~chapter 11~
The group of 12 sat in the forest, the elves watching ahead intently with their bows and arrows drawn.
"I don't..." Link began, but was quickly hushed by Eòrdin.
"Creatures..." whispered Eòrdin. "Hundreds of creatures, about 300, an army rushing towards our position."
"Do they know we're here?" Link asked.
"Yes, they do." Eòrdin said now in a full voice. He turned to the others and shouted something in elfish. Soon Link could here the stomping of feet, the clashing of armor, and the snarling of creatures as they began to rush towards them. A slight blur began to show up far back in the woods. As soon as Link noticed this, Eòrdin ducked down and fired an arrow. It sailed through the trees and vanished into the blur. Shapes began to form in the blur and Link could see more creatures than he could count. Lightning quick, Eòrdin loaded another arrow and shot it off. The creatures were about 100 feet away. Eòrdin continued firing as the other elves joined in. Link could see some of the monsters fall as they were pelted with arrows. Link was amazed at the elves accuracy. Not one arrow missed its target and each hit was lethal. A few creatures were ahead of the group, and leapt through some trees a mere 15 feet away from the small group. Eòrdin fired an arrow into one creatures throat, then lightning quick he shot another arrow into ones skull. Arrow after arrow was fired until the large army was practically on top of the 12. Already the elves had taken out 120 creatures. Link, Jared and Justin unsheathed their swords and prepared for the oncoming monsters. The elves quickly fired some more arrows just as the creatures reached them and dropped their bows, knowing they wouldn't provide enough defense. They brought out Elven swords and began to slash through the monsters. Link ducked an axe and stabbed one in the gut. Jared and Justin sliced their way through five enemies. The elves seemed to be holding fine on their own. The creatures, however, were putting up a fight as well. They grouped onto Jared and over powered him. Justin had to come to his aid and slice through a few while at the same time dodging or blocking attacks. By now the entire army had reached them and the battle ground was busy with fighting. Link stabbed a monster, ducked a sword, jumped out of the way of another sword, and was kicked in the back, getting knocked to the ground. He blocked some attacks and rolled out of the way of a mace. One of the elves had fallen, and three more were slightly wounded. Eòrdin sliced through more creatures before being smashed in the ribs by a club. Eòrdin brought the blunt end of his sword hard down upon a goblins helmet then kicked another aside and sliced another in half. Justin got pushed up against a tree, trying to fend off three enemies at once. One of them was killed by Jared, another was stabbed in the gut by an elf, and Justin kicked the third away and sliced its head off. One elf sliced through a troll and took an arrow and flung it like a dart at another creature, killing it. However, when the elf threw the arrow a creature smashed his exposed side with a club. Another then knocked his feet out, causing him to fall onto the ground. A horde of creatures swarmed around the fallen elf and begun beating and stabbing him with swords, spiked clubs and maces. As they brought their weapons up and down, a slight reddish hue began to form on them and soon they ignored the area where the elf had fallen. Already there were only 100 creatures left, four elves left, and Link, Jared, and Justin. The battle continued fiercely and it seemed that slowly the defenders were losing their ground.
Meanwhile...
Gondar sat impatiently on his throne tapping his fingers.
"Where's that blasted imp?! He should have given me a status report by now!" he grumbled angrily. Just as those words were spoken, the imp rushed in.
"Well?" Gondar questioned.
"Uh...well what sir?"
"The news you fool! Tell me of the three!"
"Well sire, scouts found them camped out in the forest. They were occupied by nine elves..."
"And?"
"Well...I...I...took the liberty of sending out an army after them..." the imp suddenly winced, expecting Gondar to punish him for doing something wrong.
"An army eh? How many troops?" The imp looked up.
"Um...th-three hundred sir..." The imp once again recoiled.
"Hmm...300, eh? Hmm..." Gondar paced around the room a bit. "But elves?......blast......but I suppose...hmm..." The imp waited patiently as Gondar paced about mumbling to himself.
"Good work!" Gondar shouted suddenly, causing the imp to yelp and cower. "Even with the help of elves, 300 soldiers should be too much for them. Gwahaha!" he cackled evilly. "See to it that the water essence is taken from the corpses."
"Um...y-yes sir..." the imp quickly scampered away.
"Hmm, imps. Go figure."
Lauren slowly opened the door to the main dungeon hall. She paused when it creaked and gazed through the crack with one eye. The coast looked clear. She opened the door a little, her body tensing up every time it would creak. Finally it was open enough for her to slip out. She crept down the hallway, all senses alert. She peeked around a corner and saw an orc carrying a club. She hid behind the corner and shut her eyes tight. The creature was about to round the corner when...
"Hey Murray!" Lauren heard a voice from far down the other hall. She saw the orc step into the hallway but turn away from her and look back into the hall towards the voice. It hadn't seen her.
"Yeah, what is it?" the orc snarled.
"Don't ya know? We're on a coffee break!" the voice called back.
"Already? Boy, how the time flies when you're patrolling the halls mindlessly..." A slight rumble was heard in the orcs stomach and it suddenly loudly passed gas right next to Lauren. She gagged and almost gave her position away as she tried to wave away the deadly odor.
"Uh..yeah...lets go to the lounge. I here Snardia's in there!" the voice said in a teasing tone.
"Snardia? She's the most putrid troll I've ever seen!"
"Yeah, ain't it great? Let's go!" The orc rumbled down the hall back the way it came. Lauren let a sigh of relief and gagged.
"Oh *cough* god...*sputter* I think...*choke* I'm... *cough* gonna puke..." she gasped as she quickly ran into a closet and regurgitated some prison food. She came out five minutes later, feeling slightly better but in desperate need of a mint.
"I knew I shouldn't have had that third helping of fibglit surprise..." she mumbled to herself. She again crept down the hallway. She could hear sounds of whips cracking and prisoners screaming coming from the doors branching off the hall as she went down. Her footsteps echoed off the stone walls as she ran quickly down the hall, slowing down at corners and checking for guards.
"Geez, how big is this place?" She mumbled to herself as she continued running down the seemingly endless halls.
The fight in the forest continued. Another elf had fallen but the creatures seemed to be as many as ever. Link sliced through a trolls arm then cut the head off a goblin. Suddenly he paused.
"Wait a minute....what am I doing?" he mumbled to himself as he put his sword away. Enemies around him took note of this and charged him. Just as they were within striking distance, Link quickly shot his hands up and blasted them away with water.
"Heh." he laughed as he shot another into a tree. "Piece of cake." he said resting his hands on his hips. Suddenly out of nowhere an arrow came whistling through the air and hit Link on the right shoulder. Surprised by this attack, he stumbled backwards as his left hand instinctively leapt up and grabbed the shaft. He fell back against a tree, blood beginning to seep onto his tunic. Jared rushed over and killed a goblin that was about to attack Link. The army was beginning to dwindle. Apparently the creatures noticed this and began to retreat. Most of the rest were killed off by an elf shooting them with arrows. The battle was over. The terrain was littered with bodies, pierced armor, broken weapons, and soaked with green and red blood. Of the nine elfs that began, 6 were killed, one was slightly wounded and one was fatally wounded, having been slashed through the stomach. As for Eòrdin, he was leaned up against the tree, two arrows embeded into his chest. He was wheezing heavily. The standing elf rushed over to try to aid his leader.
"It's too late, Fenix..." Eòrdin mumbled to the elf.
"No...no there must be...." Fenix whispered, in shock of his leaders' health deterioration.
"Fenix...go with Link...and his friends...help them to stop this...mad man..."
"I will..." Eòrdin slowly whispered some words in Elvish then closed his eyes as his body went limp. Fenix knelt holding Eòrdin's hand against his forehead whispering a prayer in Elvish. Then he stood and looked at the others. The last elf had already perished, Link still struggled with the arrow, wincing from the pain, Jared knelt next to him trying to help, and Justin leaned against a tree gripping his blood-soaked arm. Fenix walked over to Link and examined the arrow. He studied it for a moment then gripped the shaft and pulled hard, dislodging it from his flesh. Link gave out a loud yelp.
"Relax. It's fine." Fenix mumbled, rolling up Links sleeve.
"Ow, gently." Link winced. Fenix took some powdered herbs.
"This may sting just a bit." he said placing the herbs on the wound. They began to react violently with the blood and started to bubble. Link gave out another loud yelp.
"Stop being a baby..." Fenix mumbled, taking out a flask of water and pouring it over the wound. The powder, bubles, and blood all dissapeared leaving behind not so much as a mark.
"How do you feel?" Jared asked. Link flexed his arm a bit.
"A little sore...but good." he said.
"Please, don't everyone rush to help me at once..." Justin shouted through clenched teeth. The three walked over to him. Fenix inspected his wound. He had a large gash on his left arm.
"Hmm...this is a more serious wound....but I can fix it." Fenix said looking around. He walked over to a small vine hanging off a tree and cut a piece off. He took it back over to Justin and began 'milking' the plant. Aloe began to seep from the cut off end of the plant. Fenix let it seep into the wound. He got a strange looking leaf from a tree. The leave seemed to have a strange shine to it. He covered the wound with the large leaf and tied it to his arm.
"There. It should be fine in a few days." Fenix said after he finished. Justin stood, bracing his arm a little.
"We should get going...we don't want Gondar sending more troops..." Link said.
"Wait. We need to bury the bodies." interrupted Fenix.
"All of them?" Jared asked.
"No, you ninny." Link said smacking him on the back of the head. "He means the Elves." The three agreed and soon 8 graves were made out. One in the center had a large piece of wood as a tombstone. Elvish words were carved into it. Fenix took one last time to kneel in front of the graves and whisper an elfish prayer.
"All right...Let's go..." he said.
~end~
The group of 12 sat in the forest, the elves watching ahead intently with their bows and arrows drawn.
"I don't..." Link began, but was quickly hushed by Eòrdin.
"Creatures..." whispered Eòrdin. "Hundreds of creatures, about 300, an army rushing towards our position."
"Do they know we're here?" Link asked.
"Yes, they do." Eòrdin said now in a full voice. He turned to the others and shouted something in elfish. Soon Link could here the stomping of feet, the clashing of armor, and the snarling of creatures as they began to rush towards them. A slight blur began to show up far back in the woods. As soon as Link noticed this, Eòrdin ducked down and fired an arrow. It sailed through the trees and vanished into the blur. Shapes began to form in the blur and Link could see more creatures than he could count. Lightning quick, Eòrdin loaded another arrow and shot it off. The creatures were about 100 feet away. Eòrdin continued firing as the other elves joined in. Link could see some of the monsters fall as they were pelted with arrows. Link was amazed at the elves accuracy. Not one arrow missed its target and each hit was lethal. A few creatures were ahead of the group, and leapt through some trees a mere 15 feet away from the small group. Eòrdin fired an arrow into one creatures throat, then lightning quick he shot another arrow into ones skull. Arrow after arrow was fired until the large army was practically on top of the 12. Already the elves had taken out 120 creatures. Link, Jared and Justin unsheathed their swords and prepared for the oncoming monsters. The elves quickly fired some more arrows just as the creatures reached them and dropped their bows, knowing they wouldn't provide enough defense. They brought out Elven swords and began to slash through the monsters. Link ducked an axe and stabbed one in the gut. Jared and Justin sliced their way through five enemies. The elves seemed to be holding fine on their own. The creatures, however, were putting up a fight as well. They grouped onto Jared and over powered him. Justin had to come to his aid and slice through a few while at the same time dodging or blocking attacks. By now the entire army had reached them and the battle ground was busy with fighting. Link stabbed a monster, ducked a sword, jumped out of the way of another sword, and was kicked in the back, getting knocked to the ground. He blocked some attacks and rolled out of the way of a mace. One of the elves had fallen, and three more were slightly wounded. Eòrdin sliced through more creatures before being smashed in the ribs by a club. Eòrdin brought the blunt end of his sword hard down upon a goblins helmet then kicked another aside and sliced another in half. Justin got pushed up against a tree, trying to fend off three enemies at once. One of them was killed by Jared, another was stabbed in the gut by an elf, and Justin kicked the third away and sliced its head off. One elf sliced through a troll and took an arrow and flung it like a dart at another creature, killing it. However, when the elf threw the arrow a creature smashed his exposed side with a club. Another then knocked his feet out, causing him to fall onto the ground. A horde of creatures swarmed around the fallen elf and begun beating and stabbing him with swords, spiked clubs and maces. As they brought their weapons up and down, a slight reddish hue began to form on them and soon they ignored the area where the elf had fallen. Already there were only 100 creatures left, four elves left, and Link, Jared, and Justin. The battle continued fiercely and it seemed that slowly the defenders were losing their ground.
Meanwhile...
Gondar sat impatiently on his throne tapping his fingers.
"Where's that blasted imp?! He should have given me a status report by now!" he grumbled angrily. Just as those words were spoken, the imp rushed in.
"Well?" Gondar questioned.
"Uh...well what sir?"
"The news you fool! Tell me of the three!"
"Well sire, scouts found them camped out in the forest. They were occupied by nine elves..."
"And?"
"Well...I...I...took the liberty of sending out an army after them..." the imp suddenly winced, expecting Gondar to punish him for doing something wrong.
"An army eh? How many troops?" The imp looked up.
"Um...th-three hundred sir..." The imp once again recoiled.
"Hmm...300, eh? Hmm..." Gondar paced around the room a bit. "But elves?......blast......but I suppose...hmm..." The imp waited patiently as Gondar paced about mumbling to himself.
"Good work!" Gondar shouted suddenly, causing the imp to yelp and cower. "Even with the help of elves, 300 soldiers should be too much for them. Gwahaha!" he cackled evilly. "See to it that the water essence is taken from the corpses."
"Um...y-yes sir..." the imp quickly scampered away.
"Hmm, imps. Go figure."
Lauren slowly opened the door to the main dungeon hall. She paused when it creaked and gazed through the crack with one eye. The coast looked clear. She opened the door a little, her body tensing up every time it would creak. Finally it was open enough for her to slip out. She crept down the hallway, all senses alert. She peeked around a corner and saw an orc carrying a club. She hid behind the corner and shut her eyes tight. The creature was about to round the corner when...
"Hey Murray!" Lauren heard a voice from far down the other hall. She saw the orc step into the hallway but turn away from her and look back into the hall towards the voice. It hadn't seen her.
"Yeah, what is it?" the orc snarled.
"Don't ya know? We're on a coffee break!" the voice called back.
"Already? Boy, how the time flies when you're patrolling the halls mindlessly..." A slight rumble was heard in the orcs stomach and it suddenly loudly passed gas right next to Lauren. She gagged and almost gave her position away as she tried to wave away the deadly odor.
"Uh..yeah...lets go to the lounge. I here Snardia's in there!" the voice said in a teasing tone.
"Snardia? She's the most putrid troll I've ever seen!"
"Yeah, ain't it great? Let's go!" The orc rumbled down the hall back the way it came. Lauren let a sigh of relief and gagged.
"Oh *cough* god...*sputter* I think...*choke* I'm... *cough* gonna puke..." she gasped as she quickly ran into a closet and regurgitated some prison food. She came out five minutes later, feeling slightly better but in desperate need of a mint.
"I knew I shouldn't have had that third helping of fibglit surprise..." she mumbled to herself. She again crept down the hallway. She could hear sounds of whips cracking and prisoners screaming coming from the doors branching off the hall as she went down. Her footsteps echoed off the stone walls as she ran quickly down the hall, slowing down at corners and checking for guards.
"Geez, how big is this place?" She mumbled to herself as she continued running down the seemingly endless halls.
The fight in the forest continued. Another elf had fallen but the creatures seemed to be as many as ever. Link sliced through a trolls arm then cut the head off a goblin. Suddenly he paused.
"Wait a minute....what am I doing?" he mumbled to himself as he put his sword away. Enemies around him took note of this and charged him. Just as they were within striking distance, Link quickly shot his hands up and blasted them away with water.
"Heh." he laughed as he shot another into a tree. "Piece of cake." he said resting his hands on his hips. Suddenly out of nowhere an arrow came whistling through the air and hit Link on the right shoulder. Surprised by this attack, he stumbled backwards as his left hand instinctively leapt up and grabbed the shaft. He fell back against a tree, blood beginning to seep onto his tunic. Jared rushed over and killed a goblin that was about to attack Link. The army was beginning to dwindle. Apparently the creatures noticed this and began to retreat. Most of the rest were killed off by an elf shooting them with arrows. The battle was over. The terrain was littered with bodies, pierced armor, broken weapons, and soaked with green and red blood. Of the nine elfs that began, 6 were killed, one was slightly wounded and one was fatally wounded, having been slashed through the stomach. As for Eòrdin, he was leaned up against the tree, two arrows embeded into his chest. He was wheezing heavily. The standing elf rushed over to try to aid his leader.
"It's too late, Fenix..." Eòrdin mumbled to the elf.
"No...no there must be...." Fenix whispered, in shock of his leaders' health deterioration.
"Fenix...go with Link...and his friends...help them to stop this...mad man..."
"I will..." Eòrdin slowly whispered some words in Elvish then closed his eyes as his body went limp. Fenix knelt holding Eòrdin's hand against his forehead whispering a prayer in Elvish. Then he stood and looked at the others. The last elf had already perished, Link still struggled with the arrow, wincing from the pain, Jared knelt next to him trying to help, and Justin leaned against a tree gripping his blood-soaked arm. Fenix walked over to Link and examined the arrow. He studied it for a moment then gripped the shaft and pulled hard, dislodging it from his flesh. Link gave out a loud yelp.
"Relax. It's fine." Fenix mumbled, rolling up Links sleeve.
"Ow, gently." Link winced. Fenix took some powdered herbs.
"This may sting just a bit." he said placing the herbs on the wound. They began to react violently with the blood and started to bubble. Link gave out another loud yelp.
"Stop being a baby..." Fenix mumbled, taking out a flask of water and pouring it over the wound. The powder, bubles, and blood all dissapeared leaving behind not so much as a mark.
"How do you feel?" Jared asked. Link flexed his arm a bit.
"A little sore...but good." he said.
"Please, don't everyone rush to help me at once..." Justin shouted through clenched teeth. The three walked over to him. Fenix inspected his wound. He had a large gash on his left arm.
"Hmm...this is a more serious wound....but I can fix it." Fenix said looking around. He walked over to a small vine hanging off a tree and cut a piece off. He took it back over to Justin and began 'milking' the plant. Aloe began to seep from the cut off end of the plant. Fenix let it seep into the wound. He got a strange looking leaf from a tree. The leave seemed to have a strange shine to it. He covered the wound with the large leaf and tied it to his arm.
"There. It should be fine in a few days." Fenix said after he finished. Justin stood, bracing his arm a little.
"We should get going...we don't want Gondar sending more troops..." Link said.
"Wait. We need to bury the bodies." interrupted Fenix.
"All of them?" Jared asked.
"No, you ninny." Link said smacking him on the back of the head. "He means the Elves." The three agreed and soon 8 graves were made out. One in the center had a large piece of wood as a tombstone. Elvish words were carved into it. Fenix took one last time to kneel in front of the graves and whisper an elfish prayer.
"All right...Let's go..." he said.
~end~