Tales of the Red Rogue - A Heroes Arrival

Chapter 15

I could see the light shining through my eyelids, and heard the sweetest high pitched voice calling his name, it felt nice, the high feminine tones of her voice ringing in my ears ears.

"Hahlud... wake up sleepy head, were kind of on an important quest..."

"AH! Oh yeah right... sorry I forgot."

A large warm bowl of porridge got placed on my lap as I sat up rubbing my eyes, it smelled sweet and the feeling of being cared for by this kind blue girl made the morning so perfect I could hardly wipe the smile off my face.

"What you so happy for? It's just porridge silly."

"Oh, I just never really have breakfast and.. never mind, thank you though, I really appreciate this."

"Don't worry Halhud, I cook for everyone I meet, my food is some of the best in town, but don't tell Dagna that."

She couldn't get more sweet if she was made of sugar.

"I'll make you proper meal once we save this girl but eat up, we need to get a move on as soon as possible."

She playfully shoved me shoulder to hurry me up, I obliged and wolfed down my warm meal of porridge and held back as much of the smiles as I could.

"Here, let's get going."

I handed her the bowl and rolled up my bedroll, I placed it into my backpack and we both set off further into the forest.

It felt like there was no way to know what direction to go, the woods became a white maze as soon as we started walking, it was easy heading in one direction but if it wasn't for Keema we would diffidently be lost, it was as though she knew the woods like the back of her hand.

With her eyes almost closed she walked through the woods, with the joy on her face, I could tell this was where she was most at home, it's like her skins glows when the sun hits it and when she glides her hands along the trees when she skips trough the bramble its like they guide her to where she needs to be.

I was lost in the sight of her, I had a weak spot for cute girls but someone this innocent and sweet really made me melt down into a blubbering fool and yet talking to her was about the easiest thing in the world.

The only thing to snap me out of my hypnotism was my foot hitting hard stone.

I looked down and saw a root covered chunk of stone pathway, old as anything I'd seen and covered with small and simple carvings of dragons heads.

"Keema, come check this out."

She got on her knees and studied the bit of stone with me.

"They look like little dragons, but this stone is thousands of years old at least."

"We must be close, this cult left dragon carvings just about everywhere they went."

"You walk ahead, I'll stay back incase you need healed, I can't really fight so I should keep a distance."

"Just stay safe, come on, let's go get this girl back to her mother."

We looked at each other and nodded in agreement, she looked serious and with that a certain fearsome attitude that I had previously not seen came over Keema showed itself.

We walked through to woods, following the chunks of stone on the ground, at first it was sporadic and wildly spread but the stone ground became far more densely packed the further we went further we travelled east, until we were walking on a fully stone floor.

There was still bramble and weeds that grew through and between the cracks of the old stone, the dragon carvings looked more well kept but we came across a large fallen pillar that nature had began to reclaim, at first it looked like a fallen tree with he amount of moss that had grown over it.

Kaibears heckles went up followed by a low pitched growl, and then we heard the tip tap of small footsteps coming closer.

Instinct kicked in and I pressed myself as close to the pillar as I could and slowed my breathing, Keema had no idea what to do, she fumbled for a moment and then just jumped into a bush creating a lot of racket as she did so.

A shout came out from further into the stone ruins in a gurgling deep language that I didn't understand and then the foot steps began to move faster and much closer.

Kaibear launched himself from the pillar, growling like a wild animal as he landed, he pined a Kobold to the ground by its neck, his large fangs digging deep into its flesh.

He sunk his teeth further into the neck and ripped out a chunk of scaly flesh, deep red blood spurted across the stone ground and around Kaibears muzzle.

The Kobold jumped up and pushed Kaibear away darting towards the woods in a scrambling panic.

Keema tensed her hands and her eyes glowed with a deep leaf green light, she raised both of her hands up, thorny bramble burst out of the ground and wrapped around the legs of Kobold, its body hit the ground with a thud and it opened its mouth ready to scream.

Quick as horse I threw myself over the pillar and got on top of the Kobold, my dagger sank into his neck easily and I dragged it from one end to the other and the bubbling blood in his throat pooled across the floor.

"Are you alright Halhud!?"

I stood and brushed the blood off my shirt, at least the armour was red and no one would be able to notice any stains.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's not the first time I've dealt with these little bastards."

"Let's keep moving, there might be more of them, but you're still not allowed to swear mister!"

I leaned down and gave Kaibear a scratch behind his ear.

"You did good little guy, let's move."

All three of us ran deeper into the woods, following the old stone path.

I hope we find sheen before nightfall, I have a feeling there'll be more of those Kobolds.