The Shopping Failure

Xavier

The marketplace was always busy, even in the morning. Most of the bustling crowd moved past us, but a few gave us glances of curiosity. Their curiosity was justified, we were a strange group to be roaming the narrow streets together. A young, but confident warrior, their ruling Lord, and a grizzly, armor-clad man.

Though I could sense no danger around us, I could still feel the eyes watching our every move from our backs. My old habits kicked in as I muttered to myself, "Should've sent someone out back to look for anyone following. Maybe one in the front to scout ahead."

"What was that, Xavier?" Solskin had grown very amiable in my presence. I had yet to find out why: I rarely said a pleasant word to the man.

"Nothing." I grunted in reply,

"Quite the socialite, aren't you?" Mordred questioned.

"Obviously." I said sharply, pronouncing my desire to end the conversation. Suddenly, I sensed another gaze looking on us. A gaze of someone sizing us up. A calculating gaze. I slowed my pace to be instep with the other two. From his face, it was obvious that Solskin had felt it, too.

"Act like you don't notice. If they want a fight, they'll come to us." I mentioned casually to my companions. If the person was just watching, they wouldn't notice anything amiss. Solskin nodded slightly.

Soon we reached our destination: a smithy. We needed to stock up on weapons to make it to the Capital, and I needed some better armor. Bandits were known to prowl the roads for wealthy merchants traveling along the road to the city of Galius. The blacksmith's shop was a small and dilapidated stone building that stood outside of the main market square and off to the edge of town. Unlike other shops in the town that were open to the outside world, it was closed with the only opening being a slightly ajar door, with a sign hanging on it with the words 'CLOSED' on it. The inside was dark, yet we could hear shuffling from inside. I was immediately cautious and went to tell the others to be on guard, but Solskin had already kicked open the door, proclaiming to the world, "I wish to buy something from you!"

Solskin

All I wanted was to buy a new sword, instead I was met by a strange sight. Through the darkness, I could make out the silhouette of a person hunched over something.

"Are you the smithy?"

The figure straightened in surprise and slowly turned toward me with his hands behind his back.

"Yessir. Smith's the name. Who are you?"

He seemed nervous and scared by my presence. I glanced behind me to see Xavier dragging

Mordred behind the door frame. Smith the smithy seemed to not notice them and continued his line of questioning.

"What's your name? Why are you here? The store is closed."

"Well, I am have an urgent trip coming and I wanted to find a better sword."

He shuffled closer, setting me on edge. I clutched the hilt of my sword.

"Yessir. What type of swo-" As he said those words, he swung a large club from behind his back toward my head. I ducked to the side, but I wasn't quick enough. The club glanced of my shoulder, leaving a ugly bruise. I pulled my sword and went to attack, but Xavier suddenly appeared next to me. He swiped upward with his scimitar, leaving a gash in his clothing. I could see the shirt slowly reddening as blood poured out of the wound. As he reeled backwards from the pain, Xavier jabbed at his head with his shortsword, missing only by a hair's breadth. I swung downwards, noticing out of the corner of my eye that the my sword was strange. Blue energy crackled off my blade and discharged as I missed my target, leaving a scorch mark on the floor. Damn.

Mordred

Xavier dashed from my side and sprinted into combat. I never understood why people rush into fights. It was as if Xavier was asking to be killed. I was not so reckless, and instead peered from the doorway cautiously. I saw an ugly brute with a large club stumbling around and attempting to swing at Solskin. I debated the merits of fighting from afar or close by. With my melee combat skills, I knew which was the better option.

Unfortunately, as their movements were too swift to attack without risk to either Xavier or Solskin, I obviously couldn't help by lobbing fire, but what I could do was surveillance. And so, I hid myself, so I could launch a surprise attack if either of my comrades fell, and studied every movement within the smithy. The fight had reached a stalemate, as the blacksmith had picked up a spear off a nearby wall and swung it wildly, backing away slowly. The swings were too clumsy to make contact as Xavier danced swiftly away and Solskin backed off completely. Both were looking for an opening to attack while still staying out of reach. They darted in and out and between, each swinging whenever possible, trying to get in a jab, but couldn't stay long enough to manage a solid hit. The range difference between a spear and sword was too much. The smithy wasn't faring any better, as he was growing tired and his strikes turned sluggish. Both Solskin and Xavier appeared to be skilled, if not expert fighters and were dodging his attacks with ease. The spear may have given the blacksmith a reach advantage, but he did not have the same experience that I suspected Xavier had, nor the natural talent of Solskin. His wild and reckless swings forced the two fighters to stay on the defensive. As the fight dragged on, all three looked out of breath. Solskin and the blacksmith were both visibly panting and their movements had slowed dramatically. Xavier on the other hand seemed fine, but I noticed sweat dripping down his face and his movements were beginning to slow ever so slightly. It was almost time to strike.

Xavier

The fight was taking too long. The constant charging and retreating was beginning to take its toll on us. I could clearly see that both the blacksmith and Solskin were out of breath. My arms were weak from the constant jabbing and I could feel my stamina running out. I retreated from the fighting again as the spear was thrust in my direction, and scanned my surroundings. Weapons were mounted on the walls in displays. Otherwise, the room was open with a door leading to what I would assume was his foundry.

I couldn't get close enough to land a hit with him swinging the spear so randomly. As balls of fire from behind suddenly hit the Smith, something caught my eye. A lance sat on a nearby table just past the blacksmith. I lunged toward the blacksmith as he thrust the spear at Solskin. Startled, he stumbled backwards in surprise, his spear turning away from us as his hands spread to regain his balance. He swung his spear back at us in a slashing motion, but I rolled under the spear and picked up the lance behind him. Solskin lunged at the blacksmith as well, keeping him off balance and his attention off of me. I lunged once more, and swung with the heavy lance as hard as possible. I heard a deafening crack as it made contact with the makeshift helmet the blacksmith was wearing.