Sorry I didn't post this sooner! I tried to but the site kept saying it couldn't upload it for some reason. But I finally got it to work today. (As if you couldn't tell already.) So I'm very sorry again to everyone and thank you for waiting so very patiently! Anywho...
Mifrocher - Why thank you. I'm glad you think so.
Mirawriter - I hope you like the fight scenes latter on in the war. I'm not very good at writing those so I hope people like it. Hehe, don't you just love cliffhangers? By the way, where did you come up with your username? I like it.
nightmare-kingdom- Thanks! And I certainly plan to! )
burg girl- Wow, I've never had someone write so many reviews one right after the other. It makes me feel special. ) I'm glad the story makes you smile. Nothing better than a story that can get an emotional reaction from the reader, be it a smile, laugh, cursing, or crying. It let's the author know that they have done their job well. Oh and I'm a big romance geek too. grins
pokiejason- Well, since you were patient here's the chapter for ya!
And to anyone I missed I'm sorry and thank you so much for your reviews! I hope you all like this next chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 21 – Commander and Hediora
Over that month time period everyone throughout the lands was preparing for the war, whether it was by making supplies for the warriors or honing their combat skills. For a week Collian and I would train, rest in a town over the weekend and make arrows or runes, then return to the wilderness for another week. Finally the day came where we were to meet in Varrock. I sighed as I looked out over Catherby.
(Author's Note: Warning. Kinda sappy part coming up.)
"Well, we have everything now. You ready to go?" Collian said coming up behind me.
"I can't help but think we could have done more. Could of training harder, made more arrows and runes, prepared more potions. Will what we did be enough?" I said my back to him.
Collian was silent a moment as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him and laid his head on my right shoulder.
"I don't know if it will be enough. But I do know that we did all we could. We trained until we could barely stand, made enough runes and arrows to supply a small army, and made dozens of every kind of potion needed. There is nothing else we could have done."
"Yes but….."
Collian cut me off by turning me around and giving me a quick kiss then looking in my eyes.
"Minuial, we did all we could. Don't wear yourself out with all these 'If only's. We've prepared as much as we could in a month and now we just need to meet them in battle and show them how much we have prepared. Even if it does prove to not be enough we won't go down without a fight. That's all we can do. Alright?"
I thought over his words then agreed. We had done all we could.
"Good. Now do me a favor and promise me something."
I raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"Just promise to do this for me." Collian repeated.
"I won't promise anything until I know what it is that I'm promising to do." I said.
"Promise me that you'll be careful and not die in battle. If you die on me I swear I'll raise you from the dead and strangle you for leaving me." Collian teased.
I laughed, "But if you strangle me wouldn't that defeat the purpose of bringing me back to life?"
"Nope because I wouldn't strangle you so much that you die again." Collian replied with a smile.
I rolled my eyes with a chuckle, "Alright whatever."
"Just promise you won't leave." Collian said turning serious.
"Oh yea I'm going to promise that someone's not going to kill me in battle." I laughed.
"I'm serious, Minuial."
"So am I Collian. I can't promise that I won't die. That's like promising the world's never going to end. I can promise that I'll be careful though." I pointed out.
"Alright promise me that then." Collian sighed.
"I will on one condition. You have to be careful too. I may not raise you from the dead if you die and strangle you but I would beat you over the head for leaving me when I saw you in heaven." I said in a mock serious tone.
Collian laughed, "Well I don't want that to happen do I? Alright I promise."
"Oh and you also have to promise that if you do die I get all your gems and other shiny things."
"What is it with you and gems?" Collian asked.
"They're shiny. That's why I said gems and other shiny things. I like staring at shiny things cause they so pretty!"
Collian shook his head, "You're weird."
"Love you too. Now let's skedaddle on out of here."
(Author's Note: Ok sappy part over.)
Collian and I said our goodbyes to Samson, Susa, and her family then teleported with all of our items to Varrock. Well, tried to at least. The city was so packed that we ended up teleporting to the outskirts of Varrock. There were people who had come to fight and people who came to bid the fighters goodbye and good luck. I smiled slightly as I looked out at all those who planned to fight only to frown when I noticed that there were many newbie fighters here.
"Surely they are not going to let the newbies fight?" I asked.
"They are. They said we need all the help we can get, even from the newbie fighters." A man said next to me.
I looked and smiled when I saw my old friend, Seriousfun.
"Hello there Serious. Come to join the battle?" I asked.
Seriousfun shook his head, "No, the battle scene isn't for me. I prefer life as a court jester."
I nodded, knowing this was probably going to be his answer.
"So how's Scully?" I asked after looking around.
Collian at this point saw someone he wanted to talk to and walked away.
"She is doing fine. A little upset by the upcoming war. We all are. It is a very delicate matter in the castle." Seriousfun said with a sigh.
"Yea. So does the king know about you and her yet?" I asked.
Seriousfun smiled, "Nope and it's been a year now. I'm rather surprised that he has not figured it out yet but grateful too. I'd rather not know what he'd do to me were he to discover this relationship."
"You can't hide this forever you know. Perhaps when we come back in victory the king will be so pleased by the turnout of the battle that he will not mind your relationship. The trick is going to be getting the timing right. Think you can do that?"
"Minuial, I'm a court jester. Tricks are my middle name."
I laughed, "Oh yes how could I forget?"
I talked with Seriousfun a bit longer then went off to find Wizard Makemesmile. I found him going over battle plans with some of the toughest warriors that had a lot of experience in the wild. He looked up as I approached.
"Ah Minuial! Glad you're here. I would like to talk with you and Collian about the upcoming battle." Makemesmile said, while nodding about something one of the warriors had said.
"Um ok. Let me go find him again and I'll be right back."
The wizard nodded and turned back to the battle plans.
I searched through the crowds and with Seriousfun's help managed to locate Collian. We proceeded over to Makemesmile to see what he wanted.
"Good you're back."
Collian and I nodded, waiting for an explanation on why Wizard Makemesmile wished to speak with us.
"I'm sure you two have noticed the newbie fighters here." Makemesmile said nodding towards a group of them.
"Ah about that. Are we really going to let them fight?" Collian asked.
"Yes we are. We need everyone which unfortunately means the newbie fighters too."
I frowned not liking this one bit.
"It's about them that I wish to speak with you about. There are a lot of them and we need someone to lead them. I would do it myself but I'm overseeing another area. Minuial, I would like to ask you to lead them and keep them safe along with Hediora. She is also leading the newbie fighters. If we're going to lose any life today I'd rather not lose any newbies as they have just started in their adventures. I'm asking you cause I know that during your time here you were very willing to help those fresh off Tutorial Island. Will you do this?"
I nodded, "Of course. I shall do my best to keep them safe."
He smiled, "Thank you. Now Collian, I'd like you to oversee an area of archers. There are so many archers that we need many master archers to lead them. As you know the archers are in the front so you will be on the front lines."
"Alright. Just tell me where to go and I shall do it."
"Good and thanks. We shall move into the wilderness in half an hour at this point. We need everyone to be ready by then." Makemesmile said, pointing to a spot near us on a map.
"I'll make sure my group is ready." I said.
Collian echoed my response and went off to find his group. Wizard Makemesmile pointed Hediora out to me and returned to organizing everyone else. I went up Hediora and introduced myself.
"Hello I'm Minuial. Wizard Makemesmile told me to come lead the newbies along side you."
Hediora looked at me and smiled with a nod, "Yea he told me you might be coming to help. I'm Hediora pleasure to meet you. Though it'd be nice if we could of met under better circumstances."
I sighed, "Yea but we gotta take what we can get right now."
"Yea. Well I'll introduce you to the newbies. Hey guys pay attention!"
All the newbie fighters looked up and came closer except for a few who thought themselves to be hot shots, though their number was small. Seemed the upcoming war humbled many and I knew actual battle would humble the rest. Once Hediora had all the newbies attention she continued.
"This here is Minuial. She is a commander along side with me and you will listen to her and obey her. Is that clear? Are there any questions?"
"I've got one. When are we going into battle?" a guy with red hair and iron armor towards the front asked.
"Wizard Makemesmile said we are to depart in less than half an hour and we need to be ready by then." I answered.
Several whispered amongst themselves about this new information but most stayed quiet. Hediora turned away from them to address me.
"Wizard Makemesmile wanted to keep these guys as safe as possible and not lose one of them. Now you probably know as well as me this is going to be next to impossible but I believe if we can keep these guys towards the center or back of the army we can keep casualties down to a minimum." Hediora informed me.
"Preferably the center in back as there shouldn't be any enemies coming from that direction as that's where we just came from. I would rather not have them in the battle at all but who am I to argue with a wizard?" I said, lowering my voice for the last part.
I knew the newbies wouldn't like it too well if they heard me saying they shouldn't be here.
"I'm not trained much in the mage areas so if a wizard tells me to do something I usually do it. I'd rather not find myself as a toad or something like that."
I laughed, "Yea. I'm trained in magic. My beginners training was done by Wizard Makemesmile himself."
Hediora was surprised, "Really? He trained you?"
"Yep. But I still wouldn't argue with him. One cause he's stronger than me and two he helped me get this far so I owe him."
Hediora nodded in agreement. We talked for a few more minutes then began to get our group lined up and prepared to march out into the wild. Finally Makemesmile gave the command and began to lead our massive army deep into the wild.
"This place is so quiet. It's unsettling as there's usually some sounds of battle from nearby warriors." Hediora commented.
I agreed feeling very uneasy going into such a desolate place. I didn't care much for the wilderness to begin with due to all the annoying monsters that lived here that were quite dangerous, yet handy for training and those dragon hides sold for a nice price if you survived long enough to grab some.
We marched for maybe an hour before coming to a halt in an area usually occupied by dragons.
"Minuial. Hediora. Aren't there usually dragons here?" a guy with light brown hair and bronze armor asked.
My eyebrows went up in surprise, "Why yes. But how do you know this? Very few newbies know of such things in the wilderness."
"My father used to travel all over Runescape and would tell stories about his adventures. He also taught me all the areas to avoid in the wilderness and for what reason." The guy answered.
"Hm, interesting. What is your name?" I asked.
"Petulan."
"Your father must have been a powerful and brave warrior for usually only they venture into the wilderness. Even then many do not know all the areas of the wild extremely well. Tell me, is your father here?" Hediora asked.
Petulan nodded, "Yea he's up with those on the front line."
I grimaced as I thought about those on the front line. They were going to be the very first of us to fight and the very first to die. That was the price paid by several on the front line in the history of war.
After about 20 minutes of standing around my group grew impatient and I went to find Makemesmile to find out what was going on. I jogged up to the front line and saw the wizard looking out over the land.
"Makemesmile? What is it?" I asked.
"They are coming. We shall wait here for them." He answered simply.
Looking out onto the land I couldn't figure out how he knew that.
"You still have much to learn in the art of magic, Minuial. Remind me to teach you how to sense the approach of others after this is all over."
I jumped and looked at him in surprise, "How…?"
"Have I never told you that I can read minds?" Makemesmile said with a grin, knowing full well he hadn't.
"No! That would have been very nice information to have." I said, annoyed.
"I suppose. But it would have changed nothing unless you figured out how to block your mind from being read."
"Anything else I should know about you?" I asked.
"Only the fact that I can speak directly to your mind as well." Makemesmile's voice echoed in my head.
"Ach! Don't do that!"
"What? This?"
"Yes that! That's just creepy! And not natural." I said, quite unnerved by this recent event.
"Actually it's quite natural. Anyone can do it they just have to know how. I find it very handy to speak with mindspeech because you cannot tell a lie when using mindspeech. This is handy when dealing with politicians as you can never trust them."
"Indeed. Maybe this mindspeech is better than I thought. Perhaps you can teach me if we survive the war?"
"When we survive the war. You say 'if' and that's just saying there is a chance of failure. Why fight if you know you will die? That is what your mind is going to tell your body subconsciously. Now say it with me, 'I will survive this war.'" Makemesmile ordered.
"I will survive this war."
"Good." Makemesmile nodded with satisfaction then gazed back over the land.
He frowned as he scanned the landscape then pointed to an area on the horizon. Following his gaze I saw at the limit of my eyesight the coming of the evil army.
Makemesmile had a grim smile, "So it begins."
Cliffhanger! What will happen next? Who will die? Will our heros win? Find out next time on Welcome to Runescape! (I sound like a tv show announcer. Anyway please review! Reviews are my anti-drug!)