Kingdom of Magic

Chapter 2: Guss

Guss wheeled his horse around the dead corspe of a man crushed beneath a slaughtered horse and whirled his mighty two-handed, double edged sword above his head. His sword was nearly as long as he and was a nice thick steel claymore style blade with. The sword was very basic consisting of the blade mounted in a bronzed hilt wrapped in grey cloth and a thick chunk of metalfor a guard. The sword appeared cumbersome and weighty but Guss had no problem in manuevering it. He struck a man's shield but the blow was so fierce that it launched the man off his horse. He swifty moved his hand up the long hilt of the sword, which was about four man sized hands long, and parried a mace blow that would have struck the side of his helmet. He parried another two blows and rode on through the enemy lines. He lanced a man with his enormous sword and threw him aside like a rag doll. He wheeled his horse again. It wasn't like he was fighting at all but scouring the battlefield for a worthy foe. Truth being told he was looking for someone. Someone who had always been stronger than he. Someone who tested all his techniques to the extreme. He dismounted and leapt off his horse onto a retreating enemy.

He cowered below Guss; "Please don't kill me! I'll do anything!" he squealed.

Guss removed his bucket helmet. The helmet had been a bucket his father used to collect water from a resevoir many miles from their desert home. Guss had took it for a helmet when he joined a group of Raiders who strived to rule over Japorcar since it had been Kingless for decades. The bucket had been resmelted and rebuilt to have a visor and had more plates of steel for better face protection. Guss looked down on his prey with his mismatched eyes. One a wolf pelt grey and the other a deep sea blue.

"Where is he?" he screamed.

"Where is who?" whimpered the man.

"The one the call the Demon of the Sands!" Guss smacked the man across the jaw with the back of his hand.

"I don't know!" Guss hit him again, "I swear! I know nothing!" Guss raised his hand again but he was stopped by Gryph. He was the leader of the Sweeping Hawks Mercenaries. There were many Mercenary bands in the Japorcar Kingdom. It was a Kingless land with many claims to the throne and many wars over the throne. Japorcar was a wartorn wasteland and a shell of the once beautiful deserts and intricate jungles.

"Stop!" He said,"These are not The Sand Demon's men if you had bothered to examine their attire you would have realised."

"Gryph..." he replied.

"Let him go." He said,"Let him run off and tell tales of our victory and his defeat."

Guss hit the man one more time, stood up, and dusted himself off, "Whatever." He wasn't one to follow orders directly. He only followed orders if it suited him or he really felt the need to. Somedays where better than others and it depended on how pissed off he was at the time. He was rather ticked today, seven long months, he had been searching for The Sand Demon who tended to keep himself well hidden. He had only encountered the Demon of a man once and was overwhelmed by his power. Ever since then he has been searching to find this monstrousity to be as great a warrior as he can be. Guss would not settle for some common sellsword, he had to fight the strongest he could to be the strongest he could become and sword in had he was going to do it or die trying.

"When are you going to let this go, Guss?" sighed Gryph, "You have been chasings shadows all your life. Come into the light and fight the real enemies here."

"You wouldn't understand!" said Guss, "I have to do this to regain my sense of pride."