Chapter 23

Ishar realized two things while bounding through the air towards Sergeant Goki. The first was the irrefutable fact that he knew nothing about combat, the most he could gather as combat related experience was when Veste, his, Cheke, had been beating the shit out of him. The second thing was the realization that he was attempting something nobody in their right mind would ever do. Facing a dozen armed men bare handed wasn't exactly the kind of odds one would favor regardless of how skilled they were at combat and Ishar had no skill to be spoken of for that matter. It was insane, Ishar was insane.

Sergeant Goki angled his spear at Ishar, blade of grass still spotted within a coy smile. Ishar's tactic seemed simply idiotic to the war experienced man. Throwing oneself at a man holding a spear was unwise, all Goki had to do was wait for the boy's own weight and momentum to impale him upon the spear.

 Ishar, however, didn't operate on terms of idiocy or intelligence, he saw the genius in idiotic acts and the stupidity in things of intelligence and in so doing he chose neither. He wanted what was beyond all that. What he operated on was this instinct that had been inert within him due to simple reasoning and since Ovek had claimed his ability to reason, the God had replaced it with something else, something that awoke the dormant instinct within him and laid out a path that could only be defined as insane.

Ishar twisted his body in mid air, one hand gripping his cloak and pulling at its hem. He spun towards the spear and the weapon pierced the cloak, missing his chest by mere inches. Ishar's momentum carried him into a surprised Goki and the pair of them tumbled to the ground. Goki released the spear that had been tangled by Ishar's cloak and prepared to put into effect the form of combat known throughout the realm as Awe, it was most useful in grappling situations.

The Awe technique Goki was to implement was simple, it involved twisting his body so he could get above his opponent and at the same time grip his opponent's neck in a one armed lock while the other hand dug into the opponent's ribs, fingers first, to incapacitate them with pain. Sergeant Goki was confident and capable, that is why the smile upon his face didn't waver neither did the blade of grass drop. He set an example before his men and today was just another lesson for them, it didn't matter if a boy losing his life served as the topic.

Goki prepared to twist when he felt a sharp pain between his ribs. Ishar had burrowed his hand into where the green leather parted across Goki's chest and dug his fingers between Goki's ribs. "Do you twist first then the arm lock or do you dig the fingers between the ribs first then twist?" Ishar asked. Goki's eyes widened. Ishar let out a chuckle and dug his fingers deeper into Goki's ribs. The Sergeant let out a groan but it was muffled when Ishar tilted his head back and slammed it upon Goki's nose.

The blade of grass dropped from Goki's lips. He let out a wail as his nose broke from the impact with Ishar's head but any movement on his part heightened the pain between his ribs. "Kill him!" Goki bellowed right as Ishar's head connected with the bridge of his nose once more. Everyone around Ishar and the Sergeant sprung into action. Loud thuds could be heard as Dhiliaf took hurried steps towards his Sergeant. Ishar saw the approaching man and shook out of his cloak that was tangled with the spear and rolled away from the Sergeant, coming to his feet and taking hurried steps away from the approaching Dhiliaf.

Dhiliaf let out a warrior's cry with his arms parted, spear in the right hand, murder in his green eyes. Ishar sprinted away from the giant of the man but Dhiliaf followed with attempted thrusts of his spear that fell just a few inches short of Ishar. "I WILL KILL YOU KOLOTIAN SCUM!" Dhiliaf screamed.

"Do you always scream out challenges while afraid?" Ishar asked while dodging the spear thrusts with ease. It wasn't that he was a skilled warrior capable of moving with the fluid movement of one whose muscles had been accustomed to combat. No, that wasn't it. Ishar saw the spear as something logical in that it could only work one way. Thrusting and swiping was all the spear could do in the hands of Dhiliaf and thrusting and swiping was what the big man did with it. It was nature following its course and Ishar saw nature as predictable, his instincts simply told him when to step back and when to duck.

Dhiliaf was getting frustrated with his failed attempts at piercing Ishar's skin. He drew the spear back and hurled it at Ishar with all his might. The spear came fast at Ishar and he had only a second to react. Finally. Ishar thought.Something unnatural. Ishar let go of his awareness concerning everything around him from the encroaching soldiers to the kneeling Mairek and the Sergeant still on the ground. It was just him and the spear.

Ishar put into play a reaction that he was familiar with. It was the reaction he had when one called his name, forcing him to abandon all that he was thinking of or doing and to turn his head to answer. It was the reaction when something abruptly startled him, causing him to jump back. It was the reaction that accompanied a sudden sound, that caused him to turn to the direction the sound came from. His awareness was centered on the oncoming spear and his reaction was in accordance to it.

Ishar moved his left hand with as much speed as could possibly be mastered and slapped the tip of the oncoming spear, diverting the direction of the spear to his right. With his right hand Ishar reached out and grabbed the shaft of the passing spear and stopped its momentum. Ishar turned his gaze from the spear within his hand to those around him. Mairek was still kneeling on the ground in surrender, his eyes wide with shock, mouth agape. All those around Ishar mirrored Mairek's expression and the encroaching soldiers had stopped in their tracks.

Sergeant Goki sat up from the ground, his eyes on Ishar. He pulled his hand from his bloodied nose as if in an effort to take in the boy more accurately. Had his eyes deceived him? Dhilifi's brute strength rendered a spear flung by him literally impossible to stop and from such a close range it was simply insane to even attempt to do so. But looking at the boy with the spear in his hand it appeared that the impossible was possible. There was more to the half naked boy with sepia colored skin and blue fingertips.

Ishar turned his eyes to Dhilifi. The man stood stagnated in the same stance he'd held after throwing the spear. His eyes were wide with shock and his hands trembled slightly. "You have the Jojoh Meena!" Exclaimed the large man. Ishar mirrored Dhilifi's spear throwing stance by pulling his spear wielding right hand back with his left hand spread out in front of him. A smile formed across Ishar's face. "What I have is a tenacity to be insane." Ishar took aim at Dhilifi and was about to let loose the spear when white bird droppings fell onto his head. There was a collective gasp from the Talisi soldiers and they all started murmuring at the same time.

The thick pungent liquid dripped down Ishar's face and cut short his impaling objective. Ishar looked up at the sky to see the brick red bird with blue tipped wings circling above him. Goki stood up and walked towards Ishar, he stopped several meters away. "Kolotian," Goki started, "you have been marked by the Gods! The Bird droppings on you is proof of this! Such a thing occurring especially during a time of combat is a major sign that cannot be ignored, it would please us greatly if you were to accompany us to the Talisi Green Army camp and avail yourself before an Entrail seer so we may know the will of the Gods."

"What do you mean?" Ishar asked.

"He means." Mairek said while getting off the ground and making his way towards Ishar. "Something as rare as a single bird in the sky taking a shit on someone carries with it significant meaning that is likened to be a message from the Gods. In short Ishar, our mission to the Ganidan plain is still on, only this time we have a military escort."

Ishar smiled and made to wipe the shit off his face and head. "DON'T DO THAT!" Screamed Sergeant Goki. "The Entrail Seer will need it to know the will of the Gods." So Ishar found himself on the path to the Ganidan Plain, marching with his friend between Talisi Green Army soldiers with his face smeared in bird shit.

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