Chapter 2: The Young and the Old
The five had been walking for almost an hour, and no one said a word until Gary decided to break the silence. His loud voice echoed off the trees around them. "Hey Prince, what exactly are we looking for? A bandit camp?"
"Yes." the prince responded. "But a specific one. Several women were abducted, and we must rescue them."
"Oh... I remember you saying that now... So-"
Trystan cut him off. "Quiet!" he whispered. The group walked about thirty paces until they had reached the mountains at the edge of the forest, and lay a cave. Gary lit a torch and went in first. They passed half eaten fish and rabbits, whetstones, and what looked like pillows made from grass. It was then that Trystan grabbed Fiona and covered her eyes. "What is it, Brother?" she asked.
Several women, no older than twenty-five, lay in a pool of their own blood, chained to a central pole. Seras saw they had many bruises and seemed to have had their necks slit. The cuts weren't clean. One had two cuts, the first jagged and shallow, and also on the left side of the neck where there was no jugular or esophagus. Seras though of the pain she must have endured for a second atleast. Among all this was a small girl of about seven. The only sign she was alive were the tears that continued to stream down her face.
"Keep your eyes closed." the Prince whispered. He took his hands off his sister's eyes and went for his sword. He broke the little girl's chains, and spent a minute getting the child to understand she was being rescued. The girl ran to the first female she saw: Seras. Her emotionless face said she had no response to the bodies or being hugged by a crying child.
Seras picked up the girl who was almost completely hidden in the many folds of her robes, and brought her to Fiona. "They're back." Sure enough, the sounds of bruteish men carried down the cave tunnel. The three men readied their weapons, and Seras took out her spell book.
A group twice theirs started a fire and sat down. "Aye, work is good, eh?"
"Yeh, couldn' be better.. Well'a' guess some gold 'id be nice, but we 'ave everything else."
"Yea, we found tha' merchant's steel axes, n' the women 'roun' here're beau-... Wussat?"
"Eh? Wus' what?"
"Tha' buzzin'." They all looked down the cave tunnel. Simultaneously, a "flit" of an arrow and the synthesizing of black magic took out two of the bandits. Trystan and Gary leapt out of the shadows and dispatched the rest of the untrained band.
At the beckon of her brother, Fiona followed the group out of the cave, leading the girl by the hand. Letting their adrenaline lower, the men sat in the grass whilst the girls stood quietly. Seras was not one of these girls, being a grown woman, and stood silently away from the entire group. She faced south, away from the sun, lost in thought.
Although she seemed distant, she unconsciously heard and noted the conversation being held. "What's your name little girl? Fiona asked. The child had no reply, and hugged the princess for more comfort. "Aww..." "She's too traumatized to talk," were Seras' thoughts. Fiona hugged the poor girl back.
A neigh came from the sky, and a pegasus knight swooped down. They landed harshly, and the creature stumbled. The rider has a deep purple hair color that was about the length of Fiona's. She appeared to be in her early twenties. She hopped off her pegsaus. Trystan, who hadn't noticed she was crying, spoke to her. "Hello, Fey, What's-"
Fiona noticed the tears instantly, and cut her brother off. "What's wrong?!"
The teary woman bowed and Seras turned around. Fey attempted to announce her message. "Th-th-th... the King and Queen have been... assassinated." At this last word, another sob exploded out of her. Everyone except the little girl and Seras were shocked. Orias gasped, Gary looked clueless, Trystan opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, and Fiona (who was still hugging the child) froze for a moment, until she too cried and tightened her embrace.
Zeek Aran Community Member 
|
|
