Traveller of Berlin

Chapter 3 - We Get Challenged to a Muffin Competition

They opened up the door, with the Traveller and 2 in front leading the way. They scouted the outside a bit, there was nothing. The two gestured the rest to come outside and they looked at the room they were in. For a split second, it was a simple cobblestone square with some plants growing into the loose cracks. The split second later, it vanished, leaving exactly 8 crates of the rations or supplies that the king wrote in his piece of old yellow paper. They each got one and opened it up. It was exactly as the king said, some food, (which was 2 loaves of bread, an apple, and a small bag of beef jerky) a flask full of water, and a weapon. The weapon was different in each box, and they traded for the weapons that they were comfortable with if needed. A6d just gave his dagger to the Muffin Man, in which he quickly protested, he didn't want a weapon, according to him, it was against the Hippocrates Laws as it was something that could be used to harm a being, in this situation, it was quite likely used to harm something. The Traveller talked him into keeping it for self defense in case. He still discarded the sword he got and traded for a rope that Blade got instead. In the end, everyone was quite content. Much to some surprise, the crates didn't disappear after all its contents were taken. The Traveller started to look around. It was about midday, as the sun was high in the clear blue sky, nearly right over his head. The crates were in a clearing in a large forest. Some were birch and aspen but most seemed to be pine. There were a few birds chirping and in the shadows, though it was hard to see, squirrels were scurrying around. Signs of life... good, we can hunt animals once we run out of food he thought. "We shouldn't waste our one free huntedless day, let's take apart these crates first, we can start a fire later once it's dark" Beaver, who took the axe, (to no one's surprise) went up to the first wooden crate and smashed it to bits by the first hit. He went down the line of crates, and a minute later, the crates were down to splintered wooden planks. A bit of gathering and some magic, they shoved the planks down into a new neverending large leather pouch, courtesy of the twins. They ventured into the forest a bit more, exploring their surroundings. By sunset, they found plenty of food sources that could be used. They headed down to a small creek they saw earlier. They took out their planks and rocks they collected at the creek's banks. They started a fire, using a flint knife they found, edged in a pine tree's root, possibly from a previous person who was also forced into the poor challenge of fight to the death. They lit the wooden planks and started a cozy warm fire. The twins used their magic again, (it's becoming quite useful now) and expanded some leather sacks to sleep in. As they were getting ready to call it a night, a group of people in the shadows came. They immediately grabbed their weapons and held a fighting stance except for the Muffin man, who just stood there and said "Hi! Do you want a muffin?" while waving. The rest of them knew that the only other group of people would be the King's guards. But they didn't attack. There were 10 people total. most of them had a long tan dress that went about knee length. They wore brown leggings underneath and had leather elbow pads and a type of leather chestplate. The other one had only a tan shirt with leather pants, and wore the helmet of a knight on it, the visor was down, so they couldn't see the person's face, though judging by the clothes, he was probably male. The majority of the guards were female, and they all had stunning features of a slightly tanned skin to a light pale, with various different hair colors that improved their beauty and a worn out face with some healed or faded scars dotted across some. Overall, they were pretty weird guards for sure, no one had really heard of female guards, especially ones with dresses and no iron armor. One of them stepped out, put down her quiver of arrows and raised her hands,"We are not here to harm, it has not been dawn of the next day" She was right, the king allowed them to have around a whole 12 hours ahead of the guards before they could attack, there was a grace period. One of the guards stepped up to Siren, and tilted it's head sideways, head clearly pointed towards Siren. The visor on the helmet was still down, covering his face, so it's expression couldn't be read. In a VERY echoey voice, the guard said, "el ook wet wee afe ere" "Pardon?" she said, quite confused. The guard repeated again, in a definite more annoyed tone. "Ee sed, ell ook wat wee af er" he repeated, saying each "word" carefully, though it did not help. "I still don't get you" she repeated, truly trying to understand. The guard looked quite flustered, flailing his arms about in exasperated motions, muttering some stuff that suspiciously sounded like curse words. He found a big flat slate and scraped some words using a small pebble. "I said, well look what we have here, idiot" the slate read. "You know you could've taken off your helmet" she pointed it out. The guard looked angry as he turned to the other guards. They looked at each other, then at him, then at the Traveller and co. "Sure why not?" the ginger haired one said. The guard immediately took off the helmet, desperately taking it off before the others could change their minds. He had a very noble face, though it was in quite a mood . The only one in the group it seemed. "Stupid Amazonian enchantment" he muttered, then suddenly remembered the group that he was supposed to hunt to death. "Huh, a lonely girl in a group of boys? That's going to be perfect" he smiled very endearingly, with a very unendearing meaning under it. He put his hands behind his back, "Well, let's be more civil and fair. You obviously are commoners, except you" he pointed at Blade. "We shall each fight one in your group, then we switch to another as soon as the one we are paired up with is dead. Since there are 2 more of us than you guys, two of you will have two of us hunting you down" he said with quite a big smile, and turned around to the ladies. They nodded, and started to look at each of them, sizing them up. "You" he pointed at Blade, "You can have two people, you look a lot more skilled" Blade simply nodded, and didn't say anything, but his eyes glinted in the dim hearth of the fire. The guard looked at the rest, Siren was rummaging around her bag, trying to find something. A6d was swearing under his breath in French, probably wondering why he was so cursed to be dragged into this. The Beaver was simply staring into space, not even listening probably. The Muffin Man was playing with another one of his muffins, and 2 was daydreaming as well, probably about maple syrup again. The Traveller was probably the only one who looked serious, though he always did, you could never tell if he was serious or not as you could only see his eyes, (which by the way were mostly steely cold) "You then" he looked at the Traveller menacingly, "You may dress similarly like a commoner, but I know you aren't, you're something special." the Traveller simply nodded, with no words. "I will choose first, the girl," he smirked. Another guard stood out in front of the group, stepping closer to the group. She was quite unique, she had two different colored eyes, one a tricolored mix of blue, hazel, and green, her other eye was a startling silver. Her overall effect was like some elemental spirit of the forest and water. Her light brown hair was tied back in a messy bun. "I choose him" she pointed at the Muffin Man, who was quite startled, and dropped his muffin, luckily, Beaver quickly stopped it from falling right using his magic, the muffin stopped from hitting the floor a few inches away. He most likely did that to stop a sad Muffin Man. While they were exploring, he dropped one of his muffins, playing with them as always and he lost all of his energy, the rest of the walk he was sniffing constantly by the loss of his precious muffin. He levitated it to go right back to the Muffin Man's hands in which he held the muffin more securely now as he shut his gaped mouth. "Y-you want to f-fight me?" "Yes, we will have the most noble of fights," he paled, it meant to hurt another being, and he couldn't do that, but he couldn't just give up and die as well. The Traveller was considering taking his place when the guard surprised the whole group. "We shall have a muffin eating contest" "Wait, wut" Siren and the Beaver said simultaneously. Poor Muffin Man nearly dropped his muffin again but fumbled to catch it before it could leave his hands. His eyes lit up however, becoming much brighter than it already was, which was quite bright. "A muffin eating contest? Ooooo" he looked quite happy and content, while the rest of the group was either surprised, unhappy, emotionless, angry or scared. A different guard stepped forward now, she had long black hair, which was the only one out of the whole group. She wore it with a jade stick like thing in her hair, which was put in a more elaborate type of bun, with two loops on each side of her head and a main roll like part in the middle. Her eyes were a chocolate brown that paired perfectly with her light pale skin. She was one of the few that didn't wear the long tan dresses, instead, she wore semi long silk robes. They were a beautiful light blue with white linings decorating them. She held a long wooden stick a slight bit longer than her height, which was needless to say, shorter than anyone from both groups. "Him" was all she said, in surprisingly well English, though her accent was quite visible. The person she pointed to was Beaver, who looked at her in surprise. "You are a gifted one, a person who uses magic, though a different type" she continued, "It is only fair that two gifted ones fight" He didn't respond to that, just stayed in that position for a bit while his mind processed what it meant to be a "gifted one". She stepped back, into the group and the shadows. "I believe we should be allowed to choose some as well" the Traveller said, the group nodded in agreement. "2, who do you choose?" "What?" he said, but at that same moment, another girl replied "How do you know my name?" they both looked at each other. "Oh hell naw, I'M the only second in command, YOU don't get to steal MY hard worked rank!" she was quite angry now, as she stepped closer to the fireplace for each word. Her face was quite visible now, she was the ginger haired one, she had her hair worn in a loose french braid, and wore the tan dresses that most of the group wore. Her eyes were a piercing green and she had small freckles dotted across her face. She was quite beautiful, though that was quickly encountered back by the harshness she was currently presenting to 2 and also due to a faded scar that was slashed across her face. She had a quiver full of arrows and a long bow slung across her back. She wore leather boots as well, though they were only up to her shin. Overall, her look was a type of hunter. "I CHALLENGE YOU!! You are NOT going to steal my RANK! We will FIGHT TO THE DEATH, GOT THAT????" she was yelling at 2 who slowly backed away a bit as she came closer and closer. "S-sure" he managed to get out. "Can I choose as well?" Blue asked, "Sure" the guard with the helmet said, he had a slight cheerful tone while his face was in a wonderful smirk of 'You better choose wisely because we all are going to kill you no matter who you choose' smirk. "Hmmm... how about you? You seem fun!" He pointed at another girl, she was extremely thin compared to the rest of the group, she was also the only one who wore a scarf covering both her head and mouth, so only the eyes were seen, much like Traveller. Another trait that was quite similar to Traveller, she did NOT look like someone to mess with or someone who was quote on quote "fun". She also wore the tan dress, though one thing that was different was that she wore fingerless gloves and was holding a dagger, unlike the rest of her group. Her eyes were light blue, which was the only thing you could tell about any of her features. "You'll regret saying that" she said in a chilly voice, "Great!" Blue responded, more optimistic than most people would have responded to that sentence."Well, anyone else?" the one guy questioned both groups, "What about you guys?" he pointed to Blade and Traveller, "This is so stupid" a6d muttered, then he sighed, "How about you eh? Hope you don't kill me. Great. Au revoir" he pointed at another guard, she didn't seem like someone ANYONE should mess with, though it hardly mattered to a6d anymore, he gave up by the beginning of this mess already. She simply nodded in response. She had a tanner skin than most, with dark brown hair and a fair face, she had brown eyes as well, though that wasn't much of a surprise anymore, what was a surprise however, was her knives. Though you couldn't see them in their sheathes, you could tell they were deadly. They were hung on her right side and left side, looking identical. They had a beautiful handle, with nice leather string wrapped around the polished wood. "Well what about you two? I WAS gesturing to you two after all" "Just give me a worthy opponent" said Blade, "I'll take on the last two then" the Traveller said simply and quietly, as always. The four remaining girls were staring them down, seeing who they should choose and who would falter. "I shall choose green cape guy," said the big bulky girl. She was muscular however, not fat, but still quite large no matter what. She had a slight tan skin as well, beady black eyes, and "I'll choose the ever noble knight then" said another, who had two long swords, quite similar to the other one with knives, though her swords were longer and slightly curved. "I'll fight whoever is the leader," said the most deadly looking one, with a long sword slung on her back, a dagger sheathed on the right side of her waist, and two knives on the left. Her hair was a light blonde and her eyes were also startling blue, she wore light brown pants with a navy blue jacket. The jacket was similar to one of a pirate ship's captain, making her look quite scary and regal at the same time. She had a black belt that finished off the look. The Traveller stepped out, "Then you'll fight me" her eyebrows went into a slight arch in a small bit of surprise, but then quickly went back to a serious and eerie state of calm. Another bulky guard stepped forward, "I'll take the one that my twin didn't choose" after that fact was mentioned, she did look quite similar to the one who chose Blade, though she didn't seem quite as muscular. The last girl was quite young, as her face didn't show any battle scars or wounds, but she was not lacking in toughness, her brown eyes were cold and her back was quite straight. Along with a common brown dress, she seemed like some poor farmer's girl that was well taught, making a very weird combination. Her hair was also neatly pinned in a small bun, making her an odd one out from the group. She didn't say anything, she only nodded, looking at Blade sternly. "Now about that muffin competition..." The first girl who chose the Muffin Man started again. "It shall start now, I'm quite sure that both magicians from both groups are able to create at least 150 muffins?" She looked at the asian girl from her group and at Beaver. "Fine, 75 muffins each '' he muttered something and waved his hand on the ground and 75 vanilla muffins appeared on the ground, on top of a blanket. The girl had a different method. She did some poses, and some flames of the fireplace came towards her, morphing into muffins, eventually creating 75 as well. The Muffin Man sat down near Beaver's pile of muffins, and looked at his opponent, smiling happily. His opponent did not return the smile, but just glared at him. "3, 2, 1" both "2"'s counted, "GO!" They ate like crazy needless to say. The guard was chomping down on new muffins every few seconds which was quite surprising. What was even MORE surprising was how fast the Muffin Man was going, he was going at a even FASTER speed of stuffing down the 75 muffins, so by the point of around 3 minutes, the Muffin Man was already finished, he looked really happy eating all of those muffins, though was sad that so many had to go to waste. His opponent however, was in a state of shock. No one had beaten her before, especially by such a far length, by the time she finished, it was around 2 minutes after the Muffin Man's score, making him the obvious winner. The rest of the guards didn't really show any emotions, only a small fight of one of the other guards trying to shove the knight's helmet back on to the guy, who was dodging and running as much as he could. "Well, what do we call you then?" blue suddenly remembered, "Call us by our numbers. This guy is 1 and she's 2" 1 looked very dismal as the other 2 finally managed to put the helmet back on his head. "I am 10," she pointed at herself, "She is 3" 3 was the one with the two knives, and she was still in her fighting stance, ready to slash at anyone who made an attack. "4 is the one with the scarf" 4's eyes were drilling into the Traveller's, and he stared back for a moment before looking at 10 again. "She is 6," she pointed at the large and muscular one, "this is her twin, 5" the other less muscular looking guard was in a staring contest between her twin, 5. "7 is our magician" the Chinese girl in the robes was balancing on her staff, meditating. "The one who competed in the contest is 8" the poor guard still looked stunned that someone could beat her. "9" the "farmer's girl" looking guard was looking at the group, her hands behind her straight back. "And that is all, I hope you don't die too soon" was all 10 said when 7 suddenly opened her eyes, which were glowing white now and they all suddenly disappeared. "You never told me you could create muffins!" the Muffin man complained, looking at the Beaver, "Seriously? THAT'S the one thing you first notice after this whole ordeal??" a6d said exasperatedly, he seemed to be doing that a lot after meeting the group in the shack. He went back to his sleeping bag and quickly went to sleep, tired of walking so much and of the group's shenanigans. "I think we all should sleep as well," the Traveller noted, then went back to his sleeping bag as well. The rest of the group went back to their sleeping bags not too long after the Traveller and a6d, however, the Traveller couldn't sleep.

Traveller POV

How are we going to escape 10 highly trained guards with 5 citizens and only 3 trained in combat? I need to teach them... There must be some way to escape as well, since that is our main goal... what about Siren? She shouldn't be stuck in this situation.... Especially with Blue and a6d, they're going to annoy her so much she'll leave the group and- wait... stop thinking about her! He sighed, then just stopped thinking about anything and went to sleep. 

A/N sorry for the sudden confusing shove of characters in this chapter, I don't really know how to introduce characters really well especially since this is my first ever story besides Periculum but hope you guys understand!