The first beast of a man closed the distance too quickly for Thorne to pull his sword clear, the thug’s shoulder slammed into the Von’Faygan with a thud, the force of which lifted the man clear from his feet to drop back down to the ground with a wince inducing slam. Amazingly, as the great big brute had sent the Lord spinning off to the floor, the impact had knocked free what appeared to be his belt knife. The hilt of which stuck straight up in the sand before him in a way that couldn’t have made it any more accessible had it tried.

Quickly Tayne lunged forward, the handle grasped and tugged free just as a great hulking shadow blocked the sun from view. The second muscle man had reached them, his attention locked to Tayne himself.

“Raargggggggggh!” The impossibly large man yelled, his eyes red with rage, huge veins protruded from every patch of visible skin in a forest like network. This man ran with one arm raised, ready to pummel Tay to death, its impact imminent.

“Please!” Tayne called as he attempted to cover his face with his arms. A pained “Oomph” sounded in the air followed by a halt in the upward motion of the hand that held his newly found blade as it met resistance. What the fuck? No pain came, nothing. There was no way the man hadn’t reached him yet… Slowly the degenerate opened his eyes.

“Argh!” He yelled as he found himself face to face with the hideous brute, so close that if he moved forward even a hairs breadth his nose would make contact with the thug’s own. Quickly he realised something else… The man was dead. Tayne’s blade had taken him underneath the chin and penetrated directly upward into his brain. With revulsion the fake Lord tugged the blade free and backed away confused. A quick study of the man’s body revealed to him what had likely taken place. Beside the man’s left boot, partially covered by sand, was a large heavy stone the same colour as the grains itself… If Tayne was a betting man (He was), he would have put money on the guess that the murderous bastard had come charging at him full force and tripped at the very last moment, which, by chance was the exact moment that Tay himself had rapidly raised his arms to protect himself, whilst holding the blade. Infuckingcredible.

“RAaagagagaghhhhh!” A second mindless roar startled the lucky degenerate, Tayne’s head spun to locate the source. A third brute was on his way to him, this one seemingly larger than the other two combined, his fists the size of cannonballs, arms strong enough to turn a tree to splinters with nothing but a squeeze. Fuck this.

Tayne legged it. Sand flew from beneath his boots in eye stinging clouds, the wind picked up as his momentum increas-

“Argh!” His forward run stopped instantly as his foot ploughed into the very same rock that had just saved his life, his hands shot forward to break his fall as his balance was immediately lost, the life-saver-blade spun off forward as he released the item in panic.

“Ughhhhh…” The strange gurgled sound came from directly in front of him, just as a thud sounded from behind. What the fuck now! Tayne rolled to the side on the off chance that the beast of a man had attempted to stamp on him, the boot would be avoided, his eyes open wide as he scanned the immediate vicinity for the most immediate threat…. Nothing. Right what the fuck is going on. Almost angrily the drunk pushed himself to his feet his furious gaze at once locating the man that had chased him, face first on the ground behind him with another of the green-blue arrows fixed to their person, this time from the rear of the base of the neck. Tevin.

“Ughhhh…” That sound again… it came from the opposite direction, the way he had been running. Cautiously Tayne spun, ready to run at a moment’s notice. Instead, his brows rose in surprise. Before him, no more than five spans off lay another man. The final brute lay on his back, both hands clutched at the dagger that Tayne had lost during his fall that had somehow embedded itself up to the hilt in the man’s neck. A torrent of blood poured forth via the wound and mouth to drip steadily down and pool within the sand under the man’s head. Well fuck a donkey and call me Julie, what are the chances?

“Surrender!” The deep voice of Lord Thorne’s son roared into the still air, Tayne’s attention spun once more toward the sound. The bodies of the two men that had held Amelia lay still and un-moving in the distance, multiple arrows protruded from each whilst the first brute knelt before Javid Von’Faygan, the young man’s rapier tip pressed to the bastard’s neck.

“Lock me up boyo.” The huge brown skinned bastard grinned, the sentence punctuated by a wink. “Throw away the ke-” The end of his sentence cut short as Amelia Von’Faygan darted forward from behind her cousin, belt knife grabbed as she moved past and embedded in the man’s chest.

“Fuck you!” She screeched with a righteous fury, her tear stained face red with anger. The muscle man’s eyes widened with surprise as his gaze dropped to the blade embedded in his heart.

“Shit.” The man whispered softly before his eyes clouded over, his torso loose as it flopped to the sand beneath.

“Father!” Javid called as he dropped to the ground beside the prone form of his dad, Tevin and Amelia rushed over to join. “Dammit Tevin!” Shouted the Von’Faygan boy as he felt for a pulse at Thorne’s neck. A sigh whistled from the young lad’s mouth.

“Unconscious but alive.” His words rang with relief. Three sets of eyes turned to Tay in an almost synchronised move. “That was incredible.” the words directed toward Tayne. Quickly the degenerate checked the area behind him to ensure the young man was talking to him. “Two men, with their own weapons.” Javid shook his head with disbelief, a gesture that Tayne seemed to be seeing more and more.

Strangely enough, in this moment something dawned on him.

“Wait.” He stated with a frown. “Where’s Bumfluff?”

“Boeflum?” Corrected Tevin with a smirk, Tay’s face coloured slightly at his ridiculous mistake. “The bastard ran off to “fetch help” I believe he called it.” Tevin shook his head with disapproval to match the frown on Javid’s face.

“Come on Tev you impulse murdering bastard, help me get Father strapped to a horse. Let’s get home.”