Our Story

Chapter 2

            I walked down the long corridor past the rooms that the princes were staying in. The last room at the end of the corridor had a light flickering underneath it. Shadows moved under the edge of the door, peaking my interest.

Drayden's POV

"This is pointless. She clearly only picked me to spite her mother. I thought I did a good enough job of making her despise me. Guess I will have to work harder.." I grumbled while pacing back and forth in front of the overly large fireplace.

"This is a mission given to you by your father. You don't get to decide if it is pointless or not, you know that. Give it a couple days" Kain replied, rubbing his forehead in frustration. He had that bad habit since we were children. Whenever he was frustrated with me, he rubbed his forehead like it would magically erase whatever act I had just done.

"I haven't eaten all day. Let's go get something to eat. Clearly talking about this isn't fixing anything." I said while searching for my sword.

"That sounds like a terrible idea. You always act rashly when you are angry. We don't want to get in the Queen's bad graces the first night we are here." Kain said getting to his feet.

"It was your idea to not bring any slaves..." I argued.

"They are servants Drayden, you know it isn't correct to call them slaves. They could one day be people under your rule." Kain said watching me closely.

"There are already people under my rule brother" I laughed, finally finding where Kain had hidden my sword.

"Fine, we will keep it small" Kain finally submitted, knowing that I would get what I wanted regardless of his advice. "We won't kill anyone...Princess Kaliah, why don't you grace us with your presence."

Slowly the door creaked open, leaving the princess standing there with an angry look on her face.

"Do all of your kind eavesdrop, or just the privileged ones?" I asked her snidely. I began to admire my sword, trying to ignore her presence.

"Forgive us Princess, my brother here is not always this rude. He is just a bit hungry and tired from the journey. This is your home after all." Kain quickly interjected, giving me a disapproved look.

"What is all this mutter I hear of killing my people?" She demanded. She pushed the heavy cloak around her shoulders, exposing the gold encrusted case of her curved blade. My interest peaked as I set eyes upon the beautiful blade slung on her back.

"A weapon is not a weapon in the hands of a child" I said with a grin on my face, hoping to get some kind of rise out of her.

"How dare you insult me?!" She cried incredulously. I could tell by the look on her face, she knew I was baiting her, but she went with it anyways. Kain immediately tries to interject, yet again, in hopes of changing the direction the conversation was going in.

With my interest in the conversation at its end, I quickly laughed, and jumped out of the huge bay windows. I began to wander the streets of the large mountain city, in hopes of satiating my hunger. To my disappointment though, it seemed as though everyone had sensed my presence before I had arrived. People quickly ducked into houses and taverns in attempts to avoid my gaze. I heard heavy footsteps come from behind me, and knew Kain had finally caught up.

"Bout time you caught up brother, I thought the princess would have taken up all your time." I said glancing around the shadows hoping someone would still be out. Kain opened his mouth to repy, but I quickly cut him off, "She may be a princess, but she is pretty. I will give her that."

Kain grunts and pulls me towards the outskirts of the city. He begins to make his way into the snow covered woods.

"You know we can't feed on her people, it would only set our mission back." Kain said as he pulled a map out of his pocket.

"Forget people, I heard there are snow giants, and all manners of strong monsters we have never seen before in these mountains. Want to play a game O'Killer of Monsters?" I asked trying to pull the fun side out of my overly calm best friend.

A grin spread across his face, "Winner gets to feed on the strongest monster." He said pulling out his broad sword, taking off into the dark night.

Letting out a devious laugh, I quickly followed suit.

An hour later, after much tracking, I had finally come across a massive cave. I glanced around, looking for any signs that Kain had fallen upon this gold mine also. After being sure there was no sign of him, I whistled into the dark cave. After a few dragging moments, a roar came from within.

"Yes!" I shouted in excitement, pulling my sword from its sheath. Hearing a noise behind me, I spun around. Swinging my blade, only to have it meet with Kain's broad sword. The noise clashed through the eerily quiet woods. What seemed like an earthquake followed, leaving the trees trembling. Kain looked up, forcing me to quickly turn around to see the giant that had been described in stories back home.

It released an earth shattering roar, causing the wind to die. I glanced at Kain, a victorious grin spread across my face.

"You first Slayer of Monsters" I laughed and mock bowed to him.

"Watch how it's done brother" He laughed in reply. Dashing forward, pulling his huge blade to his back in preparation for a powerful strike.

The beast crouched in response, ready for his blow. Kain however, jumped over the beast and swung from behind it, catching it off guard. There's my chance. Keep it occupied just a little longer Kain. I smiled, leaping forward with incredible speed. The beast, turned noticing my absence from the woods, to only be surprised when I put a brutal wound across its chest. Simultaneously Kain dragged his sword across the beast's back, only enraging it further.

"Wow, this is going to be a lot easier than I thought!" I yelled at Kain, noticing he had swiftly jumped away from the beast. I questioned for a moment, why would he back down from such a challenge?

Just then I noticed the beast release a roar more furious than its last as it lifted its arms high into the sky. A rampage? I asked myself, moving slightly out of its reach. It leapt forward and swung hard, hitting me in the side. The force launched me through multiple trees.

"Drayden!" Kain yelled with concern, with only enough time to dodge the next attack.

I laid for a moment, surprised by the giant's strength. I should be more weary of the beasts in these woods I scolded myself as I stood up slowly. Kain was fending the beast off as I finally made my way back to the clearing.

"Round two" I laughed in excitement, as I sheathed my blade. I ran for the beast as fast as I could, preparing to act as I always did when not knowing exactly how to fight to an enemy. I leapt into the air, crashing full force into the beast's side, like a cannonball. Launching the beast twelve to fifteen feet onto the flat of its back. Kain looked over at me with a grin slowly spreading across his face.

"Ready to finish this" Kain challenged me.

"You mean, if you can get there first" I replied happily.

We dashed in the direction of the beast, weaving in and out of each other. The beast glanced up, trying to find its bearings. Its eyes tried desperately to follow our movements. Swinging in desperation, the beast slams his arms against the ground forcing Kain to the opposite side of his head. The look on his face displayed the disappointment as he realized this moved cost him the victory. I smiled at him in reply, and plunged my fist through the beast's skull. It let out a final dying cry, and its body went limp. I released a battle cry in sheer joy at the battle we had just won.

"Looks like I feed first. And you get to take care of my sword for a month" I smiled at his disgruntled face, just before sinking my teeth into the neck of my defeated foe.