ADVENTURE'S TALE
CHAPTER 2
Celia screamed loudly as she was forcefully knocked to the ground. Her sword, previously fastened tightly within her grasp, now lay sprawled about on the grassy field across from her. Ahead of her was the source of all her fears. Standing 7 feet tall, a huge ogre smiled evilly, brandishing a heavy mace secured firmly in his monster-like grip.
Celia tried to rise but found her body was too sore to even move a nudge. She had stumbled across this area quite by accident. She and her partner had been scavenging for money and riches yet in their travels they had found themselves lost. After hours of trying to find their way, they decided to split up and after an hour, meet back at their previous spot to see if one or the other found anything familiar.
Celia was now discovering the problem of that plan as she had instead run into a highly ferocious ogre who had been feasting on a recently killed deer. Celia had tried to defend herself, taking a swing at the gigantic beast yet her efforts proved meaningless as the thing easily dodged her strikes, taking odd swings of its own then finally disarming her.
Celia knew what lay in store for her next. Ogres weren't particularly forgiving to their enemies. She only hoped her partner heard her fearful scream in time to come to her rescue.
Celia's breath came hard as the monster walked even closer to her. The grin never faltered as it raised its mighty mace over her head. Celia clenched her eyes shut, waiting for the sickening thud and then darkness. She felt fresh new chills running up along her arms and legs as the one preeminent thought circulated through her brain. 'I don't want to die.'
The beast braced its arms then launched the mace down with swift efficiency. Celia flinched in fear yet oddly enough, the strike never came. All she had heard was the tearing of air as the mace ripped through it and then a loud clanging noise. Noise?!?
The woman immediately tore her eyes open yet what greeted them, shocked her to the very core. Standing poised in front of her was a man in dark blue, plate mail armor wielding a sword large enough she couldn't fathom a man ever holding such a weapon.
Celia was too shocked to speak.
"Are you alright!" Arngrim asked, battling against locked weapons with his ogre opponent. Celia did not respond, making Arngrim even more agitated.
Suddenly the ogre, seeing its opponent distracted, increased its weight, effectively knocking Arngrim back. Arngrim stumbled a bit but steadied his balance before falling.
The beast gave him no time to recover as it rushed in charging again. Arngrim saw the creature closing the distance and quickly ducked low as the mace soared swiftly over his head. Arngrim retaliated by plunging his huge sword firmly into the ogre's gut then forcing the blade upwards as it carried the beast's entrails right up into where it's mouth used to be. Huge quantities of blood burst forth, spraying Arngrim everywhere yet the man continued to keep the sword where it was, waiting to see if his opponent would do anything else.
However, the ogre preformed no other action save its body convulsing sporadically as it made its downward decent to the cold hard earth. Finally confirming that the beast was indeed dead, Arngrim removed his sword from the entrails of his latest victim then pulled out a cloth from within the folds of his armor.
All the while, Celia just watched in horror at the scene before her eyes. Never before had she ever seen a man with such speed, precision or strength. At the same time, neither had she ever witnessed such a brutal and bloody kill in her life. Her eyes lulled back as she felt a sudden urge to lose her lunch on the grassy floor.
Arngrim slowly trained his eyes back on her. He moved over to a fallen log and proceeded to wipe the ogre's blood clean from his blade. He finally closed his eyes as he found the comfort of treating his blade relaxing to his slightly overexcited nerves.
Celia watched it all in morbid fascination and a good chunk of fear. She found herself too scared to speak for fear that the man was some demon of death sent to kill anything that dared come his way. Instead all she could do was look at him as he cleaned his blade.
"Who are you." Arngrim suddenly asked. Celia was so shocked by his sudden comment to her that she fell over and nearly screamed out in fear. It took all of her nerves to sit back up and breath again. "Y… you're not going to kill me… are you?"
This time, Arngrim did finally reopen his eyes and the sight she saw made her almost want to faint in disgust towards herself. Arngrim had an amused expression on his face. Still cleaning his blade, the big man began to chuckle. "Now why would I want to kill you after I went to all the trouble of saving you from that beast hmm?"
Celia felt her face go red as common sense slowly began filtering its way back into her brain. Soon her arrogance kicked in again. "What kind of a save was that? You damn near scared a few years off of my life with that feat! You didn't have to kill the beast like that. And who are you anyway! I didn't ask for your help ya know!"
This only made Arngrim more amused. "Oh? And I suppose you'd rather I let the ogre kill and eat you then?"
Celia said nothing but the frown on her faced proved Arngrim had won that little squabble. "And as for names, I asked you first. As a matter or fact, now that I think about it, I believe I asked you two questions which you still haven't answered."
Celia clenched her fingers into tight fists. The fear she sensed in this man slowly began to fade as the mood of the area shifted from one of bloodshed to more of an amusing atmosphere. Celia let out a haughty sigh as she finally rose up from the ground and stood before the sword-wielding warrior. "I am Celia! Renowned across the lands as a great sword fighter! No one can defeat me when I really try."
"Is that right?" Arngrim asked, unimpressed as he was more focused on wiping a particularly persistent stain of blood from his sword.
"Yes! As a matter of fact, that whole fight with the ogre was a fluke! Had things been different I could have easily defeated it."
"Right…" Arngrim said in an exaggerating tone of voice.
"Hey! I- I'm serious here! I'm really good! People fear me you know!"
"Amongst other things…"
"What?! Just what are you implying!"
Arngrim now trained his eyes back up towards her, a tired expression on his face. "I think you already know the answer to that deep down inside, you just haven't summoned up the curage to realize it yet."
Celia was now boiling with rage yet before she could say anything more, they both heard a quick rustling of branches. Celia reacted with lightning speed, scooping up her sword and standing poised for an attack. "Oh hell, it's another beast!" she hissed towards Arngrim.
Oddly enough, the big man only relaxed further into his log seat.
"Well…" Celia persisted. "Aren't you going to do anything?"
"Why? I thought you said you were good enough to defeat an ogre on your own."
Arngrim saw the woman's face go red again yet he didn't laugh just yet. "Besides, you can be at ease. Ogres aren't generally situated around these parts. The weather's too humid for them here in this damnable heat. I'm willing to wager that particular ogre was just lost or something. Besides, you can be assured that what's coming through those tree's and branches is nothing hostile."
"And why do you say that?"
"Because I know my own brother when I see him."
This time Arngrim couldn't help the laugh that came from his mouth as Celia blanched an even brighter color then before. Sure enough, Roland came strolling through the branches, more then a few bloody scratches marring his face, arms and legs. Roland frowned at the two people before him and the bloody dead corps lying a few feet away.
"I take it I missed the party eh brother?"
"That you did Roland." Arngrim held up his blade, turning it ever so slightly so that the rays of sun glinted off its sharp edges. Satisfied with his work, the big man withdrew his blade and sheathed it into his back scabbard.
Celia turned her head to and fro staring at each man in turn. "Who are you people?"
Roland frowned then walked up to her. "I'm guessing my brother's playing his whole hero bit again. I apologize for our sudden intrusion. I am Roland and that is my elder brother Arngrim. He can be annoying sometimes but he's ultimately a good guy at heart."
Celia was utterly baffled at the amazing difference in scene. First she was fighting to save face against a man who had just saved her life and now she was being cordial with yet another man who claimed to be the former's brother. Celia found herself speechless and all she could do was comply absently with the man.
"Uhh… I guess it's a pleasure to meet you Roland."
Roland smiled in turn. "The pleasure's all mi-"
"CELIA!!!!!!!!!"
All three people turned at the sudden shouting voice coming from the distance. Celia frowned and folded her arms stubbornly. Soon enough, a figure came charging through the trees. He was a medium height young man, about as young as Celia herself; roughly 16 or 17 at most. The young man had stark blue hair which was tied together in a clumsy pony tail. His clothing consisted of a dark tan tunic with matching colored leggings which were moderately baggy. Those pants folded under the traveling boots he wore. Strapped across his back was a sword scabbard with a medium sized blade in its sheath.
The man's eyes were wide with fear and expectation. Sweat was running down his face as if his hairline was a water faucet. His hands were shaking and they could tell by the numerous scratches and blood marks that he had been tearing through the tree's at an alarming rate to get here.
"Celia!" He finally said. "Are you ok? I heard you scream! Are… Are these men attacking you?" The blue haired teen now glared angrily towards the two brothers.
Celia let out an angry sigh and stomped her foot for emphasis. "Kashel you're late! Some helpful partner you are! Your friend's about to die by some ogre and your too busy falling all over yourself to react in time. I had to get help from these strangers in order to get out and now I'm in debt. You know how much I hate debts!"
Kashel sighed, his shoulders sagging as he realized that once again he failed her. "Celia… I'm sorry."
Roland noticed the uncomfortable scene between the two and trained his eyes towards Arngrim expecting his brother to do something. Unfortunately, that was far from happening as Arngrim was now surveying their current surroundings, completely oblivious to the ensuing fight between their two guests.
Roland sighed at his brother's disinterest for matters aside from battle then walked towards the two arguing companions. Much like Kashel, celia was similarly wearing a tunic with baggy leggings although her color scheme was a bit more of a faded tan color then his and her leggings were gray rather then tan. She too wore a sword scabbard yet hers was on her waist and her blade seemed slightly older then her companion's. Also across her belt were a number of small throwing daggers.
Roland ignored all of this as he made his way towards the both of them. "Ok break it up you two. The fighting's over so there's no harm done right? Besides, you don't owe us anything anyway. Our job it to help others. Its part of our training."
"Training?" Suddenly Kashel became very interested. "What kind of training exactly?"
"We're training to become knights of Artolia like our father before us." Roland proclaimed proudly."
"Really? Wow!" Kashel was now extremely livid with fascination. Celia sighed in an annoyed voice. "Oh great. This always happens to you when you hear about knights. Why don't you ever grow up Kashel?"
Kashel fastened an angry glare towards her. "Shut up. If you don't like it then you can go somewhere else until we're finished talking."
"Oh there's no way I'm leaving you alone with these people. Their antics and common sense might rub off on you."
"Hey!"
"Ok ok that's enough." Roland intervened once more. "Look, me and my brother really must be going now."
"Are you still heading towards Artolia?" Kashel asked excitedly.
"Yes we are."
"Great! Can we go with you?"
"KASHEL!" Celia was now becoming very angry. "THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I'M TRAVELING WITH THOSE TWO!"
"Fine then, I'll go alone. And you can stay here with the dead ogre to keep you company."
"What? No way I'm letting you screw yourself over by hanging out with these guys."
"So then are you saying you'll come with us?" Kashel had a hopeful hint in his voice.
Celia sighed and folded her arms stubbornly. "Well I suppose somebody's gotta keep you in line."
"This is a good idea I think." Roland said. "It might be more fun and a hell of a lot safer if we travel together. Don't you think so Arngrim?"
The group now all turned to face the big warrior. Arngrim was presently still looking off into the distance as if he were admiring the scenery.
"Yeah whatever… There's something coming… something big."
"What?" Roland was now feeling slightly worried. "What do you mean?"
"The feeling's not right here. Somebody's tracking us. A lot of people actually."
"Oh $hit!"
Both brothers quickly turned their faces towards Celia. The girl quickly turned red.
"Umm… we should really get out of here."
"Celia, do you have something to do with this?"
"No Roland! It's just that… err…well…"
Kashel cast Celia a worried expression. "Celia they're almost here. I think it would be better if we came clean with these people if we're all going to be traveling together."
"Well I don't think so Kashel!" She fired back.
"Whatever you two are going to decide on, make it quick!" Arngrim said in an annoyed fashion. "Cause whoever those guys are, they're coming pretty quickly." They all could now hear the roar of booted feet marching towards their position.
Suddenly a huge man in plate mail came charging through the trees. "I've found them!" He bellowed.
Celia gasped in fear, even more frantic then what Arngrim sensed in her before. She quickly grabbed Kashel's arm and turned towards the two brothers. "Oh $hit, they've found us! Run!!!"
::::::::::To Be Continued::::::::::
Author's note: Thanks for reading and please stay tuned for chapter 3.