Short Stories

New beginning for Four Swords

"Remind me why we are doing this?" complained Ronnin, putting down his axe.

"Because we need the money," shot Rose, giving him a stern look.

"Yeah but besides that?"

Rose sighed and shook her head and then began the rhythmic swinging of the axe. There was a loud thump as the axe head struck home on a log wich split with a loud crack. Ronnin frowned realizing he wasn't going to get her to say anything else and picked up his axe again. He hefted it up and brought it down upon a log. The sound of the wood splitting followed. "Ow!" he cried dropping the axe again and clutching at his eye.

"What?" cried Rose turning to Ronnin, a worried expression on her face. "Are you all right?" she asked. "What happened?"

"I think I got a sliver in my eye," groaned Ronnin, dropping to one knee.

"Let me look at it," Rose said gently, kneeling down beside him and gently pulling away his hands. "I don't see..." she trailed off, her expression darkening. "You didn't get a piece of wood in your eye, did you?" she asked almost casually.

Ronnin grinned widely and then burst into laughter.

"It's not funny!" said Rose. "I actually thought you were hurt. I The next time you do that, you can help yourself."

"You sound like my grandmother," said Ronnin. He had quit laughing but the ghost of a smile remained on his face.

Rose frowned thoughtfully. "I thought you didn't remember your family?"

Ronnin shrugged, the smile vanishing like the sun behind clouds. "True, but she probably would have said something like that."

Rose looked up at the sun hopefully, like she was trying to determine how much daylight was left. It was pointless. It was around noon and the sun was still high in the sky. They still had many hours to finish their work. "Come on," she said with a sigh. "You've wasted enough time, we need to get back to work."

Ronnin looked at the large pile of wood they still had to chop and sighed. He wished he could be an adventurer so he wouldn't have to do things like chopping wood everyday for a few pennies.

Once they had finished chopping the wood, they collected their meager few pennies and started out on the road again. It was dusk and they hoped to be well down the road by the time the sun set. They could have booked a night at the inn but since the weather was good, they decided sleeping outdoors wouldn't hurt. There was no point in spending money when they didn't need to.

"I suppose this spot is as good as any," said Ronnin shrugging off the pack. He estimated they had managed to cover three miles or so since they had left the village. The sun had passed behind the mountains long ago but there was still enough light to see by. The two companions gathered firewood and before long Ronnin had a fire going. He smiled feeling the heat of the fire washing away the chill of the evening.

"I'll go get some more wood," he said, standing up.

"We still have plenty of wood," Rose said in a questioning tone.

"Yeah, but we'll go through it fast enough." Once he was out of Rose's sight, he began jogging. On the way he had saw a cave that seemed worthy of exploration, and he wanted to check it out before Rose realized he was missing and went looking for him. He shivered and pulled his cloak closer around his shoulders. It was, he realized, chilly for this late in the spring.

He gaped seeing the mouth of the cave. It was bigger than he had thought at first. I wonder what's inside, he thought. He put his hand against the rough stone and began walking around the cave. The thought of going inside gave him an uneasy feeling.

"Ronnin!" he heard Rose call.

Shoot! he thought. He turned to make his way back to the entrance of the cave and felt the ground give way beneath him. He cried out in alarm as he fell down a wide shaft.

"Ronnin!" Rose cried hearing a scream. She ran in the direction it came from and stopped seeing a large cave. "I swear if he went in there," she muttered and walked forward cautiously. She didn't have any sort of weapon to defend herself with, she realized. If something had attacked Ronnin, there was little she would be able to do. "Ronnin," she said somewhat quieter than a yell.

"Rose, is that you? Help me out of here!"

"You idiot, what have you done this time?" She followed his voice to a deep hold by the side of the cave. "Are you down there?" she asked peering into the blackness of the hole. It was too dark to see anything down there.

"Run back to camp and get a rope out of my pack," came Ronnin's voice. "Hurry, it's dark down here!"

"Are you hurt?" Rose asked.

"No, just slightly shaken up," he lied. He had hit his head and knee on a rock during his fall, but he didn't want Rose to be any more worried or angry at him.

Rose sighed in relief. "Hold on, I'll be right back." She turned and ran, careful not to trip over anything in the low light.

Great, thought Ronnin. I'll be stuck down here forever. He looked around for the first time and realized it wasn't as dark as he had thought at first. There seemed to be a dim light illuminating the hole. He could make out a passage leading away from where he was. After hesitating for a moment, he limped down the passage, steadying himself on the wall.

After a minute of walking the passage widened into a small cavern. "What is this place?" he gasped. The ceiling was at least ten feet tall. The cavern was shrouded in darkness except for the center, which was illuminated by a beam of light from an unseen source. He slowly walked forward and turned away in horror as he saw a skeleton. When he built up his courage he turned back to the skeleton and saw it a sword clutched between its hands.

He smiled and reached for the sword. He slowly wrapped his hand around the cobwebbed scabbard and jerked. Bones went flying everywhere as the sword was pulled from the skeleton's grasp. He cried out and backed away, panting. He stared for a moment and then laughed realizing nothing was wrong.

He hurriedly limped out of the cavern, not wanting to keep Rose waiting. As he walked he thought he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Every time he stopped to listen, the footsteps would stop. He quickened his pace.

"Ronnin, are you there?" Ronnin relaxed hearing the comforting sound of Rose's voice.

"I'm still here," he called up. "Did you bring the rope?"

"I'm throwing it down right now." There was the dull thack of the rope hitting the side of the hole. Before Ronnin could grab the rope, sparks flew in front of him as a sword struck the rock in front of him. He yelled in surprise and quickly backed away.

"What's going on?" Rose called from above.

Ronnin didn't answer. He stared in disbelief and horror as an armored figure stood before him, a gleaming blade in hand. The figure raised its blade and stepped forward. Without thinking, Ronnin drew the sword he stole and stabbed the figure through the chest. It gave a loud shriek and vanished, its sword clattering to the ground.

"What was that?" Rose called in alarm.

"Nothing," Ronnin said quietly. He stood breathless as he realized what he had done. He quickly sheathed the sword, threw it around his back and scampered up the rope like a scared dog with its tail between its legs. Once he was out of the chasm, he ran forward and embraced Rose, his body shaking with fear.

"What happened down there?" Rose asked, the concern all too evident in her voice.

"We can talk about it in the morning." He let go of Rose and started back on the seeming endless journey to the safety of the fire. He hardly spoke for the rest of the evening and while Rose slept peacefully, he stayed wide awake to their camp.

I just started writing the other day and this happened, let me know what you think. 

I am thinking about uploading the rest of Four Swords and then taking a break from it, I just don't seem to be satisfied with the story, perhaps i am caring too much what others think. I don't know, maybe someone has some input for me? I would appreciate it. Thanks.