Birdsong - Chapter 7

"Hiyaaaa!!"

Matt felt the knife scratch his throat and then heard how it fell to the ground. Somewhere behind him he heard the man swear. He tried to focus his eyes and saw blood on the ground.It's my blood. Someone laughed behind him. Matt turned.

At first he didn't understand what he was seeing. The tall man dressed in black was bleeding from several wounds and fighting with two long daggers. He swore each time he made a move towards his opponent. The opponent danced around him laughing, avoiding his knifes almost every time. As they fought and moved Matt suddenly caught a good glimpse of the person who had saved his life. He gasped. It was a girl.

She was short with a long white blond braid. She had e few cuts, no deep ones, but didn't seem to feel them. She spun around and jumped, blocked one of the tall man's daggers with one of her own, ducked under the other and slashed out at his legs. Once, twice she avoided his daggers and made cuts of her own. The third time she ducked Matt saw how a black clothed knee hit her hard in the face. She retreated a few steps and spit out some blood.

"That hurt", she said and gave the man a red smile. "And you," she turned to Matt, "you were pathetic. But..." She was abruptly cut off by the next attack. "Let's chat later."

Who is this girl? She can't be more than fifteen and with that amount of skill...

The fighting went on. However good the girl was she wasn't as strong or as experienced as the man. Before she had had the element of surprise on her side but now she was loosing her ground. Suddenly one of her daggers flew from her hand and she had fallen to the ground. The man was over her, pressing her to the ground. She desperately tried to make him incapable of using his knifes, but her struggle was doomed to fail.

She saved my life.

Matt saw how blood poured out from beneath his hands. Underneath him the man collapsed. The knife that had been against Matts throat has buried deep between the shoulder blades. Matt draw a deep breath. The sun warmed his neck. He heard voices but couldn't make out the words. One part of his brain was telling him to get away. The other, stronger part, didn't know what to do.

"I would love to be able to breath, so if you're not too busy doing nothing, get off."

Then Matt realized that the girl was under the dead man. He moved quickly and pushed the body away from her.

"Thanks", he said.

She was covered in blood, most of it not her own, but seemed to be in good shape.

"It was nothing. Any day. By the way, I think the guards are coming. Depending on their mood we could go to prison or be heroes of this part of town. I don't know about you but risking going to prison isn't something I can afford." She gave him a smile (which looked rather grotesque whit the blood covering half her face). "Run."

And then she was on her feet, leaving him behind. He looked around. The body lay in a pool of blood. One end of the alley they were in was blocked by people watching. He heard how someone asked what was going on and how somebody asked where the guards were. Nobody seemed to

want to interfere though. Thank god. Then he heard the sound of guards hurrying down the street. They would arrive any second and push through the crowd. Matt ran.

The girl had already disappeared down the alley. Then he came out on some backstreet and saw how she climbed up onto a roof a few houses to the left. He ran towards her and saw her disappear. Shouts from the guards echoed around him. They had found the body.

Soon he reached the place where the girl had climbed. He looked around. The guards hadn't come to this street yet. He started to climb. Damn. It's been too long since I've done this.When he finally came up onto the roof some of the tension in his body vanished.

"You made it. I almost thought your mind had shut down."

The girl stood before him, a bit higher up on the roof. She was still smiling.

"We're safer here on the rooftops but we're too close to the edge. No time to rest, stranger. I know a good place. Follow me."

She turned and started moving before he could answer. Who is that girl?

With a sigh he stood up and hurried after her. Behind him the guards was searching the streets and alleys for the victim and the mysterious saviour the people already were telling stories about.

~

The human's total ignorance of the danger Velcan had known was following them had made him moody. When they finally had reached the outskirts of The City of East Shore CastleVelcan had decided to leave the human and by himself try to find out who was following them.

He had turned and followed a group of people walking in the opposite direction. By walking back the way he and Matt had come he'd hoped to see something but he was disappointed. After e few hours his head had been spinning of seeing too many faces and too much thinking and being aware.

"I need to clear my mind..." he'd mumbled.

"I can help you with that."

Everything had gone black.

Now he was sitting on a rooftop in the city feeling miserable. I wonder if he's made it to the castle already. Somewhere north of him he heard guards shouting. He shivered. I might have lost him, but he will go to the castle and so must I, "there is one person you need to find. This human is to be found near the king himself".

He stood up. The sun was still shining warm but the winds of autumn were blowing. Even though he'd reached the city there were still at least half a days journey to the castle. Velcen turned east. The castle towered over the city and beyond the sea stretched out to the horizon.

I can't fail this mission.