A Harsh Reality Check (Closed)

[HothouseOrchid]

Marina certainly noted the change in his tone in regards to her name, and this only served to confuse her more, as he had ridiculed her on it only so long ago, and now he wished to be able to say it properly? Truly, the only expectation he was creating for her was that he would continue to confuse her.

Although he continued to assume things about her, she let it go, especially since she would only argue his choice of words. Being referred to as a runaway made her feel like she was a child having a disagreement with her family, not an adult leaving to embrace her own personal freedoms and escape the abuses she had in her future had she stayed. She hardly felt he would be interested in her past, so unless he asked she wouldn't waste her breath in telling him.

Instead she followed him as he spoke, nodding along to what he was explaining. She couldn't help but feel a touch offended when he implied she didn't know how to talk to people or work things out, as she had been trained to converse with the highest classes and the most noble of peoples, as well as be able to haggle with the toughest of merchants. Though as she thought more about it as she left him to his training to explore the area a little more, perhaps today's events was enough evidence that her training did her little good out here. That realization whisked away the last of her optimism that she had for the day. Even if this strange man helped her, was she going to make it out here, or will she have to eventually retreat back home to her inevitable future of a spinster who could not follow the duties put upon her as a daughter?

Sitting next to the water and putting her bag down next to her, Marina started undoing her long braid, letting her hair fall loose over her shoulders and down her back. Once it was free, she dug into her bag and pulled the hair brush and began to absentmindedly brush her hair, clearing it of knots so that it wouldn't begin to tangle. This one of the few rituals she was able to allow herself, now that most of her things were gone. She figured that everything would be much easier to cut it short like she had seen many of these country women did to keep it out of the way, it was one thing of luxury that she felt she couldn't bare to part with. She had even heard once that offering one's hair to a wig maker could give her a lot of money, especially if it was long and of a rare colour such as her own, but that price would never be high enough for her.

She sat for a while, letting her mind go to a far off place, until she felt herself begin to fall asleep where she sat. Sighing softly to herself, Marina stood, looking over to where her new companion kept with his training. He was clearly working hard, and seemed to not be wishing stop to talk or for anything really, so she decided perhaps it was best to put herself to sleep. Marina walked into the small shack that she assumed to be where they were to sleep, finding a single clump meagre pillows and blankets pushed up against a wall by the sleeping bags he had placed inside.

“Sleeping on the floor... It's okay, I've slept on more uncomfortable things.” She reasoned as she grabbed one of the sleeping bags, unrolling it and setting it up in the other corner, away from Leoric's assumed space, and putting her bag down on the head of the bag.

It wasn't until she had already stripped the dress off and was half way through unlacing her corset did she remember that her sleeping clothes had been amongst the clothes that had been stolen from her, and she couldn't help but whimper. Having little choice, she removed the rest of the lacing before tucking it away in her bag, and putting her dress back on. She couldn't exactly sleep naked or in her underclothes with a strange man, after all.

Tucking herself into the sleeping bag, Marina set her bag under her head as a pillow, letting herself relax into the comfort and safety of the hut. She slipped her hand into the bag, curling her fingers around the hilt of her dagger as a precaution, and finally slipped into sleep.

When morning came, the sun peering in through the cracks in the wood woke her from her deep sleep. She mumbled, attempting to cover her face away from the assaulting sun, laying still until she gave up trying to reclaim her dreams. The dwarf sat up and yawned, stretching her arms over her head and looking over to see if Leoric was still asleep, and was surprised to not see him there, and see that his sleeping bag was still rolled up. She frowned, but didn't let herself think too hard on his decisions. He was a grown man after all and could make his own choices.

Once her corset was on again with a clean dress, and her hair rebraided, Marina left the shack, looking over to see Leoric exactly where she had left him. If the amount of sweat that was dripping off of him was any indication, he didn't simply wake up early and reroll his bag.

She sighed, and wondered if she should try to get him to stop. Thinking about it for a moment, a better idea came to her. Forcing a wide smile onto her face, Marina ran to where the food was stored and got to work.

Within an hour she had breakfast made. It was simple, eggs, toasted bread, and grilled breakfast sausages, but she was proud. She was never allowed to cook too often, but she was very happy to see that the few lessons the family cook had given her had stuck with her. She settled down next to the cooking fire, putting the servings onto plates, and waited.

For an extra hour, where she had picked at her food to eat as slowly as she could, Marina waited for Leoric to finish, hoping he was able to smell the food and take that as a hint, but he just kept going. She watched him, admiring how hard he was able to work and push himself, but he really needed to eat. She was already finished eating when she finally gave up waiting.

“When you're ready to finish, breakfast is here for you!” She called, setting her empty plate to the side. She watched as he turned, and let out a shocked squeak as she watched him proceed to get decked with one of the clubs. “Mr Leoric!” She cried, jumping up and running over to him.

Kneeling next to his body, it was clear he had been knocked out cold, so Marina quickly tried to rid the weights off of his body. She was surprised to find that she struggled, grunting as she pulled the logs off of his arms, and ended up having to just pushing the pack off of him once she released his arms, being completely unable to pick it up at all. For a brief moment, Marina was amazed that with all that weight on him he was still able to train throughout the night.

She dismissed that thought, however, in place with focusing on caring for the unconscious man. She had started with trying to pick him up, pulling his arm up and over her shoulder to try to half carry him over to the shed, but only managed a few steps before nearly collapsing herself under his weight. “You are deceptively heavy, Mr Leoric!” She grumbled, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hear her as she put him down again.

Trying again, she began to drag him, but realized quickly as she heard the painful sounding scraping of his back on the rocky ground, and gave up. Marina thought quickly, and ran to the shack.

Soon enough, Marina had moved the fire pit over closer to Leoric and put the sleeping bag down so she could roll him onto it. She then piled the pillows from his corner set up under his head. Once he was on his side, she slipped his vest off of him and went to go fill a container with fresh water. Being unable to find a clean rag, She ripped off a strip off of her silk chemise and used that to begin cleaning the scrapes that had come from her attempt at dragging him, as well as washing the sweat and dirt off of his chest, back, face, and arms.

Once she finished that, Marina replaced the water from the pot and located a small cup amungst the few things around, and proceeded to encourage him to drink some, tilting his head up to keep him from choking. By the time she had him laying on his back and put a few of the blankets he had over him, as well as reset the fire, his breakfast was irreplaceably cold, so she just readied her stomach to feel ill from not only over eating, but for feeling upset as it did whenever she ate cold eggs, before going to clean pans and plates she had used.

Once that was done, the dwarven woman started on boiling the water in the pot while she continued to make rags out of ripped pieces of her chemise. She had ripped it high enough that it would fall just at her knees, but she knew she had to make sure she had enough. Once the water was heated, she dipped the strips of silk into the water, soaking them before wrapping them around Leoric's arms, hoping that the warmth of the water would aid in healing his no doubt sore arms, and continued to do so until both of his arms down to his knuckles were completely wrapped.

Over the hours Leoric slept, Marina kept herself busy by washing her few clothes, and once the water in the silk strips either cooled or evaporated, she would replace them with fresh warm water. For the most part, she kept close to him, just in case he woke up. Eventually she began making food again that could be reheated easily, humming softly to herself as she cooked. As confusing as a man Leoric is, she didn't want him starving, and she couldn't help but worry about him.

[Leoric]

Leoric struggled to open his eyes, his head was throbbing worse then after he drank an entire tavern under the table. “What hap… ah!”

Leoric screamed out in pain as he tried to sit up, His body completely sore after what leoric could only guess to be about 9 hours of solid training. The second half of which was just muscle memory. If he broke his concentration for even a moment he would of been hit. Thats when it hit him, ‘someone’ called out to him about breakfast and broke his concentration.

“Ma..Marina?” He said wincing as he struggled to reach a sitting position.

“Stay laying down,” she said sternly, not even looking at him as she tended the simple stew she had managed to make with what food they had. Tapping the spoon on the edge of the pot before setting it down on one of the spare rags and going over to him. Marina sat down next to him, putting her hands onto his chest to gently push him back down. “You’re not allowed to move. If there is anything you need, let me do it, okay?”

“Not allowed?” he chuckled as he struggled to place his palms flat on the ground and push himself backwards a little bit so he was resting more so against a large rock. “I don’t follow orders well”

Leoric entered a coughing fit as his lungs protested the extra work.

“What happened? I thought the camp was a good few yards that way?”

Marina opened her mouth to chastise him for not listening, but his question seemed to catch her off guard. Her face slowly turned a shade remarkably close to her hair colour. She looked away from him, seeming to find it difficult to look him in the eye in embarrassment. “You were… a little heavy…” She muttered, her hands moving to toy with the end of her braid.

“Well…” he started as he strained to look down at his arms “You managed to take off the logs and my pack, so i am quite a bit lighter then i would of been”

“If i remember correctly there was mention of breakfast?” he said flinching as he tried to move his right arm onto his lap.

The dwarf’s face scrunched up in frustration as she watched him move before reaching out, using a gentle touch to his forearm in order to help him bare the weight of his own arm until it rested down comfortably. “You slept through breakfast, it became way too cold to let you eat, so I made some more food…” She sighed, standing up and moving back to the pot to serve a bowl up for him and then returned to his side. “Open your mouth.”

Leoric went to reach for the spoon to feed himself until his arm went limp from exhaustion. And he grudgingly opened his mouth. “You know i am not going to die, my body just needs some rest. Besides i need to head into town later and pick up some more fresh ingredients for food.”

As she fed him he felt the delectable and savory beef stew slide down his throat and his eyes rolled back in his head slightly. It had been awhile since he tasted ‘adequate’ cooking.

“This is so damn good.” he said with his mouth half full of stew.

She was clearly surprised by his compliment, pausing with wide eyes as she was scooping another spoonful. Then her face fell after a moment, almost pouting as she blew on the spoonful to cool it down for him. “You don’t have to make fun of me.” She mumbled, offering the next bite for him to take.

“Not making fun of you, legitimate compliment there Marina. I don’t normally cook, i train till my body gives out and then stuff my face with whatever i have. Dried out bread maybe some jerky. Nothing fancy. This … is delicious.” Leoric said while looking directly into her eyes and giving her probably the most sincere smile she had ever seen.”

Marina stared at him for a moment, her cheeks starting to blush again before she turned her gaze away, focusing a little too intently on the bowl in her hands. “It could be better. I only had so much to work with… If I had some spices, or even some salt…” She trailed off, then perked up as an idea hit her. “Oh! Bread!” She placed the bowl down and jumped up. Once running to the supplies and back, a loaf of bread in her hands, she ripped off a chunk of it and dipped it in the stew before offering the piece to his mouth. Her bright smile lit up her face, looking very proud of such a simple idea. “This will fill you up a lot better, i think! And don’t worry, I washed my hands earlier.”

Leoric smirked as he went to take a bit and half of the bread fell down and hit his bare chest. He looked down and realized he wasn’t wearing his vest. “Well, if you wanted my clothes off all you had to do was ask.”

Marina’s face color seemed to match her hair with his latest comment and she was trying to find the right words to express herself when he spoke up again.

“Look, i will be back to being able to stand here in a minute, how bout we talk a walk into town, together, we can start your ‘social’ training and get you the herbs and spices you need for some more of this delicious cooking.”

“I already told you, if you need anything, I’ll do it. You stay here and rest.” She said sternly, shaking her head quickly. “And I’ve had social training, thank you very much. I’m not completely clueless, nor would I be gone long.” She paused, looking down at his chest. “Besides, you can’t even move to clean yourself up, how could you possibly make the walk to town?” If he didn’t know any better, it almost was sounding like she was teasing him as she cleaned his chest up for him.

Leoric smirked as she began to to clean up his chest, he flexed his chest to show off how toned his musculature was. He then sighed. “Fine If you are so intent on going by yourself, just be careful”

[HothouseOrchid]

“I'll be fine.” Marina chirped happily. “But first you have to at least finish the bowl, and stop making a mess!”

“I already told you, I don't take orders well.” He replied with a smirk, and yet still opened his mouth.

Once she ensured that he had finished eating only when he was full and had him comfortable, Marina left the campsite towards the village, hoping that it wouldn't be too late in the day to miss getting the best produce.

= = = = =

“So, that's what happened to your hand, huh?” The boisterous laughter that followed the comment echoed off the nearly empty tavern walls, making some of the barmaids flinch before returning to their work.

Ox, Tanner, and Grant all stood in front of the large leather chair, looking meek as they finished explaining what happened the night before to the man in front of them. He was a large man, his short black hair brushed back neatly out of his face and his chiseled face shaved clean. He was slouched a bit in his chair, but somehow still managed to look imposing, even with the impossibly large Ox before him. He had a wide grin on his face, but his eyes were dark, snowing how unamused he really was.

“Serves you right, you idiots.” He spat, pushing himself up from the chair. “You can't expect the likes of you three to take on Leoric, you have to actually have some brains to do that.”

“But he was butting his nose in our business!” Grant objected, until he realized his mistake of talking back to the man. The room felt a little colder, and Tanner and Ox both stepped away from their friend.

The dark haired man took a long look at Grant, who tried stammering apologies. Taking a few steps close to Grant, he put his hand on the back of his head, making the poor man flinch in fear. “Then maybe you shouldn't have made your business so loud for him to hear about it.” The man growled, barely loud enough for the other two to hear him before he gripped Grant's hair, forcing his head back before slamming it hard against the stone fireplace, a loud crack of his skull ringing through the building.

It was deathly silent after Grant crumbled to the ground, Ox and Tanner practically shaking as they waited for the man to speak again. “Don't worry, he's not dead this time.” He sighed, brushing his hand off onto his velvet coat as if it had become covered with dirt by simply touching the other man. “So... what did you want me to do about your idiocies? Did you want me to clean up your mess?”

“No, Darius, Sir.” Ox quickly said. “Just didn't want you to hear about it from town gossip.”

The man, Darius, paused before looking at the two. “So you are capable of being smart.” He made a simple motion to instruct the two of them to follow him, and left a few gold pieces on the fireplace for the barmaids to take as payment to drag Grant somewhere out of sight before leaving the tavern.

“Luckily for the both of us, Leoric's training tends to line up when I'm back from my hunting trips, but if he really is sticking his nose in the business of my town, I'll have to deal with it.” He explained, walking through the streets of the busy noon-time market. As they walked through, people would offer him free food and goods, most of which he would decline as his tastes were much finer than the town could provide, but he provided much more for them as the prime game hunter. He was responsible for feeding the town and protecting livestock from savage beasts, as well as returning with the leather and fur needed to keep the town clothed, so they admired him. They needed him to stay happy.

“That might be a good idea, Darius Sir.” Tanner agreed, making sure to retain a few steps behind his boss. “He's starting to get real smug.”

“We can't have that, can we.” Darius rolled his eyes, looking over the crowd of people until they fell onto a single bright red spot. He stopped in his tacks, locking his gaze on the tiny woman who owned the beautiful locks. “What do we have here? I've never seen her before.”

Ox's eyes widened when he saw who he was talking about, quickly looking around for someone else. “That's her, Boss. That girl from last night. We saw her leave with Leoric last night, too.”

“And no Leoric in sight now.” He laughed. He took in her appearance, admiring her full figure and cute face. How pure she looked was something he couldn't ignore, even as she was simply looking over a stall of spices. Not to mention he was sure she had the biggest breasts he had ever seen on any woman in this village. “Not that he could stop me. Go make sure that Grant has been taken care of, will you?”

Ox and Tanner looked at each other, the former scowling in jealousy, but they nodded and left. They knew better than to try to stop Darius from getting what he wanted.

Once they were gone, Darius went over to the young woman who had caught his eye.

= = = = =

“You drive a hard bargain, Missy, but you're sweet so I'll take your offer.” The spice merchant said with a laugh before handing over the various bags of spices to her before accepting the payment lower than the average price. “Just don't tell everyone, alright? I've got a business to run.”

Marina laughed, putting the bags into the basket she had purchased just for the ease of buying groceries. “No, of course not, but I will remember your kindness and be sure to come to you again.”

“Take care, Miss!”

With a bright smile and a polite bow of her head to the man before moving on to the next stall full of herbs. She couldn't help be amazed by their freshness, with some even still in small pots for people to grow themselves. “Ohh, these all smell amazing!” She exclaimed, picking up a sprig of parsley and taking a small sniff of it.

“I happen to agree, our little town does provide a large portion of the herbs sold in the city, after all.”

Marina jumped, startled by the voice so close to her ear, twisting around quickly to look at the huge man who was suddenly behind her. “Oh, is that so?” Her voice shook a little, smiling politely up at him. “I had no idea.”

“It's true.” He hummed, standing straight in front of her. “You're new to town, right? We don't get many dwarves around here, especially not beautiful women such as yourself.”

Marina felt her face warm up at the compliment, looking down bashfully. “Oh, you're the first person to not assume I am human...” She muttered, starting to toy with her hair.

“Most of the people around here have never seen a female dwarf, that's all. It's mostly the men who travel, isn't that so?”

“Well, I suppose...” She trailed off, looking back up at him. This time, she caught a specific gleam in his eye that made her stomach twist with discomfort. He was looking at her with his dark eyes as if he were a predictor, ready to eat her. “Well, as it stands, I still have some shopping to do, so if you don't mind...”

She tried stepping around him, but he just stepped in her way. “Let me accompany you. There are some man around here that are just beasts.” He insisted, and something was telling her that he wasn't going to accept her saying no.

“There is no harm in walking with me, I suppose...” She sighed, managing to duck around him to continue her shopping while he followed close behind her.

“So, what might your name be?” He asked, his gaze low down on her body while she walked.

“Marina of--” She stopped, being mindful of how she should introduce herself. “Just Marina.”

“Well, Just Marina,” he joked, grinning down at her. “I'm Darius, the head game hunter of the village.”

“Oh, how important.”

“Of course it is!” He laughed, not catching her uninterested tone. “I practically feed and cloth this entire village.” Marina hummed politely, which seemed to encourage him to continue. He talked about himself the entire time he followed her through the market, talking through her haggling down prices with the butcher and other sellers. She did note, however, that they acted different now that this strange man was following her. They seemed a lot more nervous, and more likely to agree to her prices as if they were worried that this man next to her would be upset if they disagreed. This in turn only made her more nervous.

She was at the last stall, looking at some dresses that were on display, when Darius actually asked her a question. “So Why are you buying all this food, anyway? Do you have a husband you are cooking for?”

At the question she couldn't help but laugh, shaking her head. “Not at all.” She said vaguely, stepping away from the stall. She wasn't there for fashion, after all. Her smile fell however when she saw that predatory look again.

“Well that's good to know.” He said with a chuckle, stepping next to her and wrapping his arm around her. “Perhaps you should come home with me, then. Only someone with a skill in cooking can shop as well as you, and I would love to taste some of that. You would make a beautiful little housewife, after all.”

Before she knew it, Marina was being lead away. She couldn't help but think 'not again,' as she tried to duck out from his arm, but he resisted her escape. “I really should return, I have been gone long enough as it is...” She said, trying to be polite as possible.

“Oh come now, I know you have no where to be.” Darius said with a laugh, pulling her out of the crowd and into an alleyway. It was there where he pinned her against a wall, his hands on either side of her to block her from getting away. “You're too beautiful to be on your own, you know, and with me you would never go hungry.” There was a growl to his voice as he leered down at her, his grin wide. “And I would be sure never to let you go cold at night.”

Marina's voice was caught in her throat as she tried to figure out a way to talk herself out of this, but she really was too scared, as this man definitely seemed like he wouldn't be the type you would want to say no to, if he ever gave you that option. And this time, Leoric wasn't there to help her.

“I really have to go,” She tried, attempting to duck under his arm, but he made quick work to stop her by cupping her face with one of his large hands, forcing her to look up at him.

“You don't fool me with that pure act, you know. I know you left with Leoric last night, so I know what type of woman you really are, but you don't need to live that life.” He growled to her, leaning down so close she could feel his breath on her face. “How does that sound, you being my pretty little housewife?”

[Leoric]

Leoric grunted as he managed to get to his feet and stretch his shoulders. His muscles were incredibly sore but he wasn’t one to just lay around. Marina had been gone for barely an hour when Leoric started to get a bad feeling. He put on his leather vest and threw the rucksack over his shoulder. The momentum of the bag threw him off balance but didn't send him to the ground.

He wasn’t the kind of man to flake on his training from a little exhaustion. Hell if it wasn't for marina he would've just went straight back to training. Only resting when he went back to town. But something wasn’t sitting right. He knew oxford and his entourage to be persistent and they would probably be back in town as soon as he left. He stumbled as he started on the trail back to town, he grabbed a large stick that was on the side of the trail, it had a nice crook on the top end for holding onto easier. He used it as a type of walking stick incase he stumbled again.

============


“Leoric, you may want to get into town. Darius is here, and he seems to have taken a liking to the red haired one that was with you last night.” Emmanuel said as he saw Leoric get near the house.

“Well when it rains it pours” Leoric sighed as he picked up the pace and stumbled a little bit.

“Did you really go and over do it already? What on earth are you thinking?” Emmanuel scolded as leoric was visibly limping.

“You know nine hours of straight training no breaks with this rucksack and wooden weights do that to you” Leoric chuckled as his face twinged as a bit of pain shot up from his leg.

“I will have to see how you train one day” Emmanuel chuckled as leoric finished walking past “Rebecca is still in town, please keep an eye out for her too if you can?”

Leoric nodded as he continued his walk into town. It wasn’t long before he spotted Darius all over Marina, Leoric could clearly see she was uncomfortable and just trying to get away. Leoric kept walking towards them as they seemed to go around a corner and down an alley. Leoric knew this was typical of Darius to try and isolate his ‘prey’


“How does being my little housewife sound?” He heard as leoric turned the corner.

“I dont know, that would mean she has to see that ugly mug every night. At least she is with me for the next week so she can see a pretty face for a change.” Leoric said as he leaned up against the wall.

“A week?! How did you get that kind of coin to have a pretty exotic whore for a whole week!” Darius said as he turned to face Leoric

“Well, i guess all that sucking dick you do doesn't pay that well then eh?” Leoric chuckled as he straightened up and his eye twitched with his muscles protesting. “How about you stop revolting every lady in town and fuck off? Before i make you.”

“Oh please, a pipsqueak like you couldn’t make me do anything” Darius smugly said as he stood upright and rolled his shoulders.

“And someone like you couldn’t get a woman without paying a pretty penny, Hope the dick sucking picks up”

Darius’ face contorted into something of rage as he charged leoric and let out a punch into Leoric’s stomach sending him flying backwards and into the middle of the cross roads. Everyone around let out a cry of surprise and quickly disappeared into their houses or into the local shops and closed the windows. They knew what happened when these two fought.

Leoric coughed a little as he struggled to get to his feet, he still had his walking stick. He slipped out of the knapsack and used the stick to stand up and face Darius who was busy trying to shake the pain out of his hand.

“How is your hand doing? Oxboy did the same thing last night and broke his hand. You really want to keep doing that?” Leoric chuckled as he coughed. he looked to the side and saw Rebby. "Rebby, Take Marina some place safe. i will deal with cock sucker here."

[HothouseOrchid]

Never did she think that hearing Leoric’s voice would make her relax so much, and Marina had only met the man yesterday. She was surprised to see it escalate to a fight so quickly, causing her to yell out in surprise when the first fist swung. “Mr Leoric!” She called out, moving to run over to make sure he was okay when she felt a hand grab her arm.

Turning around quickly, she saw the woman from the night before, Rebby, holding her back with a concerned look on her face. “You don’t want to get in the middle of this…” She warned before the both of them looked back at the two in the street.

Darius let out a low growl as he glared at Leoric, letting his hand fall back to his side. He didn’t wait for Leoric to bring his attention back to him, charging at him and swinging again, this time landing a full punch right to his jaw. “That better for you?” He snarled, watching Leoric fall back again with a growing smirk.

Marina covered her mouth as she watched with wide eyes while for a few long moments Leoric was still, whimpering softly as she hoped he would get back up. Then, as she saw him start to slowly move his legs and arms to get back up, she noticed a small change in him, namely the slow appearance of strange red markings crawling down his arms, pulsing in time with his heart and getting a little brighter with each beat. Marina couldn’t look away, fear and curiosity keeping her eyes locked on him while he slowly got back up.

Once he was back up and supporting his sore body against his walking stick, the markings stopped pulsing, instead staying a solid colour. Darius’s smirk fell as he took in the sight of him. For a moment he looked hesitant to continue, even as he noted that Leoric’s glare was back on him, his eyes a vibrant red to match the markings.

Flexing his jaw with a loud crack to realign it, Leoric grinned once again at the bigger man in front of him. “Try that again, maybe I’ll feel it next time.”

The insult seemed to set Darius off again, and he was lured into another charge. This time however, Leoric was ready. In one fluid motion he spun the makeshift cane around and hooked the end of it onto one of his opponent’s leg and pulled it out from under him, causing him to fall heavily to the ground.

This action seemed to surprise both men, with Leoric being a lot happier about it as he let out a coughed out laugh, tossing the cane up to flip it in the air before catching it again. “Well would you look at that. No pain.”

Darius scrambled back up to his feet with an angry yell, his face starting to turn a bright red from his anger and humiliation. He shrugged off his coat and tossed it aside, rolling his shoulders as they gained more freedom of movement now that he was just in his loose sleeved shirt. He wasted no more time in going at him again.

This only resulted in more humiliation as this Leoric took a step to the side, hooking the cane this time around Darius’s neck, getting a choking sound of of him as he was once again pulled down to the ground.

This happened four more times, and while Darius got angrier and angrier, Leoric just started to look all that more amused.

Marina watched the strange fight, it reminding her remarkably like the bullfights she had the privilege to see once with her family. Leoric was leading Darius around with a grace and ease that surpassed the fight she had seen before, and considering he couldn’t even lift his own arms over a few short hours before. The danger she had felt before was lost while the dust kept getting kicked up around them. In fact she even started to enjoy watching the two of them in their dance, and if the small crowd of people leaving the safety of their homes to get a closer look was any indication, she wasn’t the only one.

That was shattered however when she noticed Darius change a bit, getting back up onto one knee and taking a deep, slow breath as he glared up at Leoric instead of just charging back at him. It made her stomach drop, watching carefully and taking a cautious step forward. She noticed him reach with both hands seeming to adjust the boot on the leg he was leaning on it, and noticed a slight glimmer of the sun hitting something metallic that he pulled out of his boot. In the same motion he made large movements to turn his head and spit out onto the ground, clearly diverting the attention away from his hand while it tucked away behind his back before standing up.

It took her two seconds for her realize what that was, but it was enough time for him to launch himself at Leoric, and she only had enough time to shout, “Knife!!” as loud as she could in an attempt to warn him.

[Leoric]

The shrill cry could be heard throughout the entire street, it seemed to echo across the buildings before finally reaching Leoric’s ears. His focus was momentarily shifted off of the lumbering brute in front of him that was charging him full speed and instead looked around for where the cry came from. It was too late.

Shluck!

The knife entered leoric's left shoulder causing him to cry out in pain as the momentum from Darius continued going. Both men hit the ground and rolled for a bit before leoric kicked out and sent Darius flipping over him as he got to his feet. Leoric grabbed the dagger from his shoulder and ripped it out before dropping it on the ground.

“Can’t handle the humiliation so you have to resort to cheating in a fair fight eh pisspot?” Leoric sneered as he grabbed his walking stick and turned to face Rebby before tossing it at her and changed his stance. If he was going to have any chance of beating Darius now he was going to have to get serious. He was going to use his masters fighting stance, that tried to mimic flowing water to avoid attacks and execute quick and painful counter attacks when there was an opening. “Well then, Let’s play this game then”


Darius got up and lunged again at Leoric a smirk on his face, he was sure that with the injury on leoric he wasn't going to be able to do much against him, he brought his arm back full force and went to swing for leoric’s head. However before the punch could even connect he stopped mid swing, Leoric had ducked under him and gave him a full force quaking strike directly to his balls. The pain that welled up in Darius’ eyes was evident to everyone watching and a few ooh’s and ahh’s could be heard.

"you tried this with Rebby and failed, just as hard as you are now, i would of thought you learned your lesson by now. The town is sick and tired of you taking women and never returning them!"

Leoric wasn’t going to just leave it at that, so as Darius fell to one knee in pain Leoric gave him a swift hit to the back of his head. Sending Darius to the ground, breathing heavily. Leoric limped away with his back turned to Darius. To leoric he had won, Darius was on the ground unable to get back up and he was still standing. He grabbed his left shoulder with his right hand and applied pressure to the wound while grimacing. He tried to hide the pain from his face as he walked towards Marina and Rebby.

“You son of a bitch!” Darius spat as he pushed himself up to a kneeling position. “You watch your back, cause when you least expect it i will kill you! And make that little whore of yours mine! One way or another!”

The grin from a fun fight left leoric's face as his eyes seemed to flicker with anger. His lip twitched as his hand went from his left shoulder to his side.

“Marina, Turn around, i don’t want you to see this.” Leoric said as he turned around and started walking towards Darius.

[HothouseOrchid]

When she saw Leoric’s attention be drawn away by her warning, Marina’s stomach drop just as the knife dug into him. The guilt hit her hard, knowing he’d hurt because of her attempts to help. Though even as she watched the knife go into his skin, and the blood pool out the resulting wound, she couldn’t dare look away. She caused the wound, she reasoned with herself, so she had no right to look away now.

When Leoric finally seemed to be finishing, the fight, Marina had started to walk over to look over the wound on his shoulder to see if she could treat it, but when Darius started yelling she froze.

“And I’ll make that little whore of yours mine! One way or another!”

Those words shot through her, shattering the last shreds of faith that everything was going to be okay. There was no questioning what he meant there, or his intentions, and there was nothing she could do to convince herself otherwise. This being said towards her coupled with What Leoric had said about doing this to Rebby and other women, it made it abundantly clear. This man, either out of spite towards Leoric or out of an extreme sense of entitlement, intended to force himself upon her and hurt her, and that terrified her to her core. Never in her life had she heard so much hate in someone’s voice, and never did she think she would experience it directed towards her.

She looked over at Leoric, noticing his quick change in mood, and it really didn’t help her fear. She felt Rebby’s hand on her shoulder again, but didn’t register the woman begging Marina to move away, or the fact that she was attempting to pull her back.

At Leoric’s order, there being no room in his tone to not take it as such, Marina turned around, wrapping her arms around herself to try to hold in her shaking. Rebby seemed to notice the dwarf’s distress and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her close to support her. Knowing what was going to happen, however, Rebby turned herself away as well, as did many others in the crowd around them. Some however, with looks of triumph, kept their eyes locked on the scene. It was increasingly clear that Darius had this a long time coming.

“What are you going to do?” Darius barked out with a laugh, having the audacity to look smug. “Kill me?”

“No, but you’re not going to change.” Leoric replied, standing over the beaten man. “So I’m going to fuck you up enough that you won’t have the brain power to hurt anyone again.” Wasting no more time, Leoric swung his leg out, twisting his body and with as much force as he could muster into her kick, struck Darius across his head.

Expecting a thud and maybe even a crack of his skull, but not even Leoric expected the loud series of cracking coming from Darius’ neck as his head twisted sharply and in an unnatural angle, while his body fell like a sack of stones to the side. A stunned silence fell over the market, and Leoric stood staring at the now lifeless body before him for a few long moments before shrugging his shoulders. “His spine was a lot weaker than I thought it was already, I guess.” He mumbled, turning around to walk back towards Marina and Rebby.

Marina’s shaking got worse the moment the bone cracking noise hit her ears. It took all of her willpower to keep from letting the tears come out, not wanting to break down over this, but it was quickly becoming overwhelming. Even Rebby’s gentle rubbing of her back did little to help sooth her. Deep down she knew that it was likely the best choice, as she had yet to see any proper law enforcement since leaving the city, and if Leoric’s claims were indeed true, there was no stopping someone like Darius as long as he was able to walk.

“It’s for the best, Marina,” Rebby pulled back a little from her, putting her hands on the woman’s shoulders to look at her. “He’s hurt a lot of people here, tried to hurt even more…”

Marina nodded slowly, turning around to look over at the mound of body that was just left in the street. “I… I understand…” She spoke weakly, her arms tightening around her own waist. “I understand…”

[Leoric]

The kick to the skull wasn’t meant to kill, Leoric was hoping for some mild to severe brain damage so he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else again. After all in the time Leoric was around he had taken six ladies out of the city and none of them had returned. Rebby and Marina would of been just another number to the town if he hadn’t stepped in. so even though the death was unintentional Leoric didn’t mind. Afterall what would happen if he was away for a bit and darius was left to his own devices. How many of the townspeople would of gone missing or been bullied?
Leoric bent down and ripped off Darius’ shirt, it wasn’t that hard as it was mostly undone from the fighting, a large enough piece ripped off and Leoric bandaged his left arm as best he could with one arm. He then stood up as he tossed the rest at the Tailor who was one of the people standing outside watching the fight go down.

“Mind cutting that up and making a shirt that could fit me? I wouldn't want to look like a slob all the time” he smirked as he turned around and started heading towards Marina and Rebby when he noticed Darius’ velvet overcoat that he generally wore, he must of shrugged it off beginning of the fight. It was coming up to the cold season and instead of just buying a blanket they could use the giant gorilla’s coat as one. Leoric grabbed it with his right hand before masterfully draping it over his arms and heading to marina, his left arm out of view.

“I am sorry, i… Didn’t mean for that to happen. But out here sometimes things like this happen, and since i have been here in this town he had taken over six ladies, none of them to return, if i hadn’t stepped in both Rebby and yourself probably would of been just another number. No lady deserves to be treated as such.” Leoric ran the back of his hand across Marina’s cheeks getting some of his own blood on her face. At this moment his eyes seemed to revert back to the normal Ice blue that they were and the red marks on his arms vanished as leoric collapsed to his knees in front of her.

“Heh… guess the… Adrenaline.. Wore off.” Leoric said as he started panting heavily and was having to spend most of his energy to keep conscious and to focus on what was in front of him. His body was severely exhausted before the ‘adrenaline’ kicked in allowing him to push his body even further. But now that it was gone his body was protesting and refusing to work. He tried to stand back up when he shifted his left arm and screamed out in pain before quickly clasping his shoulder and slumping down, defeated.

[HothouseOrchid]

Marina was stuck in her own mind, quite in shock over everything that had gone on. She was only able to half listen to Leoric and what he was saying, but heard enough to understand that what he had done was truly the best option.

His touch startled her, finally forcing her eyes up to look at him just in time to see him collapse. “Oh!” She exclaimed, snapping out of her dazed state and turned her full attention back onto Leoric. “Oh, we need to get you back, you have to rest!” She scolded, though her concern was clear on her face. She tucked the basket of food under her arm, which somehow had remained unspilled throughout the excitement, and knelt down next to Leoric. She gently took his right arm and pulled it over her shoulders, wrapping her free arm around his waist before hoisting him up. “Lean on me, it’s okay. As long as you’re not dead weight I can manage.” She assured him softly with a smile, not wanting him to worry about her being too weak to support him, while being determined to prove to herself that that wasn’t the case.

“Let me help,” Rebby said while wrapping one of her arms around Leoric’s waste as well. “And don’t think that covering that arm of yours will make us forgot you’re hurt, so if I see you move that arm, I’m going to ensure you won’t get up any time soon.”

Marina looked over at Rebby, surprised by her bluntness. “Are you planning on tying him up, or something?”

This made Rebby laugh, especially with how innocently the dwarf had said it. “Maybe later.” She replied with a light smirk, which Marina completely missed the suggestive undertones of it.

Neither of them allowing Leoric to deny their help, the two women worked together to carry him back to his clearing, only stopping to allow him to rest before continuing on. Once they were back, and they had him laying down again, Rebby instructed Marina on what to get to start getting ready to clean and tend to Leoric’s wound, which the dwarf quickly set off to do while the human woman made sure Leoric was comfortable.

[Leoric]

Leoric tried to rebuttal, tried to say something, but the two ladies grabbed him and helped him to his feet before take him back off to his clearing. Stopping only when he needed a rest or a breather before finally getting him back home. He sighed, he didn’t like having to rely on others but the fight with Darius after pushing himself beyond his limits in training really took its toll on him. If it wasn't for his ‘adrenaline’ Darius would of made him look like a chump and then did whatever he wanted with Marina. Marina was far to innocent and nice to be taken or used by Darius like that. “ I will never let anything like that happen to Marina for as long as i live. ” It wasn’t like Leoric to get so protective or possessive over someone. He protected Rebby cause she reminded him of a lot of himself when she ran away, but she was pregnant. He couldn't let the kid grow up with a mother struggling to make it by each week and possibly having abusive male figures around in his life. The Kid deserved better.

“You know, you can’t just say in that little shack you built.” Rebby said as she gently lowered leoric to the ground.

“Yeah well, I don’t really have the resources to build a house out here now do i?” Leoric grunted as he started to lay back. The velvet coat that he had taken as his trophy was rather comfortable to lay on.

“You know you could ask the Carpenter in town to help out, and i am sure the Lumberjack would offer his services to get you a few logs of your choosing for the house.”

Leoric sighed, he knew all too well that everyone in town would help him if he only asked. But leoric was a proud man and would rather work for everything himself, Or at least pay for it. It wasn’t long before Marina had returned with the things that Rebby had asked for earlier when they undid his makeshift bandaging and began to work on his shoulder. Thankfully the dagger was too small to go all the way through, but boy did it smart. It took the ladies what felt like forever to patch up his shoulder.

“Fine, Once i am back to normal, before training, i will work on a house instead of just staying in a shack. After all where is Marina going to stay if i am called away on business.” Leoric let out a warm smile to Marina

“Well, i don’t have anywhere else to go really” Marina commented.

"Then you can stay with me." Leoric said with a very matter of fact to his voice, letting everyone around know he was serious with his offer. Rebby stood up and brushed off her knees.

“And it better be when your better, i don't want to see you around town or hear that you are doing things before you are healed. We don’t need you reopening that wound and getting infected and sick now do we?” Rebby scolded as she knew Leoric was not the type to take it all that easy.

“Yes, mother, I will focus on my health and well being before i do anything else stupid. That better?” Leoric joked towards Rebby.

“Well it’s not good, but it will have to do. After all you are more stubborn than a god damn Mule on its day off”