Second Half of the first chapter

Again subject to change later. Hope you guys are enjoying this. Let me know.

We walked several miles along the dirt roads which were dotted with trees that were imposing compared to us. As we walked there was a small trail of blood that was on the floor. Ewryn placed his hand in front of Ian and I. He sniffed the air as if he were an animal. “This blood is of human kind, somebody is injured” he said. Then, as if by chance we heard someone panting, a woman, it was coming behind one of the trees. All three of us ran to the sound and found a woman who looked to be pregnant; she had short brown hair that was up to her neck. She was sitting there, panting and breathing heavily. My brother was the first to speak. “Woman are you pregnant?” he said in a harsh tone. She nodded her head. “Yes…” her speech was interrupted by labored breathing. I quickly placed my hand on her shoulder. “Do you have a husband? Is he near?Do you have a son or daughter?” I said. She shook her head again. “Yes…but…. they…. died when those…” I looked up at Ian and Ewryn. “This woman is about to give birth, I know our most important thing right now is to protect the village, but I cannot allow her to give birth by herself, it wouldn’t sit right on me” I said. Ewryn groaned for a moment then spoke.

“I shall stay here and help her give birth, my mother was a midwife for my people, and I know the ways. You two shall travel to the next village; I trust that even without proper training you can move the swords that are at your waist.” He spoke very rapidly. I looked at my brother and he looked at me, “Okay, the woman will be safer in your stead anyway.” Ian said.

Without saying anything Ian and I walked away until we reached a small marsh which lead to the village. There was a large rock, we stood behind until either one of us could spot any movements. There was none. Slowly we stood up and walked toward one of the huts. “Has this village been driven out?”My brother said, “I don’t know Ian, but the silence irks me” I said.

We approached a home, my brother knocked furiously on the door. But nobody answered. He put a finger up against his mouth and pushed the door open. The smell of death reached my nose and I gagged. I looked and saw an old couple whose bodies were intertwined on top of each other, naked, making the beast with two backs. I turned my head and heaved which lead to me violently throw up on my brother’s boots. “This death was not due to those beasts that attacked us so callously, this was natural,” my brother said as if the bodies didn’t affect him at all.

As we left the home several of the villagers greeted us with faces of disgust. “You.... Get away from the elders home, you have no right to be there” one of them said. He was bulky in width, though rather short in height. “What is your business here?” he said. His voice was booming and as he spoke his large belly rumbled. I was much too afraid to speak, but my brother on the other hand was not.

“We are from the village of Kiya we have come here to look for survivors. Our village was attacked by the Dark Fathers .I assume you too have been impacted by those forces. Please join us; we could use your numbers for the defense.” My brother waited for their reply, the unmade bulky man turned to the others standing behind him. They whispered. Their whispering was interrupted by the sounds of hooves beating coming from the southernmost hill line. “They are coming back; need to find shelter. There is no way we can defeat them. Our skills are much too weak” the bulky man said. But before anything could be done the hoofs were close to the village. I looked at them. It wasn’t the Dark Fathers, but men wearing large horned helmets. “Who are they?” I asked. “They have come to rob the graves. They are powerful but weak minded men, let me handle this” the bulky man said. “Have you dealt with these men before, friend?” I asked. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows, “Of course, they come to our village to rob the graves, and they do not wish to kill or rape anybody”

But before I could have said anything they stopped and their horses whinnied as they stopped right in front of us. “Foolish villagers, why don’t you run in fear from us, aren’t your precious little children in danger” a man said. He seemed to be their leader. On his horned helmet there was an eye engulfed by flames at the front. Two ivory bull like horns stuck out the sides. He got off his horse and the other men did as well. They pulled out their swords, giving us eyes, then stopping. “You know the deal, don’t you?” he looked over at the bulky man twisting his wrist. He seemed to be a bit feminine for a man who was a warrior. He walked with a sort of twist to his body, and the fur coat he was wearing was lined with crystals and gems alike. He looked at me then at my brother and smiled revealing a set of amazingly white teeth. The two at the front curved always joining one another.

“Yes Enchor, take what you will from the new graves” the bulky man said. “Wait, why do you allow these men to rob you, have you no pride in the dead?” my brother said loudly. The man known to us now as Enchor looked at my brother and pushed him. He pushed him back. Enchor from his waist pulled out a jewel incrusted sword. My brother bravely pulled out his sword, a bulky broadsword.

“Do you know what you have done here, villager?” Enchor said. He pulled off his fur coat and handed it to one of the men who draped it over the hind of his horse.

“You are the grave robbers? You were going to go to the town of Kiya next?” my brother asked. He usually didn’t hold his temper in that well. Enchor now was swinging his sword back and forth as a proposition to fight.

“Have you the notion you will win this fight villager?” Enchor said. My brother smiled and raised his sword up in the air as if he knew exactly what he was doing. My heart began to race as the sound of steel against steel rang out. First my brother swung the sword clumsily and landed him in a pile of pig shit. The grave robbers began to laugh hysterically as he got back up. At that moment Enchor swung his sword nicking my brother on the arm causing a stream of blood to go down my brother’s arm and pool in his palm.

My brother may have been in very few sword fights if at all, but he wasn’t a weakling and he could handle any pain that obstructed him. This time instead of swinging the sword he jabbed it in the warrior’s direction. With a bit of ease the warrior dodged the sword. Then to show his skills off the warrior did a flip, jumped in the air and in one quick motion swung his jewel encrusted sword and chopped my brother’s hand off. My brother, at first, just stood there staring at the stump on his hand watching the dark blood flow out of it. Then it all settled in he started crying out in pain, I ran to him and tore off my shirt. I could feel the cold wind go down my back but it did not matter as long as I treated his wound. He looked at me as I held him in my arms dropping him slowly to the ground; the blood began to stain my shirt. “Do any of you know medical treatment!” I shouted. Tears started to roll down my face, but the other villagers just stood there silently watching, without saying anything. Either they were scared or they didn’t want to do anything. So I turned to Enchor. “You stupid fool, look what you did to my brother!” I shouted. He looked at me; his mean and arrogant smile became a grim frown, he placed his hand upon my shoulder at which time I removed it. “I know this may be hard for you to believe but I did not mean for this to happen. We graves robbers have honor, we do not kill the innocent, we only rob from them. I offer you my aide; here in our possession a potion we stole from a town about 200 miles from here. It is able to cure wounds. I was going to use it on my most injured men, but I see that your brother needs it more then I” Enchor walked over to the bag that had been draped around his horse and removed a small potion bottle that had a brass yellow color liquid in it. He handed it to me. I took it reluctantly and popped the brown cork on top of it. I smelled it, it smelled of a mixture of garlic and rosewater. “Why should I trust you?” I said with sternness in my voice.

“You shouldn’t, I do understand if you don’t villager” he gave a weak smile and paused for a moment then returned to his bag. He pulled out 3 small daggers. Though they were made of different shades of color; one a golden color, the other a silver color and the third a copper color. Each one had something in common, a flaming eye on the handle, exactly like the one that had been on his helmet.

“Take these daggers, they have been in my father’s family for centuries. If this aliment does not cure your brother, then you can keep those and sell them. But if it does cure your brother, then you shall return two of them, the third one shall be yours to keep.”

My brother lay still, I grabbed him and let him drink the aliment. He choked on it as it went down his throat. “Brother, how do you feel?” I said. He looked at me then at the stump on his hand.

“The pain, it is gone, I feel nothing there. It’s as if the Gods have removed my hand” he said. I gave him a hand to help him up, but he refused and used his knees to get up. His hand still lay on the ground gripping his sword. He gulped and pulled the sword out of his hand, holding it in his other.

“Do you still wish to battle me, Enchor?” he shouted. I grabbed him by the shoulder, but he shoved me off.

“No, you are an honorable man. You have earned my respect and the respect of these men that are in my band of grave robbers.” he said. Ian looked at the men then over at Enchor who now had his hand out for a proper handshake.

“You can trust him brother, he means no more harm” I said. I walked over to Enchor and handed him the daggers back. “Here you keep this, may the Band of the Fire Eye keep you safe,” he said.

“Why do you rob peoples graves, is there honor in that?” Ian said. This was like him. When he wished not to speak of anything anymore he changed the subject.

“No, there is no honor, no honor at all, there is just shame, but we must do what is good for my family that is why my brothers and I rob graves, The Band of the Fire Eye has been doing it since the time my grandfather was a child.”

“Enchor, you’re men are trained for battles are they not?” I asked

“Yes, yes, why do you ask?” he said.

“You must be on your way, or…”
“No, say your will” Enchor said.

“Do you know of the Dark Fathers?” I said. As I said those words his mouth dropped. His eyes dropped, and he fell to the ground.

“Yes, I know them all too well villager. What have you to say about them?” Enchor said.

“My brother and I, we do not live in this town, we live down the road in Kiya, the trading village. There the Dark Fathers attacked us, killing a few of our villagers. At this point we have some protection from the Children of The Feather who has offered to train the villagers, but they say they will return…in a few days” I spoke nervously.

“What my coy brother is trying to say is that we may need your expertise in fighting, if you wish you can stay in this village, and defend it,” my brother said.