"A true friend is accepted freely, advises justly, assists
readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends
courageously, and continues a friend
unchangeably."
~William Penn
I drowsily opened my eyes, already mumbling before I was fully awake.
"Mmm… I fell'sleep outside… how'm I in my room…?"
After blinking several more times, I opened my eyes fully, and I connected the dots in a flash. "Must have gotten carried back by somebody," I decided quietly, sitting up. My hair felt frazzled, and I impatiently tugged the tie from the end of the braid and ran my fingers through it several times before rebraiding it. As I did so, I hurried over to the door and flung it open, just finishing winding the ribbon around the end. The occasional window along the opposite wall allowed pale, orangey light to shine in.
"Dawn," I yawned, tossing my braid back over my shoulder. A braid was a quick and easy way to get my hair out of my face, and I didn't have to fiddle with it throughout the day. I closed my door behind me, and cracked my neck both ways. I really don't recommend sleeping in your armor; it's not at all comfortable, bed or no.
I managed to make my way back outside the Keep without getting lost more than once (I stumbled my way into a spare room), and emerged to fairly warm air. I took a deep breath, smiling. It would be a good day.
That was about when I had to jump out of the way of a knight leading two horses to avoid being run over.
Even though it was barely dawn and the sky had only just taken on a pinkish hue, what seemed to be all of the occupants of the keep were up and about, some more so than others. Knights were heading this way and that, and even as I watched, another group of about four headed out through the gates. A pair of men between the library and the med clinic were setting up a catapult, and I briefly feared for their sanity before my attention was captured by the voice of a man who seemed to be giving out orders.
He seemed to be the man in charge, judging by how he was the only one shouting out commands. Things like 'these people stay here, and those people go out on patrol, and you three come with me on the bandit hunt—'
Wait, what?
"I'm going," I muttered to myself before I even realized I had. Speaking my thoughts aloud was a bad habit of mine. I walked confidently up to the man, who was turned away at the moment. All I could make out of him was broad shoulders, dark silver armor, and a head of thick, dark blonde hair. Then he turned around right as I reached him, and he nearly ran over me. He managed to stop himself in time, though, for which I was grateful. Being stepped on by the man in charge would not have been a good start.
Startled, he jerked back, his brow furrowing. He opened his mouth, as though to ask something, then recognition dawned, and he closed his mouth, only to open it again.
"You're the new Warrior?" he asked instead.
"Calliope," I corrected with a shameless grin.
"I'm Captain Rolith," he greeted before frowning again and calling one of the knights out for something or other. Before his attention could wander again, I tugged his arm so he swung back around to me, and I didn't do it lightly.
"I wanted to say thank you," I told him quickly, before something else could distract him, "For bringing me back here." Rolith looked slightly amused, and nodded with a quick 'You're welcome' as he continued to oversee the goings-on.
"When's the next bandit hunt?" I persisted, catching his attention again. No, I don't thrive on attention. I just want information.
"It's going out in about fifteen minutes," Captain Rolith answered. "I'm the head of it. Why, want to tag along?" From his tone, I don't think he expected me to want to. I decided that I would show this sexist that I could do more than he expected. Not show off, necessarily, but… well, alright, show off.
"Love to," I purred in reply. He raised an eyebrow, and a small smile touched his lips. He jerked a thumb back over his shoulder, towards the gate that led to the stables.
"Go have Sir Donic fit you with a horse," he chuckled. I nodded brightly, and turned to head in that direction. Before I could go more than a few steps, though, the Captain called me again. "Calliope!"
I looked back over my left shoulder, raising my eyebrows. I can't raise just one. I never have been able to… Wish I could.
"You'd better be handy with that sword," he said with a quick grin, then he returned (again) to his Captainly duties.
"I've got fifteen minutes," I murmured as I jogged towards the gate where horses were being led or ridden in and out. I slid past a big buckskin that was trotting excitedly out with a knight on his back, and looked around. The stables held close to three dozen horses, I guessed, with only a few still inside. The general flow of both human and equine was going out, so I was having to fight against the tide.
A knight (did all of them wear helmets all the time?) was tightening the girth on a fit bay stallion as I walked up, and I asked him, "Do you know where Sir Donic is?" No time for formalities. If you were inside the Keep's walls, you were considered an ally, and there were no ill feelings.
"I'm he," the knight answered, straightening up. "What'dyou need?"
"Captain Rolith sent me to get a horse."
"Can do," Sir Donic replied, absently patting the bay's neck. "Mare, stallion, or gelding?"
"Whatever's well-behaved," I replied truthfully.
"This way," he told me, indicating the shorter stretch of the stables. He led the bay with us, so I assumed that he wasn't done with him. He stopped in front of a stall door that was still shut. "Do you know how to tack up a horse?" he asked.
"Yes."
"A mare okay?"
"Does she behave?"
"If you're not in her mouth too much, she'll work for you just fine," Sir Donic told me seriously, pulling a bridle off the hook by the stall door and handing it to me. "Saddles and blankets are over that way—" he pointed back the way we had come, "—and you've only got ten minutes. Good luck."
Nodding to him in thanks as he led the bay stallion away, I slid into the stall, and was met by a huge dapple gray. She stood parallel to the wall with the door, and when I walked in, she lifted her head. I cast an appreciative eye over the mare. She was tall, and I liked tall. The junction of her neck and back was above my head. A light, dappled white-gray color patterned her back, sides, neck, and cheeks, while a darker shade adorned her ears, muzzle, legs, and belly. Her mane and tail were a lighter shade of gray, similar to the light patches on her back. A long, fluffy forelock hung over her face, stretching elegantly to the middle part of her face.
"Hello," I murmured, slowly extending a hand to brush her forelock aside and rub the spiral on her forehead. The mare sputtered and she blinked slowly, seeming to enjoy it. "You don't get much attention, do you?" Intelligent, liquid chocolate eyes gazed at me from on either side of my hand, and she extended her nose to snuff along my armor. My heart swelled. "Well, come on, then, let's get you tacked up. We're going for a ride!" I whispered to her, gently running my fingertips along the arch of her neck. The mare did nothing else, merely dropped her nose again.
I hurried to find a saddle for her, then returned to her stall with a saddle blanket. I threw both over her back and with nimble fingers, buckled her girth tightly. The mare simply stood still, and didn't puff out her belly when I fastened the buckle. I smiled at her, rubbing her neck affectionately. I was going to like this mare.
I slipped the headstall over her ears and offered the bit to her mouth, and the gray mare took it without complaint. I tucked the open noseband under the cheekpieces and buckled it underneath her jaw before swiftly pulling her forelock out from under the brow band. I patted her neck lightly, thoroughly delighted with this mare. She was behaving, and not causing any trouble; in short, she was exactly what I was hoping for.
"Let's go, sweet girl," I said excitedly, leading her back out into the stable yard. I had no name for the mare, so any nickname that just so happened to pop into my head would work for the time being. No sooner were we out in the clear than I stopped her and lowered her stirrups. I had measured them a moment after the saddle was on her back, so they would at least fit me so I would stay on, if nothing more. I managed to stretch up to place my left foot in her left stirrup, and (with effort—my ribs weren't entirely healed yet) swung up and over her back.
As I looked down to put my right foot in the corresponding stirrup, I grew gleeful when I saw how far up from the ground I was. I wiggled my butt in the saddle, satisfied with how it felt. "I love you already," I whispered to the mare, running my fingers down the reins. I was pleased to feel the sensation of being on a horse again. The last time I had really ridden was… almost when I left my family.
"That was too long," I chuckled, unable to contain my joy at riding again. "Let's go!" I nudged the mare's sides with my heels, and after a moment's hesitation, the mare broke into a slow trot. Most of the knights had gone out by now (good grief, they're fast), so I didn't have to worry overmuch about having to steer around others.
When I reached the area of the gate, I saw Captain Rolith, sitting on the bay stallion I saw earlier, directing two more knights out of the gate while five others waited on horses behind him. One hand held a huge, silver-and-brass-colored hammer over his shoulder, and the other grasped his horse's reins tightly.
"So that's his horse," I thought aloud with a grin. "Come on, lady, let's hurry and catch up to them before they decide to leave!"
I quickly drew level with the Captain on his right as the group of knights exited the keep, and for a moment, I peered around in excitement. The last time I had been out here, I had been completely lost and set upon by a monster, so I wanted to get a good look while I could.
"So what are we doing, Captain?" I all but chirped to the shape on the bay stallion to my left as the massive gates to the Keep closed behind us.
"Patrolling and keeping an eye out for bandits," he answered in a low tone, hazel eyes flicking back and forth across the path. There was a short fork up ahead; the one on the right led through a thicker patch of trees and around a bend, but I could see blue skies, so it had to be thinner up ahead. The other, the one to the left, stretched along a foresty trail for a while before leading into a darker part of the woods where hardly any light reached.
I sincerely hoped that we would be going to the right.
"What are the main dangers here?" I asked the Captain. I wanted to know everything about where I was, just in case. "I already ran into a Gorillaphant, and I've heard several mentions of bandits?"
"The Darkwolf Bandits are the main threat here," he replied, sparing me a short glance. "You'll know them when you see them. Over there—" he nodded towards the right fork, "—is the place where we found you. Most of the monsters tend to stay over there, but nearly all of them are small; just Sneevils and the like."
"That means… the bandits are that way?" I questioned hesitantly, pointing with one hand to the left. My braid swung back and forth between my shoulderblades as our horses trotted ever closer to the split in the trail. I could hear the faint clinks from the knights' armor behind us. Captain Rolith nodded once. "And that's the way we're going, isn't it?" Another nod. "Well, doodle."
"Doodle?" Captain Rolith asked abruptly, giving his stallion's reins a twitch to the left as we reached the fork. I mirrored him.
"Yes, doodle," I confirmed quite seriously, keeping a straight face. I was, at the moment, being given an incredulous look by the man sitting a horse to my left, and I felt like giggling. "What, don't you replace curse words?"
"Not at all," he said slowly, raising his eyebrows. I shook my head at him.
"How ever did you make it this far?" I asked rhetorically.
"By being responsible. But… isn't making up curse words just a little bit childish?" the Captain asked me. It sounded a bit to me like a leading question, so I decided to answer it as best I could.
"There is no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes," I told him, nodding sagely as the light started to dim. Looking up, I was, quite frankly, amazed that thee trees could blot out that much light. I had only rarely been completely surrounded by foliage as I was now, and it was like a splash of cold water to the face.
"That… actually makes sense." I shot the Captain a look.
"You sound surprised," I stated flatly. Mood swings weren't exactly a character trait I possessed, but I could certainly go back and forth fairly quickly. My eyes took a moment to adjust after the group was fully under cover of the thicker trees. It was quiet in here… the silence was oppressive. I decided then and there that I didn't like it. There's a difference between a normal quiet and a threatening silence. It felt like it was pushing in on your ears and eyes, and forcing itself down your throat to choke you.
In response to my statement, Captain Rolith just grinned slightly crookedly. "With your personality, I didn't think it would."
"What, you think I'm the kind of person who just spews out nonsense?" I demanded, my feathers feeling ruffled.
"Yes."
"Well, good. You're right."
He chuckled, nodding. It was a deep sound, and reminded me briefly of a roll of thunder. "I usually am."
I glanced over my shoulder again. I got the feeling that something was watching us. But I got that feeling sometimes (and was often wrong), so I wrote it off as paranoia and our surroundings.
"You like my personality, right?" I shot at the Captain out of the blue. Random questions that had little relation to the current subject were my specialty. He didn't look surprised, and I wondered if he had to put up with personalities like mine often.
"It's interesting," he said with a quick grin.
"Bah, that's just another way of saying 'weird.' Pick another adjective."
"Fast-paced and easily changeable?"
"That's better," I congratulated with a wide smile. I liked making people happy, but I was just as susceptible to compliments as the next guy. "Most people like me like that!"
"What about the ones that don't?" the Captain inquired, raising his eyebrows again.
"Um… Let's say I'm an acquired taste," I finally said, grinning shamelessly. "If they don't like me, then they need to acquire some taste." He laughed then, and I liked the sound. It rumbled through the air, and I wondered if his armor was suffering the same repercussions.
"I can see you've had time to think about this," he chuckled, grinning. I guessed that the Captain could easily act like a kid when given the opportunity—but while on duty, he had to devote all of his attention to his job. With a thoughtful frown, I shook my head slowly.
"No… no, I actually haven't."
"Oh, so you just come up with stuff like that on the fly?"
"I always manage to convince the skeptics, if that's what you're asking."
"Close enough."
I didn't get a chance to reply, though, because at that moment a warning cry from one of the knights behind us caught our attention fully and completely. There was a flash of movement in the corner of my eye, and just out of instinct I ducked, leaning as close to the mare's neck as I could manage. It was perfect timing, too, because a studded mace swung diagonally through the space where my shoulders had just been.
"Fudge!" I exclaimed, tugging my sword out of its scabbard as I rose back up, careful not to hit the mare. That would be bad, and worse, it would be me hurting an innocent animal. I was not going to be guilty of that. I dug my right heel into her side, hoping she would get the message and just praying that she was trained the same way most horses were. To my relief, the mare swung abruptly to her left, allowing me a view of what had previously been behind us. The Captain was already charging into the tangled knot of knights and men on foot, nearly all of whom were armed with the same studded maces I had nearly been hit with. The men I saw who were not part of the Oaklore Keep group were wearing masks of cloth that were twisted around their faces like the ones the men of the Sandsea wore. Their clothes were shades of black, gray, brown, and green—all the better to blend into the forest.
"Bandits?" I shouted to the Captain as I sliced one coming up on his bay's hindquarters between the neck and shoulder. "We walked right into an ambush?!"
"More or less," he called back, managing to edge his dancing horse out of range of another mace. Maces couldn't be blocked with swords, not unless you wanted to end up with a sheared-off dagger. The only way to stop them was to get too close for the owner to swing it, to block it with a shield, or stay out of range. For the safety of his stallion, Captain Rolith was choosing the third option.
Or, in the Captain's case, if you had a hammer, that was just as well.
Even though all sword (or hammer) strokes were made more difficult by having to avoid a horse's head, he made it work. The Captain swung his massive war hammer as though it were a toy, whirling it around his head once or twice before slamming it down on some victim's head or shoulders.
A bandit that stumbled back from a kick in the chest from one of the knights bumped into the flank of Rolith's bay stallion, and he seemed to find a new target. Right as he was pulling his mace back to fling it into either the Captain or his horse, I stabbed him through the neck from behind, having to lean forward almost out of the saddle to do it. Cut through the spinal cord and the jugular at the same time, and death was inevitable. My ribs assured me they would punish me later as I sat back in my seat, and Rolith turned his head just in time to see the bandit crumple to the ground, blood pouring from the slice in his neck.
"You owe me one," I told him jokingly. His expression was still unnervingly serious.
"Duck."
"What?"
"Now!"
The sound of a direct order spurred my mind into action, and I pressed myself as quickly as I could against the smooth, muscled gray neck of the mare I rode. I have to admit, I was impressed with her. Not only was she patient and obedient, but in the middle of a battle, she wasn't overly keyed up. She was incredibly attentive, yes, but she also cast an ear back towards her rider for further instruction. Whoever had trained her had done an amazing job.
My heart tossed an extra beat into its rhythm as Captain Rolith whipped his hammer around above my head, and I heard a nasty, painful-sounding crunch from behind me, then a lighter thud on ground level to my left. Looking back, I saw a bandit with his jaw almost completely disconnected from his skull. The right side of his head was smashed in, and I glanced back up at the Captain before sitting up once more, twirling my sword in a circle to my side, ready to charge back into the fray. There may not have been many bandits left standing, but that was a few bandits too many for me.
"Consider that debt paid," he said with a reckless grin. The smile was contagious, and a matching, wild-side sort of smile stretched across my own lips.
"You say that like it's a done deal!" I yelled, kicking one of the four standing bandits in the back over towards him. He quickly dispatched him, slamming his war hammer mercilessly into the side of the bandit's skull.
"You talk as if it's not," he responded, grin widening.
Yes, I know. It's sick that we're laughing and cracking jokes while killing people, but we—or at least I—would deal with the repercussions afterwards. It couldn't interfere right now.
Another knight dispatched another bandit, and as a group, the knights surrounded the remaining two, their swords pointed inwards. The swords would do little to defend either the knights or their horses from the maces, but the masked men would be either wounded or killed before they could do much damage.
Still grinning and excited from the adrenaline rush, I shook the blood droplets I could off my blade and sheathed it, then held out a hand to my left towards the Captain.
"We never got properly introduced!" I chirped. "Calliope, lady Warrior-in-training."
"Captain of Oaklore Keep, under King Alteon," the broad-shouldered man replied, still smiling. "But my friends call me Rolith."
And here's the next chapter! :D This one's a lot longer. :3 I tend to stick to shorter chapters, personally.
Anyway, reviews!
Arieta41: Haha, thanks, I've worked hard on that for a good three years running! :D
Aww, thank you so much! :) I really appreciate it! Just remember, flattery almost always works! :3 *tacklehug* Here's your update… I leave it to you to say whether there were sparks, flames, or just plain friction! :D
Skythorn: Very cool! :D I have an original that I've been screwing around with for... oh, three years now? xD Thank you so much! As for her name... about a year back, I came across the name, and I fell in love with it. I looked it up, and realized that it was actually a music box of sorts. :) Still loved it. And I know Calliope's not musically inclined, but it just seemed to work. :)
But anyway, can you say "friendly competition?" :D
I'm going to answer a few questions that may be soon posed here. At least, they're questions that I would have asked if I were a first time reader, and one or three that I've heard more than once from more than one person.
What's the main conflict?
Like Necromancy was the main problem in Zhi Lao'Hu, the Darkwolf Bandits will be the overall issue/antagonists in Golden Touch. :)
Do Artix and Magiya show back up?
This has been a frequent inquiry, and I'm happy to say that yes, they do make an appearance here. ^^ Not for a long while yet—and I mean a LONG while—but they are introduced. However, no, this is not a sequel, though it does occur after the events of Zhi Lao'Hu. As such, Artix and Magiya are not the main characters.
What happened to Alina?
Alina, as many of you probably know, got married to Rolith in Dragonfable. I like Alina, and I have absolutely nothing against her, but this fanfiction was toyed with and considered before I knew about her. Therefore, Golden Touch will proceed as if Rolith had never met Alina. :)
Did you put Calliope through a "Mary Sue" test?
Yes, I put her through several—even the "love to hate" Litmus test. Calliope may seem like a little more than a Mary Sue than Magiya (all of the results said she was more of one than the Mage, anyway), but the truth is that she was designed to be more preppy than moody. That's just how she operates.
How long is Golden Touch going to be?
There's no way of telling. It could be as long as (or longer than) Zhi Lao'Hu. Length is a big variable in this—it's the x variable.
What kind of love story is this? The fluffy, happy-ending type? Or the questionable, could-very-easily-go-bad type?
After spending so long on a slightly depressing fanfiction (yes, Zhi Lao'Hu, I AM looking at you), I decided it was time to start a cheerful, "whoop-de-freaking-do" kind of romance fic. :) And as of late, I've been watching/reading a lot of sweet romance stories… the kind where it's friendship first. :) That's the kind of love story this is. I guess you could say I've always wanted to write this type—the type where the love interests talk like best friends, play like kids, argue like spouses, and protect each other like siblings.
So, I hope I answered some of your questions. ^^ If you have others that do not relate to spoilers, please go right ahead and ask, I'll be happy to answer them!
Hope you enjoyed!
Juliet