Yay! ShadowC is still alive! Alright. So, This story is probably gonna be a GilanxOC story. Yes, that OC would be Arra. I find they'll be an interesting couple. Anywayyyyyy, this chapter contains minor cursing, and Arra being totally bad*ss as she "persuades" the bandit to talk. Heehehehehehehe. Muahahahahaha
DISCLAIMER:
Characters and Plot belong to John Flannagan. The only thing I own is my Characters and the mini plot within.
Arra's POV
"Get some rest, Arra," Halt ordered. I gave a quiet nod and retired for the remainder of the morning. I felt that something was wrong. Something was off about the man. Shouldn't he have brought reinforcements? Unless of course, the letters were fake, but they had Morgarath's seal, the two boars going head to head with a vulture flying above them. I struggled to figure it out, but I drew a blank. I hadn't realized how tired I'd actually been until I was on my bed with a quilted blanket drawn up to my chest. With a deep breath I started counting. Saying I was out like a light is an understatement. I was practically asleep once my head hit the pillow. I had a strange dream, whether it was an omen or just my freaky subconscious, I would never know.
/The Dream/
It was dark. Really dark. I couldn't even see a foot in front of myself. The only source of light was a fading pink light. Upon impulse, I followed it. I followed it until I found a clearing. I saw myself sitting in the middle of a drawn circle on the ground. The drawn circle was made of ashes and it smelled of burnt flesh. I realized then, that the figure I saw was not me, rather, someone who appeared to be me. They had the same dark hair that never seemed to fall flat and the deep sapphire eyes that almost seemed black, but when the doppelganger smiled, there were bloodied fangs. The clearing was suddenly illuminated to show the dead bodies of those I had come to care for. Halt, Gilan, even Will. I bit my tongue to hold back a cry of anguish. There was a sharp pain in my mouth as blood spurted from the incisions in my tongue. My teeth had elongated to form the wicked fangs. There was dried blood crusting my lips when I tried to say something, there were foreign growls and snaps.
With a cry I awoke eyes wide. My door was shoved open with Will standing at the doorstep. "What happened, Arra?" He asked the worried tone in his voice. "I'm fine," I replied and added to reassure him, "Just a bad dream. Nothing harmful." I grasped the bronze oak leaf around my neck. A surge of warmth spread through me. "Where's Halt?" I asked grimly. Man, Halt rubbed off on me. "He's questioning the bandit," Will replied easily. I gave a nod. "I'll be out in a moment," I said herding Will out of my room. I pulled off my tunic as soon as the door shut and examined the bandages. They were soaked with blood. I grumbled unwrapping the long strips of linen and found that someone had cleverly placed extra clean strips by my bed. I cleansed the wound and rewrapped it. I pulled on a fresh tunic and made myself presentable. When I came out, there seemed to be chaos.
Will ran up to me clumsily almost tripping over a stack of discarded letters. "The bandit says he'll only answer to one who defeated him. Halt is… well agitated." I rolled my eyes pulling up the cowl of my hood and walking outside. I disregarded the silently fuming Halt and noticed Halt conveniently bound his hands behind his back. I grabbed his arm ignoring his whines and dragged him towards the dining table. He suddenly tried to shoulder me. With an almost animalistic growl I turned and within three seconds he was face down on the floor with myself kneeling on his back. My hip burned in protest, but in anger, I hardly noticed it. "Alright now, I'm not having a very good time so unless you want me to kill you far more slowly and a hell of a lot more painful than Morgarath could ever dream of, I suggest you cooperate. There was that burning fury in my eyes that warned the man not to mess with me.
"Yes, Ma'am," he whined almost pathetically. I none-too-gently dragged him back to a standing position and shoved him into a dining chair. I found there was still some stew left on the stove and ladled a spoonful into my bowl sitting down. "Hey, can I-"
"No, you're not getting any. Maybe if you answered my questions, I'll give you a bowl."
"Well. Not that hungry anyway," He replied haughtily though his stomach disagreed. There was a growl from his stomach and a triumphant smirk made itself known on my face.
"Alright, I want to know your name"
"Jeremy Wolfe"
"Alright then, Wolfe, tell me where the Kalkara are."
"But you already know. You overhear-"
"Tell me where the Kalkara are," I hissed through gritted teeth.
"S-solitary plains."
"Interesting." I watched from under the cowl of my cloak as Wolfe nervously glanced around hoping for any sign of sympathy on my face. All he found was my cruel, cold eyes. "Alright, now tell me who you work for."
"Ahh, I can't, Girl, Sorry." With a protesting screech from the wooden chair. I rose from my seat grabbing the man by the collar. My eyes bore into his as I unsheathed my very sharp, lethal throwing knife and held it to his throat. "I asked you who you worked for, Wolfe, now answer me before I make this painful."
"I'll take my chances," he said a small spark of courage sounding in his voice. The fool thought I was bluffing? I dropped the knife to waist level and pulled him close impaling him upon the knife. It buried itself into his left hip. He let out a gasp realizing he made a big mistake. "I asked you who your employer was." I counted mentally. 1…2…3…4…5…no answer? I twisted the blade painfully as the man who I was still holding by the collar squirmed in agony. "Lord Morgarath, Lord Morgarath!" He screeched. I withdrew the knife and dropped him to the floor wiping my blade off on his shirt as I stepped over him. As I pushed the door to my room open, I noticed Will staring at me. Wow, just cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't be persuasive, geez.
I shut the door reaching for a piece of parchment and a pen. I sketched out a full bodied dragon roaring its might to the skies. Every scale was evident in the picture and the detail was shocking. It had a blue tint to it, scarlet flames shooting out of its mouth. I left it on the table and left my room. About an hour or so had passed and Will was cleaning up the kitchen. I scanned the room for Halt when he scared me by randomly deciding to form from the shadows. "I didn't think you'd actually go through with the threat." I shrugged. "Well, you were really…persuasive," Will managed. I shrugged again. I honestly didn't know why I stabbed the man.
I pushed the door to the cabin open and decided to talk to Saer. I picked up a brush and slowly started grooming her. I poured out most of my feelings to the horse who would, every now and then toss her mane or quietly whinny in response to what I said. I then dragged some horse feed over to her. She munched happily on the oats as I pulled myself onto the fence sitting there and watching her. I plucked an apple from the tree above me and fed it to the gray mare. Tug whinnied hoping for an apple. "Sorry, Tug, you'll have to ask Will," I replied softly patting Saer's neck one last time before I turned to move back inside. Wolfe was now tied to the barn in one of Halt's impossible-to-get-out-of knots. He cringed fearfully when he saw me. I just shrugged and pushed the door open to move back inside.
-(Ohemgee! It's a line breaky thing!)-
The next morning was about as interesting as watching an apple tree grow. I woke up at about the same time Halt did and decided to make breakfast so I could concentrate on something other than yesterday morning. I was in the midst of brewing up some coffee when Will woke up cheerful as ever. I managed a small smile. I brought the three plates of food to the table and the three mugs of coffee. Halt looked practically dead until I handed him his mug. "We're riding down to the Castle today. And we're dragging the miserable oaf with us." I nodded back to my quite usual self now. We spent the breakfast in companionable silence and mounted the horses. Wolfe rode with Halt as we kicked our horses into a canter. Halt decided to teach Will about animal tracks along the way. "And what is that there?"
"Rabbit,"
"Are you sure look at the tracks."
"Rabbits," Will corrected himself.
"There's a difference between one Skandian and a horde of Skandians," Halt instructed.
"What's that?"
"Ah. I haven't taught you this one because it's quite rare to find one. Its-"
"Wild boar," I muttered. Halt nodded, "And It looks big. We'll have to tell Baron Arald about this. The knights will enjoy a boar hunt." There was a rustling in a nearby bush. Will suddenly snapped up aiming his bow at the bush. "I hope you aren't planning to shoot that farmer," Halt raised a brow as a farmer made himself visible, "Oh Don't shoot me, Rangers," He begged. "Why were you following a trio of Rangers?" Halt asked. I dismounted followed by Halt and Will. "I was looking for someone to kill that wild boar. Make 'im into bacon! He's vicious, tearing up fences and destroying crops," He said. "Alright, what is your name?" Halt asked. His patience was wearing thin. "Salt Peter, cause I like a bit a Salt on my meat," Peter replied proudly. "I'm sure you do. Now, I want you to go to the castle and give the Baron Arald a message from the Ranger Halt-"
"Halt? Where's Halt?"
"I'm Halt"
"Noooo, Halt is two meters tall, taller than the average man! You're far too short."
Will and I mentally saw something snap in Halt, "I am Halt. I used to be tall, but now I'm like this. I want you to take a message to the Baron Arald telling him that the Ranger Halt, Arra, and Will," He clamped a gloved hand over the farmer's mouth, "That's Arra, that's Will. Tell him that Halt, Will and Arra have found boar tracks and that they will find it. Tell him to have his soldiers ready at dawn tomorrow." Salt Peter scurried off calling behind him, "I still don't think your Halt! A person can't just shrink!"
Halt led Will and I through the forest until the horses gave a nervous whinny. "This seems to be the place. We'll come back tomorrow with the troops.
Ahahahahahahahahaha! What did you think? I decided to include the boar hunt. Aaaaaaand now for my Thankies.
Dragon Lovers in BC- Well, Halt did kinda rub off on her, but I was thinking about making Arra like reaaaally quiet just so she can be really scary in the chapters that she does talk more than once or twice. And Yes, she shall make friends. Soon enough...soon enough... Oh, and I apologize for any grammar mistakes. Grammar is my worst point.
Raider1472- BippityBoppityBoo. I give you what happens when I stay up allllll night writing this for you. Aren't I just the besstt?
Thats almost 2000 words. Happy? -grumbles- So read and review, no flames. Actually, If you want, go ahead and flame, it still gets me reviewwws, Sorry if this last AN is really annoying. I've been DEPRIVED OF SLEEP. Yesssssss, uh. There was something I needed to tell you all. But I forget. RIGHT!
If you guys can get me to 10 reviews, I'll be so happy, I'll post two chapters in a day! Two Actionpacked 1.5-2k worded chapters. thats 4000 words in a day!
