Chapter 1: a Rangers Sorrow
Valen awoke from his long slumber. "What a weird dream…" He said, standing up. He almost fell over because he saw bodies, his men, and elves lying there, slaughtered and destroyed. "What…what happened." The ranger asked himself. "It's all a blank, who attacked and what happened? The walls are fine, but the town…the town is destroyed and the gate is blown open." As Valen walked around the destruction, he found his sword sticking through a goblins stomach. "Goblins…the underworld. Now I remember, my men and I were on our way to Ardun. We were supposed to protect against the invaders, but I guess the invaders found us first. Sitting down and rubbing his head, Valen looked around. He saw his bow and quiver sitting on a broken tabletop inside a flaming and burnt down building. "Those must be mine." He said walking over quickly to retrieve them. "Now, where did I put my sword, o yea! Inside the goblins stomach…or at least someone did." Touching the sword, it was still warm, that meant someone is still alive or the battle has just ended. Lifting his sword from the blood-drenched creature of evil, he saw some sort of gleam in the distance. He was interrupted by a voice.
"Heh, intense battle. Good thing I came in time to stop the goblins from making to Ardun, there is already enough monsters there to deal with anyways." The voice said. Squinting, Valen saw someone sitting on a burnt down tree stump. "We really have to put a stop to this endless wave of horror. However, who can do it? There are no guards to do it and a scarce amount of heroes left. The only guards are in Zafow, and at least ¾ of the heroes are in Ardun. God bless my wander instinct…but I shouldn't have left her." The voice said, lowering his head and sighing. Valen started walking towards the unknown man, not knowing if he is good or evil. Halfway through walking there he stepped on a body.
"O…my…god…JIMMY!" He screamed, noticing that it was one of his very close friends. The mans head bolted up.
"Who's there?" he yelled, pulling out to golden incrusted dragon daggers.
"I am not here to hurt you! I have come to seek your help, and advice." Valen said, taking a few more steps closer to the man.
"O, ok then. Marth Jots at your service." He said, bowing.
"What are you? Like, how old are you…and where are your from. Where are you going?" Valen asked, staring widely at him.
"Ha… so many questions, so little answers. I come from a small village far away from here, my parents are unknown to me, I am 13…do not know why you would want to know but anyways. I am a thief and I am going back to Ardun." The thief said. "How about you kind ranger, what happened to you?"
"Well, my band of 500 men and I, well now just I were heading to Ardun" The hooded Ranger said. "We were going to protect Ardun from the horde of goblins…and whatever those other things were but they found us first"
"What are these other things?" Marth asked.
"I have no idea…" Valen said.
"Well, and for the goblin horde your men fought off, this was just the reinforcements; the majority of the goblins are already at Ardun. They are few heroes there and only about five guards and seven archers.
"Yea, thinking back I heard you say "but I should not have left her"…what's up with that? Who is her?" The Ranger asked.
"Well, this "her" is my adopted sister, she is fighting in Ardun right now, and this conversation is a waste of fighting time. She could be dying right now, I thank you for the honor of meeting you good sir but I must go now." The oddly dressed thief said.
"Wait!" Valen yelled. "I want to come with you and offer what help I can… I must get revenge on these goblins!"
"Revenge is a dish best served cold," Marth Jots said.
"What does that mean?" Valen asked.
"Never mind, let's just go." Marth said, laughing as he headed for the back gate. As the two started walking east, they came across open fields, no goblins or even travelers, just open fields. Time continued to pass until Valen broke the silence.
"Where are all the usually traveling goblins? Where are we going, Ardun is south not east." Valen asked with a high-pitched tone.
"We are making a short pitstop along the way, and I wanted to avoid the swamp." The thief said, glaring at his daggers. They continued walking east until they came to a small town. "Welcome to Zakram!" a small town off the distance, not many people know of it…and its powers." Marth said, well walking into a training building.
"Wow, nice town…and yet no walls." Valen said, curiously looking around. "Know anywhere we I can get a pipe? Mine broke."
"Yea, in the Inn, it's not that hard to find…you walk out the door, look straight." The thief said laughing. "Now be gone, I have business to attend to." As Marth said this, Valen walked out the door and into the pub. Back in the training arena, Marth was talking to the instructor. "I need ten archers and fifteen of your finest swordsman. I have to return to Ardun, and this time I want to make an impact.
"Yes sir!" The instructor said. "That will be two thousand five hundred gold coins." Marths eyes open widely, he took his dagger and put it to the instructor's neck.
"Give me them now, and you can loot whatever you can find from the goblins." Marth said. As he was saying this, his other hand slipped into his pocket and too two hundred gold coins. "NOW!" Marth yelled. The instructor ran off and a few minutes later came back with a team of archers and swordsman.
"There…all…yours…sir…just…don't…hurt…me…" he stuttered. The thief grabbed his dagger and put a small slit on the trainer's throat.
"Hmph!" Marth said, rolling his eyes and walking to the door. "Men, follow me!" he commanded. After that, Marth walked over to the Inn and saw Valen sitting there with a pipe in his mouth. "Valen, time to go to Ardun."
"How are we supposed to get through those goblins?" Valen asked.
"We will, we will." The thief said, motioning to go outside. As the duo walked outside Valen saw a small army of men waiting there for Marth. "Ok men! Let's go, off to Ardun!"