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Recar Dragonlance -> RE: Orbs of Ruin (6/25/2010 7:07:30)
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Chapter 1: The Step
I ran my fingers across the clay jug of ale, staring at its contents and suppressing the urge to shake my head. Due to my limited funds, I decided to choose the rougher end of Dinsda. For some reason, this end was nearly identical to the pleasant end. A city of this size should never be so… so peaceful. It made me uneasy: I gazed round at everyone in the Inn. Normal people – mostly marketers, dressed in worn clothes with their brown pouches they kept the coins in still strapped round their stomachs.
The dragon rested his fist-sized head on the round, brown table and gazed up at me. His blood-red eyes and crimson scales glittered in the candle-lit tavern. He was the size of a normal dog – not too large, not too small. Though he was about three foot long, he made up for it in his stoutness.
“I don’t like this town,” He said, yawning, showing off those fearsome teeth. His voice was exactly like a humans, his accent the same as mine.
I shook my head. “Neither do I, it gives me the creeps. What’s with these people,” I waved my hands around but none of the patrons even paid me any attention. They sat on their stools and droned on in mindless conversation. I tried to eavesdrop a few times but they mumbled like wind, barely audible. This was the worst pub I could find: bare walls with no sign of fights, peaceful patrons, and a large portrait of the Countess of Dinsda, untouched and unstolen. “The guards here are like clones. I can barely tell the difference between any of them.”
That was true as well. Other than the captain – who was a very rude man, bear like man – all the guards shared the same features. Toned, not too muscled, with short brown hair. The women and men were so similar that it was difficult to tell what sex they were. When I walked up the market, I heard no whispers about this strange fact as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Are you sure we have to be here? Can’t we go to a different town… I really think something bad is going to happen…” The dragon trailed off and stared over my shoulder.
I looked behind me and the image nearly knocked me off my seat. A young lady grinned the biggest grin I ever saw. Her curly blonde hair travelled down to her breasts, which seemed barely kept in her checkered, red shirt. Her sleeves were rolled up, and she blue denim jeans. Well, maybe the town wasn’t so bad after all.
“Howdy.” Her accent proved she was not from this part of the world, where the people spoke all prim and proper. Her skin was tanned, though it was beginning to fade because of the dimness of the northern sun. “How y’all doing? Can I get ya anything?”
A waitress? Really? Perhaps it was cleanness of the town or how every brick in every building looked brand new, but maybe trouble was about to start. She definitely wasn’t from around here. “I think we’re fine for now, unless you want to join us?”
“You have a cool accent,” she placed a hand on my shoulder. “Where are ya from?”
“I’ll tell you if you tell me where you’re from?” I said, patting her surprisingly rough hand.
A smile tugged at the edges of her mouth – a real smile unlike the fake grin she held before. “I’m from Laria.”
A southern town in the Kingdom of Incarium. She was lying, I knew exactly what that accent was and it most definitely wasn’t from this kingdom. “I’m from Mikian.” She’ll have to put up with my lie. Hopefully, she’ll believe me, as the accents from my land and the accents of Mikian are similar – supposedly, my people came from Mikian.
With that she slipped away, like a dog with a bone, and disappeared to the back of the building. If she wanted to be inconspicuous, the girl failed in every department. As she walked past, none of the punters even shared a glance at her: what the hell was with this town! I stood up and downed the rest of the ale. I made my way for the door, constantly checking to see if she was looking at our departure. She wasn’t.
I took a step outside, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. The city’s air was fresh like it came from the forest surrounding the city. Yet, there was no smell of horses or sweat or any smell that cities grip onto and attack your noses with. The slanted roofs all had red tiles, all the bricked buildings were painted over cream. There was no slums, no beggars, everyone seemed to be well-off.
I walked out of the pub, taking the south route towards the market. The few houses down this road probably belonged to the market owners, as just round the corner was a giant square for all the stalls in the market place. This afternoon, no one tried to pick my pocket once. I took another deep breath, wondering what I could do next. The captain of the guard barred me from seeing the Countess so there was no way I –
I slammed against the floor, my back bursting with pain. The dragon growled but before he pounced on the attacker, he was on top of me, pinning both my hands to the ground. I tried to wriggle them free but this grip was impenetrable. Looking in the attacker’s face, I stopped squirming. The waitress?
“You left without saying goodbye,” she growled, maroon eyes staring into my crimson ones. “You lied to me.”
“Well you lied first,” I tried to push her off but it was impossible. She really was from somewhere else. Somewhere close to home.
The dragon pounced at her, digging his talons into her. The attack was enough to push her off me but just when his claws drew blood she grabbed him by the tail and threw him against the wall. He slammed against it, slumping to the floor. Jumping to my feet, I kicked at her. She shifted to the side and punched me in the leg. The power in the punch was incredible – the pain blasted as if I’d been hit by a rock. She swung a left hook; I dived underneath it, punching her in the side twice. The first one connected with flesh yet the second felt like I punched a brick wall. I winced in pain, an action I later regretted as she brought her right fist up in an uppercut to my chest.
I flew backwards and hit the paved ground. Air shot out of me so fast that I rolled over the floor, trying to regain it before she ran at me. She was over me quicker than I could recover and she was already throwing a kick. Instincts took over and I drew the heat from within me, focusing it into my hands. I kick was inches away from my face when my hands caught it, blazing with fire. It was her time to scream in pain as she fell to the floor.
Drawing the energy away from one hand, I focused it in the right one as I kneeled over her. One hand gripped her checkered shirt, the other one stayed near her face. “What the hell is wrong with you? What do you want?”
“I knew it!” She screeched, her brown irises leaking to take over her entire eyes.
She drove forward, driving her shoulder into my stomach. I fell to the floor once again and saw her run towards the market. “Dragon! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine! Don’t let her go!” He screamed back, gliding over to my side. I nodded at the spiked creature and we both sprinted off.
The city was empty – this early in the night, empty? As expected there were no thugs or prostitutes on the corners, awaiting hapless drunkards. I guess this made it easier, when we reached the market square, I could see her halfway across it. I ran underneath the archway of metal with the words “We Welcome Everyone” on formed using bent metal bars. The market square had the stalls in rows, leaving a large gangway in the middle.
We sprinted down the market way. Sleeping birds who rested on the covers of the stalls drove into the sky, not used to such racket at this time of night. The waitress reached the other metal archway, except this one had a gate. With one punch the black gates swung open, her fists making a dent in the gate. Within a few seconds our sprint got us through those gates. Cerica stood a few yards away, bent over and breathing heavily.
I jogged to her, my breath nearly as heavy. I looked at her, taking in those curls and those thin arms and wondering how she could have so much power. Much more than someone of her age should have. Her freckled face was beginning to speckle with a few droplets of sweat. She was still panting. Eyes returned to normal, she looked back up at me.
“I’m Cerica Stoneblade,” She said, managing to catch her breath. She took a few steps back. Cerica’s eyes turned brown and she stomped her foot on the ground. Tremors shook me so much that I fell again – this girl was constantly having me on the floor. All I could do was watch as she disappeared down alleys, the ground still shaking. Her last words were, “Please don’t follow me.”
“Well, that was weird,” I sat up, resting my back on one of the identical houses.
“You just let her go you idiot!”
“I just have a feeling she’s not against us…” I started to laugh silently to myself.
“You do realise she attacked us right?” I nodded, “You’re ridiculous.”
I shrugged, laughing louder now. “It’s probably best if we go to the Countess again tomorrow. If that bastard doesn’t let us in then I’ll break the doors down.”
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I strolled towards the looming gates of the castle, avoiding eye contact with the two guards by staring at the wooden gates. The stone archway was built with the same stone as the rest of the castle – black, dark, even scary. This made me wonder what the citizens thought of such a place. A broad grin absorbed my face while we walked to the guards.
“Greetings, I am here to see the Countess,” I said in the politest voice I could conjure. Beside me, the dragon tried his best to look like a dog; people were terrified of ‘animals’ talking like humans. Humans were so uncultured. “I would be grateful if you could take us to her.”
Without looking at each other, or even hesitating, the right guard spoke, “No one sees the Countess without an appointment.”
“Well book me in and I’ll see her today,” I smiled at the one who spoke; he ignored it. Confidence normally worked on people who didn’t like their jobs but these people… were obviously indifferent. Their faces were bland, pale, and similar.
“An appointment must be made with the Captain of the guard.”
I sighed, “Can I at least see him?”
The two guards remained silent. Their chainmail was bright and unused. The helmet was plain with no design and covering the chainmail was the symbol of Dinsda, the Oak Tree. As I waited for any sort of contact, I kicked the ground with my leather boots, trying now to look in the eyes of the guards. If I could show them I was sincere, there was hope. Then again, last time I wasn’t so successful.
The Captain of the guard didn’t like me. What made it so painstakingly obvious was that he nearly had me executed. I found this strange considering this town probably didn’t even know what an execution was.
Without speaking, one of the guards pushed open the gates (not locked, I noted) and walked into the courtyard. I caught a glimpse of a giant, ancient tree. Though I couldn’t see the details of it, it was quite short for a tree yet the branches extended outwards. Other than that I could only see the cobbled floor, perfectly set as if no one used it. We waited for at least ten minutes in silence before the Captain arrived, a grimace on his face as soon as he noticed me.
He was a hefty man. Massive shoulders, a round face with stubble on his face. I hated people with stubble on their face – it screamed that they wanted a mix between a wise man and a tough man. Really, especially with an ugly face like that, it made them ugly. His chainmail was more beaten up then his underlings and unlike the guard, he held a visible weapon: a silver longsword.
“What the hell do you want?” The Captain stood so close that he loomed over me, by a foot, looking down at my ginger hair. His grass green eyes stared into mine.
I merely smiled at him. “I’m here to the see the Countess.”
For a moment he just stared at me. Then, he grabbed me by my black coat and attempted unsuccessfully to lift me off the floor. Instead he increased the intensity of his stare. “You know, I should look you up. I should throw you in the dungeons faster than you can say disturbing-public-order. Now, I’ll ask you one more time, slowly in case you don’t understand, what… the hell… do you want?” A smirk tugged at his mouth.
I kept my cool. I’d been to a few cities since I left my home yet none were anything like this. A captain of the guard was a powerful person, who could command anyone’s respect with one glance. This guy was a joker – he thought he was powerful. And people who thought they were special were manipulated in such a way.
“I’m really sorry if I caused you any trouble. You see, I know you’re busy because this is a really hard job.” I paused, trying to get rid of the sarcastic tone in my voice. “You clearly a perceptive person so you can see that I don’t want any harm. All I want is to see the Countess. I have important information for her that may be—“
“Important information, you say?” Hooked, I bet. I nodded. “A cute girl came here, spouting that kinda crap. You know what I did? Threw her in the dungeons. She didn’t question anything, just let us take her away. Probably a thick girl....” Realising he was rambling, he eyed me up again. “She was armed. You’re not. So for now I’ll let you go.”
All my strength was used on keeping my smile the same. I needed my poker face so that I was only considered to be a nut. I knelt down to the dragon, stroking scales before pulling his head towards me. Whispering something into his ear, the dragon ran out of sight. The captain was staring at the fleeing creature when my fist struck him across the face. The two guards standing either side of him pounced into action, grabbing both my arms and hauling me into the castle grounds.
The captain’s face burnt bright red. He stormed over to me, his armour rattling as he did so. “Lock this… Lock him up with the girl. I’ll give him that meeting with the Countess when she signs your death warrant.”
The courtyard was simple. Except for the giant, extending tree, there wasn’t much decoration. On the other side of the tree, I could say as I was dragged towards the door several yards away from it, was the entrance to the reception. That reception would lead onto the Countess and so would be heavily guarded. I made mental note to stay away from that place if necessary.
I took one final look up at the sun. If this didn’t go well, I wouldn’t see it for a very long time. The thought made me sweat though I ignored as I needed to surrender. The room I arrived in was bare, like most places in Dinsda, with just a wooden table and chairs. There were two staircases at the far end of the room and on either side there were doors. Except for two gangways that led to the staircases, the bulk of the room was taken up by the jail. The two cells stood in the most unthreatening way, too large to be any threat.
With a quick rattle of keys, they shoved me into the cell. Like the room outside, this cell was painted white. In the corner sat Cerica, who had fallen asleep. She looked so innocent sleeping – so delicate that it was strange to think she wielded such terrible power in her arms. I sat on the clean floor next to her and nudged her awake. She awoke like a sleeping child. It made her seem so much younger than she was when –
Her fist flung at me. I rolled on the floor, eyes wide, energy focused just in case. There was a visible crack in the wall.
“Cerica Stoneblade, I accidently followed you.” I strained a single chuckle. This girl made me too nervous.
“Idiot! Ya shouldn’t be in here!”
“But I thought when a girl told you one thing men were supposed to do the opposite?” I dragged myself to my feet, keeping my palms facing the waitress.
“Ya not funny,” She sighed, the tension in her body soothing. Simultaneously, my body did the same. “What are ya doin?”
“Well there was no way I would be allowed into the castle to see the Countess and when the captain told me you was in here –“
“He told you –“
“In a way, yeah. But that’s not important. I came here to ask why you arrived here, armed, to talk to the Countess.” I sat down on my haunches, my gaze baring down on her like a parent to a child. “Don’t you find it odd that no one in an entire city causes trouble? No one except me, you, and that oaf of a guard.”
“It’s because we’re not supposed to be here,” Cerica said, staring at the floor. I raised an eyebrow. “That’s all I know, honest. That were all I got told. And ma daddy told me to come and talk to the Countess. Why are you here?”
The door opened and two guards – I couldn’t tell if they were the same ones as the ones on the gate – came in to sit at the table. Instinctively we fell into silence. Her father told her to come here? She looked like a rancher or a farmer, which means her parents were probably the same. Why would a farmer from a different continent send their daughter to a Countess in the far north? If I found out her father’s name, then maybe I could work out his significance in all this.
Still, there was my task to attend to. We both shared the same goal, supposedly – if we can work together to get to the Countess then I was all for teamwork. However, this girl attacked me and she arrived here with a weapon. All the signs pointed to her being untrustworthy, someone I should run very far away from. But every time I looked at her, all my logic extinguished with the feeling of trust. I swore she was a siren if I ever saw one.
Hours passed with us in silence. The two guards didn’t move, they stayed unflinching on the chairs. This waiting game was getting tiring and a pang in my stomach reminded me I hadn’t eaten in awhile. I looked over at Cerica, who was running her hands across the crack in the wall. Perhaps we could break out and sneak to the Countess? No, that was stupid. We couldn’t fight off a city guard. We didn’t even know how well trained they were. So we just sat, waiting.
The smell of cooked meat wafted through one of the doors, angering my stomach so much I grabbed my stomach. Was it dinner time in the castle already? Time passed by quickly when you worried about something. Mumbled voices rose from outside. They grew closer until they were just outside the right hand door. I couldn’t hear anything through the doors except shouting, though I could tell that one was the Captain and the other was a woman. Hope?
Eventually, the doors burst open. “I do not care Mercanarous, I wish to speak to these visitors.”
“My Lady, dinner is just about to be—“
She waved a hand and approached the cells. She dressed as elegantly as people said she did. Her hair, greying with age, was held upwards by a golden tiara. A flowing sapphire dress that once would cling to her figure hung on her delicate frame. Though she was old, she was strong and commanding. Jewels were stuck to her dress, and around her neck there was a golden oak tree.
With the simple gesture of waving her hand, she silenced the Captain of the guard. That was power not only bestowed to a Countess, but to a Princess as well. I admired her since I was younger.
“Greetings, I see you have been mistreated by my guard. I shall see fit to deal with it appropriately,” she said in a friendly yet strikingly intimidating way.
“Oh no there is no need,” I stood up and shot a glare to Cerica to do the same. I bowed whilst the waitress curtsied with an imaginary dress, “just a misunderstanding. Isn’t that right, Marya?”
Mercanarous growled yet ignored the name calling. He stormed out, without uttering a word to anyone. Following the Countess’s orders, the guards unlocked the barred doors to our cells. “Come, walk with me and tell me what you wish to talk about.”
We walked into the courtyard, followed by the two guards. The Countess waved a hand and the two left. As we walked towards the centre of the courtyard, the various guards at their posts seemed to retreat inside, as she made various gestures at them. This seemed to unnerve Cerica, who looked up at the castle to see if the men repositioned at different places.
It was dark now, the moon and the torches placed by the doors of the castle providing the only light. It was spring but there were no dark clouds coming to spoil the view. The stars scattered across the sky, shinning brighter tonight as if they wanted to listen in on the conversation. We stopped advancing by the oak tree, where the Countess turned to us.
“I know who both of you are, Cerica Stoneblade and Recar Dragonlance. I know why both of you are here,” She took a few steps away, staring at the spread-wide tree. She sighed. “My city was not always this way. It was dark and good – it was better than most cities, but still not perfect. Its imperfection made it human, beautifully human. Now, everything has changed and there is nothing I can do to stop it.”
A tear drop formed in her eye and began to escape when she wiped it away. She took a deep breath, composing herself once again. “Now you have come here, the time for change has begun.”
A sudden chill gripped the air. I glanced over to Cerica, who seemed to feel it too. I edged closer to my new partner, but she gave me a wary look. The tension clung like a bad stench.
“What… do you mean?” I ventured, grabbing that energy inside of me just in case it was needed.
“Calm yourself, I can feel you getting agitated. Your Elemental energy is rising as I speak. I do not mean to offend you, only enlighten.” She stepped onto the roots of the tree and placed a delicate, wrinkled hand on the trunk. “The world is stringed. We are all puppets but all puppet masters have their favourites. Only the favourites have the ability to break these strings. Become the favourites, follow fate, and destroy the strings.”
The ground rumbled – Cerica was completely still. The Countess had her eyes closed with both hands touching the ancient, dark brown bark. The tremor rumbled again, turning into a permanent grumble from below. The roots of the trees shook more violently than the ground as they pulled themselves from the floor.
I lost my balance and stumbled backwards. The branches of the trees danced at first but began to contort themselves around each other. Then, everything was silent. The tension in the air grew stronger as moments dragged by – doors flung open and guards ran outside. Soon enough Mercanarous appeared from the main doors, followed by ten identical guards. They froze in their place as they saw the Countess.
The trunk disassembled, then reformed so that the countess was tangled in a mesh of wood. “Find my niece in Corina, rescue her so that we can all be free. Long Live the Descended!”
Her words catalysed the final transformation of the tree. Countess Ficia of Dinsda, sister of the King, disappeared inside the tree. Confused, I jumped to my feet, running to Cerica. She was already sprinting to the tree, which was humming, vibrating almost silently. The buzzing of bees rattled the air, increasing in intensity until circling around the black stoned keep was a stream of something I couldn’t decipher. It twirled around the castle until funnelling into the tree.
Mercanarous screamed in terror, drawing his longsword and running to the tree. It was too late. Once all the dark substance entered the tree, it turned into a statue. Then, it shattered, crumbling into dust as if it never existed. Seeing this caused Mercanarous to collapse to the floor. From the dust there was a speck of light, which when Cerica saw her eyes glimmered with lust. She darted into the shroud, and back out into the castle again.
Without thinking I sprinted after her – the Countess, what she said was so strange. Surely if I was to do anything, it would be with the other person she spoke to. And I needed some clarification on something…
She ran into the prison chamber and up one of the flight of stairs. “Cerica!” I screamed after her but she didn’t stop. At the top of the stairs was a room filled with crates and metal chests. Across the walls were weapons of all varieties. She quickly scanned the wall and picked one up. “Quickly Cerica we need to go!”
She held her prize in her hand: the hilt was long with engravings in a foreign language written across it. I knew for a fact that it meant Earth, though I couldn’t pronounce the word. I just seen it before. Coming from both sides of the hilt were longsword blades. For a normal person such a weapon would be too heavy. “It was my daddy’s and his before. Get sommit from the wall and let’s go posh boy.”
I frowned. “Don’t worry, I have one, lets go.” We sprinted down the stairs, praying that we wouldn’t be met by the guards of Dinsda. “Just for clarification, she said find her niece?”
“Yeah,” she said as we reached the bottom – clear.
“So that is the Princess of Incarium?” Cerica nodded, bursting open the door. “A princess rescue… brilliant.”
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