A Whole New Mystery To...

Chapter 13

Hello!!!! I'm finally back!!! Super sorry about the long wait! This chapter was quite tricky... Quite tricky indeed... Anyways I'm still not sure if I got this quite right for my liking and I'm sorry that I suck so much at fighting scenes😁 Keep reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halt accepted his weapons from Gilan, and strapped his double scabbard onto his waist. After finishing up, we all followed Halt out of the room and down the corridor once more. Where are all the guards? I thought. Not a second later I heard the sounds of footsteps once more coming down the way we were headed. I saw Halt curse silently before speeding up, hoping to get to the end before the guards appeared. Unfortunately, we had apparently used up all of our luck because just then five guards turned the corner, arguing about some nonsense. As soon as they saw us they froze and before anyone could react one of them shouted,

"They've escaped! The prisoners have escaped! All guards t-!" His last sentence was cut off quite abruptly by Halt's throwing knife hilt thudding into the side of the man's head. He immediately went unconscious and fell to the floor with a thud. One of his comrades bent down to see if he was alright while the others drew their swords. Only for them to fall down dead with feathered arrows sticking out of their chests. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Will lowering his bow. One guard for each ranger. The guard who was kneeling looked around him and saw all of his comrades disabled or dead within a matter of seconds. Then he saw the Rangers with their bows raised an arrow being nocked to the strings, so he did the only sensible thing: he turned and ran, shouting as he did so.

All secrecy abandoned, we sprinted down the rest of the corridor and headed up the narrow stairs. Gilan took the lead and switched his sword to his left hand as the staircase spiraled up to the right. This was so a right handed defender would only have to expose his arm while a right handed attacker would have to expose his whole body. But Gilan solved that problem quite nicely by switching to his left. As we tramped up the stairs Gilan encountered two guards. The first of which stood his ground and sorely regretted the fact a moment later. The second turned and ran at the first sight of him. The rest of the trip up the stairs was quite uneventful.

When we reached the top a group of Wargals were waiting for us. Twenty-three of the things I had hoped never to see up close. They were horrifying, and before I could blink they were charging straight at us. Hastily I pulled out my daggers as Halt, Will, and Gilan nocked arrows and shot at the charging monsters. Five Wargals fell in rapid succession before the Rangers were forced to put down their bows and pull out their knives, or in Gilan's case, sword and knife.

Then they were upon us and I was slashing and striking out at wargals left and right, fighting for my life. I was dimly aware of Sophie and Evanlyn on either side of me. After a few minutes of hard fighting, we earned a respite as the remaining three wargals backed away from our group. Sophie, Evanlyn, and I had a semi circle of 4 dead wargals' bodies littering the floor in front of us. Will, Halt, Gilan, and Tobias had counted for most of the wargals, but I'd say the three of us had held our own quite nicely considering we were all inexperienced fighters.

Although, we hadn't come away unscathed, and as the remaining wargals' reinforcements arrived (10 of them) I felt for the first time a scratch on my arm where one of the huge swords the wargals carried must have grazed my arm. I winced and noticed that Sophie's leg was bleeding slightly through a rip in her brown leggings, but she seemed unaware of the fact. Evanlyn looked relatively unhurt except she was clutching her side. I nodded to the area she was holding.

"Are you alright?" I asked. She nodded and grimaced in pain as she stretched slightly.

"Got hit with the sword hilt. Just a bruise, albeit a painful one." Evanlyn said adding the last part a bit ruefully. I grinned at Sophie.

"I guess the chain mail would be helpful now." And as I finished speaking, Will, Gilan, and Halt who had been assessing injuries along with Tobias, took out their bows once more and gestured for us to follow behind them. They advanced towards the wargals cautiously. The door we needed to go through was directly behind them.

"Why don't you just shoot them now?" I asked Halt as the wargals hesitated, with only the threat of the bows holding them back. Halt replied without turning his attention from the wargals.

"I don't want to waste all of our arrows in here. Never know what's going to happen once we get out of this gods forsaken castle." He then addressed Will and Gilan.

"Two arrows each. Now!" The three released their first arrows simultaneously and three wargals went down before the wargals charged. Seconds later two more wargals went down, and then a third another couple seconds later. Will wasn't as fast as the two full fledged rangers, but his accuracy was unwavering. Now the odds tilted greatly in our favor. It was seven of us against seven wargals. Easy.

Gilan and Tobias led the charge and cut through the front two wargals easily. Tobias was a very capable warrior and made me think of Horace. I frowned, wondering if we would encounter him before rushing forward to help. Only to realize that Gilan and Tobias, with the help of Halt and Will, had killed the remaining wargal force.

Halt beckoned us forward as he once more took the lead, rushing through the door directly in front of us. I quickly shaded my eyes as the bright sunlight shone through the door. We stumbled outside behind Halt and started sprinting
for the tree line.

"Stop! Stop them!" My mouth went dry with fear as I recognized Morgarath when I turned to identify the voice. I pumped my arms even harder and willed my legs to move faster. I came even with Halt, Will, and Gilan leading the group. My ears were pounding and my lungs felt like they would burst but I kept going, aware that the trees were much closer now. A minute later we reached them and instantly I felt better. We were shaded from the burning sun by the leaves above us and I knew that as Rangers, Halt, Will, and Gilan knew how to best avoid enemies. This was their comfort zone and their bows would provide a definite advantage over any enemy archers who would risk coming within bow range. We slowed down to a milder pace and tramped through the dead leaves on the ground. After about ten minutes we stopped and Halt told Will to try to find enemies from the height of a nearby tree. Will quickly scaled the tree and was lost in a tangle of branches and low hanging leaves.

"Wargals entering the forest!" Will called down. I caught a glimpse of him moving before he started a rapid descent. 10 seconds later he was on the ground again. I looked back reflexively, anxious that the enemy was moving ever closer as we stood.

"How many?" Halt asked Will quickly. Will thought for a moment before answering.

"About twenty-five, no less. Possibly thirty-five. Some were already in the forest by the time I got up there and I can't be sure how many." Halt nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright then. Let's move."

Okay! Soo... I'm back first of all. I have the next chapter half done and I'm working on it right now. I've been editing this chapter for so long though, trying to get the fighting right, but I can't seem to do it! GAH! Frustrating! Anyways, I know last time I said I'd have it out soon and then left you all hanging for months! I feel terrible, and I promise that the next chapter will be out by next week. After that no guarantee because I do have summer homework and soccer practice, along with just friends and family visiting and stuff so yeah... Again, really sorry about the super long wait and while I can't guarantee quick updates, I can tell you that the wait will never be that long again! Maybe like next year during testing but that'd be it! By then I plan to have this finished though. So anyways, (btw noticed that I tend to say anyways a lot, need to drop the habit) until the next chapter!