Chapter 3

For a moment Emeric was hanging three meters off the ground, the next he found himself falling.  His heart seemed to stop as the ground came up at him at high speed.  The impact was bone jarring.  All the air was knocked out of Emeric's chest with a painful grunt.  Emeric tried sucking air into his lungs, but they had locked up and breathing seemed impossible.

Emeric, wide eyed, clawed at his chest as he tried, but failed to breath. He was suffocating without the presence of water. Then at last his lungs relaxed and he sucked in a wheezing, painful breath. 

Emeric coughed a few times and then weakly pushed himself up.  The eight men were standing around him in a circle, their cruel eyes looking him up and down.  Assessing him.

One man made a move to grab him, but Emeric surprised him with blinding speed as he dodged the reaching hand.  The act angered the large man.  He swung a fist, but once again it didn't hit its target as Emeric ducked elegantly.

Seeing that their comrade was having trouble with the Rogue, the other men joined the quickly escalating fight.  A fist swung at Emeric's head from his left.  Instead of dodging the blow, he deflected in with a shove of his lower arm and then he kicked his attacker in the gut.  There was a deep grunt as the man fell back and clutched his aching middle.  Emeric swiftly turned to his next opponent and another fist came flying. 

Emeric fell into a crouching position, allowing the fist to sail clear above his head.

While he was in his crouched posture, Emeric swept his opponent's feet out from under him in a mighty swing of his leg.  As he came up, an Elite grabbed him in a choke hold, squeezing Emeric's throat in the crook of his elbow. 

Panic clutched at Emeric in spreading waves as he failed to respire.  His vision was starting to fade and turn black...

As Emeric choked, he threw his head back with extreme force.  His skull smashed against the Elite's highly exposed nose.  There was a sickening crunch as it broke on impact.  The Elite released Emeric with a shove as he grabbed his bleeding sniffer.  Emeric let the momentum of the push carry him to the next opponent who was caught off guard by the sudden attack. 

He was struck down with a perfectly thrown punch from Emeric.

With four Elite's down, Emeric was only opposed by four more.  The ferocity in their eyes sent shivers of fright up his spine, but Emeric knew that he couldn't let himself be intimidated.  He had to fight with a clear mind and stay in the moment.

Two men came at him simultaneously, having realised that they wouldn't be able to take him down one on one.  A swift, threatening fist flew at Emeric's temple.  He stepped back in an attempt to dodge, but he immediately regretted the move.  He'd stepped right into the reach of a different Elite, but he was well positioned behind Emeric.  Safe from any attacks thrown by the Rogue.

Before Emeric got the chance to turn, he felt an arm snake around his neck once more, but this time the opponent, having learnt from his friend's injury, used his other hand to press Emeric's head forward against the choking arm.  This worsened the pressure on the carotid in Emeric's neck and also prevented him from throwing his head back.

Emeric's grimaced as he struggled against the tight hold. He was fading again...Another Elite stepped closer and drove his fist into Emeric's torso with enough force to crack a boulder.  A cry of pain threatened to escape Emeric's lungs, but it failed to pass the choke hold.

As Emeric clawed at the choking arm, he watched in horror as the Elite drew his fist back once more in preparation for another painful blow.  Emeric, unfortunately for the Elite, had more tricks up his sleeve.

He drove his heal into the shin of the man who was choking him.  The angle of the kick effectively took off skin and flesh and was extremely painful.  The man howled with pain and let go of Emeric as he grabbed his leg.

In his decent, Emeric drove his elbow into the Elite's face, pausing the man's painfilled cries and he fell unconscious.

Emeric turned back to the man who had punched him.  There was a flicker of doubt in the bigger man's eyes as he considered the ease with which Emeric had downed five expert warriors.

The three remaining Elite's spread out to surround Emeric.  He had to keep turning on his heal to try and predict where the next attack would come form.   His trustworthy instincts warned him of movement from behind.  He leant slightly off to the side and as he did so, a fist sailed past his ear, slicing the air where Emeric's head had been a second before.

Before the men could draw his arm back, Emeric grabbed it and using his shoulder, he hoisted the Elite up and over his back, sending him into the ground with a large crash.  The man dragged himself away, clutching his arm which evidently had some tendon and ligament damage.

Emeric had no time to recover.  The Elite who had punched him barreled into him with the strength of a bull.  The force sent Emeric flying through the air.  He hit the ground with a painful grunt.  As he tried getting to his feet, fists started pounding him into the ground. 

Emeric felt hands grip him and as they turned him onto his back.  He was immediately pinned down and the onslaught of punches continued.  He grunted as the dozens of blows struck him in the head, ribs and torso.  He tried bringing his arms up to protect his head, but somehow the blows still came past them and struck Emeric's unprotected face.

A cry of pain escaped Emeric's lips as a well aimed punch shattered his nose.  Blood came gushing down his lip and chin.  For a moment Emeric felt sympathetic for the Elite who's nose he had broken earlier.

As the storm of unrelenting blows rained down, he tried dragging himself away, but the effort defeated him.  He lay sprawled on the ground, half conscious.  His whole body was screaming with pain.  With his vision fading as his eyes swelled, Emeric's breathing picked up a notch.

The harsh truth struck him.  He had failed to escape...to save his father...and the most probable outcome ended with the two of them being reacquainted with his mother...

When the full force of defeat sank in, Emeric felt the last of his hope drain out of him...It was over...He was dead...

*****

The small escapade of eight warriors and one prisoner trudged out of the woods.  The two Elites escorting the prisoner were the only two who didn't appear injured in some way.

It was a sight worth seeing.  Elites...those who could still walk, helped other injured or unconscious comrades out of the woods.  They all had the shame of defeat hanging over their heads and a few bruises that made the embarrassment all the worse.

Emeric unwillingly walked between the two Elites who had beaten him half dead. His nose was killing him.  All he wanted to do was set it back in place.  Each breath made the broken bones grate against each other.  It was excruciating.

As they came out of the woods into the clearing where the other Elites were waiting he could see the surprise on their faces.  He could only guess that seeing Elite's unconscious and injured was indeed a rare sight. 

A small inkling of pride gripped his heart, but it faded as his eyes landed on his father.  The disappointment in his eyes were all to evident.  Emeric felt guilt surge up inside him.  He had failed to please his father...he had let him down...His father had been training him his whole life for a situation like this, and yet here Emeric was, hands tied behind his back, beaten to a pulp...All the hours of training, seemingly worthless.

Emeric's attention was abruptly brought back to the moment as he was shoved to the ground in front of  a man who seemed to be the leader of the Elites.

The Elite glanced down at him with some interest, but as his eyes turned to his fallen comrades the interest turned to angered awe.  "Did you do this?" he asked in a deep, raspy voice.  Emeric kept his head down, not giving the Elite any reply.

"The beast probably doesn' speak our tongue."  said one of the men who had taken Emeric down. 

Emeric spoke Chayran fluently as well as Etreshian, his home language.  He was just simply ignoring the brute.

"No, he understands me." The Elite replied. 

He glanced down at Emeric once more.  "Are there more Rogues in the area?" he asked.  Emeric stayed quiet.  His silence was met with a fist that struck him against his already inflamed scull.  He grunted and almost fell over, but managed to stay on his knees.

"I'll ask you again," The man chimed, "Are there more Rogues in he area." Emeric slowly nodded his head.  The Elite seemed pleased.  "Who and where are they?" He questioned further.  Emeric looked hesitant to give the information away, but before he was hit again he said, "My brother.  He went hunting to the north."

An evil smile spread over the Elite's face.  With a single hand gesture he ordered men after the loose Rogue. Six Elites hastily moved off in the direction Emeric had indicated.  That left only the leader and the injured Elites.

As the six men departed into the woods, the leader roughly grabbed Emeric by the shoulder and man-handled him towards his father. When they reached Rayhan, Emeric was roughly shoved to the ground once more.  The leader turned his back and walked away.

Rayhan's glance traveled over Emeric with concern.  His son was covered in blood and bruises, quite a distressing sight.

"Are you alright?" He questioned caringly.  Emeric nodded his head slowly, but the simple act sent a wave of agony through his scull.  Rayhan sighed with relief, "What did he want?" he asked gesturing towards the Elite who had slapped Emeric.  Emeric replied in Etreshian, "He wanted to know if there were any other Rogues in the area."

Rayhan glanced curiously at Emeric, "Why did he send the men away?" A sly grin broke over Emeric's face.  "I told him that my brother is out hunting."  Rayhan frowned, "You don't have a brother." Emeric ginned pridefully, "Exactly. And now there's only one man who can stop us, not seven..."

Emeric was watching the Elite like a hawk sighting its prey.

"Emeric, leave it.  He'll kill you." Rayhan hissed a warning.  "We're dead either way." Emeric replied bluntly.  Rayhan was shaking his head, "No we're not, we'll find another way, but I'm not letting you risk your life trying to do something that has no probability of success."

Emeric replied a second before he acted, "Try and stop me." And with that he jumped to his feet and charged at the Elite...