There were some men whom gave themselves into ultimate evils, just desperate to survive I suppose. In times such as war, you'll truly understand that not all evil is commited on the battlefield.
-Hector of Solva
They camped on the outer stretches of the western mountains, a fire around all of them and yet they stayed themselves away huddled with cloaks and clinging their arms around themselves. Starving, exhausted, so exhausted.
Lelei held her staff close to her chest as she looked about into the forest below, and yet she was not looking either with those blue dull eyes. The loneliness of it, godless, without anything beyond the greyness and the dead trees.
Hector sat next to her, his red hair with a new stark white streak through it like the snow on the ground and his eyes much like hers. Staring into the void, waiting and wondering.
Below them, Kurmann and Zega discussed while Rickett and Edmund just sat staring at the fire like something out of the primeval world that they thought themselves so distant from.
"We shall send the two ahead, Lelei has her magic, and I know Hector to be a crafty man. They'll be quite fine," Kurmann held his hands out as he explained this to the old man.
Zega looked off, "Are you sure? the boy is half with one hand and to perform magic one must be of physical wellness. We've not eaten a full meal for a near week."
"They will be fine, I'm certain of it. At the first sign of danger, they'll know to come riding back. We need bodies to do this, that last skirt with the brigands were too close for my comfort. Not to mention those men in green with their accursed metal dragons could come from the sky at any point again. These factions know there are still men around in these woods that stay to the Empire, we must-"
"I understand..." he put his hand up. "The tactic...it...feels wrong to me for this is an injured boy and a girl who barely has spells to defend herself from any molestation. That is all." He spoke with a mange of white facial hair growing from his once clean-shaven head.
"Yes, but it's either that or we risk one of our few able bodies."
"Oh, Wareharun's light...I pray that we arrive to Italica in short time."
"Stay calm priest, they're willing to do it, they know the risks as much as you and I. I'm not in exactly any condition to force them towards doing so, there'd be hefty risk upon myself if I were."
Zega held a finger up, giving an intense look at the man, "Smart thinking, but will it give results in the end?"
"Gambling is about all we have left between our lives and the absolute," Kurmann placed his hands on his hips and spat.
"I...shan't disagree there. What exactly do you believe will happen once we arrive to Italica?"
"We will join back with the Empire," Kurmann shifted an eyebrow at him, a slight confusion on his face as if the answer were obvious.
"Are you sure there will be an Empire left? you saw the things those men in green did, the range they had-"
"It is foolish to merely give in at the first sign of danger, the Empire in its history has always pulled through. I am aware that nothing is perfect and that nations fall, but...we have to protect what's behind us."
Zega nodded his head and smiled, "A good philosophy for a leader, but do remember, the road to hell is paved in good intentions."
That night, Hector was stirred by the fire, and he was greatly roused when he saw something moving. Then he saw that it was Edmund, slowly walking his way to the woods. He lay there for a moment, waking himself and trying to see the object in the man's hands. A sword.
He moved slow after seeing him walk near the tree line, glancing over at Lelei sleeping next to him before standing and walking on his toes. He stepped past the sleeping Zega and Rickett, then he kept moving.
The darkness that was the woods was swallowing him like a great beast. He walked faster. Going forward and forward until Edmund's voice came to him in that darkness, the only thing lighting the path was the faint edges of the camp light.
"Who's there?"
"...Hector."
He heard a sniff, "Go back to camp."
"...What're you doing?"
"It's none of your business."
"Edmund."
"...I can't. I can't anymore."
"What?"
"Just go back to camp."
"What're you gonna do?"
"I'll be far away, please just leave..."
"Edmund...give me that sword."
"No..."
Don't...do this."
"You can't stop me."
"Please..."
"Even if you called them, I'd do it, and it would be done quick. I was going far from camp so they wouldn't track you lot, but I'll do it here if you force me."
"...C-Can't you stay u-until...the sun rises? say goodbye to the others?"
"No. Hector...your brothers dead, my friends are dead. I know the world is ending. It's foolish not to deny it. This is...our day of judgement. I...can't be here for it...I won't..."
"Edmund..."
"Stop denying the truth, at least I'll get to know when it's coming, and that's the most pleasurable part of it all..."
"W-What about Italica-"
"What about Italica? there's no stopping this, we both saw it. They will kill us, kill our families, and that will be that."
Hector didn't answer.
"...I'm going."
"I'm imploring-"
"No. Goodbye Hector. If you see him, tell my father I died at Alnus."
The crunch of snow from his footsteps was the last thing Hector ever saw. Back at the campfire, a piece of tree bark had blackened off and flew up as an ember into the night sky, forever there and onward until it atomized.
On the next day, over a week in their exile from Alnus, Lelei lead the horse hundreds of paces ahead the others. Hector was at her back, holding her sides to keep himself steady. The trail was snowed in, and their horse snorted a hot mist out as it brought hoofs up and down in the snow, making crackles as the only sound about.
He glanced down at her, staring at the back of her neck for a small moment before saying, "Lelei."
"Yes?" her soft voice said after another second of pause.
"...Thank you."
"...For what exactly?"
"Helping me."
She didn't say anything back for a while. They passed cragged trees, each with jagged limbs like treants in the stories of old that the two could recall in their early childhood. Used to scare them from staying out in the forest when night drew close.
"You are welcome."
"I don't..." he paused, "know how..." he stopped. "...You said you have a sister?"
Silence for a moment, then she spoke, "Yes."
"What's her name?"
"Arpeggio."
"Do all wizards have weird names or is just you and your sister-ow!" he jerked back a bit as she elbowed him in the side of his torso, "I was only asking!"
"Ask less Mister Hector."
"You know...just because you're polite doesn't mean I don't notice the sarcasm."
"I am not being sarcastic, that is used in words not in a voice."
"That isn't what I meant, and you know it. Where's your sister now?"
"At our home in Rondel."
"The magic place? thought that was a myth."
"No, it is not. It was founded millennia ago before the Empire. Elves originally inhabited it before...well the first war of the Empire."
"How you know all this stuff?"
"Learned."
He scratched his head with his uninjured hand, "Your parents?"
"Our father and mother were nomads, but he died before I was born and my mother passed away soon after my birth. The toll delivering two children weighed too heavily on her."
"...I'm sorry-"
"It isn't your fault. My sister was barely five then, and...our tribe gave us off to an orphanage within Rondel, the rest I'm sure you might fill in yourself."
"I see."
"What of you?"
Hector seemed slightly surprised at the question, she didn't see it. He answered, "I was a shepherd for a time, under my pa. We lived in a village on the borders of the Empire. I thought it was...boring."
"Was it peaceful?"
"Yes, but it was boring. So, when the Imperials came calling, me and...my brother and a few others thought it wise to go along."
Lelei didn't say anything, he continued, "I'm not sure what I'm going to tell them. Even if I live, that is."
"...You'll live."
"I hope so."
The snow on the trees was heavy on the branches and some fell next to them and they looked only to see nothing there. They moved on.
"So, it really exists? an entire city full of magic and stuff?"
"It's...not full of magic, but there are schools and arcane items and lore. There is also a collection of extraordinary creatures, for example wyverns, hippogriffs, and roc. But these things in the modern day are few and far between save the wyverns of course."
"You really like the subject huh?"
"History is second only to magic. How the world evolved coincides with the forces of the modern arcana. Think chainmail that the Empire saw as something to be revered hundreds of years ago, only for steel plate to take its place a hundred years back. Now there are spells being developed to pierce through the armor en masse."
"What about...what about the men in green?"
"What of them?"
"Could magic be the difference maker?"
Lelei thought about this for some time, they rode through a small stream and the horse whined not appreciating the water but was fine once they were out and back onto the trail. "No."
"Why not?"
"Magic has many innovations. It is capable of destroying much and now even creation though that is quite the primitive study. However, to truly employ tactics of war one must be in range and see their enemy. There were strategies such as blowing holes open in the ground, but the enemy passed through that with magic of their own. In layman's term, one cannot hit what they cannot see, and these people are capable of spells that kill from miles away."
He took this all in and thought on it. Hector drew in a breath and sighed, "Shouldn't have given my hopes up, I guess. I'm hungry."
"Me too."
"What did you like to eat?"
"Eat? where?"
"In Rondel."
"Oh...it...depended, but a favorite of mine was pie."
"Pie?"
"Yes."
"That's a good one. Cake is more of my thing."
"Cake is too fluffy-"
"What? nah, you've only never had good cake in your life."
"No, I have not."
"Aw come on, at least say that you like bacon. Do wizards eat that?"
"Wizards have any kind of taste in food. Our diet is not differing based on the fact of our arcane knowledge."
"What about stories of witches cooking boys and girls in a stew?"
"Not...unfounded, but those sorts of crimes are of magic that is evil and dark in nature. For example, necromancy, the raising and controlling of the undead. Outlawed near three-hundred years ago after the zombie rebellion of Telta."
"A practice that might raise the dead?"
"...Hector."
"What?"
"...Nothing."
"...Okay."
They went on, each minute passing greyer than the last. It was cold, and he kept his arms around her for warmth. Lelei thought to herself, her eyes moving about and looking at something shaking in a tree. A squirrel coming from its hideout. Barely a meal for all of them, and way too much trouble to get that high. "Hector?"
"Huh?"
"Would...you like to see it when we are out of this mess?"
"See Rondel?"
"Yes. My sister could easily house you, before you return to your family."
"...Why?"
"I don't know, I'd thought to ask you."
"That's a pretty big offer."
"Yes."
"You really don't know why you're asking?"
"...Yes."
He smiled down at her gently, "It's okay, I'll visit, if...we...make it through this. You're a good woman Lelei, thank you."
She didn't look back at him, but there was a small smile on her face as well, "That means a lot."
"Does it?"
"Yes."
They passed through a small ridge with many large trees around it and another creek flowing down from the mountain to the east. Hector watched it, seeing the dark hue there. Yet another snow storm soon to arrive. Probably within a day, maybe two if he wanted to be hopeful.
"Hector?" she was much quieter now.
"Yes?"
"...Mr Edmund is gone, isn't he?"
"...Yeah."
"...I heard it."
"What?"
"You and him talking, I heard it. You tried to stop him."
"...Yeah."
"...I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault..."
"I...wonder if maybe he was right, that the world is ending."
"...I'm not sure...just...please don't hurt yourself, okay?"
"I won't."
"Please."
"I won't."
They stopped talking when he pointed out smoke about a mile away, it trailed from the tops of the dead trees up into the white sky. They witnessed this, glassing the surrounding area and then back to the smoke until Lelei spoke, "Should we wait for the others?"
"They'll follow."
"What if it's brigands?"
"We have to take a chance."
"Alright..."
When they came round, the two had to go down a small ridge with a large cavemouth at the bottom. Beyond it, there was a camp with several stomped-out fires about the area with small coals that'd caused the smoke trail. Around them as the two dismounted, there were tents and trash scattered about the area. Their boots crunching in the snow, the two stuck together as they glassed the area.
"Did you hear that?" Lelei was grabbing his coats sleeve as they looked around and held her staff close to her in her other hand. His hand was twitching slightly as it held a hammer. Blunt on one side, sharp on the other.
"Hear what?"
"It came from the cave."
"Are you sure?"
"We should leave."
"There could be something in there...nothing out here as far as the eye can see."
"We shouldn't steal-"
"Lelei, we're starving."
"Hector please-"
"Come on."
They walked along to the cave, Lelei could feel the hair on the back of her neck standing up. She spotted strange tools on workbenches like wooden clubs roughly made and arrows likewise. Briefly, she was reminded of the elves.
"Hector..."
"Can you light your staff?"
"...Yes...but..." she stopped and tapped her staff on the ground twice. A small light edged out from the top of it. They walked inside; the darkness finally being illuminated as they stepped inside. A smooth roof was above them with about a ten-foot-wide apart walls that had small, jagged edges. She stood behind him, sticking her staff over his shoulder and lighting the path ahead. Then they stopped.
There were sets of cages along the left and rightmost chambers. Within, there were humans and rabbit folk and elves writhing on each other in strange and unkept angles. The smell was so noxious the two both instantly covered their noses.
Hector opened his mouth, and nothing came out. Lelei's eyes were widened, and her chest moved inward and forward several times, all in a mere second. The light adjusted fully, and they saw them writhing over each other and staring into the torch light with eyes adjusting from the darkness. Several had bandages wrapped around stubbed legs and arms.
"Help us..." a voice whispered beyond the darkness. "Please..."
"gods!" Hector yelled. He turned practically throwing the frozen Lelei back as the desperate pleas grew louder.
"Please!..." a ghoulish scream sounded through the cave, echoing harsh off the walls. Lelei was pushing back against him now, the mouth of the cave was visible to her, and she saw beyond it many figures on horses coming through the tree line. They were goblins, humans, and the feline folk all carrying weapons.
"What?!" Hector grunted.
"T-There!"
"...No..." he looked over his shoulder back into the darkness, "come on," he grabbed her arm, and they ran back into the cave. The light illuminating their path and those in the cages. It seemed as if thousands of arms reached out at the two. Lelei looked to one side, a woman holding an infant out.
"Please take my child!"
"Help us!"
"Don't leave!"
"Take us with you!"
The screams were deafening, the two with their hearts in their throats as they listened to the desperation of them. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." Lelei whispered over and over as she and Hector rushed through.
He put his hand out and stopped himself against a wall as they came to what appeared to be the end. Lelei turned her head back instantly, hearing the screams of the damned and hearing new ones quiet them.
"No...no...no..." Lelei said.
Pure terror was stricken across each, and she rid her staff of the light. Darkness now, and nothing else. More screaming, after a minute it died down.
"Get behind me..." Hector's voice whispered to her.
"W-What?"
"Do it..."
She listened, getting behind him and seeing what she thought was his shoulder in front of her. In his hands, he clutched the hammer so tight his arms and hands were straining. Then they heard it, footsteps from a fair distance but they were drawing near. Goblins saw well in the dark, they wouldn't need a light source to make the two out.
"No..." it didn't end here. It can't. Lelei searched about, there had to be a way, there had to be a way. To the left, then the right, the almost hill like walkway back up to the exit. Then and there she nearly lost herself, but then she saw it.
"Up there!..." she grasped his shoulder and pointed about ten feet up. When he looked, he saw a small hole about the size of a large ball. Light streaming in gently and water falling in on occasion.
"How're we-"
"Stand back."
"What?"
"Stand back!"
He did as she asked, the footsteps perhaps a couple dozen paces away. Something was in the darkness with them. Like a predator hunting mere neolithic prey as goblins once did hundreds of years ago to the slave race that humans had once been. The naked hairless and blind creatures that the gods had summoned through the gate as unpaid labor for the supposed better races.
Lelei lifted her staff towards the hole, and she was shaking, sweating, concentrating like she'd never had before. She almost felt Cato's hand on her shoulder like some guardian spirit and grimaced, close on to crying.
A voice then came down into the cave, not any they recognized. "Come on out."
They didn't answer.
"Come on out, you've not a thing to worry friends. I'm human, no savage blood within."
Lelei was practically begging for this to work. She drew it up and up, sucking in breath and all the power she had left in her small starving body. A surge of something started in the staff. Like a bubbling volcano.
"I see you've located our stock, they're a few fine folks we've taken. Times are tough and we needed some means of money and food, although the latter is more of a goblin way of things."
"Hurry..." Hector whispered. "Don't listen to him..."
Lelei's teeth tightened, and her arms and hands strained as the voice spoke, "There are two of you, aren't there? we need all we can receive for the siege. There's a larger force a few miles east of here, come, lay down your weapons. I may only hold the goblins back for so long."
"Go to hell," Hector snarled. In the darkness, she saw his figure taking a step forward in front of her.
Silence for a moment, "What're you two then? stragglers? vagrants? hapless unfortunates? no matter, if you will not come and join us, we have no use-"
That was all the time Lelei needed, she lurched back yelling, "Convello!" and jumped back grabbing Hector and they were right to do so as the rocks near instantly started to fall.
Thunder sounded, echoing through the cave and making them cover their ears. The ground opened, gaping wide as dirt and rocks fell down, making an almost stairway to the top as the sky cast in revealing the two of them and a man with several goblins at his side. He was big and tall with a heavy beard and dressed in dirty Imperial chainmail and a helm, the notches on his and the goblins belts a stark telling of their emaciation.
That was it, the two bolted forward climbing and scurrying up. The yells of the man and the gibbering without thought of the goblins at their ears as they clawed their way above ground. Scraping and climbing like mole rats, they made it to the top with heavy breathing and desperate exasperation.
They were still in the clearing and when they looked up, they saw the goblins trying to climb themselves, holding rusted short swords in their dirty mouths. The light shone on their near sickly green features.
The two turned to run but Lelei fell forward on her hands and knees, Hector jerked his head over and saw her. The girl's face was pale, and she was clearly under great stress.
He turned his head back one more time, then returned and went to her placing the hammer in his belt. Lifting her above his shoulder wasn't easy, but he managed to do so within a second and grasped her staff in her left hand.
Hector then ran forward, the strain of carrying her slowing him somewhat but he was able to buy some time from the goblins tripping over each other to finally reach the top of the dirt and rock stairway.
The next few minutes were spent rushing through the trees, trying to lose them. Fear had gripped and stabbed him as if a hot knife was slowly going through his innards. He was pleading, near crying for any god out there to save him.
The one he finally landed on was Wareharun. He said several desperate prayers, begging for a sign, begging for them to be saved.
And as he ran on, Lelei over his shoulder and his body and legs burning from the exhaustive exercising, something happened. The wind started picking up, and the sky was growing grey. He could hear the sounds of the goblins over the horizon behind him.
There were several great trees of oak and pine that were beside a small ridge off a creek he had to cross through, and when the goblins came for it the wind blew so strong that one of these trees fell and hit the creek splashing and causing the goblins great effort to clear and cross over.
Off the path, the two had managed a small place to hide for themselves in a small hole and he covered himself and her in snow and they lay still like fawns in the woods. He couldn't see the road, but he was sure whoever was on it would have a hell of a hard time seeing them. Goblins weren't exactly known for seeing well enough when there was light out anyway.
They heard them rushing past like termites in a mound. Chanting and gibbering out madly with decrepit voices, like ghouls in a cemetery.
Lelei was breathing heavy, so exhausted, so small, Hector reached out carefully and put his hand on her mouth and his own. She seemed surprised at first, but didn't fight it. In one hand, she held her staff and he realized he'd forget to unsheathe his hammer. Too late for that, it may draw attention if he were to maneuver that much.
Silence then, Hector and Lelei stayed like that for minutes. Eventually, he took his hand off of her and then took the hammer out. He turned his head slowly and poked his head up over the mound of snow, some of it falling off at the side of his head.
"How're you feeling?..." he whispered.
"Not...good...that was my strongest..."
"You did it...you got us out..."
"T-Those people...t-they were...they were..." she was shaking. He watched her, and Lelei's eyes were wide, and her breaths grew heavier. "By the gods..."
"I know..." he grimaced, "I know...but there wasn't anything we could do..."
"Yes...yes...you're right...what now?..."
"We can't stay here..."
"They'll be searching for us."
"Yeah."
"Better with the others...than here?..."
"Yeah..."
Hector stood, the snow falling off him. He helped the girl up, and she was shaking, her frailness becoming very apparent in the harsh environment. They moved towards the path, only to duck back when a crossbow soared past them.
"Stay there fools," from the right of where they'd thought the search party had gone a man stood there, the same one they'd had a glimpse of back in the cave. He was staring at them through his helmet and put the hand crossbow down. "So you were hiding, my theory was correct."
"Away with you..." Lelei said.
"You're in no position to tell me what to do woman."
"Why chase us? we stole nothing and are of no use to you," Hector said, his breaths heavy.
"Remember the cavern? at the very least you didn't affect the stock, but now the cold will be flowing in. Cursed mage. What are you? Imperials?"
"I'm not anything."
"We are not..." Lelei whispered. She was holding the staff up but was clearly having trouble doing so.
The man was fast approaching, he drew a sword and held it firm in his hands. "You clearly wear the armor of them, a lost legionary and...his pet mage?"
Hector stepped forward and the man held out his sword putting his left foot out and right foot to the side. "S-Stay back..." the boy grit his teeth. "Stay back."
"Adorable," the man jousted forward, and Hector stepped back, throwing the hammer up wildly to deter the pointed edge. Lelei went forward at that point, swinging her staff.
The man saw it coming and stepped back, bringing his sword upward at the right to hit her in the forearm. With all her remaining strength, Lelei galloped back and slipped. She tumbled down the paths side and landed on her back, the staff going with her. She desperately turned over, seeing the snow in front of her and immediately started searching for the arcane item, her hands running along the ground and tossing up snow.
Hector stepped in front of him as the brigand tried to capitalize, swinging and then backing away. "Stupid bastard!" the man yelled.
"Get away from her!" he stepped forward but a clean swing from the man nearly cut his face before Hector side-stepped. His hammer didn't have a way of reaching the man without extreme footwork and skilled, two things he certainly did not have. Lelei desperately threw up the snow when hearing him, a burst of adrenaline coursing through her.
"Real damn...annoying!" the man yelled his eyes narrowed as the two went on crossing weapons. Every swipe and stab were barely dodged or moved from.
'I'm sorry ma, I'm sorry pa' something was in Hector's eyes as he went on fighting. The man moved in and grabbed his wrist, and they fell together, their weapons falling as they started to grapple.
On his back, Hector grasped with his free hand at the man's throat who in turn held his face down, trying to drown him in the snow. "O-Off me!" the boy cried muffled through his hand. His hand was growing weak, darkness was starting to take over. He glanced to the side for a split second, seeing the hammer lodged in the snow.
The man let go of his wrist and brought out a dagger, it was there, and the man was mad with rage as within the second he had it raised to drive right into the boy's eye. "L-Lelei! run!" he shouted as he grabbed the dagger hand. But it was in vain, he was much too stronger. Slowly, he watched the dagger going lower and lower.
Again, he begged his parents for their forgiveness and begged his brother to be there when the knife finally went through his iris.
Lelei had found her staff, and when she came nearly tripping up over the small hill, she saw them. Her arms were almost moving on their own. "Agni!" but nothing came out beyond a small spit of flame. "N-No!"
However, her voice shocked the man for a split second and made him turn his head back, and when he saw her there he said, "Keep you for later! don't worry-"
In that exact moment, Hector grabbed the hammer with his right hand, and he swung downward with all the strength in his burning arm. For a moment, time was at a standstill as he rose up with a sharp cry, tears burning his eyes and sweat rolling down his face, and the man turning back only to see the hammer coming down at him much too late. The blunt side landed, making short work of the helm the man had on.
He fell off Hector, blood immediately spurting from the sides of the helm and the man's eyes and face twitching, his mouth foaming as his legs started kicking up. Then the boy was mad, very mad, he rose the hammer again and slammed it into the head once more. This time, there was no movement after.
Standing, he stared at the body, then Lelei. She stood there, breathing heavy and holding the staff. "I-I..." Hector grabbed his bloodied face and shook his head, "I...w-we have to..have to move..."
"Come...come on..." she whispered.
They both joined each other, going into the trees and off the road. Leaving the body. They both held each other up, desperate to survive.
Within 15 days I already have another one of these out? I know crazy right? we're kind of in the endgame now and I'm getting to the scenes I've always had planned so it's kinda easy to write tbh. I would say more, but it's like one in the morning so I'll just do review response. Thanks for reading.
Me Myself And I 777: I'm happy you've liked his character so far, I love the challenge of making a bad character who's hated by the fandom into something better and viewed as awesome.