Chapter 2 A Tale of Souls and Swords: Courage Unbound
The man felt his eyes burning with fatigue. His vision was too blurry for him to see anything properly. The man rubbed his eyes with his palms as he then tried to sit upright. But then he noticed his injuries were much less painful. He then started to look around him. He saw that he was in a rather small room with a table and bench at one side and a small doorway on the other. There were large planks of wood used as a replacement for the now destroyed walls. And that's when he noticed a young girl wearing a brown, ragged hood cape, and what looked to be a short, gothic dress.
"So, how's your splinter?" She asked softly, she sounded young and silky. The man was slightly surprised. Wow, that was blunt. Not even a hello. The man then cleared his throat as he looked down to see his body. His vision cleared as he saw that his entire upper half was completely bandaged. He then sighed with relief before lying down, finally feeling relaxed after what could have been hours. "Hey, did you listen?" The girl asked again. The man snapped out of his relaxation and looked at the girl.
"I feel much better." The man said. The girl simply turned around, not saying anything. "Thank you."
"No need to." The girl said, "I just felt that I should reward you for getting rid of that lizard-man in my library." The man turned his body around to place his feet over the side of the small bed he was on. The girl than ran lightly towards him, placing her hand on his chest. "What are you doing?" She asked, "Your wounds have barely healed. I just placed these bandages on you."
"Sorry, I just felt the need to get up." The man said. The girl took one large sigh before laying the man down. "Anyway, how long have you been here?" He then asks.
"About 5 hours, maybe 6." She answered, "Why did you ask?"
"Because we may have to leave, soon." The man firmly said. The girl tilted her head, Really? She thought. She then turned around and walked to another bed right beside the man.
"And leave to where?" She then demanded, still keeping her soft voice intact. "To the burning city and its hordes of monsters?"
"No, to the nearest settlement." The man answered. "Even a small camp would do."
"Why the hell do we have to leave now?"
"Because, and this may sound just plain stupid, but you've been here too long." The man answered. The girl then huffed, as she then laid down on her bed.
"And why is that a bad thing?" She inquired. The man then sat up again, this time sitting forward.
"You being undiscovered that long is not a good sign." He states, "I don't know whether it's luck or a good hiding spot, but nothing lasts forever." The girl simply turns her body away from the man. The man sighed heavily before laying down on his own bed.
"Fine." The man's ears perked.
"What?" The man asked. He saw that the girl had turned her body towards him, so he could see her face covered under the dirty hood.
"We'll go once we've rested." The girl said, before taking her hood off. Underneath that sack of torn and dirty cloth revealed a girl with dark, red hair, styled in a spiral pigtail. Her eyes were a dark, crimson and her face was young and prim. The man smiled as he relaxed on the bed and closed his eyes. Before shooting them back open for one final question.
"Hey, I don't think we ever got out names out. What's your name?" The girl at first said nothing, she let out, merely a single, soft sigh. But then, she looked at the man's eyes, and spoke.
"Amy," She answered, her voice now even softer than before. "My name is Amy Sorel." The man grinned slightly before returning the gaze to Amy and saying, "My name's Link." Amy smirked before turning around and closing her eyes.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Link." Amy said, before closing her eyes, as the temptation and fatigue slowly made her drift into sleep.
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