The Sleeping Lords.

Chapter 1

     .

                   Dawn broke across the land, making it clear to those who could sleep in these times that it was time to work. The animals in the forest began to awake, but were still groggy and clumsy. This was good news for Fyn, as he crept slowly towards his prey, he had been tracking it for days now, and finally his moment to seize his prize was close. The animal he was chasing was a Bull Elk, a male about 450 pounds, with antlers about 20 inches long. It was by the creek drinking its fill of water as Fyn approached; he fixed his arrow onto his bow and got a little closer before he took aim. Silently he waited for his shot, Fyn being slower than the Bull Elk knew if he missed he could not catch the beast. He could not spend more time away from his village, so the arrow he now had trained on the animal had to find its mark.

                   The animal continued to drink from the creek as the birds began to chirp, the rabbits hopped about completely oblivious to the danger that surrounded them. Fyn took a few steps closer, he aimed his bow steady at the Elk, but to his dismay he stepped on a twig and the crack of the branch drew the attention of the Elk, whose ears shot up quickly. Fyn closed his eyes and cursed to himself as the Elk raised his head, Fyn took aim; it was now or never. The Elk turned to run, but before it could, Fyn’s arrow whizzed through the air and went through the beast’s throat, the arrow head sticking out the other side. The animal hit the ground with a thud. Dead.

                   Fyn slung the bow around his neck and unsheathed his dagger as he approached the Elk that now lay lifeless on the pebbles by the creek. Its blood seeped from its fatal wound and poured into the water, staining its once fresh clear color, bright red. “I’m sorry buddy, but my family has to eat.” Fyn says as he stabs into the animal’s stomach, he guts the beast and places the organs into a separated pouch that his mother created for him when he first started hunting. Then he cut portions of meat from the animal and placed it into another pouch before he set back on his way home.

                   His journey back home took about an hour, it was still bright and early. Even from the part of the forest he was in, he could smell the fire of his village. He smirked as he thought of the meal his family would feast on when he brought home the flesh of the Elk he just finished killing. However, as he took a few more steps, he found himself side tracked as he heard a scream coming from his left. Instinctively, he drew his bow and turned toward the direction of the scream. What he saw shocked him. His little sister Elise was cornered against a tree as bandits came in close. Fyn could feel the malice intent they had and approached closer, readying an arrow.

“You won’t get away with this… Once my brothers find out who I’m with, they will come find you!” Elise says with obvious fear in her tone, the biggest one of the groups comes close and slaps her, the force of the blow knocked her to the floor. The man smirks and looks back at his friends who smile and urge him to continue.

“Now lil' lady, why on earth would we let your brothers get the chance to come find us? Well? No answer now, does ya? Me and my brothers here are gon' have fun with you lil miss.” The man brought his hand up again, going to hit Elise again, but Fyn was  faster as he let the arrow go, it pierced the man’s hand through the center, he screamed in pain as he turned around. His friends unsheathed their swords.

“I’m assuming tha's your brother, right lil miss?” The man said, as he pulled the arrow out of his hand and threw it on the ground, unsheathing his own sword and yelling:

“Come on out now!”

Fyn cursed and drew another arrow; he would be killed in a few moments, so he figured he would take a few of them with him. He aimed at the closest bandit to him, and shot the arrow as it found its mark in the man’s throat. Before the bandit even fell to the ground, Fyn shot another arrow at another bandit, and then he ran down towards them.

                   Fyn knew this was the dumbest thing he could do at a time like this, he would probably get his sister killed along with himself, but he did it anyway. He charged the bandits catching them off guard; he grabbed the sword of the first dead bandit and slammed into one that was off guard. He twirled his sword in his hand like a master and stabbed into the abdomen of one bandit. He quickly pulled the sword out as the bandit fell, choking on his blood and turned toward another where the sword slashed the mans throat as he backed away from the now angry bandits. Fyn held the blade with both hands as he took steps away from the bandits, who now surrounded him.

“You shouldn’t a done that, fool.” The big one says, as he unsheathes his blade, it was bigger than Fyns, and engraved in it was engraved in some type of language.”

Fyn gritted his teeth and said:

“You shouldn’t have tried to rape my sister, now this game is simple. either I kill you all, or you kill me.” Fyn shot a look at Elise, who instantly understood what he meant and crawled into the bushes. One bandit charged Fyn blindly, slashing his sword and screeching like a rabid dog. Fyn side stepped and brought his sword down on the bandits head, removing it from his body; he then quickly turned back to the others.

 “He's a fast one, boys.” The big bandit said, smirking. “Lets see how he does when its more than one charging. Get him!” The bandit says, shoving one of the 4 remaining bandits toward Fyn; they all charged him at once.

                   Fyn managed to kick one of the bandits away before another sliced his leg. Fyn shouted in pain and turned towards the bandit and stabbed him in the neck, the blade going through. Before he could pull the sword out, one bandit sliced his right arm, leaving a great big gash on it. Fyn screamed louder again and let go of the sword and backed away from the three bandits. He pulled out his daggar and held it in his hand and watched the bandits circle him slowly. He listened for any sudden movements as he did when he hunted his prey. He noticed a flaw in a bandits footing and smirked as he pounced. He threw his dagger at the bandit facing him dead on, catching him off guard and making him pay for his mistake, he fell dead. Then he ran and kicked off the leg of one bandit and while in the air propelled himself to land on the other bandit. He broke this ones neck and grabbed his sword with one hand. He began to circle the final bandit as he noticed the bandit was in a stance where the only attack would be a lounge, and smirked. He waited patiently as his prey charged at him, he then quickly side stepped and stabbed into the bandits neck severing his head from his body.

                   He looked up and readied himself for a fight with the final bandit, but to his surprise he was already dead. Over the dead body of this man stood Elise, she held a sword in her hands as she gasped down out of breath at the body of the man who tried to rape her. She dropped the sword on the body and fell down. Fyn took a second to see the wound on his right arm which was now clutched against his body as if it were in a sling; he gritted his teeth as he began to feel the pain of the cut on his leg, he limped towards Elise and told her:

“Lets go home.” She nodded at him and took the bags of Elk meat, when they got home they explained what happened to their mother and Fyn got his wounds dressed. The pain was so unbearable at the moment that he passed out.

End of Chapter 1!

I hope you enjoyed!