Rise of the Blade - Charles Moffat [6]
Ten bodyguards walked forward between the two piles of wood planks, in groups of two. Pierce reminded himself that the remaining two would soon find a way around the piles and come up behind him. He drew his other saber and stepped forward into the first rank of bodyguards.
"That's your small army!" screamed the giff. "One man? That's it?"
Valentino swallowed and cowered farther into the darkness. He hadn't known Pierce would try and take them all on. Or perhaps the fighter hadn't been expecting a fight, what with all those logical excuses he had provided. He wondered if he should make a run for an exit.
But Pierce had most definitely been expecting a fight. He had expected every detail of this meeting. Knew the exact words the giff would use ten seconds before he used them. Knew the bodyguards' swings before the bodyguards even thought of them. The good doctor, not only an incredible fighter and having earned the title of a doctorate of combat, making him possibly the greatest fighter in all the realms, was also blessed with foresight.
That ability, and that alone was what had kept the warrior alive and well in the adventuring lifestyle. Combine that with an excellent physical prowess and quick learning. Or perhaps, as Pierce himself thought of it, he was simply destined.
Didn't really matter as far as the Harper was concerned, his sabers ripped through one bodyguard after another as he slowly retreated back into an open area, instead of waiting for the two bodyguards to come up behind him. He retreated slowly, his blue adamantite sabers cleaving through armour and bone until there was only six bodyguards remaining. And they all were quickly coming to the conclusion that this man wasn't even getting tired yet.
They tried to attack but his saber was already there before they made their stab, parrying it easily and dodging past their defenses to jab through the holes of their chain mail to find flesh. When he didn't deflect their attacks, they simply bounced off his bronze armour without so much as a scratch. When he attacked, it was flawless, slipping past their weak defenses and biting into their skin.
Four remaining. His right saber took a head off while the left parried a blade away and disarmed the man. He dodged the third man's thrust and the fourth's blade clanged harmlessly off his breastplate.
Three. The disarmed man threw up his hands and backed away.
Two. The bodyguard on the left raised his bastardsword for an overhead chop at Pierce's head with both hands, when it came down however his one arm was missing and the swing went awry due to lack of balance. A quick saber thrust to the neck ended his surprise.
One. The last man screamed in defiance and hacked at Pierce with sheer ferocity, his blows were strong and could not be ignored. Pierce brought a saber up to block a swing in a test of strength and lifted the other until it was posed under the man's neck.
The warrior, his face red and sweat running down his face wanted to swear and his frustration was evident to even Valentino hiding in the shadows.
A strange silence followed as the giff came forward at last, and pointed his arquebus at Pierce. "You annoy me Harper. You, and Valentino will die."
The doctor never blinked, instead he kneed the warrior in the crotch and turned to face the giff, sabers lowered.
The gun dealer snarled and pulled the trigger.
The greatest thing about arquebuses, reflected Pierce was the fact that only nine in ten shots actually worked. The other one was when the gun either backfired, or didn't work at all. In this case it didn't work at all.
The giff tried again and nothing happened. A hollow click.
Pierce advanced on the giff who tossed down the arquebus and held up both hands in a pair of fists. No weak monsters were these, and a giff's punch was as good as a hill giant's. Pierce tossed down his sabers and held up his own fists to the nine-foot giff.
"How about I introduced myself? I'm Doctor Pierce O'Hiram. I admit my father, the