Erasmus was sitting in the forest, trying his best to hide between to large tree roots. He glanced around nervously and gripped his sword hilt. Everything was quiet, except for all the ambient forest noise. But instead of being relaxing like you think it would be, it only made Erasmus more tense with that weird feeling you get when you’re alone but still surrounded by living things.
A raven or crow or something cawed. Erasmus craned his neck to see where the sound came from, when suddenly a long shadow loomed over him. He started up to see Pike standing there.
“Chosen One’s sake,” said Erasmus. “You could pretend to cough or something… Anyway, did you find anything.”
“They are slick pricks,” Pike scowled. “Hardly left a trace, but they were here alright. They were everywhere.”
“How many?”
Pike shrugged. “Can’t tell for sure. But not few enough to be comfortable. All I know for sure is that they were swarming these woods last night.”
“Where are they now?”
“I don’t think you want to know…” Erasmus saw that Pike glanced to the side a little. Pike sat down and leaned in close. “They are watching us right now. Don’t bother looking, you won’t see them. I tried catching one of them, but they are too slippery.”
Erasmus shuddered. “So we are surrounded then?”
Pike nodded. “Whatever they are, they don’t seem to do much when the sun is up. They’ll watch and wait for now. But when the sun goes down…” Pike trailed off.
“Well… our little side-quest went tits up fast, didn’t it?”
“Yep…” said Pike, scratching his chin. “And all we have to show for it is some mushrooms and these magic cloaks…”
“Well, I think the cloaks are neat,” said Erasmus, shrugging. “Might come in handy you know.”
“Whatever. Hiding won’t do us much good anyway.”
“Got a plan?”
“Well, the smart thing to do would be to leave your ass to the wolves and strike out on my own. But I promised to get you back alive, so guess I’ll have to babysit.”
“Glad to hear it,” said Erasmus, mustering up what little sarcasm he had. “So where do we go from there?”
Pike shrugged. “Simple. If you know you’re being tailed, lead the buggers into a trap. Bloody their noses a bit, and they’ll back off, all animals do.”
So moving along, the boys continued their journey. More walking in forests, you get the picture. But the going was slow, Pike going ahead to scout, like a lot. When the sun was getting to setting, Pike led Erasmus on a detour, the two scrambling up a steep cliff face. Erasmus found himself standing on a wide shelf of rock jutting out of the cliff. Pike stood on the edge, overlooking the woods with a serious expression.
“We’ll camp here tonight. Let’s get a fire going… a big one.”
“Won’t that give us away?”
“Yeah…”
Erasmus thought for a moment. “Oh… I see. Yes this place looks defensible. Solid wall of rock behind us. Yes, this would be a good place for us to set up a trap. What’s the plan, Pike?”
He turned to see Pike sitting on the ledge, inspecting the edge of his blade. Erasmus got the message.
“Ah… so no cunning strategy then?”
“Yeah…” said Pike, eyeing the forest darkly. “You any good with that fancy sword?”
Erasmus looked down at the ancient blade he had won from the haunted barrow. “I took a few lessons while you were unconscious back in the mountain. I’m not much used to a sword this size.”
“Well then…” Pike thrust his own sword back into its scabbard. “Just don’t get in my way.”
The night was dark, the clouds were heavy, and it was beginning to rain. Thankfully they already had a huge fire blazing, its red blaze the only light to be seen. Erasmus sat before the fire, huddled in his dwarf-cloak and chewing on dried mushroom. He got up, retrieving some fresh sticks from the bundle of firewood nestled in a crack in the rocky cliff face where it would stay dry from the rain. Satisfied that the fire was not in danger of going out despite the rain, Erasmus looked over to Pike, who was sharpening his sword as he watched the forest before them.
“Quiet, isn’t it?” said Erasmus.
Pike sighed. “If you say… ‘too quiet’, I’ll break your kneecaps.”
“Okay then…”
“But yes… it is too quiet…”
“It always is, before the storm breaks,” said Erasmus. “The waiting is always the worst part in any battle. Back when I was a proper Paladin, I was once in an army camped on one hill, with the enemy camped on another. Two weeks we just sat there… waiting for the other side to make a move. The battle never even happened, but I swear it was the worst time I’ve ever had soldiering. Funny how it works like.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“When the bowstring is drawn,” Pike muttered. “It wants nothing but to be loosed.”
“Is that a quote from something?”
Pike nodded. “I was a soldier too, you know. I know what the waiting is like.”
“Oh really? I thought you were always a manhunter.”
“You’re not wrong…”
“You fought in the Bandit King’s rebellion, didn’t you?”
Pike nodded.
“I suppose we were on opposite sides then. I saw my first bit of action in that war, squiring for my father.”
“There were a lot of sides in that fight,” said Pike. “I was just trying to get through it alive. Didn’t matter to me who won…”
Erasmus scratched his cheek below his scar. Learning anything from Pike was like grasping at smoke, but Erasmus was savvy enough to put some of the pieces together. “It’s hard… not having a home or a family.”
Pike said nothing.
“I come from a large noble house, maybe the largest. But that wasn’t any comfort to my father, who had a good name but nothing else. I did everything I could to make my own family, did things I’m not proud of. When I lost everything anyway, I swore the Paladins’ oath and joined the Order. But I disobeyed my officers, got caught up in a bad controversy and ran away. Luckily King Magnus is a relative, and willing to shelter an oath-breaker…”
“And now you’re here,” interjected Pike, “because you want to be a big damn hero.”
Erasmus chuckled. “Sure. But I think I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Rangers. Always travelling, doing what they must to heal the sick. But at the end of their journey, they always have a home they can return to. It’s worse than death, to lose your family and your home. I already have, many times…”
Pike said nothing for a long while, only looking into the darkness, remembering feelings which he had buried long ago. Then he shrugged. “Harden the fuck up, princess.”
Erasmus just stared at him, and then began to chuckle, then he howled with laughter until tears streaked his face. Pike watched him in confusion and spat on the ground. He went back to watching the forest. A few moments passed, he saw nothing, but his nose caught something on the wind. He strained his ears, holding up a hand to Erasmus, who was still wiping the tears from his eyes, but the laughter died when he saw Pike’s face.
“What is it?”
Pike watched for a little while longer. He stood up and walked to the fire, pulling out a long stick which was burning heavily at one end like a torch, sizzling as the rain struck it. Walking back to the ledge, he hurled the stick overhead, sending it spinning as it fell into the woods below. Erasmus watched it fall, saw it land, and saw the ring of dark figures standing around the flame, their red eyes gleaming up at him, before the sputtered and died out. “Oh… shit.” He said.
Pike drew his sword. “Keep your back to the fire. Don’t let them put it out, or we’re dead!” Erasmus drew his own sword, burning a hungry red in the firelight.
The creatures howled and cackled, filling the night air with their clamour. The boys heard the sound of them clambering up the cliff, horrifyingly quick. The first twisted shapes appeared over the ledge, their eyes blazing red, their red tongues jutting out past their jagged fangs.
“Fuck youuuu!” came Pike’s battle cry, hurling himself forward. With one sweep of his sword, three of the creatures were thrown from the ledge.
“Ordos Victoria!” cried Erasmus as he charged. A swing of the ancient blade took a shadow’s head from its shoulders. Another creature tried to slip behind him, a short spear poised, but the Paladin’s sword was faster, lancing through the creature’s gaping maw.
But the monsters were not yet shaken, scrambling over their fallen kin. Pike cackled as he cut them down. “Got you now! You little bastards!”
But Erasmus was having more difficulty. The weight of his sword gave it incredible speed and power, and the creatures seemed to hesitate when seeing its terrible brightness, but Erasmus was quickly losing growing weary. A weak and shaky spear thrust gouged into his thigh. The ancient blade shattered the spearer’s skull.
“Is this all you’ve got!” Pike laughed. “Go slink back into your holes you fucking rats!”
From over the lip of the shelf, several figures loomed over their fellows. Three great, hulking brutes stepped into the firelight, heaving heavy clubs and axes. They charged over the slain, roaring like maddened boars. One swung its club at Pike, who ducked and narrowly avoided losing his head. Another rushed at Erasmus. The Paladin thrust his blade, but the monster parried it with its axe, sending the sword flying from Erasmus’ hand. The monster gurgled in glee as it swung the axe again, the spike opposite the axe-blade burying deep into Erasmus’ stomach.
Pike whirled. “You idiot!” As he saw Erasmus crumple to the ground, the club of the orc he was facing crashed into his face, knocking him off his feet, his sword flying from his hand. Dizzy as he was, he rolled to his feet as he hit the ground. The orc rushed forward, club raised for the finish blow. But Pike’s hand found the shaft of a spear, and in a flash he sent the spear flying through the monster’s mouth and out the back of its skull.
The orc who had felled Erasmus now turned its attention to Pike, hefting its axe. Blood spilling from his mouth, Pike looked for his sword, but saw Erasmus’ weapon close at hand where it had been thrown. Dodging the axe-blow, Pike dived for the sword, his fingers curling around the hilt. As soon he did, searing pain filled his hand, as if the weapon had been pulled from a furnace. Pike screamed in pain, the sword falling his fingers. The monster was rushing towards Pike, preparing for a swing aimed at Pike’s skull. Pike lunged for the sword again, gritting his bloodied teeth against the pain, feeling as though his flesh of his hand was burning and peeling away. The monster roared as it swung its axe. Pike roared back. The blade flashed like a blood-red dawn. The monster’s legs gave away, its top half following close behind (it was cut in half by the way).
Pike let the sword slip through his nerveless fingers, his hand was scarred and blackened. The creatures at the edge of the firelight faltered after watching two of their champions cut down. Pike stumbled towards the still form of Erasmus. The idiot Paladin was still alive, but half-unconscious from the pain. Pike turned his gaze back to the monsters and pulled out his dagger with his left hand. “Come on then, you fucks, let’s finish this.”
The creatures, seeing that their foes were winded and wounded, regained some of their confidence, their remaining champion hefted its jagged blade and stepped forward, the others following as they slowly moved in on their prey.
Suddenly, a piercing shriek cut through the air. The creatures halted, their red eyes scanning the dark sky above them. The shriek came again, this time much closer, and a great shadow swept down out of the darkness. The champion was swept of his feet, howling in terror as it was flung from the cliff. The creatures yelped in panic trying to scatter but falling over each other in the panic. The shadow swooped again, taking with it another orc. Soon the rocky shelf was clear of the creatures, leaving only the slain. One orc that had been lying wounded, missing an eye from Pike’s sword, stumbled up and hefted its spear to hurl at it Pike, but the great shadow fell upon like a falling boulder. Pike watched in stunned silence as a great feathered shaped stooped over the orc. The orc howled in terror, but a beak found its neck and snapped it with a savage jerk.
The feathered thing turned, and Pike saw it was big fucking owl of some kind, large as a man. It turned its moon-like eyes upon him and flexed its wings. The feathers seemed to ripple like a cloak, and Pike watched as the owl shape fell away, and its place stood a burly woman with bright yellow eyes and a feathered cloak about her broad shoulders.
“Saved your life again, Trollslayer,” said Wudu the troll-woman. “That’s twice you owe me now.”
“Shit,” muttered Pike.