Galath heard the screams of pain and a very distinct curse. Typing a command on his wrist, the doors began to open incredibly slowly, to Galath's frustration. Through the narrow opening, he saw Ausar limping along towards his ship with one bare foot. As soon as Galath could squeeze through, he was already sprinting down the steps after the fleeing warlord. He was fast, but not fast enough to catch Ausar in time.

Strapping the sword to his back, and fighting the temptation to continue running after the thief, Galath headed full speed in the direction of his own ship. Unfortunately, he had not connected his ship to his wrist yet and now thoroughly regretted his procrastination.

Almost slamming into the side of the ship, Galath opened the ramp and clambered into the cockpit. He started the ship as fast as he could and switched it to manual. Ignoring the mandatory safety checks before the flight, Galath took off after the treacherous warlord. He raced after Ausar, unaware that he was being led into a trap: like a moth being drawn to a scorching flame.

. . .

Ausar landed his ship and quickly sprinted down the ramp, ignoring the pain in his right leg. As he crossed the dam and drew nearer to his stronghold, he began shouting for the guards and daerils to form up behind him.

"Move, you worthless heaps of dung! Stop him!" Ausar spat as he saw Galath charging behind him. The two daerils and the guard looked up in surprise as their master hurled insults and curses at them.

The guard was the quickest on the uptake and drew his sword to defend his master as Ausar hurriedly limped by. The two tall daerils followed the guard's lead and assumed a defensive stance with their crude weapons at the ready.

Galath slowed to a slow jog as he saw the defenders close up ranks behind their master. Drawing the sword strapped to his back, he approached the enemies slowly, ready to defend against any strike that came.

The guard, apparently the bravest of the group, stepped forward. He approached Galath with a pathetically determined look. Clumsily throwing an overhead blow at Galath, he was shocked when Galath parried the swing with ease, and stepping in, sent a solid smashing uppercut to the guard's jaw, lifting him off the ground a quarter of a meter. Then with lightning fast reflexes, Galath used his sword hand to punch the guard in the chest while the man was still in midair. The guard flew back another meter, landing at the feet of the two daerils. Their ugly, skeletal faces distorted into a mix of fear and rage.

One of the daerils ran forward with a cry of anger at the man who easily killed his comrade. Galath began to run at the daeril and ducked the beast's horizontal swing, while slicing the creature just above the hip. Looking down, the daeril felt the trickle of blood and gawked in horror. He fell face first on the hard stones and a pool of blood started to form.

Galath turned to face the other daeril. The mix of rage and fear changed entirely to fear. However, the daeril feared his cruel master more than this master swordsman and found more honor in challenging a foe than facing the wrath of his Ausar. The daeril took a fighting stance and saw the enemy, meters away, draw back his arm. Like a javelin, Galath threw his sword at the daeril and impaled him, knocking him on his back.

Galath walked over to the fallen enemy. His mouth was still wide open in shock. Although the sword throw was not a very honorable move, Galath decided efficiency was best here. Yanking the blade out of the daeril's chest he continued walking towards the courtyard.

He cautiously entered the open area expecting an attack from any direction. The large wooden doors of the tower creaked open slowly, revealing eight more guards and three more daerils. They moved around the statue of the dragon and the knight and began to attack. Galath easily dispatched three of the guards, who foolishly charged him one at a time.

The next attackers were smarter and charged at the same time. The attacker on Galath's left, a plated guard, swung at him with an overhead blow while the attacker on the right, a dark knight, began a leftward attack. Galath stepped to the left and the down swing of the plated guard missed. Meanwhile, the dark knight, who was planning to make contact with Galath's upper body, missed as well. Because of the dodge, the knight's swing hit the other guard on the helmet.

The plated guard toppled over unconscious. Horrified that he had just knocked his friend in the head he stalled, wanting to apologize; but he would never get the chance. Galath thrust at the dark knight who never knew what hit him.

Galath generally was a man of honor, but today he displayed very little of it. He stabbed the unconscious man through is plated armor, killing him. Then he stepped clear of the five dead bodies.

He motioned for the rest to leave, out the way he had come. Four of the attackers began to run toward the entrance, mistakenly forming a single line as they ran around the pile of their dead comrades. Galath suddenly stepped in front of them with his sword pointing at them. Before they could react, he skewered three of the guards. But the fourth bounced off the back of the third guard harmlessly.

Galath put his foot on the thigh of the first guard and yanked his sword clear, stumbling backward a bit. Again, Galath reflected on the less than honorable choices he had made here today, but shrugged the thought aside. He could not afford to have any of the guards decide to come back and . . . well . . . quite literally stab him in the back. He walked to the fourth guard and thrust his blade into the man's chest.

The daerils were all that remained of the original eleven. Again, he drew back his arm and threw his sword at the closest daeril. That strategy really works, I can't believe that I haven't already tried that over these millions of years Galath mused. He picked up the nearest guard's sword, but then quickly dropped it. The 'weapon' was just a sharpened hunk of metal with fraying leather strips as a hilt. Picking up the nearest real sword he could find, he tested the weight and balance. He glanced at the two other daerils still frozen to the spot. The sword, unfortunately, wasn't properly balanced, being a whole gram heavy on the backend. Approaching the daerils and not seeing them move, he quickly ended them.

Galath looked up at the large tower just in front of him and walked into the ominous structure.

9�a�G�*�