The Blades of Apocalypse

Chapter 6: A Chase Ensues

The Blade Wielder has finally left the city of Carcasa after a harrowing fight with the three bandit leaders. To anyone who saw the battlethat took place within the city, they would think that the Blade Wielder wouldn't have the anergy to stand anymore. Yet, he wlaks onwards to his next destination, the Forest of Shadows at the Southwestern side of the kingdom of Mayinkov.

It will normally take over three or two months to get there on horse carrige, but the Blade Wielder plans to run there. With his speed and seemingly limitless stamina, he'll be able to reach it in two weeks, even with food breaks and sleep. However he will need to address the matter of the man that's been following him since the battle in the city ended.

A man on horseback gallops towards the Blade Wielder. This man is the same one that was observing his fight with the bandit leaders, the one who followed him to the cantina, and has been following the Blade Wielder as he stepped out of the gates of the city. He has a darken skin complection like that of the people in the Mayinkov kingdom, yet he dresses like that of the Tistodra kingdom, a primarily caucasian kingdom.

Said man is wearing an ocean blue vest on top of a faded yellow shirt. the vest has gold, spiral flowing vine prints at it's rim. Completing his outfit are his dark navi blue pants, where you can see he is armed with a rapier fastened on his right hip.

As the man got closer, he started talking to the Blade Wielder. "H-hello, Mr. Blade Wielder." the man greeted the Blade Wielder. "My name is Jinbu Pakesh. May I speek with you for a momment?" he introduced himself. The Blade Wielder just ignored him and started running.

Jinbu chased after the Blade wielder for almost an hour, but even with his horse, he is only barely able to keep up. Knowing that his horse might get tired soon, Jinbu pushed his horse to over take the Blade Wielder. Jinbu somehow managed to over take the Blade Wielder and cut him off.

"Please. I just want to talk." Jinbo told the Blade Wielder. "Alright, talk. Why have you been following me?" The Blade Wielder asked.

"S-so, you noticed." he bashfully replied. "Well, I'm a novelist you see, and I came all the way from Kidetch, a City within the Tistodra kingdom, to ask you about the teachings of the guardian monks of the Obsidian Castle." He continued.

"There's nothing to tell." The Blade Wielder answers. "The only thing to know is that the castle is a place of death, and that the only thing the monk teaches is how to fight." He continued. "There has to be more." Jinbu pushed. "Like the tale of how prince Vintry defeated the Dark God Zormonth. No one truely knows how they both fell. Surely you and the guardian monks would have knowledge of it, given that you've all lived there all these years." Jindu continued.

The Blade Wielder fell silent for a momment from what Jinbu asked, but replied to him after the momment passed. "You're wasting my time asking these question when you and I both know that Tistodra is the mecca for the church of Vintry." the Blade Wielder said. "Isn't it blasphemous to question there are other teaching of the history of the world other than the church?" The Blade Wielder added.

"I-it's not like that. I'm a loyal follower of the church, I truly am." Jinbu stated. "It's just that... Deep down, I feel that there's just something missing in the stories. To not know how the hero and the villain truly perished seems off. Even the holly texts only speak of posibilities and no finality. I know there's more to it." He continued.

For a momment, the expression on the Blade Wielder's face softened from Jinbu's words. However, He regained his composure and said "I've heard enough. Just get out of my." to Jinbu.

Jinbu can tell that the Blade Wielder is avoiding his questions and pressed on with him saying "You Do know more then what the legends say, don't you?" Unwilling to entertain Jinbu's questions, the Blade Wielder started to walk pass the persistant man.

Jinbu, however, did the unthinkable. He got off his horse, drew his sword, and challenged the Blade Wielder. "You might want to put that away, novelist." The Blade Wielder scoffed at Jinbu. "No." Jinbu replied. "I came here for answers, and I'm not leaving empty handed." Jinbu stated.

"You've seen first hand what I can do. Are you willing to die for a stupid story?" The Blade Wielder asked the novelist. "If I can't get to finish this book, then yes, I'd rather die." The defiant novelist stated, either bravely or stupidly. 

"Do you even know how to use that properly?" The Blade Wielder mocked. Yet the Blade Wielder knows full well that Jinbu can use a sword. Jinbu is using the Criyata method. A famous fencing style in Tistodra. Jinbu's foot placement is solid. His back is arched properly, and his grip is firm yet his wrist is loose, perfect for lunging attacks.

After the insult, Jinbu lunged at the Blade Wielder aiming his sword at the Blade WIelder's shoulder. The Blade Wielder easily dodged Jinbu's attack, the Blade Wielder knowing full well that Jinbu wasn't really trying to fatally wound him.

The Blade Wielder proceeded to avoid all the following strikes Jinbu lauched at him. The Blade Wielder recognized the Jinbu is a little more skilled in fighting than the foot soldiers he slaughtered in Carcasa, yet far from the level of Dearik or Nirros.

Now satisfied is gauging Jinbu's skills, The Blade Wielder avoided the persistant man's last swipe and kicked his left rib cage. Jinbu doubled over in pain, holding his left side as he writhe in the middle of the dirt road. Jinbu's horse stirred in anger, but couldn't do anything out of fear of the Blade Wielder because of animal instincts.

The Blade Wielder turns to leave Jinbu in his sorry state, but as he steps away, he feels a strong tugging on his left leg. Jinbu has grabbed the Blade Wielder's left pant leg and refuses to let go. "I.. need to... know." Jinbu said to the Blade Wielder.

The Blade Wielder briefly considered kicking Jinbu in the face to knock him out, but for some reason he felt remorse and pity towards the man faced down on the road. Insted of assaulting Jinbu, The Blade Wierlder tought of a new way to get rid of the man.

"Alright. Tell you what." The Blade Wielder said. "Are you really willing to do anything to know what I know?" The Blade Wielder continued. "Yes. Of course." Jinbu replied. "Then, let's have a contest." The Blade Wielder tells Jinbu. "Contest? W-what kind of contest?" Jinbu puzzledly asked. "Do you see that big rock over there?" The Blade Wielder asked Jinbu. "Yes." Jinbu answered as he starts to get up. "We'll have a race." The Blade Wielder said. "Me on foot, and you on your horse. If I win, you leave me alone and I'll be on my way. If you win..." Jinbu cut's him off and said " If I win, I can join you in your journey and ask you any question I have." "... Sure." The Blade Wielder answered.

The two agreed to each other's terms and prepared for their race. Jinbu got on his horse and the Blade Wielder lined up next to them on the right side of the road. Jinbu flicked a pebble on to the road. They'll start the race once the pebble hit the ground.

Once the pebble dropped, they're off. The rock they are were suppose to reach is about three hundred yards away, and the Blade Wielder is confident that he can beat Jinbu and his horse. Only, this was no mere saddle back horse. Jinbu unknowingly bought the legendary race horse, Cannonball.

It was nine years ago when Cannonball ran his first race, and from that day on he never faced defeat. No matter what race he ran, be it flat race, steeplechasing, or endurance racing, Cannonball won them all. His jockey was a man named Yogish, a talented rider and Cannonball's best friend. Tragedy struck however, as Yogish died from a fight with a rival jockey. That was two years ago. From that day on, Cannonball never let anyone ride him ever again.

No matter who tried to re-train him and what methodes they used, the once champion of the tracks never raced again. Yogish's father thought of selling him to a slaughter house, but he knew if he did, his son would hount him from beyond the grave. So he kept Cannonball along with the horses he sells in Carcasa.

On the day the Blade Wielder fought the bandits Yogish's father, Armit wanted to close the farm early, but thought that visitors that might need to flee from the chaos would buy some horses for a quick getaway. It was on this day the Armit got the surprise of his life.

Jinbu came to Armit's farm looking for a fast horse, and as Armit laid eyes upon Jinbu, his heart almost jump out of his chest. Jinbu is a spliting image of his late son Yogish. From this momment, he realized why he never got rid of Cannonball.

Armit escorted Jinbu in the stables and led him to the one that has the fastest horse in all the kingdoms. Cannonball was resting in his stable when Armit called for him. As Cannonball looked up, he saw a face he thought he would never see again. Cannonball neighed out of happiness and nibbled and licked Jinbu to show his affection. Armit looked at the two, knowing that today is the birth of the fastest riding team in the world.

The race proceeds and the Blade Wielder is surprised to find that the horse is not only keeping up, but is a bit faster than him. The race is neck and neck as the Blade Wielder pushed himself to take the lead. "If I didn't use so much power earlier, I can beat this horse" The Blade Wielder thought to himself. He knew these thought were mere excuses, fore this animal is the fastest thing he has ever seen run.

Jinbu and Cannonball are a good team. Jinbu's sword instructor also taught him how to ride a horse and was quite adept to it. As the racers near the finish line, they push them selves to their limits until they seemingly colided with the rock they were desperately heading for, an explotion of dust obscuring who made it first.

As the dust settled, we see that both the Blade Wielder's hands and the hooves of Cannonball's front legs are touching the rock. "Haah... Haah.. I won." The Blade Wielder declared. "No. You and I both know it was a tie." Jinbu said while stroking Cannonball's neck. Cannonball neighing in happiness.

The Blade Wielder knows that what Jinbu says is true. Both him and the horse did touch the rock at the same time, but he doesn't want to repeat the race anymore as he has pushed himself more than what he thought he needed to.

As they were about to argue more, they hear a commotion from beyond the trees. They followed the sounds and found a clearing with a cliff with a steep slope about eight meters deep. At the bottom of the cliff, they see a carriage being attacked by bandits.

A Woman and her two little sons are being robbed by bandits who doesn't look like they came from any of the bandit gangs that they encountered in Carcasa. The six bandits were armed with short swords which brandish infront of the small family they are robbing.

The mother tries to fend off the assailants with a knife, to which the bandit just laughed at. "We have to get down there and help them." Jinbu proclaimed, obviously offended by the sight. "There's no need for us to go down there." The Blade Wielder said, seemingly ignoring the people that are desparately needing help.

Shocked by what he heared from the Blade Wielder, Jinbu angrily blurted out "How can you say that? Those people are in danger, and you're not even giong to try and go down there to help?" "Again, there's no need to go down there." The Blade Wielder reiterated in a monotoned voice.

Boiling with rage, Jinbu got on his horse and bravely slid down the rocky cliffside to help the family in distress. The surprised Blade Wielder turned and said "Wait." but Jinbu is already half way down.

The Bandits were a bit startled by the arrival of a man on horseback diving down on to them. Jinbu and Cannonball managed to knock one of the bandits out from their descent, and afterwards the young novelist drew his sword. The closes bandit tried to cut Jinbu, but the dashing would be hero avoided the attack and disarmed his attacker.

After taking down the bladed bandit, he reapeted the action on two more of them in the same manner. The last two bandits scrambled and took the two children from their mother, one of the bandits kicking her in the process.

With the two boys as hostage, one of the bandits orders Jinbu to throw his sword away, the mother of the children crying hesterically."Alright. I'm putting my sword down." Jinbu said calmly. "Just let the boys go" he continued.

Before he could let his sword go, however, four rocks shot right at the bandits. Two of the rocks hit the swords of the bandits disarming them, while the next two hit their heads, knocking them out.

With a befuddled look on his face, Jinbu glanced up on the cliff to find the Blade Wielder doing a throwing posture. With a somewhat smug expression on his face, the Blade Wielder shouted "I told you we didn't need to come down there." at Jinbu.