The Twisted by Dalton Boyle (summer beach reads TXT) 📖

Darxen
Chapter One
Scimitars

As I walked along the dark paths of the Subterranean Drow city Denzomorean, I discover I'm being followed. The Drow following me is Furgoun. He's my younger brother, the lesser of me who's always trying to best me, which usually means killing me. He's tried countless times already so he could move up in the family ranking. I'm already number one in my family. I've surpassed my father and our families’ sword master; some even consider me the best swordsman in the city.
As he creeps up on me, I hear him draw his dagger, no doubt trying to stab me in the back. I draw my sword nicknamed Tourmaline from my scabbard, quickly roll forward and turn around, and plant my feet firm on the ground, looking straight at my brother.
He's dumbstruck. He's a novice swordsman and an even worse acrobat, he could never have done something like that in the time that I did, nor with anywhere near the amount of grace.
"H-how did you know I was here?" He stammered.
"You’re the worst with your footwork, how could I have not known?"
He clumsily lunged at me; his sword leading and I easily slapped his sword away and struck him in the head with my daggers hilt. It knocked him unconscious and I left him laying there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he winds up with a knife to his throat while he’s laying there prone to attack.
The Drow do anything they can to kill others of their kind to grow in rank. I’m not too worried though because I’m one of the best drow in the city, my brother is the only one trying to kill me. I have the most sensitive ears in Denzomorean so I can hear anything or anyone over a mile away.
As I walk along the corridor, I hear a familiar voice. “Darxen, where are you going?”
That’s my other brother; he’s just below me in my families’ skill, but nowhere near my skill. He knows the Drow ways and that he should be trying to kill me to rank up in the family but he won’t accept the Drow ways, like me.
“I’m on my way to the sword shop; I think I’ve outgrown Tourmaline and my dagger. I want something new for a change.”
“Ah, I’ve heard that scimitars are an excellent choice for sword masters such as yourself, the Barron’s sword master has those and hardly anyone with lesser skill can perfect them as well as he has.”
The Barrons is the second highest ranked house, my house is called Korxon, and we are the fourth highest. “Perhaps I’ll try those. Would you like to come along with me and help me practice with them?” I asked Axel.
“What, so I can get a new collection of bruises from the back of your weapons and their hilts?” We both laughed.
“ Oh come on, I’ll go easy on you this time, and besides, I’ll be using scimitars, you said it takes a true weapons master to wield them properly and I’m sure that takes forever”
“But you’re the best there is, I’m sure you’ll get them down in no time. I’ll go with you though, just until you start getting too good with them”
We both walked to the sword shop, saying mostly small talk, but talk nonetheless. I enjoy spending time with my brother. It’s as if he’s the only one that actually understands me in this cruel unforgiving land. We got there in just over an hour, for it was two miles away.
I walked over to the counter where the clerk was waiting and asked him for two of his best scimitars.
“Are you sure you want scimitars? Only Barron’s sword master has learned to use them to their best, even I can hardly use the things.”
“Yes sir, I’m sure I want the scimitars, I’ve grown bored of my sword and dagger.”
“Right this way.”
Axel and I followed Hark into a room containing the scimitars and long swords. I walked around, trying out several that looked like they would suit me and after trying them again, I found two that was perfect. My brother and I moved to the next room, the training grounds, to spar. I found that my moves came easily with the scimitars. The way they moved in perfect harmony with me made me think that these were better than my sword.
I dodged one of Axels well known moves, the double under, which is where he would stab at my legs with both of his swords twice. And as I retaliated, I slashed high, but he hooked it with the curve on his gauntlet and I came in with my other scimitar on the other side, and again he hooked it with his other gauntlet. With his hands, he grabbed my wrists and threw me over his head.
As I was on the ground, he rushed at me, his swords up high. I got up on one knee and as he drew nearer, I rolled under him. I used my left foot to stop me short and turned back towards him. He was breathing heavily and I hardly broke a sweat.
“It looks as though you’re starting to wear down, would you like to give up yet?” I asked sarcastically.
“Oh, but we’ve only just begun.”
He rushed at me again, swords to his side and at the last second, he stabbed out with them. I put my scimitars on the inside of his swords and slap them out wide, and pointed the tip of my scimitar at his neck.
Hark was clapping wildly. “I’ve never seen anything like it! No one has ever been able to master the scimitars during their first sparring lesson.”
“It seems as though they’re extensions of my arms, better even than my sword and dagger.” I answered him.
“You’re definitely better with those scimitars than you were with you sword and dagger. When we used to spar with those, I could last at least ten minutes. You cut me down in half the time.” Axel cut in.
He and I used to spar all the time with our weapons when we were still in school. That was only five years ago though and since then, I’ve been out patrolling the Undergloom, perfecting my swordsmanship on monsters and other Drow elves.
“Well I have been going patrolling in the tunnels brother. Hark, how much do you want for these scimitars?”
“In all my years of sword selling, I’ve never seen a display such as that. They’re yours for free Darxen, just come back every once in a while to show me your improving skill.”

Chapter Two
Patrol

“Darxen, do you want to come with me on patrol?”Axel asked me.
“Of course I will, someone has to make sure you don’t die out there, right?”
We both laughed at that as I put on my enchanted linen shirt, which is impenetrable. I grabbed my new scimitars and left my room with Axel, heading to the rendezvous spot where the patrol left Denzomorean.
“Darxen, I’m so glad you could join us on this wonderful hunt.” Baxen told me as I walked up to the patrol group
Baxen is the sword master of house Barron. “Hunt? What do you mean hunt? I thought it was a simple patrol.”
“We’ve found a group of Bekinal mining too close to the city. We’re gonna go make them wish they were never born.”
Bekinal is a race of dwarves that have adapted to the Undergloom in order to mine the precious gems found throughout the tunnels. They often find themselves in trouble because if they find a mineral deposit, they go crazy for it. There has been numerous times where they’ve gotten too close to our city and other Drow cities, and they never come back alive. “Well than what are we waiting for?” I asked the group. “Let’s go kill some Bekinal!”
I ran ahead of the group as scout for they knew that I could hear better than any of them and was a better swordsman than any of them. Axel ran up beside me, he feels safer when he’s around me because we both know that, no matter what happens, we stick together.
Nearly an hour later, I put my ear to the wall to see if we were getting any closer to the Bekinals’ mining area. I heard the faint vibrations of pick-axes hitting the wall and estimate that they’re nearly a mile away, which would take about 10 minutes. The patrol silently slips away, as quiet as death.
I hear the footsteps of a patrol group from one of the Bekinals patrol groups. I signal to the rest of my squad to stay put. I snuck up behind the Bekinal squad, which was in a wedge formation. I sneak up on the dwarf that’s lagging back the farthest and silently unsheathe my hidden dagger and silently cut his neck, carrying him to the ground as to not alert the rest of the group.
Four more. I tell myself. I do the same thing to the next two but the rest of the group realizes the missing footsteps and they both turn around. I look at the two of them with apologizing eyes. I hate having to kill other living beings, other than monsters.
I rush the one on the left, with my scimitars to my side. The dwarf hardly has time to draw his own sword and shield. He gets his shield out first and tries blocking my first attack. I stop my stab short though so the ring of metal on metal wouldn’t sound throughout the tunnels and alert the rest of the dwarves. I instead slip my other scimitar through his stomach and out the other end, spilling his internal organs all over the floor. The poor dwarf looks down and back up, a horrified expression on his face, and falls dead. I quickly catch him before he falls and set him down on the floor.
His friend doesn’t seem too happy to face a Drow by himself but he figures that since it’s just one, he may have a chance. He rushes, shield held in front of his body and hammer to the side. I sidestep the foolish dwarf and stab his back, apparently just missing his spine. He turns around and glowers at me, angrier than before. He jumps to the air, hammer high and attempts to smash my head in. I again sidestep him and stab him in the side as he comes down.
This time I rush one scimitar higher than the other. He figures I’m gonna try to slash at him with that scimitar so when I come in for the attack, he tries to block It with his shield, but I stab at him with my other scimitar, hitting his thigh. He can no longer put his entire wait on the leg so I use it to my advantage. I keep hitting him on that side, making sure not to contact his