Just as Declan and Murdock had finished shaking hands, Emily came trotting up to them. She ran to Declan and started crying into his shoulder. It took Declan a few minutes to get her calmed down enough to tell them what had happened. She had just started when six guards came into the campsite.
“There she is! Disarm her,” the guard leader yelled and then noticed Murdock and Declan, both of them armed. “Disarm them all!”
Murdock stepped in front of the advancing guards and was walking forward. He heard Declan pull his own twelve-inch machete and smiled to himself. As the closer guards attempted to split around Murdock, a few quick strikes to the legs caused the first two to fall hard. Another step and the guard directly in front of Murdock got his head knocked with the butt end of his spea
