Brazen

Chapter 7 Cyben's loss

Chapter 7 Cyben’s loss

            Karros awoke feeling very satisfied with his last meal and his pleasant sleep. Now they had to walk through the Zresta woods and cross the gushing rivers of Manda Krishia that led to Zresta falls. It would take about three to four hours. Karros woke the other who shared his feeling of satisfaction and the three on horseback galloped through the grey trees and towards the river. The woods were quiet other the crunch of the leaves under horse hooves. Mist rolled out of Karros’s mouth when he breathed out from it.

            They traveled silent for the cold was too unnerving and they were ever vigilant. You never know what might jump out and pluck out your spine when you are in Hind. Karros reminded himself of what his father said. “Now don’t you forget son, Living in Hind is like an ant living in a stampede of gnomes. For them, they are a thundering storm of death. Same here, you never know where you will end up, in a pit of poisonous snakes, or an elven city!”

            They rode on and on remaining soundless until an orc leaped out from atop a tree and tackled Respen to the ground. Windwalker snorted and reared up to his hind legs and pushed out with his front ones. The orc’s head jerked back and its neck snapped. Respen unleashed his long daggers and thanked Windwalker. Karros dropped down from his horse and drew Eclipse. He was about to let the dwarf down but Thunder panicked when two orcs landed in front of him and sprinted off with Gammerforth sitting awkwardly on him, his feet not reached the stirrups. Thunder crashed through the foes and halted, sending the dwarf rocketing into a tree.

“Stupid horse!” bellowed the dwarf, rubbing a bump on his forehead. He finally got up and swung his axe top kill the two orcs. “Stupider orcs!”

Respen chucked his dagger at Gammerforth but it passed by his ear and struck an orc behind him. “Stupidest dwarf!” the elf chuckled.

“Karros slashed one orc’s arm off and parried a blow from another. He performed a series of complicated attacks and feints which confused the foe. In the end, when the orc had made a mistake of losing his balance, Karros stabbed at his belly making its innards spill out.

            Karros winced at the sight. He moved on to the next batch nonetheless. Respen had managed to slay about five orcs and was still going like a killing machine.

            Gammerforth too was making them drop like flies. His axe met the heads of many, chopping them like melons. Karros, while dueling an orc was bombarded by two more. He rapidly jabbed and struck but the one of the orcs tripped and like the domino effect they all tumbled down a hill which Karros was oblivious to. His head thrashed around as he rolled with the other three orcs. A jagged sword came hurtling towards him and he was at an angle where the blade cut his chest. It was not a fatal wound but enough to make Karros cry in pain. The dizzying roll came to a stop at the foot of a hill. Karros lay on his belly, his chest wet with blood. He peered up, his vision spinning and saw a face, a bear’s face. It was a mother bear of a cub who stood close to her frightened. The mother stood guard for she thought Karros was a threat. Karros managed to get up but a fist struck him in the cheek. Stars rushed past his sight and his face met the ground.

            He could hear the orcs laughing. The bear growled still protecting her cub who seemed only about a few years old. “Oi! Me’ sword fell outta me’ hands!” said one orc.

            “So did mine!” said another.

            “Well let’s just strangle the human!” The bear growled again and stepped between Karros and the orcs realizing Karros was not the one who was harmful. The orcs jumped at her and began struggling. Karros stood up feeling hurt everywhere, especially in his chest where the sword cut him. He realized his own sword had slipped form his hands. While the mother bear fended off the three orcs, Karros looked for his sword so he could help. He looked through the bushes, then he scaled the hill he came rolling down from, but could not find it. Then he heard the cub whimper.

            Karros spun his head to see that more orcs had appeared and had the mother bear in a headlock. Karros charged without his sword towards the three and the three new ones who had their wicked blade ready to shed blood. Karros hoped it would not be his nor the two bears’. He ducked under a horizontal swing and tackled one by the waist making them all bump into each other and fall. The mother bear freed herself and attacked again, biting and clawing into the orcs. Two went down to her vicious teeth and razor claws. Blood spattered her jaws and paws.

            Karros fist fought the foes with unrelenting energy. His fists bashed into the hideous faces of the orcs. He felt a knee strike his solar plexus. Air gushed out and Karros went down gasping for anything but the agony that he could manage to breathe. He saw the bear take out another orc but the other three, with the blades, struck her and her lifeless body collapsed. The cub could only watch as his mother was slaughtered in front of his eyes.

            The orcs kept jabbing with their swords until the mother bear was a chunk of meat with holes and black fur here and there. The cub began to shiver. Karros remembered this feeling. He was that cub, a year ago. He was too shivering and weeping. He too felt like his life was over and he was going to die. He too felt empty, like someone ripped his heart out. He knew that feeling.

            In Karros a rage like no other erupted and he grabbed that rage like he would grab a sword and charged. “Bhi mu Grahana!” he yelled which meant Fear my Eclipse. He said it realizing he did not have Eclipse. The orcs looked at him and saw that they were going to win this three versus one batte but little did they know, Karros’s rage was not to be tested. Karros drove right through them realizing that the cub was tackling them with him.

            They crashed down another hill and rolled off a cliff into Manda Krishia River. Water surged into Karros’s nose. He resurfaced but alas the rapids were too violent that his face was blasted with water and he could not breathe. Fire was in his lungs and he did not think he would make it. Under the water he saw a shape. The cub! He reached out to grab him but claws scraped his arm and blood mixed with water. He screamed under water with agony and the water gushed into his mouth and he felt that his last breath would the drowning feeling of the rapids.

            Something grabbed his hood and pulled him up. He coughed and vomited and felt alive. Karros looked up and realized it was the cub. He looked at his fore arm and saw four crimson lines going down to his wrist. He looked around and realized they were on a boulder jutting out of the rapids. What luck! Thought Karros.

            The cub began to weep. “Hey,” said Karros softly. “I know what it feels like.”

            The cub looked up at Karros with sadness filled in his black eyes.

            “I have lost my father. I was seventeen. I killed the murderers like we killed the orcs. I know your grief. I want to help you. You were brave to attack the orcs. You had your revenge. Now I must have mine. The orc who killed my father and made my mother a widow is Grok and he must die.”

            The cub stood up and looked at Karros. He put his paw in the air in front of Karros.

            “You want to be my friend?”

            The cub snuggled against Karros, the fur pricked the cut in Karros’s chest but he did not complain.

            “I will give you a name then. Cyben I name you.”

            The cub growled happily at the name.

            “Now how do we find my other two friends… and how do we get to the shore?”

Thanks for reading every one (even though that's a few). I hope all of you enjoyed my story. I hope you all admire Karros as much as me. Please do tell your friends (if they like fantasy and action and adventure). I would love to have my story known and read by all. Thanks for reading!

~RealityTraveler