Drums!
Drums
rolled in the distance and the squealing and grunting of orcish throats could
be heard in the distance, quickly approaching. Drums meant trolls – this her
father had taught her. And trolls meant lethal danger! Rómeniêl steadied
herself, fear flickering in the young girl’s eyes.
She was
tall and slender, no sign of war yet on her though always taught to wield a
weapon since she could hold one. A grave elderly man stood by her side sternly
nodding in silent acknowledgement – her father. This was her test, her first
test of strength and will, which he had set her on.
The girl
was not yet grown into a full woman, but no child either. "Rómeniêl,
straighten your back and never lower your sword. Trolls will bring the world
down upon you, ward your head, and move quickly… they are slow to turn but
quick in swinging their arms." She nodded, Rómeniêl's heart pounding
within her. Her knees shook slightly, but she was determined not to let it show
in front of her father. His only child, his heir, the one that was brought up
to fulfil the oath that her family had pledged! Only now she began to
understand what that oath would mean to her life. Yet she was to decide, if she
would follow all those that preceded her, after this battle. All her life's
thread hung at this battle, this one test.
Rómeniêl
turned her head to each side, seeing the stern complexion of her father's men
and their readied bodies. Sweat of anxiety trickled from her forehead, down her
cheeks, mingling with the dirt of the plains. The sound of drums now pounding
in her ears, the trolls now seen not only heard. The odds seemed not good, for
her father's rangers were but a dozen men against 5 trolls approaching,
followed by at least twice the number of orcs as they were. Yet she knew that
those men were able and had survived worse. This was a sport for them, even if
it was a deadly one – for either side.
It would be
seconds until they would engage into battle, but they seemed to stretch into
eternity. An elderly soldier, whom she had known all her life, laid an
encouraging hand on her shoulder and smiled. She returned the smile and her
heart seemed to calm. "Kill the orc drummers first. You'll manage my dear
child." This man had always been a kind mentor to her, whenever her father
was stern and scolded her for minor mistakes.
Now the
drumming filled all the air and shook everyone to the bone. Her father's men
let out battle cries and Rómeniêl joined into them. They stormed forward into
the darkness of night screaming. The clashing of steel upon steel, steel upon
bone soon filled the air and the sound of drums.
All her
fears were forgotten and she wielded her sword against an orc that ran onto
her, thrusting it deep into his throat. Black blood gushed from his throat and
mouth and covered her blade and hands. Orc stench filled the air and burnt her
nostrils. Within the darkness of the night she wielded her blade, soon half
blind by the blood that covered her face. Orcs fell around her as she heard the
rangers raging. Some of her father's men were already badly wounded but still
fighting on, wielding their weapons fending off trolls. The trolls, the huge,
bulky, grey creatures, soon were not accompanied by drumming anymore, for the
orc drummers that had urged them forward were dead.
The minutes
stretched even more as the battlefield was quenched from the drumming. A
huge troll approached Rómeniêl and she ducked, uppering her sword to fend his
blow off. The huge hand of the troll swung to one side and hit her, sending her
flying through the air. She landed hard and felt that some of her rips were
broken as she heavily drew breath, unable to move for a second. The troll
rushed at her and lifted his hand for a final blow as the figure of a man
towered above her all of the sudden, swinging a halberd to defend her. She
moaned and tried to stumble to her knees, searching for her sword that she had
let go. As another troll came up from behind. Rómeniêl screamed on top of her
lungs, making her chest throb with pain. It was too late. The second troll
crushed the man that had just saved her from the final blow. He fell, slowly it
seemed for Rómeniêl's widened eyes, to the ground his body broken by the stone
that the troll had landed upon his head. His helmet was dented and blood
flooded down his face as he fell back upon Rómeniêl, burying her beneath him,
warding her one last time from the trolls, who now turned away, thinking both
of them dead.
A wave of
desperation ran through Rómeniêl's body and she looked into the veiling eyes of
her beloved mentor. "You'll manage my dear child," he muttered under
his last breath, with a last smile upon his lips, placing his halberd into her
hand as the light left his eyes.
With a
scream of desperation and anger Rómeniêl gathered all the air and courage that
was left in her and lifted steadying herself upon the halberd. Then she rushed
forward with full speed and thrust the halberd into the back of the troll that
had just thrown the stone at her friend. No fear was left there and as she once
more struck the troll from behind; screaming still the first light of the sun
came up and reflected on the tip of her halberd. The battle was over as the
sunlight touched the remaining trolls and turned them to stone.
Stopping
all the sudden at this sight Rómeniêl fell to her knees crying. She sobbed and
looked into the light of the arising day. Incredible pain surged through her
slender body. As the light of the sun hit her water filled eyes she knew her
destiny.
Slowly and
carefully she raised herself, wiping the tears away. Noble and grave as hewn
stone her figure could be seen standing against the dawning sky until the light
was fully up. She walked over the battlefield, tending to the wounded. She
ignored her own pain, her own wounds and her own sorrow. Then walked over the
plain looking for her fallen friend. Lifting him up from the place the rangers
had placed him and burying him on top of the hill where the first light of day
had saved them all. Then she took up his halberd, tied it to her back, turned
and an air was about her as she walked back to her father's camp knowing that
there was an oath to pledge.
Love reading this! Great job!
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