OoO( 16 )OoO
Lyle and Ark sat back to back on the roof of a small square building. The purpose of the building was long forgotten, as the sign and any form of its former glory were torn to shreds by time and a multitude of undead creatures. The warrior sighed as he stared at the large city that covered about a quarter of the island. "Well, this is a brilliant situation we've stumbled upon."
Ark smirked as he looked out over the side of the building. There was a massive crowd of undead gathered around the building, looking for the prey that had escaped them. "A truer statement has never been spoken." he said. "And what's the worst part of this?" asked the dark warrior. Lyle looked at him curiously. "These buildings are wooden. So setting the undead on fire will consume the building and kill us too." he said.
Lyle laughed. "I'm sure that's something that Scythe would love to see. An entire city set ablaze on the horizon caused by a horde of screaming corpses running crazy and lighting everything else on fire too." he said. Ark laughed loudly as he pictured the look on Scythe's face, then sighed when he realized that he just gave their position away.
"Damn you..." he said as he stood up and watched the undead creatures start climbing the buildings. "I blame you for this." he said, getting a chuckle from Lyle.
"Well, I guess I owe you then." he said as he looked for an escape route. "Now, where the hell was this first glyph?"
"He said it was buried in front of an obelisk in the graveyard." he said laughing again. "Wow, I just realized something..." he said.
"That we are in a giant graveyard?" asked Lyle with a smile as he finished the mans sentence. "Well, we better start looking then." he said as he spotted a way out. Walking to the edge of the building, he noticed a few ropes stretching from one side of the building to another, undoubtedly some form of cloth drying cord. "Over here!" he said. The other man ran over and saw the cords then looked at him.
"Think it will hold?" he asked.
Lyle didn't say a word before placing one foot on one of the cords, then stepping onto the other. After gaining a decent stance, he stepped forward slowly, placing one foot ahead of the other, sliding forward. After crossing the great chasm, he looked down and noticed an entire ocean of undead faces looking up at him, reaching up and trying to grab him. However, he was too far above for them to even hope to reach. When he was close enough to the other side, he jumped and landed on the other side.
Turning, he smiled. "Yeah, it will probably hold." he said as he saw the undead creatures starting to crawl on top of the opposite building. Ark turned and looked at them, his long black hair waving in the wind, then turned back and jumped onto the ropes. He dashed across in three strides, crossing in record time before turning back and swiping the cords so that they couldn't be followed.
"Good idea. Now what?" he asked as he noticed the creatures turning their attention to the new building.
"Run." said Lyle.
"You are just full of good ideas today." said the dark warrior and the sprinted across the clay tiled rooftops. Their heavy boots cracked the plates of the slanted roof underneathe them as they ran forward. Making it to the end of the roof, Ark measured the next rooftop with his eyes and made a jump. He landed heavily on the roof across the gap and turned around.
Lyle wasn't as confident in his jumping skills, however he made the attempt. Planting a heavy boot, he launched himself into the air. However, his armor was heavier than that of his partners, and he began to sink a lot faster than planned. Reaching out, he tried to grasp the edge of the building, but he wasn't close enough. He felt the black abyss below him begin to swallow him when suddenly he stopped. Opening his eyes, he looked up to see Ark with a strained look on his face holding him in the air with one arm.
"I....can't hold...you...." said the man through gritted teeth. Lyle, thinking quickly reached up and unbuckled his chestplate, letting it fall into the depths. A few of the undead looked up in time to see the heavy plate fall, before it crushed their frail frames under its weight. Ark, now much relieved from the loss of a great deal of weight slowly pulled the warrior up. Lyle clamped onto the edge of the building with his gauntlet and jerked himself on top, breathing heavily from the near death experience he had.
"Sorry..." said Lyle, now only sporting his spaulders and a white linen shirt underneath.
"That's two you owe me." said the dark warrior as he massaged his arm. "Lets keep moving." he said, then they both ran along the roof to the far end of the building. When they stopped, they were both mildly surprised at what they found. In front of them was a fence outlining the edges of a large cemetary.
"What are the odds?" asked Lyle.
"In our favor I guess." said Ark as he looked around. Finally, he pointed. "There."
Lyle looked into the background and spotted what the warrior was pointing at. It was a large rectangular structure that was topped with a pyramid. "The obelisk." he said. It stood about 15 feet high and towered over everything else in the graveyard. "Great...now how to get there..." he said as he looked down at the street below. Yet again, they had been followed by the swarm of necromantics.
The warriors both looked at each other, and knew immediately what the other was thinking. They both drew their swords, then jumped down onto a balcony below them. Yet again, they leapt from the edge and one landed on the street, while the other crushed one of the dark spawn under his boot.
Dashing forward, they began to carve a path through the sea of hollow faces towards the gate to the graveyard. Once they reached it, Ark opened the gate and they both ran inside. Slamming the gate behind them, Ark began to hold it shut as a wave of bodies pushed against the heavy iron door.
Lyle looked around, then grabbed a torch from a nearby holder and slid it through the two rings of the doors. "There, that should hold them for a few minutes." he said. Ark nodded to him and they both ran towards the large structure at the back of the cemetary.
Stopping at the bottom of the structure, Lyle began to dig with his hands at the earth. "Move." he heard above him. Looking up, he suddenly slung himself backwards as Ark drove his broadsword deep into the earth, then wrenched at it with all his strength. The soil gave way and began to rise out of the ground. As the warrior heaved one last time, the earth flew into the air and Lyle immediately spotted the object among the flying debris. Reaching forward, he grabbed a small stone object and pulled it free as the rest of the dirt fell back to the ground.
"We got it." said Lyle smirking.
"Yeah, but now what?" asked Ark. Looking up, the warrior new what he meant. The undead had pried the door open and were now flooding into the graveyard towards them.
Sighing to himself, there was only one word that Lyle could think of. "....damn..."
OoOoO
"I can't believe you let them go on their own!" shouted the woman. She glared at the wizened mage as he stood by the fire with both hands on top of a cane. "There is no telling how many of those...those things are in that city, and you just let him stroll off into the undead apocolypse without any aide!? Are you mad!?" she shouted louder.
"Young lady, I assure you that I am not mad." said Scythe as he turned to the blonde woman.
"Then how could you let them just go off to their complete annihilation!?" she roared as she crossed her arms.
He smiled. "Miss, whatever instruction I gave those two, I can say that there was nothing in it that said they could not bring help." he said. Her arms dropped as she looked at him. "If they went without telling anyone, its because they chose to."
She seemed speechless for a moment, then turned away and all her rage seemed to boil over at once. "Lyle..." she said silently and walked out the door, leaving the old man in the house with only a young Kiko and Van sitting in the chairs around him.
"You know...if I was him I would prefer to stay in the Necropolis than have to come back and face that..." said Van as he rubbed his forehead. "But that's just like him. Diving head first into disaster without telling anyone so that they wouldn't be in any danger."
"So...how many times has Drake...I mean...Lyle, how many times has he...um...saved people." asked a shy Kiko, who now wore a purple fur coat worthy of Lady Grey.
Van looked up at her. "Well, I'd say it started about ten years ago. His first act of greatness was obliterating a snow troll, and from that point on he pretty much took on whatever came his way. Funny thing is that he always came out on top. Lucky bugger if you ask me."
"I see." she said smiling to herself. "It's good to know he was such a good person. Some of the others in the group suspected he was some kind of escaped prisoner." she said, feeling as if some weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
Van looked at her curiously. "So, Kiko was it?" he asked. She nodded enthusiastically. He smiled, then continued. "When exactly did you run into him? How did you meet?" he asked as he leaned forward, interested in hearing what happened after he left.
She placed her hand on her cheek as she remembered her first encounter with the warrior. "Well, it was a little bit under a year ago. Our group performed in a few towns in Albion, then we decided it was time to head north for our yearly anniversary back in our hometown. So we headed north, and as always we hired a hero to escort us through Darkwood. Unfortunately, I think he may have been a rookie, because at the first sign of trouble he ran off." she said.
Van's face changed to a dark expression. "Did you happen to get his name?" he asked.
She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. We had only met briefly before leaving." she said. The mage nodded and she continued the story. "Well, we were about to turn back, when we heard voices in the trees around us. It was unsual, of course, and we tried to leave. But we were attacked by bandits. They tied all of our arms and led us and our cart into some worn down building in the forest. It turns out they were slave traders, and they planned on trading us to some newly formed bandit horde as servants."
Van thought for a moment. "I don't recall any new bandit camps in Albion..." he said.
"Well, thats because when it was time for the leader to take us back to the camp, they were attacked by a wolf. Or...at least what we thought was a wolf. He was wearing that same wolf mask that he wore the day of the festival. So we thought he was some sort of half man, half wolf. He attacked them without mercy." she said as she recalled the loud crunching sound the bandit leaders head made when it spun completely around on his neck. "He freed us, and said he would guide us through the rest of the forest. After we got out into the open fields again, he disappeared." she said.
Van gave her a curious look. "So, he didn't join then?" he asked.
"No, we played in Barrow Fields for a while, but then we decided to head north again. Before I left though, I wanted to thank him, so I picked some flowers from the fields and went back to the forest."
The mage could hardly believe his ears. "You went back into Darkwood by yourself?" he asked. She nodded. "Are you insane?"
She giggled. "I suppose, but when he walked with us, I noticed him looking at me. Or, at least I think so. Well, I decided to see him again and thank him for helping us. And...well..."
The younger mage stopped her. "Let me guess, he wasn't the first thing you ran into?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"No, he wasn't. There was a dark creature there...darker than night it seemed. I thought it was going to attack me, but it just left. After that encounter I figured I wouldn't push my luck further, and went to leave, then he showed up again. This time he wasn't so nice. He asked me why I was there, and I thanked him. But he said I shouldn't have come back." she said.
"Sounds like him..." said Van.
She remembered the next few moments vividly, as if they had happened moments before.
OoOoO
She looked down at the ground after having been told off. She wasn't used to people being so unkind, however she knew he was right. "I'm sorry...I just...."
However, the man cut her off. "You just wanted to get killed. No person in their right mind would come to this forest alone. But you came alone, and unarmed. You are either brave or stupid. And I don't venture to guess that you are brave." he said in what seemed to be a growl.
She felt tears begin to roll down from her eyes as the words hit her. "I'm sorry..." she said again, then turned and ran. He watched her run off then sighed.
Walking forward, he went after her, picking the flowers up off the ground as he went. He knew he had been too hard on her. However people didn't learn if they didn't get punished. Following her trail, he suddenly heard a scream. Running through the trees he jumped out next to her and saw what had terrified her. Three balverines were stalking low to the ground, as if they were only shadows, hunting for a soul to feed on.
"Step back..." he said as he crouched himself. She did as she was told and stepped backwards. Immediately, one of the beasts jumped after her. It was stopped dead when the mans foot contacted its chin however. Rolling backwards, it laid on the ground stunned. The other two immediately attacked him. He moved to the side and grabbed ones outstretched claw, then twisted it sharply letting out a loud snap.
Roaring in pain, the creature snapped at him with its jaws as the other made a jump at him. Drawing a dagger, he slammed it hilt deep in the first balverines head, then immediately swung it by its broken arm and caused it to smash into the other, making it stumble and fall backwards. Grabbing the blade, he jumped like lightning on the other and gave it the same end as its kin. He began to stand, when suddenly he heard the girl yell.
"Watch out!" she shouted, He turned in time to see the one he stunned earlier smash into him and pin him to the ground. The dark creature began to snap at him with its razor like teeth and was slowly getting closer to his throat. Taking his hands, he wrapped them around the creatures throat and squeezed as hard as he could.
The mad beast raked wildly at his chest with its claws as it choked in his hands. However, no matter how much it grasped and clawed at him, his grip didn't loosen. Finally, after a few seconds, the beast became weak, then went limp. Squeezing harshly one last time, the man made sure the creatures windpipe was crushed. Letting go of the beast, he attempted to get up, but his body wouldn't respond.
He looked over at the terrified girl as she rushed to his side. Her tears overflowing now. His eyes widened, because for a second, only a brief moment, he saw her again. "M...Mar...ia..." he said as he closed his eyes, despite the girl calling to him loudly.
OoOoO
Van had been absorbed into the story and was now leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. She stopped momentarily as she wiped a tear that threatened to flow away. "Then what happened?"
"I laid there with him. I wasn't going to let him die alone." she said. "But we were attacked again. This time a pair of black creatures that were unlike anything I had ever seen grabbed us and began running through the forest carrying us. I blacked out, and when I woke again, I was back in Barrow Fields and he was laying next to me. From that point on, he promised me he would protect me no matter what." she said. "I don't know why he said it. But when he did, I was happy."
Van was in shock. He hadn't noticed it at first, but when Kiko looked up at him he immediately realized why Lyle did what he did. Though there were differences, Kiko resembled the young girl he knew from his past. "I see...and he came with you to the north." he said.
She nodded with a smile. "He was truly meant to be a part of our group I think. He was pretty clumsy at first, but after a few shows he was one of the favorites across Albion as the bad guy." she said.
Van smirked. "Ironic..." he said.
"Why?" she asked curiously.
"Nevermind." he remarked as he stood. Looking at Scythe, he knew the wizard had come to the same conclusion as he did. This girl was Lyle's second chance.