Shadows of the Past - Part Two

Shadows of the Past - Part Two

 

It was surprising how forgetful I could be sometimes. I sat on the end of Piers’ bed and watched Martyn’s breathing as he lay asleep on the floor. Light poured in through the single window of the room and onto the Manhunter’s face, the Manhunter’s face. Because after all, Martyn was a Manhunter, and the man he hunted was in fact me.

And yet despite that rather important fact I was starting to feel a certain ease around the man. The man was supposed to be my enemy, but after that first night when we bonded over Piers and a considerable amount of alcohol I just couldn’t see him in that light. Dare I say it I was starting to think of the Manhunter as a friend, as my friend.

Suddenly he stirred and swatted at something near his face that had disturbed him, maybe he could feel my eyes resting upon his large nose. I laughed quietly as the Manhunter sat up and looked in my direction.

“Well what are you bloody laughing at?” he grumbled.

“Nothing” I shrugged. Nothing apart from the fact that you are supposed to be bringing me in for murder, and yet here we are, sleeping under the same roof and in the same room. It seemed pretty funny to me.

“Let’s go and get some breakfast already Manhunter, I’m starving” I said after a prolonged period of staring.

“Agreed, I feel as if I could eat a whole pig”

I laughed once more. “Martyn, you are a pig” I said grinning widely and receiving only a filthy look in response.

The aroma of fresh meat and the sweet smell of forest berries inhabited my nostrils as I stepped out of Piers’ room. The table had already been set with four plates, one of which Nick sat behind. He looked particularly giddy as I took a seat at his side and started to eat breakfast.

“She made me wait” he explained between greedy mouthfuls of food, as if expecting me to fully understand what he meant. “For you to wake up before I could eat that is”

He stopped and looked around cautiously for a moment, he looked like a scout inspecting the area for any enemies. “You don’t want to get on her bad side, she’s quite the b***h when you get her mad” he winked at me.

“Don’t think I can’t hear you in there you old fool!” Isabel yelled back from a separate room. “Age my have dulled your senses but my hearing’s as good as ever”

Nick recoiled from her words as if they were blows and gulped loudly, pulling a strange face.

“One hell of a woman you’ve got yourself there Nick” Martyn cackled like a madman.

Nick motioned for us to come closer and started to speak in hushed tones, to make sure that Isabel couldn’t hear him.

“Well I’ll tell you something! The day I asked her to marry me, that was really a special one in more than one day” he whispered.

“Well what happened then man? Don’t just leave us in suspense” Martyn said, leaning ever close to Nick.

“I planned it all out perfectly, spent the whole day with the she-demon and then took her out here to this meadow, it seemed romantic enough at the time when I asked for her hand in marriage but…” he trailed off at the end.

“But what? Spit it out!” Martyn said rather too loudly.

“But she said no, apparently she wanted to say yes but my proposal wasn’t good enough for her! Oh the nerve, if I hadn’t been so in love with her I would have taken her head off, I swear!” he shrieked playfully.

I knew even before I noticed Isabel standing in the doorway of the kitchen that she had heard him. Whether it was due to his age the man really wasn’t particularly good at talking quietly.

“The nerve!?” she yelled back, “If I recall correctly…”

“Which you women always do” Nick interrupted, looking rather smug.

“I might go and put my boots on” Martyn said, shooting me a terrified look and ducking away from the table. “There’s no way I’m getting caught up in this” he said pointing at the couple. They were obviously only playing though, flirting even.

“He didn’t even have a ring to propose with” she exclaimed waving her arms in my direction. “Who proposes without a ring” she laughed.

It was at that moment that there was a knock on the door. Everyone fell silent and stared at the large wooden frame for a moment, in a place like this knocks on the door would be a rare occurrence.

“Would you be able to get that Danny?” Nick asked, it was fair enough, I was closer after all.

“Sure thing” I nodded and rose to my feet while Nick and Isabel collected the plated and carried them off into the kitchen.

Unlatching the door I gave the lump of wood a hefty yank and it swung open to reveal two men standing before me. Both of the men had short brown hair and looked extremely gruff, that being said, the first thing I actually noticed was the sword that sat on each man’s hip. These, like Martyn, were Manhunters. It started to rain, although only lightly, it was still apparent to me.

“S**t” the shorter of the two men blurted out. “It’s him!”

The other man scratched the back of his head and looked me up and down slowly. This was bad, these two weren’t just any old mountain bandits, and they would have real experience with a sword. On top of that I had given Piers’ sword back to his father, I had no weapon, I had no chance of winning in a fight with these two.

“Now boy, you can either come with us nice and politely” the taller one said. “or, we’ll take you in kicking and screaming, or we can just kill you now if you’d really like, your call” he sniggered.

Looking around I tried to find something I could use as a weapon, the same thing I always did, but this time there was nothing to save me. There was no way that I was going to just let them take me though, with Symonds still on the loose answering for my crimes would have to wait for later. If only I could get a hold of one of their swords, maybe then I might have a chance.

Raising my hands into the air as a sign of surrender I stepped out of the house and into the meadow.

“That’s a good boy, after all, there’s no real need to hurt you” one of the Manhunters said as I walked between them.

Stopping about a leg’s length away from my two enemies I took a deep breath and then exhaled. At least if I died now I would have at fulfilled my promises to Piers, that thought put my mind slightly to rest.

I spun swiftly and jumped midway, smacking my leg into the stomach of the taller man and sending him careening into the wall of the cottage. Pressing my luck I moved towards the fallen man in an attempt to take his sword but found my path blocked by the blade of the other Manhunter which narrowly missed slicing my throat open.

“You’ll pay for that you little b*****d” the shorter Manhunter sneered, stalking towards me, his blade drawn.

I backed away slowly, making sure not to trip over myself or anything else while maintaining a respectable distance from my assailant. My chances of winning this fight were becoming ever slimmer, unless… If Martyn rushed out to my aid then the two of us would be able to handle the two Manhunters. Save for the fact that Martyn too was a Manhunter who was supposed to be hunting me, which meant that if he rushed out it would be to fight, not to aid me. On second thought, Martyn could stay inside right where he was I decided.

Now, quite to my displeasure, the distance between the man and myself was starting to disappear all to quickly. I looked back over my shoulder quickly, the cherry trees were rather close and I was about to hit into one of them. As well as this, the first of the Manhunters, who I had kicked was beginning to regain his wits and looked to be more than a little angry. Honestly I thought I was about to die.

“Danny!” the voice came from the house. I looked to see that it was Nick, and he was holding Piers sword… well he wasn’t so much holding it as in the process of throwing it to me.

The man was just as good at throwing things as he was with a bow and arrow like Piers, and I caught the sword as it soared over my head. I ran my hand down the length of the scabbard and felt its all too familiar texture between my fingertips.

“Just like old times Piers” I whispered, drawing the sword and aiming it at my enemies.

The two Manhunters advanced together and continued to force me back towards the cherry trees. They we trying to trap me up against the trees so that I would have no choice but to foolishly launch a last ditch attempt, and chances were that would fail. That and, between parrying the attacks of one and dodging the swings of the other Manhunter I was tiring quickly, I wouldn’t be able to keep it up for much longer.

The taller man was far more skilful than his thuggish partner and my ability to parry some of his attacks was surprising to say the least. I had come a long way over the years, from a boy who was trained on a farm to being able to hold my own against two fairly skilled swordsmen. Had I a shield I no doubt would have been able to defeat the two Manhunters.

None of that mattered though, I realised as between ducking a slash I saw Martyn charging out from the cottage. Once he joined in with his fellows I wouldn’t last long, and now that I thought of it even if I was capable of defeating the three of them I wasn’t sure I had the heart to kill Martyn anymore.

“Your little sword isn’t going to save you” the shorter man said, taking a short break while I continued to exchange blows with his partner. “And neither is your friend” he roared and spun around to block Martyn’s sword.

I was puzzled at first, but then realised just how stupid I had been. Manhunters weren’t a tight knit group of men who hunted criminals together, I mean sure, they all served under the same leader, but they weren’t all friends with one another. Martyn had nothing to do with these other Manhunters.

With newfound vigour due to Martyn’s arrival I continued my battle with the taller Manhunter, occasionally catching glimpses of Martyn in his fight with the other man. Both of the two were stockily built men and fought similarly, it was quite apparent though that while Martyn and I were used to fighting alone these two had only ever fought together. Although the shorter Manhunter may not have realised it yet, he was as good as dead.

I quickly returned attention back to my own battle, realising that I was but inches from a cherry tree. Judging my manoeuvre carefully I ducked under the sword of the Manhunter and pounced into the air and riposted his follow up attack. My sword struck home and speared straight through the man’s neck as I crashed down into him.

Yanking my sword free of the bloody mess I had created I looked up just in time to see Martyn finish his battle. Parrying a sloppy attack he slashed the other Manhunter’s knees before placing both hands on his sword to decapitate him.

The Manhunter strode over to me and offered his hand to help me up, I accepted it with thanks and Martyn pulled me to my feet.

“Thanks for the save Manhunter… Honestly I’m not to sure I would have managed without you” I admitted.

“What the hell was that all about?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

“I have no idea” I lied, over the years it had become apparent to me that the best lie is often the simplest. “I stepped outside to talk to them and they drew their swords without warning, if Nick hadn’t thrown me a sword I’m not sure I would have survived…”

Martyn gave me one of his classic dirty looks but refrained from saying anything further. I was certain that he suspected something, I was also certain that I had his trust to some extent, he wouldn’t question me further.

“You two lads alright?” Nick called out from the doorway of his house, for a second he looked just like Piers had in the mountains after saving my life. There would be no assassin waiting behind him though.

“I’m fine I think” I said, cleaning my sword by stabbing it into the ground. Sorry, Piers’ sword. “Just a little rattled I guess, you’re alive right Manhunter?”

He nodded. “Lets ditch these bodies, don’t want them dirtying up your meadow”

We took the Manhunter’s corpses deeper into the forest and dug the pair of them a short shallow grave before burying them. It should have been sad in a way that I had caused the deaths of two men who were, for all I knew, completely innocent of any wrongdoing. Honestly it just wasn’t though, I suppose even though Piers had fixed a part of me I was still even more broken then when I had left home.

After that we returned to the old cottage and went through the painful process of saying goodbye. Honestly I did not want to leave. Leaving would mean more rain. But I knew I had to go, Symonds was out there somewhere, just waiting for me to kill him.

It was right before I turned to walk away from his home that I realised Piers’ sword was still fastened tightly to my belt. Once again I undid the leather strap and offered the blade Nick, this time though I didn’t cry, nor did I fall to my knees. Instead I smiled.

“Keep it” Nick said smiling. I opened my mouth to speak but he shook his head and silenced me. “After all Danny, I think you’ll be needing him more than I will”

I extended my hand towards him and he grasped it firmly. “Thankyou, I’ll be sure to head back here some day and visit, if that would be alright with you?”

“We’d be happy to have you” Isabel replied from beside her husband.

I stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say to finish my goodbye.

“I best be off then” I muttered awkwardly and turned to walk away.

“Danny” Nick said slowly. I glanced back over my shoulder to see the couple standing together in the doorway, his arm was around her. “Stay safe, my boy”

“Likewise old man” I said, leering at the old hunter before walking away to where Martyn was waiting for me.

He lay with his back against a tree stump chewing on the end of a pipe that he often carried with him. Although I was yet to see Martyn smoke the darn thing, from the gentle way he handled it compared to his clumsy approach to other objects I could tell it meant a lot to him.

“Where are you headed off to now?” Martyn asked. “I mean now that you’re done here I’m certain you won’t be sticking around, you seem like a man with much to do”

It was only then that I remembered I had only stuck with Martyn so that he could bring me here, to the cherry blossoms. And now that it was over I could be rid of him finally.

“Does the place Hollowdell sound familiar to you?” I said slowly, thinking about what I was about to do. The Manhunter nodded.

“Well that’s where I’m off to next… and well, honestly I wouldn’t mind some company along the way if you are up for an adventure Manhunter?” I answered.

It was funny to think that just the day before I had been so infuriated with the Manhunter that I would have left him to die in a ditch had the opportunity presented itself. And now I was asking him to come with me to Hollowdell, the home of my enemy, not because I needed him to come, but because I wanted to him.

“I guess you don’t make for totally unbearable company, you can be alright sometimes” he jeered from his spot on the ground. “And I haven’t anything pressing that needs to be dealt with… what the heck,  I might as well tag along, hey Danny?”

“If you think it would be best Manhunter” I said. “It could do you some good to get walking and lose a bit of weight after all” I taunted back.

“In that case we better get to it then” he said, grabbing what fat he could from his belly, there wasn’t much there though. “What are we waiting for!”

With that Martyn leapt to his feet, running as quickly as he could down the track that lead from the meadow back towards the city, raising his middle finger at me as he did so. I supressed a laugh and headed down and after the Manhunter.

Quite unlike the path we had followed through the forest to get here, this one was not crowded by tree branches and roots. And after only a few minutes of running after Martyn’s silhouette I could already spot where the forest ended.

As I slowed down and took the last few steps out from under the green roof to Martyn’s side the trees started to peel back into blue sky. The white of Pandora’s hide caught my eye as I peered towards the city and I could just make out where she was tied up next to a brown horse that I assumed was Martyn’s.

It took the better part of a half hour to trudge our way back to the city stables and mount our horses before we were able to ride out. Hollowdell to the north-east, on the other side of the forest.

Also on the other side of the forest between us and Hollowdell were the so called Iron Plains and the Hills of Blood that bordered Hollowdell. Supposedly more than a thousand battles had been waged in the area, so many men had used iron to spell each other’s blood, hence the names.

I could recall from the story Rowan gave to me that my father had been in his first battle here. The battle was quickly one and the Barbarians were defeated easily, this led the men and their leaders too to believe that retaking their fortress from the Barbarians would be easy so they rushed onward. It turned out though, that they had only been filled with false hope. The Barbarians ambushed them and slaughtered hundreds of men, crippling the army and forcing them to flee.

I laughed.

The world opened up in front of us as we rounded the forest and arrived the Iron Plains came into sight. Quite similarly to Silvermouth, they were simply a gigantic expanse of grass and dirt, although only bordered by mountains to the west. Albeit these mountains to the west were the same mountain range that lay to the east of Silvermouth.

And instead of the green grass of farmlands the grass here was more a greeny shade of yellow, and rocky outcrops dotted the plains. It almost looked like a dying version of Silvermouth, or as if the area was lying dormant, waiting for the rain to come so that the grass could turn green and all manner of flora could burst forth. For all I knew though, rain was scarce in these parts around the spring.

“Any idea how far we have to go” Martyn murmured, staring out over the plains. He was probably trying to make out where they stopped.

“All I know is we head that way” I said, pointing a little to the east of the mountains. “So long as we head north and keep the mountains in sight to our east we should eventually reach Hollowdell”

Martyn leaned down to stroke the neck of his mount and started to scratch the horses eye ridge almost affectionately. My lips twitched and I mimicked the  Manhunter, scratching Pandora on the bottom of her neck where she liked it.

After a while he shrugged. “It’s a good a plan as any I guess Danny, let’s get going then, the further we are from town we are when we make camp the better, that way it’s less likely anyone will disturb my sweet dreams” he said with a wink before urging his horse onwards.

I laughed again and spurred Pandora on after him. The chances of me having “sweet dreams” were slim, but at least now there would be one less nightmare.

Reviews

[Alleyway Rover]

Overall: A pretty good chapter here. The Manhunters provide a bit of action and tension that the story needed at this point. I feel like you could have done more with it, though. It’s a good reminder for both the reader and Danny that Martyn is himself a Manhunter looking for Danny. (Which, of course, begs the question why were the two hunters at the door able to identify Danny immediately but Martyn hasn’t figured it out yet?) I think it would add quite a lot of tension if Martyn was starting to suspect Danny isn’t who he says he is and is starting to get suspicious. Conflict and tension are at the heart of every good story, never pass up a chance to add more.

Additional Notes:


“Unlatching the door I gave the lump of wood a hefty yank and it swung open to reveal two men standing before me. Both of the men had short brown hair and looked extremely gruff, that being said, the first thing I actually noticed was the sword that sat on each man’s hip. These, like Martyn, were Manhunters.”

Not sure why he’d jump to that conclusion. Surely Manhunters weren’t the only ones armed with swords.

“Save for the fact that Martyn too was a Manhunter who was supposed to be hunting me, which meant that if he rushed out it would be to fight, not to aid me. On second thought, Martyn could stay inside right where he was I decided.”

I understand all of this. I’m not sure how useful it is to rehash it like this. Of more interest to me is what Martyn is doing right now. This whole fight seems to suddenly take place in a vacuum. Where is Nick and Isabella? Where is Martyn? Are they all standing back waiting for this to play out?

‘The two Manhunters advanced together and continued to force me back towards the cherry trees.’

The way you started writing this fight, I had a picture in my head of this taking place inside the cottage. I’m not sure how when or why it moved outdoors. This needs clarification.

“I was puzzled at first, but then realized just how stupid I had been. Manhunters weren’t a tight knit group of men who hunted criminals together, I mean sure, they all served under the same leader, but they weren’t all friends with one another. Martyn had nothing to do with these other Manhunters.”

Theres a lot of these comparatively long explanations throughout this fight. In my opinion, fight seems work best when the writer sticks to the fight describing the action in short, clear and concise language. I feel that asides like this take away the urgency and the pace of the moment. In this case, we can find out why Martyn is rushing to his aid instead of helping with his capture later. Right now, Danny should just be damn happy he’s helping.

“Parrying a sloppy attack he slashed the other Manhunter’s knees before placing both hands on his sword to decapitate him.”

I’m a little fuzzy as to how this action worked. How did putting both his hands on the sword help him decapitate a guy right after slashing his knees?

‘“I have no idea” I lied, over the years it had become apparent to me that the best lie is often the simplest. “I stepped outside to talk to them and they drew their swords without warning, if Nick hadn’t thrown me a sword I’m not sure I would have survived…”’

I’m confused. They were all sitting not far from the door when Danny answered it, right? Didn’t Martyn see what happened?

‘“Well that’s where I’m off to next… and well, honestly I wouldn’t mind some company along the way if you are up for an adventure Manhunter?” I answered.’

Not sure why he would want this. Let’s remember, Martyn still a threat to him on some level. You mention earlier that he wasn’t pleased with is performance against the smugglers. So why?