The Tainted

Here's the first two chapters of my B.A. Characater fiction. I hope you like it. I'm almost done with chapter three so I'll post it when it's ready. But until then please comment on the first two and tell me what you think. Here it is::
------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 1
Too Young to Fight?

Allimuth Zallor… Ah what a tale. His life and adventures are long but well worth the listen. He is by far one of the greatest warriors of his time. Skilled in both sword play and archery, you wouldn’t want to get on his bad side. Hell even his good side isn’t too safe. But before we talk about that we must learn about his past. Like Allimuth always says, “If there wasn’t a past there wouldn’t be a present.”

Allimuth was born in a large lake house right on the edge of Plano Lake, a large lake that ran into the Justaur Sea. His parents, Layla and Terroth, were both in their mid twenties when he was born. Layla taught him his manners and that he should always treat women nicely, while his father taught him how to swim and the basics of fighting. By the time he was six he was always saying please and thank you, and he could swim five-hundred yards without stopping. He was very polite to ladies, and he was stronger and faster than most of the boys his age, able to wrestle two of them at a time and still win.

Unfortunately just two and a half months after his sixth birthday both of his parents died in a Mazuc raid on Allimuth’s home village of Plano. The Mazuc were fearsome creatures that showed no mercy on their victims. They were unnaturally fast and stealthy. They had long sharp nails and teeth, and they were completely black, except for their eyes which were a deep blood red. It was said that if you were bitten by a Mazuc you would become one of them.

Allimuth’s aunt and uncle came to live with him and care for him. Since Allimuth was so young he didn’t understand that his parents were dead until many years later. He was sixteen, the official age of young adulthood. He had always been curious as to why he didn’t live with his parents and he decided to ask his aunt. He didn’t like what he heard. He was devastated, for weeks he didn’t talk to anyone. All he did was sit in his room and practice his martial arts and sword skills on a dummy his father had given him for his sixth birthday. Then one day he decided that he would join the militia to help fight the Mazuc.

He walked down the street with his sword belted to his hip. As he walked past people waved and said hello, but all he could do was nod. He stepped into the small enlistment office at the end of town. There was nobody there besides the militia officer. As the door shut he looked up from some paperwork at Allimuth.

“Well hello Allimuth! What brings you ‘round?”

“Hello Caine. I’m here to enlist in the militia.” Allimuth answered, Caine was shocked.

“You can’t be serious? You’re hardly old enough to join; you have to be at least eighteen!” Caine said sternly.

“Please, Caine I’m begging you!” Allimuth said putting on a more personal tone. “You have to let me join so I can avenge my parents! It’s the only thing that matters anymore!” He said desperately, “Besides I’m far more capable than any of your current soldiers anyways.”

“But… Well, I guess I don’t really have an argument for that. So, here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll let you join.” Allimuth got an excited look on his face when Caine said this. “But only if you can defeat the best soldiers in a competition.”

“Deal.”

“Okay, we’ll hold the competition tomorrow then.”

“Okay.”

So Allimuth turned on his heel and ran back to his house. He ran inside and threw his sword on the chair and grabbed his bow and quiver. He strapped them both on his back and picked his sword back up. He belted it back on and headed out of the house again. He ran to the back and into the woods. He charged through them on a path he had made until he hit a clearing with an arrow target, a practice sword dummy, and an obstacle course, all of which he had built or made. He took out his bow and knocked an arrow. Taking careful aim he trained his arrow on the center of the target, took a deep breath, and released. The arrow sped forward and hit the target dead center.

After shooting four more arrows Allimuth decided that he was okay in the archery department and moved on. He collected his arrows and headed to his sword dummy. He picked up the wooden sword that he used for practice so that he wouldn’t damage the dummy. He took his fighting stance and slowly circled the dummy, poised for attack. Then suddenly he sprung forward and slashed down on the dummy diagonally. He spun around and hit it on the other side then rolled to the right and sliced upward as he stood. He continued barraging the dummy with flourishes and stabs and slices. He kept it up until the he had ripped a hole in the dummy and sand had spilled out all over the ground.

“Damn it!” he cursed, breathing hard.

After this he put the sword down and headed to the obstacle course. The obstacle course wasn’t extremely large. It consisted of a wooden wall with a rope, a couple horizontal bars standing parallel to each other, and a long horizontal bar with ropes hanging over a mud pit. There were a few dummies scattered throughout the course as well.

Allimuth walked over to the wall as he sheathed his sword again. He stood in front of it looking at the rope. Normally he would use the rope to climb up and then jump backwards away from the wall and grab the first horizontal bar but today he tried something different. Making sure his sword was belted on tightly he charged towards the wall and jumped up. He put his feet on the wall and tried to run up but to no avail. His feet slipped and he simply fell to the ground. When he landed his sword hilt jabbed him in the back and he cried out in pain.

Standing up he rubbed the spot where the hilt had hit him and decided that if he was going to try to do more acrobatics he would need to wear his sheath in a different position. It had always been customary to wear a sheath at the hip and it was considered odd to wear it otherwise. But Allimuth had never really been normal. So he decided that he would put it on his back instead. He took off his quiver bow and sword belt. He then wrapped the belt up over his left shoulder so that the hilt of his sword was over his right one for easy removal. He then put his quiver and bow back on and faced the wall again.

Once again he ran towards the wall and tried to run, but once again his feet slipped and he fell. But he was ready for it this time and he landed on his feet in a not-so-nimble way. He sat down on the ground frustrated and glad that nobody was around to see him fall. He took off one of his boots and looked at it. It was brown and shin high when he had it on. He had had them for sometime so they were somewhat worn. He turned it over in his hand and looked at the bottom. The sole was completely flat and had no tread whatsoever.

“Wow, I need new boots. I’ll have to get some before I return home.” Allimuth muttered out loud to himself.

He returned the boot to his foot and stood again. He walked forward and grabbed the rope and planted his right foot on the wood. He climbed up slowly and grabbed the top edge when he reached it. He turned sideways still holding the edge and jumped off the wall, propelling himself away with his feet. He grabbed the wooden bar that was a few feet away from the wall and swung around a few times before jumping to the next one. He grabbed it and did the same thing as the last bar, this time doing a back flip in the air before grabbing the next bar. He spun around once and stopped himself then he pulled himself up and perched on the bar. He looked towards the hanging rope ahead of him and jumped towards it. He grabbed it and swung back and forth until he jumped again to the next one.

There was a dummy in the mud below so Allimuth lowered himself enough to reach it and pulled out his sword. He hung upside down by his feet and swung his sword down catching the dummy in the head. He righted himself and jumped to the next rope without sheathing his sword. When he reached it he grabbed it with his left hand and swung his sword hand at another dummy as he swung forward. He decapitated this one and sheathed his sword then swung to the next rope. He caught it and swung forward jumped off, and did a back flip in the air landing steadily on his feet. He turned around and looked back at the course before turning and walking back through the woods towards town.

He stopped at a small stream and washed the sweat off his face. He let the cold water run down his neck to cool him off. After a few seconds he stood back up and continued to his house. Once he got there he ran to his room and deposited his quiver and bow because he no longer needed the extra weight. He stepped out of the house again after grabbing a few coins and headed to the Boot smith’s shop.

He didn’t have to walk far because the shop was only down the street. He arrived and stepped inside. He let the door shut behind him so the shop keeper would hear him. After a second a man came out from behind a door. He was just a little shorter than Allimuth and he was thin unlike most shop keepers.

“Hello Allimuth! It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you around. What can I help you with?”

“Hello Turk. Well I’m here because I need a new pair of shoes,” Allimuth said taking off one of his boots and handing it to Turk, “which makes sense.” Allimuth said chuckling.

“Aye, it does. So you need new shoes, eh? Well you’ve come to the right place. Ya know I could just fix this pair, but it’d be easier to just buy a new pair.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll just go with a new pair. Those are a little small anyways.”

“Okay, well follow me and I’ll get you sized and we can pick out a pair.”

Allimuth followed Turk around the counter and to the back of the store. He sat down in a chair and Turk got out two thick pieces of thread with markers on them. He took one and held it up to measure the length of Allimuth’s foot. He threw it over his shoulder then grabbed the other one and measured the width. He then walked father back into the store and came back with a pair of light blue leather boots that matched Allimuth’s eyes. He put one on and walked around to try it out. He sat back down and decided that he liked them so he took the other one and tossed his old boots into a bin with other old boots to be repaired and remade.

The two stepped back into the main store and Allimuth paid Turk for the boots. Just as he was about to step out the door it swung open and Allimuth had to step back to avoid being hit. Allimuth was speechless when he saw who had opened the door. It was a girl who he had had a crush on since he was twelve when she had first moved to the village. Her name was Elsa. She had blonde hair that hung just past her shoulders, and blue eyes just like Allimuth’s. She was a good friend to Allimuth because he was the first person to talk to her when she had moved there from a small town on the far side of Plano Lake known as Caden.

“Hello Alli!” she said with enthusiasm. She was the only person who called him that because if anyone else did it he would punch them in the face.

“Hello. Getting new shoes?” Allimuth asked

“I was planning on it, but I don’t know if I have enough money.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you know I’ll pay for them.”

“No, Alli you don’t have to do that.”

“But I want to.”

“Fine, but I owe you.”

“Okay.”

So Elsa found a pair she liked and Allimuth paid for them. After Elsa had her boots on the two walked out of the store together. Allimuth decided he would walk her home since it was starting to get dark and he didn’t like her being out alone, especially with the Mazuc threat. While they walked they talked about their lives since the last time they saw each other, which was only two days ago but a lot can happen in that amount of time.

“So I heard you were going to fight the best soldiers tomorrow for a spot in the militia.” Elsa said as they walked.

“Yeah, I don’t think it should be too difficult. I just hope I make it out alive.” Allimuth said with a look of mock-worry on his face.

“But don’t they use wooden sticks instead of swords?” Elsa asked with a sudden twinge of worry.

“Yes, I was just trying to scare you.”

“Well it worked!” she said hitting him playfully. “Well this is my stop,” she said as they reached her house, “Thank you for buying me the boots.”

“You’re welcome” he said, looking down at his own feet awkwardly.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow after the competition. I’ll be cheering for you!”

“Okay, thank you.” He said with a smile.

They hugged and Allimuth watched as she stepped inside and closed the door. Then he turned and walked back to his own house to get some well deserved rest.



Chapter 2
Helpful Hints from an Unseen Friend

Allimuth woke with a start as his aunt Julienne shook him awake.

“Wake up Allimuth! You’re going to miss the competition!”

“Wuhtimizit?” Allimuth asked groggily.

“It’s almost midday. You need to hurry the competition will be starting soon, and you of all people don’t want to miss it.”

“Okay, okay, I’m up. Now, can you please leave so I can get dressed?” he asked impatiently.

“Yes, but you better hurry!” his aunt said as she closed the door.

Allimuth stood and grabbed his white leggings from the end of the bed. He slipped them on then went to the closet and grabbed his blue tunic. He put it on followed by his belt and new boots, and then he grabbed his weapons. He strapped his sword on in its new place then put on his quiver and his bow. He walked over to the wash basin and washed his face off. Once he was clean and ready to go he grabbed his bag of coins then stepped out of his room and out of the house. He walked down the street to the market where he picked up an apple. He took out some money to give to the vendor but he wouldn’t accept it.

“It’s free for you Mr. Zallor; you need energy for the competition.”

“Oh, why thank you Mr. Getts!” Allimuth said cheerily as he put his money pouch back in his pocket and bit into the apple. But as soon as Mr. Getts turned around Allimuth took out his money again and left a coin on the table where he would find it and walked away. He headed down the road past the vendors and shops until he reached the blacksmith. He stepped inside a dark room and was greeted by the smell of burning coals and a muscular man of about thirty.

“Why, if it isn’t little Allimuth! It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you my young friend. What can I do fer ya?”

“Well Crucian, I was just going to look around and see if I couldn’t find anything I liked before the competition.”

“Ah, I see. Well we’ve made many a good weapon and armour since yer last visit young Sir. So please take yer time.”

“Okay, thank you Crucian.” Allimuth said as he walked through the shop looking at the swords and armour. He saw a few swords that he liked but he was more interested in a bow because his was old and falling apart. He finally got to where the bows were hanging and he looked through until he found one that caught his eye. It was an all black recurve bow that stood up to his chin. But Allimuth noticed that unlike the others it was unstrung.

“Hey Crucian, how come the other bows are strung but this one isn’t?” Allimuth asked as Crucian walked over.

“Aye, that there is a special bow. It’s made out of wood blessed by one of the great Elves to the North. It’ll never break and it has the strength of four regular bows, but with only half the draw back weight. The only downside is that nobody can string it.”

“Then what's the point of having it?”

“It’s an amazing find, Allimuth. I didn’t plan on selling it but I decided that the first person to come in here and string it can ‘ave it fer free.” He paused here for a second, looking at the bow. “You’re a strong lad. Give it a try.”

With a hopeful look, Allimuth took the bow and placed it between his legs. This is how his father had taught him how to string a bow, although he knew that, like his new sword arrangement, it was odd and uncommon. He bent the bow backwards against his leg until it was flexed enough. Then, muscles tense, he slowly brought the loop of the string forward and looped it around the end of the bow.

“Well, I’ll be!” Crucian said rubbing his bald head. “I guess its yers now kid.”

“Seriously? I can just have it?” Allimuth asked in disbelief.

“Aye, that was the deal.”

“Wow! Thanks Crucian!” Allimuth said as he grabbed the blacksmith in a tight bear hug.

“You’re welcome lad. Now get goin’ you’ll be late if ye don’t ‘urry!”

“Okay, thank you for the bow Crucian! Are you going to be there later?”

“O’ course I will!” Crucian said as if it were common knowledge

“Okay, see you there. Bye!”

Allimuth put his new bow on his back with his old one and ran out the door and back to his house. Once there he dropped off his old bow in his room and ran back out the door. He dashed down the street as fast as he could until he got to the military training grounds. He opened the gate and stepped inside breathing heavily. He stood up straight and surveyed his surroundings. There was an archery range with various target distances; there was a sparring arena with wooden sticks and dummies, and an obstacle course with the same set up as Allimuth’s, except for the fact that there were a few more dangers, such as swinging balls that hung between the horizontal bars. Allimuth also noticed that a crowd had started to form around the area.

“It’s about time you arrived little Alli! We were getting worried you would chicken out!” Allimuth turned around to see Gerad Bhedstern; he had just turned eighteen and had joined the militia as soon as he could. He wasn’t one of the one’s Allimuth would compete against but he was tough and he had always picked on Allimuth.

“What did you call me?” Allimuth said as he stepped closer to Gerad.

“I called you little Alli. Is that a problem? Do you need to go get your little blanket?” Gerad said in a mock baby voice while pretending to hold a blanket and suck his thumb. Allimuth stepped closer again and the rest of the kids with Gerad stepped back, except for Gerad himself.

“Why don’t you shut up Gerad?” Allimuth said angrily taking another step forward and getting right in Gerad’s face.

“What are you going to do? You don’t even know how to wear your sword right!”

“Whatever.” Allimuth said and turned to start walking away.

“Ha! He’s even afraid to hit me! The great Alli, who thinks he’ll be able to join the militia at sixteen, is afraid to hit me!”

Allimuth had had enough now. In a flash he spun around and kicked Gerad hard in the jaw. As Gerad fell Allimuth pulled out his sword and crouched down next to Gerad holding the blade to his throat.

“What did you call me?” Allimuth said with narrowed eyes.

“Allimuth! I called you Allimuth!” Gerad said desperately trying to push Allimuth away, but to no avail.

“That’s what I thought you said.” Allimuth released Gerad and stood back as Gerad stood up quickly. Allimuth looked at the ground where Gerad had been laying to see a wet spot in the dirt. “Ha! The great Gerad, who is eighteen and already in the militia, cannot even hold his bladder when threatened by a sixteen year old!” everyone pointed and laughed at Gerad as he turned and ran away.

Allimuth then turned back around and walked out in to the center of the field. There were four men standing here waiting for Allimuth. One was Caine and the other three were all men Allimuth knew and he also knew that they were all very good at what they did. Up until this point Allimuth had no doubts that he would be able to do this easily, but he was now having second thoughts.

“Ah, Allimuth! That was an excellent display of acrobatics and swordplay! I’m starting to think that we might not even need this silly competition.” Caine said with a small chuckle. Then he returned to his serious demeanor. “However we have to since you’re underage. Now, let us begin! The first part of the competition is the archery contest. Each of us will shoot four arrows, one for practice and three for points. Is this understood?”

“Yes, Sir, it is.” Allimuth said as he returned his sword to its sheath and removed his bow.

“Okay. Now take your positions.”

The four men and Allimuth took their positions at respective targets. Allimuth knocked an arrow and waited for Caine to say when to shoot.

“Okay, this is the practice shot!” he yelled to the others they each took their stance and fired in order. Allimuth was last to shoot. He raised his bow and drew the string back. He purposefully aimed low so that the others would underestimate him. The arrow dug itself into the ground a couple feet ahead of the target. The others looked at each other and smiled.

“Okay,” Caine yelled, “now we’ll do the shots to be judged. We’ll go in order again starting with me.” Caine took aim three times and shot three arrows he got one bull’s-eye and two that hit just outside. The other three men went after that, none of them got bull’s-eyes but they still did well. Now it was Allimuth’s turn to shoot. He knocked his first arrow and looked at his bow. Okay let’s see what you’ve got. Allimuth said in his head. He drew back the string as he lifted the bow. He took careful aim and just as he was about to let go of the string he heard a voice in his head.

“You should aim up about two more inches if you want a bull’s-eye” the voice said to him. Allimuth didn’t bother asking who or what the voice was but he took the advice and released the string. The arrow shot forward with amazing speed and stuck directly in the middle of the target. The whole crowd cheered for Allimuth as he smiled and knocked another arrow. He brought the bow up and pulled back the string, which he just realized was extremely easy to do for such a powerful bow.

“Down an inch and left just a little” Allimuth heard the voice say. He did as he was told and released. The arrow shot forward and nearly hit the back of the last arrow as it struck the target dead center. Once again the crowd cheered and Allimuth knocked his final arrow. He aimed once again and waited for the voice to tell him what to do, but he didn’t hear it. He waited for another second and then decided that he must be in the right spot so he let go of the string.

The arrow shot straight forward and hit the target dead center once again. Allimuth threw his hands up in joy and spun around taking in all the fans. Then he stopped dead when he saw Elsa standing right at the front cheering him on. His heart skipped a beat and once he regained his senses he jumped in the air. After the cheering died down and Allimuth was back in his head he turned around to look at the competitors.

“Okay, so it’s clear that you’re better than us in archery, but can you prove yourself with the blade?” Caine asked.

“I think I’ll be able to handle it.” Allimuth answered.

“Very well, let us proceed.” they walked over to the sparring area with the dummies and Allimuth stood, waiting for instruction. “Here, we will be viewing your fighting abilities with the sword. We will simply watch as you attack these dummies as if they were Mazuc. After that we will hold a sparring contest in which you will fight these three.” Caine stated the last part while gesturing towards the three warriors.

“Okay that sounds good just let me get in my place and I’ll start.” Allimuth turned and walked into the middle of the circle. There were about eight dummies scattered around him, which seemed like quite a few but Allimuth knew what he would do. He stepped into the center and closed his eyes. Slowly and with his eyes still shut he drew his sword. He held the sword up in front of his face and waited for a second. Then, before anyone had even seen him move, Allimuth was in the air doing a front flip. He came down and stabbed a dummy right in the top of the head. Then he pushed off the dummy with his feet and did a back flip landing in front of it. He spun around and sliced the dummy in the side splitting it open, causing the sand to fall out. He then rolled backwards and sprung up and over the next dummy coming down and slicing it in the head. Then he spun his sword around in his hand and stabbed the dummy behind him. The sand spilled out as Allimuth pulled out his sword. With a flourish and a roll to the right he came up and sliced the first dummy again allowing even more sand to leak out.

Allimuth jumped sideways and rolled forward. He sprung once again and came down with his boot in the face of the next dummy. The dummy fell over and Allimuth stabbed it in the chest area. He pulled his sword out and spun to the left cleaving another one almost in half. He then jumped into the air and did a front flip over the next dummy. While still in mid air he brought his sword down on another dummy’s head, splitting it in half. Then he turned around and came down with his sword diagonally on the dummy he had just jumped over, and then he brought his sword back up and decapitated it. Then without even aiming he turned around and launched his sword through the air. It went sailing forward and straight into the head of the final dummy, which then fell over backwards.

Allimuth walked over and retrieved his sword from the dummy’s head and sheathed it. He turned around to look at Caine and the other soldiers who were all standing in awe. He realized that everyone there was completely silent. He looked around at all the dumbstruck faces until he saw Elsa who looked back at him and smiled, giving him the thumbs up sign. He smiled back then turned back to Caine.

“That was very impressive,” Caine said, “but now you will spar with real people. First you will fight Imamura. Please hand over your sword and pick up one of the wooden ones.” Allimuth did as he was told and took his stance across from Imamura who was also ready to fight. “Okay you may begin.”
Immediately Allimuth jabbed forward with his wooden sword, but Imamura was ready and countered it by stepping to Allimuth’s left and using his own sword to deflect Allimuth’s attack. This is exactly what Allimuth wanted. He spun to the right and came down diagonally hitting Imamura in the shoulder and causing him to drop his sword. He then brought his own sword back up to Imamura's neck.

“Dead.” Allimuth stated simply as he stepped back.

“Impressive, now you will fight Tireth. Take positions and fight!”

This time Allimuth waited for Tireth to attack. When he did he attempted to use the same technique as Allimuth used in the last fight. He stabbed forward and Allimuth countered just the way Imamura had done, but Allimuth was ready when Tireth came down towards his shoulder and he blocked the attack, spinning off Tireth’s sword and hitting him in the side. He then spun around and hit him in the other side causing him to fall to his knees. Allimuth put his sword on the back of Tireth's neck and stated that Tireth was dead the same way he had done with Imamura.

Next up to fight Allimuth was Reiko. He was easily the best fighter of the three so Allimuth knew this might be a hard battle. Reiko stepped up and took his stance as Allimuth did the same. Allimuth waited for Caine to say fight and as soon as he did he pounced. He jumped forward and came down towards Reiko’s left shoulder but Reiko was ready and he blocked it. Allimuth’s blade slid down Reiko’s and when it was low he swung it away and down towards Reiko’s left leg. He blocked again and Allimuth rolled to his right and came up behind Reiko with an upward slash. He hit Reiko in the right leg then spun and hit him on the left side. He jumped backwards as Reiko swung at him, his sword missing him by inches. He then rolled forward and sprung up and over Reiko who tried to hit Allimuth while he was in the air, but without success. Allimuth turned around to face Reiko and the two met blades. While their swords were locked, Allimuth heard another voice in his head. It was the same one as before, a raspy voice that sounded like an old man.

“When I get done telling you what to do say ‘thank you’ out loud, then immediately roll left and hit him in the back of his knees. You’ll know what to do from there. Now go!”

“Thank you.” Allimuth said out loud and Reiko instantly stopped with a look of confusion on his face, but Allimuth didn’t see it, for right when he said it he rolled left and hit Reiko in the back of his knees with all the strength he had. Reiko’s legs flew out from under him as Allimuth spun the other way while standing. He caught Reiko in the chest as he spun and pushed him to the ground with his sword at his neck. Once Reiko was on the ground Allimuth stated that he was dead and the whole crowd jumped and cheered for him as he stood up. Reiko also stood up while rubbing his back where he hit the ground.

“Wow, very impressive Mr. Zallor. Now we must move on to the obstacle course.” Caine said as they walked towards it. “First, in the obstacle course you will have to grab this rope and use it to climb up to the top of the wall then you will jump backwards onto these horizontal poles to get across this mud pit. After that you will grab the rope and swing across the remainder of the course. Oh, and you have to kill at least two of those dummies. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir it is.”

“Okay good. All four of you will take a turn and whoever has the fastest time according to that clock,” he pointed to the large clock in the center of town, “will win. So basically if you do not beat them you will not be permitted to join.”

“Okay, Sir.”

“Okay. Now Reiko since you did the best against Mr. Zallor in the last part of the competition you get to go first. Ready?” Reiko nodded and took his position at the base of the wall. He grabbed the rope and planted one foot on the wall. “Go!”

He instantly started to climb the wall. Once he got to the top he turned backwards and jumped to the first pole. He waited to stop swinging and pulled himself up then jumped to the next one. He repeated this process until he reached the last pole. He jumped to the rope and swung across to the next one where the dummy was. He slid down the rope a little then unsheathed his sword and sliced it in the head. Then he put his sword back and climbed up a little before he jumped to the next rope. There was another dummy here so he did the same thing as last time before jumping to the next rope and the sliding down and jumping off into the grass.

“Thirty seconds!” Caine shouted to tell Reiko his time.
Imamura and Tireth both started out the same way but only Tireth made it all the way through. Imamura got a large splinter in his hand and when he was trying to kill the first dummy he squeezed the rope to tight which hurt him and caused him to fall into the mud. When Tireth went he did well except for the fact that he dropped his sword so he couldn’t kill his second dummy which cost him ten seconds and put him at thirty-one seconds. It was now Allimuth's turn. He was about to grab the rope when he heard a yell from the side. He looked to see Elsa running towards him with something in her hand.

“Wait! I have to give Alli something!” she ran up to him and handed him a pair of light blue leather gauntlets that matched his new boots. “That’s your repayment for the boots.”

“Why, thank you Elsa!” he said as he hugged her.

“You’re welcome. Now finish this up!” she gave him a kiss on the cheek then turned and started to jog away. Then she stopped and turned around. “Good luck Alli!” with that she went back to the crowd to watch.

Allimuth put on the gloves and found them to be a perfect fit. He pulled out his sword and swung it around a few times to see if they had good grip, he saw that they did and replaced his sword. Then he heard the old man’s voice once again.

“Don’t use the rope when you climb the wall.” the voice said to Allimuth. “You will make it this time.”

“Okay” Allimuth told it in his head. He stood facing the wall ten feet away so he could get a running start.

“Shouldn’t you be closer Allimuth?” Reiko asked him, obviously trying to put him down.

“No, I’m good here.” He answered, half ignoring the question.

“Okay.” said Caine walking up to them. “Are you ready?” he asked giving him an odd look. Allimuth nodded. “Okay. Go!”

Allimuth dashed towards the wall at full speed. Then just at the last second, right when it looked like he was going to hit the wall, he put his foot up and pushed down on the wall. He lifted his other off the ground and did it again and again until he was almost parallel with the ground and running straight up the wall. When he started to lose his balance he pushed off the wall and did a spin in the air to turn around and grab the pole. He grabbed it and spun around once before jumping off forwards. He went almost straight up into the air then arched his back and came back down. He landed right on top of the next pole without faltering his balance.

He then crouched and sprung into the air almost doing a front flip and landing on his hands on the next pole. He bent his arms and sprung off again finishing the flip and catching the last pole with his hands again. He spun around once and jumped off, catching the first rope and then jumping off again immediately following that to catch the second. He turned upside-down and slid down the rope by his feet while unsheathing his sword. He swung his sword at the new dummy and cleaved its head in half. Without sheathing his sword he did somewhat of a sit up and grabbed the rope with his free hand before jumping to the next rope. While holding it with his left hand he swung down and decapitated the next dummy just as he had done in his practice. He quickly sheathed his sword and jumped to the next rope. He jumped off of it and did a back flip in the air before landing nimbly in the grass.

He stood and surveyed the crowd waiting for the applause, but he heard nothing. He only saw dumbstruck faces staring at him in awe. He looked at Caine who had the same look on his own face. After another second of quiet, Caine broke the silence.

“That, Allimuth, was incredible. You completed the entire course in just 14 seconds!” Caine threw his arms in the air and everyone cheered. Elsa ran out and jumped into Allimuth’s arms. He hugged her back and spun around in circles. “Don’t celebrate just yet. There is still one more part to the test.” Caine paused here and looked around. “You must now fight me, Allimuth.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay how'd you like it? Please comment and i'll get the next chapter up asap.
Thanks