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There was much Annalise regretted. She regretted not running after her father’s carriage when it was taking him and many others to the borders to fight the Great War. She regretted not being by her mother’s side when she had taken her last breath. She regretted not being near the black river when her little sister was pulled inside by the Kraken. But this, this was proving to be right up in the top five, following a stranger blindly into a fight with a hoard of goblins. Anna let loose more arrows at the goblins and hit each on the center. She just knew, following that boy would lead her to certain death with where she was stuck now.

It all started when Anna received the news of her brother’s abduction by the Ice Witch. Everyone told her that he was as good as dead. He was under the Ice Witch’s clutches now and bringing him back home would prove to be deadly to everyone. When Anna had suggested going by herself, they had laughed at her face and walked away. To prove others wrong and to prove to everyone she could defeat the witch herself, she came up with a plan and snuck out in the middle of the night with her loyal steed, Lightening. She only left a letter to her grandmother and uncle. Explaining why she was doing this.

After leaving Glimmerhook, her town, Anna traveled through Breenshir and Norchest. She had bought some supplies for the dangerous journey ahead of her and started her ride towards Eyville. That was where the trouble started. The entrance was through the woods, but the fallen trees had blocked everything. Anna had then decided to continue her journey by taking the goblins passageway. It would be dangerous, but she was willing to take that risk. While she was passing by, she came upon an opening. The opening gave Anna a clear view of three goblins holding a boy about her age hostage.

Anna turned to leave the small opening when her feet came in contact with a tree branch covered by many leaves. The leaves may not be of autumn, but they did not hesitate to make noise with the branch. That was the first mistake Anna made. The second was staying long enough to see if the goblins had heard her. Oh boy, did they hear. They turned their heads towards Anna’s direction and sniffed through their pointed nose. The third mistake Anna made was stepping on a rock. The slippery rock pushed Anna to the ground and a grunt left her.

Anna sucked in a painful breath and clenched her eyes shut as the many rocks, pebbles, and branches jabbed her in several places. Opening her eyes showed her the new trouble she had attracted. The goblins surrounded her with angry eyes and flaring noses. Their weapons ranged from a Warhammer, a battle-ax, a mace, and a halberd. One of the goblins brought down his battle-ax and Anna rolled out of his way, narrowly avoiding certain death. Anna ran towards the clearing and near the fire. Her hands held the very familiar bow and arrow and shot multiple arrows at the goblins. Two arrows landed on the target while the other caught the arrows and broke them in half.

The boy tied to the tree not only caught Anna’s attention but the goblins as well with his loud calls. The smallest of the goblins advanced towards Anna to whom she shot with her arrow, right in the center. The goblin held the arrow lodged in his chest and as he attempted to pull them out, two more arrows flew towards him. While the goblin was grunting in pain and trying to pull the arrows out, the larger goblin pounded his way towards Anna. Anna pushed the smaller, injured goblin and he crashed into the larger goblin.

The last goblin let out a battle cry and stomped his way towards Anna. The strange boy notices the small distance between the last standing goblin and the girl and lets out a yell. The goblin raised his halberd and brought it down towards Anna’s head before he falls to the ground. A dagger sticking out of its chest brought the unknown boy’s attention to the black-haired girl standing with a slightly shocked face. Anna’s attention was pulled away from the three dead goblins to the boy who was watching everything with admiration in his eyes.

“Hello, mind helping me out of these?” The golden-brown haired boy motioned towards the ropes tying him to the tree.

Anna cut the thick ropes with the other dagger hiding in her boots and stepped away from the boy to inspect the goblins. The unnamed boy rubbed the skin where the rope was placed and stared at the girl in front of him, who moved about the place not paying him one bit of her attention.

“That was some real nice skills. Who taught you?”

“My brother.” Anna did not want to reveal much about her to the stranger who looked to be spurting out warmth with his wide smile.

“And you are planning on using those skills to fight who exactly?” The stranger moved to inspect the huge piece of meat hanging over the fire.

“It is none of your concern. Just collect your things and run along. I have better things to do.” Anna made a move to leave the opening.

“If you are looking to cross through Eyville, you should sharpen your arrows and dagger.” the boy called out from behind her.

“And why is that?” Anna did not turn around but kept walking towards Lightening.

“Because the goblins will not just let you walk through the town, not without a warm welcome from them.” Anna stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the boy.

“What do you mean?”

“Eyville has been invaded by goblins. Did you not hear about that? It’s been the talk of every place in Eersenland.”

Now Anna knew why no one was willing to go rescue her brother. Eyville was the only way to reach the broken mountain. And if everyone was unwilling to pass through a hoard of goblins then they will most definitely not pass through Druford, let alone journey through the black forest. As more rain came down, Anna returned to her trek towards Lightening.

“Well then, I will deal with them as I go.”

“You at least need a guide. And I happen to know how to pass through Eyville without being noticed.

And that is how Anna found herself where she was right now, fighting hoards of goblins while Drago had disappeared off to who knows where.

“Drago, at your service, he had said. What kind of service.” Anna scoffed as she mimicked Drago’s introduction to herself while she fought off the goblins still coming towards her. But she remembered how he had kissed her hand and her heartbeat increased as it had when it had happened. “I can get you through without being noticed, he had said.” Anna was growing tired of fighting. Her muscles ached. She had never fought like this before.

A whistle sounded from the distance and Drago came running forward, cutting off the head of the first goblin he came in contact with. Behind him were eight more men and women who marched behind him and killed any goblin that came their way. After fighting off the goblins and taking back control of the town, Anna spent the next half an hour scolding Drago for running off and leaving her alone. After Drago profusely apologized and even offered to take her further, the town’s people offered them food, supplies and a horse for their journey.

After arriving at the port, the two tried to find a ship to take them to Vie de Ivyaki. After much negotiation, one sailor agreed to take them for a hefty sum. Anna and Drago said their goodbyes to their horses and went on to the journey with the promise of coming back.

The sail towards Vie de Ivyaki turned out to be more gruesome than Anna thought. Never having traveled through a ship, she spent most of the time green and throwing into a bucket. It turned brutal when the storm came from the north. The icy winds against the summer heat made Anna’s situation worse. Drago was doing better than her though the only reason he had turned ill was because of his insistence on taking care of Anna.

Anna had never been happier to be back on the land when they arrived at Vie de Ivyaki. The city was small, that much Anna knew. Other than that Anna did not know much. They did not venture into the city, only passed it by. Drago was growing nervous about the thought of the Black Forest; Anna could see the sweat growing on his brow as his hand tightened on his sword’s hilt. If Anna had thought the seasickness was brutal, she was wrong.

The second Anna and Draco step foot inside the Black Forest, the darkness swallowed them whole. The crow’s caws came from time to time, scaring the wits out of Anna. That was the only noise that could be heard in the forest. The cold winds of fall ruffled everyone leaves. Anna was still having a hard time believing she was in the Black Forest, but it did well in reminding her of where she was every time it sent an animal out to scare them. Anna and Drago could not be happier when they came out on the other side, but it was short-lived when they found themselves right in the middle of Orkling.

Orkling was a city full of humans at one point but now was filled with orcs, hence the name. The city was destroyed long ago by orcs who took control of the city and now reign terror over everyone close by. Anna and Drago continued their trek by this time very slowly and quietly. They had to be careful or they will have to fight an army of orcs and they did not have the time or the weaponry to fight. Though Anna and Drago thought they were being careful, the orcs found them and hung them upside down from trees. Their weapons were picked and prodded by the orcs before they tossed them aside in distaste and continued their useless chatter.

Anna wiggled in her spot and found that orcs are as stupid as she was told. The ropes were loose in multiple spots and Anna used them to loosen the ropes further. Now, all she needed was to find the perfect timing to execute her sneak attack. While Anna was trying to find a way out, Drago spent his time panicking. Anna noticed this and tried to soothe his nerves as much as she could, but she had never been good at that. But that did not mean she was not going to try. After finally calming him down enough to whisper her plan, Drago agreed, and they put the plan in motion.

An hour later, Anna and Drago were running for their lives with their weapons clutched to their chests and the orcs right behind them. They ran and they ran. For how long? They do not know. For Anna, it felt like the sun went down and rose again. They could not tell the time from the thickness of the forest. But the sun had only gone down and the night sky was shimmering with stars. Anna and Drago only noticed they were out of Orkling when their feet slid across the icy slate.

Anna and Drago stopped and turned to see the Orcs still coming after them, but many were walking back into the forest. Drago grabbed a hold of Anna who almost kissed the ice. They both stopped running when they reached the middle of the frozen river and stared at the orcs. Not one orc had stepped foot on the ice, but their eyes never left Anna and Drago. One orc stepped forward and hurled his ax down on the ice and a crack formed. Another joined and another before over a dozen orcs were pounding their weapons on the frozen river. Cracks formed and ice started breaking from multiple places. One crack reached right by Anna’s foot and broke. Drago swiftly pulled Anna away from the breaking ice and they both ran towards the mountain opening. Drago fell through the ice and into the cold river, but Anna caught his hand. She pulled him up and away from the freezing water and soon both reached solid ground. Gasping breaths left the two laying on the ground while Drago shivered, cold to his bones.

After recovering, Anna and Drago continued their journey towards the Broken Mountain. They took the opening in the middle to circle around the mountain. Anna was happy she did not have to climb the towering mountain, for she was sure she’d fall to her death if she did. Their journey was involved with much snow, rain, and storms making it hard for them to continue forward. Anna did not stop nor did Drago. Anna asked Drago many times, why he was risking everything to potentially die at the hands of the ice witch, but he always answered in a smile.

Anna and Drago may have walked into the battle with weapons drawn and a plan in mind, but it was thrown out the second they found Anna’s brother, Arnele. His eyes glazed over and pale blue, his first instinct on seeing his sister was to attack her. His sword clashed with Drago’s who jumped in front of Anna when she did not move. Anna’s shock wore off when she saw her brother about to throw Drago off the edge of the fortress.

Anna pushed her brother off and with help from Drago, tied him to a column. Anna left to look for the Ice Witch while Drago stayed with Arnele. Arnele spent the time saying things that would’ve made anyone in Drago’s position push him off the fortress and into the depths of the mountain. But Drago held his tongue and his hands. For Anna, he told himself. He could not hurt her brother, not after how far they’ve come.

Anna spent the time searching for the ice witch and found her standing by a balcony. Anna found herself face to face with the ice witch whose eyes reminded her of the frozen river she had just run across.

“What have you done to my brother?”

“Nothing he did not want.”

“Let him go!”

“I will, on one condition.”

The next time Drago saw Anna was when she walked back to tell them they were free to go. Arnele’s glazed over eyes went back to his natural color and he was cut loose. Drago noticed Anna’s sorrowful expression but decided not to comment on it until they were in a safe place. The three walked down the fortress and towards the exit. When Drago turned around to ask Anna about the direction, he found her gone. He looked up towards the fortress and locked eyes with Anna who waved goodbye and turned around to walk back inside.

November 21, 2019 03:50

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