Chapter 2 A new Ally

The dwarves armor clinked and clanked as they hustled along down the trail following the rather odd ranger. "The goblins will hear us coming from a mile away!" whined Felgrin. Without stopping or slowing Adbar boxed Felgrin's ears and continued jogging. Poor Felgrin was the youngest of the dwarves and received such treatment quite often. Soon the sounds of goblins yelling and also the cries of agony from the wounded were heard alongside the twang of several bow strings. "Hurry dwarves hurry we need to hit the goblins flank when we are in sight of the elves they will draw swords and charge now hurry" Therwalt instructed. The dwarves tightened their grips on weapons and when the goblins were in range Adbar and Germain simply lowered their heads and bowled over a group of goblins while Felgrin and Renal quite literally leapt into the goblins ranks while Felkin and Therwalt just simply cut down any goblin they saw. In mere moments the goblin force had been reduced from the group of 150 that had survived the elves to 40 goblins scrambling down the trail trying to save their necks. "Elwar and Arna mount up and go after them the rest of you help me burn the rest of these scum" Therwalt ordered while kicking a dead goblin at his feet. Elwar and Arna thundered down the trail on their magnificent horses and in mere moments had caught up to the goblins and finished them off. The dwarves piled the dead goblins up while Therwalt lit a torch which then ignited the dead goblins like paper in a bonfire. "Well that was a good start eh dwarves?" Therwalt chuckled. The dwarves roared in agreement when Elwar and Arna returned with absolute panic in their eyes. "What is it my friends?" Therwalt questioned. "Fire on the other side of the forest we think it's another goblin force attacking the village" Arna explained. Some of the dwarves groaned but Felkin hushed them up. "You all remember what happened to the dwarves from Grenrock how they got slaughtered by goblins, we will not allow this to happen again now move out dwarves!" Felkin started bounding down the trail towards where the smoke was coming from and the dwarves followed him. When they were out of sight Therwalt turned to his elven companions. "Ha ha ha I like him, now let's go see what's happening" And the four of them bolted down the trail with the elves on horseback. It took awhile but the party managed to trace their way down the trail and to the village which was surrounded by goblins and even a troll. One particular ring of goblins surrounded the three surviving warriors from the village who were fighting for their lives. The dwarves charged in and just mercilessly cut down any goblin they saw while the elves covered them from behind with their bows. Therwalt and Felkin charged the troll together. Therwalt would distract the troll while Felkin hacked away at it's legs eventually dropping it to one knee. Felkin leaped into the air and sunk his ax into the skull of the troll as Therwalt drove his sword into the beasts throat. The troll collapsed forward dead at Therwalt's feet as the dwarves managed to drive off the goblins. As the goblins were driven off the inhabitants of the village that had survived emerged to thank their saviors while the warriors held back. Therwalt cautiously approached the three warriors with his hands raised so they could see he was unarmed. "What happened here exactly my good men?" He asked kindly. The tallest warrior stepped forward a man with blonde hair. His armor rent, his sword notched, his body covered with blood and cuts made him look rather ragged indeed. "We were ambushed by the goblins, caught unprepared they slaughtered the village guard and most of the villagers before a group of ten of us managed to form a shield wall and repel them for a time. The others fell while we three remained fighting and that's when you got here. Our thanks strangers. I am Eol captain of the guard and we are in your debt" The man explained and he bowed after he finished speaking. Therwalt merely laughed. "it was our pleasure" and he returned the bow. Felkin trundled forward at this time. "Your village appears to be destroyed perhaps you could come with us to our camp" he offered. Eol simply shook his head. "Word had been sent to the king the cavalry is coming and they are to escort us to Revenwil the elven settlement" He explained. Felkin did not want these three warriors to leave after seeing their battle prowess. Eol however walked over and stood with the dwarves. "I however am working with you to hunt those monsters down" he declared. His comrades tried to argue but he simply replied "it was my fault we lost the men we did and I intend to avenge them so don't try and stop me just escort the people to Revenwil. Now go" Reluctantly his comrades mounted their horses which they had just found and rode up to the head of the column of villagers where thirty of the king's cavalry had arrived and waited. Eol was rather dissapointed at the small amount that the king had sent but knew his people would be safe at Revenwil. As the line of villagers slowly dissapeared on the horizon Eol leapt up into the saddle of his recently recovered horse and then turned to the mounted elves. "Let us catch up to these beasts and slow them enough for us to slaughter them!" The elves however shook their heads sadly. Therwalt looked at the enraged horseman with genuine sadness. "There was too many of them and they have already made it back to the mountain by now. There are thousands more goblins in the mountain and many more monsters that need not be named." He explained sadly. "There are too few of us to combat them" Elwar added. Eol let out a yell full of anger and sadness. Therwalt led the group back to camp and Eol rather angrily still followed. The elves had no need to tether their horses they came and left as they pleased so they simply removed the baggage from their backs and let them roam. They would return upon their master's call. Eol however had to tether his horse to a tree. The elves gave him a tent and a bedroll to sleep on and the rest of their group did their best to include him to keep his mind off his sorrows but for the most part he sat huddled against a tree sharpening and polishing his weapons and armor. Arna came over to him with two wooden swords in his hands. He tossed one to the horseman who looked up at him with a questioning look. "Id like to see first hand what you can do with a blade so stand up and defend yourself" He informed Eol who stood up with wooden sword in hand. The elf set off a rapid series of cuts,slashes and stabs at the horseman who just barely blocked the elves speed proving nearly too much for him. Then Eol's focus intensified. He stomped his foot forward tripping up the elf and launched his own series of attacks that had the elf backpedaling. As the elf tried to launch a counterattacking slash the horseman swung his sword down hitting the blade out of the elf's hands then raised the tip of his wooden sword to the elf's neck."How in Gwilver did you do that?" Arna demanded. Elwar came forward and picked up the dropped sword. "Yes do explain" he encouraged. "Just my battle senses when I focus them my skills are at their best." Eol explained before wandering off back to his tent where he ate a small meal then went to sleep. The elves talked long into the night about the horseman's battle prowess. It was not easy to best Arna. Therwalt however was not truly as shocked as the elves. He had a feeling that this horseman was special and meant for something special but for the life of him he couldn't pinpoint what it was. But for some reason the fact that this man had his village destroyed, was a natural leader and was a natural warrior kept popping into his head. That morning Eol had snuck off into the woods to go hunting while the others slept. When they awoke they smelled the roasting meat of two deer and the sizzling of frying bird eggs. Eol knew the elves would not eat the eggs or meat so he had gathered berries and other fruit for them. The dwarves happily munched on the meat and eggs while the elves slowly ate their fruit. "What is all this?" Therwalt questioned. Eol simply shrugged. "Breakfast" Eol had already eaten so he went off into a clearing to practice his technique with sword and spear. He had whittled down branches for his training spears which he managed to get exactly where he wanted them as he always did. His sword sweapt through the air with a fluidity and ease that only comes from years and years of practice. Elwar came over with the practice swords in his hands. He threw one to Eol who dropped his sword to the other side took a grip on the practice sword and took his battle stance. The elf pressed forward with a combination of strikes making the horseman backpedal. As he blocked more and more strikes the horseman's focus again narrowed and he began pressing forward. However unlike Arna Elwar did not lose his balance and the duel drew to a stalemate. On and on the two dueled until Therwalt had seen enough and broke it up. "Next time I shall defeat you" The horseman promised Elwar. Elwar merely nodded his head and went to find his horse for his scouting trip. "I'm going to scout the forest" Elwar informed Therwalt who also merely nodded. Eol meanwhile was mounting his own horse and following the elf out of camp. "You need a horsemaster watching your back" He informed the elf. Along the edge of the forest they went and to the very roots of the mountain but no foul creature was found. Therwalt meanwhile was loading his supplies onto his horse along with barrel chested dwarf Adbar who reluctantly agreed to accompany the ranger on a mission. Therwalt headed off down the trail that lead out of the forest and continued north well into the night until he stopped near the River Tyme and made camp for he and the dwarf. "My backside hurts more then if a Trollikan bit it." The dwarf groaned. Therwalt as was his norm merely chuckled. He pulled some smoked beef out of his pack among other things and made a simple stew for him and the aching dwarf. Eol and Elwar were a little surprised that Therwalt had just taken off with Adbar but they simply shrugged it off. That night in both camps their inhabitants huddled miserably in their tents or caves while a storm of rain and wind, thunder and lightning sweapt through them. Back at the main camp the elves themselves went into the dwarves' cave with their permission and huddled in. Eol led his horse into the back of the cave and after the horse lay down Eol lay beside it as was his won't when it stormed like this. Long had Eol and his horse Elpina been companions and they knew each other as well as was both physically and mentally possible. That night not much sleep was had between the two camps.