Red Sonja and The Death Dealer http://literfull12.deviantart.com/art/Red-Sonja-and-The-Death-Dealer-452234071 Seven days. The wall of The Shining city were besieged by the undead. They scraped and clawed civilian and soldier. A mad Sorcerer, intent on killing as many as he could controlled the dead. They prayed to Gods, and to Crom, and to whoever would listen. But the gods stopped caring long ago. So instead, they prayed to Sonja, to the She-Devil, and aid she did provide. Red Sonja left with a party of twelve of the finest soldiers the city could produce. She returned with three, and the head of the sorcerer. Sonja's first victory since Adorra had tormented her. They offered her a celebration, their flame haired heroine struck the mighty madman down. But Sonja did not feel like celebrating. She left with some money, and supplies, to the disappointment of the city. Ten weeks since her ordeal, the nightmares stopped. The nights of waking up in a cold sweat ended. She was no longer captive in a lunatics den. She was a free woman, once more. A free woman who can't help but constantly look over her shoulder. Paranoid. Almost constantly. She can't help but feel like she's being followed. That somehow, Adorra was watching her. She bested the Trollop. Hopefully she left a kernel of fear with the raven haired woman. But Tonight, she felt like herself. An unstoppable force of nature in scale mail. Yes, it was good to deal out death to someone who deserved. Clear motives helped Sonja direct her attention. A black and white situation. She was free. She rode atop a horse, a steed the grateful citizens provided her. Red Sonja was free. If only it lasted a bit longer. ***************** Daiyu watched from above, the tree branches, looking over the landscape. Adorra predicted that Eventually Sonja would seek out trouble. Find an innocent to protect. Eventually, Daiyu got tired of waiting, and paid a cimmerian necromancer to cause a problem. A big enough crisis, and Sonja would rise out her paranoid depression inflicted upon her by Adorra. Adorra. Daiyu can't find it in her heart or mind to trust her. There is a madness inside of her, something Daiyu was taught to see. Dressed in black, Daiyu watched Sonja ride on a horse through these dark woods. The poor creature. It would not survive. Daiyu leaped from the tree line, casting off her worries about Adorra and her obvious madness. She drew her twin broad swords, and as she fell before Sonja, sliced the poor creatures head clean off. Sonja was taken aback, the bloody horror before was awful, and brought her out of the happy stupor she found a few moments of solace in. She leaped off the dead creature, sword already drawn before her brown boots touch the ground. Their swords clash in a split second after. Daiyu's cold expression, a stark contrast to the anger she feels. Sonja was strong. Stronger than most. Her swing could crack blades, with the next shattering them. Instead, she was shaking, trying so hard to push Daiyu back. Daiyu doesn't even move. They break from each other, Sonja taking this brief reprieve to ascertain who her attacker is. "I have no quarrel here," Sonja informed her. "I'm passing through. Let's part ways and leave it at that. I've had enough violence for one day." Daiyu's eyes darted back and forth. Adorra was waiting, watching , somewhere in the dark, as she was instructed to. Before they left to confront the She-Devil, Adorra had equipped her self with black leather grieves, fastened to her forearms and shins. It matched the woman's Black leather vest, and pants, and boots. The raven haired mad woman was equipped to her liking. Carrying well over forty throwing knives laced in a paralytic, and carrying a bundle of rope, she'd have her prize again. "That's all well and good, but you've been targeted by those who believe you'd fetch them a nice profit. I've been sent to collect you," Daiyu spoke. "And who might you be?" "Daiyu. A Khitani death dealer. Over qualified to deal with a self taught barbarian, such as yourself." A death dealer is one trained at birth to, as it states, deal out death. They're trained to kill, and destroy. To assassinate. They say their swords are forged in the fires of the cremation process. That they contain the souls of those burned in the fires. Sonja did not know this. Daiyu moved like lightning, so fast that Sonja had little time to react. Bringing her sword up, it clashed with Daiyu's. Sonja's sword shattered. Sonja could barely dodge the follow-up strike, she rolled in the grass, and slid. Daiyu, pressed her obvious advantage, kicking off the ground and twirling through the air, she brought her leg down on Sonja. She blocked with her gloved hands, and the sheer force made her take a knee. Another kick was launched, and hit Sonja in her midsection, knocking her into the tree behind her. She's lucky it didn't crack a rib. She's lucky she wasn't rendered unconscious by her body hitting the tree. And again Daiyu was upon her. Swinging her blades at her. Again, Sonja dodged, stumbling forward, past Daiyu. Turning around and picking up her broken sword, she saw the results of Daiyu's strength. The tree behind Sonja had been chopped in half. The ground shook as it fell. An oak tree thick and tall. Cut clean through. How did she manage that? Daiyu stood facing Sonja. Her cold expression unchanged. Sonja was prepared for her to strike again, until she heard a dull whistle in the air. A noise from the left of her. Like something is cutting through air. She bobs her head, instinctively, to see a silver throwing knife slice small strands of her hair. Another followed, and Sonja blocked it with her broken blade. A woman with milk white skin, and green eyes stepped out of the shadows. The source of Sonja's nightmares. "Adorra!" She growled. Rage bubbling up. "Hello, pet. Did you miss me?" She asked, with a wry smile. And she let another knife fly from her wrist. Sonja dodged, only to be attacked again by Daiyu. Her blade knocked from her hand, now, Sonja swung her fist towards Daiyu's face, only for her to dodge, and easily toss Sonja into the dirt. Sonja quickly got up, and drew the two knives she now kept strapped to her lower back. Adorra on her own she could handle. But this Daiyu...She far outclasses her in terms of speed and strength and skill. Everything that mattered. Two more knives flew from Adorra's hands as she rushed towards Red Sonja blocked them. She smelled a strange chemical on the blades, and knew that Adorra had laced with something. Meaning she can't afford to be cut. Adorra rushed in, and punched her flame-haired target hard in her gut and then elbowed Sonja square in the jaw. Shaking it off, Sonja tried to cut her, only for Daiyu's sword to block and shatter the knife in her right hand. Another knife was thrown, only for it to fly past Sonja's head. Followed by Daiyu's sword slashing at Sonja's other armed hand. It knocked the blade away, and cut through her left glove, making it fall off. Daiyu, ducked low, and swung her leg right behind Sonja's knees, knocking her over. She tried to roll away, rolling front first into the grass, only for Daiyu's foot to slam into her back. It knocked the wind of Sonja's lungs. "Adorra. Rope," Daiyu commanded. Adorra compliant, handed the bundle of thin, tightly weaved rope to the Death Dealer. Leaning in, and removing Sonja's other glove, Daiyu forced the She-Devil's wrists behind her back, her struggling was met with Daiyu forcing more weight onto Sonja's spine. Her wrists were crossed and tightly bound. Adorra had removed her boots, and tightly bound her ankles and thighs. "Let me go!" The She-Devil yelled. "Let me go--- mmmph!" Her protests were met with jamming a wadded up cloth into her mouth. Using some rope, she forced rope between her teeth, pressing against the cloth in her mouth. The wound it around her mouth several more times, and knotted it behind her head. "Aaaammmph! Gggkmmm!" Sonja moaned. Beaten by Adorra again. No. Not Adorra. This Daiyu. "Do not worry. I'm sure once your sold, some old pervert will take good care of you. You'll be his concubine, bent to his, or her, will of course," Daiyu tried to coldly comfort her with the awful reality she presented. Sonja had never stood a chance at beating her especially with help. This was all that was offered by her. All Adorra could do was watch. Sonja was once more in her grasp. ************ They camped out at the site of their battle. Daiyu allowed Adorra to take Sonja into the tent she erected. Daiyu preferred to watch from the trees, still not trusting Adorra. Sonja bucked and squirmed and roared. Her bonds held tight. Adorra had screwed her once again. Placing her in a awful situation, with very little opportunity to escape. "Wow. Wasn't that something out there? I honestly didn't think she could handle you. Truly. But beaten outright? I had placed too much faith in you, Sonja. My dear Sonja," Adorra said, insulting her. "I know in my presence you like to be naked, and maybe we'll get to that during our ride to your auction, but Daiyu wants no nonsense tonight. And I'm inclined to listen to the woman who kicked Red Sonja's ass." Sonja could only stare at her. She tried not to show any emotion. Not to dignify Adorra with a response. "Don't worry, though. I'll just watch you all night. Make sure you don't go anywhere on me," she informed Sonja. "All. Night." Daiyu remembered the fire. She passed her final test as a death dealer. Bloodied and ragged, she had bested a death dealer and claimed his life. Now came the fire. The heat from the forge would be intense, her teachers warned. That even someone as strong as her would die, or go mad, due to the properties of the forge. It didn't matter. She was raised for this her entire life. It was what she was born to be. The bodies of a mother, a soldier, a thief, a slave, a murderer, and a priest, were placed into the fire. Daiyu struck steel with her hammer, the memories of the dead carried in the ashes the flames produced. Daiyu saw them all. From these flames she grabbed purpose. A piece in the grand design of her people. She was a Death Dealer. ********************************** The Hunter's peace was disturbed by the conflict of three women. He came to the woods years ago. Life had taken a toll on the old man. Each wrinkle on his pale face carried the weight of his sins. All committed in the name of a king, or a God, or himself. His brown tunic and worn down boots reflected his life style. He'd rather be alone in the woods than among people. The Khitani woman moved with a grace and fluidity unlike he had ever seen before. She tossed around the provocatively dressed, tall red head like she was nothing. Shattered steel littered the grass, along with a once great oak tree. The other woman fought like a crazy person, throwing knives and moving too close to a much stronger opponent. If the khitani woman didn't cover her, the red head would have destroyed her. But the Red head was overwhelmed. Defeated. The Khitani and the knife thrower restrained their defeated victim, their intent not being to kill her. The Hunter didn't want to get involved. He only stepped out his cave to find something. He was too old, to brittle for this. He wanted to leave. He wanted to walk away... But it'd eat him up inside. He had enough to feel guilty about, he told himself. Why add one more thing? He watched them set up camp at the sit of their fight, from the branches above. The Khitani woman choosing to camp up along the branches instead of on the ground with the other two women. He couldn't risk screwing this up. The Khitani woman was clearly skilled, and he was too old for a direct confrontation. His hot breath caused the skin under his gray beard to twitch. Pulling back an arrow, he aimed for the branch the woman was perched on. That tree she was on, her remembers passing by it a few days back. It's roots were rotting, and branches turned dark. It'd collapse once struck. The wind would do the work in a couple more days, but the girl those women had most certainly did not have the luxury to wait for nature. The Hunter held his breath and let his a arrow fly. Striking the branch, the woman lurched, surprised. It's collapse even more surprising, she fell to the ground below. Hopefully this buys him time. He could tell how that one carried herself, and the fall would only buy him a couple of minutes. At best. He drew another arrow, one that had a rope attached to it, and shot it at the ground near the tent. Hooking into the branch he stood on, The Hunter took his bow and used it to slide down the line to the ground below. The landing made his knees feel like they were about to explode. Too old, he thought. Too damn old. "All. Night." He heard a female voice said. It carried insanity in its pitch. He could assume it isn't the woman bound and gagged. It's the one with the knives. He quickly burst through the tent, and slammed his boot into the raven haired woman's chest. She was unconscious before she hit the ground. The red head was surprised, her eyes wide with confusion. His bones were screaming at him. "No time to talk." The Hunter grabbed an arrow, using the tip to cut the captive woman's bonds. She pulled her gag off, and was about to speak, before The Hunter interrupted. "We need to move!" He commanded. "Now!" The woman nodded, not wishing to return to her captivity. They ran. ****************** Red Sonja was confused. The disheveled old hermit before her had rescued her, and led her back to a cave in a clearing. The place was filled with arrows and meats and tools. "You have my thanks," Sonja spoke, her gratitude clear. "I'm sorry, I don't know what to call you. What's your name?" "Folks call me The Hunter. It's the name I'm accustomed to. And thank me when we get the Khitani woman off your ass," The Hunter said. Sonja knew this as well. Daiyu would not be far behind. The old man was fidgeting with arrow heads, and restringing his bow. "Hunter. What exactly do you hunt?" Sonja asked. "Whatever is here. I was looking for my bear." "A bear. A difficult prey for one of your age, no?" Sonja wondered. "I said 'looking', not hunting. And I'm not sure I have time to describe the difference," The Hunter said. Reaching for an old blade and wooden shield, her handed them to Sonja. "What's you name, girl?" "Red Sonja," she answered. "Red Sonja. Listen. Aye, you're free, but that woman, who beat you like you were a small child, is coming. I've fought plenty of fights, and I can tell when one is outclassed, and me and you are outclassed. We'll have one chance. You confront her in the clearing, and I'll stay hidden in the brush, line up a shot. Jam an arrow through her skull. This is the plan," He said. "Are you with me?" ****************************************** Daiyu felt nothing. An unforseen variable was now in the mix. It was time to remove another. Adorra. This woman had proven to be weight she did not need. Her employers still angry with Adorra's previous failure, tolerated her continued involvement for one reason-- She'd be sold along with Sonja. "Ah! NOT SO Tight!" Adorra winced. Capture went against Daiyu's grain. She was trained to kill, not be a glorified kidnapper. The only thought she had in her mind as she cinched the ropes that bound Adorra was that once the work with the She-Devil was done, she could return to her duty. To kill in service of her country. "I said I'd help you! I thought I was helping!" Adorra begged, before she was silenced with a cloth torn from Daiyu's black outfit. Her knives removed, and her legs and arms and wrists and mouth restrained, Daiyu could focus on Sonja and the old man. Adorra at least said it was an old man. Daiyu just fell to the ground and was knocked out. Tracking them would be easy. An obvious trail left by an old man who's slow and a woman with a touch of panic weighing her down. ************************** Sonja stood in the clearing. Fear gripped her heart, it's icy hand producing a chill in her blood. She gripped the old man's sword so hard, she felt she'd snap it. The man had a set of gloves and boots for Sonja. After Adorra and Daiyu took them before, and she left too fast to reclaim them. The Hunter waited in the brush surrounding the clearing. Only one way Daiyu would come. Only one way. He has to be calm. He has to be quick. The girl would do fine, he thought. Keep her at bay. Let him line up his shot. The end. The Hunter really wants this to be the end. Daiyu emerged, and stepped into the clearing. No anger, no frustration, just cold, focused, purpose. "Where's your one time savior, Sonja? The one who shoots hidden and with cowardice?" Daiyu asks. "Is he hiding again? Waiting to kill me? He will not have the opportunity again..." Daiyu rushed towards the silent Sonja, her focus placed only on lasting through the confrontation with the Death Dealer. Bracing herself, Wooden shield at the ready, Sonja felt Daiyu's swords strike, and split the weak defense. Quickly casting off the broken corpse of an item, Sonja swung her sword, only for Daiyu to block it once again. The swords scraping against each other, Daiyu spoke, "My masters do not wish you too beaten. You know this, I gather. Or you don't care." The women broke off from each other. The Hunter watched intensely, looking for his moment. This was it. He pulled back an arrow, the wire of his bow pulled tight, and his muscles tensed, he let the arrow fly. Daiyu would not be dealt with so easily. The arrow. So close to her head. Sonja and the Hunter felt their stomachs sink. Daiyu had caught the arrow, it's tip, inches from her face. "I see you," she proclaimed. She twirled the arrow between her fingers, throwing it, twice as fast, in the direction it came from. She didn't need a bow to be an archer, Daiyu thought. The Hunter fell back, the split second he had just barely enough, the arrow scraping his shoulder. His position compromised. "I see you. And soon you'll die," Daiyu explained. But Sonja tried to claim victory from this moment. It was their only chance. Daiyu's attention seemingly directed at the Hunter, she rushed her, aiming to take the woman's head. Daiyu wasn't caught off guard though. She danced away from the warriors strike, bringing her legs across Sonja's head in a whirling kick. Sonja's mind left her for a second. Her head filled with a horrible ringing. Sonja's face slammed against the dirt. The Hunter charged from the bushes, pulling back arrow after arrow, each leaving quicker than the last. Daiyu moved between them. Everywhere he aimed she would not be. As he moved closer, The Hunter resorted to swinging his bow at the Death Dealer. Daiyu flicked her blade, and split the bow in two, with a splash of blood leaving his chest. Daiyu then knocked him to the floor. "What is your name, old man? I feel as if I should know the man before me, moments before his life his over," Daiyu asked. He gripped his chest, the life pouring out of him. It never hurt this bad before, he wondered. He's too old to be hurt like this. "Folks had taken to calling me The Hunter. It's the name I go by." "A Hunter, eh? What do you Hunt? I've been here for hours and have seen no creatures stir, besides a horse I beheaded," Daiyu scoffed. "I'm looking for a bear." He heard branches break, and claws scraping bark and dirt. Inhuman grunts of exhaustion as something approached. "A bear?" Daiyu raised an eyebrow. "That is what you hunt. That's what the cave belongs to. A bear" "Never said 'hunt'. Do you women not listen? The cave it belongs to someone...." Daiyu heard a loud roar, and the earth quaked. A large, black bear, scarred and menacing before her. It's mighty arms, it's sharp claws, struck Daiyu, sending her flying into a tree. The trees bark splintered and the tree cracked. Daiyu gasped for air and slumped onto the dirt. "....it belongs to a friend," The Hunter finished. The Hunter had cared for the bear as a cub. It's mother and brothers burned in a great fire. The Hunter took pity on the wild animal. Raised him, somehow. He had comeback from a war that shook him to his core. He had grown to hate people. The bear would be a nice change of pace. The bear pressed the attack. His wounded friend before him would not stand. It's loyalty ran too deep. Daiyu, still gripping her swords, tried to rise, stumbling just a bit. Her head arched up enough to see the shadow of the enormous creature before her. It should not end this way, she thought. What a waste. A life lost to a mindless creature. It's claws struck deep, severing flesh, muscle, and none. The next strike snapped her neck clean. She wasted a life. ******************* The echoes of her dying mind returned her to the past. To the forge. The process, the ritual, changed her. Not just emotionally. Spiritually. Physically. She contianed the souls of the burned. Their essence flowed through her.A Death Dealer is not just one who delivers death. They are masters of it. **************************** The bear stood over it's dead prey. The sleight brought against it's friend avenged. It sniffed the broken corpse, trying to ascertain the opponents demise. The bear turns away. The bear doesn't hear blood bubbling. Or innards shifting. Muscle and skin stitching together and bone melting back in place. Her lungs take in air, a minute after Death. The bear couldn't react in time. The momentary lifeless corpse, moved quickly and efficiently, sinking sharp blades into the spine of the great beast. "No!" The Hunter pleaded! His friend, his momentary savior, died, a heaping mass of black fur and flesh. Daiyu stood before the bear. Her wounds still stitching together. "How! How are you still alive?!" Daiyu thought she should explain. To drive home how pointless confronting her was. "A Death Dealer is a master of death. Even our own. The forge, our final rite, is mystical to some extent. Burning the bodies of the recent dead add their essence to my own. Within me I had six lives, now five lives to burn, before my own," she explained. "You should've ran. Fighting me is a difficult endeavor. I am death." The Hunter was left with a hard choice. The sacrifice play. Toe to toe with a monster. In war, he fought what he thought were monsters. This woman is a real one. Unnatural. Agile, Strong, and seemingly unkillable. Two arrows left, he gripped one in each hand. He'd fell Daiyu. Daiyu the Death Dealer. Daiyu the monster. White hot rage filled his chest, his final charge meant to avenge his fallen friend. He shouldn't have helped the damn woman. And in an instant, it's over. Daiyu rammed her swords through his gut, blood leaking , out, the arrows gripped his hand fall into his pooling blood. The Hunters life was near an end. But he could do one more thing. Grabbing his opponents hands, he gritted his teeth and held tight. This should end soon. "What do you think you're doing old man? Can't you just die?" Daiyu questioned. He's feeling faint. The world is spinning. His heartbeat slowing. He doesn't have long. "Just making sure the Devil get her pound of flesh from Death," he forced out. The Devil. Daiyu had lost focus on Red Sonja! The mighty She-Devil was armed and deadly. The Hunter had provided her with her opportunity. Daiyu couldn't react. She couldn't move. Sonja had risen up, sword in hand, and was about to take her head. The Hunter would be the cause of her demise. Sonja's blade cleaved into Daiyu's neck. Cut clean through the bone, the headless form slumping back. Daiyu's head rolled in the grass. "Best keep her head away from her body....she'll just come back again if it attached to the thing and...you'd be...damned..." The Hunters last words. He died on his knees. His final thoughts were of what he would miss. The way the sunlight poured in through the tree branches of the forest. The way his friend the bear would snatch fish out the river. The feeling of the wind at his back. These were the things he'd miss. ********************* Sonja buried the head six feet under. If Daiyu came back, she would not stop. Hopefully she was buried deep enough. The old man was buried as well. His true name unknown to Sonja. The Bear and Daiyu's body would be left to rot. The bear, because given Sonja's current level of exhaustion, she could not lift such a creature. The body because she wanted to let the monster rot. Hopefully, keeping her head separated keeps Daiyu dead. Adorra was either dead, or otherwise. Sonja had no desire to seek her out, either way. It was time to move on.