Thank you all for your kind reviews. Been a bit stuck in expressing the characters even though the characterizations are fully developed in my mind. Enough of my ramblings! Enjoy!
"I do believe that these two come in peace. The larger one is a clay golem, while the other is a man covered with mud", Tristan observed.
"Yes, yes I believe you're right.... Wait, that's Blood Raven and she's slain!" Kasha exclaimed.
"Quickly, bring these two to my tent for healing. We must know more of this!" Akara motioned to some of the nearby rogues.
Steve woke up to find himself in (surprise!) unfamiliar surroundings. He startled when he saw a hideous looking demon towering over him. "Away with you demon!" Steve shouted. The demon was surprised at this sudden outburst, but came to its senses swiftly. "No demons here outlander," the demon said tersely.
On second glance, Steve discovered that it was not a demon, but the woman was outstandingly ugly all the same. In fact, most of the demons he had met looked more attractive. "I'm Kasha. How did you defeat Blood Raven?" Kasha demanded. Steve recounted the incidents leading to the demise of the demon. "Beginner's luck," Kasha declared. "You may go."
Steve promptly left the room with such haste as to put a teleport spell to shame. Kasha shrugged, outlanders were always eccentric and well... outlandish.
Steve noticed when he was outside the tent was that his armor of mud was gone. He wondered if Kasha was the one who changed his clothes. The image of Kasha and him (nude) came unbidden to his mind.... It was a most unpleasant thought.
He looked about his new environment. Slowly, he realized that it was the rogue encampment, and with that realization, he remembered past events more clearly.
While he was mucking about the encampment, a man approached him. Even with his armor caked with mud and dried blood, Steve could still feel the charisma the man radiated. At 6 feet tall, every muscle well toned and a face that seemed to have been chiseled, Tristan looked every part the dashing warrior. That he had deep blue eyes and long brown flowing hair didn't hurt his image either.
"Good day to you. I am Tristan Truefaith." The warrior greeted. Steve returned the greeting. After all the formalities, Tristan said "As you may well know, the true leader of the assault against us is not Blood Raven, but rather the Andariel, Maiden of Anguish. As long as she lives, we are all in peril. Join me! Together, we may defeat Andariel. By the Light, we may yet triumph over the darkness!"
Steve instantly felt pity for the man. Anyone who said 'By the Light, we may yet triumph over the darkness!' was in dire need of a good kick to the head. The last man who actually said that, if he remembered correctly, said so right before he plunged a sharp red stone into his own forehead. These people were clearly insane. Thinking quickly he replied, "I'm sorry. I should stay here to help protect these people. I have absolute faith in your abilities to slay Andariel alone." Tristan looked disappointed for a moment but recovered instantly. "Then I wish you luck hero. I will begin the hunt for Andariel on the morrow. May the Light be with you." Steve had a feeling that Tristan would be seeing the Light very soon.
Rayna was depressed. Unlike the other young rogues who were engrossed with their training, Rayna was obsessed with men. It was the firm opinion of Amplissa, her best friend, that she had more hormones than entire families of rabbits combined.
It was most unfortunate then that there were no available men in the whole encampment. Warriv the merchant and the few mercenaries around were all happily married and loyal to their wives. Tristan was too pious and had sworn celibacy until the prime evils were defeated. Steve the newcomer was rumored to be afraid of women.
That left her with Gheed. Even though she was absolutely desperate, even she had some standards. Her boyfriend needed to be at least human and Gheed, as everyone knew, was a pig. 'Twenty summers and still single,' Rayna lamented. Thinking about the men made her blood boil with lust. She stole a glance at Amplissa. Her best friend was sound asleep. Rayna then did what she always did every night when her urges were too strong to ignore. She undid her outer garments. Then, her inner ones...
When Akara entered her tent, she took in everything at once, from Rayna's suspiciously wet skirt to Amplissa's watery eyes to Steve's uncombed hair. She sighed. And these were supposed to be her champions to recover the scroll. Kasha had already told her of how the young man had triumphed over Blood Raven and frankly she was not impressed. She feared that she may be sending them to their deaths. However, she had no one left to do this errand.
"Good morning. I have summoned you here to ask a favor of you. I need you to retrieve an item for me. This item can be found in the Dark Forest in the Tree of Inifuss. Should you accept, I will give you this map. In it, are all the details of the mission."
"Honour is its own reward, we accept priestess," the rogues intoned simultaneously. Steve felt a surge of resentment towards the rogues. Steve had an innate ability for these sort of circumstances and had discerned the true nature of the offer. It was: 'I'm sending you to certain death. As a bonus, the demons will probably torture and rape you before killing and eating you. Do you accept this suicidal mission?' In his opinion, being chopped up into little pieces was NOT honorable. "No. If it's all the same to you, I'd like to keep my hide intact thank you very much."
Akara looked as if she had expected his decision all along. Rayna and especially Amplissa looked crestfallen. They had believed that Steve was their savior ever since their first encounter. Steve tried his best from staring into their eyes. "Look, there's no way you can convince me to kill myself. Absolutely no way," Steve shook his head resolutely.
Memory and perception were very strange things. Steve distinctly remembered walking back to his small tent to laze around. He was certain that he had made up his mind about leaving the two stupid rogues to their deaths. It's not like he cared for others anyway. Since his mind was made up, it must have been his feet that had betrayed him for he was now with the said rogues on a fool's errand. 'Brilliant, no weapons, no armor. Genius! Well done Steve!' Steve thought bitterly to himself. Thankfully, his golem Pulp (Steve was inspired by the way it beat Blood Raven into a pulp) accompanied them.
The party did not meet any demons on their journey. Not even when they had to traverse the underground passage that leads directly to their destination; the Dark Forest. A lesser man may be fooled into a false sense of safety by the lack of action but Steve knew better. Being the pessimist that he was, he expected that it was only the calm before the storm. It was only a matter of time...
"Look, I've found the tree!" Amplissa yelled heartily, while jumping up and down. "Quiet. You'll attract attention," Rayna whispered urgently. "Too late for that now. Run girls!" Steve shouted, taking his own advice to heart.
Steve watched in horror as three gargantuan beasts closed in on the rogues. The walking masses of fur and muscles must have been hiding behind the huge tree all along. In a feat of agility, (considering it's a golem) Pulp tackled the largest furball headlong at the midriff. The two behemoths sailed fifty paces to land somewhere behind the Inifuss tree.
Rayna immediately sprinted away from the creatures. Amplissa, however, stood rooted to the ground. Her fear had made her paralyzed. Steve saw the two remaining giants approach her with log-sized arms raised. Steve, a master of desperate measures called out to the creatures, "Yoma tat babe. Sina Yoma aye tat babe kese yoma tatin yomatu!! Yaoi bastardo!" He had heard a warrior shout it when he was surrounded by a legion of demons. Steve figured that it must have been an offer to surrender.
(What the beasts heard)
"You screw pigs. Or you would be if you weren't screwing each other!! Gay bastards!"
The beasts stopped dead in their tracks. They fixed their eyes on Steve and walked deliberately towards him, their eyes bloodshot with the promise of death. 'It seemed that they did not agree to the terms of surrender whatever they were,' Steve thought. Fortunately for Steve, he had one strategy that had always worked. It was called 'run like hell'.
Steve led the beasts on a merry-go-round about the impossibly huge Inifuss tree. Occasionally, he would glance at Pulp and his sparring partner. Apparently, things were at a stalemate with each pummeling the other without much effect. Sometimes, he would scream profanities at the rogues while urging them to do something. Mostly though, he concentrated on his running. He was on excellent form at that moment; his mad sprint was desperation at its most expressive. Steve had indeed found inspiration every time he looked back at the charging monsters. Steve cursed the beasts, Akara, the two rogues and the universe in general while he ran.
At length, the two rogues had awakened from their stupor. They sent a volley of arrows into Steve's pursuers but they merely shrugged it off. It seemed that they had a very thick hide. After launching several more volleys to no effect, the girls panic. Steve's little marathon was going to come to a brutal end unless they tried something new.
An absurd idea just hit Rayna. Absurd, but it may be their last chance. Rayna told Amplissa, "Keep firing at them. I'm going to try something." To Steve, Rayna hollered, "Take off your pants Steve! Don't argue, just do it!"
"Rayna, as your best friend, I know you are desperate but I really don't think this is the time or place..."
"Just continue your shooting. Trust me. I know what I'm doing... I think" Rayna replied. Amplissa bit her lip and shook her head but did as instructed.
Steve wondered if the rogue had finally lost her mind. But seeing how close the furballs were and no other alternatives in sight, Steve attempted the impossible stunt. The next step he took, he placed both feet together and jumped as high and as far forward as he can. In midair, he tucked in his knees to his chest and with both hands forcefully yanked his trousers down and threw it behind him. The projectile glided in the air landing right in the leading beast's eyes. The creature, temporarily blinded by the unconventional weapon halted allowing his brethren to run into him. The furballs fell to the ground. One atop the other.
Rayna had heard that experienced rogues could infuse the spirit of fire into their arrows by channeling their fiery emotions. Rayna was taught to channel her anger into her missile by her instructors but the flame created was hardly more than a spark each time she trained. Today, Rayna decided to channel an entirely different emotion, one she knew she had with great abundance.
She concentrated on Steve half-naked frame. Her mouth began to water as her nocked arrow glowed bright red. Soon her thoughts became wilder... as her imagination went into overdrive. Years of frustration poured forth from her being. She let loose the arrow.
The arrow continued to glow ever brighter as it coursed through the air. By the time it reached the two monsters that had just sorted themselves, it was too bright to look at. There was a flash of brilliance that momentarily turned the dusk to dawn. When it subsided, the two beasts were no more. A small crater in the ground had replaced them. The scent of ozone and something sweet wafted through the air.
Pulp rejoined the party. Apparently, the greater furball was intimidated by the Rayna's raw display of power and had fled. Steve did not bother searching for his trousers, it must have been disintegrated. Steve felt extremely grateful that he remembered to wear his underwear today. He grabbed the large Inifuss scroll from the bark of the tree and wore it around his waist like a skirt, earning incredulous looks from his companions. Pulp, always the loyal servant ripped a section of the tree's bark and followed his master's example.
Another chapter done. Hope you enjoyed it. Please review if you can spare the time. Praises, tips, comments welcomed. Criticisms and death threats welcomed.