Here's my first written assignment. I chose the 'My story' topic and did my best to endure the pain of writing in first person. Man, it's so easy to get carried away and start telling about the protagonist's emotions and thoughts when they're not very releveant at all. But I think that I fared well.
Ambush
I
always knew that he hated me, but I never realized how much. ”Drop
your weapons and we might consider sparing you two!”, said one of
the ruffians to my guards, who remained silent. How much had
he paid – or promised to pay – to these thugs? They seemed
well-armed and sober. I would've expected a scrooge like him to hire a
band of drunkards from the nearest tavern instead of hiring
professional killers like these.
Four men and women with weapons drawn had appeared and blocked our way out of the alley. Four more had appeared behind us. It was an ambush. Women were amidst their ranks and they talked with a crude
accent, so they were likely from Carthi, where many free women work as soldiers before starting a family . They seemed to wear no armour, but one of
them hadn't covered up his chest well enough and thus allowed me to
spot shining bronze beneath his coat. I remained calm, like a true follower of the Great Spirit, while my two guards lowered their spears and readied their shields. Ual was in front of me while Alenel protected my back. The thugs approached us, swords, spears, daggers and maces in hand.
I broke the ominous silence in the alley by asking "How much were you paid?"
"More than enough", said the woman who had recently demanded my guards to surrender.
He really hates me, doesn't he? Instead of poisoning me or bribing my slaves to murder me, he had hired a group of Carthic mercenaries. Attempting to bribe Carthic warriors is about as foolish as trying to walk on water, but my only other option was to perish, and it wasn't something I particularly desired at the time.
"Whatever he paid to you, I can pay more."
The woman smirked and turned to her companions. "Rac oreli lacona, rac ler", she said to them. They laughed. My attempt was futile.
"My master, I think we should surrender" Alenel said, his spear shaking in his quivering hand.
"Do not let fear overtake you", I responded. "Animals may fear, but the children of the Great Spirit must not let emotions control them."
"I just.. Don't want to die, master."
"Calm down, I have a plan." I lowered my voice so only Ual and Alenel could heard me clearly. "Alenel, hold them back and protect our rear. Ual, when they're close enough, attack. You will take them by surprise. Push through and protect me. We will then run faster than hares running from foxes."
Ual nodded. He was a man of few words.
"Madness", Alenel squealed, "There's too many of them. They'll kill us all!"
”Enough talking", said the woman who was apparently the leader of the mercenaries, this time
in a deeper, more threatening tone, ”Are you going to surrender or not?"
”Master”,
Alenel said to me, his voice shaking,”I don't want to die. Tell Ual
to drop his spear. Please.”
I ignored him, and instead looked at the leader and said: "It was a mistake to threaten a member of the Great Council, you.."
Before
I managed to finish my sentence, the leader made a commanding gesture and the ruffians approached us. Alenel whimpered, Ual gripped his spear tightly
and I drew out my bronze dagger. Nobody said a word. I swallowed and
realized just how dry my throat had become. I had always wanted to
laugh in the face of death, but found myself unable to do so when the
opportunity finally came. The Great Spirit must've been disappointed in me.
When
one of them was close enough, Ual thrust his spear at him, quietly like a hunter.
The man yelped, got the wind knocked out of him and stumbled
backwards. His tunic was punctured and the bronze beneath glittered
unbroken. A woman used this chance to leap at Ual from his left and
swung at his head with a mace, but he managed to block the blow
with his triangular shield. I prepared to stab her, but ended up
simply pushing her over. It was the guards' job to kill, so Ual finished
her off by embedding his spear in her throat. The wet, crunchy sound that came from her throat made me wince in disgust, but Ual seemed unphased. The leader and another thug,
the last ones standing in our way, didn't dare to approach us.
”Push
forward, Ual! We can break free!” I said to him in glee and glanced over my
shoulder in order to see how Alenel was doing. If he was still alive
protecting our rear, we could actually survive. But I was shocked to
see him thrusting his spear into Ual's leg from behind. He screamed
in both pain and shock and fell over. The leader kneeled down near
Ual and slit open his throat with her sword, swiftly and delicately like a surgeon from my nightmares. The four ruffians Alenel
was supposed to hold back grinned menacingly and seemed to be
unharmed. Alenel then looked at me with apologetic eyes, his mouth
moving but no words coming out of it. I'm certain he wanted to say
'I'm sorry'.
I
backed away, holding my dagger in my shaking hand, but soon felt a
brick wall behind me. ”If you're going to slay me,” I said, ”Do
it quickly.”
The
leader laughed. ”Don't worry”, she said, ”I was hired to
capture you, not to kill you. Racel, knock her out.”
I
whimpered and tried to run away, but one of them managed to grab my
arm. During my last moments of consciousness I regretted buying Alenel from that slaver, who did look like the man who had hired these mercenaries, the man who hated me..
Then my head felt like an egg thrown against a wall when something
very heavy hit the back of my head very hard. My legs were suddenly
unable to keep me standing and I was swallowed by darkness.
