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Post by §hadow Knight on Aug 23, 2005 4:52:33 GMT -5
The Wanderings
Chapter 1
Wyes walked along the path. A storm was brewing above him. The rain was beginning to come down so Wyes pulled his hood down; lightning streaked across the dark surroundings, it struck the nearby tree creating a flash that silhouetted him against the illuminated night sky. He searched the surroundings, and noticed light seeping through the dense dank forest ahead. He started towards the light. Wyes began to run, the wind was picking up, and things were being blown dangerously close to him. Lightning was viciously striking the trees all around him. He was sprinting for his life. A tree fell blocking the path directly in front of him. He tried to back up. He tripped. Everything went black-
Wyes saw his parents ‘how can this be’ he thought to himself. He reached out to touch his mother, she just smiled and faded into nothingness .He turned to his father, he also faded, and everything went black. He saw a house, his house, the door was left open which was unusual for his family to leave the door open like that. Everything became hazy then came into focus, he was inside he heard screaming his mother came into view, a man was chasing after her. He ran to help her but he couldn’t move there seemed to be an invisible barrier that had formed between him and his mother. The man stabbed her in the back Wyes screamed out in protest but nothing came out. His father ran in with an axe in his hand and tried to cut the man with it. However, the man was to fast for his father. The man came up from under him and shoved his dagger up into his father’s lung, his father staggered and managed to slice the man down one side of his face. Then his father collapsed next to his wife. The image changed. Wyes saw himself holding a dagger walking along a long winding road that led to rugged snow capped mountains. Wyes knew what he was looking at, he was seeing himself a week after his parents murder. He became a social outcast no one even knew he existed. He trekked up to the mountains were he disappeared of the face of the planet for five years. Then he reappeared when he was sixteen skilled in Archery and Swordsmanship, this was a year ago.
Wyes woke from the dream but kept his eyes shut, he heard the wind howling. He opened his eyes just enough so he could see were he was. He seemed to be in a small cottage of sorts Wyes wondered how he got there, then he noticed movement in one of the corners of the room. He opened his eyes fully and got up from were he lay. He reached for his sword at his belt. It was not there. So naturally his bow would not be on his back either. He looked around him then the movement in the corner slowly formed into a person, an elderly woman.
“I found you out in the forest you had been knocked unconscious” she said
“Hi my name’s Brenda”
“Hi, I’m Wyes” Wyes put his hand out cautiously
“welcome to Sorrowind you came in the best season” She said sarcastically. (Sorrowind was named because of the hurricanes that occur annually). Wyes suddenly realized he was chilled to the bone “Do you have something warm I can drink?” she handed him a cup of tea she had just made
“Thank you” Wyes recognized the name of the town and were it was but was not sure how. The next morning Wyes left for Sorrowind.
Chapter 2
On his way Wyes could not help but wonder why the Lady even bothered to get him out of the weather. Most people would be hurrying to get to shelter, but for a person to be that genuine to get a teenaged boy out of the weather as well.
Wyes arrived at Sorrowind at midday, the town was a mess mud was everywhere, and roofs of buildings had been ripped off during the storm. Because humans had only just colonized, so they hadn’t adapted to the storms yet. The only hotels that inhabitable were Elvin; most of the human dwellings were so luxurious that it was nauseating so ,Wyes, who’s mother had been an Elf, booked into an Elvin hotel. Wyes surveyed the town helping whomever he could.
The town was a wreck, people scavenging through destroyed houses searching for belongings. Wyes moved on house to house asking if people needed help, at one house he heard sobbing coming from the wreckage he noticed the house had sustained a lot of damage. The sobbing was coming from a room that had half collapsed, he started towards the noise and saw that there was, what appeared to be, a human girl inside, there was no way to get the girl out of the room without putting her life at risk. He had to get in through the roof, but if he did that they both could be stuck in there, and then there would be no point in him going in anyway but there was no other way. Wyes looked for somewhere to climb up the wall. There was a pole on the wall so he climbed up and anchored his rope on the pole and threw his rope down through the missing ceiling and slid down.
The girl possibly Wyes’s age was sitting in the corner,
“Hey” he called out to the girl, the girl looked up from the corner she had blood on her fore head. Other than that, Wyes thought she looked very pretty. She had long straight dark brown hair, brown eyes she was tall and thin
“Yes?” she said.
“Are you alright?” he said
“I’m alright” she said
“What is your name?” said Wyes
“It’s Kathleen,” the girl said. Wyes told the girl to climb up the rope. Kathleen hesitated at first and then decided it was best to listen to the boy, as the girl got up onto the roof the house started to creak the girl got off the roof just as the room collapsed on Wyes…
Wyes was knocked out for the second time that day; the next thing he remembered is the girl jumping off the roof. Wyes lay amongst the wreckage of the house until he regained consciousness. Wyes woke up underneath a bed of ruble, he felt tremendous amount of pain in his ribs Wyes was trying to think what did this to him but he couldn’t recall what happened, it all came back to him in a few minutes when he looked around were he laid. He was wondering why he hadn’t been crushed alive.
There should be at least half a ton of rock and wood on top of him, he was thinking then he realized when the house collapsed he must have slipped under the girls’ bed. Wyes tried to shift some of the ruble but all he managed to do was clear a small hole so that he could see outside, he was shifting so he could see out the hole when he felt something stabbing into his back. He grabbed the thing that was stabbing him in the back and pulled it in front of him. It was the remains of his long Bow.
Things could not have got much worse for Wyes he was buried under the wreckage of a house, his bow had snapped and a few ribs had possibly been broken. Wyes laid there for what seemed like hours, all of the sudden he came up with an idea. He tore of a part of the sheet of the bed he was under, tied it to his bow, put it through the hole, and waved it around for a while until he heard someone call out to him.
Kathleen turned around to see the house cave in on the boy who helped her get out of the house she went into a state of shock and collapsed onto the ground and stared at the wreckage of the house “First the hurricane now this” she thought what next. It had been a bad day for her, the stress finally caught up with her and she fell asleep right there. When she woke up, she saw a white sheet waving around in the ruble
“Hello?” she called out.
Wyes called out to the person
“Help! I’m stuck in here”
“I’ll get someone” said the person the voice sounded familiar to him, the girl! He remembered she had gotten out just in time. After a few minutes the ruble was being lifted off Wyes. The girl helped him up out of the wreckage
“Thanks” he said hoarsely
“No, Thank you” She said relieved to see that he was okay. Kathleen escorted him to the local hospital.
The hospital was full of people that had been hurt in the storm. The doctors were trying as hard as they could to get around to help but there was just to many people. Wyes volunteered to help but the doctors refused to let a ‘civilian’ help them so Wyes went to a private hospital to recuperate for a week or two then he went to his room at the Elvin hotel.
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Post by §hadow Knight on Aug 23, 2005 4:52:57 GMT -5
Chapter 3
The next few weeks Wyes entered a few adolescent tournaments to practice his skills. He had won them all. The last one was proving to be more difficult than he thought it would be, he just hoped the prize money was worth the struggle, as he had almost been beaten on two occasions. Wyes was up to the last fight before he won. The battle raged on for an eternity. They were both striking blow after blow against each other’s weapons. Wyes ducked, and brought his fighting pole up. The blow failed to make contact, but it served its purpose. His opponent was taken completely by surprise and stumbled Wyes took the opportunity and lightly touched the boy on the neck with his fighting pole. The judges acknowledged the move as a killing blow and declared Wyes the winner of the competition. Wyes collected the winner’s purse of 500 gold ingots. The other two tournaments were only 100 gold ingots for winning.
Wyes used the money to purchase a new long bow.
The bow cost Wyes 450 gold ingots, which did not leave him with much money from all his previous earnings he only had 300 gold ingots left. Wyes went to a local merchant and bought some supplies “That will have to last a few weeks” Wyes said to himself. He paid for the hotel. Just as Wyes was about to leave town Kathleen came up to him and thanked him again for saving her life. Wyes and Kathleen got into a conversation
“So I’m headed for Cape Kelson were are you headed,” Kathleen said
“ Well actually, I’m headed for Cape Kelson too” Said Wyes
“ Oh!” Kathleen exclaimed
“ Are you going via Mowlen” Wyes said
“ No I’m going via Guoge” Kathleen said with a small hint of disappointment in her voice.
Wyes and Kathleen went there separate ways. A few days later Wyes arrived at Mowlen were he entered more tournaments earning another 300 gold ingots and bought more supplies and a map of the continent. Wyes stayed there for a day and then left again. On his way to Cape Kelson Wyes had to travel through a considerably dangerous region. People had been known to disappear of the face off the planet in this region, the whole place was dense jungle full of dangerous animals like panthers, jungle trolls there was also rumors of an undead lair hidden somewhere.
Wyes was on the ready his hand at the hilt of his sword, prepared for the worst. For most of the trip, nothing happened, but at one point he was running from a full-grown jungle troll, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight if that troll caught up to him. It would tear him limb from limb, someone would find his remains eventually, and they would be warned. Wyes was running for his life soon the sun would rise and the troll would not continue the hunt but meanwhile, he would just have to run until then. Wyes stumbled which could have proven fatal if a friend of his hadn’t showed up when he did. Wyes caught the movement in the corner of his eye as his friend lifted him of the ground
“Hiya Wyes" said Wyes’s friend
“Hi Norman” Wyes said. They started running. Norman pulled out a custom made high-powered crossbow with an auto-reloading five shot magazine “Impressive” exclaimed Wyes. Norman had owed Wyes a favor because Wyes saved his hide a few months back when he was surrounded by a group of thugs, and Wyes had jumped in to help fight them off. The troll was closing in on them, Norman readied his crossbow, took aim at the trolls’ torso, and fired two bolts. The troll slowed down but didn’t stop, but it would get them precious minutes
“Norman shoot it in the head!” Wyes shouted, Norman was very happy to comply
“Yes sir” Norman said. Norman was ex-military so his aim was almost perfect, almost. Norman fired off the last three shots in the clip. Two hit their target, one in-between the eyes one in the throat and the one that missed skimmed the troll’s temple. The troll died before it hit the ground
“Good shot Norman” Wyes said as he slowed his pace to a fast walk
“Well now were even Wyes” Norman said.
“So what are you doing here anyway?” Wyes said curiously
“I’m being paid to find something” Norman said not adding any more details.
Wyes finally arrived at Cape Kelson with Norman
“well I’ll see you later Wyes I’ve got business to take care of” Norman said as he walked away from Wyes.
Chapter 4
Wyes had his own concerns he had to find someway to get money. The only way he would be able to get money is to compete in the archery competition that would only get him 250 gold ingots but it would have to do. He signed up for the competition. His first competitor was a young boy who thought he was invincible Wyes thought he’d give the boy a rude wake up call.
The tournament consisted of five rounds of two shots each until the winners went against each other, the boy fired his first shot that hit three rings out from the bulls eye, the kid chuckled. Wyes fired his first shot that hit one ring out from the bulls’ eye. The kid lost his confidence after that, he fired his second shot, which hit two rings out from the bulls eye. Wyes laughed “Ha” and fired his second shot that hit the bulls’ eye. The rest of the competition was easy the only challenge was the last round.
The archer he was up against was a small but proud archer from Cinter a city renowned for its warriors. Wyes fired his first shot which hit one ring out from the center, the archer fired his shot which also hit one ring from the bulls eye, Wyes fired his next shot carefully he managed to hit the bulls eye right in the center. The archer fired his second arrow that hit the bulls’ eye a few millimeters away from Wyes’s. The judges argued for a while until finally they made up their minds.
“ We have decided that the competitor named Wyes has won the competition” One of the judges declared to the crowd. The crowd cheered it was deafening to hear them cheer for the boy, the archer got extremely angry it was the first time he had lost, ever. He pulled out a dagger and tried to stab Wyes
“I’ll kill you!” the man shouted. Wyes grabbed the archers’ hand a few inches before the dagger would have hit him in the face. Wyes took the dagger and threw it away. He tackled the man and they got into wrestling match the man managed to stab Wyes in the leg with an arrowhead, Wyes cried out in pain and he kept on punching the man in the head until he was knocked out cold.
Wyes pulled the arrowhead out of his leg, got a bandage out of his backpack, and wound it around his leg. He collected his 250 gold ingots. Wyes limped all the way to a hotel and booked a room. Wyes went up into his room, after a few minutes someone knocked at the door. Wyes opened the door and a healer stood in the doorway
“Do you need assistance with your leg” the healer said
“Yes please” Wyes said as he led the man inside. The healer had a tray of herbs next to him he instructed Wyes to sit down on the chair.
The healer got a bottle full of a greenish liquid and took the bandage off Wyes’s leg, he poured a little bit of the green liquid on the wound. The pain was incredible, his eyes started to water.
The healing process was extremely painful, the healer told him that he should rest the leg for a week. The next morning, Wyes was going crazy from boredom. He felt useless he couldn’t even move his leg the pain was to great. A few days later Wyes couldn’t take it any more he got out of bed and put his clothes on and left the hotel
Wyes was out at a tavern, thinking of ways to earn money when he saw a familiar face.
“Hello Kathleen” Wyes said
“Oh hi Wyes” Kathleen said,
“ Well did you have any troubles getting here?” Wyes said
“No not really, what about you” she said
“ A little bit, a troll” Wyes said casually
“Oh just a little bit” Kathleen said sarcastically “is that what did that to your leg” she said
“ Ah, no that was a midget from Cinter” he said awkwardly
“ Right, well I gotta go” said Kathleen
“Seeya later” Wyes shouted as she walked away just then he noticed she was wearing armor and had a long sword in its sheath that was strapped to her leg.
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Post by §hadow Knight on Aug 23, 2005 4:53:29 GMT -5
Chapter 5
It was not long before Wyes found a way to make money actually, he was surprised he didn’t think of it before. All he had to do was find a suitable arena and hold his own tournament but it would have to be private or he would be fined up to 1000 gold ingots.
Wyes had trouble setting up the tournament but eventually he got it all worked out, Wyes handpicked all the winners from previous tournaments so that it would be an interesting competition. All the competitors gathered out the front of the arena the audience was paying at the entrance the winners purse he calculated would be 300 gold ingots. That left him with 700 gold ingots of profit the tournament went well until the last match. The battle was fierce, after half an hour Wyes declared the match a tie and to decide the winner they would bring in one more person for the match, his friend Norman. A little while ago, Wyes noticed him in the crowd. Norman was overjoyed when he heard his name being called in for the match, he jumped over the barrier and grabbed a fighting pole and prepared for the battle. Norman and Wyes both knew that he would win with ease. The match started, in five seconds Norman had already taken out one competitor, the other person just surrendered after seeing fast Norman took out his opponent. The crowd cheered for Norman, Wyes threw Norman the 300 gold ingots plus an extra 50.
Wyes was left with 650 gold ingots in profit that he added to the money he already had totaled 1250 gold ingots. After Wyes sorted out everything at the tournament he went to an armory were he looked for a few things that would come in handy in a real fight. Something caught Wyes’s eye it was a suit of half plate armor. It had breastplate arm and leg armor plating made of steel it cost him 500 gold ingots. So now he needed money again but he knew a place were he would be able to get money.
Wyes left town again and headed for Guoge. The town where you could get any job for good pay especially mercenary jobs but Wyes was not to know that. Wyes went through the jungle again just to check out the troll or where the troll should have been all Wyes could find was five crossbow-bolts covered in blood. Wyes looked around there weren’t any troll tracks but it looked like someone had got a bunch of horses and dragged it away, but what would be the point of that trolls dead or alive weren’t worth anything they weren’t even any good to eat. Wyes kept on walking until he got to Guoge.
Kathleen had gone to Guoge for a similar reason as Wyes. Kathleen was a mercenary she had only been on three or four jobs but she was adequately experienced she worked for a certain organization. The only reason she was trapped in that house is because she had to take care of some business there, she went to Cape Kelson via Guoge to report her success. They gave Kathleen her next job but she needed a partner so they were going to contact her when they found someone suitable.
Chapter 6
Wyes arrived at Guoge and had a look around the town to see if there were any jobs he was qualified for, he noticed a building near the edge of town that was small and out of the way not drawing to much attention. Wyes walked to the door and noticed a small sign near the door, the sign said: Want a job? Check out our variety. Wyes was wondering why someone would have that as an advertisement when he walked in. He realized why when he walked in and looked around there were different doors all around him labeled with different jobs like Carpenter, chef, merchant, etc. Wyes walked up to the front desk
“Hello how may I help you?” the clerk said,
“ I’m looking for a job,” Wyes said cautiously
“ Well why else would you be here?” the clerk said, clearly annoyed.
“ What job are you looking for” the clerk sighed
“ A job that pays well” Wyes said awkwardly
“ Here fill in these forms,” the clerk said while he pulled out a three-page form and gave it Wyes. He sat down and looked through the forms, the forms were multiple answer questions asking about personal references. Wyes filled out the forms and handed them back to the clerk.
“Okay, follow me please” the clerk said as he examined the forms closely. The clerk walked towards a door that did not have a label on it, the clerk pushed him through a door. Wyes fell. The ground seemed to grow as he fell. He twisted his body. He hit the ground hard on his feet.
Wyes examined his situation, he was in what looked like a large pit with spikes etched into the walls and a steel gate. Wyes heard a low grumbling sound coming from behind the gate. The sound was very familiar.
Wyes ran towards the walls and scrutinized the spikes, they were strong enough to be impaled on but not strong enough to climb. He had no other choice, he grabbed his long bow and an arrow. Wyes aimed the bow at the gate. The gate slid upward with a loud grinding noise. A troll stumbled into the room. The troll had five blackish scars on it; one on the throat, another on the bridge of the nose, on the temple and two in the chest, Wyes groaned “Not again”.
The arrow shot forward, penetrated the trolls’ thick skin, ripped through the flesh, and hit the troll in the heart. The troll roared and charged at Wyes in a blind rage. Wyes drew his sword and edged towards the wall, the troll followed him to the wall. He didn’t have much time for a plan. An idea hit him.
Wyes waited for the troll to move, the troll examined Wyes carefully and then the creatures’ instincts kicked in. The troll threw itself at Wyes, the troll expected to crush the human in-between him and the wall. Wyes dived out of the way at the last minute. The troll had been impaled on the spikes.
Wyes turned around watched the troll squirm, then something very unusual happened. The troll roared an eardrum-bursting roar and ripped itself off of the wall. Wyes watched the troll pull the spikes out, he was shocked no living thing should be able to survive being stabbed at least 10 times each time around 12 inches deep and still be alive there must have been black magic involved.
The beast did not hesitate, it grabbed Wyes and flung him against the wall, the wall with the spikes. Wyes dropped his sword. Wyes felt his ribs cracking as he hit the wall, all of the air was knocked out of him. The pain was incredible as Wyes gasped for air. The blow would have been fatal if Wyes hadn’t been wearing his armor. The troll was very annoyed this human should have been dead a long time ago, but it had some how survived every blow he had thrown at it.
The man watched almost amused, this one was perfect for the job. The boy was very resourceful using the environment and the animals hunger to his advantage. The troll flung the boy against the wall. “Its all over” the man thought to himself, “the boy had to be dead after a blow like that, what a waste”.
Wyes picked up his sword off the ground started to charge at the beast. Any person would have thought Wyes was crazy, not many people had ever had a direct encounter with a troll and lived to tell the tale. Never-the-less Wyes ran at the half dead troll at started slashing at it as fast and as hard as he could. It was a fight for survival. The troll started to fight back waving its razor edged claws Wyes had the bad fortune to have one make contact with his face leaving a dead straight cut down his left cheek.
The man now was not amused but he now was amazed, the boy had managed to survive the blow and started to run towards the troll. The child was crazy he would never survive, he was already bleeding from a few spots on his stomach and on his face.
The troll did not know what to think, no creature had ever started to attack it before. A shrill screeching noise emanated from behind the troll.
Wyes stopped attacking when he noticed the troll had started to back away, Wyes had not heard the whistle nor had he heard the hidden door open behind him. All he knew was that he was sick of trolls. Wyes turned around to find a way out of the room when he found himself facing four men, three just happened to have crossbows aimed at him.
“Well this day can’t get any worse” Wyes said hoarsely when he turned around
“No I suppose it can’t,” said the man, the one who was unarmed “but it can get better, I have a job for you”
“What! All of this just for a job” Wyes said still gasping for air, “ What type of job is it?,” he sighed heavily
“You will find out soon enough,” the man said as he injected Wyes with a tranquillizer.
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Post by §hadow Knight on Aug 23, 2005 4:54:04 GMT -5
Chapter 7
Kathleen was preparing for her job, she had just been informed that they had found her a partner. She had no idea that the partner would be Wyes, all she knew was that her partner was being shipped over from Guoge. It seemed odd for them to ‘ship’ her partner, but she had other things to do rather than worry about that.
Wyes woke up but kept his eyes closed. From the swaying and the sudden bumps, Wyes could tell he was moving. He opened his eyes. He was in a cage. Wyes sat up and watched the two men and their horses.
“Hey” Wyes said to one of the men. The man ignored him and focused on keeping on the path that they were following, which was through an all-familiar jungle. Wyes examined the man that he assumed was in charge because was yelling orders to the people around him. Then it dawned on Wyes. They were all slaves. Wyes searched for any means of escape. He found none.
They got to their destination. It was Cape Kelson. Wyes was not very surprised. Cape Kelson was the slave capital in the country. It was easy to ship slaves in and out. Due to how much crime there was, the salary of the law enforcers there was very low so it was easy to bribe them.
Kathleen had received more information, about contacting her partner. The letter said
‘Dear Customer
Your order of lumber shall be arriving in two days at the ‘Red Dog Inn’ to receive your order simply ask the owner for your lumber and he shall be happy to comply. We hope you will be happy with the quality of the lumber.
Of course, the letter had nothing to do with lumber. What she really had to do was go to the Inn, talk to the owner, and refer to the lumber so that he would take her out the back to the slave markets. She had also received the equipment for her partner, it seemed very familiar to Kathleen.
In the time that he had Wyes checked what equipment he had left. As far as he could tell they had left him with nothing but the clothes he had on his back, that he had been wearing under his armor.
The incident with the troll had worn Wyes down plus the sedative that the man had injected him with was having serious repercussions.
When Wyes awoke, again, he found himself in a room with the other slaves, he was to one of the walls. The room had two doors one in front of him and one behind him. Nothing happened for a while, until the door opened and Kathleen walked in.
“Wyes!” She exclaimed
“Kathleen!” He exclaimed at the same time
“What are you doing here Wyes” She said as she realized it was Wyes’s equipment they had sent her
“What does it look like I’m doing” He said annoyed
“Just stay there I’ll sort this out” She said as she walked over to one of the men who was on the horse on the way here
“Oh yeah like I’m going any where” He said even more annoyed
Kathleen was surprised, in fact she was shocked that the agency had sent Wyes as a slave why didn’t they just send him his own way. Kathleen had no idea what had happened at Guoge. She also had no idea that the agency had bigger plans for Wyes, this job was just another test of his abilities.
After a few minutes Kathleen had organized the release of Wyes. Neither of them talked until they got outside
“What were you doing there Kathleen, tell me” Wyes said still annoyed at her
“I suppose I should” she sighed
“yes you should” Wyes said angrily
“Fine I’m a mercenary and I was supposed to be getting my partner from the slave markets, which I guess is you, they sent me your stuff in advance, I thought you would have known all of this” She said also annoyed
“No I didn’t, I was attacked by their troll, and then they tranquilized me took all of my stuff and put me in a cage, so please tell me I’m getting paid for this” he said
“Oh, well, you are going to be paid” she said surprised once again “look just come with me we can go to the lodge I’m staying at, you can get your stuff and then you can leave” she said
“ No I’m going on this job I didn’t go through all of that just to leave,” he said
Wyes and Kathleen started walking to the lodge. When they got there Kathleen opened her door and sat down at a near by bench
“Well here is what we’re doing its pretty straight forward, what we have to do is find this man who owns a small fruit shop, the fruit shop is just a front, the real deal is that the man records bets on things like the archery and sword fighting tournaments, normally this wouldn’t be a problem but apparently he has been paying people to lose, and our client doesn’t like this, so, we find him and put a stop to his business” she explained
“Right well why does there need to be 2 people” Wyes said cautiously
“That is because he claims to have protection from a local group of thugs,” she said
“Well we should get started, do you know where this man is” Wyes said
“Actually that’s why I picked this lodge the shop is just down the road” She said
“Ah, well lets go” he said while putting on his stuff
Wyes and Kathleen left the lodge and headed towards the man’s shop. When they came to the shop there was fruit on the racks but no customers, but it was a very hot day. Wyes and Kathleen walked into the shop and approached the owner.
“We hear your recording some bets” Wyes said not sure how to handle the situation
“Why, you’re to young to place a bet,” the shop owner said unperturbed
“No its true were not, actually we heard that your fixing events and we don’t want that” Kathleen said menacingly while staring at the overweight man in front of her
The man pulled a hand crossbow from under a nearby shelf and aimed it at Wyes
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Wyes said as he ripped the crossbow out of the man’s hand
“Guys get out here,” the man said as he backed into a corner, then ten men with swords, axes and daggers came out of the back room. The man wasn’t lying about his protection.
Wyes reacted first he pulled his sword out of its sheath and lunged at the thug closest to him. He slashed and the mans torso but the thug had already brought up his weapon and deflected the blow the next thing he knew he was surrounded, 6 thugs on him the other 4 on Kathleen. They obviously took Wyes more seriously.
Chapter 8
Time seemed to slow for the fight, he was twisting, slashing, blocking, kicking, doing every thing he could to not be killed. He had already taken out four of them. Wyes turned around preparing to block a flash shot at his legs. Wyes brought his sword around just in time. His sword clattered to the other side of the shop.
One of the thugs brought up his sword preparing to slice Wyes in half. Wyes put out his arm. The sword came down and made contact with his arm. There was the clang of metal against metal. Wyes was wearing his armor under his jacket but the blow still hurt Wyes’s arm and now he had no close quarters combat weapon or so the thugs thought Wyes pulled a dagger from under his jacket. The same dagger had killed his parents. It had a steel blade, the hilt was a metal snake that coiled around thus making the hilt. Wyes thrust it into the thug’s heart he tried to pull it back out but it was stuck.
Kathleen watched Wyes attack the first thug as she drew her sword as 4 surrounded her she blocked a blow from the first thug and then countered by flicking her sword back down from the block. It got the thug in the face. He dropped to the ground dead. The other three attacked her ferociously. She sliced at another’s neck but he blocked it and pushed her sword back.
One by one, Kathleen slowly killed the thugs until there was only one left she kicked out his legs and brought her sword down on him as he hit the ground. She turned back to where Wyes was and saw that a thug was bringing his sword down on him and Wyes was missing his sword. She started to run towards him but it was to late the sword was just about to make contact. She saw Wyes put out his arm and stop the blow and stab the one with the sword with a peculiar dagger. The dagger was stuck and Wyes couldn’t get it out in time to block the next thug who was trying to cut his head off. Wyes couldn’t bring his arm up either because he was trying to pull the dagger out.
Kathleen dived and impaled the head of the thug on her sword but the thug’s sword kept on going.
Wyes saw Kathleen kill the last thug but the sword was still coming at him. He ducked. Wyes felt the wind on the back of his head as the sword passed over him.
“Thanks” Wyes said while breathing heavily “thought I was a goner”
“It was nothing” she said also exhausted
“ Well where did the shop owner go” Wyes said
“Look! There he is running down the street, damn! He’s heading for that coach, Let’s go!” Kathleen said
“There’s no time” Wyes said as he readied his bow and released the arrow.
The arrow traveled fast, kicking up dust in its wake.
“Ah!” the shop owner exclaimed as the arrow ripped through his leg and out the other side, it also flipped him onto his back. Wyes and Kathleen ran over to him.
“Don’t make us come back” Wyes said coldly.
Wyes and Kathleen were heading back to the lodge when Kathleen said “That’s a very strange dagger”
“Yeah I suppose it is” Wyes said
“Well?” Kathleen said curiously
“Well what?” Wyes said
“Well how did you get it?” Kathleen said even though she had no idea what impact it would have on her life in the near future.
“I’d rather not say” Wyes said almost sadly
“Why not” Kathleen said insistently
Wyes replied “Just don’t ask”
“Come on tell me” she said even though she knew she should have stopped
“Alright! fine, this dagger belonged to the man who killed my parents” Wyes began “ I’ve been searching for him for a year now and I’m still no closer to finding him, okay!”
“Oh!” Exclaimed Kathleen for the second time that day “Sorry, I had no idea”
“Don’t worry about it, there’s no way you could have known” Wyes sighed “just don’t tell anyone okay?”
“Okay, sorry” Kathleen replied
“So what do we do now?” Wyes said
“Well we go back to Guoge to tell them what happened” Kathleen replied looking a bit guilty
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Post by §hadow Knight on Aug 23, 2005 4:54:36 GMT -5
Chapter 9
The trip back to Guoge was uneventful, Kathleen avoided talking to Wyes when she could. They arrived at Guoge.
Wyes and Kathleen walked into the small building housing the agency of the mercenaries. The same clerk sat at the front desk. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw Wyes. “Please come this way,” he said while walking towards a door marked as staff.
Wyes followed the clerk cautiously, he was still wary from his last encounter with this man. They stepped into a medium sized room, a large U shaped desk was sitting in front of them with 3 of its seats occupied, Kathleen was the first to speak, she told them of their success and the other details. “Ah very good, our client shall be very happy” the man who had tranquilized Wyes said, “You shall have your payment of 2,000 gold ingots each” the man continued as he handed Wyes and Kathleen a small bag each. “ Now Kathleen if you would please leave” said one of the other occupants of the room. Kathleen exited the room wondering what was going on.
Wyes was still standing in the same place from when he had entered the room. “ Now I shall take my leave also,” the man said as he left the room with the other man who had asked Kathleen to leave. Wyes was left alone with the other man “ Now Wyes as I hear your name is, I have a proposition for you” the last occupant of the room said while flipping through a small folder in front of him.
“It is our understanding that you have what it takes to move to a better organization,” The man said very seriously
“What do you mean a better organization?” said Wyes who was a bit confused
“Don’t worry yourself about that, I’m offering you a place in the organization I work for” the man said while glaring into Wyes’s eyes
“Uh well can I have a minute to think about it?” Wyes said flabbergasted
“Of course” the man said flatly
Wyes stood there for a full 3 minutes thinking, fidgeting, and pacing
“Ok I accept your offer, what happens now?” Wyes said still a little bit unsure
“Now you must wait for a while, I must make some arrangements,” the man said having a slightly pleased tone to his voice.
Kathleen was waiting outside. She saw the man leaving the room; she strode up to him and asked in a confused voice
“What is going on?”
“Nothing that concerns you” The man replied as he walked to the clerk and whispered to him. Kathleen tried to sneak up behind them to hear what they were saying, but the clerk was looking so she had only taken two steps before he noticed. After the man had walked off Kathleen entered the room and asked Wyes “What is going on?”
“I’m not sure myself” Wyes said “look, I’ll tell you when I know, ok?” He said
“Ok, you better though” She said looking into his eyes, she sighed as she watched Wyes leave the building with the man.
Wyes inspected the horse that he was to ride to where ever they were going “Nice horse”
The man grinned “Glad you like it”
Author's Note: This is a major WIP, and I'll be doing a complete re-write in the coming weeks.
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