The Arctic Journey ( A DnD Story)

Betrayal

It's been a few days between entries, and we have made much progress since the last.

The night of the last entry, I was staying up to make sure that we weren't  attacked in the night. I must have dosed off, for I awoke to growling. I opened my eyes and glanced down at my party. Wolves were circling around the party, and not a single one of them were awake. I screamed as loud as I could to wake the party. They all rose to their feet and drew their weapons.

"Ah great," Arsonist grunted as he summoned his blade.

The wolves stopped circling and continued to snarl, their eyes fixed on the prey. Though I screamed earlier to get my friends' attention, the wolves oddly didn't seem to notice my presence. I used this to my advantage. I leapt down and struck one of the wolves with a mighty kick. It was knocked back and began to whimper, then replaced that whimper with an attack. It lunge at me to bite, which I only escaped by an inch. Other wolves followed suit, and an all out brawl ensued. I continued to fight the beast until I heard an outburst of agony. I turned my shoulder to see Z'all. A beast had clamped down on Z'all's arm with its jaws. Blood as dark as crimson flowed to the ground. I was distracted long enough for my wolf to bite into my arm as well. I jolted with pain and used my fist to pummel on the beast. The beast was quick to release me and turned it's attention on Z'all, who was on his knees battling with the wolf. The rest of the pack saw that Z'all couldn't put up a fight up close, and ran to attack him.

I ran to help him, but it was clear I wasn't fast enough. I let out one last yell, "Z'all! Nooooo!" I closed my eyes in fear of the horror they hid.

"Aghhh!" a voice grunted, but it wasn't Z'all's voice. It sounded so familiar, yet my mind was too frazzled to think to whom it belonged. My eyes opened to the scene of a man standing over Z'all. He had wolves who clamped down on his arms, releasing blood on Z'all's clothes. In the man's hand he strangled the throat of the wolf who attack Z'all. Then I realized who this savior was.

"Frank..." I whispered, my eyes full of tears. I looked at him with such sorrow in my heart. Frank, who had been scammed by Z'all time and time again, had just protected Z'all from death. How many times had Z'all belittle him? How many times had I? But underneath that dopey smile was a heart full of goodness and light. I glanced to Arsonist, who was also paralyzed, not knowing what to do.

I charged at full speed to help my courageous comrade. I reached for the wolf on his left arm and used the knife-hand technique on the wolf's neck, killing him instantly. Arsonist  appeared on Franks other side and slew the other wolves. Frank had strangled the life out of the last, leaving them all dead. I gave a sigh of relief. This hellish battle was finally over. At least, I thought.

I heard clapping from beyond the tree line. Behind a large tree emerged Oric, with an approving smirk on his face.

"Bravo! Just, bravo!" he chuckled condescendingly.

"Wha...what?" Arsonist asked bewildered.

"Oh, look at the fool," Oric, keeping his smiled, stopped clapping. "Let's cut to the chase. You four know too much. People have paid me quite a deal to finish you guys off. And boy do the grunts in the central city pay good coin."

Suddenly, I noticed something creeping up on me out of the corner of my eye. Out of pure reflex, I leaped out of the way. I turned to see that the roots of a tree had ensnared Arsonist.

"Well done, frost elf," Oric declared as he unsheathed his rapier. "Magic makes things too quick and easy. I haven't had to use my weapon in a long while."

I charged in for a punch, which he slyly dodged. He returned my attack with a stab at my shoulder. It was a hit. Out of sheer pain, I gripped my shoulder with my other arm. He was on the offensive and followed up with a stab in my thigh. I stammered back in pain, letting loose an agonizing grunt. I looked back up to my opponent and BAM! I was struck with the blunt end right in the face. I crashed into the snow, my body turned away from him. Oric seemed to like to take his time with these types of things.

Oric spoke again, and I suppose it must have been banter or something condescending, but I wasn't paying attention. I was thinking about my life. Everything I had ever fought for. All the people I loved. Everything that I could have done better. All the words that were going to be unsaid.

"Is this it?" I thought, "will I die here?"
I looked over to Frank who had collapsed onto Z'all. Both were knocked out and I knew Frank was dying fast. I reached deep within, to a place I didn't know existed, and brought forth my inner strength.

I rose to my feet slowly.

"Huh?" my adversary said in shock. I saw Arsonist's keyblade in front of me. Without hesitation, I picked the blade up and turned to Oric.

"W-w-what?!?" he screamed. In anger, Oric raised his weapon and thrust it at my head. I parried, and decapitaded Oric with Arsonist's mighty blade.

Arsonist was released from the roots. He soon arose and met me, speechless after what he saw. Without any words exchanged, I slowly handed him his blade and went to our injured friends. I took out my first aid kit and treated my parties wounds. Z'all's wound was deep, but it wasn't very serious. Frank on the other hand was in critical condition. He had lost a lot of blood and was fading fast. After a lot of medicine, bandages, and a little magic from Arsonist's key, I thought he was finally stable. I was so busy helping everyone else that I had forgotten my own injuries. I called Arsonist over to help me with the bandages. He wrapped up my shoulder and arm easy enough. I rolled up my pants and exposed the wound in my thigh.

"That isn't good," Arsonist spoke.
"That wounds pretty deep. He really stabbed you good."

He summoned the keyblade and used its magic to lessen the pain and heal it slightly, then he wrapped up my leg in the last bandage.

"There," Arsonist spoke as he finished, "we should be good 'til the next town."
I still wasn't speaking. Arsonist noticed this and sat down next to me

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "It's just... That was the first person I've killed. I've sparred and practiced since I was a little girl. I thought I knew everything about fighting. But seeing how badly we've been broken, how damaged this single battle has left us, it's changed me. Seeing my comrades fall. Seeing someone die. It's just...too much." I felt tears stream down my face but I kept my head turned away.

Arsonist nodded, "In the real world, you've got one chance. No do overs. I know it's only going to get harder. But if we learn to fight as one, we will win. Today I've seen Frank's fortitude, and your resilience. And I've seen what Z'all can do. We can push through this."

My spirit was lighten when he sympathized with me. I looked to my unconscious teammates. I felt guilty for getting mad a Z'all yesterday, and Frank, well, I respect him as a honorable man more and more. I didn't really know how I felt about Frank before I almost lost him. I now know, if we work as one, we can't be stopped.

Just then the sun began to rise, and the dawn of a new day was upon us.