The Tales of Enderas: Ch 2 Faded Memories

The continuation of my still very underdeveloped story!

As light begins to flood the room, an old man sits perched by the window. A distant look covers his face while he pears out of the glass, as if he were recalling a better time in his life. A small boy enters the room in a hurried dash. “Grandfather, Grandfather, tell me the rest of the story; I want to know what happens to the boy when he fights the Dragon.” the boy cried. “Now, now, Vincent, if I finish it now I’ll have nothing to tell you tonight before bedtime.” “Oh!” With a sad look of discontent, young Vincent sat on the floor next to his grandfather. “There is no need to pout.” His grandfather said.

A loud crash of metal awoke Vincent suddenly. His first thought was that his grandfather might be hurt but then he realized he was not in his bed. He was leaning against a tree in the middle of a forest. He was wearing different clothes too. He felt as though his garments were dish rags that had been thrown out many years ago. He stood up trying to ponder who and why someone would move him in his sleep, as this could be the only explanation for waking up under a tree in the forest.

He heard the loud crash again in the distance followed by a grunt & a load roar.  Vincent moved cautiously in the direction of the noise. As he drew nearer, the sounds became more distinct and he saw two figures through the trees. Two creatures of some sort were fighting. He couldn’t make out one of them because its back was turned but the other Vincent saw very well. It was a large hideous beast in black armor, towering over the other creature that was at least half its size. It was swinging and chopping its large axe, knocking down the smaller creature as it blocked each blow. Though very strong, the mighty leviathan was very slow, giving its smaller opponent time to move and dodge a few swings before being pushed to the ground again.

The smaller creature dove away from another attack and lost its weapon. It was cornered by a set of trees close together. The monster raised its weapon to strike the final blow. Not knowing anything else to do, Vincent began shouting and hurling rocks and branches at the beast. His quickly thought plan had worked but with consequences. The attention had been drawn away from the smaller warrior, but the creature was now heading for Vincent. He hadn’t planned this far ahead, so in great fear he started to run. He had passed the spot where he woke and ran even faster. The ghoulish monster was closing in on him. No matter how fast Vincent ran, the slimy demon was still behind him as if he was having a horrible nightmare.

Suddenly something grabbed Vincent’s foot and pulled him to the ground. He looked around and saw nothing near him; nothing to grab or trip him. After this brief moment of bewilderment, Vincent realized it was too late to get up. The monster was all ready upon him. It raised its axe with a roar and then…with a grunt, its weapon fell from its hands and the creature plummeted to the ground, almost on top of Vincent.

As he scrambled to stand up, he saw that the smaller warrior was a young woman. She had killed the beast with a bow and arrow. “What was that thing?” Vincent cried, but before he could wait for an answer, the young woman had thrown Vincent against a tree with a dagger to his throat.  “Who are you?” she demanded. While straining to breath, he replied “My name…my name is Vincent. I…I’m not sure where I am. I was slee…sleeping when I heard you fighting that monster.” “LIAR!” “No…no it’s the truth! You…you’re a lot st…stronger than you look.” “Do I intimidate you?” “Well… yes you do…very much!” “Good!” She put her dagger away and released Vincent.

“I suppose I should thank you but I won’t.” The young warrior proclaimed. “We’re both lucky to be alive. That was a Black Ogre, the deadliest breed. They feed on human flesh and attack anyone at random, hungry or not.” “Luckily he didn’t stumble upon me while I was sleeping.” Vincent was still rubbing his throat. “If you were in fact sleeping. But this was no random attack. The creature had been following me for days. Black Ogre’s never hunt for prey. There is something more sinister behind this. And I don’t think it was coincidence that you were ‘sleeping nearby’ when it attacked me. You were waiting for me; you were supposed to find me here weren’t you?”

She began to reach for her sword. Vincent gulped. “Whoa, wait; I don’t even know who you are!” “Possibly, or maybe you know everything about me.” The young girl was readying herself for battle. “If I knew everything about you, wouldn’t I have known what that thing was?” The girl began to ponder this. “I suppose you would. But that doesn’t mean I trust you, you could be lying! And I’m not letting you out of my sight. No one gets the upper hand on me!” Though he was fearful for his life, Vincent was a little happy not to be alone in a strange forest. Strange to him anyway. His new paranoid friend seemed to be very familiar with her surroundings.

She pushed him ahead of her, constantly yelling “MOVE!” “Well since you’re my new slave driver…” Vincent said sarcastically “…could I at least know your name?” Sounding a little annoyed she replied “You can call me Gem.” “Gem? That doesn’t really suit you.” Gem unsheathed her dagger again and grabbed Vincent by the shirt. “You can still live without a tongue!” Vincent thought for a moment. “Gem is a very lovely name really. It has a nice ring to it.” Gem had a look of great contempt. “Stop Talking!” She said, gritting her teeth. Vincent nodded and was then pushed along further down the path through the trees. Any discomfort he felt being in an unfamiliar place was nothing compared to how he felt now.

They had been walking for many hours, Vincent guessed, as the sun was now at the top of the sky. He noticed a small stream and started to run for it. Gem quickly apprehended him. “Where do you think you’re going?” Feeling this was the last straw; Vincent grabbed the dagger and spun Gem around with the knife to her neck. “I plan to get a drink at the stream over there. You may join me if you like.” He released her and handed the dagger back with the handle facing her.

He ran down the hill to the stream, fell to his knees and started scooping water into his mouth. Gem quietly sat beside him and pulled out a small leather bag with a cap on it. She filled it with water after getting a few drinks and then began taking off her armor while Vincent was still lapping up water like a dog. “We’ll rest here for a while. I’m sorry for my aggressiveness but it’s hard to trust anyone these days. My father used to say Enderas was once a peaceful place.”

Vincent froze as she spoke. “Did you say Enderas? We’re in Enderas?” Gem had a very puzzled look on her face. “Yes, where did you think you were?”   “Do you know of the Great Battle?” Gem gave Vincent a rather annoyed look. “Please don’t remind me of that children’s fairytale. I heard it from my father too many times as a child.” “Fairytale? So it wasn’t true?” Vincent asked. “There are some who believe it is but I don’t. It’s just a made up story to frighten children. My father always believed that Enderas was a wonderful place before that fight among monsters. I believe this place has always been full of darkness but others want to pretend it away with stories. What do you believe?”

Vincent thought for a moment. He thought about waking up in the imaginary land his grandfather had made up. Though he felt everything was all too real to be a dream. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.” Gem snickered. “My father would say a man who doesn’t believe in anything isn’t really alive.” “Where is your father now?” The smile fell from Gem’s face. “He died many years ago.” Vincent felt dreadful for bringing up such bad memories. “I’m…I’m sorry.”

There was a brief moment of silence and then Gem got to her feet. “Well…we should get moving. There’s a village about a half days walk from here. I think we can make it before dark.” “Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?” Gem half smiled. “If you were going to kill me you would have by now.” Feeling a great amount of relief, Vincent got to his feet with a new zest for walking. This time Gem led the way and they continued marching through the woods in search of the village to sleep for the night.