Okay, this starts when Lief, Barda, Jasmine, and Prin reach Dread Mountain, as the Vraal is attacking. Why? Because my OC doesn't come in until then! Now enjoy, and tell me in your review if she should fall for Lief or Dain!
Deltora Quest: Lyndrist of the Oroki
Chapter 1: Vraal Meat for Dinner
Running swiftly and silently through the boolong forest on Dread Mountain, a figure dressed all in black was tracking the scent of fresh-spilt human blood. While the scent was appetizing, the dark hunter was after the one who spilled it, not the one who was bleeding. At last, she came upon a clearing. Two men, one of them a teenager like her, and one a grown man, were fighting a Vraal, while a juvenile female lay unconscious in the dirt. A young Kin was in the stream, gathering some purple moss. No doubt she was preparing to use it to attack the beast's one weakness - it's eye in the center of it's mouth. The teenage male was bleeding from a deep gash in his left arm Leaping down to join the fray, she silently cheered for the brave little Kin as it threw the gunk into the beast's mouth, hitting it's eye dead-on. Drawing her sword, she plunged it into the back of the Vraal's neck, severing the spinal cord. She licked her lips; Vraal meat was considered a delicacy by her race. She pulled the weapon out of the beast's corpse, licking off the savory blood before sheathing it.
"My thanks for the assistance," the big man said in a deep, somewhat gruff voice. "But who are you?"
"I am Lyndrist," the girl said, removing her shade-steel helmet to let her long, silky black hair tumble down her back, her blood-red eyes flashing with curiosity. "Daughter of the Oroki chiefs. And you might be...?"
"A group of travelers from the south," the man said, not quite sure if he could trust the girl. After all, her black armor appeared quite sinister.
"I'd ask what brings you so far north, but your companions are injured," the girl said. "Come. I am sure Mother and Father will not be adverse to helping you four."
The teenage girl had woken up by now, and the four friends followed Lyndrist through the trees to a hobbit-hole-like doorway. She opened it, and led them down a flight of stairs to a massive underground city. "Welcome to Underland," she said, as the four followed her, watching the many pale-faced, dark haired people go about their daily activities. Though they had every hair-type imaginable, every strand was pure black, and all of them had glowing black eyes. "These are my people, the mighty Oroki. We are 'uninvited neighbors,' you might say, to the dread Gnomes. In fact, they don't even know we're here."
"I've heard of the Oroki once before," the big man said thoughtfully. "But I assumed they were a myth, as I never heard of them again until today."
"What have you heard of us?" the girl in black asked in a curious voice.
"Only that the Oroki are a shy and secretive race, keeping to themselves unless contact with those outside their race is necessary." the man answered.
A deeper laugh echoed throughout the cavern. Looking up, the group saw a woman in a long black evening dress decorated with tiny emeralds coming towards them down a flight of steps from a grand manor carved from obsidian. She had her long black hair tied up in a bun, and her red eyes were like the color of blood, and sparkled with amusement."That is only partially true, good sir," she said, as a man with spiky black hair dressed in a formal suit followed not far behind. "While we do prefer to keep ourselves concentrated here in our hidden town, many of us have moved out to find homes across the land. You may have even met one without fully realizing it. I am Jynx, Chieftain of the Oroki. This man is Kov, my husband, and you have already met our daughter, Lyndrist. Might I have your names?"
"I am Barda," the big man said. "These are my companions, Lief, Jasmine, and Prin. Your daughter rescued us from a Vraal, and has offered to help Lief and Prin with their injuries."
"The little Kin had already shoved the purple moss in the beast's eye," Lyndrist put in. "I just finished it off. It's about a five minute walk south-east of the entrance."
"Excellent, my dear," Jynx said with clear approval. "You may tend to your new friends' wounds, child. I will send a party to bring back the carcass."
"Very well, mother," Lyndrist said with a nod, before motioning for the group to follow her. She lead them to the infimery first, and bandaged Lief's arm, using some of the green moss to help it heal, before tending to Prin's blistered hands. "There you go, all better!" The girl said, patting Prin on the head. "You were so brave, Prin. I'd never be able to that when I was your age. I didn't kill my first Vraal until I was 12!"
"Where do the Vraal come from?" Jasmine asked curiously.
"The Shadowlands," Lyndrist replied coldly. "Where else would such hideous beasts come from? They are the Enemy's fighting beasts, bred to fight and kill any not of its own species. Not even Grey Guards are safe from them. They make excellent meat-beasts, though. When properly cooked and seasoned, they taste better than you'd think!"
"Seriously?" Jasmine asked skeptically.
"Yup! Stick around for dinner, and you'll find out!" Lyndrist said. She sniffed the air all of a sudden, turning her head upwards. "Ugh, it's raining again," she groaned. "You guys should stay here for the night, unless you wanna get drowned by the storm. C'mon, I'll show you around."
Lyndrist proceeded to show them around Underland. There was a forge, where Lief was more than happy to help out. Much of the metal they used was salvaged from the Grey Guards they attacked, along with raw material mined from even deeper in the mountain. Then there was the training area, where Barda got to test his strength against Lyndrist's father - and lost. Kov simply gave a short, good-natured laugh before extending a hand to help him up. The thing was, Kov was no where near as buff as the former palace guard, so it had Barda wondering how he'd been so easily beaten. So he asked about it.
"Oroki are much stronger than normal humans," the quiet man said. "My own wife has battled an entire tribe of Grey Guards and come out of it without a single scratch. Lyndrist will tell you why when the time's right." After that, the two of them got drunk on ale.
Jasmine and Prin, the last on the tour, were shown to the Underground Gardens, which was tended to by the younger ones. "Even in our sunless home, these plants still flourish," Lyndrist said proudly as she showed off healthy pomegranate trees and beautiful flowers. "Mother started this garden after hearing an old story about a god named Hades and his bride, Persephone. Though he kidnapped her to his underground kingdom, she ended up falling in love with him, and when her half-brother, Hermes, was sent by her mother and father to bring her home, she ate the fruit of the Underworld to forever bind her to her new husband's home."
"So, why pomegranates?" Jasmine asked.
"The fruit of the Underworld is pomegranates," Lyndrist said, reaching for one and breaking it open, showing the gem-like seeds inside. "For every seed she ate, she had to spend one month of the year in the Underworld. Since she ate six, she spends half the year with Hades, and the other half with her family on Olympus. While she is away, her mother, Demeter, goddess of agriculture and the harvest, mourns her absence, and for that reason, the weather grows cold in autumn and the plants die, and nothing grows again until Spring, when her daughter returns to her."
"Where'd you mother hear that story?" Jasmine inquired.
"My mother hears all," Lyndrist said quietly. "Every story to be spoken is carried to her on the winds. Every song that is sung, every rumor whispered, everything. That is how she came to hear of Hades and Persephone."
"...Has she heard of us?" Jasmine asked nervously.
"You mean the rumors about a man, a boy, and a wild girl with a black bird who've been undoing the Enemy's evil works?" Lyndrist asked back, eating several of the seeds. "Yeah. She's been cheering you on, as has everyone in Underland. In fact, her magic is shielding you guys from the Enemy's evil magic right now. The aura she has is so strong, it blocks out all human auras within a 100-mile-radius. The minute you three and your bird got within that radius, you were off the Enemy's map. My own aura is only half as powerful, but if I go with you guys from here on out, I can keep the Shadow Lord's eyes off you!"
"I'll talk to Lief and Barda about it," Jasmine said, thinking about it. It'd be nice not to be the only female on the team.
At that point, Lyndrist's head jerked back toward the Obsidian Manor. "Mom's calling!Dinner's ready! Let's go get Barda and Lief so we can eat!" she said eagerly, plucking down a few more of the fruits, before dragging Jasmine behind her.
Dinner, to say the least, was interesting. Barda and Kov were both in very good moods, (thanks to the ale.) and Lief's face was covered in soot from helping at the forge. After washing up, they all met at the large dining room table, and the maids brought in plates of thinly-sliced white meat and slices of pomegranates, along with fresh water from the stream and piping-hot bread rolls.
The three agreed, that the meat was delicious, but were shocked to find out it was carved from the Vraal that had attacked them earlier! Prin helped herself to salad of boolong cones and pomegranates, while Kree and Filli stuck to the seeds.
The Oroki family seemed more that happy to eat the Vraal, and it was soon found out that the large chunks of meat Lyndrist and Kov were eating were the "drumsticks" of the beast, while Barda and Lief were eating the shoulders and chest muscles. Jynx and Jasmine had both been served the leanest cuts.
"So, how do you all find our city?" Jynx asked while they were eating.
"Your forge is amazing!" Lief said happily. "I've never seen so many weapons made in a day!"
"Yes, we prefer to have ample arms in case the Enemy's forces should ever discover our presence here," Jynx agreed. "He has been searching for us for 16 years now, give or take a few months."
"Really? Why?" Barda asked.
Lyndrist was the one who answered. "About 8 months before the Enemy took over Deltora, he started a project known as 'Operation Evolution,'" she began, choosing her words carefully. "It involved enslaving a great deal of pregnant women, cutting them open when they were about 8 months along, and mutating the premature babies into undead monsters, aging them until they reached physical maturity. He intended to make them all part of a dark race that would serve him as though he were a god, but the subjects had been endowed with free will and independence against his wishes, and when they awoke, they were horrified with the sights of slavery and suffering. Thus, they rebelled and escaped the Shadowlands. The Enemy has made many attempts to track them down, but they've all failed."
"What does all this have to do with the Oroki?" Jasmine asked, and was met with three blank, red stares.
"Are... are you saying that the Oroki were the result of Operation Evolution?" Lief asked nervously.
"Unfortunately, yes," she said unhappily. "It is why one seldom hears of the Oroki moving beyond the mountain. People are terrified of the Shadow Lord, and with good reason, as well as of those who serve him. The Oroki do not serve him, yet if we were to simply broadcast our existence, people would either try to attack and kill us - a nearly impossible feat - or avoid us like the plague. Both are not viable choices, as we are a friendly and highly social race."
"Indeed," Jynx agreed. "Oroki rarely if ever venture from the mountain alone, for we thrive on social connections with others. A lone Oroki quickly grows depressed, and a depressed Oroki is a suicidal Oroki."
"...Will we be allowed to leave here, knowing what we know?" Lief asked.
"Oroki do not take prisoners unless necessary," Jynx said, finishing her meal. "While we would be glad if you stayed as long as you please, we will not stop you from leaving if you wish to. You are not the first traveler to ask that, either. Many years ago, much longer now than it seems, a man with black hair and green eyes escaped from the Shadowlands with a terrible wound on his face. He could not remember who he was or what he had lost, only that Deltora was his home. He could not stay on the mountain, as he was being pursued, but we gave him food and drink, and pointed him in the direction of someone who could help him, a hermit by the name of Doom. We do not know what has become of him since."