Thee Worlde Of Larcne

 

Chapter Thee Firste:  Karl

 

A man is walking down a corridor.  The walls, floor and ceiling of the room are all reflecting off of each other, as though they were mirrors.  Aside from the mirroring walls, however, the hall is bare.  As the man walks, he comes to a door.  He turns to face the door and begins to open it.  However, as he opens it, everything starts to fade to blackness, as the man begins to scream.

 

Karl sits up suddenly.  He is a young man of about 19 years.  He is breathing hard and covered in sweat and bits of hay.  He looks around tensely, as though a hidden enemy waits to attack him.  After a second he realizes that he is just in the rafter of his family’s barn.  He sighs with relief at this realization and looks around again.

“It’s night already?  How long was I asleep?  I had chores to do.  Dad’s gonna be real mad about this.  Oh well, might as well go and get it over with.”

Karl slowly starts to get up.  He rubs his eyes, tries to shake some of the straw out of his hair.  After standing there for a minute, he starts to move slowly over to the ladder.  Suppressing a yawn, he starts to climb down the ladder.

“Should I bother trying to milk the cow now?  Naw… wouldn’t do me any good.  By now Dad’ll know that I forgot to do it.   Hell, he probably already did it himse – “

About halfway down the ladder he hears some voices whispering.  He stops climbing and tries his hardest to make out words.

“… all over.  I… find them… gone… or dead.”

Karl hears this last bit with perfect clarity and his heart stops.  Who’s dead?  What are they talking about?  He starts to climb down the ladder and creep forward through the darkness in order to hear them better.  As he starts to listen again, he realizes it’s another voice talking.  This voice is definitely female.  He continues to creep forward through the shadows, until he hear everything they say.

“… at all?  What about the boy?”

“No.  I couldn’t find him.  Either he wasn’t here when they attacked, or he was captured.”

Attack?  What attack?  What are these people talking about, there hasn’t been any attacks lately.  Not even any raids.  And who was this boy they were talking about?  None of this made sense.

“He couldn’t have been captured.  I would know if he was in their hands.”

“Then he’s not here.  I’ve looked all over.  None of the bodies fit the description.”

“He isn’t dead either.  Believe me.  He is here... somewhere.  I can feel it.”

“I’ve looked all over.  No one around here is – wait… Whoever is hiding in that barn, come out right now, if you value your life!”

Karl jumped at that last bit.  How could they know he was here?

“I know you’re in there.  Come out now, hands out.  I’ll give you to the count of five.  One… Two…”

Karl knew when he was beat.  He had no desire to have any strangers, who talk about killing and captives and death so easily, charging after him.  He got up and walked to the entrance of the barn.  As he stood there he looked over those he had heard talking.  One was definitely a soldier of some kind.  He was a tall man in light chain mail, had his sword already drawn, and was reaching for a crossbow with his free hand.  The other, well, who knew who she was.  She looked like a lady of some standing, wearing a dress, and with no weapons, she was almost the total opposite of the goliath she stood next to.  Yet when he had listened to them talking, she had seemed to be the leader of the two, which made no sense at all to Karl.  The man started to speak.  “Well… it’s just a lad.  I was thinking it was one of them”

The woman was looking Karl up and down carefully.  “This isn’t just any lad Daffyd.  This is the one we were looking for.”

“Really?  Huh.  I was thinking he’d be a bit bigger.  And possibly a bit more clever.”

Karl couldn’t control his curiosity any longer.  “What are you talking about?  Looking for me?  I don’t even know who you guys are!  And what were you talking about people getting killed and captured for?  Nothing like that has happened here, nor is it likely to, if I’m any judge.”

“Then it’s a good thing you aren’t lad.  Just today, by the look of it, this town here was raided and almost everyone was killed.  One or two might have escaped, and some might have been taken captive, but most were killed.”

“Hush, Daffyd.  Let me take care of this.  Come here child.”

Karl looked at the two of them.  His eyes settled on the sword which the man named Daffyd was sheathing.  He realized he probably didn’t have much of a choice in the matter and slowly shuffled towards the woman.

“Now, child, I sense that you are greatly confused, and fear us.  I must say, I don’t blame you.  But you much listen to me.  This village was attacked.  If you don’t believe us, just look around for yourself.  The evidence is everywhere.  I have no clue as to how you managed to escape from this… this… massacre, but you did.  Now I must tell you, you are not safe here.  Those that attacked here today want blood, and yours will please them as much as mine.  They will come back here to get at you.  You must believe me.  You will die if you remain here.”

While she was talking, Karl glanced around the village, and saw, to his horror, that there were, all over, neighbors, friends, everyone he had known, lying dead.  He then looks back at the woman.

“But who?  And why?  Who would do this to a village this remote and isolated?  And who are you?  You come and ask me to go with you, and I don’t even know you.  For all I know, you did this!”

Daffyd looks down at Karl and glares at him for a moment.  “Child, I should slay you where you stand for suggesting such a thing.  If my Lady wasn’t here, I probably would.  But she seems to want you alive for the moment.  Though who knows why, as you are obviously a pig and a lout.”

The woman looks over at Daffyd again.  “Daffyd, can you please control yourself?  You are definitely not helping me.  Now, child, as to your questions, the ones who raided here are the most wretched and hateful of all creatures and hate all that live.  I and my companion are sworn to rid the world of them and their kind.  They attacked this village simply because it is, and we tried to stop them, but were too late.  Now, we find you and wish to help you, if only to get to another village or some other place for safekeeping.  Now what is your name, child?”

Karl looks the woman over again, and he somehow knows that she is hiding something.  Keeping something to herself.  However, looking again at Daffyd, he realizes that should he refuse, they could most likely force him to come with them.  He looks back at the woman.  “My name is Karl.  Karl Emnilore.  And who are you?”

“I am Danae, and this is Daffyd.  If you are to come with us, we must leave at once.  Every moment we spend here puts are lives more and more at risk.”

Karl looks back at his house longingly.  “I need to grab a few things of mine before I can go.”

Danae looks at him, and says, “Fine.  Get what you need, but hurry.”

Karl nods to her, and darts off towards his house.  As he steps inside, he sees his mother and father lying on the floor, both dead.  He turns away quickly, trying not to retch, as he runs up the stairs and into his room.  Once inside he starts to look over the room for anything that he might have a use for.  He grabs his bag that he used for carrying feed, or produce, or even toys, depending on the circumstances.  Into it he shoves a change of clothing, his knife that he got for his last birthday, and a few other odds and ends.  As he starts to leave the room, he turns around and goes for a piece of floor at the foot of his bed.  This he pries up and takes out of the hole a tiny statuette and a necklace with an amulet on the end of it.  He then goes out of his room, and back down the stairs, carefully averting his eyes from the dead bodies of his parents.  He opens the door and goes swiftly back to the pair that is still waiting for him outside the barn.  As he approaches, Daffyd sees him.

“You took long enough, lad.  What was so important that you had to grab?”

Karl looks back at Daffyd.  “Nothing to you.  A thing or two of personal importance.”

“Ah.  Well, no time to waste.  We must be on our way.  Come now, before they return.”

Daffyd starts off to the north, both away from the town, and off of the main paths.  Karl, confused, asks, “Why are we going this way?  Why don’t we just follow the path?”

Daffyd looks down at him again.  “Cause we don’t want to get killed.  The main roads will be watched, but the forest won’t.  Now shut up.”

Karl does so, and they continue walking through the forest.  After what seems like a couple hours, Karl starts to stumble over the roots and eventually puts hit foot into a small hole and falls over.

“You okay lad?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.  I just didn’t see that hole.”

 Daffyd goes over to Karl, and helps him up.  He then looks around, and then looks at Danae.  “This is as good a place as any to stop for the night.  We’re far enough away from the town that even should they come back, they won’t find us that easily, and this boy is dead on his feet.”

“Fine.  I had hoped to get a bit further tonight, but you’re right.  This is as good as any to rest, and the child is exhausted, and not without cause.”

Daffyd reaches into a pouch on his pack and takes out a small bag of dried meat.  He takes some and passes it around to Danae and then Karl.  This is followed by a small jug of water.  Daffyd then takes them, and puts them back in his pack, which he leans against a tree.  He then leans against the same tree and seems to be asleep within seconds.  Danae follows suite and also appears to be sleeping almost immediately. Karl tries to do the same, but he finds himself unable to get into any position that is slightly comfortable, and even if he could, his mind is reeling through the events of the past few hours... his odd dream, followed by meeting these two strangers, and finding that his whole town has been slaughtered.  He tries to clear his mind, but it does no good.  After a few minutes, he hears someone come over to him, put their hand on his head, and say in a soothing voice, “Sleep, child.  Sleep.  You will need all the rest you can get before this is done.”  Suddenly, he finds that his mind is clear, and Karl falls asleep within seconds.

 

A man is walking through an abandoned city.  He seems to be intently looking for something.  He passes by all sorts of wreckage and half demolished buildings.  He stops abruptly, and looks around hard, as though he heard something.  He slowly pulls his sword out of its sheath and quietly walks to the corner of a building.  Suddenly, he jumps around the corner, sword first, and guts a monster.  As the monster falls, he sheaths his sword, and looks around again.  It appears that he found what he was looking for.  He walks into the building ahead, and as he enters, the door closes behind him and some evil chuckling is heard.  The man draws his sword again and as he starts to look around for more monsters, all starts to become bright, until all is engulfed in whiteness.

 

Karl awakes with a start, reaching for a sword which he doesn’t have, and jumping up, bumping his head on a tree branch above him.

“Ow, ow, ow.  What?  Where am I?  Oh… yeah.”

Karl looks up to see Daffyd, who h had thought was asleep, standing right next to him.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.  I’m fine.  I just had a bad dream, and bumped my head.”

“I see.  Wait here.”

Daffyd walks over to Danae, who had been sleeping.  He wakes her up, and the both come back over to Karl.  Danae looks Karl up and down and then says, “Daffyd tells me you had a dream.”

“Huh?  Yeah, I had a dream, and woke up kinda started.  It’s nothing special.  That happens to everyone.”

“Could you tell me what your dream was about?”

“Why?  It doesn’t matter.”

“It might child.  Now, what was this dream?”

“I told you, it doesn’t matter.  Anyway, why should I tell you?  I still have no reason to trust you.  I mean, the only rea – “

Daffyd suddenly looks up, as though he heard something.  “Shh… quiet.  We can continue this later.  Someone is coming.  Quick, into the trees.”

Karl quickly climbs up a nearby tree, and stops when he gets about 10 feet off the ground.  He then looks back down, and to his surprise, Daffyd and Danae are both gone.  He tries to hard to hear whatever it was that Daffyd had heard earlier, but he can’t make anything out.  Then, right underneath him appear a small group of orcs.  Karl tries hard to stifle a gasp of surprise, but some of it leaks out.  The orcs look up and see him.  One of them gestures at him with a bow and arrow and then back towards the ground, telling him to get down or die.  Karl starts to climb down slowly.  About halfway down, he hears a scream and a thunk.  He looks over his shoulder and sees that that the orc that had motioned him down is lying, dead, with a crossbow bolt through his back.  The rest of the orcs seem to be confused, looking for the source of the bolt.  Realizing that they are confused, and don’t seem to be watching him, Karl then runs down the way that they had come.  He runs for about ten seconds, when he runs into someone.  He looks up.

“Calm yourself there.  Who are you and why are you running so hard?”

Karl looks up and sees a man, slightly shorter than Daffyd, but no less armed, and another man behind him, who is about the same height as his friend, but much more tan than either his companion or Daffyd.  “Orcs!  Over there, in that clearing!  One’s dead.  Crossbow bolt in the back, donno where the others are.”

“Calm down, and be quiet.  We heard a bit of commotion, and were going to check and see what it was.  Orcs you say?  They shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

They continue to walk forward.  Karl gets behind some trees, from which he can make out the clearing where the orcs were scouring for the shooter.  He sees the men creeping up to the edge of the clearing, and then, as one orc gets close, the first man jumps out, cuts the head of the orc off, and runs into the rest of them, sword swinging.  The other man is right behind him.  As Karl watches them, he is amazed that anyone can swing their sword that fast.  He watches in awe as they block every thrust and swing the orcs make, and manages to kill the attackers in the process.  After a minute or two of this, they look around and realize that all the orcs are dead.

“You can come out now, lad.  They are all dead.”

Karl walks out from his cover and into the clearing.  He looks around at the gore surrounding him.  Shuddering slightly he looks back at the two men.  They are both slightly tired from the bout, and upon a closer examination, not as untouched as he had first thought.  They each have a number of small cuts on them, but nothing major.  The one who had originally spoken to Karl now looks at him again.

“So, what were you doing here?  There’s no need to ask why they attacked you, the orcs attack all they meet.  It’s a miracle they don’t kill each other.  And who were these others you mentioned earlier?”

Karl takes a breath, and tries to calm himself.  “I come from a village to the south. As for the others I mentioned, th – “

“He was talking about us.”  Karl turns around to see Daffyd and Danae entering the clearing from the north.  “We are acting as his guardians, and who might you – wait a second.  Benji, is that you?  And Korbon?  What the hell are you doing here?”

The one who was talking to Karl, apparently Benji, looks over at Daffyd.  “Guardians?   Some job you did there.  We met this lad running in the opposite direction of you, screaming about orcs.  We then come here to see a small raiding party.  As for what we’re doing here, we were sent to find you and Danae, and bring you back to Almard.  There is great trouble in the city, and we need all the help we can get.”

“It’s just as well.  We have done what we meant to do.  We were returning to the city now anyway.  But tell me you have some horses or something.  It’s a very long trip by foot, and the horses would be welcome.”

“Of course we have horses.  We just left them back a ways when we heard the noise up here.”  Benji whistles shrilly and 4 horses gallop into view.  “We only brought two extra.  We hadn’t realized you would have more than just the two of you.”

Danae looks at the horses and says, “One of those can easily carry both me and the child.  Even put together, we weigh less than any of you with all your armor and packs.”

Benji looks Karl over and then nods.  “As you wish, m’Lady.  If that’s all, then let’s mount up, and get going.  The city is in dire need.”

 

After a few hours ride, Karl can make out a city wall in the distance.  He looks at it in awe.  “Is that Almard?  It’s… it’s… so big.”

“Yes, child.  That is Almard, the capital of our country.  As for it’s size, well, governments have always wanted lots of room, and each official wants the most, so the result is this.  Now listen.  I want you to prepare yourself for anything when we enter the city.  I have no idea why they saw fit to send for us when we were on so urgent an errand, but they wouldn’t have done so without cause.  And having seen your village, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that orcs, goblins, or worse have attacked.”

Karl nods, and tries to prepare himself for a site of dead bodies, and ruined buildings upon going into the city.