The Tale of Slayne
Author's Note: Last chapter was kinda short. Maybe that's how intro's work? Well, I'll try to make this chapter a bit longer. I must also warn you that I suck at romance.
Chapter 2: The Journey
A few years later after the war. Slayne and his uncle went to visit the village which was rebuilt. The whole place look different now. His old house was now turned into a forge. None of the people there were from his memory. All new faces and places made his head hurt. He and his uncle strolled along towards the graveyard.
At the graveyard,
"Where do you think their graves are?" He asked looking around for the graves of his parents.
"Uh.. I think it's those big ones over there." His uncle replied pointing towards a big tomb with his parents name engraved on the doors.
It read 'To the fallen Heroes of Crafton, Giz And Rose Neron. They fought to the very end, but were killed by the one called Big Red. May their souls rest in piece.'
"Atleast they died heroes." Arbie said putting a hand on Slayne's shoulder.
Slayne just sighed and nodded. Trying hard not to cry. His uncle told him, tears were for the weak. Strong men don't cry.
"Let's go, uncle Arbie." He said as he slowly walked towards the entrance.
They walked around town trying to find a pub. As they were walking, a sudden figure appeared from the alleyway and sucker punched Slayne right in the nose. Blood started oozing out almost right away.
"OUCH! What the fuck was that for?" He yelled at the mysterious assailant. Only to realise that his coin purse has dissappeared.
"Come on, kid! He took my coin purse! Damn it." Arbie said running in the direction of the thief.
Slayne ran after the thief holding his nose which was still bleeding. Arbie followed close behind. The thief ran into an abandoned building and shut the half broken door behind him. Slayne just kicked it with ease breaking its hinges.
"Show yourself! Come out here and face me, thief!" Slayne demanded. His demands were met when a few moments later, a women appeared right before him holding their coin purses.
"I'm sorry. Sir...?" The thief asked in a spanish accent smiling apologeticly.
"A woman?" Slayne and Arbie said unison dropping their jaws
"Yes. I know. 'OH MY GOD! A WOMAN THIEF!' Pretty rare ain't it?" The thief said as she placed her hand underneath their jaws and pushed them back up.
"Why did ya steal our coin purses?" Arbie asked calmly.
"Well, it's kinda like the only thing I'm good at. You see? Other people are good at stuff like farming, fishing and all that crap. Me? I like to do the wild stuff. Stealing, fighting & mercenary work. That's my thing. I'm just horrible at being one of the good guys." She said pacing back and forth between them.
"Uh huh. Tell us your name thief." Slayne demanded.
"Name? Veronica from the land called Spane." She replied simply.
"Spane, eh? I've been to that place before." Arbie said smiling.
"Okay. Veronica. Could you tell us where the bar is?" Slayne asked holding his nose.
"Right this way boys." Veronica said as she put her arms around their shoulders and lead them.
5 minutes later, they were at the bar. Just like Veronica promised.
"Well, looks like we have new faces here. What'll ya have?" the barkeep said to them.
"Appears so. We'll have a shot of a thick potion and for the lady, give her a mundane potion. Will ya?" Arbie said to the barkeep. The barkeep just nodded.
"You know, I still don't know your names." Veronica said trying to start a conversation.
"I'm Arbie, this is my nephew Slayne." Arbie replied to her smiling.
Slayne just grunted in response while placing a cloth on his nose.
"I said I was sorry, Slayne." She said to him a bit sad.
He removed the cloth from his nose and said, "Yeah, whatever." and placed the cloth back at his nose. The bleeding stopped a few minutes later.
The night went by pretty fast as they were all talking with each other. Arbie was relatively drunk while Slayne and Veronica were not so drunk as Arbie was. They both carried him out of the bar and walked towards the abandoned building.
When they arrived, Veronica brought them to her room. Which had a furnace, a makeshift bed, some chests and a few paintings.
"Wow. I must be really drunk. Did you paint these?" Slayne asked rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"Yeah. My dad taught me before he died." She said as she exhaled.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know." He frowned at her.
"T-that's alright. So, find a place to lie down and sleep. Looks like Arbie already did." She pointed at Arbie who was near the warmth of the furnace.
Slayne just nodded and sat near the wall close to the furnace. He readjusted his position so he was much more comfortable. The next morning, the rays of light shone at his eyes and he woke up. He was surprised to find himself on Veronica's makeshift bed with Veronica's head on his chest using it as a pillow. 'How the hell did I get here?' He thought. He slowly tried to move away but Veronica had a strong grip on his shirt. 'Crap crap crap. I've never been this close to a woman before. She's pretty strong too. She looks so relax- DAMN IT BRAIN! STOP THINKING LIKE THAT!'
"Good morning! Get up love birds!" The sound of Arbie's voice broke the silence and woke Veronica up. Slayne pretended to do the same. She just smiled at him.
"Good morning, Arb!" She said warmly smiling.
"How's your hangover?" Slayne asked his uncle.
"Bad. I've been through worse. Don't worry 'bout it kid." He smiled and patted Slayne on the shoulder
"Figures. So, we gonna continue our journey?" Slayne asked massaging his temples.
"Sure, sure. We leave in a couple of hou-." He was cut off by Veronica before he could finish.
"Journey? You mean like adventure? Oooh. Can I come?" She asked giving them both puppy eyes.
They both looked at each other and sighed. Slayne nodded. She jumped into Slayne's arms. Realising what she just did. She quickly got off and blushed.
"I'm sorry. I just got excited."
"That's okay. Now go get your things." He told her. She quickly ran out the room and went to look for her stuff upstairs.
"That is one weird thief." Arbie commented, Slayne just grinned.
After a couple of hours, they left town and began they're 'adventure' together. The three of them. Slayne was armed with a leather tunic, an iron sword and a few throwing knives. Arbie was armed with an iron chestplate, a bow and some arrows. Veronica was armed with a black leather tunic and just a dagger. They brought some food and an old map they bought from the shop. They reached a huge jungle, there was a sign nailed on a tree 'Jungle of Wildriders. BEWARE!'
"Huh. Wildriders, eh?" Veronica laughed.
"They're no joke dear, I've seen them kill one of my friends before. It was grizzly." Arbie said looking into the jungle.
Veronica just gasped in shock. After an awkward moment of silence and standing motionless, they trekked inside the jungle. They kept their eyes peeled for any imminent danger. As they were trudging through the muddy jungle floor, they heard a faint screech.
"What was that?" Veronica asked grabbing Slayne's arm tightly.
"Just keep moving." Slayne said trying to hide his fear. His mucles tensed a bit.
"We better move faster." Arbie told them both. They both just nodded and moved quickly.
They were almost running through the the jungle. Veronica started panting and they all stopped. Thinking they wouldn't wanna waste more time, Slayne carried Veronica and they continued the journey once more.
"We can't make it out in time. It's getting dark. We better camp out rather than running blindly in the jungle." Arbie said as he stopped and placed his bag on the dry ground. Slayne placed Veronica back on her feet and they put their bags on the ground next to Arbie's. Slayne started a fire and Arbie placed a few pieces of beef and waited for them to cook.
A few hours later
They all ate their beef portions and just lied down on the damp grass looking at the nightsky. It was quiet and peaceful. They didn't hear screeching or moaning, it was safe for the time being.
Slayne was just lying on his back when Veronica suddenly appeared out of nowhere and lied beside him.
"Hey, Slayne. I have something to tell you." She said smiling and giggling.
Slayne tried to keep his cool. His heart was pounding and his brain couldn't function correctly. 'This is it man. The CONFESSION. Just keep your cool and act normal.' his brain said to him subconciously.
"Yeah. What is it?" He asked clearing his throat.
"I.. um.. I kinda.. uh.. How do you say, li-" she was cut off by Slayne giving her a quick peck on the lips causing her whole face to turn red.
"I know. I like you too." He whispered smiling at her. Veronica grabbed his shoulders and pushed him on the ground. They started making out in the dark. Luckily Arbie was already asleep. After a few hours of making out, they both fell asleep in each others arms exhausted from the make out session. Arbie just smiled when he heard them collapsing to the ground.
End of chapter 2
