Here's the next chapter of LoD for Jacen.

The cannon balls slammed into the barbarian ranks and tossed aside any in their paths. bones shattered and limbs were torn off due to the cannon balls’ force. One barbarian bravely but stupidly tried to catch one of the projectiles, but he was blasted away, a gaping hole in his chest.

“Adarc, we must leave!” Jacen shouted over the madness. He started to run but soon saw that his new companion was not following him. “What are you doing, Adarc? We need to go! To Brimwood!”

‘No, Jacen. You need to go. I need to stay here and avenge the death of the Wise Woman and fight by my clan’s side,” Adarc responded calmly.

“This isn’t a fight, Adarc. It’s a massacre. If we don’t leave here now you and I will both become another figure in the death toll. There’s nothing we can do to avenge your clan here, but if you survive now then later we can strike back at the king and his men.”

“But I must stay for my honor, the honor of my clan!”

“Do you remember what your Wise Woman said not minutes ago? Your destiny lies with me. The only way to preserve the honor of your clan is to fight with me against the ruler of this corrupt land, a land that would destroy your clan because the believe that you harbor a traitor. Did they even confirm this fact? Did they search in this clan to see if they harbored anyone? I don’t think so. They opened fire on you with the slightest provocation. You can stay and fight now and die, or you can live and fight later with me. I assure you, the latter choice will allow you to see victory over these people.”

Adarc,s seeing the logic in this, did not respond, but simply started sprinting away fromn the battle, Jacen hot on his heels. Looking back one more time, Adarc saw that, despite the cannon fire, his clan had made it to the enemy and were fighting valiantly, giving him the time he needed to escape. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he remembered his friends and family. He promised never to forget them. He would fight on in their name, together with this boy, and he would take down the king himself.

“So, what kind of place is this Brimwood?” Adarc asked Jacen as they walked. As they had fled the barbarian camp, there had been no time to gather supplies, so for a while there was no food or water. It had taken them hours to trudge through the remainder of the barren plains and they had now entered a queit forest. Here they found water and food abounded. Animal and plant life was all around them and there was plenty of water in small streams and brooks. They could hear a river a ways off and were trying to find it in the hopes of getting a lead on how to get to Brimwood.

“I don’t know. Before a few days ago I had never left my village, so I have no idea what the world outside my village is like besides what I’ve been told,” Jacen replied.

“If that’s the case, how do you know that the rest of the world is in as dire a position as your own village. For all you know the rest of the world could be a perfectly happy place.”

“Like I said, I know only what I’ve been told, and what I’ve been told is that the whole country has been oppressed by the king. He’s been fighting a war with another country recently and since then the already bad situations of the villages under his control have gotten worse.”

Suddenly, both Adarc and Jacen tensed and stoppped. There were noises coming from ahead that were not animal in nature. Jacen strained his ears forward and could just manage to discern the word “Help” being shouted over and over.

“Someone’s in danger,” Adarc said. “We must help whoever it is.”

“Why should we? It’s their problem,” said Jacen, with no trace of emotion in his voice whatsoever.

“We fight for justice, don’t we? We cannot allow an innocent person to be hurt while we stand back and watch. I’m going to help them whether you like it or not.” Adarc charged forward through the underbrush and soon jumped out of the forest onto a large dirt road. A carriage sat off to one side of the road; the horses that had been pulling were nowhere in sight. The carriage was surrounded by highwaymen dressed in ragtag clothing and with large bowler hats on their heads. The cries for help seemed to coming from within the carriage. It sounded like a young woman.

“What the hell is a barbarian doing in the forest?” one of the highwaymen asked. Before he could get an answer, he was knocked aside by a powerful punch from Adarc. The other highwaymen, five in total, drew their swords and rushed their sudden opponent. Adarc swept the first one aside with a mighty swing of his hammer, then used the momentum afforded to him from this swing to pivot around send the next robber flying back the way he’d come with his chest caved in.

The other three highwaymen backed off a bit, holding their swords at the ready, sizing Adarc up. They had underestimated him at first and their three allies had paid for that. The robber looked at each other, then resumed their attack in unison. One went left, one right, and the other straight down the middle. Adarc led with a punch to knock the middle robber back, then pivoted so he was completely facing the robber on his right. The one on his left, seeing his chance, rushed blindly in at Adarc’s back, not noticing what the more battle tuned warrior had.

Jacen erupted from the bushes and immediately launched into his attack. The robber managed to get his sword up in time to block Jacen’s first strike, but he was off-balanced and his grip was weak from surprise. The sword went flying from his hand, and Jacen’s sword met his gut. Adarc dispatched his opponent with a quick chop to the side of the neck which dropped him instantly.

Now, both Adarc and Jacen turned towards the last remaining robber. He had gotten back to his feet, his eyes filled with fear. Realizing that he was now the focus of both his enemies, who were infinitely times stronger than he, he dropped his sword and turned tail and fled. Jacen was not about to let him get away though. Using his powerful legs, Jacen sprinted after him and soon caught up. he slashed the man in the back of his left leg, severing the tendon and crippling. He fell to the ground and Jacen drove his sword through his heart.

“You could have let that one go,” Adarc said. He held the only living robber by the back of the collar. He was still out cold, and Adarc tossed him onto the ground at Jacen’s feet.

“If someone makes me their enemy, I will make sure they die,” Jacen said simply.

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” cried a young woman as she burst from the carriage. She ran up to Jacen and wrapped him in a huge bear hug. He tried to push her away, but her grip was like iron. Her strawberry blond hair brushed against his cheek and some long suppressed instinct that Jacen didn’t recognize stirred within him.

Finally, the girl backed off. She didn’t exactly look like your typical rich girl of the time. She was very beautiful, but in a much simpler way than most daughters of wealthy families. Her face was not caked in makeup and she wore a light purple traveling dress rather than the popular yet highly restrictive dresses of the upper class. She had almond shaped, pale-green eyes that seemed innocent, yet at the same time calculating. Jacen didn;t trust those eyes.

“Please, travelers, I beseech you, take me to the next town. I must return to my parents at once or they will worry about me, and as you can see robbers abound in this forest. They scared away both my horse and my driver, who was supposed to protect me,” the young woman pleaded.

“We are headed to Brimwood; if you want to come with us you may,” Jacen said.

“Ah, Brimwood is not far down this road. We can make it by sunset if we hurry. Please, lead the way.” Adarc and Jacen started walking down the road, and the girl fell in just behind them.

“So, if we are going to be traveling together for a little while, please tell us your name, fair maiden. I am Adarc and my companion is Jacen,” Adarc said.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Adarc, but I don’t tell my name to my victims.” Suddenly it all made sense to Jacen. Something clicked in his mind. It was all an elaborate ruse to lure in heroic travelers. It probably hadn’t gone exactly to plan, but Jacen knew that this girl was one of the robbers. The carriage must have belonged to one of their past victims.

Jacen turned around and saw a small red dot in the middle of the girl’s pupil. His instincts told him to move and he dived out of the way. Adarc was not quite so quick. As he jumped to the side, the ground beneath his feet exploded. He was sent flying into a tree and hit it with a resounding crack. He fell to the ground, unconcious.

“Good reflexes, Jacen. But you won’t beat my blessing. I’m going to blow you to pieces for what you did to my friends,” the girl said.

At that moment, Jacen decided that he had to have her. He would make her a part of his team whether she liked it or not.