章 4: The English (2)
I hugged Jeanne tightly but that didn't help the unease I felt in my mind. I had just killed a man without a second thought, when the hell was I able to do that? Nothing is making sense anymore, I should feel horrible right now but I don't, why?
"Are you okay Jeanne?"
"Yeah…"
What the hell is going on with me?
I grabbed Jeanne's hand and trailed along the alleyways towards her house, the sound of clanging metal grew louder and louder, my walk turned to a run as we drew closer.
"Father!"
Jeanne let go of my hand and ran past me towards her father, who was on the ground with a sword pointed at his throat. I stopped Jeanne and pushed her behind me before the men would notice her. The man pointing that sword was not alone, a few others stood by his side, one of the men walked inside Jeanne's house and came out a few moments later dragging her mother.
"You have my word that I will not harm you any further if you stop resisting and comply with our orders"
The man in the middle looked down at Jeanne's parents and withdrew his blade from her father's face as he turned to walk away. He muttered something to his allies as they split off into groups of two or three. One of the groups entered back into the house as the others began walking towards the other homes.
"Jeanne, who are these people."
"It's the english, they've been attacking other villages like ours for months, I don't know the details but I think it has something to do with the royals, my father won't tell me more then that."
That makes sense I guess, they're probably trying to take over the country starting from the top.
"Are my parents going to be okay?"
"Did you not hear then Jeanne? They said they wouldn't hurt your parents."
"You can understand them Jack?!"
Wait what, they're speaking the same language as you?
I turned around to look at her, and Jeanne seemed genuinely confused that I could understand the english men talking.
"Jeanne, they're speaking the same language as you are."
"No they aren't…"
Okay what the fuck, this is just making things more confusing, I'll just believe her for now I guess…
"Ahh, I'm sorry Jeanne, it just sounds similar since I speak both languages."
"Oh I see! You must be pretty smart if you can speak french and english!"
"I guess so, anyways what should we do now?"
Jeanne opened her mouth to reply but quickly closed it as she put her hands over her mouth and nose, at the same time a strong smell of smoke enveloped my nose, I looked up into the night sky and could faintly see a trail of smoke blowing up into the sky from the opposite side of the village.
"Jeanne what do you think they're burning?"
Jeanne took out a handkerchief and covered her lower face as she opened her mouth to speak.
"I think they're burning the animal pens, that's the only thing over there."
"Are the animals important to you?"
Jeanne nodded her head while looking up at me, she attempted to speak but her pupils dilated instantly as her eyes grew bigger, her available hand tried to reach towards me but my instincts were faster.
Behind me.
A primal instinct flooded my brain, if I didn't move right this second then I would be killed, as fast as my body could move I dove forward, I couldn't dive down as whatever was aiming for me might hit Jeanne regardless if it was an arrow, a sword, or even a rock, I didn't want her to get hurt.
My body launched forward as I grabbed Jeanne and fell, I didn't want her to slam into the dirt but if I flipped us over then she'd be vulnerable.
"You're the bastard that killed him!"
I heard the sound of metal clashing against the wall where my head had been moments earlier as I quickly sprang on my feet with Jeanne on the ground behind me, one of the english soilders had seen us I'd guessed, and from the stolen sword, the amount of time that it took us to get to Jeanne's house, and the blood on my clothes from the man's neck I'd stabbed earlier, it was pretty obvious that they'd found out one of their own died and that I'd most likely killed him.
"He was my friend you french bastard! I'm going to fucking kill you!"
The man thrust his sword towards me but I barely managed to slam myself into the wall beside me and narrowly avoid it but he reacted just as fast and started slashing my way.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck, move body, MOVE!
My legs pushed off the dirt below me and launched me at the man as in that same action I pulled the sword from my side, it wasn't as heavy as I thought but it was still wasn't something I was used to. My hands barely forced the sword vertically as it clashed with the man's blade, he was much stronger then me so my blade was quickly pushed back.
"You fucking bastard! I won't let his death be a waste! I'll kill you right here and avenge him!"
The man had his back to Jeanne as she stood up and looked at me with worry and horror in her eyes, I stepped out of the man's range and readied myself for another attack but to my utter shock the worst possible thing happened.
"Captain! I found the bastard who killed Adam! He's armed!"
Oh fuck, this bastard just called for backup.
I could barely manage to fend off one soilder, what the hell was I going to do when more showed up.
"JEANNE RUN, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"
I stepped forward and swung my blade down at the man who easily moved his sword to block it, with his attention on me Jeanne could get away.
Why is she just standing there, Jeanne you idiot! MOVE!
"JEANNE FUCKING GO"
She finally snapped out of her trance and turned around to run out of the alley back towards the center of town, I kept slamming my sword down on the man as fast and hard as I could so his attention was fully on me.
"I see, you're just an inexperienced brat!"
He blocked my attack with one hand on his sword as the other hand formed a fist and slammed into my gut.
I staggered backwards as the force of his punch made me cough and go slightly limp, I could hear footsteps behind me.
Fuck, his backup is here, I NEED to get the hell out of here.
As a last effort I took another step forward and swung my blade as hard as I could at the man, this time he had to use both his hands, in that moment I let go of the sword and charged at him, my body slammed into his armor and knocked him down as his sword came lose while mine dropped onto the ground. I was ontop of the man, but I quickly got up and dashed towards where Jeanne had ran.
"Not so fast you little french prick."
The man grabbed my heel and kept me from moving, I turned around and saw the other soilders looking at me, one had a lance and the other had another sword, I desperately kicked the man's face with my other foot until his grip loosened just enough for my foot to come free.
Shit shit shit, I need to get the hell out of here.
My feet slid against the ground, the english men were shouting something but I paid no attention to it, if I didn't run I'd die, that's all I knew. My feet finally managed to hook the ground as I darted off towards the center of the town.
I could hear the men chasing behind me but due to their armor I was faster, only slightly, but I could outrun them.
Fuck Jeanne where the hell did you go.
No no, it's better if I didn't find her right now, I need to lose these guys. I approached the alleyway where the man now known as Adam's corpse stood, I grabbed the remaining barrels and threw them into the alleyway as quickly as I could, it wouldn't do much but hopefully with their armor it'll atleast slow them down for atleast a second or two.
Shit that was dumb I should've just kept running.
The smell of smoke grew closer, I turned a corner and came across a building that had to be the church, I thought about going in there but there is no way I'd be able to defend myself, no one brings weapons into a church and I'd lost the sword I stole when I pushed the soilder onto the ground.
What if Jeanne is in there?
In situations like this a church isn't a bad place to be since its big and easy to run around in, there might also be a cellar or something to hide in.
My body tensed up as I grabbed the door and swung it open, inside the church was pitch black, but I could hear muffled cries.
"JEANNE ARE YOU HERE?"
Nothing
Whoever was in here wasn't Jeanne and therefore didn't matter.
I slammed the door back shut and kept running as the three soilders countinued their pursuit of me, I saw a group of six men brandishing farming tools for weapons, but their clothes weren't that of a soilder's, they looked like the clothes Jeanne's father were wearing.
The villagers!
"Help!"
I ran towards the villagers who seemed on edge but not hostile, they tried to speak but I didn't listen, I just ran between them, better they get captured then me.
"ALL OF YOU DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW!"
The soilder's orders rang in my ears as I kept running, hopefully they'd listen but it didn't matter as eitherway they'd bought enough time for me to evade the soilders' pursuit.
My legs slowed and my breathing got heavier as I ran into an open door which led into a home, it didn't seem like anyone was hear so I began searching for anything sharp I could use as a weapon, after a minute or two of scavenging the house I found a tool that looked like a scythe leaning against a wall, I'd guess it was for cutting.
I guess this is the best I'll get…
The scythe felt good in my hands, as a kid I had a plastic scythe I'd always swing around as if I was fighting an invisible enemy so it felt more natural then the strange sword the soilder had. I gripped the weapon tightly as I slowly made my way out of the house, my breathing was still heavy but it wasn't unbearable my legs could still walk so I'd keep moving forward.
I need to find Jeanne, those animals mean nothing to me so I don't need to go anywhere near that fire.
But… Jeanne would probably try to save them, I'd like to think she'd be smart enough to stay away from danger but I don't think she has the heart to let those animals die without trying to help them. I started walking towards the smoke, if I ran then I'd be out of energy before any kind of fight started. The air got hotter and my vision got more blurry as I approached the massive fire, I could hear animals wailing and screaming for help, but I could also hear the laughs of the english soilders as they watched, my eyes scanned around the area, about 20 english soilders were standing around the pins as they burned, some were spreading the fire to nearby homes and farms, they were trying to burn the entire town to the ground. Near the soilders were about 20 townsfolk on their knees with ropes tied around the wrists and linked together with one another, I didn't see Jeanne among any of the villagers, only her parents.
Thank you lord..
"LISTEN UP CITIZENS OF DOMREMY!"
An english men started speaking with the same accent as Jeanne, I guess the villagers understood him due to their faces turning around towards him.
"One of my most loyal soilders, Adam, was killed by one of your people, I don't think that is very fair, don't you agree?"
No one replied, everyone stayed silent.
"He was a good man, better then all of you dirty french folk."
What the hell is he getting at?
The man reached behind the cluster of his soilders and pulled out a short, golden hair'd girl, and dropped her onto her knees.
"My officers told me that this girl was associated with the one who murdered my fellow man, so I think it would be FAIR if she met the same fate as my fellow man, don't you?"
He looked directly at me, he knew I was there, he knew I was there from the start, he was fucking waiting for me to show up. I could see Jeanne shaking in fear, something inside me started to burn, my entire body started to feel like it was on fire, in that moment my body felt lighter but stronger, more agile but also more sturdy. There was only one thought screaming in my head as the man talking pointed his sword at Jeanne's neck.
Kill him.
My feet dug into the ground and somehow found the strength to move faster then I ever thought possible, within a second I had traveled the 50 or so yard gap between the soilder and me, the only one quick enough to react was the man I was lunging for, my body fueled with the newfound energy and the hate for the man threatening Jeanne's life quickly slashed at the man's head but he just barely moved his sword to block me, the sound of the scythe and sword clashing rang louder then anything at that time.
It snapped…
The blade of my scythe had fallen on the ground and all that was left in my hand was the wooden pole it was once attatched to.
"What the hell, you're one fast bastard I'll give you that!"
The man chuckled, he then grabbed a spare sword on his other side and chucked it at the ground below me.
"Pick up the sword."
What?
"Go on, pick it up…"
The second my hand moved to pick up the sword the man swung his sword down towards Jeanne's head, but in that moment everything stopped, my body grew even hotter and my entire body tensed up.
[Parameters Increasing]
[Caution! Dangerous amount of mana being consumed!]
[Parameters Increased:
Strength: F- —-> F
Defense: F —-> F+
Agility: F+ —-> E-
Warning! Body not suited for current parameters!]
My body throbbed with pain as I lunged towards the man at an inhuman speed, my newfound blade clashed horizontally against his and knocked it away from Jeanne, in that same moment I reached for his neck and gripped it as hard as my damaged body could and slammed his head into the ground.
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