Categories > Original > Fantasy > The Dark Queen
Chapter 4
Rorie gave a quick look to the path behind him to see the elf was nowhere in sight. That wasn't what had stopped him though. He had heard something from just up ahead. Rorie doubted it was Leecian as he wouldn't make the amount of noise which Rorie had heard.
'Dam that elf' Rorie thought in contempt.
He knew better than to call out to the elf due to whatever was ahead of them but what was he going to do? If Leecian didn't want to be found there was no way Rorie was going to be able to find him.
'Maybe it has something to do with what's on the path ahead of us,' Rorie thought in hope that he hadn't lost the elf.
Rorie was about to keep walking when something zoomed past his face and lodged into the tree behind him. His eyes opened wide in shock and he let his gaze quickly wander to the cause of his shock. In the tree was a small dagger.
*
Adriana had barely anytime to think over what had just taken place when a large man burst out of the trees towards herself and Rorie who held his bow at the ready with an arrow in place. He aimed the bow in the large, charging man's direction and let the arrow lose. The arrow flew forth and hit the large man in the shoulder. Adriana had thought of Rorie to be a better shot than that but apparently she was wrong when the large man didn't seem to be injured all too badly. The large man gave Rorie a stare of anger and then charged forth once more, this time towards Adriana, a large curved blade held high over his head as he neared Adriana. Adriana had no time to thing of making a dash for the trees when the large man as upon her and she had to dive to dodge the swing of the sword. She started to scramble forward and got up as quickly as she could to face the large man again. She looked around the road and it seemed that Rorie too had deserted her. She was on her own.
*
Rorie searched the trees for the person in which he was looking for. He knew it had been her whom had thrown the daggers and felt heat rise to his cheeks in anger at the thought that she had almost killed him with her daggers. He almost sighed in relief at the sight of the small elven woman that watched from the side of the road, a small dagger held loosely in her hand.
"Valanthe," Rorie called out in anger, his bow pointed straight at her back.
She slowly turned, a large smile plastered on her face. "Rorie," she greeted with a fake kindness and a slight snarl which she tried to hide.
"Leave now," Rorie ordered with his teeth bared and trying his best not to let the bow string go and kill her. "I have this under control."
"If so then why don't you have it?" Valanthe pointed out to the boy that stood before her.
"I'm going to get the job done right, we don't want the elf stirring up any more trouble than necessary," Rorie said as his hand holding the bowstring started to twitch.
"We will get the job done, and we'll do it the first time round," Valanthe said with a small chuckle that sent chills up and down Rorie's spine.
"Leave now," Rorie repeated, he couldn't have Valanthe and Thokk take all the credit.
"No," Valanthe said, still smiling and not feeling the least bit intimidated by the fact that Rorie was aiming an arrow at her.
Rorie felt anger well up inside of him at the elf's stubbornness; if he killed her he would surely be in trouble but if he didn't he would lose all the credit. He didn't have any more time to ponder these thoughts when Valanthe pulled back her arm and a dagger flew towards him, hitting him in the top of his chest, just beneath his shoulder. Rorie grunted in pain and let go of the bowstring, sending the arrow towards Valanthe. Rorie slowly put his hand to where the dagger was, wrapping his hand around the daggers handle. He counted to three in his head and then pulled the dagger from his shoulder with a small yell of pain. He looked back up at Valanthe in anger and disgust and saw that her moth was gaping and she was breathing in short rasps, blood dripping from her lips. She was dying slowly; she lay on her side staring up at Rorie with contempt as she shook in pain. Rorie started to turn slowly, in great pain, one hand holding his bow limply at his side and the other covering the wound and trying to cease some of the bleeding. The sound of yelling could be heard from on the path and Rorie started to make his way towards it as quickly as he could, hoping that he would make it there before Thokk killed Adriana and went in search of Leecian and the staff.
*
Adriana backed away from Thokk once more, his log curved sword crashing forcefully into the path where she had been standing only moments before. He grunted as he pulled the blade from the ground and swung towards Adriana in a semicircle. It only missed her by inches as she had ducked just before the blade passed over her head and as she tried to get back up she tripped and fell backwards onto her back; giving Thokk an attack of opportunity. She crawled backwards knowing full well that her luck had run out when the large barbarian turned to face her, stepping closer and closer, his blade being raised higher as he neared her. He was standing atop her when he yelled in shock and pain and shifted his attention from Adriana to the cause of his shock and pain. Adriana took her chance and stood back up onto her feet backing away quickly to see none other than Leecian standing before the large man. In each hand he held one of his slender short swords and Adriana could see the tip of his staff sprouting from his pack which was held loosely on his back. Thokk growled in anger and swung his blade towards Leecian who dived to the floor and rolled forwards between the large mans legs and jumped up with speed that Adriana didn't think possible. He held both shorts words before his, crossing his arms over so that he held his right hand weapon to his left and vice versa and then sliced them through so that they were being held straight before his again. Thokk yelled in pain and turned around the quickest he could but not before Adriana got a sight of the two deep and long cuts that now ran across his back. That was when Adriana noted that Leecian was grinning and she almost rolled her eyes at the fact that she hadn't seen much on their short trip that could scare the cheery elf.
"Are you trying to kill me with your blade or your breath?" Leecian asked Thokk once they were face to face only to be answered by an outraged roar.
Thokk brought his blade down on the elf in a double handed grip and Leecian only ducked and stood straight back up again once the blade had passed, he hadn't moved his feet at all during this dodge.
Adriana didn't know what to do, Leecian seemed to be handling himself okay but what if something happened to him, she would be left alone to face the large and now angry man since Rorie had disappeared. She knew she couldn't run because if all went well then she would have run for no reason and she would once more be left alone with nobody to help her reach the town. No, she knew that the best thing to do was to stay, even if she wasn't doing anything at the moment.
Leecian once more dodged a side swing from Thokk and as the blade passed his he jumped forward, dodging the swing in the process and swung one of his short swords forwards in a stabbing manner. It lodged itself under his arm and into the softer areas of his skin to be answered by another roar. Leecian jumped back straight away to dodge yet another of the swings of his blade. Luckily it had just missed him but it had been so close that his hair had blown wildly as the blade passed his head. Thokk was starting to go red in what Leecian guessed was anger and knew that getting Thokk angry had its ups and downs. For one getting Thokk angry would stop him from thinking through and just swinging his weapon wildly from side to side, but with Thokk angry it would mean that if Leecian was hit that it would be even more powerful than if Thokk wasn't so angry. Leecian brushed away that thought as quickly as it had come with a smirk. Nothing would be able to hit him, especially the large idiotic man that stood before him. Leecian saw blood dripping from the wound under Thokk's arm with pleasure and jumped under another of Thokk's swings to swipe his short swords across his exposed throat. Thokk stepped back at the last minute shocking Leecian and the cut didn't go as deep as he had hoped. Leecian too jumped back when Thokk yelled out in fear.
"Please, don-" Thokk's surrender was cut off short with a twist of Leecian's wrist as he cut into his throat and Thokk fell to the floor after standing for a second longer.
Adriana averted her gaze from the now quite dead barbarian to stare at the elf in disgust, "He had surrendered, why did you kill him?"
"He surrendered? Oh, I was too bust hacking off the buggers head to hear," Leecian said as he wiped the blades of his short swords against the cloth of his pants.
"Why'd you do that? We could have asked him why he was trying to kill us," Adriana asked, she felt sorry for Thokk but she also felt relieved that he had been dealt with.
"And what then; let him run along only to try and kill us once more later on?" Leecian pointed out.
"Aren't you the least bit curious as to why he was trying to kill us?" It was then that Adriana realized that Leecian already knew why they had been attacked.
Maybe that was why he didn't trust Rorie; because he was suspicious of him too. Adriana needed to know why there were people after them and she knew she probably wasn't getting much out of Leecian or even Rorie for that matter. That was when she remembered, Rorie. Where was he? She was answered by the sound of panting coming from behind her and the bushed and leaves all moving aside for the person coming towards the east road. There stood Rorie, as pale as a ghost and looking as if he was in great pain, blood drenched his clothes and he held his hand to a wound just below his shoulder. Adriana gasped in shock just as Rorie fell to the ground in a heap.
Rorie gave a quick look to the path behind him to see the elf was nowhere in sight. That wasn't what had stopped him though. He had heard something from just up ahead. Rorie doubted it was Leecian as he wouldn't make the amount of noise which Rorie had heard.
'Dam that elf' Rorie thought in contempt.
He knew better than to call out to the elf due to whatever was ahead of them but what was he going to do? If Leecian didn't want to be found there was no way Rorie was going to be able to find him.
'Maybe it has something to do with what's on the path ahead of us,' Rorie thought in hope that he hadn't lost the elf.
Rorie was about to keep walking when something zoomed past his face and lodged into the tree behind him. His eyes opened wide in shock and he let his gaze quickly wander to the cause of his shock. In the tree was a small dagger.
*
Adriana had barely anytime to think over what had just taken place when a large man burst out of the trees towards herself and Rorie who held his bow at the ready with an arrow in place. He aimed the bow in the large, charging man's direction and let the arrow lose. The arrow flew forth and hit the large man in the shoulder. Adriana had thought of Rorie to be a better shot than that but apparently she was wrong when the large man didn't seem to be injured all too badly. The large man gave Rorie a stare of anger and then charged forth once more, this time towards Adriana, a large curved blade held high over his head as he neared Adriana. Adriana had no time to thing of making a dash for the trees when the large man as upon her and she had to dive to dodge the swing of the sword. She started to scramble forward and got up as quickly as she could to face the large man again. She looked around the road and it seemed that Rorie too had deserted her. She was on her own.
*
Rorie searched the trees for the person in which he was looking for. He knew it had been her whom had thrown the daggers and felt heat rise to his cheeks in anger at the thought that she had almost killed him with her daggers. He almost sighed in relief at the sight of the small elven woman that watched from the side of the road, a small dagger held loosely in her hand.
"Valanthe," Rorie called out in anger, his bow pointed straight at her back.
She slowly turned, a large smile plastered on her face. "Rorie," she greeted with a fake kindness and a slight snarl which she tried to hide.
"Leave now," Rorie ordered with his teeth bared and trying his best not to let the bow string go and kill her. "I have this under control."
"If so then why don't you have it?" Valanthe pointed out to the boy that stood before her.
"I'm going to get the job done right, we don't want the elf stirring up any more trouble than necessary," Rorie said as his hand holding the bowstring started to twitch.
"We will get the job done, and we'll do it the first time round," Valanthe said with a small chuckle that sent chills up and down Rorie's spine.
"Leave now," Rorie repeated, he couldn't have Valanthe and Thokk take all the credit.
"No," Valanthe said, still smiling and not feeling the least bit intimidated by the fact that Rorie was aiming an arrow at her.
Rorie felt anger well up inside of him at the elf's stubbornness; if he killed her he would surely be in trouble but if he didn't he would lose all the credit. He didn't have any more time to ponder these thoughts when Valanthe pulled back her arm and a dagger flew towards him, hitting him in the top of his chest, just beneath his shoulder. Rorie grunted in pain and let go of the bowstring, sending the arrow towards Valanthe. Rorie slowly put his hand to where the dagger was, wrapping his hand around the daggers handle. He counted to three in his head and then pulled the dagger from his shoulder with a small yell of pain. He looked back up at Valanthe in anger and disgust and saw that her moth was gaping and she was breathing in short rasps, blood dripping from her lips. She was dying slowly; she lay on her side staring up at Rorie with contempt as she shook in pain. Rorie started to turn slowly, in great pain, one hand holding his bow limply at his side and the other covering the wound and trying to cease some of the bleeding. The sound of yelling could be heard from on the path and Rorie started to make his way towards it as quickly as he could, hoping that he would make it there before Thokk killed Adriana and went in search of Leecian and the staff.
*
Adriana backed away from Thokk once more, his log curved sword crashing forcefully into the path where she had been standing only moments before. He grunted as he pulled the blade from the ground and swung towards Adriana in a semicircle. It only missed her by inches as she had ducked just before the blade passed over her head and as she tried to get back up she tripped and fell backwards onto her back; giving Thokk an attack of opportunity. She crawled backwards knowing full well that her luck had run out when the large barbarian turned to face her, stepping closer and closer, his blade being raised higher as he neared her. He was standing atop her when he yelled in shock and pain and shifted his attention from Adriana to the cause of his shock and pain. Adriana took her chance and stood back up onto her feet backing away quickly to see none other than Leecian standing before the large man. In each hand he held one of his slender short swords and Adriana could see the tip of his staff sprouting from his pack which was held loosely on his back. Thokk growled in anger and swung his blade towards Leecian who dived to the floor and rolled forwards between the large mans legs and jumped up with speed that Adriana didn't think possible. He held both shorts words before his, crossing his arms over so that he held his right hand weapon to his left and vice versa and then sliced them through so that they were being held straight before his again. Thokk yelled in pain and turned around the quickest he could but not before Adriana got a sight of the two deep and long cuts that now ran across his back. That was when Adriana noted that Leecian was grinning and she almost rolled her eyes at the fact that she hadn't seen much on their short trip that could scare the cheery elf.
"Are you trying to kill me with your blade or your breath?" Leecian asked Thokk once they were face to face only to be answered by an outraged roar.
Thokk brought his blade down on the elf in a double handed grip and Leecian only ducked and stood straight back up again once the blade had passed, he hadn't moved his feet at all during this dodge.
Adriana didn't know what to do, Leecian seemed to be handling himself okay but what if something happened to him, she would be left alone to face the large and now angry man since Rorie had disappeared. She knew she couldn't run because if all went well then she would have run for no reason and she would once more be left alone with nobody to help her reach the town. No, she knew that the best thing to do was to stay, even if she wasn't doing anything at the moment.
Leecian once more dodged a side swing from Thokk and as the blade passed his he jumped forward, dodging the swing in the process and swung one of his short swords forwards in a stabbing manner. It lodged itself under his arm and into the softer areas of his skin to be answered by another roar. Leecian jumped back straight away to dodge yet another of the swings of his blade. Luckily it had just missed him but it had been so close that his hair had blown wildly as the blade passed his head. Thokk was starting to go red in what Leecian guessed was anger and knew that getting Thokk angry had its ups and downs. For one getting Thokk angry would stop him from thinking through and just swinging his weapon wildly from side to side, but with Thokk angry it would mean that if Leecian was hit that it would be even more powerful than if Thokk wasn't so angry. Leecian brushed away that thought as quickly as it had come with a smirk. Nothing would be able to hit him, especially the large idiotic man that stood before him. Leecian saw blood dripping from the wound under Thokk's arm with pleasure and jumped under another of Thokk's swings to swipe his short swords across his exposed throat. Thokk stepped back at the last minute shocking Leecian and the cut didn't go as deep as he had hoped. Leecian too jumped back when Thokk yelled out in fear.
"Please, don-" Thokk's surrender was cut off short with a twist of Leecian's wrist as he cut into his throat and Thokk fell to the floor after standing for a second longer.
Adriana averted her gaze from the now quite dead barbarian to stare at the elf in disgust, "He had surrendered, why did you kill him?"
"He surrendered? Oh, I was too bust hacking off the buggers head to hear," Leecian said as he wiped the blades of his short swords against the cloth of his pants.
"Why'd you do that? We could have asked him why he was trying to kill us," Adriana asked, she felt sorry for Thokk but she also felt relieved that he had been dealt with.
"And what then; let him run along only to try and kill us once more later on?" Leecian pointed out.
"Aren't you the least bit curious as to why he was trying to kill us?" It was then that Adriana realized that Leecian already knew why they had been attacked.
Maybe that was why he didn't trust Rorie; because he was suspicious of him too. Adriana needed to know why there were people after them and she knew she probably wasn't getting much out of Leecian or even Rorie for that matter. That was when she remembered, Rorie. Where was he? She was answered by the sound of panting coming from behind her and the bushed and leaves all moving aside for the person coming towards the east road. There stood Rorie, as pale as a ghost and looking as if he was in great pain, blood drenched his clothes and he held his hand to a wound just below his shoulder. Adriana gasped in shock just as Rorie fell to the ground in a heap.
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