Chapter 3 - Blackstone Valley III
Phillip ran through the trees, Derwin’s rushed footsteps close behind him.
“They’re gaining on us!” Derwin shouted as he swiped another branch out of his way. Their pursuers outnumbered them four to one, “fuck what I wouldn’t do for Terhal to show up any second now!”
They’d been running now for what felt like hours as the sun set. No more than fifteen minutes had passed since the incident at the pond before they ran into a scouting party comprised of eight orcs on the road. They’d made a break into the nearby woods to attempt to escape them, having no luck as the hulking forms made pursuit.
Their breath was now laboured and ragged, Phillip’s plate armour weighing him down as they continued running, the added weight of Narissa not helping his situation.
“Would certainly be a sight for - hah! - sore eyes right now!” Phillip acknowledged, jumping as he nearly tripped over a branch. He hazarded a look behind him and saw the orcs not even ten yards behind them now, bulging muscles not even struggling to chase them on the uneven footing of the forest. “Fuck me, what do they feed them!?”
“Us, if we’re not faster?” Derwin offered.
Under better circumstances Phillip would have broken into a fit of laughter but he could only grit his teeth and double down his efforts. Their lives were on the line.
“Derwin, I have an idea.”
“All ears!”
“I can say almost for certain they don’t intend to kill us, they haven’t tried to yet,” Phillip posed to his friend as they ran.
“You’re saying they want to capture us?” Derwin cast a quick look behind himself and saw Phillip’s thinking. They hadn’t pulled their weapons yet, instead opting for tiring them out instead. “You may have a point!”
“So if they don’t intend to kill us, there’s no point in both of us getting caught, is there? We don’t have time to unhook Narissa and you’ll run faster than me unburdened by armour.”
Derwin’s voice suddenly filled with panic, “no, no! You’re not sa-” Phillip cut him off.
“Get the others, if we have Levin and Terhal with us we might stand a chance, I’ll hold them off here!” Phillip spun, pulling his spear and shield out as he turned his head to the unconscious woman on his back, “I’m sorry, Narissa.”
Derwin began to protest until Phillip shot him a look and nearly screamed at him, “Derwin, now!”
Tears welled in his eyes, he felt conflicted over leaving his best friend of the past six years to an uncertain fate but knew he told the truth. Derwin stopped for a second, taking one last look at his friend before the orcs closed in, he sprinted into the underbrush of the forest.
Phillip steeled his nerves and faced the orcs. The nearest one to him grinned, pulling a baton from his belt. The orc stood a foot taller than Phillip and as wide as himself with his armour on. The young man lowered his spear to the orc before thrusting at them, aiming for its chest. His movements were awkward with the woman strapped to his back and the lunge was weak, not finding its target.
The orc stepped forward, grabbed his spear and yanked him forward. The unstable footing of the forest not lending itself to the situation Phillip felt himself lose balance and stumble forward, out the corner of his eye he saw a baton approaching as he simply thought, oh fuck.
With a dull thud the baton made contact with the side of his head and Phillip’s world went dark.
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Xanya watched with bated breath as the two figures in front of her sized each other up. Terhal stood beside her, a gentle and reassuring hand on her shoulder.
The two men circled with their weapons drawn, eyes fixated on each other. The grey skinned elf held a rapier in his left hand whilst the other was empty. Levin held his greatsword low and pointed forward with both hands.
Neither had moved to strike at the other yet, instead choosing to feel out their range. Levin knew the elf had the advantage in movement with the smaller more nimble weapon, he knew that to make a mistake here and now would be his death.
The elf smiled at Levin and bared his teeth before suddenly dashing forward, feinting an attack high. He saw through it and blocked low, their blades meeting beside his lower leg as the elf turned his body and threw a kick high at his head. Levin swayed back and brought up his elbow, blocking the kick with it as he turned his sword and swept it upwards, missing the elf as he jumped back to safety.
Their first engagement had lasted less than a couple of seconds. Both men returned to their starting positions.
“I’ve never seen him so serious like this, Terhal,” Xanya said to her companion.
“He is fighting for more than himself right now,” Terhal acknowledged. “He fights for us and the fallen one.”
Xanya understood. She looked up at Terhal and asked them, “he’ll win, right?” Terhal gave no answer, only giving her a light squeeze on the shoulder.
The elf spoke first, taunting Levin. “Well now my good man, if you never strike me the sun will set and well… I’d say your human eyes will only be good for being skewered at that point, would you not agree?” He threatened to step forward, prompting Levin to pull his sword in to protect himself before stepping away. “And I must say, what delicious eyes you seem to have.”
Levin did not answer, instead going on the offensive. He stepped forward and swung his greatsword in a wide arc in front of him, creating room between them as he drew his sword up and held it high, aiming to bring it down onto the elf. He dashed forward a few steps and brought his blade down towards his opponent. The elf stepped to the side, using his rapier to push the larger sword to the side before swinging his own smaller weapon over the larger blade to slash at the other man’s head.
Levin dropped low and pivoted his hips. He spun the handle of his greatsword in his hands while pulling it in towards him and bringing the blade of the sword back towards the elf. He caught nothing as the opponen again jumped away and put distance between them.
“My, my, you’re much more than you first appeared aren’t you, boy?” The elf regarded Levin in a mocking tone. “Here I thought I’d be ending this in the first attack but you’ve gone and made it interesting.” He emphasised the last word as he readied to attack again.
Levin responded again with silence, his concentration on his opponent unbreaking.
“For sixty years I have hunted and in sixty years no one’s screams satisfied me like hers,” he taunted Levin as he turned and pointed to the elf woman laying on the ground beside his companions. “When I stuck her with my dagger, oh! The sounds she made were like music to my ears!”
Levin’s nostrils flared as he exhaled, anger threatening to boil over as he calmed himself. He is just trying to shake me, he told himself. Pay no heed, an angry warrior is a dead warrior.
“The feeling when I heard my arrow strike true and hit her as she ran away… Oh, boy, you should have heard it. She cried for the Sky Father in her filthy tongue, she cried for mercy in the disgusting, wretched, mother tongue! And whom do you think answered her? Why it was me!” He laughed before suddenly stopping and looked at Xanya. “I think the young one with you will be much more fun though, do you not think?”
He is just trying to distract me.
The elf continued as he put a hand behind himself, “young, tender and inexperienced… Oh, my fair maiden, you will make the most delicious meal yet for me!” His hand whipped around and he threw a knife towards Levin who dodged it easily, seamlessly moving forward in a single motion towards the elf.
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Levin thrust forward with his greatsword, forcing the elf to dodge to the left. Perfect, thought Levin, he pulled his sword back towards him anticipating an attack from the elf.
No attack came. The dark elf dropped his rapier and grinned maniacally at Levin as he pulled a dagger from his belt and closed the remaining distance between them. He motioned upwards intending to bring it down onto Levin, aiming for his chest.
Levin let go of his sword and quickly reached upwards to stop the knife coming down, a sharp sensation followed by warmth erupted through his forearm as the knife caught. His hand connected to his foe’s wrist and he twisted the wrist holding the knife away from himself.
The elf brought a knee up and caught Levin in the side, a glancing blow. Levin steadied himself, attempting to find better footing as focused on holding the knife away from himself, he widened his stance for a more advantageous position. He pulled back with his other hand and delivered a short jab into the elf’s side, a less solid blow than he’d like but it served its purpose as the elf shifted slightly to their side.
Now! Levin pushed up and let go of the arm struggling to stab downwards, stepping to the side of the elf as he did. The knife cut through the air harmlessly to the side of Levin as his opponent staggered forward, a look of horror crossed the elf’s face in an instant.
Levin took a small step back and grabbed the back of the elf’s silver-haired head. He gripped the hair tight before pulling him down as he launched his knee upwards, catching his foe in the nose and breaking it instantly. Blood smeared across the elf’s face and filled his mouth as he reoriented himself, swinging for Levin’s side with his knife. Levin saw the strike coming and let go of his hold, letting the elf’s commitment to the swing throw him off balance again as Levin kicked at his side, sending him sprawling to the ground.
“Arghhh!” His opponent screamed in rage as he rolled away and stood up, wiping the blood from his face. The dark elf’s vision blurred as he pointed with the knife in his hand and looked at Levin, “you’re not getting out of here alive, boy!”
Levin said nothing, he stepped forward and kicked the elf’s rapier away before picking up his greatsword.
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” The elf echoed Levin’s earlier words to him before charging at him.
Levin inhaled deeply, drawing his sword up and forward he readied to attack as he exhaled. Ten yards, eight yards, six yards, he counted with every step and made ready before seeing a smile cross the elf’s face. The dark elf spun and threw his knife in a perfect line towards Xanya.
She had no time to comprehend what was happening as it came towards her. Only one thought came to her mind, oh.
The elf began laughing as he watched it fly towards her, I will not die in vain here, he thought to himself. Not without making the boy regret it. The knife sailed true toward its target, even through his blurry vision the elf knew it would strike. A blood covered smile adorned his face.
A shadow moved over Xanya as Terhal moved quickly, shielding Xanya from the knife and blocking it with their body, the knife bounced harmlessly off their hardened skin.
The last thing the dark elf heard was the rattling of the knife hitting the ground as Levin’s greatsword came down from behind and cut him down from shoulder to hip. A whimper of life left him as his consciousness was eradicated.
Telhar crouched down beside Xanya, “are you fine?” Xanya could only nod in return as Levin walked over to them.
“Bandages, please,” he said as he unwrapped his glove and right vambrace. Blood had pooled inside and dripped out as he removed them. Terhal passed bandages to him as he said, “got caught when he pulled his knife. It’s not too deep, just smarts.”
Xanya said, “thank you, Terhal.” The giant humanoid put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed in acknowledgement. She looked at Levin, “I’ll wrap it for you.”
Levin held out his arm for her, “thank you Xanya. And thank you Terhal for watching over our young mage.” He let out a long sigh, finally letting the weight of the situation out as he said, “we should start our return to the capital tomorrow, this job has become too big for us.”
Xanya said nothing, cleaning his wound and applying a medicinal salve to it before wrapping it in bandages. He groaned in pain as he continued, “we’ll eat the cost and refund the client the full amount. This entire situation has become more complicated by the day.”
“What do we do with those two?” Terhal spoke up and pointed to the elves on the ground.
“I’ll give her a traditional burial in the morning before daybreak, the other one can rot in the forest for all I care,” he shrugged. “We’ll break camp just after sunrise, I’ll take the last watch for the night.”
Xanya spoke up as she finished wrapping the bandage, “she wears the same insignia as the elves we met on the way up here.”
“Aye, it seems they met an unlucky fate up here. We’ll stop at Dulsford on our way back and try to get a message to the capital ahead of us for Princess Anita about what’s happened here.”
The young woman looked over at the corpse in question, a slight frustration that they couldn’t do more began scratching at her mind. I wish there was more we could do for her, Xanya thought.
The day’s light was quickly disappearing as the sun set over the horizon to the west. The three of them took in the moments of earned silence, bathing in the last of the day's sunlight.
“Levin, can you hear birds?” Terhal’s heavy voice broke the silence. “It has been over an hour since I last heard any.”
Levin and Xanya looked over then looked at each other and focused, listening for the sounds of nature.
“I… I hear nothing, Terhal,” Levin replied. He looked to Xanya who confirmed the same.
“There is something here, Levin. There is something almost haunting this place, from the soul of the mountain to the nature outside, I feel something here.” Terhal’s words sounded as if they carried the weight of a hundred people.
“All the more reason to not get involved with it and make our way back, I say,” Levin said. “If an elven scouting party met their demise here, we will fare no better.”
“I feel it too, Terhal,” Xanya stated. “Since coming closer to the mountain my magic has been unable to weave as I normally do, it’s almost as if it’s being pulled somewhere and I’m having to actively fight against it. Even something as simple as our dimensional bag has become more burdensome to cast.”
Levin sat back and said, “I am not one for magic, what’s the significance of that, Xanya?”
“I could not say, it is not something I’ve encountered in my studies or in life,” she shrugged as she spoke.
“‘Tis as if this place is being manipulated to serve something,” Terhal said. “It feels like everything here is pulling towards somewhere to the north of us.”
“Are you saying the valley has something to do with this?” Levin posed the question to Terhal who shrugged. “All the more reason for us to walk away, as soon as the others get back we’ll make camp.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be an option, Levin,” Derwin’s voice came from behind them as he silently walked up. “We’re in deep shit.”
Levin turned and saw Derwin covered in dirt, sweat and exhaustion on his face, he opened his mouth to say something before Derwin cut him off.
“Narissa and Phillip have been taken.”
Levin’s heart skipped.
“What?”
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“You’re sure it was here, Derwin?” Levin’s voice came harsh, the sun having long ago set now.
“Almost exactly here, Xanya bring your light over please,” the half-orc man motioned her over to him. A magical light illuminated the surrounding area as she walked over, an orb of white shining in her hand. “Thank you.”
The group looked around, searching for any sign of his two missing companions. Derwin had led them back to where he last saw the pair before leaving them, tracing back from the road.
“This here is the brush I dived into which means Phillip and Narissa would have been,” Derwin walked over to a tree with a thick root system protruding from under the ground. “They would have been right here when I last saw them.”
“Shit!” Levin swore. “Look for any signs of commotion, struggle, anything!” His words were rushed as he looked around, panic rising in his own voice as he raised his lantern to better see. He took a deep breath to calm himself before saying, “we need at the very least a direction.”
“Levin, I’m sorry,” Derwin looked up at the larger man and before dropping his head, ashamed of himself. “The situation was desperate and Phillip he…” his words trailed off.
Levin straightened his posture and then looked down at his half-orc companion. “Derwin, it’s not your fault. I’m not going to sit here and pretend the situation is fine but this isn’t your fault. If you’d not escaped we’d be lost waiting for your return right now.”
Derwin looked up and smiled weakly at his friend before resuming his search.
“Over here,” Terhal’s voice sounded from behind a nearby tree. “I’ve found something.”
The other three rushed over to Terhal and found them holding a rope that Derwin instantly recognised as the one they’d used to tie Narissa to Phillip. He indicated he recognised it before stepping backwards, tripping over a root and landing on the ground.
“Anything else?” Levin looked around steadying his breathing to calm himself again as he tried to spot anything.
Xanya offered Derwin a hand up who gratefully took it, helping to lift the man up. She looked around and saw something glinting underneath a nearby tree, “I think I’ve got something over here!”
The group convened on her, Levin knelt down and she offered him what she’d found - a golden hairpin. Narissa’s hairpin. Levin clenched his hand around it and bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.
“They’ve been taken,” he stated flatly. Turning and resting himself against the base of the tree. “Our next step is finding out where and why.” He groaned as he stood up and continued, “we need more clues first.”
“Like this?” Derwin spoke up, having rummaged through the dirt for something and now walking over with a loose cloth in his hand, tossing it to Levin. “I think you’ll recognise that.”
Levin unfurled the balled up cloth and sighed when he looked at it. A golden leaf on a deep green fabric.
“We need to move, now.”
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