Adventures in Moonlit Valley: Book One--The Protector of the Realm

The Gold Swords

Thousands of years after the deaths of the last Guardians, things have gotten worse for Moonlit Valley. Klawr has covered half of the realm with darkness and evil, and he is working on conquering the other half before setting out and conquering all of the realms. The only thing preventing Klawr is an army formed by the soldiers who fought for King Sundin.

Somewhere hidden within the luscious forests of Moonlit Valley lies an old temple like structure in the middle of a beutiful meadow. Kristofa, an old man is giving a speech in the village temple (which is an act of treason against the king).

"Ladies and gentleman; Can any of you tell me the difference between a hero and a martyr?" (crowd stood silent) "The difference is a martyr is willing to give his life for a cause to prove a point and a hero would do the same but he'd much rather live for it because while you're alive you can do a lot more than when you're pushing daisies. We don't need martyrs right now, we need heroes to fight against Klawr."

"That's what we have the rebels for!" a man in the back yelled.

"But the rebels are losing the fight and we need-"

Kristofa was interrupted by a young child all covered in blood,

"Child! What Happened!" Kristofa yelled.

"Realmlings." the child panted as he fell to the ground. "Are coming. They heard of an illegal meeting and slaughtered my village on the way here."

"Mary take the other women and children and escort them to the ecape tunnels." Kristofa said.

Just as they entered the tunnels the Realmlings kick open the door.

"Welcome soldiers what brings you to m-"

Kristofa was again interrupted but not by a child but with an arrow to the shoulder throwing him down the stairs.

"That's what you get for holding an illegal meeting without the King's consent." the Chieftan said as he walked to the man in the back.

"See I told you they would be here." The man said. "The other traitors escaped through secret tunnels."

The other men there gave the snitch a dirty look. The Chietan then pulled out a dagger made out of bone from a sheath on his shoulder and slit the snitch's throat.

"And that's what you get for being a snitch."

As the Chieftan continued to threaten the people upstairs, Kristofa crawled to an old dresser and opened it, revealing a red cloak with white stripes, a beautiful sword with a silver eagle head handle and two golden swords hanging side by side next to the cloak.

"Protector of the realm, I have promised long ago that I wouldn't take another life if you provided me with a life of joy, but in order to fulfil an old promise I need to kill the evil doers."

The Chieftan takes out his sword (made out of bone) and was about to strike down an old man but a dagger struck one of his guard's in the face, killing him. Before they had time to react Kristofa sliced down three more of the six remaining guards leaving two left. Kristofa's eyes then widened in anger at sight of the Chieftan. He charged at him but the Cheiftan just disarmed him, punched him in the face and picked him up by his neck.

"I know I have a reputation of being a brutal, ruthless killer but your rage wasn't one of just anger, but revenge." He said. "You," he said pointing to the man he almost killed. "What's his name?" The man stood silent. "If you tell me I'll let you and your friends, men, women and children live."

"Tell him." Kristofa gasped.

The man looked away, "His name is Kristofa.

The Chieftan's expression turned to one of confusion, then as if it hit him he laughed.

"Mourne Kristoforas," The Chieftain's horrendously scarred face broke out into a huge smile, revealing his sharp teeth and horrendous breath. "It's been a long time, How long has it been? What, ten thousand years?"

The Chieftan then threw him to the ground and the two gold swords fell off of his hilt and fell to the ground. The Chieftan's eyes grew wide and he then picked Kristofa and or Mourne up by the neck again.

"So you have the swords!" He yelled as he slammed him against the wall.

Kristoffa then said a weird chant and the swords disappeared.

"Where did you send them!" The Chieftan yelled.

"I'm not telling you anything." Mourne yelled as he spit in the Chieftan's face.

The Chieftan then grabbed the arrow still lodged in Mourne's shoulder and twisted it slowly.

"Wow deja vu." The Chieftan yelled over Mourne's cries of pain. "You two," he said pointing to the two Realmling soldiers behind him. "Use your magic to follow the swords and capture anyone weilding them. Kill if necessary, but alive is much more appreciated."

"Yes me lord." they said at the same time.

"You'll never find them." Mourne said.

"Yes we will." The Chieftan said ripping out the arrow that was still lodged in Mourne's chest. "And Klawr will kill them."

The Chieftan then healed the wound.

"Why did you heal my wound?" Mourne asked.

"Because you are not going to die by my hands. The King is going to be very pleased with his new prisoner."