• Jordan stood on a sand dune, looking down upon the ravaged ruins of a town recently patrolled through. He spit once upon the ground and turned around, satisfied with the results of his scouting operation. Sand shifted under his booted feet as he made his way back down the dune to where five horses stood waiting with four other people.
    "We'll make camp there tonight." he said, mounting his tan steed.
    "Jordan, that place looks dangerous..." Bale mused. Jordan looked over at his old friend, smiling.
    "Since when have you been opposed to danger, Bale?" he posed simply. Bale shrugged and mounted second.
    "Since last week, when we lost fifty of us in that damned raid..." He said, spitting on the ground. Bale scratched his shaggy beard, defined by his dark eyes. Jordan had known him since just after the Apocalypse, and the two were inseperable.
    "Aske? May? Serenity? Any of you object?" He asked, resting the wrist of his hand on the pommel of his horse's saddle. Aske, quiet as usual, mounted his horse and nodded, his small arsenal of weapons clanking and creaking as he moved. Serenity drew in a quick breath and pondered what she was going to say, before speaking her concern.
    "I just hate to see any of us lost again..." She said quietly, mounting her own mare. May followed suit. Serenity and May had been friends since before the Apocalypse, and had stuck together during the trying times, when the world was reduced to dust and sand. Aske was the stranger, wandering into thier small encampment one day, bruised, bloody, and broken. Since then, he had proven time and time again on the field of battle just how effective he was to thier cause. As for his moral standing, Jordan had his doubts...
    "It's settled. Let's get there and scout those ruins out before darkness descends. I'd not like us all to freeze." Jordan whipped the reins against his horse's neck and lightly kicked it's sides, spurring the trusty steed into an easy gallop up the hill. The light thunder of hooves behind sounding in his ears reassured him that his small group was following right behind. They crested the hill over the ruins, and were forced to stop by what they saw.
    "Sunava..." Jordan cursed as he saw what awaited them in the ruins.
    "I swear to God, those damn things weren't there when I last looked..." Scanning the ruins, he spotted no less than three hundred of the enemy, writhing in the shadows cast by the late day sun. Jordan glanced to his sides, noting the position of the five.
    "Easy, Aske..." he said, a tone of warning in his voice halting the big man's advance. His horse stomped and whinnied at the sudden jerk on the reins, but stopped it's forward rush.
    "I'll not lose any of us to a meaningless brawl..." Serenity stood to his right, with Bale off to hers. May to his left, with Aske returning to his spot just to the left of May. Jordan smiled at Serenity's concerned hand on his shoulder.
    "They've already spotted us, love... What would you have us do?" She asked, true concern dying her voice with a tone that set Jordan on edge.
    "Scatter. Break to the winds. Do not head back to the main encampment, I don't want any survivors of that encounter making it back and ratting us out. No, we have to lead them away from our main force and lose them, then return. Not before. On my mark, we'll charge, but right before we meet them, we'll split up and run. Do not return home until you are positive you have lost them." Jordan looked around.
    "Understood?" He asked. The four others nodded solemnly. Jordan looked back at the writhing mass of Beasts as he slowly drew a light sabre from it's place on his left hip. Holding it high in the air, he let the emotion of the moment draw to a climax before letting forth a primal cry.
    A cry filled with the need to kill. The five of them drew near the writhing mass of Beasts, almost close enough to see the hate seeping out of thier eyes. He knew what they must be thinking at that moment:
    "What are these idiots thinking? Charging like that..." But they were about to get a suprise. Thier frontline drew nearer and nearer, each of the enemy stood in stark contrast against the ravished ruins. Shields came at the ready, spear tips lowered... But just before thier horses fell on the sharpened tips, Each of the five broke left and right. Confusion broke out among the enemy as the back lines retreated, giving the front line room to get to thier horses, picketed at the far end. Looking ahead, Jordan saw the rear of Serenity's horse, and Bale's further on. Bale was halfway around the enemy camp, and within another ten seconds, had reached the picket line of thier horses. He screamed and yelled, sending the enemy's horses into a frenzied panic. Amazingly, two of thier horses broke the picket and dragged the solid chunk of fence straight back through the enemy, tripping soldiers and other horses alike. Pandemonium broke out as The Beast's prize was slowly slipping away. Jordan ducked his horse into the ruins, running over panicked enemies, and slashing those within reach. he broke from the tall walls and into the sunlight on the other side of the camp, a small group of ten on horses and following him. Glancing to either side, he saw Aske with a group of about twenty following him, and May with another fifteen or so. Bale and Serenity had about fifty between the two of them, and Jordan another ten. He was suprised. Thier plan had worked. His horse was unharmed, and the other four knew the surrounding deserts and canyons like thier own homes. They could easialy lose or kill the enemy forces, then pick off any survivors. With any luck, the five of them could completely eliminate this small detatchment of enemy forces. Jordan led his ten into a box canyon, swerving in and out between boulders and crevices, breaking his line of sight.
    "Come to me, you punks..." he said quietly, slipping a short bow out of it's leather holster on his horse. He slipped a small quiver off of a wooden peg and over his own head, then he dismounted his horse and left it tied to a rock. Jordan hid behind a rock, waiting for any sign of the enemy.
    "He's over here! I see his horse!" One of them yelled, skidding to a stop in front of Jordan's tan steed. The fool dismounted, turning his back to Jordan's hiding spot. A single, short arrow flew from the darkness and stuck squarely in the Beast's back, sending him reeling to the ground in a dead heap. A second and third came to the first, bending over to survey thier friend. Jordan took them down with two easy arrows. The rest advanced slowly, with weapons drawn. Three more fell, leaving only four of the total force left. Jordan drew his sabre in his right, and a small knife in his left. The four spotted him and grinned, charging forth and demanding vengance for thier fallen comerades. Jordan grinned his own, comfortable smile as his eyes became pure, milky white. He was omnipotent. The four of his enemies moved in near-stillness, advancing oh so slowly. From thier eyes, he slipped inbetween thier blades with measured practice, slicing each of them down in mere seconds. Jordan could see exactly where each of thier slices was going, and where it would end. He ducked, twirled and danced under, over, and outside of the reach of thier blades, cutting each one down just as easialy as can be. After no more than fifteen seconds of scuffling, Jordan stood over the bodies of four dispatched enemies, a slight sheen of sweat on his face. Sighing, he sheathed his knife and sword, then mounted his steed and rode home, leaving the dusty corpses to rot in the sweltering sun.