Max is disappointed in Stephen. He knows the man doesn’t like other people and prefers to keep to himself. He is also aware that he is old. He can’t move nearly as well as he probably did in his youth. While he won’t admit it, a lot of the chores and tasks he puts on to Max are easier done by someone younger.

  After seeing him almost get killed by the needleleafs, he figures the hunter is probably not a fighter anywhere near his prime. Staying with him, Max has seen the skill he still possesses, though, and knows that between the spear and bow; he could probably take half the men from the cliff without them being able to even fight back, yet he still chooses not to get involved and to simply leave the people to their fate. It is something Max could never do.

  He lays the bow and quiver on the ground, then drops the heavy pack on the ground, following it with his cloak. He twists his neck, popping it, before grabbing his tomahawks and running up the incline to the cliff. It doesn’t matter if Stephen won’t help. It is only four men who will be the immediate threat; the other three are further away. If he can take at least one of them by surprise, it will be only four. How much harder could four men be than five needleleafs? Max asks himself before jumping straight off the cliff.

  The people below have no idea that there are two hunters on the cliff above them, and even if they did, they probably wouldn’t have cared if they kept to themselves. Max plummets toward the man in the middle of the group.

  The one in the middle is probably the leader. Ever notice when bad guys attack people, the leader always seems to be in the middle?

  His tomahawk catches the man straight in the side of the neck. Max uses the momentum of the fall to carry him around the man’s back, ripping the tomahawk out as he spins the man to the ground. He lands hard on the ground and goes into a roll. He stretches the bloody tomahawk out across his chest, then swings it into the closest man’s knee as hard as he can while letting out a scream.

  The man screams out as well, as the axe tears into his knee, he falls forward, not even seeing who had attacked him or their leader. Max gives the tomahawk a light tug as he lifts and chops down with the other one. He feels that it is stuck in the man's leg and lets go of it as the other one buries into the man’s head. He drops that one as well before grabbing it with his right hand and rolling across the gap between men in front of the couple.

  The couple jump back, not knowing what is going on or where this person came from. The other two men both take a step back, one raising a sword while the other raises an axe. They have no idea where this kid came from, but their leader lies on the ground, grasping his throat as blood pours onto the road, while the other friend twists and lands dead on the ground.

  Max wastes no time seeing the duo hesitate. He moves to the closer man holding the sword. He raises the tomahawk and whips his arm around his head, bringing it quickly into a chop at the man’s crotch. Panicking, the man steps back again and barely blocks the tomahawk with the tip of his sword. Max doesn’t stop and moves forward even as his blow is blocked.

  He pulls the large hunting knife from his belt and stabs it into the man's gut, aiming low; he slips it just under the leather breastplate the man is wearing. The man screams in agony and tries to stab Max. His friend raises his axe and approaches Max from the side.

  The man at the front of the horse hears the commotion and moves to the back of the cart to see what is going on. He rounds the cart just in time to see Max reverse his grip on the knife and spins. The knife bit deeper as he spins, and the reverse edge on the clip tip of the blade helps cut the knife out, leaving a large wound.

  With the spin, Max moves behind the man, effectively keeping the other man with the axe from being able to reach him. He once again slams a tomahawk into someone's knee. The man falls to his knees, holding the large wound from which blood and guts are spilling out. Max doesn’t even try to pull the tomahawk out and leaves it rushing toward the man with the axe. The man turns and brings the axe down, aiming for Max’s head.

  Seeing what he has done to three of his comrades, the man is shaking, and the blow is sloppy. Max moves to the side, pulling the bayonet knife from his vest. He lunges forward with the bayonet knife, aiming again at someone's crotch. The man jumps back; his grip loosens on the axe that is stuck in the ground, pulling his hips back out of the way. Max turns and swipes the large knife down on the man's upper arm, making him drop the axe and back away with a large gash.

  Watching this, the man at the side of the cart panics and struggles to get his sword out so he can try to help his friend. By the time the sword clears its sheath, Max already notices him and rolls in his direction. He slashes his sword as quickly as he can at Max to try to keep him away. Max ducks the cut and shoves the bayonet knife into his stomach, aiming under any armor the man might have had.

  He cries out in agony as the knife tears into his stomach. Backing away, he tries to swing the sword down and chop Max, who is on his left side. He even grabs the bayonet knife to try to keep Max from dodging. Seeing this, Max simply lets go of the knife, turns, and dashes to the man, pulling the axe from the ground. The sword misses Max, who is no longer there, and the panicked man tries to pull the long knife out of his gut.

  Managing to pull the axe out of the ground, he turns to chase Max, who has gone after someone else, leaving him alone as if he poses no threat. This really pisses the axe man off. As he turns, he sees two things: first, his friend pulling a long, thin knife out of his gut, and second, Max as he rams the large knife into his thigh. Max pulls the last knife out of his vest as the large blade bites into the axe man’s leg. He shoves it into the back of the axe man’s side while turning and pulling the large blade out.

  The axe man screams in pain and falls to his knees like the two men before. He notices the man with the large wound on his side is trying to stand as he holds his guts in, but the tomahawk is still in his knee, and he can’t. The axe man loses all will to fight and just wants to get out of there. He swing the axe with his right arm, hitting himself in the stomach with the handle to try to get Max away from his side. The man groans as he swings the axe, allowing Max to take notice of what he is doing.

  He reverses the grip on the smaller knife in his right hand and spins out of the way again. Just like before, he uses the momentum to rip the one knife out and, reversing the grip on the larger knife, he drives it into the back of the axe man’s other side. He doesn’t stop there, though; he keeps the spin going until he faces the man’s side, changing grip on the big knife again as he shoves the smaller one into the man's armpit, forcing him to drop the axe.

  Halfway to Max after pulling the long, thin blade out of his stomach, the last man stops. He sees the axe man’s pleading look as he drops his axe; he has been stabbed four times and has a large gash on his upper arm. Blood trickles out of the axe man's mouth as he coughs before falling over. Max pulls both of the knives out of him and turns and looks at the last man near the cart.

  Seeing this, the man promptly turns and runs down the road away from Max, who is covered in blood and looking like a demon. He can’t move very fast with the gut wound, but he doesn’t care; he is not about to try to kill that child who has just murdered four men without getting touched. Max watches as the man turns and runs. He switches the bigger knife to his right hand and walks over, slashing the throat of the man still trying to stand, holding in his guts.

  ***

  The two men who have dragged the woman into the woods hear a scream coming from the road, and they look at each other. “Fool probably tried to rush Darian, huh?” One asks the other. Before he can answer, more screams start to come from the road. The weird thing is, they seem to be coming from different people, and all of them are men, yet there is only one man at the cart; the other is a woman. “What the hell do you think is going on?”

  “I haven’t the foggiest. Why don’t you go and check it out?”

  “No, why should I go? I have the girl, you go!”

  The men bicker as the girl struggles and cries, pleading with them. Ignoring her, one of them finally decides to go back to the road to see what is going on. As he comes out from the trees and sees the bloody scene of all of their friends dead, Max wipes his face with his forearm and turns toward the woods he is in.

  His forearm only managed to smear the blood across his face. He sees one of the men who had taken the girl standing at the edge of the woods with a dumbfounded look on his face.

  Max rushes headlong at the man, screaming, and he throws the knife in his left hand as hard as he can at the man. He knows he has almost no chance of even cutting the man, throwing the knife like that, but he just wants him distracted. The man flinches and moves his arms in front of him to block the thrown knife. It bounces off him without hurting him.

  “What the fuck?” Distracted by the knife, Max closes in, and he has yet to draw his sword. He scrambles backward, trying to pull the sword, but hits a tree. As he gets the sword free, it is too late. Max rams the large blade into his crotch as hard and deep as he could.

  He screams out, his head tilting back, he raises the sword, but Max pulls the knife out of his left boot, and then just like the axe man, he stabs it into his armpit, making the man drop the sword. Stepping back, he pulls the knife out of the man’s armpit, places his foot on the man's leg, and pulls the knife out of the man's crotch. The man crumples to the ground, and Max moves behind him, dropping the boot knife. He grabs the man by the hair and pulls his head back so he can slice his throat.

  Max picks up the boot knife and hears someone else coming from the trees, figuring it is the last man, he turns to face him. The man, unlike the others, is holding the woman in front of him with his dagger at her throat.

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  “I don’t know who the fuck you are or what you're after, but drop the fucking knives.” The man panics as he looks around and sees the savage boy covered in blood standing over one of the six dead men.

  “Or what?” Max does not blink and stares at the man. He moves to the side, keeping his distance but slowly circling the man.

  “Or I will kill her, that's what? Are you stupid? And stop moving!” The man’s hands shake. He keeps turning the girl, keeping her between him and the child.

  “What does it matter to me if you kill her?” He never stops moving as he asks the man the question.

  “What the fuck do you mean, what does it matter if I kill her? Didn’t you come to save her?” The question further unnerves the man. Is this kid really not here to rescue her? Then what the fuck is he doing here? Why did he attack us? How did he manage to kill Darian and the others at the cart? Where is John, who was by the horse?

  “You should run. Like the other one did. He probably won’t make it, though; that wound is bad, but you might.” Max calmly says as he notices the man glancing around.

  “Why the fuck would I run from some child! And I said stop moving! If you don't, I'll kill her.” He tightens his grip on the knife, pressing it against her flesh, drawing a little blood.

  “Did you ever stop to think that if you kill her, what stops me from killing you?” Max remembers a horror movie he saw that he wasn’t supposed to watch, and punctuates the sentence by lightly tapping his forehead with the tip of the knife.

  The man goes cold at Max’s words. He really doesn’t care, does he? If I do kill her, he will rush around her and at me, and I won’t be able to keep her between us. Fuck!

  Seeing the man hesitate, Max knows it is working; he just has to push a little more. “So, are we just going to keep circling until my friend has a shot, or are you going to run? I’ll give you a head start.”

  The man's eyes follow the smaller knife as Max points to the cliff on the other side of the road. On top of it, an older man stands looking down at them, holding a bow. Without saying a word, he shoves the girl at Max and darts behind the trees, running off into the woods.

  Max tries his best to catch the woman without cutting her as he has knives in both his hands. He helps her get her balance before motioning for her to head to the road. “Are you okay? I think your friends are over there.”

  Looking at the boy covered in blood, carrying knives, she hesitates to move. She is completely afraid of what he might do, especially after hearing that he doesn’t seem to care if she lives or dies. Max looks at her and points again. “Well, come on then?”

  When she still doesn’t move, he shrugs and heads back to the road. Seeing him shrug and walk away, she follows behind him at a distance until she sees the man still holding the woman at the back of the cart. She bursts into tears and rushes over to them, throwing her arms around them.

  Max leaves the people to their reunion and heads to the side of the road. Using dirt, he tries to clean most of the blood off his knives and hands. The dirt clings to the wet blood. He tries to rub most of the dirt back off of his hands and arms, but feels as though he is just somehow getting dirtier. Eventually, he gives up and focuses on the knives. He is careful of the sharp blades and any possible nicks or burs that might have been added to them as he takes a couple handfuls of loose dirt and pours it down their lengths.

  Once they are mostly dry, he bangs the blunt end against his other hand, trying to knock the loose dirt free. He then tries to rub off as much of what is left as he can. If any of it smears, he just adds more dirt until the wet spot dries and tries to get the dirt off again. Finally satisfied, he sheathes them. They will need a better cleaning later, but for now, this will have to do.

  He walks around the small battlefield and retrieves his different knives. The bayonet knife near the family, the knife he threw at the man from the woods, he looks for the antler handled knife for a minute before realizing he never used it, and instead moves to his boot knife. Shaking his head, he cleans the two knives in the same fashion he has done on the ones before.

  Once satisfied, he goes looking for his axes. He remembers leaving them in two different knees. They are both hard to get out, but with a little work, he manages it. He cleans each one the same way before putting them away into the loops on his sides. The man finally approaches Max as he finishes cleaning the last weapon.

  “Umm… Hello, kind Sir, I just wanted to thank you for saving me and my family. We really thought we weren't going to make it.”

  Max feels odd being called sir, but guesses it is the man's way of trying to show respect after what he just witnessed Max do. “No problem, Glad I could help." Max hesitates for a moment, feeling the situation odd given his age. How can he possibly explain? An idea crosses his mind, and with no better choice, he decides to just go with it.

  "Me and my teacher were just passing through on our way back from a hunt. We heard a scream and came to investigate. Sorry, we waited so long to interfere, but eight is a lot of men, when we saw them pull your…” Max trails off and looks at the woman behind the man still at the cart.

  “Daughter, Abigail is my daughter. Thank you so much for bringing her back to us. When they led her off into the woods, we thought that we would never see her again.” The man nervously says.

  “We saw them take Abigail, and one of them moved to the horse. My teacher would cover the woods and take a shot at the man by the horse if he got the shot while I dealt with the men near you. We figured by catching them off guard, I could even the odds rather quickly. He could always shoot any of them if I needed help.” Max shrugs as he continues the lies about his teacher.

  Even he knows it is arrogant and stupid to rush in as he did, but he can’t not try. He would rather have died here on this unnamed road than try to live with himself, leaving these people to their fate. How could he possibly explain all that to a stranger and have them believe it?

  “Oh! I see. Is your… teacher? Going to come down?” The man starts to realize that Max must be training to be some great warrior, and the teacher must have used this as some sort of test. Of course, thinking that their lives mean so little doesn't sit too well with him, but they didn't have to help at all, he supposes.

  The teacher has also been watching over them with the bow the whole time to keep anyone from actually getting hurt. While being a complete falsehood, Max encourages this line of thinking.

  “I do hope so. He can’t jump down like I did. That is part of the reason he stayed up there. He will have to find a path. I do doubt he will make me find a way up to him since we have been looking for this road. My name is Max, by the way.” Max reaches his hand out, it is covered in dirt and dried blood, but the Man shakes it anyway.

  “I am Chester, and this is my wife, Laura, and I already introduced Abigail.” He motions to the women behind him as he introduces them. Max nods to each of them.

  “I take it you were traveling to Briargate?” Max moves to the first bandit he killed, the one he presumed correctly is the leader. He checks the man's belt and finds his coin purse, relieving him of it. Max glances inside of it before nodding slightly.

  These bandits might actually have the right idea; the amount of coin just this one has is more than I've earned since I got here. If I take their weapons too, I might be able to get even more out of this. The thoughts admiring the bandits end there; Max feels as though he could never just rob someone, taking their hard-earned things. For the dead bandits, on the other hand, he has no such qualms.

  Chester is a little taken aback as Max begins looting all of the bandits. He takes not only the coin purses of each but the weapon belts and weapons and piles them all by the side of the road. “Umm… Yes… We were just on our way to Briargate. We have distant family there, and in this hard time, have decided to move closer to them. We never heard of bandits on this road before, and they were on us before we even saw them.”

  “That is always the way it happens, isn't it? They pop out when you least expect it and are furthest from prepared. I’ve spent my fair share of time in Briargate. It is a great town, you will love it.” Max glances at the cart that still has some room in it. “By any chance, do you think you could spare some space on your cart?”

  Chester glances back at the cart and then at Max. Seeing this, Max nods toward the pile of weapons on the ground. “Of course, my teacher and I will escort you the rest of the way as payment.”

  “If you and your teacher wouldn’t mind, we would much appreciate it. Two of the scoundrels did get away, and I don’t think my heart could take another scare like that. You can add those to the cart.” He motions at the weapons, and Max immediately gets to work loading them into the cart. As he passes the two women, he introduces himself.

  “Hello, my name is Max, nice to meet you, Laura, and you, Abigail.” While he is being as polite as he can, he still unsettles the women; he is completely unaware of how he looks at the moment.

  With his cloak gone, the many knives attached to his vest can be seen. Between all the fighting and rolling, he is covered head to toe in dirt and dried blood. There are still streaks of blood across his face from when he wiped it with his forearm earlier.

  He continues loading the cart, and then, almost as an afterthought, he goes and drags each of the bodies off the road. By the time he finishes, Stephen makes his appearance, having finally made his way over to them.

  Stephen takes his time to get down to them, not because he is having trouble finding a path, but because he is shaken from Max’s performance. That was nothing like the needleleafs. While he also didn’t hesitate then, he had finished them almost cleanly. Three of them he had killed with one blow, and the last two… only the one he had stabbed in the neck, had been particularly bloody, but this time… my god.

  His heart felt like it was going to stop when Max had jumped from the cliff. By the time he had made it to the top, the first man was already bleeding out, and Max was already getting the second to the ground. While surprised at how fast he is and the way he seemed to be unfazed by taking another man’s life, it wasn't until he ripped the guts out of the third man that Stephen had lost it. From that point onward, Max had shown savagery and brutality that he did not know the boy possessed.

  Then Max had made him jump with fright, and he had even notched an arrow as the man came from the woods, and Max’s knife bounced off the man's arms. He had never even considered that Max had used it as a feint to distract the man. He then watched the way Max cut into the man, shivering. He had lowered the bow and stared down, a cross between awestruck and disgusted.

  Then Max proceeded to terrorize the last man who held the girl hostage. He can’t begin to imagine what Max must have been saying to incite those kinds of reactions in the man. Only to suddenly point up at him on the cliff, causing the man to turn tail and run. By the time he gets down to the road with the items Max had left behind, he has managed to get a hold of himself.

  “Here, clean yourself up, you are covered in blood.” He hands Max a piece of cloth and a waterskin. Only then does Max realize why everyone has been looking at him so weirdly and being so nervous around him. Stephen goes and introduces himself to Chester and the women while Max cleans his face the best he can. He learns from them how he was watching over them while training Max.

  They find his training crude and that Max might fight rather savagely; they cannot argue that it is very effective. Stephen decides it is best to just go with it rather than explain how he wanted to leave them for dead. They mention that Max offered their service in escorting them, and he agrees. He loads Max’s and his pack along with the beaver pelts to the cart, and they all set off together for the town.