Into the Darkness Second Draft

Confrontations

Doug attempted a simple slice with the short blade handed to him, and declared it was perfect.

"You've a far way to go before perfection," Carl snorted. Pulling his own blade from its sheath, he squared off against the boy. "Ok, now come at me."

Doug swatted at the gnome before him, clumsily missing with each stroke, barely able to even come into contact with his opponents sword.

Carl let out a sigh, "This will take more time than we have, let's see, where to start. Sam, get yourself a blade too. Let's do this just the once."

Samantha complained about the first blade she was handed being too heavy near her hand, so they found one slightly more balanced for her. "Ok, now what?"

"Stand here," the gnome instructed. "Good, now both of you turn slightly and put your right foot forward. Good." This went on for nearly half an hour, until he was sure that, should they need to, they could at least survive long enough to be saved by one of the more seasoned fighters.

"Andy, will you fetch the meals the kitchen has prepared us, I have a few more things to go over here."

"Sure, I'll be right back."

While the minotaur was gone, Carl tried to teach both teens how to disarm an opponent with the blades they had, thinking that might buy them even more time, unfortunately neither of them were able to grasp the concept before Andy came back.

Beaming at the chance to use a real sword, Doug sheathed his, and practiced pulling it out a few times, each time the motion becoming a little smoother.

"You'll get the hang of it, let's just hope you don't need to actually use it." Carl said with a wink toward Samantha. "Everyone ready? We've a tortoise to go find."

The castle gates opened before them, the reddish-orange mountains rising quickly before them.

"Where is the Thieve's Swamp?" Doug asked as they entered the gorge they had dashed through just two days before.

Carl snorted, "Back where we started all of this nonsense, of course."

The group was amazed at the variations in color about them, as they walked through the canyon, their eyes wandering.

"There it is again!" Doug pointed to the top of one of the canyon walls, where a white form wasvisible, long ears sticking out over the edge.

"You there!" bellowed Andy, but the form disappeared without responding.

"There's a way up there ahead if I remember correctly," Gottfried said, hopping forward with a burst of speed.

They made it halfway up a narrow slope when the white form, a large hare, appeared at the top. "Please don't hurt me,"

"Damn it Nell, what did I tell you the other day?" Gottfried piped up.

"You said to go home," the hare's nose twitched, "but the color came back and I got distracted."

"I'll bet you did." The frog turned to his companions, "Nell here is who was following us through the woods."

"Can I now?" she asked.

"Fine," the frog grumbled, "as long as you'll leave us alone afterward."

"Oh, yes, yes," the whole creature seemed to be twitching at this point. She hopped up to Doug and stood up on her hind legs. "I was in Andy's the other day, and I never got to thank you, I was so caught up in having my color back, so thank you."

"That's why you've been following us?" Carl growled.

"I felt really bad."

"Fine then, are we done?" Gottfried said.