Scene Five: Rescue?
...Of Act Two: Guardianship
In the eyes of Ryoku Dragontalen, we are in
The Raider's Camp, in the world of Harohto.
It is early evening
On November 7th, 2017.
"What do you hope to accomplish?"
The captain struck Will for his question. He grunted in pain, clutching his chest, but a glare at the man in question showed he wasn't about to let up. Mosten spat at the raider captain's feet. Sira instinctively reached for her sword. Not only was it absent, but trying to move only made the rope binding us even tighter. She grumbled something about not being able to believe someone snuck up on her. I could relate.
Through our controlled attack, the raiders hardly uttered a noise. We put effort into ensuring they had no time to scream out for assistance. Except for...
I caught Lusari's glance across the room. She had her back to Will's, next to Sira and me. Even if her attack earlier alerted them, I found it hard to blame her. Hearing the raiders talk about their victims would have been triggering for her. Still, here we were – trapped in their camp. They had Mosten, Leif, and Alex bound up in the other corner, and I wasn't sure where they'd taken the others.
The captain gave Will a snide look. He looked much better fed than the rest of the army. He kept his beard neatly trimmed, his armor finely polished, and his dark eyes glimmered with contempt. It was clear how their systems worked.
"Oh, and don't think I didn't notice yer mug." The raider captain was looking at me with a sinister gaze. "There's a good bounty on yer head, so the men say. That sort of coin'll feed us for years! We can build a whole new Capital. Give and take as we please – no need to fight over scraps, then. Some of ye could join us. As the help, o'course."
I grimaced. Word must have spread about my bounty. The petitioner, Orden, might be what held Chris captive. I wanted to get there of my own accord, not strapped up and shipped for a bounty. How would I get out of this?
Sira struggled behind me. "You'll sell him over my dead body." Her words kept sharp as a dagger, but I couldn't miss a moving devotion for me behind them. "Orden would kill every last one of you. You don't seriously think they care about anyone but themselves? If you saw a coin of that bounty, then I must be an ogre."
The captain struck her across the face. Her head snapped to the side, but she kept her shoulders firm. "Shut yer trap, wench. Ye just don't want us to get rich, don't ye?" I saw him studying her up close. "Come t'think of it, yer a pretty wench. What say ye shack up with us? Get a fair shagging on the day, and ye can even fight with us. Ye'd get a tidy sum, that's fer certain."
His words made something like Sira's fire rumble within my chest. Before she could retort, as I knew she would, I found myself speaking. "Keep your hands off of her, you filthy bastard."
The captain turned his attention to me, looking thoroughly bored. "Now the pup's utterin' threats, too? Curse Orden. The bounty says to keep yer mug alive. Didn't mention ye'd have a mouth bigger than yer damned bounty poster."
He stepped toward me and lowered his head down to my level. He may be better groomed than the others, but he still stank like them. He grinned in an ugly way, boasting missing and damaged teeth. "Did say alive, didn't it? But not entirely undamaged."
"Don't you fucking dare," Sira growled from behind me. "You touch him, I swear to the Creator—"
The captain growled in annoyance, and whistled with two fingers. A few more raiders entered the tent, similarly groomed to the captain. Must be his top men.
"Start with the wench there, men. Leave a lot of 'er for me."
My jaw dropped – more out of rage than surprise. Sira growled behind me as the men approached her. "Try it. When I'm out of these ropes, you'll wish you starved to death."
I looked the captain in the eyes. "Lay another hand on her, and you will face the true wrath of my world."
The captain chuckled. Behind me, one of the men stuffed a gag in Sira's mouth. She tried to scream through it, but her angry words came out muffled. "Is that so? Cause, we're gonna lay a few hands on her."
"It is so." I was surprised to hear Will backing me up, though his words came to my ears like he spoke from behind a wall. "I have seen it with my own eyes. The force that drives the forest into unrest. You have felt it, seen it, and experienced it. Have you not? The force which my Defender awoke."
I heard the men behind me stop. The raider captain glared at Will. "What're you gabbing on about? No way this little runt is responsible."
"You would guess so?" Will asked gently. "Tell me; have you met a Defender? Yet, have you ever fought one? Even heard of somebody fighting one?"
One of the other raiders cleared his throat. "Boss, that fight we heard about in the Capital earlier..."
The other one gulped. "And boss, the Keeper! The monster that gots Reed and Lonfrey last night! Ya don't think..."
The captain snarled in frustration. "Don't tell me yer scared of a lad! Pups like these just need breakin' in. I'll show ye!"
He got up and approached Sira. No, I thought angrily. I couldn't let them touch her!
I felt hands behind me. One of them was untying us. I got my hopes up, but they didn't let my hands out. They brought Sira to her feet. One pushed her, causing her to stumble, and the other caught her, groping her bottom obviously. She let out an angry noise through the rag shoved in her mouth.
As the three men closed in on Sira, I thought I heard a strange noise. It rang slightly above the energy building up in my chest, as though the force abated so I could hear the sound. Something about it was horribly familiar. The darkness within me spoke.
"I warned you."
It was only loud enough for the three men to hear me. One of them paused, still clutching Sira's backside. In their momentary lapse, a scream lit the night from outside the tent. Everyone whipped around to face the noise – except me. Something about the entity rising within me made me know it was already coming.
"What the—?" the captain growled. He reared around to me, standing in front of me with an incredulous look. "Joff, go check it out. One of the men probably lit themselves on fire again. If this kid thinks he's gonna scare us, he's never met me. Joff, if ye give me that scared look for a second more, I swear I'll—"
The sound of ripping cloth cut him off. The tent around us burst asunder as a bundle of green cloth split through the tent, tearing through one of the raiders as it dove upon the raider captain. Blood splashed everywhere. The raider captain let out a shrill, horrific scream. A set of ivory claws shot through his chest. They stopped short, blood-soaked, an inch from the rise and fall of my chest.
Whatever it was, the darkness flooding through me already had it all figured out. We remained in the Old Forest, even ransacked as it was to make room for this raider camp. Even in ruin, these grounds belonged to the forest, and the Keeper was bound to protect it. I only prayed it would prioritize the raiders as its enemy.
"Holy shit." Sira's voice was the first noise I heard past the scream. Before my eyes, the raider captain fell through the Keeper's claws, cutting their way through to break free of his skull without the Keeper moving at all. Now it hovered before me. I stared into the darkness under its hood. Even as this was the second time I stood before the beast, I couldn't tell if there was anything underneath.
The other raider in the room finally gave, and let out a horrified scream. The Keeper spun around. Leaving only its shrill, flute-like noise in its wake, it carved back through the tent, dragging the top half of the raider with it. The disembodied legs kicked, seizing up, and fell.
I shortly thought it left altogether, but then I heard screams outside. Blood splashed up in our view through the wrecked tent.
Will was the first to speak. "Get the weapons. Now!"
The ice that gripped everyone broke with the urgency in Will's voice. Sira stepped away from the two mangled corpses. She was the only one unbound, so she made for her sword.
While I waited for her to free us, I stared out into the wreckage outside. I couldn't spot a single live raider, only blood splashed across the ground in thick puddles. I was strangely impressed, but mortified in a deep, rooting way. I could imagine the faces of the three men I'd helped kill out in the woods. Hundreds of men like that, all slaughtered by this beast without a fighting chance.
A warm presence appeared in my hand, trying to drag me away. For a moment, in my stupor, I imagined it was somebody else. The girl with blond hair, shaking me to my senses as I stood over a body in my school classroom. I could almost see her freckled face, her blond hair falling across her shoulders in loose curls, the urgency in her blue eyes.
It faded away abruptly, and I stood before Sira, giving me a puzzled look. It faded quickly, and she let go of me. As she went to free the others, I went for my weapons. I let her free them with Sinistra as I replaced my knife, bow and arrow, and staff on my person. Already, the odd feelings of the darkness and that horrifying memory started to fade into the recesses of my mind.
"That thing's still out there and it's angry as all hell," Sira muttered to us. "Can we even get out?"
Mosten looked her in the eye. "We must. My men are somewhere in this camp. If we don't get out, that thing can't differentiate us from the raiders."
"We need to be ready to fight back," Will agreed. He turned to Lusari and I – the mage-girl was hanging onto his arm, her other hand clutching her staff. "You two, be ready to use all the magic you can muster. Lusari, can you use fire?"
"I might be able to," she agreed. It sounded like she was trying to tell herself more than anything.
"Good," Sira told her. She brushed her hand over the face of Sinistra. "Maybe my old girl can be useful, too. Hopefully it doesn't come to it."
With one last, unanimous look between us, we burst out of the tent. As soon as I got outside, though, I almost turned right back around in disgust.
The entire clearing was painted in gore. Slashes cleaved every tent in sight asunder. Bodies of raiders hung everywhere like listless flags. Some lived, screaming at the top of their lungs and crying in agony. Great gashes split their chests apart. Some held their insides together with their hands, screaming to us for help. Fires raged rampant through the field, and some raiders had caught flame. For the survivors, it was a game to see what took them first: their grievous injuries, or the unsafe flames of their own camp.
I wasn't the only one scarred by the sighting. Will's face turned into a mask. Leif, Alex, and Lusari all looked like they might be sick. Even Sira was shaking her head out of sorrow. We all knew they were enemies only by what life gave them.
Shouts from behind us caused us to turn around. The other soldiers from our group emerged from a nearby tent in a similar fashion, some still strapping on their armor. I wasn't sure, but I thought there might be less of them than when we'd arrived. Mosten turned to greet them. I lingered with Alex and Leif, unsure I liked the look on Mosten's face.
Mosten met them and urged each man forward with a pat on the back, stopping only to revel in the fact that they were still alive. I watched, stunned, even as Alex and Leif tried to urge me along. We stood in the middle of slaughter grounds, true, but I couldn't help but watch. At the last man, Mosten stopped him and asked a question close to his ear. The man's chin sank and he shook his head. Mosten's fists clenched and he glared off into the night behind us, staring into the flames as though the men he lost might return from them. I couldn't believe it. It may have only been two or three men, but the loss clearly touched Mosten deeply. If I was ever to be a soldier and chose my commanding officer, it might be Mosten.
After a short moment, Mosten returned at a full pace. Sira grabbed me by the shoulder. "Don't lose sight of us, idiot," she muttered, and dragged me ahead. Leif and Alex followed me, and I wondered if they felt the same way I did after watching Mosten.
Ahead of Will, the flames caught some sort of fuel and soared up into a tower of flames, blasting all of us with its sheer heat as it seemed to touch the sky. Our footing suffered as we danced around bodies on the ground, dodging the living who grabbed at our ankles. Sira and Will tried to put down each living raider that fought to bring us down, but there was little we could do. Too many suffered in this field. I fell deafened to it all, a wild montage of prolonged screams and the quiet roar of fire. Mosten's soldiers caught up to us and formed a ring around us, with Mosten holding up the rear.
I saw the occasional unharmed raider. Men scattered around in the relentless smoke and fire, their weapons in hand and smeared with blood, their eyes popping with fright. Sometimes our soldiers tried to reach them, but the smoke would billow up, then away to reveal just another body. Once or twice, that cost us another of our men, and Mosten cursed the horrific night.
Among it all, we were certain the Keeper still prowled. We saw it only as the occasional shadow, the haunting whistling in the distance, but we knew it wasn't far.
The raider camp wasn't all too big, but the setting made our trek across it feel like an eternity of walking through hell. We finally reached the edge of the camp looking out into the plains before the city. The fire hadn't reached this far, but black smoke billowed up from the camp like a living monster. The majority of the raiders must have flocked to the camp when the Keeper attacked.
"We're almost free!" Mosten called out. "Once we leave these woods, we will be safe from the monster!"
"Just a little further," Will added encouragingly, waving everyone forward. Leif stumbled behind him, and Mosten offered the soldier a hand up. Behind us, a small band of raiders shot out from cover of some trees. Our soldiers took up the defensive, Alex leading them. Lusari and I assisted with magic and arrow, picking the survivors off until not even one remained. I waited while Mosten rushed to check up on his soldiers, ensuring not one more loss.
Sira was at the head of the group to cross the boundary, free of the ancient grasp of the woods. She stabbed Sinistra into the earth and bent over in exhaustion, hands on her knees while she struggled to catch her breath. Will caught up to her ahead of much of the pack. I caught his glance, and he stopped dead in his tracks. Sira straightened next to him, and I saw her reach for Sinistra again.
"It returns! Hurry!" Alex rushed me along. Soldiers around us drew their weapons. Will, Sira, and the soldiers who'd made it out readied to charge. I found Lusari's arm grabbing mine. Mosten hesitated, torn between flocking his soldiers and challenging the ancient beast that drew closer. I could hear its haunting cry increasing rapidly in volume.
My legs felt heavier than ever as I tried to keep pace with Alex and Lusari rushing me along. Something caught my ankle suddenly – a felled raider, using the last bit of his life force to try to drag me down. I dropped like a stone, knocking the wind from my lungs. Lusari and Alex came down with me, but Alex rolled, drawing his sword with an enraged shout. Lusari pulled out her staff in a fluid motion and thrust it out behind me. Knowing I had precious seconds left, I kicked the hand holding me down and spun around with my own staff.
The Keeper of the Old Forest seemed right at home. Ashes and heat waves fluttered around it like a part of it. The dim flames of the raider camp gave it a terrifying sort of aura as it loomed before me for a third, and final, time. Beneath that frayed hood, for the first time, I thought I could see a pair of golden eyes.
I flung my staff forward in unison with Lusari. I expected flames to hurl from our staves, but something different happened. White light shot out from our weapons, splitting out into several smaller rays of violet. Rather than strike the monster before us, the light shot around to all sides – and returned with the fire from the camp, creating a personal inferno with new vigor.
The flames rose with more aggression and intensity than I'd ever conjured before, and worse than as we tried to leave the camp. They burned so brilliantly that they left angry bright patches in my vision, spinning and whirling in the air, given strength from the flames all over the camp.
The Keeper shrieked in a way that would likely hammer my eardrums for days. It seemed to stretch to every corner of the forest. Somehow, the sound seemed to resonate within me like it caught within my lungs. I felt every animal in those woods turning its head as the sacred Keeper took a serious blow – both animals I expected, and strange monsters that hid in the deepest recesses of the woods. A strange, antlered figure dressed in clothing like leaves. A large bear colored moss green with large, rabbit-like ears. The last one I saw was a tall, lion-like creature who stood on two legs with moss-green fur and a determined gaze, clutching a spear that oddly resembled the Keeper's ivory claws. For a strange, eerie, moment, I saw everything.
Then, as suddenly as it occurred, the flames vanished; flickering away like a fell wind was enough to extinguish them. With them, the Keeper was gone – defeated or otherwise – and I felt a considerable weight lift from my shoulders.
Hands appeared to help me to my feet. Alex yanked his blade from the raider that had dragged me down. Even with the Keeper and all the fire gone, Sira's hands on my arms felt just as intense. She pulled me along until we all stood safely outside the raider camp, and then she spun around.
I seemed to watch her fiery hair in slow motion, her scarlet eyes leaving afterimages in the air – and a tear. Then I was in her arms. I thought to pull away quickly, but she held me tightly against her chest, her palms pressed tightly against the back of my shoulders in an oddly relaxing way, her chin resting against my head. Sinistra lay on the ground, the blade still seeming to reflect the brilliant blaze from moments before.
"That was brilliant," Will whispered from beside me. I could hear the swelling pride in his voice. "Good job, Ryoku. If this is what a Defender can really do..."
"Lusari, you did excellently!" Alex proclaimed, touching her shoulder in a gentle but enthusiastic gesture. "What you did with the fire...!"
Lusari was shaking her head. "That magic wasn't me. I've never done something like that before."
I glanced at her over Sira's shoulder, as she still didn't let me go. "I never have, either. Maybe it was both of us?"
She smiled timidly. "Maybe."
A thought remained in my mind as we stood, ashen and breathless, in the fields outside the Old Forest. If we could pull something like this off, what sort of trials could possibly wait ahead?