Risible Adventures of Rita Arthurs

Chapter 12 ~ World at War

  It was a peaceful morning at Glenton and everything seemed normal. The villagers were enjoying a new day when unexpectedly the ground started to shake as the Southern walls of Glenton started to crumble. The villagers panicked and ran away as an army of armed goblins marched through the now destroyed Southern walls even though they could have just used the open Southern gates. Amber tribe's warriors, Rubian adventurers and Topaz tribe's ninjas and assassins rushed to defend the village while the Amethystine archers shot their arrows and Sapphirite mages put up their wards. The battle lasted a while and the odds were against the villagers but then a bright light suddenly shone from behind the Amberians, blinding the goblins.

"Foul creatures! What do you think you are doing by trying to invade our home?!" Rita was outraged as she stepped out on the front line while still wearing her green scarf but with different clothes on. She was now wearing a mail similar to the ones the Amberians wore and her hair was now tied up in a pony tail without her cloth headband but with a headband with an amber jewel now instead, "Are you prepared to face the consequences?!"

Some of the goblins started to retreat while others attacked Rita but were sliced in half by Rita's great sword Excalibur. Rita completely annihilated the few of the goblins that remained and lifted her sword.

"Everyone! Follow them! I announce a goblin hunt to now officially start!" Rita shouted while everyone cheered. She hurried after the goblins while some followed and some remained in case of another attack. The goblins were quite persistent and even tried to ambush them a couple of times but they would be wiped out almost immediately. Very few of the goblins remained to attack as most of them retreated.

When it started to get dark, Rita and the other who have followed have stopped to rest for the night. Although they did not have supplies, there were Amethystines among them who were hunters so soon enough there were a couple of wild boars to roast. Once everyone was eating their evening meal, Rita counted how many people were with her – there were fifty six Amberians (sixteen healers, thirty five warriors and five paladins), twenty four Topazians (sixteen assassins and eight ninjas), sixteen Sapphirites, nine Rubians and ten Amethystines. Overall, it was a decent enough hunting party, maybe even too large but then again – who knew how many goblins they would come across. Of course Rita knew who most of the people were here but she was not particularly close to any of them so once everyone fell asleep, Rita stood guard since she could not fall asleep anyway. She sat by the fire warming her hands, lonely. It has been weeks if not months since she last heard of Kiera so it was not much fun lately at Glenton where they would usually have fights and contests to prove who was best between the two. As much as she hated to admit it, Rita missed Kiera a bit since it was always fun even if it was a bit annoying around her due to her... uniqueness. I wonder what she's doing now... Rita thought as she looked over at the GreatForest, I wonder if she's still in there.

The night seemed very long and Rita already patrolled around everyone about twenty times by now. This is so boring... Rita could now see what Kiera meant when she wanted some freedom from this kind of life. Rita's days were mostly spent inside the Cathedral where she learned all the necessary things to become a leader while her nights were spent on training. She probably had about five or six hours of sleep if she was lucky per day. Life was tough but it was something Rita was used to and wished for. At least she had somewhere to return to, someone waiting for her and most of all – she was needed which was satisfactory enough. Of course missions were rare but when she did receive some, she would gladly take them just to get out of the four walls of the Cathedral around her. Explorations were always fun especially with Ellancelot who frequently invited Rita who gladly accepted them. The elders were not very happy though that Rita helped out the Rubians so much and that she spend a lot of time with Marketa at the library meaning that Rita had to come up with the excuse of 'researching' the other tribes so she could know them better since she lives among them. She did not socialise much with the Topaz tribe since they were the tribe which Amber hated the most and Rita could see why. She did though talk to Jamanda Woman once in a while though since she did not seem too bad and different from the rest of the Topazians. Amethystines were also someone who she saw rarely since she had no reason to; the only people she saw was the dancers and before – Kiera. Rita laughed quietly as she remembered her first meeting with Kiera and how she walked into a big wall. Come to think of it... I met her before that! Rita thought as she remembered the girl with a bow on her head that saved her from a necromancer. Speaking of necromancers... the Portal of Death's seal was getting weaker by the day and there were no necromancers in the village that could have possibly done that Then who was that girl who tried to kill me? Her name was Roxanne if I remember correctly but...how did Kiera know her? Rita suddenly froze as she remembered this. Could that girl possibly be the one behind the portal? If so, where is she now? Was that the reason Kiera left or was it just her tantrums for freedom? All these questions were the only thing Rita could think of.