A Tale of Two Knights

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The key glittered in the little sunlight that glowed. Its head looked like a normal key, except with more designs and a floral pattern that worked its way the entire key that also stuck out at parts, the gold flower pedals on where you would hold the key.

The tracks ahead of them had visible foot prints of lauf, goblinoids, and other creatures.

"Why did they capture them anyway?" Sullivan said, looking down at the footprints, trying to distinguish the mobs.

"Think about it for a second. The arch druid had mana, mana orbs, manæ, and probably even more. Think of what the entire tree had to offer. They used mana for lights for heaven's sake!"

"I suppose your right"

Sullivan kneeled down and continued studying each and every one of those tracks.

Ludo sighed. "Why would we care about which creatures took them at this time? It's obvious that the lauf didn't take them alone, they are way too weak to handle themselves without backup."

Sullivan got back up, and looked up ahead. The tracks continued on for what seemed to pass a bush of trees. Night was coming quickly, and they needed to act fast.

Ludo and Sully went over to the trees, and noticed the other side seemed to have no tracks, nothing at all.

The two became flabbergasted at this. It's either magic, or some leaves to seal up their trace. Ludo tried to come up with an explanation.

"Lauves aren't supposed to know that level of magic right?"

Ahead of them, a river ran, way too deep and wide for almost any creature to cross. The river had to be at least fifty feet wide, and twenty feet deep.

"There must be some sort of... way they were able to do it, remember, they could be using the things that they had stolen from the people, like manae and mana orbs."

Sullivan explained.

"No...There would be not a single chance that they could do this without some sort of powerful being beyond them. An imposter?"

The sun was gone. The trees and the river shrouded in darkness. The only proof of their existence were the sounds of water rushing, and crossing freely through rocks.

Ludo circled around pondering about the situation.

Sullivan was still thoroughly confused about what to do, until he had seen a flicker of fire only twenty feet away.

"What is that?" Sullivan whispered, pointing at the fire.

"I.... I smell fresh deer meat. It's probably some goblinoids cooking their food for the nighttime...

Ludo went over to take a closer look, with Sully cautiously staying back.

A campfire was made, wooden kebabs with rotten meat stuck on the ends of them. Ludo could smell the rotten freshness of it. It perhaps wasn't venison as Ludo had originally guessed. Maybe it was some oth-

Ludos thought was erased from his mind as a dead human dropped from thin air and landed into the fire, the fire engulfing the entire body in seconds.

"What a dumb fool. He should've kept his mouth shut when he had the chance" A deep rough voice emerged from the campfire, however, no creature was seen speaking.

Suddenly, an orc, with tattern green skin, fangs protruding from his mouth came out uncovered by the light of the fire. He wore fur pelts, and his short hair was braided.

"It's your turn next. Dwarf." Ludo heard the orc say.

"What! An orc... I thought those creatures were extinct long ago." Sullivan whispered into Ludo's ear.

A tall and muscular dwarf was pulled from the darkness, the equally sized orc seizing him. The two must have been seven feet tall, The Dwarf had on small and simple golden earrings, with a small beard reaching a bit over his chin. A long moustache connected to his beard, his hair and beard was brown, with a tint of grey in them. He wore standard armored leggings, with some plate armor at the knees and shin.

Ludo stared at the two from afar. "The real question is... How the hell did that dwarf grow to be that tall? Usually, dwarves stand no more than five feet above the ground..."

"I dunno... Must've been a genetic trait or something..."

"Yeah, probably..."

"You're a tall and strong one, I will give you that. I have never seen a measly dwarf that rivals me in height and strength." The orc said to the dwarf, then laughing.

The dwarf didn't even budge, no sound could be heard from him. A straight face was maintained at all times.

"In the end... It was all futile was it? You're never going to see anyone you love ever again..."

The orc suddenly spit in the dwarves face, his spit green and grimey. It didn't even phase the dwarf, who calmly wiped the mucus off from his face with the cloth from his clothes.

"Hehe, you're deathly quiet, because you know that you're already dead. You weren't like this when we fir-"

"Ok that's enough..."

A woman dressed in light armor with brown skin and dark hair shushed the orc. " We already got enough food for the rest of the crew. The giant and the troll are fed. The goblins and ogres are fed. The other orcs are fine. Lauves and chifs are good."

"What about the tarragons that we recently captured and controlled?"

"Oh, well in that case, Rambor and Seola are in good condition. They are currently moving with the rest of them."

"Wait... what about Dranthe?"

"That red tarragon? I haven't seen him for a while, I don't know what happened to him."

"Megaera. You've got to be kidding, our most powerful one is gone?"

"Don't worry, tarragons always show up again. Dranthe has three lives left the last time I checked. Plus, I doub't that anyone can ever slay him."

The orc shrugged, then threw the dwarf away from him with a shove. He stumbled a little on a twig that was on the ground beneath his feet, then regained his balance.

"Zolag, listen to me. End the fire, grab our supplies and take Lordreal, and hurry out quickly to get to the rest of the crew. We don't have much time to spare. They are ready to leave right now. Let's go."

The orc Zolag, once hearing this, then grabbed a bucket of water from the ground, and splashed the fire with it. The fire went out in an instance like lightning, and the orc stomped on the rest of the hot embers, ending the fire.

He then grabbed the dead body, burnt alive, and hoisted it on his shoulder, the body making a cracking sound as Zolag grabbed it forcefully by the back.

"Dwarf, come with me." The orc said in a deep voice. He took Lordreal and shoved him to where he was to walk. Ludo then saw the three exit the campfire, and left silently, and without a trace of their existence.

Ludo looked at Sully, and nodded. Sully then nodded back. The two then sneakily crept, barely making a single sound, and following Zolag, Megaera, and Lordreal through the dark and vast forest, not knowing what to expect...