Damsel in Distress?
"Saving Tyra"
Fernando groaned and shivered as he walked down a tundra's stony pathway, he was truly in an environment where he was at his weakest.
"I am not a man of cold..." the knight murmured as he lumbered about in his armor, lighting up his lance frequently to warm himself up.
The snowfall was light and sporadic, but it was enough to make a great impact on the temperature.
Suddenly, the knight lost his footing and started to slip and slide across what was a hidden frozen pool.
"Oye!" the yelled as he fumbled about, then struck a rock and tripped.
The armored man tumbled down a cliff face, bringing down snow and ice with him.
"AH! DWAH! NOO!" the man yelled as he struck the ground consecutively, "NOT THE FACE!" he smashed into the banks extra roughly and was sent flying into the air for a few meters.
The man finally stopped when he struck a wooden wall.
The wall of a large cabin
"Ahhh..." Fernando groaned and tried to stand back up, "AH!" he winced when he felt the snow that got into his armor melt, "Errr..." he shivered.
Suddenly, there was a yell, and a woman appeared from the shack holding a rifle.
She had blonde hair braided into a pony tail that hung from one side and a red tattoo under her left eye.
"Begone monster!" she cried out.
"ARRRHHHHH!" Fernando screamed as he was surrounded by fire, "Hot! Hot! Hot!" he stepped around and jumped out, "Hot-" he paused when he saw the woman, "... and spicy..." he ignored his pain.
The woman stepped back.
"Who are you!?" she raised her rifle.
Fernando shook off the fire and pulled out a rose.
"I am the heat in the cold, my lady." he grinned and handed the flower to her.
The woman murmured and stared at it.
"I'll have you know I took down a gorlock with my own hands..." she snarled, "You will be no different if you do not tell me your name!"
"I am Sir Fernando Hernando Servando Fulano Perengano y Zutano!" the knight responded, "I hail from Sun Spire trying to find people to protect and damsels to save- and may I say I found one right here." he moved his eyebrows behind his helmet.
"Sun Spire?" the woman grunted, "What is a heat dweller like you doing in this sun-forsaken land?" she taunted and set down her rifle, "Unless you have a death wish, I don't think you should be out here... especially with that suit of armor. But regardless, I see you are no threat and will introduce myself... I am Tyra, daughter of Tyr Chieftan of the Tyrian Tribe."
Fernando chuckled.
"Well I see I have met some of the locals!" he set down his lance, "Perhaps you will show me the way to the town of Frostmire."
Tyra shook her head, "You are a foolish one, Fernando." she laughed, "The village of Frostmire is 20 leagues back from whence you came!" she informed.
"What!?" the knight yelled, "No! How- how did you know where I came from?" he asked.
Tyra pointed to the path the knight made as he tumbled down the hill, "Your tracks lead up to the Gilgar Pass." she informed and grabbed a tuft of snow from the man's left boot, "And the smell of your feet indicate that you have recently built up a moisture that can only be acquired in the monsoon rivers of Zutal, which is south from the Great Mountains that block my lands from the rest of the Realm." she stood back up.
Fernando stood surprised.
"Do not have that look on your face." the woman smirked, "I am a huntress, it's only natural for me to have such acute tracking prowess." she stepped back and made her hand stretch out across the snowy horizon.
"This is my domain. I know every creature that inhabits this Taiga." Tyra smiled, "Come, let me show you my great trophies."
00000000
The knight felt the warmth of a nearby fireplace and instantly was relieved by its presence.
"That hits the spot." he stretched and closed the door behind him.
"This is my northern home." Tyra informed, "Every creature I have ever hunted in the North is housed here." she pointed to one relic.
"This is the head of the Verikan Bear." the woman informed, "The fiercest mammal of the Eastern Tundra."
She walked to a whole creature set up at the left corner.
"This is the Ulric Wolf. Very dangerous creatures, even deadlier when they are in packs." she pointed to her left arm, which had a scar across it.
Fernando took off his helmet to get a better look.
"The Lia Deer, the Morkan Moose, Grey Geese, the Incandescent Swan." Tyra went on a speech, "The green elk, the Mestrusian boar-" she turned around and paused, taking a moment to look at Fernando's face.
"You know... it's not polite to stare." the knight smirked as he saw the woman's fascination, "But I understand."
Tyra chuckled, "The men of the south are really quite attractive!" she said and put her hands on her hips, "I almost want to mount your head on my wall to look at it forever!"
"Why I am flatter- Wait what." Fernando paused to recapture that statement.
"I do not lie, southerner!" Tyra smiled, "You are quite the handsome lot! Alas, I am not the courting type for us to be together." she shook her head, "I once got a rifle for my lover, unfortunately, he wasn't too happy to be carried away by the slavers."
"Uh..."
Tyra laughed and grabbed the rose that was still in the man's hand, "But I will take this as a token of what could have been!" she raised it into the air, "In fact, we can celebrate it with a bottle of mead!" she walked t her kitchen.
Fernando nodded and roamed around her living room.
"This is a nice cabin." he informed as he saw all the rustic amenities, "Oh, here." he said and placed his lance on the sofa and his shield on the ground next to it.
Tyra came out from behind a wall and looked back at him.
"Would you like wheat mead or rye mead?" she asked, "Wait... is that yours?" she asked and pointed at the lance.
Fernando turned and nodded, "Aye! It was crafted by Don Inigo!" he said proudly, "The best blacksmith in all of Sun Spire- And the Realm!"
Tyra looked at it, "Aye!" she agreed happily, "It looks like an exceptional weapon!" she walked to it and got a closer look, "Aye... a great weapon indeed." she nodded, "Forged Solarium... fire crystals imported straight from the Orc tribes... How much do you want for it?" she picked it up, but strained to do so.
"Wow... it's very... heavy..." she panted.
"Oh no, my lady." Fernando shook his head and easily picked it up with one arm, "This is Fernando's one and only lance... It is very special- In fact, I can see a piece of myself in it!" he chuckled.
Tyra sighed, "Oh well, a hunter's weapon is his for life." she shrugged her shoulders, "But what impresses me more is that you can lift that with one arm!" she walked to his side and felt his right arm.
"Aye... I love strong men."
"Er hem." Fernando cleared his throat, "My lady, please... let us take it slow-" he stopped when he heard a bell ring.
Tyra instantly became alert.
"It's here!" she said and ran to her rifle, which was on a stand by the door, "I finally got him!" she growled and grabbed a strange object from a metal safe.
"What is it?" Fernando saw as the woman paced around gathering materials.
"The only creature in this Taiga I have not caught!" the woman responded as she grabbed a large bowie knife, "The Glacial Serpent!" she said and took a deep breath.
"A serpent?" the knight called out, "Ah! My lady, I know a thing or two on bringing down dragons!" he laughed and ran to get his gear, "Let us take it down together!"
"Very well! But I do not want you dying!" Tyra said, and the two ran outside and stopped by a pole that was a few meters away from her cabin.
On this pole were four strings that stretched out to different parts of the taiga, and each one of them had a bell attached to it.
"Westward..." Tyra mumbled as she saw the said string shake and ring the bell, "The beast has taken the bait I had laid in the west..." she informed.
00000000
The two arrived at the edge of a frozen lake, only to find a large blue colored lindworm feasting on the body of a dead moose.
Surely enough, there was a string attached to the moose's antler that led back to the cabin.
"A dragon..." Fernando mumbled as the two hid behind a stone, "Ah... destiny has brought us back together, my friend."
"So you have faced the dragonkin before?" Tyra asked, "My... you are just my type." she smirked and prepared her rifle.
"I am a knight, it is fate that leads me to these wretched lagartos." the knight responded, "What will we do?"
"Shock and awe, Fernando." Tyra lit up a small horn, "Shock and awe." she suddenly popped out from behind the rock and threw the horn at the serpent.
A burst of fire shot out and scalded the ice dragon as it ate.
"REEEEHHHH!" the fiend screeched and tried to back away from the flames.
"Now!" Tyra yelled and charged, lighting up the monster with a barrage of bullets, "RAH!" she hollered at the top of her lungs as she struck her prey with all she had.
"EERRAHHHH!" the monster screeched and barged through the fire and aimed to pummel Tyra to the ground.
"Out of the way!" Fernando intervened and picked up Tyra, "Hah!" he sidestepped to avoid the incoming dragon and set down the woman, "There you go!"
Tyra nodded and reloaded, then aimed once more.
"This will end you, foul-"
"RAHHHHHHHHH!" a dragon roared.
But this was not the one that they were fighting.
"DWAHHHH!" Fernando was suddenly struck by a large, scaly tail and sent crashing into a tree.
A second Glacial Serpent appeared from the woods and locked on to the huntress, "EERAH!" it screeched.
"My gods..." Tyra murmured as she was surrounded by the two gargantuan monsters, "No... I did not expect to of them..."
"HRAH!" the first serpent breathed forth a stream of noxious gas.
"No!" Tyra rolled out of the way and fired dead on, "HYAH!" she launched a grenade from her weapon, striking the monster on the shin.
"BRAH!" the second dragon stepped in and struck Tyra with its tail, then slammed her down with its foot.
"AYYYYYY!" Tyra screamed as he body was being crushed by the monster, "AHHHHHHH!" she cried out and then saw the first dragon lumber back in.
"HRAH!" the first dragon communicated to the second, which caused the second to remove its foot and allow it to grab hold of the huntress.
"KYAH! KYAH!" the first dragon seemed to chortle as it held the woman in its hands, "KRAH!" it crushed her.
"AGHHHHH!" Tyra groaned and tried her best to withstand the excruciating pain, then mustered up the strength to grab one of her horns and chunk it straight into the monster's mouth.
"RYYAHHHHHH!" the dragon bellowed as its insides instantly combusted, causing it to release the huntress as it frantically ran around until it expired in a wad of flames.
Tyra landed roughly on the ground, "Ha... Ha..." she panted and only had the chance to turn around before she was struck by the drake and sent flying into the frozen lake.
CRASH! The woman broke clean through the ice.
The second dragon charged up its toxic breath, "RAHHHH!" it was suddenly struck by an unstoppable force.
"HRAH!" Fernando charged straight into the beast's front right leg, shattering it upon impact and causing the drake to jerk back in pain.
"You will pay for that, Amigo!" the knight growled and lit up his lance, then jabbed it straight into the serpent's chest and let loose its infernal payload.
"RYYYAAAAAA!" the second serpent screeched a horrible wail as it too perished to the flames.
Fernando removed his lance before the dragon collapsed, then saw it fall and chuckled to himself. "Looks like you had a bad case of... heartburn." he joked and set his lance down.
"HELP!" Tyra's cries sounded through the air, causing the knight to turn and see her in the lake.
"Dios mio!" Fernando gasped, "Oh no... I can't... swim!" he growled as he ran to the edge of the lake, "I am going to have to pull her out!" he tried to get close to where she was, but heard the ice crack underneath his feet.
"I can go no longer!" he called out.
"Fernando-" Tyra submerged, "Please... Help!" she cried.
The knight clenched his fists, "Think... Think..." he shook his head, "Ah ha!" he exclaimed and used his lance to reach forward, "Grab hold, my lady!"
Tyra saw the lance and flailed her arms in an attempt to grab hold, "Ah!" she suddenly gripped it.
"HRPH!" Fernando used his might to drag the woman out of the lake and into firm land, "Ha.. ha..." he panted and picked up the woman.
"Thank you..." Tyra shivered weakly, "Fernando."
00000000
Fernando arose out of Tyra's bed and put on his undergarments, trying not to awaken the sleeping huntress as he finished and walked over to his armor.
"Leaving so soon?" the woman's voice called out, the huntress was now awake.
"I have to travel to Frostmire." Fernando responded, "I heard an Orc Tribe is attacking their outskirts." he put on his boots and looked at a mirror, "I cannot allow such injustice to pass."
Tyra sighed.
"Very well. But makes sure to return to me." she informed as she turned to face him, "You have garnered my mind and my heart, perhaps my father can arrange something for us."
"I will be available whenever you need me, my lady." Fernando started to put on his chest plate, "You know that."
Tyra smiled.
"Now, Fernando must return to doing what he does best! Defend the innocent and the damsels of the Realm!" he cheered and put on his helmet.