A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind)

The image of him stabbing Zarsha replayed in my mind again and again causing me to feel so white hot that I feared I might catch on fire and that would have been okay, as long as I consumed this man and took him with me. This unholy menace of an individual had to be destroyed!

He charged with a roar, as he had once before and I met him with an intensity that threatened to supersede his. I held him with a resounding clash of steel and then I began to back him up across the arena. The crowd was beside itself in its jubilance over the one of a kind spectacle playing out before them. No one had ever offered up such a challenge to the wild man before such as this.

I lost track of time and space. I knew only the next motion; I planned nothing, but fought and reacted instinctively. I was inflicting damage as a result of both my skillful fighting experience and the brute strength I was employing against my hated foe.

I hadn't inflicted any serious wounds, but the broken off javelin point in my left hand had left a half dozen jagged wounds in my opponent that were bleeding freely. I had not escaped injury however. I was nicked up almost everywhere and there was a deep cut across my left thigh that hurt when I moved.

I didn't care; instead I used the pain to spur me on to greater effort. I was winning! Suddenly something changed in the air around me and I found myself knocked backward through it. I skidded off the sandy arena floor several times before slamming hard into the arena wall. What had that been?

I lifted myself up off the sand fighting for air not understanding what had just happened. The wild man was upon me before I knew it and it was all I could do to deflect his sword while I tried to catch my breath.

Suddenly he swiped my sword aside and sliced my left arm badly. I dropped the javelin point and fell backwards trying to escape the next deadly swipe of his blade. I got to my feet shakily and continued to back up as I did so. My left arm was useless and hung by my side with blood running from it freely into the thirsty sands of the arena.

I prepared for the next assault as best as I could but it didn't come. He just stood there watching me. The cocky smirk was gone replaced now by a look of cold calculation. I noticed the javelin point I had dropped earlier in his free hand. He motioned towards Zarsha with his head and I glanced at her. She didn't look well.