Edit: Fixed the dialog.
"Who's Lord Kriel..?"
"You..you don't know..."
"I'm not smart like you Harald." Jarald, still a bit woozy, snapped at his brother.
"Well, for the start, he's the king. You should know that at least." His brother stated hesiantly.
"WHAT?" A long silence held the room. Harald wondered when Jarald had become so ignorant.
"Hey guys?" Kriel broke the quiet. "I'm standing right here."
"But, you're a kid!"
"And? You're a kid too."
The squire proudly stuck out his chest, and winced from his injuries. "Well, unlike you, Mr. Fancy Pants, I can kill a monster."
"Jarald!"
"Oh? It looks like you're the one who was about to get killed."
"I was NOT." Jarald replied indigantly
"Says the person who DIDN'T get out of the way."
"Guys, guys!" Harald tried to ease the tension between the two. "Shouldn't we try to get along? Besides, Jarald, His Majesty, uh, saved you."
"Oh great." Jarald growled. "Now I'm in debt to some noble. The spawn of that damn bastard of the king. Probably gonna be no good as him."
"Hey! You're not so perfect either!"
"I'm better than any greedy noble. Look how your father did. Do I really expect better from his son?"
"DON'T YOU DARE COMPARE ME TO THAT THING."
The king was about to throw another lecture when Harald tackled Kriel.
"Mmph!"
"Not now."
He dragged the resisting figure out the doorway.
"What's your brother's problem? He's so biased and nasty." Kriel grumbled, "And you didn't have to drag me out. He needs someone to set him right."
"I reaaally don't think you'll have lived with him in that mood."
"Why?"
"He gets kind of..scary. I'll say."
"Still doesn't explain his attitude."
Harald sighed. "I will tell you, but don't tell anyone else, okay?"
"If you don't want me to tell anyone, why are you telling me of all people?"
"Because I feel like I can hold your word for it. Not many people would charge a Ebony Bear just to save some random squire's life."
Kriel shrugged. "Couldn't leave someone to die."
Harald laughed. "Usually, if it's dangerous, no one would risk their life to save someone. Especially Jarald. Not even the Knightmaster. 'He's worthless.' is something we hear a lot."
"That's har-" Kriel recalled his own troubles. Memories resounded..and that moment..the moment where he saw his father push his mom down that hole..and something, something laughed...cruel and amused...
"Your Majesty?" The squire was looking with a worried look on his face. "Are you all right? You look a bit pale..."
"I'm fine!" Kriel snapped. Harald looked startled. ""I-I'm sorry. Just remembered something."
"Well.."said Harald, sitting up. "Is it a meeting or something perhaps? Did we sidetrack you from something important?"
"No..." Desperate to get the attention off, Kriel asked, "So, what's up with your brother."
Harald smiled sadly, as if he were reluctant. "Well...it happened years ago."
We lived in a small village, so small that it wasn't on any map we've heard off. The villagers there worship spirits of the dead, who they believed to foretell the future.
The villagers there had strange predictions. There was one, however, that was effective in our lives.
"When the two arrive, the doom will fall."
My father and mother were running..from something. They hid there, in the village. The villagers did not respond kindly to new residents. And when mother had us, they turned hostile. They believed that we were the two.
'Kill them, or we will kill you all.'
Mother and father were also visited by the lord of the village. Having been bribed by the villagers, and trying to gain profit, he asked them to give us to him, so he could sell us to the villagers who wanted to see us done away with.
'We refuse. We'll leave tomorrow.'
Father and mother fled the angry village, and lived in complete isolation in a forest. We were raised with care, but was taught to fear and be suspicious of people. For the villagers, still unsatisfied, roamed the woods, looking for us. Fortunately, our father used to be a ranger in the king's army, and was a roaming mercenary for years, and managed to hide us away. Until...
'He's been paid, he's coming...run!'
The noble has paid high sums by a stranger to get rid of us. He swept the forest with his men, and found the living place.
'Go! I'll hold them off. Take the two.'
Mother refused.
'I'm staying with you. Harald and Jarald are old enough to know their way around.'
No matter how much he argued, mother stayed. And so we were left, on our own.
The two of us were just a few meters away when the house caught on flames. The noble's men charged upon us.
'MOTHER! FATHER!'
'RUN!'
Not knowing where to go, and following no trails, I dragged Jarald through the darkened forest.
After running for what seemed forever, I finally heard the hoofbeats stop. Tired and still mourning, we collasped under a tree.
'Harald...'
'Yeah..?'
'Are they really gone?'
'I..I don't know...'
'What do we do...?'
'I guess we wait until morning and see if mother and father are still alive.'
The night was long, cold, and unfriendly. Both of us wished this had never happened.
Day came, and we found our way back to the remains.
I found the noble's slain body with father's swan arrow. Picking it up, I held it as I viewed the wreckage. There were many bodies that suffered the same fate. Some had sword slashes though, most likely from mother.
I was still in a daze when I heard Jarald's cry.
'Jarald?!'
Running to the sound, I found him sobbing uncontrollably near a recognizable figure.
It was mother, stabbed through the heart. But something wasn't right. She was a glowing pale white, and there was no blood. The wound was also jagged, not like an actual sword stab.
'Harald..' Jarald had stopped crying and was looking at me with a scared expression.
'I know.'
Something came.
Note: Yippee...more to this lame story. If anyone's reading this, they're probably bored by now.
Cliche beginning, cliche middle, lame ending.
But peoples, THIS WAS HARD.
Yeah.
No comments:
Post a Comment