The Lion's Pride - Ch. 2
#2 of The Lion's Pride
Lovell and a snow leopard fight for their life against a group of bandits.
The bandits were all confused at first, the lion was intimidating, they had never seen one before, only heard of them. And so their new enemy, amid the confusion, was able to retrieve his sword from his first victim, with no problem whatsoever.
"Don't just stand there! Kill the duchess and this fucking cat!" shouted the leader of the bandits.
The outlaws move hesitantly at first, but then they charged into battle. Two went for the snow leopard, the other four for the newly arrived lion. Lovell was not much of a fighter, but he was able to hold his own, with ten moves he was disarmed one of his enemies and then cut his neck open with a fast blow.
The snow leopard, on the other hand, was having trouble with her adversaries, something about her sword was off, she was only defending, not trying to pass to the offensive. Lovell would have to hurry up before she made a mistake and was killed by the edge of the weapons of her enemies. With fast counterattacks, the lion was able to eliminate another one of the bandits, gutting him open. After that he made a run for it and reached the snow leopard, killing one of the bandits that were attacking her on the way, cutting his spine in half.
The remaining marauders looked around, their dead comrades lie there, on the grass, and they could be next. Without too much tough they turned around and fled the scene, back into the forest, disappearing.
The snow leopard and the lion stood there, still on guard, waiting for a second attack. But time passed and passed until, finally, both relaxed and lay down their weapons.
"I don't know how to thank you, traveler..." said the snow leopard, plunging her sword in the dirt before kneeling next to the two warriors that protect her until the end "May the winds of the mountains carry you two to the house of your ancestors, my brave knights..."
Lovell took a look into the duchess's sword, the one she had tossed away like it was nothing, and only then he realized that that sword had no edge, it was a blunt sword for practice, nothing more.
"What were you doing out here?" asked Lovell, looking to the tree line in case someone came out of it.
"I was training swordsmanship with my armor, then I was ambush... my knight and his squire protected me till the end... they were two of the best warriors in my lands."
"Where are your assistants and ladies-in-waiting?"
"We were the only ones here, this was a secret practice... the bishop would be scandalized if he saw me take up arms like a common soldier..."
The duchess closed the eyes of his fallen knights and let out a sigh of defeat.
"You can bury them later", said Lovell "we need to go back to the road, it's not safe out here."
"I know, I know... name is Murie, Duchess of Carsley, I will reward you once we are back in my keep."
"Very well, did you come with horses?"
"The bandits killed them during the fight... I guess they were expecting to eat their meat after the battle."
"That's a possibility, yes... well, do you have anything you want to salvage from your dead knights? I would say to take the sword from the body of your subject, that one has an edge."
Lady Murie did so, and then, armed and ready, the felines started to walk away from the battlefield and back to the road.