The Heresy Within

Blades and Bandits

The knife Master Jeset observed the river, the waters meandering along their leisurely path, the foam created as the water surged over the rocks, and a fish struggling to find its way. Here in the forest among the sparse trees, all jutting up reaching for the sky with their branches thrusting in random directions, some growing downward to grace the Earth, some upward towards the hot sun, and others twisting and coiling, it felt peaceful, another word she often associated with anything in her life. Upstream, an eternal struggle against the current

about themselves here in the trees everything was serene she started walking again following the river Looking at its placid waters upstream, one may not think so, but a great distance downstream the river joined the Furious URL, an insane thrashing tangle of white rapids and currents that swirled in all directions at once. In the URL, one could be reduced in an instant to a bloody, sloppy pulp. Jezed had personally witnessed it, and while it was not anything she would like to go through, the sound of the river made her smile.

It smells good, not too loud or too quiet—almost like a thousand little waterfalls coming together to form one song. Too much pure water, pure soil, pure trees a far cry from the oily, rancid smell that came with larger settlements filled with waste, smoke, and animals. You know, if it weren't for the wild animals and sporadic bandits, a woman could almost make a decent life for herself. Jezet tried not to think about those things in order to focus on happier thoughts, but if she did dream of bandits, it would probably look like she was dreaming of fighting.

shame Though she saw something that didn't belong sticking out of the ground near a tree—a jagged strip of rusted metal half buried in the ground—she couldn't help but think that this forest was the scene of some ancient, glorious battle because it seemed like glorious battles were happening everywhere people went. Though she had seen plenty of battles, she hadn't seen one that was particularly glorious—in her experience, battles were always messy, painful, and full of blood. Nevertheless, it couldn't hurt to take a look

The sword Jazz moved in the direction of the antique as she stepped in front of a large oak tree. She briefly heard something when the tree blocked out most of the sound from the river, but she was certain that she heard something. It might have been a bird in the bush somewhere; Gods knew there were enough birds, but it's always best to be cautious—it's better to be cautious and wrong than careless and dead. She stopped by the ancient sword and gave it a poke with her foot; it was still sturdy but rusted. After using it, Zet gazed about as though looking for

She looked around for more artifacts, scanning the bushes and trees for any sign of the noise she had heard. Nothing made her more nervous than something usually meant something, while something had a habit of being nothing. She chose to walk away from the river, tightened the straps on her backpack, and began to move. This time of year, there were no leaves on the trees because they were all long since dead and rotting, making it difficult to remain silent should anything be following her. However, it wasn't impossible

Any other way, it sounded like cushioned feet stepping on leaves. All she needed was to be attacked by a group of wild dogs. What a fantastic ending that would be for Jesuit velern, torn apart by a bunch of mongrels in a forest alone themselves. Few would care or cry [ __ ]. A voice called out to her from someplace in front of her bandits emerged from behind a big tree, and ten paces later, a scrawny gray wolf growled at her from the man's side. Things could have been far worse.

He was tall and thin, with a decidedly unclean aspect. His long, greasy hair and stained, yellowish teeth were paired with soiled leathers for clothes. Why do all bandits have the same appearance? Is there a dress code similar to those elegant balls that the bloodthirsty folk throw? Though there was a rustling of some bushes to get its left and another man stepped, Jess had been to a couple of those balls and it turns out she washed up fairly good when she bothered to wash anything to do with a gorgeous face and full figure didn't win her friends among the blooded women.

She could have used a bath jesuit's side in her experience situations like these ended one of two ways fighting or [ __ ] and if you lost the fight you were going to get [ __ ] anyway two-on-one odds were dangerous no matter what the man saying to her was as unwashed and uneducated as the first. He smiled a yellow grin at her, saying that dog of use always sniffs out the best fun.

what circumstance you were in; otherwise, facing someone one-on-one is a highly risky situation. The man with the dog licked his cracked lips with a brown tongue. He thought of a clever thing to say, "Jess, do you live near here?" Ah, that's a good one. He then asked them how they liked their eggs cooked. She was alone when a voice called out to her from behind. When she turned to look behind her, she saw that the man was a huge, bald, black-skinned bear with beady little eyes.

beyond her comprehension; the odds were now three on one four if you counted the wolf, which she did, and Jezit liked them; she did not fight and run the risk of dying or [__], risking a damaged pride, and falling for whatever they were carrying. She was about to take off her pants when her right hand discovered her sword and sheathed it, to the second man's exclamation. Though the dog man laughed and looked at her, I liked him after giving it some thought. It saves me from having to hit him to get him going, so at least I know fighting was the right decision.

He wasn't mistaken; he was trembling like a heavy drunkard. The second man added, "I guess I could still cut her a bit, but the shakes always seemed to come on at the worst possible times. No chance of bluffing my way out of this now." With a sly glint in his eyes, the dog man responded, "Say what you want, PO." Oh, I'm quick; you went ahead quite a bit. Once more, the second man voiced his complaints. Jezet took off her bag and turned to face the enormous man standing behind her. He was at least maintaining a certain amount of distance, which is something you don't want to do, so she was delighted to be

The dog man was very smart; he roared and began to draw her short sword. Jazz took one meaty swing, then it dawned to the left and thrust with her own slim sword at the same time the dog man teetered for a moment before dropping dead before he hit the floor. Sloppy third, are you? she asked him. The dog man roared at her, seemed he had a temper, he gets whatever weight I want you say one more word and the dog house first, I'd prefer the dog to you good one. His spine and skull were now divided by Jesse's blade, which had penetrated his neck.

The dog reacted first. The beast leaped toward her, bared its teeth, and let out a nasty snarl. Jess, the dog squeaked as she turned and swung out again, slashing out with her blade in a wild arc. The dog landed and crumpled among a pile of twigs; she was unsure of what part of it she had hit, but it must have been crucial because she had never fought a bear before. The black giant had closed in on her and swung with a heavy Club, jeset dodged backwards and entered the second man's waiting arms.

He took one hand away and reached down in between her body and his jezet heard him fumbling with his belt buckle. Oh no, not a chance. She flung her head backwards and fell to connect with the man's nose something warm and wet splashed against. Tight too late she realized that her sword had slipped from her hand and lay at her feet. She hadn't realized how big the man was before one of his arms wrapped around her whole body with ease. Now I get to go first.

her hair, but the man would not release his grip. She jerked her head back once again, and the sound of crunching gave way to freedom. The man roared in pain through his broken face and thrashed, but Jezed didn't wait. She picked up her sword, rolled, and thrust. The big black giant stared in shock as Jezet reached behind her head with one hand and it returned bloody. The second man's face was crushed and broken, but this wasn't the first time you've washed your hands.

blood-stained hair Jessie Jesse laughed at him and said, "Yeah, talk to Giant why don't you you ain't gonna be live for it that's oh Jess." The giant swung his club menacingly through the air, demonstrating his strength to use it too. With just one hit, Jezet knew she would snap like a year old twig. It stated that right as the man swung for her, she fell flat on the ground while the strike whistled overhead. Jess then attempted to push with her feet.

get behind the giant, her feet slipped in the leaves and she went nowhere. A moment later, a heavy boot caught her stomach and sent her flying. She slashed out with her sword and came to a rolling stop next to the dog man's body; he smelled as bad in death as she had imagined he would have in life. The Giant smiled and took a step forward, but then his leg collapsed and hot, wet blood gushed from a large s***h in his thigh. He died in less than a minute, gasping and screaming until the very end.

There's only one place around here where soldiers would be headed, so Jezet wasted no time in searching the corpses; they wouldn't need money or food, but she did, and that's when she noticed that each man had a red cloth tied around his right arm; these weren't bandits, at least not as close as it came in these parts; go warn him, Jazz; you reckon you'd make it at least a week before coming crawling back this time Jezet stepped through the doorway, glanced at the heavy gate and the soldiers on either side, then spat into

Say it quickly, get out faster, save it, since the earth in front of her was staring a nasty hole through the man. Eric, my whole purpose for being here is—obviously—to locate some Yosh for you to ages. Though she heard creaking timbers and turned just in time to see the gates thud shut, Irex said with a dirty smile, "How about you get yourself up to my rooms you know the way get yourself nice and naked and I'll be up there soon to put you to use." It's not like I have the best of odds, but I could probably kill him before his men beat me senseless.

Seeing the troops laboring to raise the massive wooden crossbar; the last thing she needed was to be trapped in this dingy little fort once more to unlock the gates. The grin vanished from Eric's attractive face and was replaced with a frown. "Numbers don't know only met Scouts I didn't have a chance to question them too busy killing them," he said. "Jeset, did you respond to the question?" he asked, staring ahead at the chief of the little fort while he chewed his lip.

How far out he asked? I met them around two days ago in the woods, so I figure you have a day at most. Now, open the gate; I don't intend to be anywhere near it. Oh, I can't do that since there's a chance I'll be attacked by boys. The gate guards grumbled back and didn't show any signs of opening it. I came back to warn you, and this is how you repay me, Jesse stared at Iric. I never requested your warnings about anything, and Jesse never required any. Eric flaunted his large shoulders beneath his spokes as he spoke.

chain-linked armor, see? I could wield any sword, including yours, jazzIt turned to face the little square, where twelve well-trained and equipped troops were gathering, along with another three hundred or so in the fort, all ready to jump at Iric's command. She also couldn't raise the gate's bar by herself; she questioned that three of her could accomplish so, horrible odds jazz Eric smiled, "We got some spare in the meantime, so get yourself ready and help us fight off this attack. I'll let you walk out of here again."

Soon enough, I'll be with you, battle or [ __ ] Sometimes, much too frequently for Jess's taste, she was left with no option but to spit into the ground and gaze murderously at Iric while making her way toward the fort's clusters of buildings and his chambers.