FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE by S. K. Ng

hunger. After their meal, they took one last look around Greentown and began their walk out towards the next town.
     
         Suddenly Ray and Spirit hear shouts and screams of pain coming from behind an alley. Normally, Ray ignores such things, however, the screams sound like they are coming from a boy in trouble. He turns into the alley to investigate and Spirit follows beside him. As he reaches the back of the alley, he sees four men pushing and punching a boy, whom he recognises as Lance Arman. Ray stands there silently for a moment, observing the event. Lance has bruises all over his face and blood flows from his nose and mouth, but he continues to struggle against his attackers and manages to land a few punches of his own. These punches, however, are feeble and have hardly any effect on his attackers. However, Ray is impressed with the boy’s fighting spirit. As one of the attackers raises his hand to deliver another punch towards Lance, Ray raises his silver staff like a spear and with careful aim, throws it straight at the back of the man’s head. The man falls down unconscious.
         “Boy _ you will cease the harming of him immediately ! ” demands Ray.
         Spirit pulls his face, exposing his sharp teeth and fangs.
     
         One of the men turns around and speaks to Ray.
         “The boy has embarrassed our employer, Councilman Sellon, in the town meeting earlier. He has even gotten him fired ! He must pay for this mistake ! Don’t interfere ! ” he says.
         “Listen _ you are to do of this carefully, release the boy now or I shall have to hurt you ! ” warns Ray.
     
         Lance tries to draw his grandfather’s sword out of its scabbard but is slapped hard by one of the men. Lance slumps to the ground, his vision blurring and his head spins in circles. Meanwhile, the unconscious man awakens and gets clumsily to his feet, rubbing the back of his head all the while.
         “Very well, if that’s the way you want it,” says one of the men to Ray while all four of them begin to surround him.
     
         Ray looks at Spirit and gives a smiling nod. Spirit looks at him inquisitively. Ray gives him the same nod again. Spirit nods and walk towards where Lance is and sits down beside him, his tail wagging in excitement. The men are so confused with what they have just seen that they did not stop Spirit walking past them. Besides, who in his right mind would want to pick a fight with a wolf ?
     
        The four men surround Ray on all sides. The first man stands in front of him, the second one to his back, the third is to his left and the fourth is to his right. They stare at him. He stares back at each of them, noting their distances and body language. Then the fight begins. As the man in front of Ray races forward to punch him, Ray does a cross-step slide to his left and lands a kick on the third man’s chest with his left leg, avoiding the attacking punch in the process. The third man falls to the ground with a very loud thump. Ray then kicks towards his right and sends the first man sprawling towards the ground next to the fourth man.
     
         Now Ray faces the fourth man, with the second man standing to his right. Ray shuffles his feet so that he stands sideways with his left shoulder facing the middle point between the two remaining men. With a sudden burst, Ray slides toward the fourth man and delivers a kick to his knees. The fourth man collapses to the ground with a dislocated knee, screaming in agony. Now, only the second man faces Ray. He races forward with a right hand punch and Ray blocks it off with his left hand, steps forward and delivers an elbow strike to the jaw with his right arm. The second man staggers backwards a few steps, falls down to a sitting position, and ends up looking dazed and confused. Then Ray notices the first man trying to get up, and wasting no time at all, Ray moves toward him and delivers a hard punch to the back of his head,