12 Arc 2 - Fight!

Hunting permit?!

Did they exist in the medieval era?!

Shit!

"You'll come with us, boy."

One of the guards grabs me roughly by the shoulder.

"I'll take this, lest you get funny ideas." The same guard takes my dagger.

He is a man in his twenties with short brown hair and a two day beard, kind of ugly to be honest. His nose is crooked, his lips are very flat, and his eyes are uneven, one larger than the other.

The other guard is an old man in his sixties with a well-groomed beard.

What the hell should I do?

I'm basically a criminal. Criminals do not have nice fates in Westeros.

The young guard uses my own rope to tie my hands while the old man requisitions my bag.

As they drive me out of the village I think about my options.

If I go with them I will face the judgment of some arrogant and prejudiced Lord. His verdict will not be kind, at best they will require me to pay a fine. In the worst case he will execute me. I don't know how serious the crime of illegal hunting is.

I could always ask to join the Nightwatch

...

Who am I kidding, I would never join the Nightwatch. Never. Nope.

Once I'm far enough away from the village I'm going to knock these guys out and leave the North. I've heard that Essos is nice this time of year. I will get a tan! I may even create my own Dothraki horde! Drogo who?

***

While young Ikarus was lost in thought the two guards turned off the road.

"What? Where are we going?" asked the young shinobi, puzzled.

The guards ignored his questions and headed deeper into the forest.

`Perhaps their camp is this way.`

Westeros is a huge continent, almost the size of Europe - and the North makes up a third of it. The distance between settlements is usually quite large. It would not be surprising if the distance between the local Lord's castle and Frostwood is several days on horseback.

`But why not stay at the inn, why camp in the woods?`

Ikarus notices several strange things about his captors. On the one hand there is their attitude, the youngest looks at him with open displeasure while the older one with resignation. It doesn't make any sense.

After advancing a couple of hundred meters the guards stopped. The old guard turned around and looked Ikarus straight in the eye.

"You pissed off the wrong family boy." His voice is rough, like he doesn't use it very often.

Before Ikarus could do anything the other guard backhanded him across the face with his gauntlet. The blow was so strong that it broke Ikarus's lip and his head snapped the other way.

"What the fuck are you talking about you bastards?" He spat out blood as he turned his head to look at the guards.

Before he could turn his head all the way he had to jump to the side to avoid the first guard's sword.

`What the fuck!?`

"Don't make things difficult boy." The old guard approaches him with his sword drawn.

"I'm going to do it quickly, you don't have to suffer."

`No fucking way!`

Ikarus analyzes the situation. His hands are tied in a very tight knot, he tries to free himself but he can't.

`Fuck, do they have boy scouts in Westeros? This knot would deserve a badge.`

Resigned to fighting with his hands tied, he studies his opponents.

The most dangerous is the old man, he is in good shape but most important of all:

`Fear a veteran in a dangerous profession`

The old man holds his sword very confidently, his armor seems to be a second skin while the young man shifts somewhat uncomfortably from foot to foot, his grip on his sword is somewhat unsteady.

"Why are you doing this?"

This situation doesn't make much sense to Ikarus. If the reason for his arrest is illegal hunting, they should take him to their Lord for trial, not kill him in the forest! Something is going on here and Ikarus intends to find out what.

"You've been making fun of my father for the last few days! Stealing his customers! A street urchin like you, how dare you?" The ugly, inexperienced guard spits at Ikarus in anger, his face reddening and twists into something uglier.

"That old jerk?" Ikarus scoffs. "He is more pathetic than I thought."

The young guard charges, face red with anger, at Ikarus with his sword raised.

"Jon!" The old man's cry falls on deaf ears.

Ikarus takes a few steps to the right dodging the guard's furious onslaught, once the young guard is a couple of inches away Ikarus uses one of his legs to trip him.

Jon falls to the ground, Ikarus prepares to knock out his opponent with a kick to the face but the old man's attack makes him move away from the fallen guard.

"Are you okay boy?" The old guard asks his partner without taking his eyes off Ikarus.

"Damn bastard!" Jon curses Ikarus as he stumbles off the ground, ignoring the old man. "I'm going to kill you lil cunt!"

"The only cunt here is you" Ikarus mocks him "Oh and your father."

Jon growls as he lunges at Ikarus, the old man tries to stop him but once again his words fall on deaf ears.

`These guys want to kill me just because I took a few customers from the damn butcher. They are scum. But if I kill them I will become a wanted criminal, a murderer. I'll have to leave Westeros but what if...`

With a plan forming in his mind, Ikarus's emerald eyes flash dangerously.

Once Jon closes in on him, Ikarus tries to use the same tactic as before but the guard is expecting it and turns in advance. Ikarus jumps back to avoid Jon's sword slash.

The guard's sword swings inches from Ikarus's face.

`That was close`

The old man was not far behind this time and attacked Ikarus from behind. Ikarus ducks to avoid the old man's sword swing, crouching on the ground he sweeps the old man's legs.

Thud!

The old man falls to the ground with a thud.

"Ser Gregor!"

But the old guard hasn't given up, lying on the ground he kicks Ikarus's legs knocking him to the ground.

Jon runs up, without missing the opportunity he tries to stab the fallen Senju.

Ikarus rolls to the side avoiding the sword.

He gets up from the ground quickly.

Jon charges towards him again, Ikarus awaits him.

Once the guard is close to him he uses his sword to make a diagonal slash, Ikarus sidesteps him and kicks him behind the left knee.

Jon falls to the ground on his knees.

Without wasting time Ikarus puts his hands together and hits him on the head knocking out the guard.

Ser Gregor watches in astonishment.

Ikarus takes the sword from the knocked out guard and cuts his bonds. Once free he rubs his wrists as he walks over to the remaining guard.

His face blank but his eyes full of rage.

"It's just you and me now, old man. Do you think you can do better than this cunt?"

"..."

The old guard raises his sword and advances towards Ikarus.

`So you have chosen death huh`

Ikarus grabs Jon's sword and charges it at the old man.

Clang!

The swords clash again and again.

Skill VS physical prower.

It is Ikarus's first time using a sword, but his superior physical prowess and the ghostly help of Riku Senju's muscle memory tips the scales in his favor.

The old man is skillful but time is not kind, after a few moments the speed and strength of his blows decreases.

Ikarus on the other hand is in the prime of youth, his stamina is enormous.

The young Senju takes advantage of Gregor's fatigue to disarm him and kicks him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground.