The wakeup was just as quiet and sudden as a well-timed arrow strike. Hunters, some more clothed than others, rolled out of their beds and picked up their weaponry. Dogs and wolves were awakened and called to join their humans. They formed into groups of five, and I noticed one wolfmaster per unit. Three hunters with dogs joined them, a space left open for a single recruit, who in all cases I saw, had no animal and sometimes no bow. Kamon pulled me into her group, with the hunter from yesterday acting as its leader. The large door, directly opposite to the one I came in, opened.
I noticed the lodge extended right out of the castle's wall. "Is this not the weakest point?" I asked Kamon. "The wooden lodge greatly contrasts with the hewn stone of the walls."
"You really think invaders are going to go through a lodge of people who live to fight, fight to live, and have no qualms with putting an arrow through your eye?" Her logic and the need to be silent caused me not to speak.
"Fair point," I whispered to her, as my unit trekked through the trees. Maybe an hour later, my unit's leader stopped. All of us, on command, froze. Shouting, unlike anything we would do, could be heard from the path ahead.
"Bandits," the leader whispered. The group stayed low, bows drawn as a single unit.
From behind a tree, someone approached. His armor was leather, much like ours, but studded in metal and stitched together. An axe was in one hand, clearly meant for flesh as opposed to wood, the other hand bearing an obviously stolen shield. Upon seeing this, the leader's wolf made a muffled growl.
"Spread arrows," the leader whispered to his team. Kamon and two others aimed for the head, gut, and legs, the leader's arrow flying just behind them for the chest. Heart pierced, the bandit fell. Immediately, another shout resounded, in some language none of us understood. Two more bandits stepped out, both shields raised at arm level.
"Sweep arrows." The hunters changed targets, arrows refocused on the legs of the bandits. Only one remained standing, and was felled by a head shot from Kamon.
"Nice shot," I tried to compliment her, though my heart was going all too fast.
Multiple arrows lodged themselves into a nearby tree and the grass around it.
"They have archers! Find cover!" My group scattered. I ducked behind a bush as the area nearby was slowly shot with arrows. Another bandit, battle axe in hand, walked around my cover.
"Come out, little--" In fear, I thrust my rapier. It left a pinprick, drawing small amounts of blood, as the bandit mocked. "What do you think YOU're doing?" He raised his axe over his head, a move I had seen countless times as a finisher. I moved my rapier sharply across my body, right in front of my head, and with a snap, the tip flew off. The battle axe flew to the left of me, leaving me with my broken weapon. But broken hardly meant useless. With a grip like a dagger, I made another curved thrust. The bandit's exposed arm took the hit as I stepped in closer, much too close for any successful axe swing. I began low, but pointed my stab up. Impacting the armor must not have damaged the bandit, but the grip bashing against his stomach winded him. Unarmed strikes were normally forbidden in my fights, though some judges let them be interspersed for show.
And that is exactly what I did in my moment of adrenaline, with an arm-level palm strike to the chest. Inexplicably, my hand felt cold. The bandit's eyes went wide before closing, as I held my final position. My heart slowed, and I drew my hand back to see a hole in the bandit's chest... right where I had struck.
I regained my position behind the bush, letting myself rest. Even with the sword training, I had little stamina left, already drained by the fight against the bandit. An hour or so of resting later, and none of the hunters returned. I knew the Kingdom well enough to get to anywhere from anywhere, but hadn't set foot far outside. The most I could do was keep walking, and hope I didn't find any more bandits. I could see by where the sun was, that I was going northwest, remembering one day in physics where Kamon was teaching me about hunting, and telling direction with this same technique.
"Would a sign not be sufficient?" I remember asking. Kamon gave a look of both receiving a joke and hearing a disappointment. "It's not like there will be signs everywhere you go."
With this knowledge, I continued on up until the point where a small wild cat, dark grey in colour, presented itself. Its fur was splotched with faint orange; however, this looked natural as opposed to having something on its fur. The cat saw me, and ran up and away into a nearby tree.
"Please, human, don't hurt me!" I stopped in my tracks, hand reaching to my sword.
"Did you just speak to me, feline?" I asked, right between a question and an accusation.
"You can talk too?" it asked from its tree branch.
"Yes." I tried to hide my surprise at its question. "Can you tell me where I am? My hunting group has misplaced me in a fight with bandits."
"Yes, you're near Tirwood. It's not too far along that way!" The cat turned, pointing its head.
"Thank you, feline." I nodded my head, the cat meowing as I left.
I expected there to be life in the direction I walked. I did not, however, expect wooden walls bound together in vines. They held a door of the same materials and looked much sturdier than I had ever imagined a forest village to make. I knocked, expecting a silent response, when something poked its head over the wall. "Who are you?"
"Vienna of Redhelm, a Kingdom not far from here."
"Redhelm?" the voice called down. I could hear others speaking, but not what they were saying. "Redhelm's okay. Come on in." The gates opened, revealing low wooden houses. They all looked like smaller versions of a Hunter's Lodge in my Kingdom, with the big ones being more important buildings. I walked in, looking around, when I saw a house in the back corner of the town. It was round, raised, with some plank stairs leading up to its door.
The wind blew it ajar. I pushed it the rest of the way in, seeing tables lined with glass bottles of nearly everything, surrounding a cauldron in the center. A blue liquid flowed through transparent pipes on the walls, down a hole, alongside a ladder and into the basement.
The lower floor was massive, compared to the upper. A bonfire raged in the center, heating the cauldron from below. The tube bearing blue liquid flowed along the wall into other things: an obsidian box with crystals set on its top, a smooth stone table with a purple six-pointed star, and a veiny treasure chest, slowly opening and closing.
I climbed back out, unsure of what I had experienced, when a green-cloaked creature entered. It was only human in shape, having animal features all over its body, but it moved like one, walking on two legs. Their hands, barely visible, looked human enough, but one look at their face told me otherwise. "And what are you doing here, human?" she growled.
I slowed my movement. "I merely saw an open door, which inspired opportunity."
She turned, her hood adjusted by the move, and I could see one of her yellow eyes. "That way you speak... you're a noble, aren't you?" I could feel contempt in her voice, though I tried to keep mine level .
"That is exactly what I am."
Her sharp-fingered hands tapped a table. "Noble or not, I need help from one who is not afraid to exit the walls. Take this bell and go to the nearby cave. Another crystal formation should have grown by now." Her vision trailed down to my side, seeing my broken rapier. "And swap that sword for a spear if you think you can't survive." She thrust the shortest one she could into my hands, hilt-first.
I held my spear in hand, walking out of her hut. The sun was most of the way across the sky, and I knew I could make the distance before sunset. My walk to the cave was uneventful, just five minutes of putting one foot in front of the other. My new spear felt a lot like the rapier I used to use, though its guard was gone.
I saw a dim glow past some plants, carried forward like a moth. A cave, just as predicted, opened up; inside, housing scattered glowing lights. They looked like rocks stabbed halfway into the wall. I approached one, holding the bell up to a clump. It gave a soft ring. I rang it again, louder and more sure of myself, and one of the clustered glowing rocks fell down. Another soon did, joined by yet another, until there was only one left. The largest one, no matter how hard I tried, wouldn't fall. "I don't think I even have the strength to fracture that one off." I went from cluster to cluster, ringing the bell, with my hand held below. Slowly, I made my way to the back of the cave, until my pack was full of glowing rocks.
A giant bat flew from that part of the cave. It shrieked, my ears ringing in with sound, before flying in to bite. I stabbed wildly, a tactic commonly done with rapiers, forcing the bat to pull up and loop back around. This time, I was much more prepared, meeting its charge with a downward slam. The bat tried to right itself, met with a kick that sent it sliding across the ground. That minute, I heard another shriek. A second bat had joined the first, but at this point I was in a full-on dueling stance. In my mind, this was not a fight for my life. This was a show of power.
My excitement grew as I lunged at the bat in question. It was impaled, yellow-green blood dripping to the floor, just as the other was met with a well-timed horizontal slash.
A much larger, rounder creature, bearing a pair of giant wings and fangs to match, lumbered up. Realizing my enemy, I mimicked the voice of a judge. I could feel my off hand getting cold, despite the rest of me warming up. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Vienna of Tareris facing off against the bat king! Are you ready for this?" I pointed my hand in a sign of challenge, when my eyes stopped being reliable sources of information.
A bolt of blue-white ice flew towards the bat, striking it in the upper chest and causing it to drop. With crystals in my backpack and blood on my spear, I calmly walked back to the village in sunset...through the giant wooden doors, across the expanse inside the walls, and back to the hut. The door was open, the green-cloaked humanoid still there.
"What is it, noble?" She looked up from the cauldron, refusing to refer to me by name.
"I've obtained your glowing crystals." I took my pack in hand, holding it open for her to see. She rummaged through, drawing out and examining a few.
"I'll allow it. Though how did you find this many?"
I drew my spear, careful not to hit anything. "I had an... Encounter with some bats. I'm all right, though." I don't know what got to her first, the blood on my spear, or the calmness in my tone.
However, hers grew more respectful. "I'd have thought those bats would be the death of newcomers. You've proven your ability, human."
From when I first heard her voice, I knew she was something other than a human. "You speak to me as if I was the only human around. Are there no others?"
Her response was as cold and straightforward as the ice I wielded. "None that I respect." With that mental comparison, I realized exactly what I did, both to the bandits and the giant bat. "How much do you know about magic?" She stopped, legs already on the ladder. "Magic. How long have you been learning for?"
"I've had no training," I responded. "I just launched ice a few times..."
"Come down here." Her voice grew quieter and more rushed. "I've wanted to find another who can cast spells without study. Come back here tomorrow, and I can point you to someone who knows more than I do."
I was stunned. Just by admitting the use of magic, I was greatly warmed up to. "And your name? I don't want to think of you as a mere animal being."
"Selaria."
I ascended the ladder, walking into another large house. "If this is anything like my hometown..." I thought as I walked around it. Someone must have seen me in the dimming light.
"Human?" a voice called from inside. "There's a spare room in our basement. Don't want any newcomers being torn up for the night!" Someone from the inside opened a door. I entered, taking some stairs without a word. The basement was mostly made of dirt. I saw a room carved out for a bed, the wooden ceiling matching up with the floor of the area above. I stuck my spear in the ground, left my clothing on it to avoid the dirt, and lay down.