instant he was bitten down on, but that wasn’t the end. Varja like an alligator dragged Morgor’s body around thrashing it across the ground, even hitting some of the spectators. Morgor’s arms and legs came off of his body as if a ragdoll that was being played with by a dog. The spectating bandits quickly drew their weapons and started fighting the large beast.

Aias could no longer keep conscious, the stress and pain was too much.