OoO( 8 )OoO
Van was sitting in the mess hall poking at a half eaten dinner. He couldn't get the image of Lyle stabbing a defensless person out of his head. Angrily, he threw his spoon across the table and stood up. He had to talk to him.
As Van walked for the guild door, it suddenly burst open and someone in a hurry slammed into him, sending them both to the ground.
"Ouch, watch where your going!" shouted Van rubbing his head.
"You watch it, I had the right of way..." said the other, then both of them opened their eyes and looked at each other. "Van!"
"Lyle!"
"I have to talk to you!" said Lyle getting to his feet.
"I have to talk to you too." said Van.
"Uh, okay you first." said Lyle crossing his arms.
Van sighed. "Its about that bandit..." he said.
Lyle glared and said, "Not you too. Listen, I already got a lecture from Maze, I don't need you to tell me how to live my life too okay."
"I don't care who said what to you! What you did wasn't right Lyle. I'm your friend and I've known you for a while so I know that you were hurt in the past..."
"I said save it. Maze already gave me that speech." said Lyle.
"And I said I don't care. You can't kill a defensless person, bandit or not! That makes you no better than they are!"
"I said save it!" shouted Lyle.
"And I said no! You are going to listen to me..."
"No I'm not." said Lyle. He turned and headed for the door, but Van grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, then punched him across the jaw. Lyle stumbled backwards and fell.
Sitting up, Lyle glared at Van. Van sighed and walked over to Lyle. "Look, I'm sorry." he said holding out his hand. Lyle smacked it away and stood to his feet, staring Van coldly in the eyes.
"I don't care if you leave the guild or not. Whatever you do, don't come near me again. If you do, I'll make sure you regret it." said Lyle threateningly.
Van glared back at Lyle. "I'm not leaving until I find out if Alex is alive." he said.
Lyle smiled and said, "Good luck with that." Then he turned and walked away.
OoOoO
Lyle stood in the center of the melee ring. Several apprentices stood around him holding swords, ready to attack. Lyle closed his eyes and listened for the first person to move. The apprentice to his right stepped forward and Lyle spun around and swept the apprentice off his feet with a swing of his wooden sword.
The apprentice behind him attacked, only to be booted backwards. The last one ran forward and thrust at the hero. Lyle grabbed the apprentices sword arm and yanked him forward, backhanding him across the back and causing him to fall to the ground. Lyle swung around and tossed the fallen foes sword in the air with his foot, catching it by the handle.
The two apprentices that were disabled now stood again and prepared to attack. Lyle spun around and disarmed one of them with a smack to his sword hand, then eliminated him with a false execution.
The last remaining apprentice kicked Lyle back and swung his sword, but Lyle blocked it, then spun around facing away from him and thrust both swords backwards and into the apprentices stomach, making him stumble backwards.
"Lyle, there you are." said the Guildmaster as he approached the melee circle. Lyle turned and saw him. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor."
"What is it?" asked Lyle as he walked over to the wall.
"Well, I have a package I want delivered to the Barrow Fields. It must get to the trade mission there in order for the new supplies for the guild to arrive, so I would like you to escort the two traders to Barrow Fields."
"Why not get another hero to do it?"
"Because, I trust your sword above all the others in this guild and I know you can get the job done." said the Guildmaster. "Will you do it?"
Lyle nodded and said, "Sure. When are they leaving?"
"Tomorrow morning. I know that you don't use your guild seal anymore so the quickest path is through the Darkwood Forest."
"Yeah, I've studied the map. I'll be there, don't worry." he said.
"Thank you, I owe you one Lyle. The traders will be waiting at the statue outside the guild." Lyle nodded and headed for the guild.
OoOoO
Lyle woke up the next morning and put his armor back on, then grabbed his bow and walked down the stairs. He walked to a basin full of water and splashed it across his face, instantly waking him up with its icy touch. Shaking his head, he grabbed his bow and walked over to the door.
"Lyle, wait a second!" said Elizabeth from behind him. Lyle turned around and smiled as she came closer. "I heard you are going into Darkwood Forest today. Is that right?" she asked.
"Yeah, its a favor for the Guildmaster." he said.
"Is there any way I can talk you out of it?" she asked. Lyle shook his head and she sighed. "I didn't think so. Well, do me a favor now. Be careful, Darkwood is an evil place and I don't even want to imagine what you will find in there."
"Don't worry, I won't do anything rash." he said.
She smiled and looked into his blue eyes with her own beautiful amber eyes. "Here, take this with you for luck." she said and untied her arm band again. She held it out and he grabbed it and looked at the black cloth.
Smiling at her, he said, "Thanks. I'll guard it with my life." She smiled and he walked out the door.
OoOoO
Lyle went to the Bowerstone blacksmith and picked up his custom weapon. He stared up the long blade and grasped the black leather handle. Running his hand over the cross shaped hilt, he admired the new blade. "What did you make the blade out of?"
"Well, I know you said to make it out of steel, but...can you keep a secret?" asked the smithy. Lyle nodded and the old man smiled. "I found a way to make an even stronger metal than steel. I call it Syvril." he said.
"And you made my sword out of this Syvril, and you want me to test it for you?" he asked. The old man nodded and Lyle looked at the blade again. "Alright, I'm going through Darkwood today, so I'll be back tomorrow with the results." he said.
OoOoO
"When do you think he is going to show up?" asked one trader.
"I don't know...he was supposed to be here by now, the guildmaster said so." said the others.
"You guys looking for me?" asked Lyle from behind them. They both turned and saw Lyle standing behind them wearing his bright leather armor, holding a shining sword over his shoulder. Around the sword handle was tied Elizabeth's black arm band. "Cummon, we have a long ways to go." said Lyle and he walked past the two and into the Greatwood Forest.
OoOoO
They had travelled through Greatwood and found themselves in front of the Darkwood entrance. Walking through the gateway, Lyle was followed by the two traders. Darkwood was a very depressing place, even in broad daylight. The sun was blocked out by the thick treetops, making everything pitch black. The path was barely visible from the lanterns hanging crookedly on the side.
Lyle stepped forward onto the dusty path, sending a murky cloud into the air. The traders followed him down the path for a few minutes when Lyle stopped them. "What is it?" whispered one of the traders.
Lyle stepped forwards slightly and looked down at the path. "Someone has been down this road recently." he said. "Footprints are fresh."
"How do you know?"
"Have you ever known Darkwood not to be windy? These foot prints couldn't have been older than an hour, the wind would have blown it away." Suddenly, all of them jumped at the sound of grunting. Lyle walked forward and looked around for the source, when he saw it. A trader was lying in the middle of the path and two Balverines were making their way towards him.
Lyle ran forward and shouted, "Hey!" The balverines looked at him and dashed towards him. "Well old man, time to test your metal." he said. One of the balverines jumped into the air and vanished into the trees. The other kept its charge up, an unfortunate choice. Lyle swung the sword diagnally and cut clean through the tough balverine hide, spilling its blood on the path and sending its torso and lower half in two different directions. Lyle smiled as he looked at the red blade. "Not bad."
The two traders cowered as they heard a bone chilling howl from the treetops. "Oh no, now they know we are here...they'll kill us for sure..." said one of the traders.
"No they won't, just stay with me." said Lyle and he ran forward. The traders followed him and they all stopped in front of the fallen trader. The man was wounded with claw marks across his face and a viscious bite to his right forearm.
"Please...you must take me with you..." said the man.
"No way...you're bitten, you'll become one of them and kill us!" said one of them.
"We have to follow the oath of the trader...we have to help him."
"I know. Can you walk?" asked Lyle. The man stood up and nodded. "Good, follow us. But if you even twitch wrong, I won't hesitate to kill you."
"Thats fine lad, I've had worse injuries than this..." he said.
Lyle continued forward at a steady pace with the traders on his heels. They had experienced a calm, a moment of peace while in a dangerous place. They had walked until both traders were tired, when Lyle stopped them. "Who knows how to wield a sword?" he asked. One of the traders held up their hand.
"I used to practice with my dad when I was younger..."
"Good, take this. There are fires about a hundred yards ahead. I'm going to scout it to make sure its safe." he said as he handed the man his katana. Walking forward, he vanished into the darkness like a ghost in the night.
"How is he just going to leave us here with only you to defend us?" asked one of the traders.
"Hey, whats that supposed to mean?"
"I'm hungry, tired, and scared out of my wits. Then he goes and leaves me here alone."
"Oh quit complaining, I'm injured and I'm whining less than you."
"Oh you shut your hole, I never wanted you to come anyway."
"Well you can deal with it, he's coming with us." said a voice behind them. They all jumped in fright and the trader with the sword spun around and swung, only to have it caught by Lyle and jerked from his hands. "Lets get going, ahead is a camp with friends. They said we could stay with them for a little while."
"Good, I was really getting tired of these woods." said one of the traders. They all walked into the camp and sat down gratefully by the fire. Four tents were pitched inside the interior of a crumbling wall and several large fires sat in the center of the camp, stopping any creatures of the night from entering the camp. Lyle walked over to the table set up next to one of the fires and decided to play the card game that a travelling gambler had set up.
One of the traders turned to the other and said, "I wonder where this wall came from...rather convenient if you ask me."
"There was an old castle that used to be here." said one of the owners of the tents. "That was what caused this place to turn as dark and evil as it is."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, in the castle stayed a vampire named Clavados, and its presence turned the entire forest into a dead zone. But one day, a werewolf named Jirago came along and the two fought a war back and forth, army against army. The werewolves tore the castle apart piece by piece until every last vampire had been slain, but they didn't go down without a fight. Only one remained after the battle, and that was a female werewolf. Nobody knows what happened to her, they say she just vanished, leaving the forest as it was."
"Great...awerewolf lose in Darkwood. Now I have something else to worry about." said the trader.
"Don't worry, werewolves don't attack humans...unless they're hungry." said Lyle jokingly. The other people laughed as the trader shivered.
"I think the balverines might have come and killed her." said the injured trader.
"I don't know, they have very similar traits to werewolves...maybe she cross bred and made them."
"Well, in any case, I've lost enough of my money to this hustler. I'm going to check out the chapel down the road. When I get back, be ready to leave." he said. They all nodded and he left the camp and headed for the Chapel of Skorm.
OoOoO
When he arrived, Lyle immediately took a dislike to the place. Something made the sky around the chapel blood red and the desolation chilled him to the bone. He walked closer with his sword drawn and stepped inside the stone temple. He noted the skeletons laying about the place, some missing bodyparts.
"Welcome to the Chapel of Skorm." said a snake-like voice. Looking forward, Lyle saw two men wearing black robes with hoods standing in front of a statue of Skorm. Lyle approached it and it sent chills down his spine. He looked every inch lethal and commanding, from the jagged horns on his head to the claws that extended five inches from his fingers, to the flaring red eyes staring at Lyle. Lyle looked at the statue and noticed that Skorm had a human shaped body, muscular beyond human capacity with a demon like head. In his mouth were rows of razor sharp teeth, just waiting to sink into something.
"Would you like to know the wisdom of Skorm?" asked one of the men.
"Not really, I don't believe in Avo or Skorm. To me, they are just myths." said Lyle, who was amused when the two men hissed at him.
"Then why do you desicrate our Chapel with your non believing blood?" shouted one of them.
"I came because I know what kind of gifts you give to your god." he said turning away from the statue and looking at the two. "And I have come to repay for their lives, by killing those who sent them to hell." he said. Both men raised their hands and they flared red with fire.
"You shall meet Skorm soon enough!" shouted one and they shot flames at Lyle. Lyle smiled, then vanished. "Hsss...where did he go?" shouted one of the dark priests.
Taking the blade across the mans throat, Lyle slit his throat spilling blood on the ground. The man fell with a gurgling sound and died on the floor. The other turned and looked at him. "How did you move that fast, its impossible?"
"Nothing is impossible if you will it." said Lyle. The man ran for the door and made it out into the open forest.
Lyle followed him and stuck his sword in the ground and pulled his bow out. Notching an arrow, he let it go and it flew hitting the priest in the back and sending him flying forward ten feet before falling face first to the ground. Lyle put his bow away and grabbed his sword, then walked back into the chapel.
He walked back to the statue and stared it right in the eyes. Lyle could barely hear something in the back of his head. "We will meet again Sabre..." said the voice. Lyle shook his head and stared at the statue again. "Sorry, no more sacrificing the innocent to please you. You can hate me all you want." he said, then turned around. Taking his sword, he spun around and slashed the head clean off the statue.