3
After a few drinks get drank and a couple hours pass by, the man finally asks her, "So, what's your name, M'lady. We've exchanged all this information about ourselves yet have not been introduced." He laughs gently.
"Oh! Yes that would be a good thing. My name is Lina. Rogue in Training, daughter of Lady Azequilae and Lord Jules. Well adopted daughter anyways. And who are you m'lord?" she replies.
"Lina, that's a very beautiful name. I am Dariel son of Dwarli. Warrior and leader of the Shadow of the Rose Company. 'Tis a pleasure to meet you," he says.
"The pleasure is all mine M'lord Dariel. I'm quite sure!" she smiles and raises her hand in a greeting gesture. He smiles and takes her hand gently and brings it to his lips in a soft kiss. Lina blushes slightly and withdraws her hand. "So m'lord…you said that you were the son of Dwarli, the god of strength and wisdom, please, entice me with why you said that."
He smiles, "I thought you might catch that. You see I travel everywhere. I was born in a town that was destroyed during a 100-year feud between the humans and dragons. Well dragons and their minions. For the past 5 years, since it was destroyed, my company and I have been searching for the Sorceress of the Woods. She lived in my village as well. She was lost. I know she is alive. I can feel her magic with-in the earth."
"You see she is the only one who can stop this feud. The one who can bring peace back to the chaos in this land. When she disappeared, something happened and her magic aura of the land slowly drained. You could feel it in the earth as well as the life all around. Lately her magic has been replenishing itself. Renewing its powers. Soon enough she will be strong enough to reclaim the throne as the sorceress she was born to be," Dariel says looking to her with a sparkle of hope in his eyes.
"Wow, you really believe she's still out there? Will you know it when you see her…or does she have to prove herself?"
"When she regains her full energy I hope no one is in her way when it happens. All I know is in the legends it says ' and a bright light will consume the land and draw it out of darkness. The weak depart and the faithful rise. The world again will cease to die' so I'm taking it that if your evil run for your life cause there is nothing that's evil that will stand alive in her path."
"Isn't. Sorry…I do that sometimes. Correct people," She says smiling.
"That's ok. Dare to take another round of Soul Crushers?" Dariel says to her brightly but slightly tipsy.
"Um…Soul Crushers? Uh…ok…oh! You mean drinks! Ok!" Lina smiles and nods. He looks to her and smiles and watches her for a moment. Intrigue and interest come over his face, as she order's more drinks.
After a more drinks are drank, and a laughs spread around she bids goodnight and wonders off to her room in the small tavern, a feeling of security coming over her as she closes the door gently smiling to Dariel as he walks by.
Lina sits in her bed reading a book in the candle light as a soft knock taps on her door. She looks up at the door knowing all to well that it is well past the time when everyone went to bed. Just as she reaches for her dagger she hears Dariel's voice come through the door. "M'lady Lina? Are you awake?" he says softly.
"Yes. Please come in," Lina says sliding her dagger back under her pillow. The door opens slightly as Dariel pokes his head into the doorway. She smiles as she gestures for him to enter. He nods and walks in, quietly shutting the door behind him. She offers him a seat on the bed as she closes her book and lays it on the side table and sits up a bit more in bed.
"Lina, I must ask you something. You see, like I told you before. We are searching for the lost sorceress of the woods and well, I was hoping you might be able to join our noble quest in discovering her. You look like you are experienced enough to defend yourself. And, quite frankly, I have a good feeling about you. You seem like one of those people who just fits with us. Your personality and vibe is so strong and stubborn I think you could really be of some help. What do you say, I mean, no offense, its not like you have much else to do," Dariel says down slightly.
"Well, as much as I hate to admit it, you're right. I have no where else to go. Home is to far away and in a direction I know not of. But what good would I be? I mean, I know for a fact from experience that I would hold you back. My clumsiness and my bad luck often get in my way. I was trained as a rogue but still, you and your men are great warriors, I would be easily mocked," Lina says looking at Dariel.
"I can assure you that wouldn't happen. Please Lina, come with us. Try us out. If it doesn't go well then leave. I just get a good feeling from you. And I don't get that often from people. Please Lina. Come with us. I promise we don't bite."
"Let me sleep on it. You will have an answer by morning," Lina smiles and nods to him.
"Very well. Sweet dreams M'lady," Dariel says as he stands up and bows and heads for the door.
Dariel opens the door slightly and walks out. But just before he closes the door, she says," Thanks again. For saving my life."
"Not a problem M'lady," Dariel replies as he bows again slightly and closes the door. She smiles and blows out the candle as she curls up under the blankets and doses off to sleep. Dreaming of all the adventures she might have if she traveled with them. Just as she falls asleep, Dariel feels a surge of energy that triggers his sense. An energy force emitting from the earth. He grins as he closes his eyes, the new power of the sorceress running through his veins. Four words descend from his lips as he drifts off, " Sweet Dreams M'Lady Sorceress."
Early the next morning as The Pink Rose Company is loading the horses, Lina runs out slipping on her boot with her very small pack on her shoulders screaming for them to wait for her. Dariel smiles as he walks from behind a black horse and looks to her. "May I take your pack for you M'lady?" he says reaching for her bag. She smiles and nods as she tries to hand him the bag and attempts to put her boot on.
"I'm coming with you," Lina says after finally getting her boot on. The Company looks at Dariel with a confused look on their faces, which he seems to ignore.
"Well then M'lady, thank you for join us. Do you have anymore luggage or bags we need to load up?" Dariel says looking to her.
"Nope, that's all I own." Lina replies looking down.
"I see. You can ride with Anell, our resident Amazon, until we find you a horse of your own," Dariel says nodding to Anell. Anell looks to him with a defiant look on her face as she glances to Lina then to Dariel. Lina sees this look and smirks as she looks down.
"I have my own horse. It is one I stole from those thieves," Lina says nodding toward the black Appaloosa horse in the next stable over. Dariel glares to Anell then nods to Lina.
As Lina loads her items onto her horse, two of Dariel's companions start muttering to each other, "I'm not sure that we should have another woman on our quest. The last one woman we invited to travel with us turned into a raging, Amazon," they laugh as they glance to Lina, Garret, the Company's usual drunk and Bard, thinking about how she might have some become very useful. Dendann, on the other hand, glared at her with spite and hatred. Him being an orcish-dwarf made him despise women. Let alone human women. This one is going to be a problem. Dendann thinks to himself.
Dariel walks up to Lina and hands her a set of leather armor. "For the trip," he says," there are some really nasty things out there. Wouldn't want you to get hurt." Dariel smiles as he looks down slightly. Lina thanks him and take the armor, slipping it on over her rags.
Lina looks up to Dariel as he walks away and smiles, a small feeling warmth rising from within her. She then looks at her horse as she mounts him and heads out the front gates of Leut H'lenasi. She looks back towards the tavern they stayed in and smiles. Her quest to find herself now began. Hourly she thought many things about what was in store for her. What would life outside the Encampment be like? Would she ever return? Before she knew it a deep heavy nightfall surrounded her. "We better make camp soon. Anell…Rikunnar…take first watch. Then Lina and myself. Then Dendann and Soffrim. Do we all agree to that?" Dariel says looking around at the company.
Small murmurs and faint nods move as the company starts to set up camp. Lina looks around, not having a tent of her own as she grabs a saddle blanket from her horse Midnight. She lays it on the ground under a willow tree and smiles as she waves her hand and mutters something and a small flame appears on her mini-torch she made. She smirks loving the little tricks she learned at the rogue encampment. She pulls out a small bit of bread from her newly acquired bag and eats a bit off of it and sits against the tree almost glad they haven't invited her over.
My social skills are like that of a donkey compared to the elves. She thinks, wait! Why am I comparing myself to the elves? I'm not even a part of their world anymore. I'm with my kind, more or less. I mean a dwarf here and a rock gnome there but still, I'll never be as good as Mariloo when it comes to being a rogue. I mean, she fit the description, compared to her I am nothing but an oversized hop toad that's only purpose is to carry things and be a worm. Lina sighs as she looks down almost missing what she knew of home.
"Hey Lina. Are you going to join us or are you going to sit under this tree like a hop toad waiting to be squished?" Dariel says smiling at her through the weeping willow vines.
What the? How did he…could he? No, he couldn't read my mind. Why did he call me a hop toad then? She thinks looking at him. "Actually I'm going to stay here. Get some shut eye seeming how my first watch duty is coming up soon," she smiles and nods to him," thank you though."
"Ok then. Your choice," Dariel says smiling. He starts to head off then he stops and turns around and looks to her, "by the way Lina. I'm glad you joined us. You have no idea how much it means to me…and the company. Also, you can have my tent for tonight. Just until we can get you one. I don't mind sleeping under the stars tonight."
Lina smiles and nods and stands up. "Why, thank you," she says smiling as she slips through the vines and goes and crawls into his tent as Dariel walks to where her bed was and lays down on it.
Just as she seems to drift off she hears a voice telling her to wake up. She looks up and sees Rikunnar's head poked in through the tent door. "Wake up sleepy head. Your watch is up," Rikunnar says smiling as he helps Lina out of the tent, "sees Dariel lent you his tent. He's a nice guy. Almost too nice sometimes. Anyways. Good night my dear."
Rikunnar retires to his tent just as Dariel walks out from under the tree he slept under. Lina smiles to him and sits near the fire. "So Dariel. You never really elaborated the information about yourself. Our conversation got side tracked to your quest to search for the sorceress. Who are you? What is the name of the city you came from? Were you important? What did you do? Have you ever been in love?" Lina says looking to him, "Sorry I'm so pushy. You're the first human male I've met since I…"
"Since you what M'Lady?" Dariel asks.
"Since, it happen. I forgot everything about me. I only remember the past 5 years. After the elves found me they took me in said I have a case of amnesia. Whatever that is. They say it's where you hit your head and you loose your memory of everything you knew or loved before the day you lost your memory." Lina replies smiling.
"You lost your memory huh? All of it?"
"No. I…I still remember one thing but I don't like to talk about it. I don't like to think of what I could have been. I started my life new and that's all that matters. Enough about me. What about you?" Lina presses on looking at him.
"Well I lived in this city called Alandule. A small village that housed the palace for the kingdom of Alandulo. My childhood was filled with trainers and such. Barely any time to play. It was almost like I was bred for saving people and that's it. The first person I ever saved was this girl who was about 10 maybe 11. Same age I was. It was during the time when we were being attacked. I heard her screaming from within the palace. I ran through until I found her. I burst through the flames with her in my arms as we ran for dear life through the village and out into the forest. Two of Ruklen's minions were following us…" As he goes on she flashes back into her memory as she sees everything he is describing. The fire surrounding her. The man's silhouette coming through the flames and saving her. She snapped out of the memory, the one thing that she had to live on. The thing that kept her going every day.
"I went into the forest to look for her afterwards but I never found her. Then I got news that the sorceress had resided with in my village and was somewhere out in the world. Since then I have been searching for her. Gathering what men I could. I just hope that when I find her, she'll be strong enough to take the throne as The Sorceress of the Wood," Dariel says finishing proudly looking into the fire.
"Lina…are you alright?" He says looking to her.
"Dariel…I must tell you. That memory I told you I didn't want to talk about, I think it might be the sa…" she begins to say but is interrupted by Dariel's tent bursting into flames and five men riding through the camp on horse screaming and shouting in some foreign tongue. Men on foot come and circle in around the tents. Lina jumps up and draws her sword but is too late. She feels a hand hit her head and she falls to the ground. Her other companions bolt out of their tents slashing and dicing any who came into their path.
Lina stands back up and runs to attack who looked to be the leader. A man steps in front of her and tries to grab her but she jumps into the large willow tree and hides against the trunk making no sounds. She waits for a moment then Garret attacks the thief whom had recently attacked her. She runs to the end of the branch and flips down onto the back of the leader's horse and puts her dagger to his throat.
The leader smirks, "You can't kill me, girl. You don't have the will power to." He slowly reaches his hand around the grab her but instead finds the blade sinking deeper into his neck, threatening to draw blood.
"With draw your men," Lina says as she tilts his head back a bit to see, "and you'll live."
The man nods with a soft smirk upon his face as he carefully signals his men to stand down. As his men step down, she slowly climbs off the horse and releases her grasp on him. She turns her head to look at her companions just as the leader laughs and signals for the men to attack again. She turns around and glares to him as she prepares to fight him face to face. She hears thud behind her as she turns and sees Garret being dragged off by some thieves. When she turns back around to confront the leader again he is gone along with all of his men.
This is all I have so far. I am in the middle of writing chapter 4. Please read and review so that I know what I need to change or add to the story line. Thank you and wait to see the next chapter coming soon