Storm the Castle! Enter the shadow warrior: Ronin Zorrai!
The sun beats down over head as our heros press on through the shadeless plains that lead to Sleeping Woods. All is quiet in this vast open space, save a few complaints, "Hoooot...", Hammy groans as sweat streams down his face, "Hoooooooot....", his normally light pink face and arms are bright red and his clothes drenched with sweat as he draggs his camping sack along the ground. Bently and William are ahead of Hammy by a couple of yards and have been tuning out his frequent complaints about the trip. Hammy's eyes burst into flames and a stream of fire spews from his mouth as he screams, "ITS TOO DAMN H-", a sudden slap on the face snaps Hammy out of his rage as he staggers back a bit. He looks up to find Bently standing over him holding one of his brown leather gloves in his hand, "Gentleman's rule number ten: No swearing in public or in front of children. I certainly will not tolerate it coming from a child either.", he slips his glove back on as William approaches. "Need I remind you that you are the one that wanted to come along? My current intentions were to only assist young William in finding this Alabaster he spoke of while he nursed your injury, not drag you along for the ride!", Bently turns away as he shouts the last part. William sighs a little, "Look Mister Foxxton, I know Hamton's been pretty annoying this whole time but he's not used to travelling like we are. I think it's best that we take a break for a little while.", the penguin waddles closer to the fox who remains quiet a moment before speaking, "I know it is our best option but there not be a bit of shade here young William so we best press on for the time being. I would like to reach Sleeping Woods before nightfall, while it is normally a calm place during the day all manner of nasty beasts come out at night. Our best chances after sunset would be with the forest's guardian.", Bently walks forward continuing to lead the way. William lets out a depressed sigh and turns back to Hammy who has picked up his pack, "Come on, you can walk with me Hamton.", the two walk at a steady pace just keeping up with Bently.
Hammy groans as he can feel his skin sizzling from his sun burn adding to his misery, "Hey Will, why is it this heat doesn't bother you? I mean, isn't that robe kind of hot?". William keeps walking only turning his head to address Hammy, "Oh, well it is a little, I suppose to you it'd be really cold in Artikia so I'm not used to the heat.", William snickers and pulls back his blue robe, exposing his black pants and bare, white belly, "So I use these to keep me cool." A Pingu pokes its head out of William's robe with a high pitched, "Peng!" as it waves to Hammy. Hammy looks nervously at the enchanted hunk of ice, "What are those things anyway?", he asks as the penguin closes his robe, "I call them Pingu. Before I started learning magic I was able to make small snowmen I built come to life. Before being kicked out of the academy I learned to make them out of the moisture in the air.". William holds out his hand and Hammy feels a slight chill as a lump of ice slowly forms in William's palm then springs to life as a Pingu, "There's more moisture in the air here but the higher temperture makes it harder to construct them and they don't last very long. The one's I made back home could last until they shattered but could take quite a while to form.", William tosses the Pingu up in the air and it floats over to Hammy landing on his head, sending a surge of cold through his body as a little steam rises off his bald head. Hammy breaths a small sigh of relief as the Pingu soothes away some of his anguish, "Thanks Will, maybe now I can make it.", William laughs, "Don't worry about it Hamton.", he pulls Hammy close and whispers, "I bet despite the way he's acting Mister Foxxton is burning up under that cloak of his, it isn't exactly made for walking in this kind of weather either.", both boys giggle as they stare at the back of the long brown cloak that nearly drags the ground.
The sun is slowly setting behind the crest that seperates the highland from the valley where Lovela Palace rests. Bently stops breifly and gazes sadly toward the sun, the near skeletal remains of the castle's bell tower barely peeking over the shoulder of the valley. "It seems so long ago since I last traversed this path.", the tan fox states as the wind blows at his cloak. The boys stop and look off in the same direction, "What's over there?", Hammy asks as he strains his eyes to see. "A place I can never return to... a place I'm no longer welcome to call home.", Bently's head droops slightly as he turns back to the road and resumes walking as the boys soon follow. Ahead of them on the road Bently spies a dark figure leaning against a tree his hand calmly takes hold of his sword, still concealed by his cloak, as their little group drew closer. The figure moves a little then staggers and slumps to the ground, Bently takes his hand off his sword and runs as quickly as he can to find a the figure was a man dressed head to toe in a dark blue clothing. Hammy and William both huff and puff as they catch up with their escort while Bently examines the man, "His injures are pretty severe but nothing fatal.", as the fox inspects the man he finds his gloves burned but otherwise intact. "William, do you know any kind of healing magic?", Bently looks to the boy who only shakes his head as he fidgits with his hands, "No choice then, we have to take him with us.", the fox pulls the man over his shoulder and slowly stands up grunting as he strains to support the larger man's weight, "I'm not built for this sort of thing..", he mutters as he trudges along.
The group shuffles through the dense brush of the forest, slowed even further by the added burden of carrying the injured stranger. As they move futher into the forest the last flickers of daylight burn out like the final embers of a fire and the group is soon left in the darkness of night without even the light of the stars to guide them. Bently gently set the stranger down against a tree with a labored grunt, "Alright boys, we best make camp doesn't look like we'll be getting any further tonight.". Hammy and William begin gathering twigs and small branches to use for a fire as Bently clears a small patch of earth and piles the handfulls of grass in the center to help ignite the wood. Bently carefully places the twigs around the ball of grass then rummages through his pockets for two small peices of flint and strikes them together close to the grass. He makes a few attempts before a spark lands and quickly engulfs the gras then spreads to the twigs and illuminates the small area around them. "Alright, that's a start but we're going to need more than that to make it through the night. You boys stay here and keep our friend company, I'll look for some more firewood.", Benlty's figure quickly vanishes in the blanket of darkness surrounding the small clearing and eerily not the first sound makes it's way to their ears as soon as he vanishes. The two boys sit quietly, the crackle of the fire the only sound besides their breathing, as they wait. As time passes Hammy has taken to drawing random shapes in the dirt with a stick while William practices freezing different things with his magic only managing to cover them with a light frost. Hammy looks up to see William fail yet again to cover a clod of dirt with ice, "Why are you doing that?", he asks. "I'm trying to get used to this climate if I can correctly adjust how much power I put into my spell it'll be easier to use my magic here.", the penguin explains as he tosses down another failed attempt. Hammy stands up and walks over to his companion,"So why not give it all you've got?", to which William replies, "It's not that simple. Put too little energy into a spell and it fails; too much and it results in a rebound.". Hammy looks more confused, "What's a rebound?", William sighs a little and faces the pig, "A rebound is what happens when a wizard loses control of a spell. The word itself is a catch all term for any catastrophic failure. This could mean the spell bounces back and effects the caster or creates some other undesired result. That's why we practice on smaller things, even if a rebound occurs it won't be nearly as bad as it would with something bigger involved."
Hammy scratches his head a little, "Well if you say so, I still don't get it.", he slowly walks back to his drawing spot then looks over at the fire which has nearly burned out twice before but they had kept going with what they could find in the clearing, "Sir Bently's been gone an awefully long time hasn't he? We're in a forest, it couldn't be that hard to find could it?". William looks back, a hint of worry in his eyes, "Well, it is pretty dark out here. I mean we can't even see the sky right now because of the trees.". The two get quiet when suddenly a deep voice interrupts, "You're right to worry about your friend.", they both look toward the stranger who has been motionless the entire time to see him looking back at them with narrow, purple eyes,"He's been captured by the Imperials.". Hammy gulps and does his best to act tough, "And how would you know? Sir Bently is the strongest guy I know! There's no way he'd get caught by a bunch of stinking Porkers!", the stranger hold out his hand, "A friend told me.", a snake slithers out from under his sleeve and flicks it's tongue at Hammy who loses all color in his face, "T-that's a Irovy Fanged Brush Snake! They're the most poisonous snake in this region!". The stranger lowers his hand to the ground and the snake slithers off into the darkness, "It's a good thing it found me. If it hadn't biten me I would have died from the poison already coursing through me.". William joins the other two, "Who are you? And how are you sure it was the Empire?", he asks as the stranger slowly gets to his feet, "Because I've seen them. My name is Ronin Zorrai, I came here as part of a mission of diplomacy to the Kingdom of Lovela, but we found the castle overrun with the Imperials. My charge was captured and I tried to rescue her, but one of their archers managed to hit me with a poisoned arrow. They threw me into the river and left me to drown but I made my way out to search for help. It wasn't long after that I ran into the three of you.". Zorrai begins to stagger away still weak from the poison then falls to his knees as the boys rush over to him, "I'll be fine. I have to get back to the castle before it's too late."
Zorrai stumbles along from tree to tree still weak from the poison and breathing heavily as his vision fades in and out. A hand touches his back and without turning he bluntly states, "I told you two to stay at the camp site. My charge, my responsability.". William walks around in front of Zorrai and looks him in the eye, "That may be so but you said they also have Mister Foxxton. Without him I won't be able to find the great wizard Alabaster and complete my training so please just let us go with you for now.", Zorrai lets out an annoyed sigh and stands to his feet again, "Fine, but once I find my charge you're responsable for your own safety got it?". William only nods as Hammy approaches with a hastily made torch which Zorrai takes from him, "I'll lead the way, you two stay close behind me.", he says as he heads off in the direction of the tower they saw earlier. The trek was slow due the the thick brush and they were forced to stop from time to time in order to avoid detection from guards still roaming the forest but after nearly what seemed like hours the cleared the forest and stood at the edge of the valley. Zorrai put out the torch as the moon provided just enough light for them to see any major obsticales that awaited them, "There it is, Lovela castle. To think I let my guard down simply because we were here on a mission of peace.", Zorrai bowed his head as he clinched his fist tightly. Hammy looks up at their new guide, "So where is Sir Bently?", William pulls the wand Bently gave him out of his robe as he steps forward, "In the dungeon most likely, probably with the girl Mister Zorrai wants to save. What's the plan?", he looks up at Zorrai as well.
The masked man look back out at the castle, "This will be difficult without my weapons and I seriously doubt they've relaxed from when I was here before. I would like to at least find my satchel before we do anything else but with a castle this size that would take too long.", Zorrai quietly thinks for a moment then kneels down, "I think our best option will be to head straight for the dungeon, that way we can at least find your friend and have another capable fighter on our hands. But then what? I've never been inside the castle before.". Hammy quickly speaks out, "Oh! Sir Bently used to be a commander in the king's army! If anyone knows this place it's him!", Zorrai looks at how exicted the boy was reacting then chuckles quietly to himself, "That so? Alright, once we have your friend he can help me find my charge and my weapons.". Zorrai begain to draw in the dirt, "This is the portion of the wall they passed through when I was throw in the river, it looked like it hadn't been used in some time so it could be our best way in. I'll go in ahead and you two follow behind me.", the boys nod in agreement as Zorrai stands and wipes off his hands, "Okay remember to stay close, stay low, and most importantly keep quiet.". They slowly make their way down the slope leading to the castle and carefully manuver along the walls until they reach the small archway next to the river. Zorrai carefully peeks around the corner and finds the passage not even lit with torches, "Good, looks like they didn't expect anyone to come this way. Follow me.", The trio quietly slip into the dark hall making as little noise as possible as they climb the cold stone steps and into what could be their doom.
To be continued...
