Chapter Text
“There he is!”
The shout pulled Dream’s attention from the half-skinned rabbit in front of him, and he whirled around, just in time, to parry the downstroke of a sword with his hunting knife. The sword’s edge scraped along the short blade with a piercing shriek, making the assassin's ears ring. Dream twisted, shoving the sword to the side and sending his sudden assailant pitching forward with a startled cry. He sprang back, swapping his knife to his left hand and drawing his own sword with his right as four more people crashed through the dense forest foliage.
They had on light leather armor, and were grinning like the cat that had caught the canary. Two were equipped with shields, while the other two were only armed with long swords. One of the shield-men cackled viciously, tucking away a wildly spinning compass. Ah. They were hunters, then.
Dream stepped back another pace, warily raising his sword as the first man got his feet under him. The rest of them spread out, covering his sides.
One of the swordsmen muttered something to the compass-bearer, who’s grin wavered as his eyes danced up and down Dream’s obscenely tall form. He seemed to shiver before squaring his shoulders and stepping forward, shield raised and ready.
“They said the guy we were after was a borderline monster, but I didn’t think they meant it literally .” He pulled out a small short sword with a clumsy flourish, squeezing the hilt so tightly his knuckles went white. Dream’s eyes narrowed, ignoring the jab as he observed the similarly tense forms of the others. Five inexperienced hunters? Is that how much of a concern he was? He frowned. He’d have to fix that later. It wouldn’t do to have people start thinking he was getting complacent.
Dream widened his stance, relaxing his shoulders as the compass-bearer took another step closer. “They said we could bring him in dead or alive, boys, so let’s bring them a corpse! ” With that, he lunged towards Dream, shield slung low and sword pointed rigidly forward.
Dream calmly stepped to the side of the quavering sword tip, then back into the man’s path, and brought his hunting knife in close. The man’s eyes widened, and he brought his shield up, too late, as Dream sunk his dagger into the unprotected flesh under his jaw. He gurgled wetly, bright blood bubbling from his gaping lips. Dream immediately dismissed him, yanking the knife free and whirling around to slash open the underarm of the man behind him. The swordsman, in the middle of performing an overhand strike, yelped and dropped his sword to clutch at his wound. Dream gave him no time to recover, instead using his momentum to thrust his sword through the man’s throat. He crumpled with a watery croak, his weight suddenly too much for his fawning legs. Dream let the body slide itself off of his blade and swiveled around to face the remaining three hunters.
The two swordsmen and single shieldsman paled significantly, shrinking back from the harsh gaze of his blood-spattered mask. Dream took a step forward, sword held out at an offensive angle and knife guarding readily in front of his chest.
One of the swordsmen drew closer to the shieldsman and whispered something into his ear. The second swordsman nodded fervently, eyeballing Dream’s overbearing form.
With a shaky nod, the shield-bearer took a deep, shuddery breath, then brandished his shield. The two swordsmen fell behind him as he advanced, blades bared sharply at Dream.
The assassin scoffed quietly and skipped forward, ducking under the two uncoordinated lunges of the swordsmen, into the space of the shield-bearer. His pupils pinpricked at the sudden invasion of his personal space, and he yanked his shield up to protect his face. Dream smoothly twisted around another sword swipe and launched himself against the man’s shield with a powerful kick, sending him tumbling back into the man behind him. They crashed to the ground with vicious curses, leaving their third companion to face Dream alone.
The man faltered, glancing uncertainly at his two downed partners. Dream took advantage of his distraction, lunging at him and burying his sword deeply into the thin leather protecting his stomach. The man let out a strangled yell, hands flying to the edges of the bloodstained blade. With a quiet huff, Dream yanked the blade free as he sank to his knees, inadvertently slicing open both of the man's palms.
A loud clatter from the right was all the warning Dream had before he was slammed into by a shield and knocked off of his feet. He landed harshly as the weight of the man wielding the shield crushed down on his body. He writhed as the shieldsman cried out triumphantly, calling to his remaining companion to help him finish Dream off. Dream wheezed painfully, jerking at his sword. No use. His sword arm was pinned across his stomach, squashed between the shield and his body.
Oh, wait. Dream blinked as the last swordsman stepped up near his head, weapon bared. He still had his knife! Dream twisted to the right, using his legs to help lift the heavy weight of the shieldsman and shield just a little. His right shoulder screamed at the awkward position, as well as his left hip, but, he managed to pry his left arm from where it had been pinched underneath his body.
Dream grinned with renewed confidence as the swordsman raised his blade above Dream’s head. Ignoring the slight ache from the angle, he whipped his arm around the edge of the shield and solidly buried the razor-sharp blade into armored flesh.
The shieldsman howled, instinctively flinching to the right, away from the thing that had hurt him. Dream used the opportunity, shoving up at the now lighter side of the shield. A glinting flash caught his eye, and he yanked his head back a split-second before the blade of a sword plunged into the mulchy ground.
Quickly, he wriggled his way out from under the shield and rolled to the side as an armored boot slammed into the ground where he just was. The swordsman cursed, awkwardly tugging his sword from the forest floor while Dream got his feet under him, gingerly rolling his right shoulder with a grimace.
Dream shot a quick glance at the shieldsman. The man was sprawled halfway off of his shield, wheezing wetly as one of his lungs slowly collapsed. His hunting knife still protruded from his ribs, and thick, sticky blood dribbled from his mouth. Dream dismissed him. The man was obviously out of commission.
He turned his attention back to the remaining swordsman, raising his gore-spattered sword to point it at his chest. The man quailed, the blood draining from his face as he realized he stood alone. He stumbled back one step, then another, before his resolve shattered. He turned tail and ran, leaving Dream to stand alone in the bloodstained field.
Dream scowled, watching the leaves swish back into place. Of course he’d ditch the fight. Nobody ever stuck around long enough for Dream to have a proper battle with. But, he supposed, he really shouldn’t be surprised at this point.
With a small sigh, he turned and marched over to the shieldsman, leaning down to retrieve his weapon. One harsh yank, and then his knife was free from the side of the still-choking man, who gurgled out a pained yelp. Dream frowned, watching him struggle to draw breath, then decided to take pity. With a quick slash of his knife, the man wheezed his last, then lay still. It would be unnecessarily cruel to leave him to drown in his own blood.
Dream wiped the blood from both of his blades on the deadman’s clothes and stood, sliding the knife into the sheath strapped to his right thigh and dropping his sword into the scabbard at his left hip. He glanced around for a moment before his eyes alit on the other shieldsman. He stalked over to the body and shoved at it with a booted foot, rolling it onto its back, then dropped to one knee and started rifling through it's pockets.
There was nothing particularly interesting, until his hand ghosted over a circular lump. With a triumphant hum, he dug the compass out from the pocket of the corpse and glared at the spinning dial. He never could figure out how the hell people managed to enchant these things to find him when he was halfway across the kingdom…Shrugging, he smashed the glass face against a protruding rock. He supposed it didn’t matter. None of the people who came after him could ever match his skill.
He dropped the shattered crumble of scrap, shaking a few shards of glass from his gloved palm, and propped his hand on his knee to push himself to a stand. With a sigh, he scanned over the carnage, ignoring the bodies, until his eyes passed over the rabbit he had been skinning earlier. He moved over to the small animal, casually hopping over the splayed bodies of the hunters, then paused when he got a better look at the carcass.
Dream scowled, glaring down at his half-skinned rabbit. Clumps of blood-soaked dirt clung to the exposed flesh, while a small army of ants had evidently claimed the carcass as their own.
He'd have to go hunt for something else, now.
…
Or he could find where the hunters' camp was, and take their stuff.
Dream smirked, immediately in better spirits, and span around, moving to shove through the forest foliage.