Quest

This is my little brother's story, he doesn't have an account, so he asked me to post it.

Chapter One

Tallon and Destiny made their way through the crowd that in the village of Wisteria that sat in the middle of a great forest called Elderwood. Wisteria was a small village with roughly six hundred residents. It was located between Lake Moccasin and Basilisk Cliffs. The crowd was watching the arrest of two faeries.

There was a younger faerie in his teens and an older one that looked to be in his twenties. Tallon had to stand on tip toes to see but even then he could barely see. He caught a glimpse of the younger faerie running at the large watch man. A giant stepped in his way so all Tallon saw was his broad back. Tallon tapped on his arm, “Excuse me, I cannot see” The giant glanced down, “sorry” he muttered and stepped back to where he originally stood. Now Destiny tapped on Tallon’s arm, “look” she said. Tallon looked up and saw the younger faerie on the ground. Tallon watched as the boy got up and bolted at the man but this time the man caught him by the waist and tightened his arms so the boy could barely breath. The older of the two broke free from another watch mans grip and wrapped his arms around an older woman then the watch man caught him again. Tallon had seen enough. He was about to leave when he heard a frightened cry, he looked up and saw a dwarf running toward the headman, Aidien Lyklor, he skidded to a stop in front of him and started speaking urgently with him. Aidien turned to the crowd and said, “we are being raided, everyone must evacuate! Go to Ronlind!” Ronlind was another village about half the size of Wisteria. The crowd started panicking and tripping over each other. Before he knew it Tallon and Destiny were running along side everyone. He glanced back and saw Aidien just standing, as if he was waiting. Tallon figured he was waiting for everyone in the village to escape. It took about five and half hours to get to Ronlind. The village had about three hundred people dwelling there. When the Wisterians got there, once through the gate everyone started yelling and talking at once. Suddenly there was a long blast of a horn and all the noise subsided. They all looked in the direction of the noise and saw a man with a horn in one hand a staff in the other. Tallon assumed he was the head man because of his staff of office. “who might you be and why in all of Elderwood are you here in my village?” he said in a loud voice. An older giant named Xawlis stepped up and said, “our own village has been raided and we came here for a place to stay” the headman gave a puzzle look, “by whom?” he asked. Now Tallon saw the older faerie that was going to get arrested step up and say, “my friend here” he gestured to a middle aged man, “said that there is a man named Paladin that wants to wipe out our kind” the headman looked at the faerie “well then” he said if these rumors are true then I would liked every last one of you to get out of my village, I do not want putting my people in danger” Tallon and Destiny looked at each other. Tallon groaned and the started back to their village.

The way back was much slower, but they eventually arrived. Destiny looked at where her house used to be but it was smoking pile of debris. “We grew up here” she cried “why would they do this to us?” Tallon walked up to her and comforted her but he was sad as well. One by one, all the creatures started putting out fires, sorting through rubble, and cutting up fallen trees. Just then Tallon heard someone in the crowd ask, “where’s Aidien?” everyone stopped doing what they were doing and started searching for him. A giant picked up a tree and said, “I found him” she checked his pulse, “he’s dead” she sobbed. Everyone abruptly went silent. Tallon heard as lots of the creatures started weeping. He and Destiny started tearing up as well. It was two dwarves that buried him. After the burial, everything seemed to go very slow. The dwarves didn't chop with much vigor, the elves build as quick. Destiny looked up with a confused expression, “what?” Tallon asked, “i was just wondering, who is going to be the next headman?” somebody in the crowd answered, “probably Aidien’s son, Blaise, Blaise? Where are you?” a young man was pushed forward and he said, “i don’t think I’m ready, but I suggest Xawlis Harbringer” everyone looked at the surprised giant and started chanting, “Xaw-lis! Xaw-lis!” and he said “I would be honored until Blaise is ready” they all cheered so loud Tallon and Destiny had to covered their pointed ears. Then Xawlis took the vow to become the next headman.

Chapter Two

Tallon sat on a small lost in is thoughts. Someone tapped on his shoulder, he looked up and saw Destiny and a dwarf standing beside him, “the headman wants ye, ye can see that I have already collected yurs friend” he waved his hand in Destiny's direction. Talon thought the dwarf had maybe seen the two of them together. The dwarf led them to Xawlis who was supervising the rebuilding of Wisteria from the grass. The dwarf walked up to him and said, “I’ve brought them, yer Eminence” Xawlis glared at him, “i told you not to call me that, now you may be off” he said to him and the dwarf waddled away on his stubby legs. Then Xawlis turned to them and said, “i have job for you two, more like a quest, you could say, I have already let your parents know and they have agreed to this mission. You will be trained by one of Wisteria’s best trackers” he paused, “wood elves are good at camouflage so that is why I have chosen you. In this journey find the creatures that have gone into hiding from the previous raids of their villages. You will collect them all and bring them back here, I have also notified the two faeries about this” Tallon’s head snapped up, “why them? The two faeries from earlier? Right? The younger one seemed violent” Xawlis held up his hand, “slow down, it is the two from earlier but I have chosen them because the people in Wisteria don’t trust them so they will restore that trust. Then Destiny asked, “when does our training start?” Xawlis turned to her, “tomorrow morning” he said.

The next morning, Tallon woke up early for his training. His mother had already knew about him going so she made his breakfast earlier then usual, he said goodbye to her and left. When he got there he saw that Destiny had already gotten there and was waiting for him. Destiny looked up from her book and said, “took you long enough” Tallon rolled his eyes and they walked in and began training.

When Tallon got home that afternoon, information swirled around in his head. He flopped down on a wooden chair and ate his supper which was a large hunk of freshly made bread with melted butter dripping off the sides, a small whole fish with crumbled goat cheese on top, and a large bowl of rich stew. After he finished his meal, he said good night to his parents and went to sleep almost immediately.

The days fell in to a schedule of waking, eating, training, coming home, eating, and collapsing in bed. After two and half weeks of training it was time to leave. On the day of departure the sun was setting behind Basilisk Cliffs and they were saying one last goodbye to their parents and the village. They each had a pack with a bedroll each, one tent, wooden utensils, copper dishes, a bow each, one hunting knife, two extra cloaks, and a piece of polished shoulder armor. Tallon wasn't sure why Xawlis had stuck in but he didn’t take it out.

Then they finally took their first steps of their adventure. An hour or so into their journey Destiny broke silence by saying, “lets eat” they stopped in a small clearing and started a fire and toasted bread. Tallon got up and said, “I saw a brook a few moments ago while we were walking. I’m going to get some water to boil our eggs.” Destiny nodded while brushing her red hair out of her face. Tallon walked back to where he had seen the brook and he scooped up some water a copper pot and he was about to leave when he heard something in the bushes, suddenly a smaller ogre jumped out of the bushes and Tallon grabbed his pot and ran back to Destiny. He burst into the clearing and said, “we have to go now!” Destiny jumped, “why in all of Elderwood are you bursting out like that?!” Tallon grabbed her arm and stood her up, “i’ll explain later, lets go!” Suddenly, the ogre burst out into the clearing but they were already gone.

Chapter Three

Tallon and Destiny were running for their lives. Tallon glanced behind them, the ogre was gaining fast! Tallon pointed at a tree with low branches, “quick! Climb up that tree!” they quickly ascended the tree and the ogre stopped right below it, picked up a nearby rock and threw it at them. Tallon caught it and threw it back at him, it hit him square on the top of the head and Tallon watched as the ogre toppled onto the ground. “I hope that didn’t hurt him too bad” said Destiny. They climbed down and saw that the ogre had taken one of their packs and he had one as well. So they picked up their pack and Destiny asked, “would it be mean to take his pack too?” Tallon shrugged, “Nah, ogres are hunters” he replied. They headed back to their camp, set up the tent, and went to sleep.

The next morning, Tallon was rummaging through the ogres pack and he found an axe, a very large piece of raw mutton, “we’re going to have cook that” he thought, and he found some bones, “we’re probably not keeping those” Destiny said as she walked out of the tent. “no, no we’re not” Tallon replied. He dumped out the bones and found a working compass underneath them. “lucky us, Xawlis didn’t put one of these in our packs.” they then made breakfast and ate.

They put all the things that they could use into their own packs and started walking again. Tallon could see a glimpse of Basilisk Cliffs, a four hundred foot tall rock wall with basilisks living on top.

It took three days to get to the cliffs, Tallon stopped just where the woods stopped and he beckoned Destiny to sit down as well. It was nearing dusk when they finished their supper. Tallon could barely see anything when they had all their camp set up so he decided it would be best not to waste their fire started they had brought.

Tallon was startled awake by the sound of rustling and scurrying. He got up, donned on his cloak and stepped out of his tent, and found a large group of skvaders, a small rabbit like creature with wings of a bird and antlers of deer, had taken over their camp. “SHOO! GET!” he yelled. He glared at the retreating skvaders and saw that one had taken a piece of bread. He cursed as Destiny came out of the tent, “whats going on?” she asked, Tallon looked up “nothing, just a group of about two dozen skvaders just came by. Luckily they didn’t steal much” after a breakfast of mutton and boiled eggs they continued to the towering cliffs.

Tallon grabbed the first handhold and hoisted himself up a couple feet. He looked down at Destiny and asked, “are coming or not?” “yeah, just thinking” she paused “what do you think is up there?” Tallon pulled himself up higher and this time Destiny did too, “think about the name” Tallon said. Destiny's eyes widened with freight, “you mean that there are actually basilisks up there? I thought they were extinct” Tallon shrugged and they continued upward. A couple hours later they were half way up the cliff. The sun beat down on his back and he was drenched in sweat making it difficult to climb. He heard a small yelp from below him. He looked down and saw Destiny clinging onto the stone with a small skvader on her head. She reached up searching for something to grab onto and Tallon grabbed her hand and made sure she had support. He scooped the small creature off her head and it squirmed out of his grasp, scurried up his arm and squeezed through a small crack in the rock. “that was fun” Tallon remarked. Destiny frowned, “not exactly, looked at what it did to me! That thing has some claws” Tallon looked and saw that she had a large red scrape across her cheek. “yikes, I guess they do have claws”

Several hours later they collapsed on top of Basilisk Cliffs, after a few moments of resting they had a fire going with pot of boiling water for tea and some bread and mutton. After Tallon and Destiny ate they cleaned up and had a nap. A half an hour into the nap Tallon woke to the sound of pounding footsteps in the woods.

Chapter Four

Tallon darted over to Destiny and shook her awake. She blinked and yawned, “alrdy?” she mumbled, “I don’t know what it is but there’s something big in the woods heading this way” Tallon caught his breath “probably a basilisk” he explained. Destiny’s face grew pallid, “i didn’t think we would actually run into one” she whispered fearfully. Then they frantically gathered their provisions and ran the opposite direction of the basilisk, which is a large rooster like creature with a scales of a lizard and feathers of a bird and can grow up to seventeen feet tall. Tallon looked back at their camp, it was enormous! Destiny looked back too, “come on, we should hide” Tallon and Destiny curved sharply to confuse the creature and hid behind separate trees. Tallon heard the basilisk right on the other side of his tree, then he heard it sniffing right beside his head and realized it would soon smell him and he eaten. He made a run for it. “Run!” he yelled to Destiny, and soon enough she was right beside him. Tallon heard the basilisk screeching behind them. He turned to Destiny, “close your eyes and don’t look at the basilisk” Destiny looked confused “What are you-” Tallon cut her off, “i almost forgot that Xawlis had said that a basilisk will turn you to stone if you look in its eyes” Tallon quickly pulled out the polished piece of armor that Xawlis had put in his satchel. He closed his eyes and held the armor in front of him. The pounding and screeching stopped. Tallon waited a few moments. He slowly opened his eyes and saw where the basilisk had been standing was a large stone version of it. So then they continued on. Tallon's legs were shaking from freight, “let’s sit down.” he said. So they sat down and ate small portions of food and they started walking again. Several hours later they were still walking in the woods. Bored, Tallon looked up at the trees, suddenly he saw a figure jump from branch to branch of the trees. “Look” said Tallon as he pointed at the figure. Four wood elves dropped down from the trees and surrounded them, they all wore green and brown linens as camouflage. “who are you and why are you here?” the tallest one said. Tallon stepped up to him and said, “why should I tell you?” the elf blinked “uh, because we need to know why your here” this time Destiny stepped up and said, “we are here to recruit you to defeat a man named Paladin and i’m assuming that you’ve already heard of him” the elf glared at the mention of the name, “you have to come with us” now Tallon was confused “where?” the elf looked at him, “are you human?” he asked. Tallon shook his head “no” he said. He moved his blond hair away from his pointed ears. “ah, you are one of us”.

A couple minutes later they entered a large room that stood up in the high branches of the trees. The room had very large oak tree in the middle with a broad chair at the foot of the tree, and there was another elf sitting in the chair with long black hair and piercing silver eyes, “well, what have we here?” he said.