The Lion-Man

The lion-man walked to the captives in a few confident strides. The villagers lowered their heads, and huddled together into a circle. The barbarian in the lion pelt scanned his captives and pointed to a man in the middle. Orisha couldn't see who the lion-man was pointing at until a few brawny barbarians dragged the villager out of the crowd: It was Lori's father!

Orisha covered her mouth to suppress a cry. Poor Lori...What would the they do to her father? Orisha watched as the old man was pressed down onto his knees before the barbarian lord who was already reaching for the battle ax under his belt. Orisha felt her heart swelled until it was about to burst out from her chest. The ax in the lion-man's hand was incredibly sharp, and exquisitely made; a stark contrast to the crude weapons of other barbarians.

"What should I do?" Orisha's mind raced. She was only a few feet away from the crowd of barbarians. Any movement would catch their attention.

Even as Orisha contemplated her options, she noticed that all barbarians faces lit up with excitement as they fixed their eyes on the battle ax. The ax was gleaming, and so were the eyes of the barbarian lord.

Was it magic?

Orisha had heard many wild tales of Barbarians, but none had hinted that they could use magic. The barbarians were humans after all, and like all humans, they were impossible to use magic without undergone the Endless Trail at the mage tower.

In a split second, the barbarian lord yanked the ax and its sharp edge sliced through the chest of the old man. A serious blow, but not fatal. Orisha squeezed the bow and though of drawing an arrow but what happened next simply rendered her motionless. Blood welled in the old man's wound were drawn out by an unseen force and formed a trickle of blood that flew upward, into the ax. It's motion defied the law of gravity and common sense; it was pure magic. The old man moaned painfully and life drained away from his face. In half a heart beat the ax was glowing as bright as an oil lamp and it started to produce a soft humming as if it was overcharged with energy.

The other barbarians's encircled their leader ; their face held an expression that Orish could only describe it as a mixture of fear and admiration. Suddenly, the trickle of blood stopped and the old man was half dead, but still alive. The soldiers looked at their leader expectantly, waiting for him to release his coup de grace.

After a second of pause, the barbarian leader lifted the as high above his head and bore down on the old man's head. The ax gleamed so brightly that Orisha almost had to look away. A second later, she wish she had looked away.

The sharp edge of the ax cracked open the old man's skull, cut into head, through the throat and buried its gleaming body deep into the chest, and then its victim simply exploded.

Orisha was paralyzed by the terror. Bits and pieces of red flesh and pink brain matters splattered everywhere, like a morbid flower of death.

"Death to all Barbarians!"

Orish heard a familiar voice shouted out indignantly. To her terror, she recognized the voice: it was her father.

Orisha and Lori's family had always been close. Their fathers were practically joined by the hip when they were teenagers. And even after their marriage, the two still went hunting and fishing together. Orisha understood why her father would rise up to the barbarians in such fury but even a sixteen year old girl knew that it was a mistake.

There was no time to think, Orisha knew that the barbarian lord wouldn't let a human to challenge him. She pulled the blow out from under her belly as gingerly as she could and then she drew the bow.

Already, the barbarian lord's eyes had found her father and he was about to lift the ax and threw it out at him. Orisha let go of the string hopping to land an arrow at the Barbarian lord's temple.

The movement caught the barbarians's attention and he turned his head over the shoulder; now the arrow was going to bury right in between his eyes. The barbarian lord might have frowned a little when the arrow suddenly hit an invisible wall and fell to the ground. The barbarian lord only graced Orisha with a glance and then he carried on his attack. Instead of throwing the ax like Orisha had expected, he simply went through the motion of throwing it without letting the ax leave his hand, but something else did. A red light, darker than blood flew off from the edge of the ax and streamed across the space and hit Orisha's father.

Orisha watched as her father fell silently in death.

Her heart stop beating for a second as reality dealt a devastating blow at her. Blood drained from her face, and she let out a soundless scream as tears welled in her eyes. She had no time to moan for her father, a couple of barbarians were already clambering on to the roof , trying to catch her.

With tears still in her eyes, Orisha turned around and hopped off the roof and started running. She didn't know which way was safer, so she simply ran toward wherever there was less barbarians insight. Beside her, she could hear the shouted and rallies of barbarians. The ally ways in between houses lead her to a sharp turn, and suddenly, she rammed into a massive body.

"Where are you going, kitty-kitty?" An ugly face said to Orisha.

She was assailed by a wave of offensive stench of ale and piss that almost made her felt dizzy. She pushed herself away from the barbarian and about turned to ran toward the other direction. The barbarian grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards his arm. Orisha hit the matted fur that was cladded on the barbarian's chest.

"Don't go. You don't want to love me? Haha!" The barbarian laughed and he groped Orisha, his massive hands cupped her breast and caressed it.

"You will like it, I promise" The barbarian said with a ugly grin.

"Let me go!" Orisha struggled in the barbarian's iron hold, hitting his chest with her fists with all what she worth. It was like hitting a stone wall with a pebble.

"Look! Bolan got a feisty one!"

"Haha! Bolan, be quick! It's my turn next!"

By then, the barbarians had surrounded Orisha. She didn't stop her struggle, but the barbarian picked her up by her waist and hauled her onto his shoulder.

"No one got to take her, she is MINE!" The barbarians shouted to his brothers.

"Put her down, Bolan. She is mine" A deep and commanding voice boomed.

Orisha turned her head and looked toward the voice. It was the man in the lion-pelt.

At this close distance, she could see him clearer now: his face was hard like granite with features that looked like chiseled in. His eyes had a hint of amber in them, that glinted under the shadow of the massive lion head hamlet.