Chapter 3
1259 Words
Three men stepped out from the trees.
They wore leather armor with a black scorpion mark on the chest. Each man carried a sword. Their eyes moved from Old Bo to Donny, cold and calculating.
"Old Bo," the man in front said, smiling without warmth. "It has been a long time."
Old Bo did not move. His body stayed relaxed, but his eyes were sharp now, watching every step the men took.
"Scorpion g**g," Old Bo said. "I told your leader I want nothing to do with your group anymore."
"That is not your choice to make," the man said. He looked at Donny. "Who is this boy?"
"No one," Old Bo said fast. "Just a lost child I found by the river."
The man laughed. "A lost child, out here in the Shattered Wilds? Interesting story."
He walked closer, studying Donny's face. Donny stood still, but his heart pounded hard in his chest. He remembered the fight last night. He remembered surviving. He would not show fear now.
"Boy," the man said, "where do you come from?"
Donny said nothing. He just stared back at the man, jaw tight.
The man's smile disappeared. "Fine. If the old man won't talk, and the boy won't talk, we will just take you both back to our camp. Our leader will get answers one way or another."
"That will not happen," Old Bo said.
The three men laughed. "Old Bo, you are alone now, no sect behind you, no name to protect you. Three of us, one of you. What can you do?"
Old Bo's hand moved to his waist, where a long sword hung. His fingers wrapped around the handle.
"You will find out."
The first man charged forward, sword swinging fast. Old Bo moved like the wind, stepping to the side and drawing his sword in one smooth motion. Steel hit steel, sparks flying in the morning light.
Donny stumbled back, shocked at the speed. Old Bo was not just an old man living alone in the forest. He was fast. Very fast.
The second man rushed toward Donny.
"Get the boy!" the leader shouted.
Donny's body reacted before his mind could think. He grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it hard at the man's face. It hit him square in the eye. The man cried out in pain and stumbled.
"Run, Donny!" Old Bo shouted, still fighting the leader and the third man at the same time.
Donny did not want to run and leave Old Bo alone, but he had no weapon and no real skill to help in this fight. He turned and ran toward the trees, his legs still weak from days of being sick.
The man with the hurt eye chased after him, sword raised.
"Come back here, boy!"
Donny ran as fast as he could, weaving between trees, his lungs burning. He tripped over a root and fell hard on the ground. He turned around just as the man reached him, sword coming down fast.
Donny rolled to the side. The sword hit the dirt where his head had been a second ago.
"You are fast for a weak little rat," the man growled, pulling his sword back for another strike.
Donny scrambled backward, looking for anything to defend himself. His hand found a thick branch on the ground. He grabbed it and swung hard, just as the man's sword came down again.
The branch broke the sword's swing just enough. Donny rolled away and got to his feet, breathing hard.
"You actually think you can fight me, boy?" the man sneered.
He swung his sword again. Donny barely dodged, the blade cutting through his sleeve, leaving a shallow cut on his arm. Pain flashed through him, but he did not stop moving.
*Think, Donny. Think like Father taught you.*
Donny remembered watching his father fight the guards back home. His father never fought straight on with big strong enemies. He used their own momentum against them.
The man swung again, putting his full weight into the attack. This time, instead of running back, Donny stepped forward and to the side, letting the sword pass by his shoulder. He used the branch to hit the man's wrist hard.
The man screamed and dropped his sword.
Donny did not stop. He swung the branch again, hitting the man's knee. The man fell down, groaning in pain.
Donny stood over him, chest heaving, branch raised, ready to strike again if needed.
"Enough!" a voice roared through the forest.
It was Old Bo's voice, but it sounded strange. Powerful. Full of anger.
Donny turned and saw something that shocked him. Old Bo stood over the bodies of the other two men, both unmoving on the ground. Old Bo's sword dripped with blood. His eyes glowed faintly, like there was fire burning inside them.
The leader of the Scorpion g**g was dead. The third man was dead too.
Old Bo walked toward Donny and the last man on the ground, his steps slow and heavy.
"Old Bo... you killed them," Donny said, shocked.
"They would have killed us first," Old Bo said simply. "In this world, that is how it works."
The last man on the ground looked up at Old Bo with wide, scared eyes.
"Please... please don't kill me," he begged. "I will tell my g**g nothing happened here. I swear it."
Old Bo looked down at him for a long moment. Then he looked at Donny.
"What do you think we should do with him?" Old Bo asked.
Donny hesitated. Part of him wanted revenge for the cut on his arm, for the fear this man made him feel. But another part of him remembered his father's words. *A leader must think carefully, not just react in anger.*
"Let him go," Donny said quietly. "But tell him to warn his g**g. Tell them if they come back, it will not end well for them."
Old Bo studied Donny's face for a moment, then nodded slowly, almost impressed.
"You heard the boy," Old Bo said to the man. "Leave now, and don't come back."
The man scrambled up and ran into the forest without looking back.
Old Bo turned to Donny, his eyes serious now.
"That decision showed me something about you," Old Bo said. "Mercy, but also strength. That is rare in this world."
"What did you mean earlier?" Donny asked. "About my father's bloodline? What are you hiding?"
Old Bo looked around the forest carefully, making sure no one else was listening.
"Not here," he said. "Come back to the hut. It is time I told you the truth about who you really are, and why so many people will want you dead once they learn it."
They walked back toward the hut in silence, Donny's mind racing with questions. But before they reached the door, Old Bo stopped suddenly, his body going tense again.
Smoke rose from the direction of the hut.
"No," Old Bo whispered.
They ran the rest of the way. When they arrived, the hut was burning, flames eating through the wooden walls. And standing in front of it, waiting for them, was a woman in fine robes, a cruel smile on her face.
"Hello, Old Bo," she said. "It has been many years. I finally found you. And it looks like you have a very interesting friend with you."
Her eyes moved to Donny, studying him closely.
"Fen Wei's son," she said softly. "Alive after all. Grandfather Fen will be very pleased to hear this news."
- Writer
