Preface: Ah, the good old tactic of writing a preface. I... handled the situation concerning my primary story and Omakes.
On to this second chapter of 'Sword and Sorcery', which will be... interesting to write...
Sword and Sorcery
Opening Act
Part II; The Attack
In which: We learn the main characters' names and meet a supporting character.
But not in that order.
Oh, and a town gets attacked.
Camp, Morning
There was a moan, like someone waking up after being hit in the back of the head with a cosh twice over the course of one night.
It was still raining, but the apparent princess and her rescuer were in a small sheltered area.
"Oh, you're awake!" The chainmail wearing man from last chapter said, looking up from where he was poking in a cooking pot on a fire. "So why were you out here?"
"W-what? OH! We I-I was sent to ask for r-reinforcements by my father. Our countries being attacked by these-" The girl who had been knocked out repeatedly the previous evening started.
"Soldiers carrying the symbol of the Dawn?"
"Y-yes..."
"Damn it. We're under attack by them too. I was sent to ask for reinforcements too. My dad said to go and... Wait a second..."
"W-what?"
"That old jerk! He intentionally made sure I'd be out of the battle! He sent me on this mission because he knew they were going to arrive soon!"
"W-who?"
"He sent me out here, despite how we're low on troops, so that I would be almost to your kingdom when they arrived! He's trying to keep me from getting hurt! It's insulting."
"W-wait..."
"Yours did the same thing?"
"Y-yes... T-they know I'm a good m-mage, but they s-sent me to request assistance f-from your family, s-so I would be j-just approaching Spiral Keep as the invaders arrived at our castle..."
"Well, neither of us can get back in time, thanks to their planning... Was that your carriage on the road?"
"Y-yes. I w-was attacked by this m-mage wearing..."
"Wearing what?"
"R-robes with the Dawn's symbol o-on them... H-he killed my g-guards easily..."
"Alright, here's the plan. You'll stay with me, and we head towards the nearest allied kingdom and inform them of these developments."
"B-but what about-"
"We can't deliver our messages now. The Dawn has probably already started their attack. Even if we could, it wouldn't do much good anyway. A mage and a knight against thirty thousand soldiers? We'd die before killing ten of them. Besides, there's a safe haven nearby. I hope..."
The knight set to pack up the small camp, before realizing something he forgot to mention.
"Oh, and now its six to five, my favor."
"W-what? Oh, t-that..."
An Hour Later, Down the Road
"S-so is this i-it?" The girl asked, looking at the small village in front of her from the back of the horse she took from her carriage.
The rain had stopped, so now we can describe the main characters.
The girl was blue haired, and wearing a completely soaked set of robes, suitable for mages and martial artists alike.
The knight was blond, and his completely soaked tabard was... Orange, with a spiral pattern on it.
No surprises there, huh?
"Yep. This is where I was told to go if things went sour. Glad to see that it's still hidden." The knight replied, glancing behind himself briefly, while keeping his horse in place.
"I-I was asking because I-I was told to come here i-if anything went wrong, too..."
"...It's like they were trying to give us a decent chance of meeting each other..."
"W-what?"
"Remember back when I was taken to your family's castle the first time?"
"Y-yes..."
"I remember reading a treaty of some sort on the ride over... Now that I think about it, it was probably the reason this town is here."
"W-what?"
"I mean that they were obviously planning ahead in case of anything like this. Think about it. 'If our castle is under attack, go ask our neighbors for aid. If they're under attack, go hide in the village on the border.' my father said. Yours probably said something similar, right? Doesn't that sound like this place was made for us to meet up in, and then do something?"
"M-maybe gather t-troops and take b-back our kingdoms?"
"Maybe. Anyway, we should head in. The tavern 'The Fair Deal' should have a couple of rooms empty..."
Back Down the Road
"Well," The mage from last chapter said, nudging the corpse of Lej with his foot. "I guess I'll need more minions for this..."
"Sir." A person wearing chainmail started, walking up to the robed mage. "Our trackers have found tracks going into the woods, to a small, covered camp. Then the tracks head off in a different direction. Shall we follow them?"
"Yes. I need to get that mage now, before He finds out..."
The mage paused for a second.
"And I want them alive, if at all reasonably possible."
"Yes, sir."
Down the Road, Town, The Fair Deal
The tavern was nearly empty, the only people still in it being the innkeeper and a black haired man sitting at the end stool of the bar, a large number of empty glasses in front of him.
"Barkeep," The knight started, reaching for a pouch on his side. "This medallion should verify my identity. I'll need two rooms."
"Right away, your Highness. I assume that the girl is with you?"
"She is, but she's in the same boat I am..."
"Ah. Three royals in one night." The innkeeper said, nodding sagely. "The times are bad..."
"T-three?"
"The man in the corner. He apparently was fairly close to getting his kingdom's throne, but was exiled a few days ago for a disagreement with an advisor."
"Who is he?"
"He gave no name, just gold."
"Hm... Well, I guess he probably doesn't matter. Thank you."
"It's an honor to be the choice tavern of royalty, your Highness. I am the one who should be thanking you."
"Sho theresh shom more peoplesh in the shame short of boat ash I am...." The black haired man in the corner slurred to himself.
"More drinksh, barkeep!" He yelled, louder than most non-drunk would consider appropriate.
"Haven't you had enough?"
"More drinksh!"
The next day, outside of town
A small troop of soldiers walked towards the town, the mage from before riding behind them and grinning. By small troop the author mean thirty men, each armed to the teeth.
"Alright, you maggots. I want you to burn this place. Slaughter everyone you find, except for the girl we're after and anyone else who's worth enough for us to spare them temporarily." The mage said to the infantry, the gleeful smile not leaving his face
"Yes, sir!" The troops replied in sync.
"Good little minions. Now, go kill something."
The troops charged into the town, drawing weapons.
The Fair Deal, Downstairs
"...So then I just decapitated the one who had kept knocking you out, and then took out the other one just as quick." The blond knight finished, setting down a drink at the table he and the blue haired girl were sitting at.
"B-but isn't that a b-bit excessive, N-Naruto? I-I mean, they only knocked m-me out..."
"...They injured you, Hinata. They deserved it..."
"B-but-"
The conversation was cut off by screams of terror and pain from outside.
The two shared a look.
"I-I'm at full magic."
"I've got my sword."
"T-then what are we w-waiting for?"
The two jumped up and rushed out the tavern door, the blond drawing his sword while the bluenette muttered an incantation under her breath.
Author's Notes: Chapter two, done. Review this thing, people. If you like it, tell me. If not... tell me. I need to know what's wrong with this tale.
And yes, I may draw some, some plot points from the series of video games that (almost) all start with displaced lords and such. It's inevitable for me to use those as inspiration, you know.
And I suppose that you might wonder exactly who the drunk guy is.
I'll just give you a little bit of info about his past here.
He was exiled from his home kingdom because he didn't think that everyone from there was far superior to everyone else, and he opposed their... 'Benevolent' plan to aid everyone who was too stupid to see it by taking over their nations.
And, in this universe, I've turned him and his kin into elves.
You can now easily guess who he is, right?
Yeah, he's the weas-
NO SPOILERS!
...It was just a joke... Besides, in one story of yours, he's a good guy, and in another, he's the bad guy...What's he going to be in this one? The drunken elf?
...Review, people. Review...