Before long, Ward found himself standing at the edge of the encampment. He held his wooden staff and had his robes with his hood pulled over his head...
In short, he was ready to dash at the first opportunity.. He was ready to burn the ravagers' cloak and was prepared to fight for his life if needed...
He knew the time would come.. He just had to be patient..
Nearby, Rold and Garen stood idly chatting.. Garen seemed to be a rather loud, jovial sort of fellow.. But the man couldn't hide his nature: he was a killer too..
Rold seemed to detest the conversation all the while,
"Aw man! Isn't Mary beautiful??.. Also, you shoulda seen this lady in the woods.. damn.. if only she could've joined us.. had to die though. You know how it is.."
"Don't let Mary heat you say that..." Rold said, clearly disinterested. "You know her temper.."
"Haha of course! Wish she would relax and let go sometimes you know??"
Rold kept quiet, intentionally ignoring him..
Before long, Rold said, "it's time.." and began to walk away.
Geran fell in beside him and Ward followed the two. He ignored the tapping of Geran and kept his thoughts elsewhere: on escape..
They left the encampment, packs on their backs, and went off into the plains towards the woods. Ward was blinded by the distance of it all.. for months he had been stuck in a tiny, enclosed camp, and even though the world was bleak: it wasn't nearly as bleak as the ravagers' base...
On they went, and everytime Ward thought he could make a dash, the slightest movement would pull the attention of Geran or Rold..
They were watching him. They didn't trust him.. Of course they didn't. "They probably don't even trust each other" he thought to himself.
"The lieutenants are meeting tomorrow.." Geran said, drawing the attention of both Ward and Rold
"Oh really?" Rold said. He was clearly interested..
"Yeh! And you wanna know what they are meeting about?"
"Of course.." Rold said
"Well I'll tell you.." Geran said, leaning in close
"It's.. a secret.." he then laughed and clapped Rold on the back.
Angrily Rold gave him a shove, nearly toppling the laughing man into a nearby bush.
"Come on, out with it.."
"Aah haha, ok ok... anyway, yep.. The commander is meeting to discuss who is going to replace Hail.."
"Wait what?" Rold said, stopping in his tracks.
Ward was curious as well. Who was hail? What were the lieutenants??
"Wait.." Ward said to himself, "this is it.."
"You didn't hear?? The old—" geran was cut off in the middle of talking.
"Wham!!" The dark skinned ravager fell limp to the earth. Rold stood in dumb surprise as he saw Ward standing with his staff over the unconscious man..
Without a second of hesitation Ward turned and took off as fast as he could.
"Ha.. idiots.." he thought to himself. The intense conversation had left both of the men with their guard down.. He wasn't sure he would get another chance like that, so he had to take it.
"You bastard!!" He heard Rold scream from behind., "there's no mercy now boy.. you are dead.. i tried to save you before, you've only dug your own grave now.."
He heard the pattering of feet behind him.. But Ward was confident. He had trained both his endurance and his speed everyday for months and months...
Even if Rold was stronger and twice his age: he was smaller and more agile..
Before long Ward glanced over his shoulder and saw Rold far in the distance, shouting and cursing.
"Haha!" He laughed to himself. He was free! Free from the ravagers! Free to return to his friends!
"I'll come back to you two.." Ward said, casting off the ravager cloak, "you better be alive.."
...
A young boy sat alone in the woods. It had been ages since he'd seen another person. Rather, it had been ages since he'd seen his two persons..
His red hair was marred with dirt and grime, his clothes mere tatters.. Nearly a year of living in the woods by himself had left him almost feral. His instincts were sharp as a knife, his muscles strong for his age.. he could tell when danger was nearby..
The small fire he had lit did little to stave off the cold, but it was better than nothing. He hummed a song from his childhood while he sat. Sometimes he missed his home, but he knew he wouldn't be going back.. it was better to focus on the now, on trying to live his life as best as he could..
He wasn't one to let adversity bring down his mood.. Though at times, he did feel that tings of sadness.. of loneliness.. Especially when the food was scarce..
That night it wasn't. The nearby stream had been good to him. His simple fish traps had caught three decent sized trout, and he was eagerly awaiting the meal...
"Oh come on tanner,
Down the way,
Down the way..
Bring me some leather,
For the chair,
I make today..."
He sang quietly.. Thw air was still, and he was sure that his voice carried as easily through the wood as a sharp knife through butter, but he didn't care.. He had grown accustomed to the monsters.. the zombies and banshees, the goblins and water beasts.. They all had a pattern, a rhythm, and he had memorized them all..
The only thing he didn't want to run into were two things: the ravagers, and the floor guardian...
Neither of which he'd seen since losing the ravagers in the woods nearly a year ago..
'Snap!' Something in the woods disrupted his joyful song and he fell quiet. Quickly, he scampered up a tree and quieted his breath. His young eyes grew sharp, focused.. all thought left his brain and he sank into the dark wilderness..
The sounds grew.. something was coming.. closer, and closer.. He tried his best to stop his heart from beating so fast..
The past year had given him an uncanny ability to hide and sneak. To attack only when necessary.. In short: he had monstrous instincts...
"Oh what's this?" He heard a voice say. It was odd, hearing a voice other than his own. It hung in his ears like a sweet song... and an equally frightful one...
Before long, an old man appeared from the wood. He had grey hair pulled in a ponytail that extended down to the middle of his back, and an equally long grey beard. He wore fur clothes, obviously homemade.. and had no shoes on...
The old man stopped before the fire and put his hand to his chin as if in deep thought..
Dane looked on with wonder and fear, all the while keeping himself hidden and quiet from his vantage point in the tree..
Each second felt like an hour, and the instinctual part of him was ready to attack if the man had tried to touch his food... But he didn't, instead, he looked immediately upward, his dark blue eyes meeting Dane's in an instant..
"Run!" His body told him, "flee! He's dangerous!"
A shiver ran down his spine as he knew his cover had been blown... He fought the urge to run, and took one more glance at the trout cooking over the fire, then screamed and lept from the tree, straight towards the old man..
The man moved out of the way easy, and dodged all of Dane's weak attempts to fight him off.
"Oh ho! Calm down boy, calm down!" He said, laughing, "I won't steal your food.. in fact, I merely wanted to see if you wouldn't mind letting an old man share your fire??"
Dane stopped. He was cautious, but he felt like he could trust this man.. something about his eyes, and the tone of his voice... and there was something else... He couldn't quite see it, but he felt it...
Dane sat by the fire and said, "I'm sorry.. I haven't seen anyone in ages.." he gave a cheerful smile, quickly returning to his joyful, loud self.
His caution faded away as the man sat down and made no move to take his food or attack. He simply talked with Dane for a long while.. well, really he listened to Dane's whole life story as he told him in excruciating detail about every aspect of his life..
"And then I met Liza! And then Ward!.. Aah but I lost them.. the ravagers.. and then I ran here, and I have been living by this stream.."
After an hour or so, the food was ready, and Dane shut up long enough to eat.. He felt bad about attacking the man, and offered him a trout, but he kindly declined,
"No thank you.. Aah, the ravagers you said?.. I've met them myself.."
Dane looked up from his half eaten fish and asked, "you have?..."
"Yes.. on the battlefield of course.. Most are weak, but their leader.. hmm.." he said mysteriously. This peaked Dane's attention and he asked loudly,
"Wait you've fought them before?! Tell me about it!"
"Oh ho, not much to tell!" The old man said, scratching his beard, "they try to mess with me.. and sometimes they try to hurt others.. If I'm nearby I stop them. Sometimes that means they die, sometimes I cripple them.. it depends..."
Dane nodded. His instincts were right, this old man was dangerous,
"I knew you were powerful from when I first saw you.."
This raised the eyebrow of the old man, who said, "me?? An old man?? How am I powerful?? Look at me.." he gestured to his body, thin and fragile looking..
Dane grew serious then, and leaned forward across the fire, looking the old man in the eyes.. He then said, "I can just feel it.. something around you says that.."
The mood changed then. The old man grew quiet and seemed to fade into his own thoughts. His blue eyes were focused on the fire, and time seemed to standstill for a while..
Dane shrugged and continued to eat. He never let someone else's mood effect him, unless they were his friends..
He had finished the second fish when the Old man spoke up slowly,
"Do you want to fight them? Do you want to continue through the Fain???"
Dane stopped and looked the man in the eye. He was dead serious. Something in the air changed. It grew more intense, more heavy..
He thought about it for a moment. Clearly whatever this guy was asking him, it was something important...
"Do I want to fight? Do I want to continue through the Fain?.."
He nodded then, and said, "Yes... but not without my friends.."
The old man laughed then, and pushed himself up off the ground then before saying,
"Good answer!.. Alright then boy, you have what it takes.. I'll train you!"
The old man then turned and began to walk away. Dane sat stunned, confused, his trout still in hand..
"Wait what?" He said. Then realizing the man was nearly out of sight he snatched up the last cooked fish and took off after him, saying,
"Wait up!"...