As Lionel approaches him, he stares at him like a hunter looking down on his food, Lionel says to himself 'I may have been many things in my past but one thing i wasn't was a coward'
"Hey scar face, feel this"
Lionel clenches his right fist tightly and delivers a punch to his liver
The whole room goes silent.
Lionel's parents are surprised by the confidence in their son, Isabella's mouth opens taken aback with what just transpired
Lionel in the middle of the room with his fist still placed on the punched liver. Scarred man and his men suddenly burst out laughing. Lionel takes his fist away and steps back
The scarred man laughs so hard that he gets on one knee. This humiliates Lionel's self-confidence, 'What is this? Oh shoot I forgot this body isn't as strong as my previous one was'
The scarred man raises his head up and sees the scornful glare from Lionel. The atmosphere changes swiftly from a light soft tone to one filled with dread. The aura of the scarred man gets dangerous. Lionel senses it and attempts to run but before he can, the man takes one step and grabs him by his throat lifting him up
He begins to choke Lionel, his hands lock out any air from coming in, Lionel attempts to hit his hand but all attempts fail, as his attacks make the scarred man chuckle "All these baby punches… How weak could you be"
Lionel's father charges at the scarred man in order to free his son, as he got close the man brought out his sharp dagger pointing it straight at Lionel's left eye
"A step closer and you would have a one eyed disappointment"
Lionel's father gnashes his teeth, he steps back, calming his rage. The scarred man's sinister smile makes the whole room shiver, nobody makes a move, they are all waiting to see his next action
"Now that i have your attention, let me make the demands clear… You people didn't meet up with the new tax payment and why? Because you said you don't have enough money? Do we care about that? Fine you can delay payment but for delaying payment you have to be punished for you are inconveniencing us as you believe we are doing to you…. So we rough handle your sorry excuse of a boy till you can pay but then i hear the rough handling got out of hand and surprisingly he is all well and good. He even has the balls to stand up to me, no matter we will just leave with our guarantor until you can pay"
Lionel's mother screams out begging for pardon and her son's release. The scarred man glares down on her "Now I see where the weakness comes from…. But sadly my boss doesn't like that so no, let's all have a goodnight"
Immediately after he finished, the two men that came in with him were put onto the wooden floor.
Two huge men stand tall over them-the inn guards. They came just in time to help Lionel
The scarred man's face darkened, eyes flashing with white anger. He drops Lionel's body to the ground before he passes out from suffocation. Lionel coughs loud and hard, saliva dripping from his mouth, his vision getting blurry as he clicks his tongue and his face falls to the squeaky wooden floor
His mother rushes to him immediately, raises his head gently checking to see if he is all right
"I will leave you people for tonight but i will be back by next week and if you fail to pay up then i will gladly take my prize" The scarred gleefully says, as he kicks the two men he came with to get up and leave the inn
"Thank goodness you guys showed up when you did, even though i sent you out to find my boy you guys still made it back in time to save him" Lionel's father says
Lionel's eyes get heavier, it's harder for him to hear what is going on. His body gives in and he passes out
Hours later, Lionel eyes slowly open, his body feels worse than before, his arms feel heavy, his windpipe is badly bruised, his legs are numb
"I have never been so humiliated as i was today, this body is a mess, how am i supposed to get anything done like this. DAMN YOU!"
He rolls off his bed, falls to the ground and grabs on the chair by his bed to get up. He looks at himself again through the cracked window, he sees not his strong powerful self of before but a weak broken boy who couldn't kill a fly if he tried
Lionel walks towards the wooden wall of his room by his bed, he moves his right foot back, his left foot forward, clenches his fist tightly and delivers a straight punch with his right hand.
As he does this, he didn't affect the wall but he affected himself, causing a strong pain that went through his whole body, he screams and falls to the ground gnashing his teeth
"How am I so weak"
The night's cold freezes him up, he rolls up like a ball in order to make himself warm
"I need to get to my bed… but it's so hard to move"
Suddenly a gentle knock is heard on his door, followed with the response "It's Isabella, i heard you scream, can i come in?"
"Yes" Lionel with the swift response
Isabella comes in, with her night gown, she sees Lionel rolled up like a ball on the floor. She quickly raises him up and lays him on his bed, covering him with his sheets.
She sees the bruise on his hand, she leaves the run and returns immediately with bandages, wrapping it round the bruise "They're all better"
Lionel's eyes seemed to hold a world of pain, his face a picture of despair, he opened his mouth slowly "Isabella… Why am i so weak?"
"Don't say that, you are not weak, you are one of the strongest people i know and you have never let what you are define you but your actions"
Lionel turns his eyes to the bright stars of the night sky "You say that but you saw what happened today, what that man said, for a boy my age i shouldn't be this weak"
Isabella holds his hand "You may not be powerful like them but you have your own strength… Brains. You always told me 'Brains beat brawn' don't let anyone change your mindset"
Lionel's body goes warm from that phrase, he takes it in, he stares into the eyes of Isabella "Thank you for your support"
"I am always here for you" Isabella says
The warmth in his eyes fades as seriousness settled in
"Isabella, who are those people?"
The joy in her eyes disappears, sadness creeps in
"They are a group of bandits that run this village… They call themselves 'Axe'"