A Story Of Sword And Shield, Book one. by Chance c Barrett (that summer book .txt) 📖

that strange town, I read a half decayed wooden sign that stood by one of the old buildings, it said “Daracia, town boundary” I thought about the name of the town for a moment, then I remembered, I had heard the name before in one of the books in the temple library, Daracia, it meant dark, fitting name for such an abandoned place I thought, deciding not to dwell on it much longer, I walked into the town.
When I arrived I heard talking coming from the church building, “I remember that building…” I thought to myself as I walked closer. The voices, both sound strangely familiar, I had to see who It was, but what if they were not on my side, like most everyone now, they would kill me, or take me prisoner, but I had to take the chance so I walked into the doors, quietly and without much of a sound.
I decided not to get involved, considering it was two against one, and listened to them for a while, they spoke about a plan to find what was causing disappearances, I decided it would not be wise to go in yet, so I decided to look around the town to see if there were any more places I could find to use as a new base-of-operations.
After looking for what seemed like an eternity, I found a small slightly broken house at the end of a long stretch of road in the west end of the town, it seemed fairly safe, and surely no one would look this far out or guess that anyone would be here, so I walked inside and put what little possessions I had on a table in the main room.
After my rest, I decided to go explore the town some more, so I put on all my equipment and ventured into the town once more, once outside I noticed that the fog was thicker than before, making it even harder to see, this fact frustrated me, but I hoped that I would still be able to venture, maybe this new thicker fog would even act as a camouflage of sorts.
As I was traveling through the town I remembered a piece of a quote I once read “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” although, I wished I could remember the rest. Was the sun out I wondered, it was impossible to tell in this place of constant fog, then, suddenly cutting through my thoughts came scream. They were not far from my current position, so I decided that I would see what was happening. When I arrived, there was a fog-covered person lying on the ground, blood gathering around the body, but still alive, it was then I noticed who it was.
“Father?!” I said, shocked. “How did you…?”
He struggled, and then managed to get to his feet; I could now see the wound, deep, near the heart too. “I was looking for you, the rebels caught on to you; they have been after you….” He struggled to keep his balance now, I never saw him injured like this before.
“That is not important, what is important is that you get out of here alive father…” I said, wishing I had medical supplies with me.
He shook his head “you needed to know… beware of Darkflame… he will be the death of us all” he said, he now seemed… tired, as if he needed to sleep, right that instant, which sadly, is what he did.
I stood staring at the now dead body, did this just happen? I thought to myself. Yes. Yes it did, and I was responsible, indirectly yes but responsible.
I found that one of the abandoned residences in town had a small patch of earth, I gave him a quick burial, sad my good-byes, then promptly left, not wanting anyone to see the place which he had been buried.
I now drew my sword, I kept it held almost to my side, but kept it out, I may have even WANTED to have to kill, to have blood on my blade, to have revenge, even though it was not them who killed my father, I knew that, but I thought that blood, any blood, would help.
I eventually found the church again, this time I looked inside, and no-one was inside, so I left, and then started down the long path-ways, again.
Then, out of what seemed to be thin-air I saw the sign that showed entrance to the town that meant I was out! The fog could no longer cause horrible thoughts in the back of my mind, and the fear of ambush, now it was the forest again, oh how I missed it.
The first thing I noticed is that it was light outside, the first time in what felt like weeks I saw light! I rejoiced, and then remembered the town, and what was left in it… my smile faded, and turned into sadness. After wandering around the forest I found a strange soldier patrolling a small village house, he wore no insignia that I could tell, but I had to take the risk, I had to know, it could mean anything.
I walked to the soldier, making sure the newly carved scar in my arm was visible “hello sir, I could not help but notice you have no insignia, and so I was wondering who is it you work for?” as soon as I finished my sentence he quickly drew a sword and slashed at me, managing to leave a gash in my light armor I still wore, I grabbed his arm and the elbow and hit it into a nearby tree, breaking the arm at the elbow, he quickly dropped his blade. “Who are you and who do you work for?!” I demanded, my voice had an edge of insanity to it.
“I am of the order, the order!” he said desperately trying to control the pain of the fractured bone. “The order?” I repeated, and then remembered the name and my eyes widened. “You work for Sir Darkflame as well?” I questioned. The soldier took a long breath then finally said “yes…” I stared at him for a moment, my regret though was not much, and all I knew was that he was definitely no longer a threat that was all that matters. “I apologize, I must be on my way though, I will apply some medical help but then you must tell me the direction of the nearest Golden wolf outpost.” The soldier nodded at this.
I did what I agreed to and managed to make a cast out of what little medical supplies I was keeping with me, gave him some pain-killing herbs and then as soon as he told me where the outpost was, I left. When I arrived I could tell already that this was a place of the Golden Wolves because of the loudness of it all, I never understood why they thought they had to be heard throughout the land, but I figured they had some overly pretentious reason for it. As I entered the outpost, I nodded at the guards I said a few quick words to them in the Golden Wolf temples native Latin tongue, then proceeded into the strange festival-like outpost, I walked up to a tall black haired soldier, his armor seemed light in my perspective, but from his appearance he did not need much of it, as he was covered mostly in muscles already. He stared at me as If he was trying to see how much time I was worth, and then sighed momentarily. “Who are you and what do you want?” he asked, meaning only business.
I stared at the tough soldier slightly impressed then said “I am Lamina Night, of the northern outpost.” I then showed my insignia. “I am here to request some information… how far am I exactly from the northern outpost?” He seemed amused by the question and stifled a laugh “i have never heard of you before ‘la-mina’” he said, spacing my name to make it sound more feminine I supposed. “But as for your question, you are in the far west outpost, on the border of the territory! You are ages away from the northern outpost.” I stared, shocked. “The western outpost? Are you sure?” I was hoping in the back of my mind he would correct himself and say “no you are very close to home do not worry” but instead he said “I am sure of it, I have lived here many years, but why would you want to go back? There are not near as many problems here as in the north, even the tribe here is peaceful for the most-part, in-fact most of the tribe members are here tonight!” he gestured to a strange, painted marking covered woman in the far edge of the outpost, waving some sort of staff around as if warding off spirits. “that is Christina, but few know that and simply go by the tribes name for her ‘silver’ she is the tribes leader and shaman,“ I nodded “well, I do need some rest, Is it alright if I stayed here the night, to catch my sleep?” The soldier nodded “everyone is welcome here, even non-warrior material such as yourself” he grinned and playfully patted me on the head, as you would a little kid. I began to interrupt, but I figured it was just playful fun and decided it was best to get some sleep, first I should talk to the tribe leader, maybe I could figure out a way to bring the spirits of my brother and father back, there has to be a way.
I walked up to the tribe leader “silver” and tried to make my presence as casual as possible “salve, ‘silver’?” I added the name as a question so that we would at least have a few words together. The leader took a moment to respond, carefully choosing the next words in the conversation I guessed. “it is me, silver, leader and shaman of the western tribe, what do you wish of me, sir—what was your name? I feel as if I know you from somewhere…” silver asked, dark ash colored eyes staring