Jiro's Capture

Jiro stopped his charger on a small knoll, and peered back through the rain. There was very little to be seen through the rain swept night. The Daesh had been getting very close the last three days; if he couldn’t shake them, the Daesh raiders would overtake them tomorrow. The thunderstorm was their only chance to ditch them. He checked his two swords hanging off his saddle. Although battle against the ten or so Daesh following them would be doomed to failure, he wouldn’t not let her be retaken while he still drew breath.

He twisted in the saddle and looked back at the woman hanging onto him. She’d had been a captive in a royal Daesh camp two months ago. He had hoped to find one of the Daesh nobles, but settled for saving this young woman.

“Raven, are you doing alright back there?” Neither of them knew what her name really was; he’d started calling her that because her skin and hair was black as the birds he had kept back home.

“I’m fine.” As always her voice was quiet and her tone gave the impression that she was distracted.

“I think we may have lost them. The rain should wash away our tracks, I think we’ll turn southwest. That should throw them off a bit.”

“Whatever you think is best.”

He pulled the reigns and spurred Angelfire down the southern slope at a slow trot. At that moment, the southern sky lit up with a brilliant flash of lighting. Jiro’s heart sank as he realized his mistake, they’d just been silhouetted to anyone watching from the north. He looked back over his shoulder, there on a hill a little over mile back he could see the Daesh riders. As the light faded, the riders turned toward him and spurred their mounts to a gallop. He cursed under his breath and dug his heels into Angelfire’s flank. The stallion reared and broke into a gallop.

At the bottom of the knoll, he turned and began racing down the shallow valley, riding up the slopes would cost him too much speed, and he already knew the Daesh horses were faster than Angelfire. He could only hope their stamina was poor. The war horse had been ridden hard, but had always had exceptional stamina. If Angelfire could run longer than their pursuers, they still stood a chance of escaping. He raced around the small hills, until they came to a rain swollen creek. The waters were too swift to risk crossing here, so they followed it south.

Angelfire slowed on account of the muddy ground on the creek banks, Jiro glanced back, but the lightning withheld itself and he was unable to make out the Daesh. At times he thought he could hear horses behind them. Each time he looked, but each time he couldn’t pick out anything from the shadows. After a mile of following the creek, the ground rose and he was surprised to find a road and bridge crossing a creek. Jiro brought Angelfire onto the road and turned south. Although it was the obvious choice, he felt the extra speed the road would allow was worth the risk. Nevertheless, each hoof beat on the packed dirt made him more uncertain that the rain would mask their noise.

His fears proved to be well founded and soon he could hear the sound of several horses closing in behind him. He cursed and dug his heels into Angelfire’s flanks. The red stallion snorted and put on a burst of speed, but it wasn’t enough. The Daesh horses were still faster, it was only a matter of time before he was caught. The raiders began whooping as they had clearly realized that they would have their quarry in a few moments.

Jiro drew his long sword and prepared himself for the fight that could only end with his death. Lightning again lit up the countryside revealing the Daesh raiders less than five lengths back. Jiro watched the water roll down his sword blade and time seemed to slow. He felt a great feeling of loss wash over him. He knew he had lost. He’d lost his father and brothers, his country and fellow soldiers, and now he would lose his life defending a strange woman who did not remember her own name. He’d spend his life preparing to rule as king when his father died, by all right he should be ruling from the ancient fortress Caer Hael, but instead he would die apart from his countrymen in a far away land, alone with no one to bury him or mourn him. He raised the sword over his head and let out the shrieking war cry of the mountain guards. He knew the Daesh would kill him, but he would die with honor.

Angelfire crested another small rise, and suddenly Jiro found himself charging downhill toward a score of mounted warriors. It was too late to stop. Before he had time to do anything but bring his sword to a guard position, he was into their formation. As he passed close to them, he noticed their well kept armor and their spears, these were not Daesh but soldiers from an unknown kingdom. The soldiers reacted quickly, and began forming a defensive line, with the soldiers in the back of the column fanning out to the flanks and lowering their spears toward the top of the hill.

Much to Jiro’s disappointment, the soldiers in the center of the column reacted as quickly as their comrades. As he started to pass between two of the unknown troopers, the one on his right swung his spear like a club, right at Jiro’s chest. Jiro was able to bring his sword up and block the strike, but the soldier pulled his spear back and locked the spear’s cross guard with Jiro’s sword. The soldier was well trained in this aspect of mounted combat, and he very nearly was able to pull the sword from Jiro’s grasp. Although he was able retain his hold on his sword, Jiro was unable to defend himself from the soldier on the left who swung his spear in the same manner as the first.

Realizing that he would not able able to dodge this strike, Jiro tried to brace himself in the saddle. His boots slipped from the stirrups just before the spear haft struck his chest or rather it would have struck his chest if Raven didn’t have her arms wrapped around his chest. Instead her arms took the bulk of the strike. Even with Raven’s arm absorbing the initial shock of the spear there was enough force to knock Jiro back across the saddle and to knock her to the ground.

Jiro was able to keep his seat only by dropping his sword and grabbing the saddle with both hands. Angelfire continued forward past the two soldiers who both turned their mounts and lowered their spears toward Jiro. Jiro brought Angelfire to a halt and turned him to face the fight. The rest of the soldiers had continued passed them and had formed a line before the Daesh were upon them. It looked like both the soldiers and the Daesh were taking losses. Jiro looked for Raven. She was slowly standing to her feet clutching her right arm across her chest. It had to be broken after a hit like that, he needed to get to her but there were two soldiers with lowered spears in his way.

He pulled his great sword from it’s scabbard. It wasn’t the easiest weapon to use from horseback, but it was very useful for dealing with spears, besides that, it was the only weapon he had within easy reach since his bow was unstrung and his long sword was somewhere in the mud. He raised the sword with both hands and guided Angelfire forward with his legs.

The first soldiers lifted their spears as one and charged toward him. He charged in return, and then, just as the royal weaponmaster had shown him and his brothers over and over again, at the last second, he brought Angelfire sharply to the left while lashing out to the right with the great sword. He felt the sword blade dig into the first spear haft and then heard the wood give way under the mighty weight of his blade. The second spear was deflected but not broken, allowing him to get Angelfire right next to the brown mare. He turned his horse back to the right, rose in the stirrups, and then brought the sword in a mighty two handed strike right at the soldier’s unarmored face.

The soldier turned his head to track Jiro’s movement which brought his face out of the arc of Jiro’s sword. Instead the blade crashed down on the mail armor protecting the left side of the soldier’s head with bone crushing force. The soldier crumpled and fell to the ground. Although the sword was stopped by the armor, the force of the blow was still enough to break the man’s skull through chainmail.

Jiro continued his turn to the right when a sharp pain erupted on the right side of his head. The other soldier had just clubbed him over the head with what remained of the spear haft. Although his head was throbbing and his vision was clouded, Jiro was still able to see the soldier well enough to aim a thrust at the soldier’s right armpit. Jiro misjudged the distance slightly, and instead of hitting the leather armor under his arm, he hit the man’s chest. The sword point penetrated slightly into the chainmail. Jiro spurred Angelfire forward hoping that the force of a warsteed could push the sword into his attacker’s body. The soilder twisted and leaned back from Jiro’s thrust, allowing himself to dop off the saddle, only to catch hold of the saddle and hide his body behind his mount.

Jiro knew the soldier was still a threat, but he had to get get to Raven. The rest of the soldiers had formed a line and were holding the Daesh back. Although he could see at least one of the soldiers had fallen, their chainmail was far better than the Daesh armor and the Daesh would have to fall back soon or be overwhelmed. Then another band of Daesh came over the rise and into the fight threatning to flank the armored line facing them. The soldiers began to walk their horses backward, putting a slight distance between themselves and the Daesh. Suddenly, and without any order as far as Jiro could see, the soldiers spurred their horses forwards into a charge, plunging their spears into the Daesh horses. The Daesh seemed to be expecting this, and as the center charged, the Daesh rushed to the flanks. Not all the Daesh were able to avoid the charge, and six or seven Daesh were thrown to the ground as their horses bucked in pain. Before any of the unhorsed Daesh could stand to their feet, the soldiers brought their horses around and trampled the raiders under their horses hooves and then leveled their spears at the rest of the Daesh.

The Daesh who had avoided the charge did not wait for a second charge, instead they scattered and began making their way around the soldiers and back north into the darkness. The soldiers made as though to chase them. Jiro saw his chance, quickly he rushed in and began looking for Raven. He had lost sight of her when the Daesh had flanked the soldier’s charge. To his dismay, he could see no sign of her dead or alive. His heart sank as the relization sank in, the Daesh had recaptured her. A wordless scream of rage escaped his mouth and he turned Angelfire north to chase down the Daesh. He would follow these murders to the ends of the earth and fill the rivers with their blood and make right his failure to protect Raven.

But before he could start following them, he had to deal with another failure of his. The soldier he had failed to kill had regained the saddle and come up behind him still brandishing the broken spear. Seeing Jiro’s turned back, the soldier spurred his horse into a brisk trot, and bashed Jiro in the head with the remains of the spear. Jiro’s world turned black as he fell from the saddle and he remembered no more.