Honor til Death - Chapter 1

The Mercenary
Clink, clink. Steel colliding rang in my ears. His claymore held an extremely far reach compared to my broadsword. I crouched down, hearing the woosh of the blade above me. A quick jump back gave me a second of breath before he continued his assault. Again the blade came across. Propelling myself above it I slammed myself down, forcing it into the ground. A look of surprise crossed his face before yanking his weapon from the ground and sending me into the air.

My hand caught hold of one of the tree branches. Looking down I could see him staring up with an irritated expression. I released. Falling purposefully onto him I dug one of my daggers deep into his collarbone. This didn't seem to have any effect on him.

"AAGH!" he yelled as his hand pulled the dagger from his body and threw it to the side. Blood was spurting out of him like water in a broken pipe. Though still he charged forward, the tip of his blade catching the leather on my side as he moved past. Immediately he followed through, swinging the large weapon backwards with one hand. My feet forced me back in a back-flip, leaving the range of his weapon.

I hated to fight berserkers, they never seem to want to die properly. My hand rose my blade at him as he charged at me once more. He let out a war cry as he approached, trying to paralyze me with fear. It failed and with it brought the claymore from over his right shoulder. My body stood still, though not from fear. His blade carved the tree behind me diagonally, missing me entirely. The blood loss had finally begun to effect him. Using this chance I took to the offensive. The blade of my broadsword severing flesh as I moved past him.

I turned, though he stood as he was. His body had gone stiff, unmoving and not responding to my movement. After a few seconds a line of blood appeared on his arm, circling around his bicep. Soon enough I heard the shlk and his right arm fell to the ground with blood splurting from the stub of what remained. His body fell shortly after and I released the breath I had been clenching onto the length of the battle while I sheathed my weapon on my waist.

"Tsk, when will these people ever learn?" I said with one hand on my hip.

"The same day that your out of work Vitalis." A familiar voice sounded from the trees. I moved forward and looted the body of anything valuable that wasn't soaked in blood: a sack of one-hundred gold coins, his large claymore which was still sharp enough to carve anothe tree down to size, and another bag of precious gems like garnets, amethysts, etc. "Good loot. Keep the gems, I'll take the gold."

"And what the hell do you expect me to do with these damn gems? No one near here even has the money to pay for what one is worth."

"Then wait until we get to Ashia, sell it there and make a profit off of it." He turned his back to me and started to walk away, turning to me before vanishing from view. "Try putting one or two in that sword that you never use, you could make it worth something and sell it for far more than any of those gems or that sword is even worth."

"I'll see you later at the hideout later Bryan." I said, turning my back to him and leaving.

The leaves rustling on the dirt path was calming, along with the cool breeze blowing past. For all the battling and stress my body is constantly put through somehow it still has not given out on me, nor has it weakened in the slightest. My fingers reached down and retrieved a small diamond from the bag on my waist. Raising it up to the light my eyes investigated it closely, looking for any imperfection. I then retrieved a handful of gems from the same bag: a ruby, sapphire, amethyst, and an emerald. Again I investigated each one for an imperfection, returning all but the amethyst to the bag.

"There is no way she cannot love this one." A smile spread across my lips as my hand clench the small gem.

"Who's the special girl?" My feet spun on the heels and I drew my sword, pointing it at the source of the sound. A young girl appeared from behind the trees wearing a long purple and white dress. The purple was strongest at the bottom and gradually became brighter before turning pure white as it reached her chest.

"Aurora..." I stuttered.

"Put that thing away" she said, moving closer to me and placing her hand over my heart and staring into my eyes. "Who knows what might happen to me if you loose grip on it." She smiled, making my heart warm. My hand skillfully and unconsciously flipped its grip on the handle and stuck the weapon into the ground.

"You're late. I told you we had a date and you didn't show up. What am I going to do with you?" She said pushing herself away from me, her eyes glancing at me with a playful grin.

I reached out for her and pulled her toward me. Her body rested on mine as if she was wanting me to do that. My hand lifted to a few inches from her face and opened to reveal the amethyst to her. Her eyes widened in surprise and amazement at the gem before looking up at me.

"Will this make up for being late?" Her eyes glanced back to the gem in my hand.

"This is really for me? It's beautiful." Her delicate hands took it from mine and she stared at it, addicted to its glow as it reflected the sunlight.

"Do you like it?"

She nodded. "I love it Vitalis. Thank you." She reached up and pressed her lips to mine. Those soft lips made me forget all of my problems, all of my issues, every time they touched mine. She pulled away, "I know just where to put this, I'm going to have my mom put it in a necklace."

"Whatever you want." I pulled her to me, savoring the feeling of another kiss from her before releasing her.

"You're forgiven. Just don't be late next time, got it?" her voice was commanding as she looked up at me, her arms across her chest. I kneeled down in front her and closed my eyes.

"Yes ma'am."

The Senator
"Maurus, get in here!" a loud voice called out. My feet forced me forward through the doorway and into the small conference room. Eight senators sat in a circle around the table in the center. Stretched out on the table is an accurate geographic chart of the continent, mountains and all. It is also divided into the districts.

"What is it?" I said.

"We're having a problem." He stood up from the leaning over the table. "Poverty is increasing greatly