The Journey Begins

Forest

The Company of James Ironwood were all riding their horses all ready to begin their quest. However some members of the company were a bit depressed. Such was the case for Pyrrha and some of the other hunters.

"What's the matter Pyrrha? Sad your boyfriend is a no show?" joked Sun

He and Neptune did a high five while laughing at the joke.

"Happy your's is coming?" responded Pyrrha with a smile.

This shut the two hunters up much to her delight. However the silence did not last long, for they heard a voice calling out for them.

"Wait, Wait, Wait!"shouted the voice

The company stopped and turned to see Jaune running after them with the contract in his hand. He ran all the way to Bartholomew's horse and handed him the contract.

"I signed it." said Jaune

Bartholomew took out a small lens and began looking at the contract. After a small time he handed the contract back to Jaune.

"Well it appears everything is in order. Congratulations Mr. Arc, you are now the fourteenth member of the company of James Ironwood." said Bartholomew

Some of the hunters cheered for this. James merely turned and continued his way.

"Give him a horse." said Ironwood

"Thank you, you will not regret this I swear." said Jaune before Sun and Neptune lifted him up to the spare horse.

Jaune was placed on the horse and found himself riding along side Glynda looking all around the forest. As they were riding all the hunters were throwing around money bags filled with golden coins. Jaune was a bit unsure of what was going on with his new companions.

"Alright ladies pay up." said Nora

"Here you go Ruby." said Weiss

"Sun, Neptune, I believe that this is karma at work here." said Pyrrha

"Oh yeah! Mama is eating steak tonight." said Yang eyeing her money

"What is going on?" asked Jaune

"Oh they betted on whether you were going to show up or not. Most of them betted against you showing up. Only Pyrrha, Nora, Ruby and Yang betted that you would come." explained Glynda

"Really? Which side did you bet on?" asked Jaune

As in cue, Glynda caught a money bag that was coming her way. She weight it a bit and she then laughed.

"Oh my dear Jaune, I never doubted you for a minute." said Glynda

They reached the edge of the Shire and Jaune nearly stopped on his tracks. Pyrrha stopped right next to him.

"Is everything alright?" asked Pyrrha

"Its just that...This is the farthest away I have ever been from home. It is a bit unsettling." responded Jaune

"Well, you know what they say: 'The first step is always the hardest.'" said Pyrrha

And with that said Jaune continued to ride with the rest of the company.

As they continued to ride Jaune sneezed, then Nora gave him an old piece of cloth. Jaune took a whiff and nearly dropped. Everybody began to laugh at Jaune's facial expressions.

"You will have to get along without handkerchiefs, and many other things from now on Jaune. Your home is now behind you, the world is now in front of you." said Glynda

The company rode through the forest and soon enough they found themselves at a grassy plain with a river to their left. The minutes turned to hours as the company of hunters kept the pace towards their destination. As they rode Jaune understood the reality of what Glynda had said. He had been born in the peaceful Shire, where the rivers were small and calm, and the clear skies and the fruitful land made life easy for those that lived in it. The rest of the world was far from that peaceful but Jaune also saw that there was a certain beauty to the wild glens and misty forests. After the company arrived at the top of a mountain, they set up camp. Most of them were asleep, sadly Jaune found himself awake staring at the star filled sky. It was almost the perfect moment of the night had it not been for Port's loud snoring.

Accepting the fact that he wasn't going to get much sleep Jaune stood up and made his way to the horses. He went to his horse and gave it an apple.

"Here you go Road. You did good today. Especially, since you didn't threw me." said Jaune while the horse ate the apple.

"People can tell you are a farmer by the way you treat the horses." said Pyrrha making Jaune jump a little.

Jaune turned around and saw Pyrrha fully awake.

"Port makes it very hard to sleep." said Jaune trying to keep his cool

Suddenly a loud screech made Jaune feel terror. It came from down under the foot of the mountain. Jaune quickly moved away and stayed low as he moved towards where the company was along with Pyrrha.

"What was that?" asked Jaune

Neptune and Sun decided to scare Jaune off a bit for fun.

"Orcs." said Sun

"Orcs?!" aske Jaune

This made Ironwood wake up and Glynda looked at the two young huntsmen telling Jaune of the danger.

"Yeah, throat cutters most likely. There might be thousands in the low lands." said Neptune

"They attack just before dawn. Right at the time when everyone is asleep. That is why there is no sound when they attack." said Sun with a serious face

Jaune was quite shaken to the point of grabbing a long thick stick to use as a weapon. Pyrrha saw that Jaune was agitated and tried to calm him down by putting a hand on his shoulder. Then Sun and Neptune were laughing at Jaune's expression and fear. The laughs didn't last long though.

"Do you think it is a joke? Is the night raid of the orcs something to joke about?" asked Ironwood making the two huntsmen shut up.

"Sorry." said Sun

"You should be. Neither of you know anything about the world." said Ironwood walking away to the edge.

Seeing this Bartholomew went up to the two young huntsmen.

"Do not take it personal boys. James has all the reasons in the world to hate the orcs. For you see, after the dragon Smaug took the Lonely mountain the king sought to take back the ancestral home of the hunters. Sadly, our enemy had gotten there first. Hundreds of thousands of orcs were there waiting. A gruesome battle took place that day. But, a mist the battle the king was beheaded by the leader of the orc legions Asog the defiler. The vicious pale orc of Bundabad lead the charge against us. We were without a leader, and the hands of death were near our necks. But there was where I saw him. A young huntsman prince facing the pale orc with nothing more than an old iron wooden shield. During that battle James struck the orc slicing off his left arm. With new found courage we finished the fight in our favor. But there was no great feast nor song because the number of our dead was far greater than what we anticipated. James' father was never seen after the war some say that he was an executed prisoner. Few of those that lived through that war are still around though. However, in the middle of the battle field I saw him the one I could follow." finished Bartholomew facing towards James.

Jaune had no idea of what had happen back then but he still had one question in his mind.

"What happened to the pale orc?" asked Jaune

"That piece of filth died a long time ago. He died in the scum filled hole he came out of." said Ironwood as he went back to sleep.

Jaune now knew that he would have to prove himself to the veteran hunter. However fate had something in stored for them. Unbeknownst to the company there were two orcs riding black furred wolves. One of them said to tell their master in orc tongue.