Task Name: The Running Free
Tier: Tier 1
NPC or PC: NPC
Location: Dawn Island
Crew, Team, or Personal: Personal
Description: Another Flashback task. Lee is motivated to leave dawn island and not settle in any one place anymore when he is attacked again by one of Captain Illan's men. This takes place a few weeks after my previous arc, The Blood Red Summer
Enemy Details: 1 Tier 1 Mercenary
Boss: No.

As much as freedom seemed like it was guaranteed at this point, Lee knew that he wasn't going to be done with Captain Illan and his men. Even with his newly found abilities. He had spent some time already training, trying to develop ways to use the power he'd been blessed with. He planned to do a lot more before he went back to face Captain Illan and the rest of his crew, whatever was left of his crew.

It didn't seem that he was going to stop searching just here on Dawn Island, he was probably sending scouts elsewhere in case he fled somewhere else. It had been a few weeks since his run in with the first two scouts. They'd be stupid to think it'd be impossible for him to be elsewhere.

Maybe he shouldn't be hanging around in this town, just waiting to find out if Illan's men will find him, but he was feeling arrogant. He did just cut down his two top men in one night. Anything short of Captain Illan himself showing up would be a cake walk. The chances of that happening were slim, because if he did show up here on Dawn Island, there was no guarantee Lee was still here, so he'd be wasting his time, and damn near guaranteeing Lee's escape if he was elsewhere. He'd not make such a foolhardy move this early in their little game they were playing.

WC: 251

Things were quiet in the Inn. Lee had an arrangement with the town guard that he'd make them a few new swords if they put him up in a room for a few days while they got the materials he needed. In this time, he was free to train all day until the sun went down, before eventually making his way back to the Inn for a nice meal.

He had already finished his dinner, and several other peoples too by the look of the stack of plates on the edge of his table. He took long gulps of some sort of juice the Inn made, which it was apparently well known for. Lee could see why, it was the tastiest thing he could remember drinking. It was well worth whatever it cost, and he almost felt bad that he had no money to leave them, but the guard did promise to reimburse whatever he cost them while he was here. He would be a fool not to take advantage.

The sound of boots in the front entry way made it pretty apparent that someone was here. Lee would have been nervous, but this was an inn after all, he can't expect it to be so private all the time. He didn't recognize the man's face, so when he came through the door, he still wasn't nervous. He did look pretty rugged though, like he'd not seen a good bath in a long while. He stopped at the edge of Lee's table unexpectedly.

WC: 260

"Tell me, boy, your name." The gruff voice spoke, also unfamiliar to Lee. Whoever he was, he wasn't one of Captain Illan's men. He might just be looking for trouble.

"Excuse me?" Lee said raising an eyebrow. "Were you raised in a barn? It's common courtesy to introduce yourself before asking a question like that."

"Oh, deary me, where are my manners? The names Cole Stallone, mercenary extraordinaire." He boasted, raising a fist in the air. Lee sipped his juice again, unimpressed.

"Oh, I see." Lee added before finishing the last of his juice. He could only assume the man was hired by Captain Illan, so that he could have his own forces further from the line of fire, back at their ship. Lee sat his stein down and stood up. He was going to clear the table and return the dishes to the inn's maid, but this rough looking figure had other plans. He slammed his fist down onto one side of the table, causing the dishes to fly through the air, directly towards the door to the kitchen. It just so happened that the inn maid was coming out at that moment, catching all of the dishes in a clean motion. She growled at the carelessness of the man, but returned to the kitchen because none of the dishes broke.

"You've got a lot of nerve ignoring me like that!" The man barked, he was seething mad now. Lee rolled his eyes.

"I was actually just going to get those dishes out of the way so that when I told you my name and found out I was who you were after, they didn't get broken. I've been enough of an inconvenience to these people as it is, I don't need some screwball coming in here and wrecking their dishes." Lee retorted as he straightened up the table the man had just overturned. Thankfully it was a table with a single leg in the center, so the way he hit it just knocked it over and sent the dishes flying and the stein rolling a bit.

"Ah, so you are the piss ant little blacksmith I've been hired to retrieve?" The man shouted excitedly.

"Aye, but you've not the slightest clue what you've gotten yourself into. Tell you what, leave now, and you'll live to see tomorrow. I've not the patience for you right now, and I'd bet that if you push me anymore you'll lose your life." Lee explained confidently. The man thought the kid had to be joking.

"Don't think so squirt, you're coming with me!" The man howled, grabbing at Lee's throat. Of course Lee wasn't having that now, he swatted away the man's hand and drew his sword from it's sheath.

"Fine, then I guess we're not settling this the easy way." Lee sighed and raised his sword to the man's chin. "It'd be in your best interest to listen to what I'm going to tell you, because it'll be your final warning."

"Piss off, brat!" The mercenary growled as he swatted the blade away, leaving a small scratch on his chin, before lunging at Lee again. Lee stepped back, avoiding a wild punch that instead crashed into the floor. Thankfully, it didn't seem it splintered any of the wood, and he was confident that the man was all bark and no bite. However the way this guy carried himself, this was probably one of the weaker men the captain hired. It seemed he was about as useful as the chore boys back on the ship.

Lee made the decision to end this quickly, not wanting to risk damage to the Inn or any of the other property about. Though he didn't want to make a mess either. Maybe, just maybe, he had a solution. Lee gripped his sword with both hands, raising it about chest height pointing outwards. He had to try and make it a clean cut, otherwise it wouldn't work. The man was only wearing an old shirt, so there was no real defense to worry about. Lee brought his sword to his side and lunged forward, bring the sword hard towards the man's midsection. Just as intended, the blade went through the man's stomach like butter, and severed his spine just as easy. The heat from his sword let off a wicked lash of hot air that careened into the fire place, fanning the flames a bit, but doing nothing more.

The frozen rugged figure fell to the ground. No blood was lost, the heat from his sword had cauterized the wound. The pain alone must have stopped the man's heart, because he lay without motion in two pieces, and color began to fade. Just after, guardsmen came in, and Lee apologized for the commotion. He promised to get started on their swords as soon as possible so he could leave them in peace. He told them he was going to sea, so that if more of Illan's men showed up, they could tell them he'd left and hopefully they'd let them be. Lee didn't like the idea, but if it was more mercenaries, and not Illan's real crew, then there was a chance.

WC: 903