Main characters never die?!

Chapter Eight - When it rains it pours...

As I said I didn't believe in the existence of that miraculous fruit but... Don't look at me like I was a fool. Okay, I had a glimmer of hope but I knew it would be too easy to find a cure. It may have been inside a novel but even an author wouldn't give such a quick fix.

She was around the age of my little brother so I wanted to protect her and get answers. She said she heard a maid talking about it. Was the maid repeating some silly rumour or did she have some other motive?

It wouldn't be unheard of for a servant to help kidnap a wealthy kid. Don't look at me like I've lost my mind. Anything and everything can happen in a book and it's not even that uncommon.

Anyway, the city was lively and clean, the houses were well-kept and the people generally seemed content. It was probably the better part of the town, but still, I got the feeling that the lord cared about their people to some extent and tried to make their lives better.

As we went on our way Persiana was chirping but I didn't really pay her much attention. I carefully observed our surroundings in case of another assault. But we reached the edge of the forest without incident.

„Are there monsters or dangerous animals in the forest?" I turned to Persiana.

„There are some wolves and bears, but they don't approach people, and monsters used to live here but nobody has seen them these days." It wasn't reassuring. I wanted to hear that they had never set foot there before. I had a bad feeling.

„Let's go." I took her hand and started leading her, asking for directions. I felt better if we were physically connected.

But she wasn't really sure where the lake was... Yeah, it wasn't easy. I felt like we had been wandering around aimlessly for hours until I heard a noise. I stopped her and waved her towards a tree to hide. She quickly and wordlessly obeyed.

I cautiously approached the source of the noise. I gasped for air when I finally saw what it was. It was three ogre-like creatures cornered a young man. The ogre's skin was ash-coloured as if they had died and they only wore some coarse clothing around their midsection. They were bigger than a human, about 1,5 our size. They had no hair and were very ugly, carrying some blunt weapons.

The man looked a few years older than me, wore simple clothes made out of good material and had a very nice, sharp sword. His ash-grey hair reached the nape of his neck and a few strands also hung in his eyes. His emerald green eyes gleamed with excitement as he stared at his opponents. He was tall, muscular and looked trained and experienced, but I couldn't tell if he could handle three ogres at once. Don't look at me like that. I am just telling my story as you asked.

I wanted to help, but I was afraid to distract him. I wondered what I could do. I crept closer, without a sound. The guy was really agile, dodged quickly and attacked without hesitation. The ogre's movements were sluggish and slow but still... One mistake could have resulted in a terrible injury as their attack seemed powerful. But he seemed used to fighting them. 

After watching for a while, I realized he was actually playing with them. He could have finished them off quickly and easily, but he enjoyed himself so he drew it out. I am not badmouthing, I'm just stating facts, okay? Everyone has hobbies, but some have questionable ones. Just kidding.

I tried to back away, knowing he wasn't in danger but our eyes suddenly met. And maybe that was the reason the ogres turned their attention to me. I took a step back and drew my sword. But I didn't get a chance to use it as he cut them down incredibly fast. I have never seen anything like it. Yes, I was impressed.

He jumped very high and landed on the shoulder of one of them to separate his head from his body. Damn, it wasn't a pretty sight. I didn't want to traumatize the child with it.