The Wanderer - Part 2

Part 2

Vaydros stared at her, and she studied him in return, her eyes glittering from under her hood, her face carefully unemotional. His mind went blank and he fumbled with words, hoping he didn’t sound like a complete fool “I….uh…hello there.” The woman arched an eyebrow at him and her lips tightened, suppressing a smile. Her eyes skimmed up and down his body, sizing him up and taking careful note of his weapons. She motioned for him to move forward, keeping her arrow trained on him while guiding him through the stark trees and the underbrush towards her camp. As they carefully made their way through the woods, Vaydros struggled to remember what he had practiced saying when he thought about meeting her again, but all of those thoughts were gone. Now, the only thing he could think about was how he was going to get her to put down her bow. It would definitely be awkward to get killed by her while trying to thank her for saving my life, he thought wryly. 

As they approached the woman’s small camp, a soft rustle of branches gave way to three very large men. Very large. As Vaydros’ gaze rose up to look at their faces, he decided this might be a good time to be worried. Then the unexpected occurred.  To his complete surprise, she lowered her bow, and then gestured for him to sit at the fire. He stared at her, wondering what was going on, but she nodded and waved at the rock. She made her way around the small blaze and sat down on a stone across the fire from him, keeping her eyes on him with her steady gaze. The three large men were surrounding them, so Vaydros knew that even without her bow, his escape would be unlikely…not that he was thinking about escaping from this situation. He grinned as he realized he was right where he wanted to be…but minus the very large men. He finally sat down, and the woman smirked softly and pulled her hood back, running her hand through her hair subconsciously. Vaydros stared, dumbfounded. She was beautiful. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, nearly the same shade as the fine sand he had seen along the ocean. Her skin was fair and clear, with a wide mouth and lips that were a pale shade of pink. But then he looked in her eyes. Vaydros gasped when he saw her eyes…they were a clear, deep, blue, nearly the shade of sapphires. They were wide set and slightly tilted, but beyond that, Vaydros saw her obvious wisdom and confidence.This was a woman who knew exactly who she was and what she wanted; Vaydros doubted he had ever met someone so sure of herself. He suddenly felt like a boorish lummox sitting across from her, and he hoped she didn’t notice. 

She stared back at him, a bemused smile on her face now. Vaydros tried not blush, wondering how long he had been staring, and he hoped his jaw had not been hanging open. He looked back at the fire and clamped his teeth together just to ensure his jaw remained closed and grimaced, embarrassed. The woman continued to study him silently, her lips still curving up in a slight smile, but caution governed her eyes. After what seemed to be a very long moment, she spoke, her voice steady. “Who are you, and why are you sneaking up on my camp?”

Vaydros swallowed the lump in his throat and quickly tried to think of what to say “well…uh…my lady….I was traveling to Caradyn, and I saw some movement in the trees. I thought it might be….uh…well, those strange beasts.” Vaydros hoped she didn’t notice how much he stumbled over his words. Gads, her gaze could befuddle the mind! 

She gave a quick laugh and her eyebrow arched again. “I find it interesting that you should choose to pursue them again, considering your last encounter with them nearly left you dead!” Vaydros’ eyes widened and he could feel the heat rising in his face. He managed to stammer “you…uh, remember me?” She chuckled and nodded then smiled at him. “Yes, I do. But do not worry; you fought tremendously well against the beasts, especially considering you were alone.” 

She frowned as she waved her hand, referring to the three large men with her, “we have killed several of them, and they are difficult to slay, even for the four of us. For you to fight them and manage to kill one and injure the others on your own speaks very highly of your abilities. Would you like something to eat?” Her abrupt change of subject made him blink  in surprise. Vaydros finally managed a nod and an awkward thank you as she stood and rummaged through her pack to find him some fruit and some dried roasted rabbit. Vaydros ate the food hastily, just now realizing that he hadn’t had much for breakfast and he was famished. She glanced up at the large men, still standing around him, and gave them a nod and a few quick hand signals, and they left the camp and went back about their duties. “I am called Lendri. I am a scout in the King’s Command, and we are on our way back to the Royal Palace. Those large burly men are Rodney, Thomas, and Ivan, and they accompany me as guardians…not that I need them, mind you”. She looked at them as they worked and she grinned, and Rodney and Ivan looked like they were trying not to smile, while Thomas grimaced and glared back at Lendri. 

Vaydros smiled, wiping the juice from the apple off his hand off on his coat before extending it to her. “My name is Vaydros, though I am known more as Wanderer. I am nothing as grand as a King’s Scout….just a man who didn’t want to stay in his little village in the middle of nowhere all his life.” Vaydros looked at Lendri, who was studying him again. Women were impossible to figure out, he had decided years ago, and this one was beginning to look like she could be an even greater challenge to understand. “So, why suddenly decide to drop your bow and treat me like a guest?” Vaydros asked curiously. A smiled played at the edges of her lips and she leaned over to grab a small log and tossed it on the fire. 

“Well, Vaydros, I recognised you right away, but I wasn’t sure I should trust you. However, I also remember how well you fought, and I have no reason to believe you aren’t loyal to the Realm. I made a choice to trust you. Don’t do anything that would make me regret that decision.”

Vaydros nodded and with a lopsided grin, eyeing her bow. “Don’t worry Miss Lendri, I don’t think I would survive being on your bad side.” Lendri’s head tipped back as she laughed. 

Vaydros continued to eat while Lendri asked him questions about himself and where he came from. He noticed that she wasn’t so quick to answer his questions aimed at her, and she seemed to change the subject rather effortlessly, bringing the conversation back to him. Finally, he finished eating, and while he wiped his hands off with a cloth, he looked squarely at Lendri and said “I have answered all your questions, Lendri. Now I have some questions of my own.” He took a deep breath and saw her wince faintly, but he continued. “You say you have fought these beasts before...they are like nothing I have ever seen, but you seem oddly at ease when dealing with them. Do you know what they are? Where they came from?” 

Vaydros watched her, knowing that she knew more than she was letting on. She glanced to one of the other men with her… and he glanced back, giving her a warning look that might have been imperceptible to anyone not paying attention. She glanced back to Vaydros quickly, then stared into the fire, chewing her bottom lip. She was silent for a moment, and then spoke so softly Vaydros had to strain to hear her. “At ease is hardly what I would call it, but I…I heard stories as a little girl….about creatures such as this, but they were just stories. They weren’t real. They are called Ghubleks. According to the stories, they are creatures twisted from both shadow and men in the time of the ancients. They supposedly were banished over a century ago, but I have no idea why they are here now or how they came to be. They were just stories my grandmother told me to…keep me out of trouble.” Lendri fell silent and stared morosely into the fire. Vaydros stared into the fire as well, thinking about his last experience with the creatures, and some of the stories he had heard. The camp remained silent for several minutes, everyone deep in thought. 

Finally, Vaydros lifted his head and glanced at Lendri and her distressed look mirrored his own. These were creatures from a nightmare, except they were real, and they were terrorizing and killing people. How does one fight such evil creatures?

He wanted to encourage her somehow, but nothing he could think of seemed right. Vaydros opened his mouth, about to speak, when flaming arrows flew into the camp, striking trees, the tents, and narrowly missing Lendri and Vaydros. The tents burst into flame and Vaydros heard a strangled shout come from one of the men. It sounded like Ivan. He did not stop to think about him, he was focused on Lendri. Vaydros and Lendri both ducked down and he grabbed her arm, pulling her along behind him as he swiftly leapt behind a large tree. He pushed her to the ground and dropped down beside her with his arm and shoulder on top to protect her. He peered around the tree and saw Ivan lying on the ground, arrows sticking out of his large body, flames licking his clothing and hair. He heard Lendri gasp and knew she had seen Ivan. What on earth was going on?

Vaydros looked around through the thick smoke, trying desperately not to be terrified. He saw Lendri’s other guardians lying low on the other side of the camp, but Vaydros saw no other indications of people. He turned to look in the other direction, and there, right in front of him, was a pair of large feet in black leather boots. Vaydros followed those boots up until he saw the tip of a blade uncomfortably close to his face. He briefly wondered how such a large man with boots like that could walk so silently. 

A low, growly voice came from the man’s scarred face “stand up slowly and keep your hands where I can see them, or you will feel my blade between your eyes.” Vaydros’ heart pounded as he tried to think. Should he comply? Should he try to escape? He slowly began to stand, and felt Lendri rising beside him. He could hear her ragged breathing, and knew she was as terrified as he was. Some hero I make, he thought. He felt around with his hand until he could subtly grab her hand, and he gave it a quick squeeze of encouragement. It will be OK, he silently promised.Even if he was a terrible hero, no harm come to her, not if there was anything he could do to help. 

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and he glanced over to see Rodney and Thomas at another’s blade point, an arrow sticking out of Thomas’s shoulder and a bloody wound running along Rodney’s side. He heard a small gasp from Lendri and he wished he was a great hero. Heros always knew what to do and could get out of any situation, no matter how grim. They won the hearts of the fair maidens, and they rarely got hurt. No, he was definitely not a hero. Vaydros sighed quietly, knowing they were beaten and he brought his attention back to the man in front of him. He was tall and burly, with a bald head, dark eyes, and dark skin. Another large man came up behind Vaydros and wrapped his curved dagger around Vaydros’ throat, preventing him from moving more than a hair’s breadth. Vaydros saw a tattoo on the man’s neck and he groaned inwardly. A pirate? What on earth were pirates doing this far inland? 

The bald pirate stared at Lendri, studying her up and down. She blushed angrily and stiffened under his perusal and Vaydros thought she might actually try to hurt the man, even though he was twice her size. He stared at her, silently imploring her not to do anything rash, but before he could say anything, she brought her fist back, lunged forward and smashed him, square in the nose. The bald pirate let out a grunt and threw his head back and laughed, reaching up to wipe the spot of blood off his cheek. He moved quickly for his size, and before anyone could react, he threw Lendri to the ground and brought his blade down hard, stopping just before running her through. He growled “you are lucky that we need you alive, little girly. I would slit your throat where you lie, or perhaps...” he cocked his head to one side and leered at her “perhaps we could find other uses for a spirited girl like you.” Vaydros felt the bile rise in his throat. He did not like the leer he gave Lendri, and he whispered “Lendri…please, just…don’t be rash.” An angry looked flashed across her face, but she relaxed her body, and the man looked back to Vaydros and laughed, then took the butt end of his sword and brought it down on Lendri’s head, knocking her unconscious. Vaydros was about to jump at the man, but before he could move, he felt a sharp pain in the side of his head, and his world went black.

The Wanderer - Part 1

Prologue

Obsidian eyes thinly rimmed in red stared into the flickering mist hovering above the table. Waving his hand slightly and chanting an incantation under his breath, the picture within the mist changed, showing a manly shape picking his way through a densely wooded path. Figures moved around within the mist, and he strained to listen to their conversation. His face darkened as he saw a feminine figure come into view. Was she the one he was searching for? He had to find the girl. He growled under his breath that this one girl could undo everything he had worked for. He had planned it all so carefully, and now this one girl could unravel everything he had worked for. He had thought her confined in Caradyn, the Royal City, but to his chagrin, discovered she had slipped out of the city into the Wilds. He cursed under his breath and frowned into the Mist he had created with his black magic. Was it her? He looked up from under the rim of his dark hood to the dark, tall, burly man leaning against the doorway and spoke in a grating, raspy voice. “Send your men to release the beasts. It is time. Find the girl and bring her to me.  She must not get in my way. I don’t believe I need to go into details about what will happen should you fail”. The hooded figure rose up menacingly as the burly man narrowed his dark eyes, staring back. Finally, his heavily tattooed arms finally uncrossed from his chest and he stood upright. He gave a slow nod and left the room without a word. The hooded man turned his attention back to the misty image,  watching…waiting…and planning.

Part 1

The day dawned cold and rainy, colder than usual for this time of the year. Hidden by a forest of brown, stark, leafless trees, a young man sat hunched down by his small campfire, His grey eyes staring at the small flames. The rain that dripped onto his head and soaked his curly black hair went largely unnoticed, and though he stared at the fire, his ears were tuned to the soft sounds of the forest, listening for any noises that did not belong there. The woods were silent but for the soft drip, drip, drip, of the rain on the ground. With an ear still tuned to his surroundings, he let his mind wander a little.

He had grown up in a small village up in the Northern part of the kingdom, many miles away. His village was at the base of the mountains which bordered the Narin Kingdom, and unlike the coastal region in the South, it was often covered in snow, particularly in the winter. When he came of age, he left, telling people he was off to seek adventure, but truthfully, it was because there was nothing to hold him there. His parents had both died of illness two years earlier, and the pretty young woman he had always dreamed of marrying was discovered in the hayloft with a roguish traveler, and they were quickly hauled off and married before the day’s end. He was crushed, deciding in that moment that marriage was no longer something he wanted. It was the last straw for him, the final push out of town. He gathered his few belongings and headed South, though without any specific destination in mind.

He spent the next three years traveling through the Kingdom, and he had earned the nickname “Wanderer” from many of the people he saw as he traveled. His name was actually Vaydros, but there were very few who actually called him that anymore. He often found work as a scout and merchant guard, and enjoyed the variety of work…and the money. He earned enough to buy a room at an inn and a few ales occasionally, but easily kept himself supplied with food, boots and other necessities for his exploration.

He had grown to enjoy his nomadic lifestyle, and the solitude that came with it. He had learned much about the world, and discovered more about the nature of people than he had expected. He learned very quickly that the women in any given village would very quickly size him up like a slab of meat and they would debate amongst themselves which of their daughters would marry him. Besides, he was not about to marry; the thought of it left a sour taste in his mouth. Perhaps one day he would change his mind, but he had yet to meet a woman that would ever make him think about taking those vows. He took to dressing like the swindlers and travellers, and to his relief, that was enough to stop the women of the villages from marrying him off before they learned his name. He grinned, thinking of the glares he now received from these same women. Such judgement when they did not even know him. He was by no means a swindler or a gambler, but he had to admit, people were attempting to cheat him less because they assumed he was a dangerous man.

A flock of birds taking flight brought his mind back to the grey, rainy morning. He turned and peered through the dense trees knowing something must have startled them, then quickly grabbed his bow and quiver filled with arrows and began a silent tread through the trees, careful to avoid leaves and bushes that might make noise. He came near to the area where the birds had been perched and peered around a large tree trunk, not wishing to be spotted by whatever had scared them. As he looked around, he saw some odd tracks in the muddy ground. His eyes narrowed and he frowned in confusion. He was unfamiliar with any animal that might have made prints like these. It looked like a giant paw-print, about the same size as a man’s foot, but along the edge of the pad was a round ridge that looked like a hoof with claw marks.He didn’t have time to study it any further.

It might have been his finely tuned senses, or pure instinct, but he managed to duck just a moment before the odd ax hit the tree where his head had just been. He quickly ducked and rolled into a new position and grabbed his bow, and swiftly nocking an arrow, he came up into position. He looked up and saw the largest…something…he had ever seen. Not quite human, but not quite animal, he had never seen anything like it. It was about 7 feet tall, and instead of hair, it had fur covering the top of its horned head, complete with vicious animal eyes and a man’s jaw, and razor-sharp teeth. Its broad furry shoulders led to long, muscled man’s arms, but the hands were talons. A man’s torso led down to furry animal legs, complete with the strange hoofed paws.

The creature ripped his ax from the tree as Vaydros fired his bow, hitting the creature square in the chest. It howled, then dropped into the mud. Vaydros heard rustling and knew there were more of these creatures heading straight for him. Two beasts burst out of the bushes, growling, saliva dripping from their mouths. He nocked two arrows at once and fired, hitting one creature in the shoulder and another creature in the leg. As they descended on him in full force, he grabbed his daggers and managed a slice on another creatures arm before he had to duck to avoid beheading. He nearly panicked, having no idea what these animals were, and not having any idea what their weaknesses or their strengths were. He swung and slashed, evaded and parried as best he could, but it didn’t take him long to realize he was outmatched.

Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! He heard the arrows whistle past him and hit the beasts in their hearts. Killing blows, every one of them. He looked up at these creatures as they paused, stopping their attack on Vaydros. Arrows protruded from their chests their black blood beginning to ooze from the wounds.  They stared blankly at Vaydros and groaned, finally crumpling to the ground, dead. He stared, unable to look away from them, but then finally managed to turn his head to see who had saved him from a rather gruesome death. A woman? he thought to himself in amazement. A woman stood about 3 paces away, her silver bow still raised, an arrow still nocked and ready to fire, should the beasts twitch with any remaining life. She was tall, clad all in brown and hooded so he could not see her clearly, and she stared at him for what felt like years. Finally, she lowered her bow and walked to the beasts, bending to grab her arrows. As she rose, she turned and glanced at Vaydros and spoke softly, "kill shot is the heart". She silently disappeared into the leafless trees.

“Wait!” Vaydros called after her, “uh...thank you…whoever you are…” He stared into the trees where she disappeared for a long moment, wondering if he had imagined her. There was no trace of her to track, the only evidence of her existence was these bizarre creatures, now dead. He turned and cautiously made his way to the beasts. A glint caught his eye, and he heaved one of the beasts onto its side. One of her arrows protruded from the beasts side. It was long and slender with delicate silvery fletching. He pulled it free of the dead creature and studied this thing of beauty. No, she was definitely not his imagination. He tucked her arrow into his bag and stood, pausing to stare at these creatures one last time before heading back to his camp.

In the ensuing months, Vaydros searched the faces of the people he saw, hoping to see her again. In every town he passed through, he asked the innkeepers and merchants if they knew her, and he sorely regretting having no name from her. Nobody recalled seeing a woman of her description and he grew less hopeful as he journeyed, but he continued his search anyways. She even appeared to him in his dreams…calling out to him, then disappearing into a fine mist as he approached. Every night, he stared at that arrow and thought about what he would say if he actually found her, but words failed him. He felt like a fool, practicing what he would say, knowing she would just as likely laugh at him as he stumbled over his words. Vaydros vowed that one day, he would finally repay her and thank her for saving his life.

On the rare occasions he managed to not think about her, he wondered about these creatures that he had seen. As he travelled, he began to hear more and more stories from villagers and farmers about these beasts that were half man, half animal. They were raiding farms and stealing sheep and slaughtering cows. To date, they had not raided a village, but anyone living outside the village boundaries was getting attacked in brutal ways. Something needed to be done….but what? How do you fight something when you don’t know what it is, or where it came from? He thought long and hard about his skirmish with them, trying to visualize every angle, every grunt and screech, and their manner of death. They had been strong. Very strong, actually…and though he had cut them deeply, they had hardly seemed to notice. Vaydros chewed his lip, a feeling of anxiety creeping in. Where had they come from, and what did they want?

A little over 3 months after his encounter with the bizarre creatures and the woman who saved him, Vaydros traveled down a well-worn road, heading towards the Caradyn. He had been to the Royal City once, two years earlier, and he had been amazed at the beauty of the city, particularly the royal palace. Gleaming white towers standing tall, liveried servants bustling about, smiles on their faces. The city itself was friendly, merchants hawking their wares, the cobblestone streets crowded with nobles and peasants alike. He smiled at the memories of the city and looked forward to finding a pleasant common room to share an ale or two, and perhaps some merchants would be willing to hire on a guard or two for a time. His coat was beginning to look rather worn, and he could use some new boots too. A movement in the corner of his eye snapped his head around and he halted, his grey eyes searching amongst the trees. In the distance he saw more movement, and he drew his bow and nocked an arrow, then silently slipped into the trees in quiet chase. As he watched the furtive movement, he decided it was a person, not one of those gruesome creatures. After several minutes of chase, Vaydros paused to look and listen. The woods were silent and nothing moved. Vaydros stared ahead, and then he heard it. There was no mistaking the distinctive creak of a bowstring being pulled taut, and he knew even before he turned around that he was in trouble. He lowered his bow and slowly turned around…and then his jaw dropped. It was her.