Chapter 2

The taste of blood… The ache and pains from fighting for days… A little girl… A dead soldier… Fighting, fighting, fighting… The taste of his own blood… The pain in his hands…

Krom woke up sweating on his knees with his hands bleeding and the ground caved in slightly. His breath was heavy and his heart raced. His wounds were not deep, or at least his visible ones. Krom sat back on his feet and his simple blanket fell from his scarred, broad shoulders. The air was cold and slightly strange. He tilted his head towards this great warriors, their souls shining bright in the darkness but some were being out shined by a green light towards the south. The scent in the air didn’t seem right. His Orric blood rushed at the strangeness in the air. He wanted to hunt down this strange scent but then he remembered that she was still there and that he belonged to her.

The little archer liked to sleep in trees. Most of her life was spent in the tree top city that hid in the forest. Krom and the Orrics lived on the outside of the forest. They were plains folk and only used to the forest for hunting and luring enemies in for slaughtering. He looked up at her sleeping so peacefully on a steady branch looking almost smug like she did when she was awake. He hated being her’s.

Orrics and all the sub tribes of the original line of the great Orric warriors believed in one thing, the only answer was death. If you fell in battle you wanted nothing less than death because the only thing less than death was slavery. Krom of the Blood-claw line of Orrics, former prince of the Plains of Red, First son of Klaw, who proudly wore his dark green skin for it meant his blood was the purest of all Orrics, fell in battle only once, but was force to become that which is lower than death; a thing. The archer, Alanna had used cheap tricks and tactics that lacked the honor of a noble fight. Had she fought like a true warrior, the fight would have ended in blood and glory for Krom, but that is not how this cruel life when for the young warrior prince.

He sat down on the ground and folded his legs in and proceeded to clean and bandage his bloody knuckles. He knew it was going to be day break within the next few hours so there was no use trying to go back to sleep. His head hurt or maybe felt hazy. It felt like someone looked through it and hastily put it back into his head. He reached into Alanna’s bag that hung in the tree but was still within reach of Krom. He grab the last bit of cloth that they had to use for a makeshift bandage and the water sack. Both were almost gone by the time he had finished cleaning and bandaging his hands.

The sun started to peak above the mountains in the west. This morning the great sun had survived yet another battle with the unknown and wore his enemies blood with pride. In his culture, the sun was the greatest of warriors who lead the Orric nations to this land. Everyday the sun lead them farther and farther to the east to more promising lands for their kind. Every night the sun warrior would tell the Orrics to make camp and he alone would go off into the unknown and protect his people from evil shades and monsters that lived there. Every morning he would come back covered in his enemies blood and lead his people on. Along the way the Orric nations learned how to take up arms and destroy all those who stood in their way for they all wanted to be brave like the sun warrior. They traveled and fought until they reached the end of the world; where the land met the water. Many of the Orric nations did not make it all the way but put down roots along the very road that the ancient Orric nations took while following the sun warrior. That Orric Road is still alive and thriving to this very day.

It wasn’t until the sun was high enough in the sky that the sun’s rays pierced through the trees to finally wake his captor from her far too sweet of dreams. Alanna stretched and yawned like a child; in Krom’s eyes, she was no bigger than some Orric children. Alanna barely stood tall enough to meet Krom’s chest. He may have been the biggest Orric of his village but Alanna was still small compared to anyone. Her dirty brown hair was closer to a bird’s nest that hair on her head but she was not one for appearance over adventure. She also hated to wear clothing when she didn’t have to and always slept naked. Her features were nothing remarkable, but she had the body of someone well trained. She was no Orric woman who were as strong as Orric men. She was fast though, Krom could attest to that. Where ever she went how ever, even after just waking up, she was had her long bow in her hand. It was either the most ornate walking stick Krom had ever seen or the oldest long bow anyone had ever used. One thing was for certain, she was very dangerous with it.

Alanna hopped down to the ground wearing nothing at all but had her bow and took her place by the morning fire just as Krom was finished cooking sausages and portioning the bread for the day. “Good morning my jolly evergreen! Did you sleep like the ton of rocks that you are?” Krom merely glared at his half of sausage as a reply. The most aggravating thing was just how cheerful she was at any moment. It’s as if all she knew how to be was cheerful. “What’s the matter with you Krom? Did you have a scary dream last night? Mama Alanna would have comforted you if you asked nicely.”

“Your pleasantries annoy Krom,” said Krom who was trying to enjoy his breakfast which was becoming more and more difficult with Her awake and alert.

“If it makes you feel any better Crumble, we are only a league away from your new home. My father will love to see your cute, boar-like, face. He will also be so proud of what I have done. We will celebrate this small but decisive victory over the Orrics. We will finally be able to clear you all out of our forests for good. Once, of course, you tell us where your village is and how big and other things of importance. If you are good and answer all the questions properly, I will even let you have some celebratory blackberry pie. Doesn’t that sound delicious?”

“You still think Krom is a prisoner? Ha!” Krom was always amused by how naive his charge was. “I am bound to you for the rest of my life, that much is true. When you die so do I. We are connected by honor and blood. That does not mean I have to tell you or our your pathetic forest fairies anything. I am still an Orric but in my defeat to you, you have made me your tool in battle. I am a shield, an axe, and nothing but death will cause me to be anything but your instrument. Hammers do not give away secrets nor to Orrics.”

“You are such a depressing person, you know that?” Alanna said with a half smirk. “What ever you are to me is fine and all, but it is what my father wants from you is what is important. Now let’s hurry up and eat, the sooner we get there, the sooner I can have blackberry pie.”

Soon after they were done eating and tearing down their camp site and Alanna went through the hassle of putting on clothes, the two of them trudged through the Deep Green in only the direction that Alanna seemed to know. Orrics are more about the grasslands and open battle fields. The closeness of the trees made Krom feel a little uneasy. He felt the eyes of the unknown staring at him. Alanna had her long bow in hand that she used as a walking stick and wore simple clothes of browns and grey that helped her blend into the forest if need be. Krom wore his boiled leather vest, simple pants. They both had satchels that carried their supplies.

Alanna froze in her place and Krom stopped as soon as he saw her. The forest was quiet until a twig broke. The two remained still. Near them was a large Oak tree and from behind it came a solider with long brown hair, much like Alanna’s but he wore light armor and carried a bow and arrows. Following him was a more sinister looking man. Both were young but not much older than Alanna. Soon, from the behind trees and from the forest floor itself came eight other soldiers. The soldiers took aim with long bows at Krom while the first of the forest men smiled at Alanna.

“Hello my sweet sister,” said the captain.

“Ernst,” Alanna said with, for the first time, in Krom’s mind, with a little bit of spite in her voice. This man took away her annoying pleasantness. Krom didn’t like the scent of him for some reason.

“I see you have brought a…,” Ernst looked Krom up and down quickly before finishing, “…guest. Does Father know about him?”

“He will once we reach home.” Alanna was bitter with Ernst.

“Allow us to take this creature to him,” suggested the sinister and behind Ernst. He was pail and almost sickly with thin black hair and a twisted grin.

“And take credit for him? I think not,” retorted Alanna. “He is my charge and he is only bound to me. I defeated him so he is my responsibility.”

“He happens to be in my area of patrol as well,” Ernst said with a wicked grin on his face. “Therefore he is mine to take in.” The siblings glared at each other. There was no love between the two of them.

“You will not take this from…” Ernst reached back and back-handed Alanna in the face.

“You stupid girl!” Ernst yelled.

The soldier on Krom’s right, for a moment, was distracted by the brother and sister fighting. Krom reached into the left side of his vest and grabbed his Orric dagger and threw it into the head of the distracted soldier, killing the soldier instantly. Krom ran over to the fallen soldier with a spin so that his satchel caught all the arrow that were shot in his direction. Krom reached down and pulled the dagger out and sliced the soldier to the right’s ankle, causing him to fall. He grabbed the soldier and turned in time for the body to catch the second wave of arrows. Two were dead in a almost a single breath.

From the ground, Krom grabbed the next soldiers long bow from the bottom and smacked the soldier in the face with the top of the bow causing him to stumble. He yanked the long bow out of his owner’s hands and, in a crouch, stabbed the long bow’s former owner in the heart with the top end. Two soldiers charged at Krom with their little forest dweller daggers. The daggers were small enough to be bee stingers to Krom and he swatted and broke the two soldier’s arms like they were merely bees.

With three more soldiers left to kill, Ernst called out “Enough!” Everyone stopped and feared moving. Krom gave a half smile at the three remaining soldiers. They were lucky that day. Ernst glared at Krom but said to his sister, “We will help you take this ‘thing’ to father but I get to kill him when the time comes.”

Krom turned and smiled at Ernst and said, “I look forward to the day you try.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 3