Chapter 4 ~ Attack

My eyes opened and I looked up at the sky. The trees that edged the road framed my view. I knew it was only a few minutes before dawn. I starred at the stars, remembering many years ago when I'd traveled this same path, Looked at these same stars. I'd been with my father. We'd been running. I was only 11. I closed my eyes and saw myself. I remember starring up at the stars running my fingers over my new scar. At the time I was stunned when my father told me the scar was permanent. I'd thought 'But my scars always go away.'. Which was true, every scar when away. Except this one. I ran my fingers over my scar now. Crunch.

Crunch. I kept my head still, listening. Waiting. Crunch. I thought. The sound was unmistakably a footfall. I listened carefully. One person? No three. How close? Why? I yawned and sat up casually. I looked over at Jeric, sleeping silently. Immediately I thought 'Traitor'. He'd given me up. I processed this intuition. But something didn't click. Why would Jeric still be asleep? He would've been up making sure everything was in place. And why now at dawn? The more I thought about this, the more I realized it didn't make sense. I put my hand to the soil to figure out how far away the men were. About 1/2 a mile. I had about 5 minutes with the cover of trees. I got on my knees and crawled over to Jeric. I put my hand over his mouth and put my lips close to his ear. "Jeric."

His eyes open and he bolted up. I put my fingers to my lips. "There are men coming for us. We need to get out of here." I put my hand to the soil. 1/4 of a mile. They were moving faster than I anticipated. "We need to go now."

He stared. "How do you know?" He whispered.

I raised an eyebrow. "Jeric. Move it." I stood. Intending to walk to my small pack, I was stopped as an arrow whistled passed my ear. I dropped to a crouch, as the arrow planted into a tree behind me. Suddenly men emerged from the forest and I stood quickly. I reached for my dagger, only to find it missing. It was over by where I'd slept. I dived for my bedroll. I looked up and with surprise I saw no one was heading my way. I grabbed my dagger to assist Jeric who was battling all three. And not doing a bad job either, he was keeping them at bay with his sword expertly.

Then I noticed something. All three of the men had only daggers. The choice weapon is Kale was a sword. Even the poorest farmer had one. Yet these men carried only a dagger. I glanced at my own dagger gripped in my hand, then shook my head. Impossible. I ran to assist Jeric. It was obvious Jeric wasn't responsible for the appearance of these men. I jumped in front of Jeric and tackled the man on the far right. Dagger in hand and possessing the element of surprise I was able to eliminate him easily.

I stood and looked back to Jeric, who although making no progress wasn't being pushed back either. One man looked over and stared in shock as he saw the body. His facial expression changed from shock to uncontrollable anger. He glared back up at me. Then he charged. I readied myself, I flipped my dagger backward in my hand. Then I waited. He reached me and dagger raised high, thrust it down, aiming for my chest. I stepped aside and slashed his stomach.

He looked down slightly putting his hand to his stomach. Then came at me again. But this time not with the intent of stabbing me, but of tackling me. I stepped to the side but he was wise to that trick. His meaty arm reached out and threw me to the ground. I landed hard. He smiled down at me. I pulled my foot back and kicked his ankle out from under him. He fell on top of me. He landed on my dagger.

I gasped. Pain seared my chest. I struggled to understand what had happened. I felt blood pool at my chest. He'd stabbed me. I took a lungful of air, but it was my last. Blackness blanketed the pain.