Pagewalker (41 page)

The noise in the camp was tremendous. The troops were
awaiting a battle and were readying their equipment. The camp was
shaped in a circular shape; the large armoured tents were on the
outside with night guards stationed on them. The smaller tents were
on the inside where the troops could get some rest but if the rest
of the troops felt like Dertrid then they did not get much rest as
they were either sleeping with one eye open and their sword still
in their hand or they were awake all night worrying about the day
that was coming ahead of them. When the sun finally crept over the
hill Dertrid exited his tent while trying to pull a large full body
sheet of chain mail over his head. When he popped his head through
the neck of his garment he looked upon his troops and watched them
preparing their equipment and leaving behind what they did not
need. Dertrid walked around the camp patting nearly every soldier
on the back and telling him or her how he or she would come through
this and be adored and loved when they return home. It saddened
Dertrid when he said this because he knew only half of them stood a
chance of surviving the conflict that day. He knew he had to give
the troops hope. Without that they were only men with weapons, not
soldiers. They needed that fire in their hearts if they were to
fight with meaning and passion. Dertrid walked over to where Keldon
was sitting. He sat down and looked upon Keldon’s face. His face
was rosy red and his cheeks were soaked with tears, which were
dripping off the end of his chin. "Why are you crying?" Dertrid
said as he put his hand on Keldon’s back. "I...I had a
dream...about myself and Elessa and you...we were all walking down
a path of golden leaves...then Elessa disappeared. She faded away.
Then.... then I faded away as well until it was only you walking
alone. Then a crown of gold covered with the richest jewels and
gems was placed on your head by a small child which reminded me of
my son...."

Dertrid stood up again and turned around
facing the direction of Sáann.

"We won’t let that happen Keldon. You have my
back don’t you?"

"Of course I do Dertrid, and I will until the
end. You must promise me one thing though...make sure the queen
dies slowly, let everyone see it, have NO mercy"

At that Keldon stood up and grabbed Dertrid
by the shoulder and swung him around.

"PROMISE ME DERTRID! !" Dertrid pulled away
and looked Keldon square in the eyes.

"I promise I will Keldon...but you will stay
by my side, promise me that"

"I promise Dertrid," Keldon hugged Dertrid,
the two laughed and started to walk toward their tents but they
were interrupted by the cry of a dark elf from the entrance of the
camp. "SPY, SPY " the elf shouted and pointed toward a human that
was running toward the forest of Sáann. The elf took up his bow and
fired toward the human but missed, He shot again and again but the
human kept dodging them until he made it to the forest. Dertrid
knew that if the spy made it to Sáann then the defences would be
placed up and the advance would be a failure so he stood up on a
large weapon rack, dived onto his horse and ordered the attack. The
whole camp jumped to their feet and ran toward their weapons.
"Keldon, rally the troops and lead them into attack. I will scout
ahead and take out this spy! !" Dertrid said as he was galloping
toward the forest. On the way out Penla threw a spear to Dertrid
along with his famous elemental sword of ice. Dertrid was quickly
gaining on the spy who was dodging his way under branches and
forcing his way through vines and thorn bushes. Dertrid was quickly
gaining on him and did so until he was only an arms length away
from the spy. Dertrid could now see that the skilful spy was no
more than l5 years old. Dertrid stood on his horse’s back, bending
his knees and balancing as best he could. He was planning the
descent onto the boy but he had little time as he could see a
rather large sloped tree that would cut him off from the boy.
Dertrid waited a few seconds until the boy looked back. The boy
slowed his pace as he realised that there was a large white
stallion chasing him with a barbaric warrior mounted on it. Dertrid
took a dive at the boys mid section but missed. The boy was tripped
up by the impact but managed to get back up again. Dertrid took to
his feet and stood there thinking about what the consequences would
be if he killed the boy or if he let the boy live. As much as
Dertrid hated to do it he knew there was only one option. He lifted
the spear and threw it toward the boy. It impaled the boy on a
nearby tree. Dertrid could not bear to look upon the body, as he
knew it was the wasted life of an innocent. It was one of the
people he was fighting to protect. Dertrid walked back toward his
horse. When he looked back he could see that the boy had side
tracked and led Dertrid in the wrong direction. Dertrid looked
ahead to see the final descent of his legion upon the city of
Sáann. The troops were running down the hill with their weapons
raised high above their heads. Dertrid raced toward the front line
do lead the attack but he was too late. He could see Keldon
standing on a nearby rock leading the troops. The action was going
according to plan. The elves would take out the guards on the walls
by climbing up a few ladders to breach the walls. The dwarfs were
to set explosives at the front gate to blow the door so that the
second platoon that was waiting in the trees near by could enter.
Dertrid raced toward the front gate as soon as the explosives had
been detonated but the one thing they had not expected had
happened. The queen was ready for a counter attack. Out of the
front gate came flooding full armoured human and goblin troops. The
first platoon had been surrounded and the elves had been destroyed
on the walls. The dwarfs were engaged in close combat but were
outnumbered three to one. Elessa had told him that when the second
wave came in she would create a distraction so that Dertrid could
sneak in through the hole blown by the dwarfs. Dertrid had only one
choice if he wanted to succeed in this mission. Before he turned
toward the door he saw Keldon fighting off at least 5 human guards.
Dertrid raced toward Keldon. He had his sword raised above his head
as he dived off his horse again and straight into the middle of the
action.

Dertrid fought his way through the endless
amounts of troops. His blade was making short work of the guards.
As Dertrid was approaching Keldon he saw his blade start to glow.
Keldon’s blade was also glowing a deep red. When the second wave
came into attack he could see Elessa's weapon glow as well. He knew
there was no turning back now. The first wave was almost wiped out
but there were a small number of troops up close to Dertrid and
Keldon. They were backed up to a wall but as their numbers were
rapidly dropping Dertrid spotted an opening in the wall. "Keldon
help me destroy this" Dertrid shouted as he demolished the few
guards behind them. Keldon ran toward Dertrid and helped him bash
down the wall. "Come with me" Dertrid shouted to Keldon as he dived
through the small gap in the wall. Elessa was now standing on the
wall firing arrows down at the large mass of war underneath her.
She looked across the large open field that they were standing in
and all she could see were bodies and blades swinging around in the
middle of this mass of carnage. She looked behind her to see
Dertrid and Keldon climbing through a small crack in the wall. She
shouted toward the few elves that were upon the wall with her to
jump down to where the new hole was made. The few elves that were
still alive on the wall with her did as they were ordered to
without question. They stood at the hole as if forming a shied with
their own bodies. Dertrid looked up at the glowing green light that
was coming from Elessa but as he got further away from it he could
see a silver light quickly running toward her green one. There was
only one other person that possessed a weapon with elemental
attributes. Samuel! Dertrid called to Elessa But it was too late.
The silver light had knocked the green light off the large wall.
Keldon ran toward Samuel followed by Dertrid. "DERTRID go and
complete the quest. I will deal with Samuel! " He shouted. Dertrid
stopped running and dived into combat with a few guards that were
in the same street as him. Keldon finally reached where Elessa had
landed to find Elessa lying mangled on the ground surrounded by a
large pool of blood. Keldon knelt down and kissed Elessa on the
forehead.

He then looked up to see Samuel running
toward him down the nearby stairs. Keldon lifted his sword again
and slowly walked toward Samuel. The fire was burning inside
Keldon’s heart now ashe walked toward Samuel. Samuel stopped as he
reached Keldon. He could not see Keldon’s face as it was covered
with his long brown hair. Samuel sniggered as he looked toward
Elessa’s body then he looked back to Keldon. Keldon slowly lifted
his head and flicked his hair back over his shoulder. Samuel took a
gasp of fear as he looked into Keldon’s eyes. He did not see the
green of Keldon’s usual eyes; He saw fire burning inside Keldon’s
soul. Samuel took a step back and tried to back off from Keldon but
Keldon was slowly perusing him not letting his blood red eyes leave
Samuel’s.

"Its not you I have a problem with its....
its Dertrid... I...I...I will let you leave alive now” Samuel said
with his stomach in his throat. Keldon still said nothing as he
walked toward Samuel.

Samuel lifted his sword and swung at Keldon
but he missed him. He swung again but missed again. All this time
Keldon did not flinch but kept walking slowly toward Samuel until
after Samuel had missed for the third time. Keldon stopped. He
raised his blade and pointed it toward Samuel. Samuel lunged at
Keldon and attacked a numerous amount of times but each time it was
parried by Keldon. Samuel turned and ran but as he turned around he
could see the dwarfs breaching the gate and flooding in past the
remaining guards and goblins still fighting. Samuel turned around
again to see Keldon swing his blade toward Samuel and let out a
blood-curdling scream. Samuel stopped, dropped his blade, and fell
to his knees. When he landed on his knees he felt Keldon slice his
blade straight through his chest. He knew now that it was the end.
His eyes started to flicker then as he felt the cold stone under
his head he knew that he was passing into the underworld. He bled
for a while until the darkness set in. The last thing that he saw
was Keldon ripping down one of the queen’s banners and setting it
over Samuel’s head. Keldon took one step back and lifted Samuel’s
blade. He started running toward the Large keep in the middle of
Sáann where he would hopefully finish the quest just as Dertrid’s
father had instructed them. As he reached the keep he saw Elessa's
body lying in the same pool of blood, which had soaked into her
long blond hair and her beautiful white silk gannet. Keldon said a
small prayer as he reached the keep. The prayer was for Elessa.

Dertrid drove his blade into the 30th odd
guard on the same keep. He had climbed up 4 staircases and he had
still not reached the throne room. He knew that the room was on the
floor above him so he turned around and ran up the last set of
stairs. He walked over to the large wooden doors at the top of the
stairs. He stopped as he reached them. He just stared at the doors
and remembered the times he had waited to enter, as his father was
always busy in there. He knew now why his father had not let him
set foot in that room. That room would change his life. His father
always used to tell him that but he never knew what he had meant.
He knew now though. When he enters this room he will kill the queen
and then have Sáann back to the way it was meant to be. But would
it be that easy? Dertrid kicked the door open to see a large
circular room with nothing in it except a large chair at the far
end. The odd thing was it was empty. Where had the queen gone?
Dertrid walked into the centre of the room and looked all around
him but the room was empty. As he walked over to leave the room he
saw the doors slam shut in front of him but no one closed them,
they shut themselves. Dertrid stopped and stood perfectly still. He
could hear two types of breathing. He could hear light womanly
breathing, but he could also hear heavy deep manly breathing. As he
turned around he saw the queen and Gladwin standing side by side on
either side of the chair. Dertrid looked at Galdwin in absolute
disgust. Before Dertrid got time to do anything he was thrown up
against the wall by Gladwin magic. Dertrid was pinned up against
the wall by the one man he had treated and trusted like a father
since he had first met him. The queen walked over to Dertrid and
ran her hand down his side. She felt his whole body until she
stopped her hand on his waist and reached into his trousers.
Dertrid struggled as the queen rummaged inside his trousers until
she pulled out a small knife that Dertrid kept in his inside
pocket. She used this knife to slice down Dertrid shirt and through
the chain mail. She had unbelievable strength. She made it look
like is if she was slicing through butter when in fact she was
slicing through impenetrable chain mail. During all of this she
said nothing and neither did Gladwin. Dertrid's mouth was magically
sealed shut as well so the only sound made was that of the armour
and clothes being sliced off. The queen took a step back and drew
Dertrid’s father’s sword from her back. She raised it above her
head and lunged at Dertrid. The blade came down with enough force
to kill a wild ogre but it stopped just millimetres away from
Dertrid skin. She turned and looked at Gladwin who seemed to be
concentrating on the blade as well. Dertrid fell to the floor as
the magic seal around him was broken but the one around the queen
was still in motion. She screamed and shouted at Gladwin to let her
go but Galdwin walked over to Dertrid and helped him to his feet.
"I have a debt still to pay to your father so please let me join
him today." Gladwin said to Dertrid as he walked over to the
queen.