The Unlikely Hero
Character Key: Gwyneth-a human female Hunter; Petrus (Pee-trus)-a human male bard; River-the halfbreed protagonist; Kub-the orc; Jely (G-lee)-a female werebeing who shares 2 forms: wolf and human; Ainasa-the shaman's elven wife; Brandlance-the shaman; a gang of blue skinned, scaled trolls
Setting: Wynnrar Woods
“Halt.” Gwyneth said barely above a whisper.
We watched in silence as the gang of trolls, twelve in number, continued to move towards us, still oblivious to us standing there. Perhaps we would be lucky and get past them without being noticed, but no, we weren’t that lucky. The smallest one, if you can call a troll small, saw us first and warned the others. In only moments, the battle began. Swords clanged against swords, pike against shield, a horse falls, throwing off his rider. Jely, who never changed her form, attacks with her whole body, tearing and ripping flesh with her teeth, just managing to avoid being mauled by bludgeons and daggers. The noises of the battle, the cries, the sickening sound of flesh being torn open, the warm smell of oozing blood, all gathered in my nostrils. None of the trolls touched me, preferring to battle with the others. Perhaps they meant me to be a morsel of dinner? Perchance they really could not see me? Oh, the possibilities!
I nudged my horse forward, slid in close to a troll, and he really did not see me! Oh, the battle of wills!! Do I fight him knowing he can’t see me, or do I let my companions handle it? Fate takes matters in her own hands though, as a troll lunges for my horse. While I may be invisible to them, apparently my horse is not. My sword meets troll hide for the first time. He didn’t even see me coming. My cut was close, lifting up and tearing off several scales from the blue tinged skin, drawing first blood. This incited him, and he lunged again, this time using his sense of smell to locate me. I slid off my horse, still keeping her close, and circle behind him, slicing into his hide as I went. He swung out with his bludgeon, and I just managed to miss his strike on my shoulder by jumping out of his way. I struck out with my sword again and again. The toughness and scales of his hide made wounding him difficult, but the advantage of him not being able to see me gave me the courage I need to fight. By the time the battle was over, I was beaten and bloodied, his bludgeon having connected on at least two occasions, and swiping me on several others, and our adversaries lie dead all around us. The damage to our party was light, having only lost a horse and some blood, no one seemingly in peril. The battle took what energy we had left from the swamp, so Gwyneth and Petrus rode a little ahead to secure a campsite for us to rest in. Nightfall was coming on swiftly. We had not wanted to be in the Wynnrar Woods any longer than we had to be.
When Petrus and Gwyneth returned, their spirits seemed lighter, as if a weight had been lifted. Gwyneth smiled for the first time since we escaped the swamp. It was infectious. Soon, all of us were smiling, once more the jovial party we were when we started out together from Ithagar. Whatever burdens the swamp had placed on us were seemingly forgotten and we continued on our journey with lighter hearts, and strangely enough, renewed energy. Night fell, and still we continued on. We kept moving until we saw a strange plethora of lights coming from the trees. We had reached a small opening in the woods, with a very large willow tree standing solo in the very center of the opening.
It was easily the largest willow tree I had ever seen. Its girth spanned almost the entire open space. The whole area had an aura of magic. There were sparkles of fairies flitting here and there, the ground was a lush green carpet, and the night sky above was filled with stars. This is the place where your childhood dreams go, waiting for something wonderful to happen, and it never disappoints. There was a large hole in the base of the tree, and it was from this hole that the strange lights were coming from. They illuminated through the branches, causing rays of light to expand and stretch into the woods nearby. I briefly wondered if Tasha was nearby.
No comments:
Post a Comment