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  Stygian Sword

  Stygian Sword

  Sir Kokiri Kid

  Copyright 2014 by Sir Kokiri Kid

  Part I- The Road.

  Hector

  5:00. 6:00. 7:00.

  I fell out of bed. Dazed, I look around the one room of my house. Wooden floor, thached celing, bed, and a mask on the wall. I never really liked that mask, it was a dark purple and black. Evil colors. As I pick myself off the ground, massaging my aching face, I noticed something underneath the door. A letter! I quickly put on a blue tunic and brown pants. I pick up the letter and put it on my dining table. I found my little metal mirror and checked my face. (Yeah. I can afford a mirror) Looking good, I guess. I am 5'10" with light skin and brunette hair that was always untidy and curly, and my brown eyes looked tired. I make myself some food, bread and milk again, and open the letter while casually sipping tea. I open it and read it.

  Dear Citizen of Ilya,

  As you may know, My daughter was kidnapped by an evil wizard. Will all warriors meet at the capital city by sundown on the summer solstice.

  From, King Roy.

  PS Reward involved.

  My eyes lit up at reward. A wizard though? So cliché. Oh well. Reward here I come! I dashed out the door, and was running over to my friend's house. Heather may be a lady, but she can cut stone in two with her sword. In fact all the guys in our entire town of New Haven want her love. She yelled through the door. "If someone else is going to 'Proclaim their Love' to me, I'll rip your head off!" And chuckling I replied "I'd rather eat dirt than say that you're pretty!" And the door opened. Heather, coming in at 5'6" with flowing black hair, purple eyes and a freckled face. She was slightly build, but was insanely strong and tough. Heather was leaning on her sword. Gods, she did not look happy. She looked furious until she saw it was me. "Oh hey Hector! Get the king's letter?" I replied "Yeah. Hey, we should go!" she was shocked. "And die?" I smiled. "Hey, neither of us Will die with you protecting us." She blushed. "Oh how sweet." SMACK! Words cannot describe how much her slaps hurt. "What...?" I must've looked very confused "That's for being nice!" Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you. Heather hates nice people. Not that she's evil or anything, she's just weird in that way. "So. Are we leaving or not?" I was still rubbing my aching face. "Sure. Why not. We'd have to leave now though. The solstice is in a fortnight. And we could run into trouble. Even two fully armed thirteen year-olds stand no chance against a band of bandits."

  We ran to the bakers, got some bread. Went and got some salted strips of meat, and of course I went to grab my sword, bow, and knife, and met up with Heather. She had several animal skins and some gear like her sword, axe and bow. We set off towards the capital city of Garnet. We walked for a ful uneventful day, and at night we pitched camp. We sat by the fire on opposite sides, having debates about issues such as best weapons, and other things, like who is the most repulsive village boy. Then we heard a snapping branch. I grabbed Heather's waist and mouth and pulled her out of the firelight. I drew my sword, and let go of Heather. I hissed "punch me later! Now there is someone nearby!" And a hooded figure went to the fire. "Show yourselves." He demanded. "Look, if you are not who I'm looking for, reveal yourselves and I Will not harm you." "If you are who I'm looking for, it's better to just run." And he smirked. I walked into the light with Heather. "We are here. Are we who you need to find?" I asked. He took off his hood. He came in with 5'8" of lightly tan-skinned male, black hair of moderate length, devilish hazel eyes and always with a smirk etched into his face. He smiled happily, "No. Not at all. Hey, what's a fine duo doing out this late? You should head back to the village!" Before I could stop myself I replied, "going to Garnet, and you?" He looked troubled. "I can't find the one I'm looking for, but Garnet sounds nice. Can I come?" Heather broke in. "Yes. You may, but may you tell us your name?" He grinned. "Ivanoff. Call me Ivan." Ivan dumped a bag on the ground. "Anyone else here a cannibal? Good. All I have here is pure raw bear meat." I could tell Heather was repulsed. She said, "well, if you're hungry enough... oh. Yeah." WHACK! I fell, my eyes watering in pain. Heather just punched me in the side. And so as I screamed in pain, Ivan cooked his meat, Whistling cheerily. We all stuffed ourselves on bear meat, and it was actually really good. Even Heather liked it. We created a tent-like structure with two large skins over a branch, which we stored our weapons in. We all slept in different places. Ivan climbed a tree, and covered himself in numerous skins so that he looked like a cocoon. Heather slept in a ditch nearby, with a skin over the entire ditch, and one over herself, and I slept under the stars, and looked up to the heavens, and fell asleep after a while. We brought like fourteen skins, so running out was not at all a problem. The next morning, Heather got up first. Saying "wake up" she tossed me into the stream close by. I awoke startled. I sputtered and swam out to the bank. Heather then took a rock and slung it into Ivan's tree. Ivan screamed as he fell and landed in Heather's ditch. He bolted upright, throwing off his skins and lashing out blindly with his dagger. "Wake up!" Heather smiled wickedly. Ivan was not pleased. We packed up, and promptly left. Heather was cheery, and was always saying "we'll be in Old Haven by tonight!" And she was right. We arrived in Old Haven by noon, and split up. "Heather, gather more meat. Ivan, more bread. I'll look into a room at the inn. Meet me there!" And I went down main street and found the inn. The door creaked open to a lavishly furnished room. There were countless heroes here. All in armor, going to save the princess. I quickly found the innkeeper, and got my party two rooms. One for Heather and one for me and Ivan. I sat down, across from another boy who was drinking coffee. He stood at 6'1" with blue eyes, pale skin and short spiky brown hair. He wore a fur and blue velvet vest, with a sleeveless orange robe underneath. He had a deep voice. "You are a hero are you not?" I replied "why yes I am." He smiled. "Good. I need a group to travel with. Look. You land a blow on me, and I'll join your quest." I agreed. We went outside and drew our blades. He had a 5' long sword, pointed towards me. I had a 3' sword. He stabbed forward, and I dodged. I slashed at him and he blocked and countered. I ducked but he brought his blade around and smote me with the flat of his blade. He laughed. "Hey. You are a good fighter. I'll join you anyways." I was grateful. We re-entered the inn and sat down. I bought us two coffees and we sat down and talked. Then Ivan came in. Ivan sat down and asked me "New party member? What's his name?" I actually had no idea. He looked curiously at me. "He's one of your friends? Very well. I am called Loch. I am from the eastern lands." And Ivan said. "So Loch, that's one giant sword there. Are you sure you can hold it?" And then Heather came in, and walked over. "Another one? Good we need numbers" "Back woman!" Loch yelled and unsheathed his sword, pointing it at Heather. Heather drew her sword and pointed it at Loch. Everyone stared at us. The tension grew and finally Loch sheathed his blade. And then so did Heather. They sat down on opposite ends of the table. We all finished our coffee quickly. Ivan said: "Bedtime kiddies!" Loch scoffed. "I am not a child. I am fourteen years old." Ivan looked insulted. Heather and Ivan trooped up to their respective rooms, except Loch and I sat down and talked with knights, paladins, soldiers and mages, gathering information and at midnight retired to our and Ivan's room. I fell asleep while Loch was still standing at the window. The next morning Ivan decided to go wake Heather up. "I'm going to scare Heather awake" he said. "Do you like your head attached to your body?" I warned. Ivan smiled and left the room. I briefly heard screaming from the next room. I poked my head out the door only to see Ivan fly by, then Heather stormed past dressed in a night robe. She was steaming mad. Loch was still in the room, putting on his velvet vest and came to my side. I looked up at him. "Did you get any sleep last night?" He looked ahead, emotionless saying "one or two hours at the most... I'm fine. Not to worry." I was shocked. "Loch! Get some sleep!
If you don't you'll be slower on the battlefield!" Loch turned white. "I cannot afford that. I Will get more sleep tomorrow. Today, lots of coffee." And that's when Heather got to Ivan. She pinned him to the wall by his neck, and was punching his face. Ivan's face turned blue. Acting fast, I came up behind her and drew my sword, making sure to do so as noisily as possible. Dropping Ivan she pivoted as he crawled away. She faced me. I glared at her as a sheathed my weapon. She grinned. "Good wake up call boys! I prefer my violence fresh in the morning." I turned to Ivan. "I warned you against it. You are lucky to be alive." Over coffee Loch and I explained the information we found. "The wizard guarding the princess is strong. He uses anima, or elemental magic. He is alone in a tower laden with traps." "We could burst in and swing our swords about until we kill him." Heather piped. "No." Loch interrupted. "A wizard can only be hurt by magic and jade weapons." Ivan added "Where do we find jade tools?" As if right on cue my boot cut open. I picked up a jade dagger with a cruel wavy edge. I looked to the door as a hooded figure and a girl of