Free The Return by Sean M. Campbell Page A

men lowered their bows.
    The leader of the group looked down towards me with obvious disdain in his eyes. “Are you the man from the west who is calling himself Rhys?”
    “I am Rhys.”
    “For crimes against the empire, you are hereby sentenced to death.” Both bowmen raised their bows towards me as I tossed my swords high into the air. As they drew their arrows back, my arms flicked downward, and two flechettes dropped into each hand. As they released the arrows, my hands flicked forward launching the flechettes. As the weapons crossed paths in the air, I sidestepped the paths of the two arrows. My hands grasped both arrows as they passed, and two men screamed as they were blinded by the sharp barbs in their eyes.
    The lead man, and the second, began to draw their swords as I spun and launched myself into the air. As the lead man’s sword cleared his scabbard, I landed feet first into his chest, knocking him off of his horse. As I rode his falling body to the ground, I ducked under the swinging sword of the other man. Rising up, I slammed the arrows upward, through his breastplate, and into his heart. I leaped into a twisting flip and landed over the lead man. As he tried to bring his sword up, mine fell back into my hands from being tossed. I instantly crossed them both across his throat, all in the time it took for our hearts to beat for the second time since it started.
    I heard the ring of steel as Taina and Laina brought down the two blind men, and a gasp from behind me from Beth. “Take this back to your masters, you imperial dog. Rhys is back, and I am coming for them. This time there will be no war. I will hunt them down like the cowardly rats they are. Let them all know I am sending them a death notice. The challenge is on the table to face me, if they dare.”
    , Likka screamed in my head.
    “I hid my face in shame for six thousand years, Likka. I am not hiding anymore. Let them come, if they dare. I will tear their world apart, and bury them in the rubble.”
    
    “Wrong! That is how I am going to face them. This time, there will be no hostages they can use to force my hand. I will wash this world clean of their stink as I strip the flesh from their very bones. For six thousand years, they have been killing children, just because their parents gave them the same name as me. This stops now.”
    I turned to the terrified imperial guardsman lying below my swords. “Know this, dog. If one more child dies for bearing my name, I will hunt you, and every man that has ever worn that armor, and I will flay them alive.” As I spit these words in his face, I could see my reflection in his helmet. My eyes were burning with fire, as smoke curled up along my forehead. Cold fog was rolling down from them as well.
    With a snap of my mind's eye, his armor and weapons crumbled to dust beneath me. I stood over him and pulled my swords away. “Get on your mount and ride. Ride like the wind, before I change my mind and deliver the message myself.”
    The man moved as if he had seen Hell’s host coming to claim him. Before the space of an eye blink, he was on his feet, and leaping for his horse.
    “Likka, take care of the girls. I will go on alone from here.”
    Taina slapped me across the face. “You will not! I waited six thousand years, hiding like a mouse in the shadows, to get my revenge! Damn you, Rhys! You are not going to take that away from me.”
    I stood up ready to fly into a rage at her words, until I saw here face. She had tears in her eyes, and was ready to face me with steel in her spine. I lowered my head, and turned to walk to my horse.
    I reached up to my horse and pulled my backpack down. Again that nagging sensation had come to me. , Likka said in my mind. I looked at my reflection in the buckle on my pack, and tried to calm myself. As calm returned to me, the