Chapter Six: A Stab in the Dark

The group finds themselves in combat trying to save the life of a runaway girl

            They had gotten up early the next day hoping to get out quickly before every other visitor in the city decided to flood out. The people at the hotel let them keep their robes, and wished them good luck on the rest of their way. They quickly got out of the city, got their horses, and rode off. No one had really said much to each other since their encounter with Kerr Northrop. Too many questions were going through Dante’s head. Who was he really to Gin? What did he mean by a storm was coming, and not to get caught in the rain? Was the Aeoa he was talking about the Aeoa he met at the bridge? It was chaos inside of Dante’s head.

            Once they got a ways out of town and started back on their route to the Gredia Vu military base, they dismounted and decided to reequip their weapons. Dante pulled his sword out of the towel he had wrapped it in, and tied the sheath back onto his belt. As he was doing so, he remembered that the ring Gin gave him was still in his pocket, from a few weeks ago. He pulled it out and put it back on.

            Once he put on the ring, he felt lighter. What was with this ring? Every time he put it on, he felt more relieved, but the ring didn’t do anything but sit there. He decided to ignore it.

            “Ok boys, from here on out, training will be left for nights. You never know when you’ll run into bandits or warriors, and having dull swords won’t help your chances in a fight, so we’ll keep it for night time.” Gin said this, almost nervously. Something got him worried that there would be danger. Well, more than the usual danger, anyway.

            They all got on their horses and started off again. It was hard to keep up with Gin, he had sped up his horse, apparently he wanted to get where he needed to go as fast as he could. What could have gotten Gin so worked up? Surely he wasn’t afraid for himself, he seemed like a very capable fighter. Was he fearing for Dante and Arthas? It was hard to tell, he never showed his feelings.

            They went on for the entire day, hard riding. Dante was so sore, he didn’t know if he’d be able to sit down right for days. Never in his life had he had to ride so hard for so long. By the time they had stopped, the sun was in the midst of setting, and when they had stopped moving, Arthas and Dante fell off their horses, and laid on the ground, moaning in pain.

“Why are you guys on the ground? It’s time for your training.” Gin said.They groaned loudly.

“I don’t think I can,” Arthas said. “I think my movements are going to be a little restricted after that little ride we just had...” Gin shook his head.

“I offered my services to you, and you accepted them. I warned you about the difficulty, and you said you would do whatever you needed to get stronger. In battle, after riding hard for weeks, you think the enemy is going to let you just rest until your a*s is better?” Gin asked. I guess he was right, but still, he seemed unusually stern today.

They unsheathed their weapons, and poured the oil on them to dull them out. It was just like any other time, except this time they could barely move. Dante surprisingly didn't feel as bad as the thought he would, he still felt exceptionally light.

“Alright, today training gets hard. I am going to run you into the ground, and once you’re too tired to move, I’m just gonna push you even harder. Up until now, your training has been a cakewalk, basic things all fighters should know. Now I will train you both individually. One will rest while I specifically train the other for their body type, weight, and so on. Once they are almost dead, I will switch to the other. Any questions?” Dante and Gin stood there speechless. “Good, we’ll begin with Dante then. Arthas, you go wait by the horses, I’ll send what’s left of him to get you when it’s your turn. I’d sleep if I were you, we are gonna be up late tonight.” Arthas turned around and hobbled back to the horses.

“Gin, is something wrong? You seem awfully... up tight, lately.” Dante said. Gin swung around forcefully, his small sword in hand.

“Up tight? Spoken like someone who has no idea of what is out there waiting for them. I’m here to prepare you so you don’t get slaughtered in your first fight. maybe you think I’m being tough on you all, but it’s only because I refuse to have you die after I’ve put so much work into you.” Gin said loudly. This was a side of Gin that Dante had never seen before. It wasn’t just forceful, it was worried. Gin was in a fluster about something.

“Alright Gin... what are we doing then?” Dante asked, hoping that he’d be able to get it out of him later.

“You have a lighter body type, much like myself, so this is my area of expertise. You won’t be the knight decked out in tons of plate and mail armor, you’ll be the one that stays in lighter armor, or no armor, but will be like blur on the battlefield. At your point now, in a one-on-one with a armored soldier, you could easily take them out. However, rarely in war is it just one-on-one. You need to know how to observe the battlefield. Basically, I am going to use two weapons. I will be attacking you from different sides with both weapons. You are going to need to maneuver around to block and dodge two weapons. maybe later I’ll bring in Arthas, and that way it will be even more of a challenge, but for now, Fighting a dual wielding opponent will have to do.” Gin pulled out another iron sword from behind him. It wasn’t like his other sword, it was dirtier, less well-kept. it was, to say the least, shoddy. However, Dante knew better than to underestimate a weapon, especially when it was Gin wielding it.

“Alright then, are you going to give me any pointers?” Dante asked. he had never fought a dual wielding opponent before.

“Normally I would let you figure this out on your own, but as an... apology, for what I’m about to do, I’ll give you one hint. You won’t be the perfect fighter against this style. You will need to practice a lot, learn how it feels to fight with a dual wielding opponent. Then, once you do, you must anticipate their moves. It is hard to simply watch and defend against both hands. You need to feel where he is going to attack from next. This is done two ways. One, prediction, as said before, from practicing. The second way is a blood thing. A real fighter can feel what’s around him. You need to be able to sense what happens around you. People like you who don’t die fast.” Gin explained. He waved the two swords about, which Dante found a little intimidating.

“I see. Feel movements, don’t see them. Practice. Seems simple enough, right?” Dante said. Why did he say that. He knew better than to say that. Gin made is signature smirk. Damn it...

In a flash, Gin ran towards Dante. Dante pulled his sword out of his sheathe and was able to block a two sword strike barely in time. Gin released it by pushing himself away, and then ran back from more. He made a move with his right hand first, which Dante blocked, but no sooner did he do this than a strike from Gin’s left hand poked him right in the stomach.

Dante spun his sword in a circle to knock bot swords away and took a step back. Gin lunged forward for two more strikes. Dante tried to be fast this time. Block the first strike by tapping it and using the bounce back to speed over to the other side to defend another strike. Gin made his stab to the left this time, and as Dante wanted, he bounced his sword off the stab and tried to move to the other side. However, instead of another stab, Gin made a full horizontal swing, and the parry wasn’t strong enough to defend it.

Dante tried multiple methods, sometimes he would try using the hilt to parry the second attack, sometimes he would try his tap parrying, sometimes he tried  to attack after parrying to get him to stop his second attack. Gin was just to swift and agile. Dante, however, finally picked up on something. He had been hit enough times to know what move Gin was going to make with his second attack. He memorized the shoulder movements and motions, so he could generally predict what move he would make. It had taken him nearly two hours, but finally, he had an idea.

When Dante tried a counter attack after the first strike, it failed miserably. Gin simply dodged it and swept for his legs or stabbed upward. But that was the perfect thing, Dante had figured out this small bit of training. He stepped back and held his sword at his side and glared at Gin. He wouldn’t lose this clash.

Gin charged again, and made his initial stab as he had so many times before. This was it. The blood rushed through Dante, and he felt the rush he had the first time he sparred with Gin. This was the feeling making him feel larger than life.

The stab was parried, like so many before it, and Gin made for his next attack. Dante saw Gins shoulder make for a stab for his shoulder. Dante leaned back, and it was like time had slowed down. The sword flew past his shoulder and Dante made his move. It was a upward slash with his sword, while in mid dodge. Gin had seen it just in time to block it with his other weapon, but it was not the end of the clash.

Gin responded immediately by simultaneously pulling back his right hand stab and lunging in for a stab with the left again. Dante knew what to do immediately, but he didn’t know how. He dropped his sword down to deflect the stab to the side and used his free hand to grab Gins right arm, and the force of Gins stab launched him closer to Dante. Dante slammed his head into Gins to knock him back, but it didn’t hurt. Gin didn’t seem to be too affected, but he was definitely knocked back a bit. Dante didn’t let up.

Dante spun around, his sword high above him, and came down with such speed and power, it could have easily broken something it made contact with, regardless of the dulling oil. Gin smacked it aside and retaliated with his own slashes, which Dante was able to parry seamlessly. The two clashed together in a flurry of slashes. Dante didn’t know how he was doing it. Time seemed slower, he felt light and prime. What was this feeling? It was juts like the first time he sparred against Gin.

The fight lasted for no more than a minute, although it seemed like an hour, and Gin thought he had had enough. He made a double stab towards Dante's heart, which he blocked. From this position, Gin pushed so hard, it sent Dante flying and Gin let out a small grunt. Dante flew back, easily five feet, and landed with a thud, and the feeling slowly faded away. Suddenly, Dante felt ridiculously tired and sore. He just laid there.

“Well... That was unexpected.” Gin sighed. He said no more, except to tell Dante to go get Arthas. When Arthas came over, Dante propped himself up against a tree to watch.

“Well Arthas, it’s time for your unique training. Unlike Dante, you are the heavy type fighter. Your training won’t be fighting against multiple people, but yours  instead will be fighting a quick fighter. I will only use one sword, but my attacks won’t be heavy slashes. They will consist only of stabs and short slashes. Your job will be, of course, to defend and counter. your brothers time to complete a similar, and some would say harder, drill, was two hours. Good luck.” Gin pulled out his small sword, and walked towards Arthas. Arthas sat there, embracing himself for Gins first move. That is one thing that Arthas has learned well over the past few weeks. Instead of simply rushing in as he had before, he learned to wait back and assess the situation. This made Arthas twice as dangerous; he knew what he was doing.

Gin got within ten feet of Arthas before he started. He jumped off, and in a blur of motion, spun around and landed a what would have been a debilitating strike to Arthas’ ribs. Arthas fell to one knee, then stood back up and went to counter, but Gin dodged the overhand strike.

Dante watched similar clashes for an hour before his eyes started to feel to heavy for him to bear. He slowly lulled off, thinking about his training. What was the feeling, he wondered. Why can’t he control it, why does it only come up certain times? He threw ideas around in his mind, but he could never pin anything down. He tried, but he ended up just falling asleep.

When Dante awoke, Arthas was laying on the same stump, passed out. However, it looks like he completed his training, and he was just very tired. Dante rolled over onto his stomach and started to prop himself up.

“Up so soon?” Said a voice from behind Dante. When he finally got up he looked over to see who it was. It was Gin, and he was crouched down by a fire, cooking what seemed to be eggs and meat, ham if he wasn’t mistaken. Where did Gin get such food? Ham was expensive, and they never saw any sign that Gin was carrying fragile food such as eggs.

“Um... Yea... What time did you and Arthas get done?” Dante asked, signaling to his passed out brother.

“Uh... I think four hours was his time. Not bad really.” Gin said, turning over the meat. Dante couldn’t help feel a little pride that he beat Arthas’ time.

“Don’t get to full of yourself now, lad.” Gin said, obviously sensing his beaming pride. “I didn’t exactly go easy on him. It is hard for someone so slow to fight someone so fast. You were a fast type fighting a fast type. I told Arthas your training was harder to motivate him, while in reality, if anyone had a harder training it was him.” Gin said. He really knew how to burst someones bubble.

“Yea... Where did the food come from?” Dante asked, trying to change the subject.

“Well, I had the ham salted before we left. The eggs I bought from a traveler who based by not long ago. I bought some turnips too, if you want some. They are over there,” said gin, signaling to a wicker basket, filled to the brim with the root. “Grab me one while you are there, will you?” Dante did so.

He opened the casket, and pulled out three large, plump turnips. He figured Arthas would want one. He was about to walk away when a light breeze rolled in, and with the sun shining down upon him, it was in this moment he found a new found peace. As he looked over the grassy plain, soaking up the peace, he spotted something at the forest line. He saw, what seemed to be some people running. He tried to get a better look, squinting to make it out. As he did so, his heart stopped.

There were people running. There was a girl, running as fast as she could, being chased by no less then twenty armored men.

“Gin! Come here, bring Arthas, quickly.” Dante shouted, quickly grabbing his sword. Gin jogged over bringing a half sleeping Arthas.

“What is it, Dante?” Gin asked. Dante pointed over to the running people.

“Gin, those men are chasing after that girl. She’s unarmed, they look like mercenaries.” Dante said. With the idea of a defenseless girl in trouble, Arthas snapped out of his sleepiness. Gin put his hands to his eyes to block the sun. His face became very stern.

“Arthas, grab your sword. This is the real deal, we need to help this girl, she’ll be killed if we don't do something. Get the horses.” Dante ran over and untied the Zora, who immediately ran to Gin, and then untied Altair and Alonzo, and brought them over too. They hopped on and looked closer at the chasers. They wore black armor and animal furs, and had fresh bright steel swords. They looked like they were from the north. “Black Hounds.” Gin said. He kicked off, and Zora took off. Dante and Arthas did similarly.

Their horses broke out into a gallop, and the unsheathed their swords. As they got closer, the girl must have noticed they were there, because she changed her running direction towards them. The girl had long brown hair and white skin and... wait.

“Arthas! It’s Aeoa!” Dante yelled as they galloped even closer.

“Aeoa? Gods, what has she gotten herself into...?” Arthas yelled back.

“Enough chat.” Gin called back as they were less than 500 feet away. “This is it, the real deal. Get ready.” He was as serious as ever. He was right, this would be there first real fight. People would die here. But these were trained soldiers, and they had just started real training this month.

“Don’t doubt yourselves. You are both exceptional fighters, there is no doubt in my mind you will both come out victorious today, but don’t do anything risky. Stay by me, I’ll protect you.” Gin told them. As he did so he pulled out the two combustable crossbows and pointed them forward. Once they entered 50 feet, he released two of the arrows, which flew past the girl and buried themselves deep into the chest plates of two of the lead Black Hounds. They flew back, and Gin jumped off of Zora, who made a wide turn and ran out of the battle area. Dante and Arthas did so as well.

The girl ran behind them, and as she did, she noticed Dante and Arthas. Her jaw dropped, and made a weak ‘thank you’ smile. She ran behind to where Zora and the other two horses were. Gin threw the two crossbows aside and pulled out his iron sword. Arthas and Dante backed him up, their weapons ready. This was it. The men were no more than 20 feet away.

The Black Hounds yelled their war cries and made their move. Gin jumped forward, landing the first strike. A black hound made a slice, but Gin dodged it and stabbed him through the shoulder and twisted, dropping the soldier to the ground.

Arthas yelled and charged in, and picked out a Black Hound. He swung, and collided swords with another man, about his size. Arthas was apparently stronger because he pushed the mans sword to the ground. He kicked the man in the chest to send him back a few steps, and then picked up his sword and made a horizontal cut, slashing the man across his stomach, nearly cutting him in half. The man fell to the ground, pouring blood, staining the ground. Arthas just stood in the position of ending a horizontal swing. Arthas had just had his first blood.

It took a few seconds before Arthas charged forward for more battle. Now it was Dante’s turn. He started his sprint. He flew past Gin and Arthas, and picked a target. There was a man, rather large, about Arthas’ size. He had a one handed sword, but no shield. Dante ran up to him and made a stab. The man tried to deflect, but Dante was to fast. The stab hit him in the shoulder and he fell back, Dante on top of him. Dante scrambled to get off, and the man adjusted his arm for a stab back. If Dante didn’t do something, he would die here.

Dante picked up his sword, still pinning the man to the ground, and thrust it in his chest. The man stopped and coughed and went tense, but he was still alive. Dante gripped his sword hard, and twisted sharply. The man went limp. Dante yanked his sword up and stood. The top half of the blade was covered in the blood of his fallen enemy. Dante didn’t know what to feel, and didn’t have time to figure it out. A man came from his side and took a swing at him, but he was able to jump out of the way. He blocked the mans next swing and retaliated with a stab, and the man parried it.

This is what it felt to be in battle. The thought of death looming over you, and at the same time, looming over others with it. You had to protect your own life while trying to end another. The thought gave Dante a rush, but not exactly in a good way. His adrenaline was pumping. He started getting the feeling that he was light as air and invincible. Now was the time to act.

He clashed swords with the man and threw him back, ran forward and slid on his knees, cutting at the mans legs. The man fell to his knees, and Dante stood and slashed the man across the back, killing him. This was war. This is what he would do for the rest of his life. End others. He stood to look for a new target, but the rest were busy with Arthas and Gin. The rest, except for three running towards Aeoa. Dante had to stop them. He started running at full speed, towards them.

He saw Aeoa’s face. She was frightened. She had the look of someone who was staring death in the face. She thought she was going to die. Dante wouldn’t let that happen. He got a rush in him. One that made everything seem so sharp, so clear, but at the same time, so blurry. He could see everyone clearly in a slow motion, but his mind was only set on one thing; killing the men who wanted to harm Aeoa.

“Gin! Crossbow!” He said as he was approaching Gin on his way to the three mercenaries. Gin, without losing concentration fighting his group of soldiers, tossed the crossbow in the air, loaded. As Dante ran by, he caught it and aimed it at the soldier in front. Time seemed slow, he could easily aim now. He let loose an arrow that flew past the two running in the back and pierced the front mans back.

The two stopped and looked back at Dante running straight for them. They readied their swords and started running back at Dante. Dante had never fought two-on-one, but right now, he didn’t even care. He felt like he could fly, and he was going to use that to kill the men that threatened Aeoa.

The first man came up and tried to block Dante’s swing, but it held such a force that he couldn’t hold it. Dante’s monstrous swing knocked the man and his sword back. Dante was about to finish him off, when he remembered the other man. He spun quickly on his heels to find the man, but was met by a splash of hot water into his eyes.

It burned so bad, Dante almost fell down, but he knew if he did, he would die, so instead he backed off. Damn, he couldn’t see anything. He tried squinting, but it felt like his eyes were literally melting out of their sockets. They weren’t of course, but this didn’t make the fact that he had to fight two people blinded. He could barely have done it with sight, let alone now. This was it. He was going to die here.

But that’s when he got a feeling. It wasn’t like the adrenaline rush, it was more. He felt at peace, and free. His eyes didn’t hurt anymore, although he still couldn’t see out of them. But when he closed his eyes, he saw to yellow dots. Then a whole bunch of dots swirled and formed two men, the same shape as the mercenaries he was fighting. There were yellow dots everywhere now, making what seemed to be a landscape.

Dante could now see the men, or at least the y

ellow dot men. It was a weird feeling, Dante’s eyes were closed, he was temporarily blinded, but he could still see the men.

“What is he doing?” One of the men asked, scared.

“I don’t know, he’s... glowing? What is this?!” The other shouted. What were they talking about? What was happening to him.

“It doesn’t matter, he can’t see, kill him now.” As they said this, one of the yellow people started walking towards him. Actually, that was false. new dots formed where he was moving, while others disappeared, letting him know where he was going before he actually did. He raised his arm and another mess of swirling dots made what seemed to be a sword. He was going to attack him. He started his swing, and Dante could see the yellow dots intensifying, showing how strong his blow would be, and a trail behind the movement of sword.

He raised his sword and blocked the sword strike, causing yellow dots to fly out and rain down around him. Whatever this was, it was giving him some extra sense. It was enhancing him, not just by sight, but in every way. Time hadn’t seemed slow, it was slowing down. The man made another slash, and Dante blocked it again. He relaxed his eyes, his body. He had this, there is no way he could lose.

The man went for yet another strike, but this time, Dante countered. The man went for a horizontal swing, and Dante stopped it. Dante then slid his sword up the mans, with a quick raise, cut off the mans hand. He staggered back screaming, and Dante finished him off by slicing his throat. Dante just stared at the dots as the corpse fell to the ground by his feet. The dots started to dim, and the blood that poured out of him stained the dots a dark red. The tip of Dante’s sword was the same color.

He felt no remorse, no pity, no sadness. He felt nothing, but fear. Fear that he was capable of killing a man, and feeling nothing. He could kill like nothing, and it didn’t phase him. He felt bothered only by the fact that he wasn’t worried, but it didn’t change his opinion. Why? He knew he should feel sorrow, but all he could feel was a rush. The feeling that made him so powerful also made him relentless. He wasn’t sure he liked that.

The other man charged at him, confused as to what Dante was doing, or was. He came at him, and Dante stepped aside of the swing. This man was faster, and made multiple swings that Dante simply side stepped. He kept backing up until the man made a desperate swing, tripping over a rock and falling to his knees. Dante kicked the mans sword out of his hand, flipped his sword around, but his other hand to the bottom of the hilt, and stabbed the man in the neck. It didn’t even resist, it simply slid in. Blood shot out and covered Dante’s hands. He pulled out the sword, and the man fell to the ground. The little gold dots that drew the surrounding landscape started to fade. Dante felt light headed, and fell back.

He had just ended five men’s lives. As the feeling of invincibility left, a sudden pain overtook his body. Maneuvering like he did had put a lot of strain on his muscles, strain they couldn’t take, and it was all coming at once. He started to regain his sight slowly, but that didn’t change the fact he was in total agony. He felt tears in his eyes, but only for a second. Here was the remorse.

What if he were one of those men? Or Gin, or Arthas? It was to overwhelming to think of. He didn’t even know how he killed those men. He could fight, yes, and killing the first one was hard, but the last four... It was so easy, he did it as if it were nothing. Aeoa ran up to him, and knelt by his side.

“Dante, are you okay?” She said, feeling over his chest and neck for a pulse.

“I’m fine... Just a little sore.” He said, trying to sit up. She sighed, and helped him up a little.

“Do you know what you just did?” She asked.

“I protected you. I killed those men so they wouldn’t hurt you.” He said quietly.

“That’s not what I mean. I mean how you killed them. You fought as though you had been for decades. You were glowing a bright gold. You were blinded and killed them men in seconds as though you could see clearly then if you hadn’t been blind... You’re magyk aren’t you?” She asked in all seriousness. Dante was shocked, but speechless.

“Dante,” said a voice behind him. It was Gin, and Arthas was with him. Arthas’ sword was covered in blood, as was he. He also had a few small cuts, but nothing major. Gins sword was covered in blood as well, but he was clean as could be. He was a much cleaner fighter than any of them. “Are you and the girl okay?”
            “Yea, I’ll be fine.” Dante said. Gin sighed.

“Dante... We need to talk...” Gin said softly. Arthas looked cold.