(This chapter is a kind of work in progress. I intend to improve it later.)
Chapter 2: πρώτο αίμα (pro’to aima)
The shadow tightened the straps on its ashiko a shuko as it watched a group of one-hundred and two warriors leave the confines of the Theos citadel. Let’s go. The dark clad figure jumped onto a large tree, using the metal spikes on its hands and feet to aid with grip on the rough surface of the tree. Just as the shade’s foot touched an outstretched limb, they took off, launching them self into the next tree, following the group of soldiers, but keeping a safe distance. It was better to follow a group of battle ready soldiers than hanging around in a high security Citadel and get caught and exposed. Plus, the shadow found battle to be quite intoxicating.
To the intruder’s dismay, the group stopped not too long after departing; they obviously had no clue where to go. The shade had to laugh; they had forgotten to tell Tenshi where the beasts were coming from. I guess I should show them the way, otherwise, they‘d never find the fight.
The shadow ripped off its mask and set it down on the tree limb to wipe the salty liquid away from its eyes, then quickly removed a glove, and pricked a finger, then ran it over the white mask.
Tenshi growled and lowered his head, nearly getting a mouthful of his horse’s gray hair. He had idly let that Adikos personage leave before even asking directions. Ether, on the other hand, was having a grand time laughing at his friend’s shortcomings.
Smooth, Tenshi, very smooth… Tenshi said inwardly. You are such a screw-up…you are going to end up dying a pre-mature death. I can’t believe I snuck out of my room.
Just as Tenshi raised his head to look around the clearing, a well-aimed projectile struck him square in the side of the head and the twinge of pain brought tears into his eyes. Tenshi whipped around, looking in the direction in which the small object came from, but saw nobody, only a familiar accessory of a certain shadow. Again, Ether could be heard in the background laughing.
The vice-Commander hopped from his horse to pick up the mask that lay upside down several feet away. Tenshi approached cautiously, looking back occasionally to Ether who looked on in amused interest. Tenshi bent low, plucking the mask from the ground and turning it over in his hands. On the surface of the mask was a trail of blood, forming an arrow that pointed to the east, and then under it were the words, “Now march.” Tenshi gave the mask a disapproving look; blood should not be used as ink.
He quickly dropped the mask to the ground at his feet and turned back to his horse. Ether was quick to speak up, asking what that was all about.
“The mask wants us to go east.”
“Looks like our intruder really wants us to get rid of those pesky trolls, eh?” Ether smiled and stared down at the mask, “Kinda makes you wonder what Adikos is up to…” Tenshi stared down at the mask as well, then to the surrounding landscape.
“Yeah, and whoever it is… they are probably going to watch us the whole time, so we’ll need to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, and especially the ‘murderer-intruder’… who knows if they are together or not.”
Ether nodded in agreement, pulling his horses reins to the left and headed off to the east. Tenshi looked past Ether to their new destination beyond the forest in the giant rocky hills that made a fitting home for the barbaric Hill Giants of Gensho’u. The silver haired boy felt the nervous tension finally begin to force itself onto him with each step his horse took into the dense forest.
Since he was young, Tenshi had always heard tales of these barbarians. His mother loved to tell any kind of story, even if it was gruesome. She always used to tell Tenshi never to go near them or their territory because they loved to smash people under large boulders. It was rumored that under all the boulders around Giant country have dead sorcerer bodies or remnants under them. Every time Tenshi thought about it, it would send a violent shudder down his spine. He could only imagine how frightening these creatures must be.
Ether looked back at his friend and laughed before calling out, “Hey, catch up, daydreamer!” Tenshi looked up ahead to find himself a good 50 feet away from everyone else. He gasped and kicked his heels into the horse’s sides, spurring it forward faster to catch up to the rest of the group.
Tenshi’s grip increased on the hilt of his sword tenfold as he jumped from his horse onto the rocky grass just at the base of the hills. The rough growling of giants could be heard clearly in the distance as a small group of warrior approached one of the many caves dug into the hillside. At one time in the past, these hills had been rid of any violent creature, so the seeing this site was proof that the shadow had not lied to him. Ether did not seem surprised, but nobody really bothered to look surprised when his or her stomachs were flipping with nervous tension.
Ether whispered to several of the subordinate lieutenants to take a few of their soldiers to the other cave entrances and await his command. At this, the small army split almost automatically into mini ambush groups and surrounded the hills. The blue haired General nodded to Tenshi and walked forward calmly, even though he was more than a little nervous about dealing with humanoids such as Giants once again; he had never had a good success rate when it came to such things.
“We will do this fast… Don’t even give them time to realize what is happening.” Ether said quietly, mostly to himself than anyone else. “What we want to do is ambush them by luring them out, then getting as many people on top of them as we can, that way, we can have several people stabbing away trying to sink their blade right into the brain.”
Tenshi could do naught but cringe at the image it brought to his head. The way Ether talked made them sound like ruthless animals, but it had to be done nonetheless. Ether grabbed Tenshi’s arm and began to drag him up the hill a way until they were right over the mouth of the Hill giant’s cave, then began to talk again. “This is your first time fighting… and it’s not a very nice first opponent, so I don’t want you jumping into the fray until you get how to do things. I know that you can handle a sword; I have seen you in the training hall with the soldiers, I know you are good at it, but please don’t do anything until you know how the outcome will be, okay?”
Tenshi nodded and allowed himself to be pushed to the back of the small group of battle-ready sorcerers. Some were already casting protection spells on them or their friends or fortifying their weapons with elements or property enhancers. Tenshi looked at his own blade and grinned; there was no need to enhance his weapon, the dark elves residing outside of Gensho’u had made it, and then Xerxes somehow got it into his grasp. There was no reason for Tenshi to worry about arms.
The stained blade sunk deep into the hard scale-like skin of the giant’s huge leg as Ether quickly spun out of the path of an oncoming projectile. The large boulder thudded to the ground a few feet away, drowning out the cries of protest from the ten-foot humanoid. Ether plucked his bloodied sword from the beast’s leg and quickly went in for another strike. The giant, though, had already begun his counter strike. Ether froze, eyeing his situation with alarm. The giant grinned stupidly and sent its weapon hurdling downward. Ether cursed and dove out of the way, barely escaping its path before the bludgeon sent pieces of earth into the air.
Ether stumbled to his feet, only to find the spiked weapon skimming the ground toward him. His body seemed as if it was acting on its own as he jumped up, with no time to spare, yet the timing could not have been better. Ether cried out as he was forced against the spiked wooden club. He found a sturdy footing against the wood, and then slowly lifted his hand off the bloodied spike that had found a place in his hand. The warrior winced and held in a wave of nausea, then scrambled to the Giant’s hand, away from the danger of the spikes.
Ether had a hard time staying on top of the giant’s hand as it shook violently to get him off. However, Giant’s were always stupid creatures, and in its spasm, it forgot the club it held, and promptly opened his hand, letting go of the spiked bludgeon. The creature cried out in pain as the heavy weapon crashed to the ground, embedding is tough spikes right into his bare foot. Ether’s chance came when the dumb colossus bent over to examine the wound, completely forgetting about the blue haired boy making his way up the giant’s chain mail. Ether jumped, catching a handful of the filthy tuft of hair sprouting from the creature’s ugly head. With his other hand, he pulled his sword from his sheath and aimed for the soft spot under its skull, then sunk his blade deep into the skin.
The Hill Giant suddenly snapped back to reality as the pain hit. It swatted at the back of his neck in the attempt to knock the nuisance away. Ether stabbed again, feeling the energy of the Giant decrease with each blow.
“Down, down, you ugly thing!” Ether growled, stabbing again at the mutilated neck. With one final stab, the giant gave into the pain and fell to its knees with a howl. The warrior climbed to the top of the hill giants head and gave out a sudden shrill whistle, catching the attention of the giant’s friends on top of the hill, tossing boulders at the tiny sorcerers running around below. Nearly ever ugly head turned in Ether’s direction in anger. Simultaneously, each let a rock fly in his direction, forgetting about what their target stood upon. Ether smiled to himself in satisfaction.
He had many large rocks to dodge, but he was pleased as several of them met his mark upon the suffering giant’s head.
“And, that’s two…” Ether stated proudly as he stepped over spots of fray brain matter. He slumped against one of the boulders, facing away from the bloodied battlefield. He let out a long sigh and clutched his throbbing hand. ‘I’m lucky that this is all I got’, He thought, ‘The way they rushed out at us like that just before we were ready… they had to have known we were coming.’ He growled and hit his good fist against the rock, ‘And it’s just my luck… I lost Tenshi, damn it! ‘
He peeked around the rock to the body-strewn hillside. His friend had only experienced battle in protective gear in the training hall, as far as he knew. If that was the case, then there was a good chance that he was dead under some stinking giant corpse.
Yells of victory sounded in the distance, indicating the death of yet another giant. Ether turned back and rested his head up against the stone, whispering quietly to himself, “With that secret of yours, Tenshi… you better have some hidden fighting skill.” He winced, brought his skewered hand, and looked it over. The blood flowed freely over his palm and down his forearm until it acquainted itself with the fabric of his tunic, or dripped off.
“Sir, the operation is complete.” A soldier said suddenly from the other side of the rock, “Please pull back now.”
Ether straightened himself and replied quietly, fearful of any eavesdroppers, “So soon? How…?”
“Amidst the confusion of an ambush, it is easy to mingle.” The soldier replied quickly. Ether moved from his spot against the rock and looked about the field. Good… now where is Tenshi?
Tenshi clasped his hands behind his back and stretched, sighing. His blade twitched as the muscles in the Giant’s neck gave a final shutter before it went completely still. Tenshi gave a satisfied smile and clutched the hilt of his sword, plucking it from the punctured artery of his third kill. He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his brow as he tried to relieve the burning in his lungs. He took a quick glance around nervously checking for other warriors.
Nobody knew that he could even handle a sword, except Ether, who had supposedly taught him everything he knew. His father forbade him to wield a weapon of warfare. They all said he was ‘too good for that’, and that one of such high rank should not have to ever touch a sword. If Xerxes found out, Tenshi thought, I would be dead.
The sounds of battle on the other side of the hills faded considerably, and in a way, this worried Tenshi. He wasn’t sure who was winning. He had snuck away once they were ambushed so that he could keep out of the battle zone, and search for Shadow at the same time. He was sure he spotted that intruder around.
A pile of rocks slid from their place atop the rocky hill, nearly hitting Tenshi as he jumped from the corpse of the giant. The rocks came to a stop at Tenshi’s feet after their freefall. Tenshi stared at them for a second before redirecting his attention to the hill next to him, squinting against the light.
“Ah, Lord Tenshi, There you are! We were afraid that they had killed you!” A soldier called out as his dark outline showed up on the hill, blocking the sun, “What are you doing all the way back here, anyway? The battle is up front!”
Tenshi gave a meek smile and nodded, “It’s true, It is just… This giant tried to run, and we both know that if I let him go, he would just be a trouble to us later.” He pointed out smartly. The soldier nodded and proceeded to explain their plan to pull the army back a in such a way as to lure the remaining enemies off their advantageous position near the hills onto the flat ground just before the forest on the other side.
Tenshi nodded in understanding and began to make his way up the rocky hillside.
“Mission is nearly complete, my giant friend.” The shadow laughed from the tree just above the 10-foot Giant leader.
“Un’dast clan suffer much from this.” The giant chief boomed dumbly in reply. Shadow nodded thoughtfully in a way that would almost seem remorseful.
“You have another dozen still inside the hills, though. Thirty bodies should be more than enough for the thirteen of you, right?”
“Yes, but our troll friends eat, too.”
The hade turned sharply to the Giant chief, “You live with the Trolls? How many are there with you?”
“Number not matter, mysterious one, we want all little people.” Un’dast laughed, clapping a hand against the trunk of the large tree, making Shadow grip tightly to the bark with his handspikes.
“That was not in the agreement!” Shadow yelled, the voice-changing spell cracking slightly.
“Un’dast know that, Shadow, But you say we could take as many as we can eat. Now we can eat them all!” The giant pointed out. Shadow was caught.
“Fine…” Shadow stated flatly, “Take all of them, then… that is, everyone except my men, the blue haired one, and him,” was the reply as shadow’s gloved finger landed on Tenshi’s far off figure. Un’dast looked over and frowned at the distinct look of ache in the shadow’s red eyes. Un’dast gave a nasty scowl and hit the trunk of the tree again, leaving Shadow trying to cling for life to the trunk as the tree shook violently. Anyone could recognize a look like that.
“You a lady!” Un’dast roared suddenly, “Un’dast take order from lady? You trick Un’dast!” The giant stepped toward the shuttering tree, upset with the turn of events.
Shadow recoiled with a twinge of surprise, “Wait, what are you talking about? I’m not a lady!”
Un’dast was not amused. “I see way you look at Theos princeling. You make fool of Un’dast!”
“Why would my gender matter at all, Un’dast? It changes nothing!” Shadow growled, enraged by the Giant’s sudden change of mentality. The dirt brown creature smiled an equally brown toothy smile and reached out for Shadow.
“Un’dast only listens to strong man, not weak lady. Lady for looking at, not for listening to or commanding army.” Un’dast’s hand reached closer to the figure in the tree who hissed audibly.
“You know not the superior power of a woman!” Shadow replied rudely. With one flick of the wrist, the giant’s grubby hand fell in a bloody mess to the ground many feet below. The wounded leader bellowed a pained cry and covered his stub of a wrist with his other hand. The attacker jumped from the tree and landed gracefully upon the open palm of Un’dast’s severed appendage.
“Deal is off, men! Destroy ever one of them! Paint the battlefield black with their stinking blood!” The shadow called to the slowly dispersing army, “Allow Ether and the Vice-commander to leave and begin extermination!”
From his distance, Tenshi could even hear Shadow’s amplified voice call out. He looked up, surprised, “Shadow!”
Tenshi watched in horror as a think hand lashed out, and constricted around the cloaked figure’s thin frame and tossed them like a rag doll into the tree behind.
“Now is not the time to worry about that!” Ether’s voice called out as his horse galloped at full speed toward Tenshi, “Get on, we have to retreat now! An unknown number of trolls have gathered at the entrances to every cave. If we don’t get out of here now, we never will!” Ether grabbed onto Tenshi’s shoulder as he stopped his horse.
Tenshi still stood, staring at the grotesque site on the ledge above them, “What about Shadow?!”
Ether sighed and grabbed Tenshi’s wrist, “Sometimes you have to make sacrifices!” he replied harshly as he pulled his friend onto the horse behind him. Tenshi tried to struggle away, but Ether held him firmly to the horse.
“Why retreat when nearly all the Gants are dead?” Yelled Tenshi, angered.
“Did you not hear me, Tenshi? I said we have trolls!”
Tenshi’s reply caught in his throat, He had not heard that. The horse ran at top speed to the top of the hill where the whole battlefield could be seen. Hundreds of trolls swarmed around the dead bodies like flies. In the center was a small task force of five, surrounded completely.
“Those men you see there have volunteered themselves to stay behind to give us our chance to escape. The remaining of our army has already made full haste back to the Citadel.” Ether explained, bowing his head in respect for the doomed men. Tenshi sat, mouth agape at the unimaginable numbers of trolls who had, in seconds, completely covered the small field. With no other words, Ether urged his horse forward.
Tenshi turned himself on the horse just in time to see the hills bust into a sea of red flames.
Tenshi stared down at the small dwindling fire that lay just at his feet, the image of earlier still etched into his mind. Ether stood a few feet away, speaking with a group of bards that made their makeshift homes within this part of the Theos Forest, quite a way away from the Citadel.
“Really, thank you. We could not have made it before night fell.” Ether bowed to the group of men and women who replied kindly.
Tenshi picked up another long and tossed it idly into the fire, smothering it even more, but it jumped to life again as Ether made his way back to his friend’s side. Ether looked hesitant to sit down; because he knew that the prince was mad with him.
“Hey, are you okay?” He asked as he finally decided to take a seat next to the fire across from Tenshi. The quiet boy said did not respond for a few seconds, and then he nodded.
“I’m fine.” He lied. Ether rolled his eyes slightly at the obvious lie.
“There is a lake nearby.” Ether said quietly, deciding to change the subject, “If you want to wash off that blood and stuff. I honestly didn’t expect you to fight. I know how much you hate death.”
“I didn’t train with you all those times just to run away like a moron when trouble crosses my path.” Tenshi shot back, irritably. Ether winced slightly, but continued.
“But you did run off, alone, too.” Ether raised an eyebrow, “How many did you take down?”
Tenshi kept a straight face and closed his eyes, “Three.”
Ether’s jaw dropped, “T-three?! I’m getting old! The student has surpassed the master!” The blue haired warrior struck the dirt playfully.
“What’s this?” Tenshi asked, lightening up, “Only two, General Chael? You’re slipping.”
Ether shook his head sadly, “If I only had that ‘creature mind control’ thing like you do… Plus, one cannot be at his or her best when worrying about a newbie on the field of battle.”
Tenshi shook his head and scoffed at the word. He stood, turned, and began to walk away, “A swim sounds nice now,” He said, answering his friend’s unasked question. Ether smiled devilishly.
“It’s dark.” Ether pointed out bluntly, “Watch out or you won’t see those curious mermaids coming around.”
“Keep the fires going for me!” Tenshi called back.
Tenshi stared over the surface of the lake before he pulled his bloodstained tunic top over his head; followed by the rest of his clothing, save for something to cover his midsection, and then stepped timidly into the icy water. He continued slowly into the shallows as his skin slowly numbed to the freezing temperatures.
Tenshi wrapped his arms across his freezing chest and closed his eyes, trying to rid himself of the image of the burning hills, but to his dismay, when he opened his eyes, he was not alone. He found himself staring straight into another face. Startled, Tenshi stumbled back, catching his foot on a large rock, lost balance, and found him engulfed in the dark, icy water. He arose quickly, cursing quietly at the coldness.
“Greetings, Elf!” The woman said, smiling. Tenshi grimaced slightly.
I didn’t think Ether was serious… I have to thank whatever force it was that made me keep some clothing on. Tenshi thought while forcing a fake smile, though a believable one, “Good evening, young lady.” He replied quickly.
“I couldn’t help but to notice that you seem troubled.” The girl replied happily, examining Tenshi, who shifted his arms nervously across his chest.
Let us think about this for a second, girl…Tenshi growled inwardly, “Sorry, but I don’t much feel like telling all my problems to a creature who comes up to me randomly in a lake when I am wearing practically nothing.”
“My name is Saara… if that makes you feel any better.” She replied hopefully, “Plus, it’s better to tell someone you don’t know your problems than it is telling someone you do know.”
Tenshi blinked. That wasn’t exactly his problem, “It’s really nothing, Saara.”
“You sure? I was that huge fire… you were there, right?”
“Look,” Tenshi snapped, “There are people back there that need help and didn’t get it when I could have given it to them.” Tenshi sighed, “Happy?”
Saara frowned, “No…” She said bluntly as she rand her tail fin over the surface of the water, “That’s depressing.”
“Yeah, I know.” Tenshi sunk lower into the water, “It’s because of them that I’m alive. I wish I could repay them.”
Saara smiled widely, “You can go back in the morning and bury their bodies.”
Tenshi groaned, “But the messenger of Death takes them away… they won’t be there anymore.” He pointed out as he ran his fingers through his wet hair and sunk even further into the water until only his head showed.
Saara shook her head, “Incorrect, actually. Death got a bit overwhelmed and has only been taking those who a die non-combat death or who the Fates tell him to take. The lode was getting a bit heavy on him, ya know… with so many dying on the battlefront.”
Tenshi looked at her skeptically, “And how do you know this bit of information?”
The mermaid flicked her tail, splashing Tenshi’s face with cold water and laughed, “I’m a bard, silly, how else would I know this?”
Tenshi growled to himself, I could have sworn you were a creature from hell…he thought, “Honestly, that didn’t help.”
Saara huffed and turned her back to Tenshi, “You question my sources?”
Tenshi relaxed now, “Look, Saara, It’s late and I want to get back to camp. I’d like to get this blood off of me as soon as I can.”
The mermaid turned slightly, making Tenshi go on the alert again, and then she saluted, flicked her tail, and swam off without another word. Tenshi shook his head and stared after her, “Mermaids…” he mumbled.
“Strip and they shall come.” Tenshi mumbled as he held his newly drenched clothing over the fire to dry.
“I told ya to watch out,” Ether laughed, “You were wise to keep something on. If one sees you, they will tell all of their friends… believe me. You were lucky to get out of there with only wet clothing.”
“Yeah,” Tenshi laughed, “Tell me about it.” He placed his pants on the tree branch and rang out his shirt.
“So, how many were there… five, six?”
“There were eight or ten, actually.” The wet elf sighed wryly. Ether gave a sorry sigh and poked at the flame with a stick.
“We’ll go back to home early tomorrow right when the sun comes up, if that’s okay with you, Tenshi.” Ether tapped the end of his stick on the ground, sending ash into the air.
“Actually, I’d like to go back to the Seven Hills. The dead have the right to a proper farewell.” Tenshi butted in as he dumped a bit of lake water from the bottom of his boot. He peered inside, then sat it down and picked up the other, repeating what he had just done.
Ether looked up to his friend and smiled modestly, “You’re wondering, too, then. I was almost positive you’d be thinking about possible survivors… of course, I can tell that you just want to find Shadow and give them your thanks, right?”
Tenshi nodded.
“You do know that you could be punished for helping an intruder, right?”
“I’m willing to risk that.”
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