A Long Tiresome Journey: Part 4

As I drew my sword, the man closest rushed at me, he had quickly grabbed a dagger lying on the table next to him and pulled his sword out of its sheath. Hurtling ever faster towards me, in the background I could make out the other mans weapon, a club with iron spikes protruding from its surface. I quickly dodged the initial lunge from the swordsman, and quickly moved to regain my balance and form a defensive stance. Placing my sword in a high guard so I comfortably manoeuvre myself between my foes attacks. First attack came from the club wielder, he swung aggressively, his aim was for my head, so I quickly zipped down and lunged underneath the attack, the iron club dug into the cave wall and scraped along its surface.

"Fucking idiot, watch yourself!" the man carrying the sword exclaimed.

"Fuck off would ye'? Nd' fucking kill this idiot!" the other swiftly replied.

I quickly tried to move and attack the man in the back but just as I was to do so, the swordsman covered his friends mistake. A flurry of attacks from him came in, I began to dodge and parry my way to safety as his friend again swung trying to get around my block. Using some strength in my legs I managed to kick him back before he could complete his full swing. The other tried to use this as a chance to catch me defenceless, his sword point thrust towards my side, as this happened I quickly reversed my grip in my hand and parried and quickly sought to disarm him off his dagger.

Moving fast I aimed to force open his block, and get rid of one of his weapons. The dagger flew from his hands as I won the first battle, its kicked up on the caves floor and skid towards the cages. Using this as a chance to force some distance between myself and him I used my shoulder to force him back, so I could turn myself around to my other enemy. He yet again swung recklessly and this time it would be his undoing. As he over swung I stepped under the strike, slicing across the front of his stomach round his side to his back. His cloth shirt ripped and blood began to pour from his side.

"Fuck!" he yowled in pain.

"Clov!" his friend exclaimed frantically.

He hobbled back to the safety of his friend who was gearing up for another attack, almost like a duel we both formed a guard and prepared for each others attack, and then it came, fast as lightning he stepped to my side, swinging and catching me off balance. Managing to parry his sword slightly I attempted to use the momentum of his strike to pull myself around and to firmly plant my sword in his back. Just as I did so his friend came in to cover the weak spot, diverting my attention to him, I side stepped his attack and as the swordsman thrust towards me, I quickly intercepted the strike using his friends body as my shield.

As I panted to regain my breath the man I was holding slowly became heavier to me and as I let go he slammed to the floor and blood oozed from his body. In the background I heard a scream from the women trapped in the cages, my attention refocused onto the swords man, who stood there enraged beyond belief. His eyes burning with vengeance and hatred towards me. Like a mother bear losing her cub he charged at me, grief-stricken, his attacks heavy and full of venom. Again and again I blocked and parried his attacks and with each attack he gradually increased in speed. Dipping and dodging his attacks as his loss of control of the situation deepened, and then it finally happened. The error I had long awaited, he over-swung and had lunged to far, leaving the whole side of his body exposed to my attack.

I swiftly disarmed him, his sword arm dropping to the floor, blood spewing out of where it once was. The man grasped his wound in pain, his deafening scream echoed through the caves and bounced right back to us. Bleeding profusely it would take a matter of minutes for him to bleed out. So I took the choice to put him out of his misery, slowly raising my sword and planting it down into his neck and into his spine. I took a step back, sweat dripping from my brow my body felt numb and I struggled for breath, slowly I turned my attention to the cages, and to my horror I saw the dagger that had been flung towards them, covered in blood next to the lifeless body of one of the girls.

Quickly as I could I rushed to find the keys for the cages, checking the fallen's pockets and then hurrying over to where they once sat, quickly flicking over anything that could be hiding them. My hands were shaking still at this point as I spotted them on a key holder just to my left, and as I went to open the cages, the keys turned to wind chimes as my hands shook. Three keys, one for each cage, as I slowly opened the one with the girl who was responding at least. She was shaken to the core, and refused to come out of the cage, her face was pale and it was clear to me that she had spent much longer here in these caves than I had initially though.

The other girl who was beaten hadn't been alive in the first place, she lay lifeless her body cold to the touch. Her lips pruned up and her arms bruised and broken with many cuts along them. It looked like on her legs she had been burned by a hot metal poker. The last girl, the one with the dagger had taken her own life. It was a struggle to come to terms with the possibility of saving more than one, but at this point in time, one was better than none.

I slowly moved back to the last one alive, and as I approached her to help her out, she scrambled into the corner of the cage, and continuously tried to somehow expand it to keep running away. Patiently I waited for her to calm down before offering my jacket to her to keep her warm, I must've waited hours for her to come to, and yet even then the few words I could make out of her broken voice was; "Sarah.... Lea.... Home."

Gently picking her up to carry her out of the caves, I felt defeated more than anything else, whilst I had saved someone, 4 others were dead. Was there another way to do this? No... Slowly I began realising, just how cruel this world can truly be.