"And they say we can only avoid confrontation with the enemy,
if he forgets his evil ways and learns to love us."
if he forgets his evil ways and learns to love us."
On that day, the peace in the Essalonian village was not going to last. Some people had learned that Rodrigo Peirgarten is alive, and arranged for bandits and brigands to enter the village and finish the job. Unaware of the danger awaiting them, the villagers had gone on their daily doings, while Rodrigo made himself comfortable amongst his new populace, meeting people and making new friends. It was not difficult for him to involve himself with Northern society. But at this point, Rodrigo had retained enough of his memories to be well aware of what kind of pain he caused to these families. He had fully come to recognize his campaigns against the Northerners, against the Viduggla, and the brutal massacres that he had ordered. With every hand he shook in the village, more guilt began to set in his mind. He did not deserve the kindness of these people, that he knew. He wanted to be accepted by them, not as a supposedly random traveler but as Rodrigo Peirgarten; though he knew that such would be impossible. He knew that, if these Northern villagers had any clue who Rodrigo is, the smiles on their faces and their kind words would quickly begin to evaporate.
Rodrigo had gone to find the shop vendors that day. His gypsy companion had run out of cooking ingredients and was too occupied with homely arrangements to obtain them by herself. While Rodrigo was on the path to the shopping district, sudden screamings and shouts stole away his attention. Before he could even acknowledge what was going on, he saw a building across, aflame, its rooftops burning off and the wood beginning to fall apart, and men and women running away from the area while crying out for their lives. He heard shouting from the rear side, immediately turning out to spot a group of brigands making their entry into the village, thrusting and shoving innocents away, their eyes dead set on Rodrigo. The village was under siege and was quickly being destroyed, with a threat worth recognizing. Rodrigo knew that it was his life they had come for, and because of that, even if unintentionally, Rodrigo had risked everybody else's lives in this village. If Rodrigo was not here, then the village would not be attacked, and these people would not have to suffer. His existence brought these villagers pain. It won't be like this, he told himself. He reached for the handle of his blade. He dashed forward while whipping his sword free of its scabbard and swinging it overhead before bringing it down towards an approaching enemy, who clashed his own blade against the attack and therefore stopped it. But Rodrigo was no new blood to fighting, and as the blades slammed into each other, he managed to direct the crossguard of his blade into the bandit's face, thus knocking him back into a distance. He used the opening to swipe his blade across the targets stomach, spilling his guts out. He quickly assessed the situation, finding himself surrounded just like he had been before his 'death'. He managed to spare some quick glances into the nearing fields, noticing that while the bandits were surrounding Rodrigo, some of their men were tormenting the villagers and setting more buildings aflame. It was surely certain that they did not only come for Rodrigo, but they came also for the village itself and were not going to leave until there was no longer a village standing here in this region.
He knew that he stood no chance, outnumbered eight to one. He pointed his blade towards the direction with the least amount of targets and then charged. His intention was not to cut them down but to make space for himself to flee their surrounding. Two men came slashing for him from two sides, but Rodrigo was able to escape one by a proficient crouch while redirecting the other with a swing of his blade. He managed to time his rise in such a position where he would cause the two targets blades to collide into each other, and using that timing, Rodrigo spun on a heel while swinging his blade over his shoulder, decapitating one man brutally, while acting quick enough to ram his blade through the others throat, causing blood to spray like a geyser. Aid came almost immediately, Rodrigo was able to sense that men were about to cut him down from behind, and so he wasted no time in running towards the nearest door, slamming it open with his shoulder and entering the interior. The hiding residents of the house screamed in panic as Rodrigo dashed through their corridors and up their stairs, tailed by the bandits. As he was about to enter the third floor, a flower pot smashed on Rodrigo's head, causing him to lose balance. He grabbed onto the nearest railing and sent his blade over his back to intercept an attack, locking blades with his pursuer before kicking him down the stairs, causing him to fall all the way down to the first floor again. Rodrigo quickly reached the rooftop and spotted a bowman standing on the edge. "Hey!" he shouted at the bowman, prompting the target to turn to face him, only to get socked in the face, sending him off the rooftop and to his death, but not before Rodrigo reached for the bow and disarmed the falling man from it. His previous pursuer reached the rooftop, aiming to swing a fist towards Rodrigo, but Rodrigo was able to immediately bring the man into a headlock with his arms, and twist his neck until he heard a crack. Still holding the bow with his arms wrapped around the broken neck, Rodrigo used the man as a meatshield against other bowmen while firing off his single bolt towards the archer across, managing to shoot him in the chest.
Rodrigo looked over his shoulder, seeing that three bandits had reached the roof while Rodrigo was busy with knocking down the other bowman. Knowing that his only way out was by jumping, Rodrigo cussed under his breath, and then made the dive. Still holding onto the broken-necked man, Rodrigo hoped that falling on top of flesh would loosen his fall, but alas, it didn't. Rodrigo shouted in agony as he heard a crack in his arm upon his fall. He immediately cowered towards a corner, he had to set the bone back or else he would not be able to fight. He held onto his forearm, drew a breath in, counted to three, and then screamed in pain as he slammed the bone back into place, violently jerking on his spot from the agony of the hurt. But he had no time to waste. Quickly climbing to his feet, Rodrigo reached for the handle of his blade and ran for the center of the village to figure out what had gone on during his momentary absence from the chaos. He had managed to down a considerable portion of his enemies, but the village was still suffering. He breathed heavily in tire and exhaust while wandering past streets littered in corpses of Northmen, feeling angered that he had not the chance to rescue them. It was then that he heard a very familiar scream. His head quickly spun to spot his companion, taken hostage. The gypsy was weak in the knees from fear, shaking uncontrollably with tear-filled eyes, a blade being pressed to her neck. "Rodrigo!" the woman yelled. He quickly stormed in that direction, eyes fueled with rage, but he was forced to stop when the bandit threatened to cut her throat. "Not another step or her head will roll to your feet, Peirgarten!" the bandit exclaimed. Rodrigo had no choice but to stop his pursuit. It was then that he unexpectedly received a hard punch in the middle of his chest, triggering all the wounds and holes he had received from his murder attempt. Rodrigo's entire world shook from that single punch in the chest, feeling his chest cavity fill with blood, along with his mouth. His muscles ached and his nerves tingled in unbearable pain, gasping for air while clenching his chest. Rodrigo dropped to his knees.
"The marvelous Rodrigo Peirgarten. Not so fucking marvelous now, are ya'?" stated a man clad in fur cloak with a cleaver in hand. He approached, visible that he was the leader of the bandits. He lifted his foot off the floor and promptly smashed his heel into Rodrigo's face, causing the kneeling man to tumble aside and lay weakly, still trying to breathe for his life. "We've been hired to finish a job undone. But before that, I'd like to show all these people who you really are." the bandit leader stated, reaching forward to grab a bunch of Rodrigo's hair, and then press his face into the nearing puddle of mud. Chokes and muffled yelps escaped Rodrigo as his face was buried into the mud, trying to struggle away but to no avail. The gypsy woman helplessly watched the torment. The bandit leader left Rodrigo buried in mud, only to stand and then send a hard kick into his side, causing Rodrigo to roll around in mud and, get covered in it. The leader reached down, grabbing him by the hair again, and then lifted the weakened and muddled Rodrigo into a sitting, showing him off. "Rodrigo fucking Peirgarten, everyone! Smeared in shit!"
"If.. if you let her go, I'll…" Rodrigo tried to speak. "What did you say?" the bandit leader quirked, leaning down. "Tell me. Speak up, my lord. What are you trying to say?" Rodrigo slowly laid onto his side, coughing up some dribbling blood, staring through the mud in his face at the man. "If you… let her go…-" before he could finish his words, he was punched, hard, in the nose. Causing the bone to break. An immediate pool of blood began to dribble from Rodrigo's nose as the man groaned violently in pain. But that one hard punch was enough to stake wood into Rodrigo's flame. He reached for his blade, intent on raising it, with such demonic intent to cleave off the man's head, but before he could even manage to lift the weapon from the ground, Rodrigo's wrist was stepped on, causing his grip on the sword to weaken. "No, no, no." the bandit leader chanted, reaching for Rodrigo's blade and then throwing it far off from him. "It's not going to be that easy, my lord. If you want your sword, you will have to fight for it. There. Look, it's right there. Just a bit of a struggle and then you can have it. Go on. I'm watching you." Rodrigo looked weakly at the man, and then twisted and turned so that he was laying onto his front. He looked across the field towards the blade laying in the distance. He started to crawl, forcing himself to go along the muddy ground and reach for his sword desperately. He was so close to it. All he had to do was grab the sword, stand up, and show these men who he really is. Fight the bastards down, and then rescue the girl. He had the power. He could do it. He was Rodrigo Peirgarten after all. A hopeful glint glimmered in his hazel eyes as he reached for the blade. His hand moved for the handle, fingers nearly touching the steel. It was then that a foot stomped on his hand, breaking the fingers with numerous violent snaps, and then the cleaver came down on Rodrigo's elbow, severing his arm. Rodrigo looked wide-eyed, unable to even process what just happened before he screamed for his life.
All was black after that. He was out straight. His consciousness slipped like a puddle through a crack. While he was out cold, the villagers had managed to drive the bandits away by taking up arms, with pitchforks and daggers and whatever they could turn into a weapon. They outnumbered the brigands and then forced them to leave the area, thus rescuing the lives of Rodrigo and his gypsy companion. The woman filled herself with enough strength to approach Rodrigo, and looked over him. He laid on the ground, covered in mud from face to feet, his nose broken and bleeding. Half of his right arm was laying far away from him, with a long trail of blood between the removed limb and his halved arm.
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