AUTHOR'S POV
Like a daredevil casting no fear, Jac sprung forgetting the pain from his wounds. He ran uphill and tackled the sand soldier, taking them both down the ground. They exchanged hooks and blows until Jac took the upperhand shifting his massive weight under his foe on the bed of crushed leaves. Straining with heavy grunts, he poured all of his strenght while he pummel the life out of the sand soldier with his fists. He released his profound grief in every swing. Desperate to make himself feel lighter from all that emotions that bottled up to his chest when his dear friend, Atrius, turned his back on him. "Damn you, Atrius! Damn you!", he growled louder.
Jac's rage rose even more when his opponent grinned and sneered as if his punches were too light to take. Then, Jac wrapped his hands on the sand soldier's neck, squeezing his throat. He locked his eyes on him, who's choking and turning red. Thereafter, Jac's grip suddenly weakened, when a blunt force hit his back. With his eyes open, Jac fell face first entirely senseless.
"Well, well, well.. You surely can't take a man down, Raman", Talon sucked his teeth, taking out his mace with flanged and spiked head that was stuck on Jac's back.
"Talon!", Raman laid flat underneath Jac's large body, huffing and puffing loudly. He vigorously pushed Jac aside, and groaned lowly as he wobbled back on his feet. Spitting a bit of blood, he hissed as he brush his broken nose with his finger. "Ahh! This fella is really strong!! So, you caught up, huh?", he wiped the trickling blood from his busted brow with the back of his hand.
"I was told that the prince is alive. I just had to check", Talon squinted his eyes at the beaten up sand soldier.
"Yea yea.. They are at the tunnel. Heh. Looks like you have company", he flinched at the piercing pain as he trail his eyes on the men stripped of their armors, with bound wrists and blindfolded eyes lined up behind Talon.
"Knights. They got what they deserve for leading us in circles. Too bad some of them escaped", Talon clicked his tongue with dismay, as he make a side eye glance at Gallanthe.
"Escaped?! Ha! That's new!", Raman jeered painfully in laughter knowing that only imminent death is the ultimate escape in Talon's grasp. The escape of those captives is surely a stain in the great assasin's name. "Ya ain't so perfect after all".
Behind Talon's deadpan facade, he felt displeased at Raman's cocky insults. Such intolerable acts before him usually end with a dagger between their eyes. And yet, Talon chose to walk away. Raman's state of being is too poor anyway, he thought. "Let's meet the prince, shall we?".
Talon and his men followed Raman. Violently tugging the ropes that pull Gallanthe and the three other knights, they walked past the dead bodies whom Jac killed. Talon was impressed to see how precise the kill shots were. He was glad that he was able to get rid of Jac without shedding one drop of sweat. If not, Jacomus was definitely one to watch out for.
The suspense is killing Gallanthe. It was not new to him to be in the position of being tied up and dragged as a captive. Excellently, he finds his way out everytime. However, Talon's capriciousness smother his burning reprisal instincts. Deliberately, he chose to knuckle under. When he heard that someone will be leading the way to Atrius, Gallanthe felt as if his reality is getting thin. Talon's demand to be taken to Atrius was definitely a compelling proposition. The blade on their necks made them a complete fool not to decline to. With a condition that the prince's proof of life will call truce, they had no other reasons to resist. However, Gallanthe had something else in his mind. They moved around, with the ultimate intention of searching for the knights' tracks instead. Knowing Atrius is with Helena, Gallanthe wouldn't want to endanger the safety of the princess who's hiding under Stellan's skin.
At first, Talon followed their lead for a while. Not one word escaped his mouth. Chewing a kind of leaf that smell of lime and tobacco, he remained silent, and unbothered behind his pacific appearance… not until he started acting erratically. Pulling out his dirks and daggers tucked in the folds of his draped clothes, he threw them at anything that moves. Disturbingly, he licks off the blood as he grab his blades. A warning that Gallanthe didn't caught.
Ottis mumbled that it's risky to play fire with Talon, and insisted to find other ways to break loose from the assasin's clutches. Nevertheless, it was too late. Talon seemed to pick up the knights' ploy. He started shooting daggers one by one at the knights, right on the weak spots of their armors. He went on like plucking petals off a flower. The calm in Talon's dead eyes after every kill brought Gallanthe to his heels.
Eventually, a brief skirmish took place between bare fists and daggers. Talon just watched closeby, picking up a flanged and spiked mace half buried in the dirt. He was engulfed with whom he'd use it to. Such fascination didn't hold back a vile smirk that cracked his solid face. By chance, Ottis and two other knights managed to escape while Gallanthe and the three others held back the sand soldiers as they allow their comrades to flee. Feeling like a complete coward leaving the knights, Ottis turned his head to give Gallanthe one last look. He was crushed to abandon them all. He wouldn't want to leave them to die in the hands of Talon, and yet, Gallanthe's scowled nod and loud yells for him to run farther drove him away.
Gallanthe and the three other knights held the sand soldiers long enough for Ottis and a couple of knights to run off. They had a smooth fight but still, the brawl ended with Talon averting the chaos. The Viermese captors then decidedly had the remaining prisoners' armors stripped off, hands tied and eyes covered, which Talon thought it's what they should have done earlier.
While Gallanthe is being tied up, the great assasin trailed the tip of his blade across Gallanthe's neck, down to his chest. "You think you're smart, huh?The next time you make a fool out of me…", he pressed his blade on Gallanthe's chest, deep enough to tear his shirt and carve a line on his skin. "This… goes in".
Gallanthe kept it tight. He didn't wince, nor gave Talon the satisfaction from his inflictions. Whether it's an empty threat or an end-of-the-line warning, he thought that he should think of a way to breakfree fast, before they all croak beneath Talon's feet. And so, the march went on. Gallanthe was first in line of the hauled captives. His sweats continued to drip from his forehead as the stifling sun covers his face.
As much as he wanted to seem unflappable, the blindfold heightened both Gallanthe's inward attention to details and his fear of having sight deprivation. He doesn't know where they're being led to. Whether to a cliff, or to a dungeon of dragons, only one thing circled his mind… Get away alive. The roughness of the ropes stung him, as it scratch Gallanthe's skin while he try to loosen them. He then paused when he heard a loud thud, as if someone got hit heavily with a weapon. He clutched on the rope, when it seemed like another life has been taken. Things got more serious when the man they found en route will show the way to Atrius. He started loosening the ropes once again.This time frantic, and with desperation.
"Peace upon the prince of god's chosen kingdom", Talon greeted Atrius in highly manner. He have always been curious of the great wonders of the King's boy who lived many assasination attempts and trivial family horrors. Seeing Atrius now tells him how far he have become. The scars, and the scruffy hair. A woman in his hand. And the look of courage in Atrius' eyes. He could only hope that Atrius' is finally ready to embrace the crown.
Sitting beside Helena, Atrius looked past Talon and the band of sand soldiers who knelt upon him. . His eyes wandered, searching for someone else. "Where's… Jacomus?".
"Down on the dirt, Prince Atrius. Talon did him good", Raman uttered, slumping on the ground, tormented with the pain pricking all over his body. He scanned his unrecognizable face on the reflection of his blade. "That fuck!", he muttered.