The Forge Of Kings

Chapter 12: The Cursed Forest

     "Drop your weapons. I won't say it again!" I ordered, The man standing on the right in tattered clothes raised his staff ready to swing. The woman, wore a scarf over the lower half of her face, She pulled out a sword from her scabbard, and looked to the man at her right. He didn't budge, she replied in a calm and powerful tone. "No." I snapped my fingers and my knights approached the Duo, They each took a knight, The woman killed her quarry in one fair swing and decapitated him, the man took two fast swings and knocked the knight unconscious. They turned their focus to the rest of us. I raised my hand to call off my group, it's probably for the better, knights can't enter Ectwë anyway. "I don't see a reason to sacrifice my comrades to some people who can't follow instructions." I said, I took a deep breath and focused my energy on raising my fallen knight, a spirit began to rise from the corpse on the ground and stand in front of me. The hollow knight bowed and stood back with the rest of the group. I turned and ordered him to tie up the duo, the woman first. He nodded and subdued the woman in cuffs and the man attempted to hit him but couldn't interact with him. The knight then cuffed the man and took their weapons, and joined the rest of the group. "See, that wasn't so hard was it?" I said to the two. They just glared daggers at me.

     I turned and faced the path towards lord Rostov and his thieving goon's camp. I whistled to my followers to follow, we walked the path and approached the camp, long stone cells were lining the path and beyond that was tents, large and small. A man ran towards us and aimed his crossbow at my head, as he got closer one of my paladins raised a shield, he slammed face first into it and fell to the ground. She then walked ahead and grabbed the man by the neck and yelled "WHERE IS ROSTOV?" She yelled, the man panicked and started stuttering, "I won't t... Tell... Y... Y... Y...you... Nothing...!" He yelled, she grabbed a set of keys from his belt and walked the rows of cages, stopping at one with a jaguar occupying it. She turned the key, and held the man up, his eyes went wide "NOOOOOOO PLEASE!" He pleaded, she slammed him up against the bars by the throat. The man began to cry and whimper. The paladin scoffed and dropped the man to his knees, "I honestly think he doesn't know." She claimed, she turned and pointed out that the rest of the camp was empty. I sighed, why can't this ever be easy.

     Just as I was about to lead us on our way, the two I had taken earlier were whispering to each other, I turned and grabbed the man by the neck, The woman stood up and got in my face and said "Drop him, NOW." She demanded, I turned to her, "You aren't in a position to make demands."I said as I looked to the man, I set him down but kept my grip on his neck. "What did you say to her?" I asked in a low tone, the man looked to the woman as if he was looking for permission. She nodded lightly, the man turned to me, "Rostov and his men were heading for Sylhalin as of yesterday morning." He pointed to the man with his head, "That man was knocked out by her, so he wouldn't know much." He gestured to his friend, My group and I had left Sylhalin three days ago, I released the man and turned to Sam, "Do you think our guards can hold off Rostov's men?" I asked quietly. Sam shook his head and responded, "Maybe his men, but not Rostov himself, he's a psychopath." Sam said, I sighed and covered my face with my hand. I turned to the two I had in cuffs, "You're sure they're going to Sylhalin?" I asked, they both nodded, "They were going towards an explosion which seemed to be inside their walls." The man said.

     I rubbed my eyes with my hands and sighed. "We continue on our way, Ectwë isn't that far from here, we go we see if we can find any clues as to where the heiress resides." I said to the Sam, He nodded and spread the word. I turned to the two in cuffs, when an odd sound came from the woman's pack. I approached her and grabbed her pack, She scowled and approached defensively, I backed up and looked inside, There was a Tiger cub inside...Definitely the oddest thing to find since they're almost extinct. The woman glared at me, she knows we both know she doesn't need her sword to be deadly. I gently tossed the pack down in front of her. "Release their chains." I commanded. Sam ran to me and whispered in my ear. "Are you sure we should do that? They did kill Duran." I nodded to his concerns, and watched as Sam unlatched their cuffs.