by Roderick on September 25th, 2013, 7:32 pm
Taking in the squire's counteroffer Roderick nodded slowly to himself, letting his heart slowly calm down and sink away into a growing hole in his chest. He felt all the fear vanishing as he became numb all over. Roderick heard the blood pounding in his ears as his foe raised his hand and drew forth a supply of djed, slowly pulling it free into the air above him. The pain of the maneuver was clear of the mage's face; as his features twisted the hunter began to back away again. As the squire finished his preparations the Zeltivan found himself standing right next to the horse; he exchanged a look with it and then returned his gaze to the squire.
"Still thinking about running? By all means. Make my day."
Running wouldn't help him much if the squire caught him; he did not doubt the man would fulfill the promise he'd just made and break Roderick's leg in two. His work demanded he be in good shape though and having a crippled leg would make earning a living a great trial for him. A bit of pride surfaced too, and he hated the idea of giving in this quickly without at least trying to get away from all of this without facing punishment. His earlier antics burnt his chest as they replayed over in his mind. With the decision between staying and being locked away in the tank, and fleeing and possibly escaping, the hunter weighed his choices, faced down his would-be captor and felt his heart stop in his chest as he finally made his decision.
Petch it.
He turned and ran.
Boots pounding on the dirt he hurtled away from the field, away from the mage. If he could put enough distance between them he could escape the range of the man's abilities; having a Reimancer for a mother had it's perks. As his feet carried him away from the field and back towards the city he started to question if that was the best course; most likely the man would call on the knights and Roderick's flight would have been for nothing - a wasted effort. That in mind the hunter veered away from his former path, instead angling himself towards the treeline off in the distance. Chances are he wouldn't have to go that far - but then again the squire had a horse.
Somehow his feet carried him faithfully, avoiding the obstacles that were strewn about the place; branches and rocks and uneven paving stones. Ducking down under a hedgerow he continued fleeing, lungs burning and threatening to betray him at any minute. He couldn't stop. He wouldn't. Grinding his teeth he growled in pain and forced himself to move faster, to take that extra step. The hunter's legs were longer than that of his pursuer, while he was unladen by any extra baggage; the mage had an axe to heft along, as well as djed to channel, while the Zeltivan only had to worry about the weight of his armour - which wasn't very much.
Reaching a fork in the path he ran off to the right, then cut through some bushes and kept on running. The wood drew ever closer - as did his foe, he imagined. Burning again as his lungs began to heave, drained of air. He sucked down what air he could as he ran, the wind slamming against his face and leaving him half blind. Was this really how low he'd fallen? It seemed the squire had spoken some truth; the way he'd acted had caused this.
He angrily shoved those thoughts aside. The squire had caused all this. Sure, Roderick had done a little to aggravate things, but it had been the mage who had taken the first swing. Everything that followed had been because of that damned squire. Any sane man would have kept his hate to himself, avoiding and ignoring the man from then on. Instead the hunter decided he was going to get the better of the squire, though the exact means weren't entirely clear to him just then. I'll get myself a sword and start training again. Yes, that would help some, Then I'll find something to dull that magic of his. If he met the squire again he would stand his ground. For today he'd focus on getting away with all his body parts intact.
Slowing down rapidly, his boots clapped noisily against the ground as he finally came to a stop and listened; the birds were the only sounds around him, and it was then that he knew the squire had probably given up on the chase. Starting off again at a determined march, Roderick set his eyes on the Wood. He'd wait for his blood to cool before he returned to the city. |
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Last edited by
Roderick on October 11th, 2013, 8:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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