The Adventures of Draco Zandros
Chapter 1
The hooded figure crouched unmoving behind the thick foliage of the forest
undergrowth. His cloak, a patchwork of greens and browns, made him all but invisible
to the casual eye. No more than a hundred metres to the front of the figure was a
group of nine human like creatures, their bodies covered in fur and their faces
similar to those of wolves. In their clawed hands they held pieces of some
unfortunate creature that had been caught, cooked and was now been devoured at an
alarming rate. The creatures constantly growled and barked at each other, fighting
over the most tender pieces of meat.
A large black bear moved cautiously towards the rear of the hooded figure, creeping
silently in the darkening light of dusk. Its hot breath could be seen faintly in the
dim light and the smell of dried blood lingered on it's fur. Silently it crept
forward until it's weight snapped a twig hidden by fallen leaves. Without moving the
hooded figure spoke to the fearsome animal.
"Careful you oaf, your lucky they didn't hear you!"
The bear let out a quiet growl then moved forward to stand to the side of the hooded
figure.
"How's the others? Are they ready?"
The bear made a low throaty sound and the figure turned to look at his companion,
the lower half of his face was hidden by a cloth mask but his youthful eyes could
just be seen below the hood and showed his eagerness and enjoyment.
"Good my friend, then soon we well be able to deal with these trespassers."
The noise from the creatures intensified as they fought over the last scraps of
meat, but their attention was soon diverted elsewhere as a human youth wearing
chain mail armour charged out of the undergrowth wielding a shield and a sword
raised high ready to strike. Looking like some sort of berserker the warrior charged
headlong into the disarrayed creatures, catching one across the chest with a
powerful slash of his sword, ripping open the hide and exposing the internals to the
cooling air.
This was the sign the hunter had waited for and in one swift movement he raised his
bow, stringed an arrow and let it fly. The arrow hit its target, penetrating the
creatures skull and knocking it sideways with the force of the impact. Magical
energy crawled over the creatures hands as the spell it was preparing was stopped
midway, arch's of energy dancing over the creatures fur until its energy was spent.
From the opposite side of the clearing another arrow flew and dug itself into the
side of a creature that had just retrieved its weapon, turning it with the force of
impact. The creature barely had time to register the attack before a snarling wolf
leaped out of a nearby bush knocking it over and tearing out its throat.
Meanwhile the hooded figures furry companion barrelled between two of the creatures
and jumped on one that was using its magical powers to heal its companions, despite
the size of the creatures it went down easily due to the weight of the large bear
and their was an audible crack as its head hit a rock. The two creatures the bear
had run past, obviously warriors by their size and equipment, turned to avenge their
fallen comrade.
The human warrior dealt quickly with his next opponent, a quick parry and a thrust
upwards was all that was required to leave the creature with a sword blade
protruding out the top of its skull. The weight of the falling corpse tugged at the
blade out of the warriors hand, rather than wasting time he let it go and grabbed
an axe hanging by his side. He then turned his attention to the two creatures that
was advancing on the bear.
The bear was swinging its claws towards the creatures but they kept dodging out of
the way and then thrusting with their weapons. With a sickening thud an axe embedded
itself into one of the creatures, with a sound like pulling something out of mud it
was pulled back out as the creatures body collapsed to the floor. The other creature
turned to see where this new attack had come from but soon realised turning his back
on an enraged bear was a fatal mistake as his spine was ripped out of his back.
Another creature that had tried to sneak up on the warrior received an arrow in the
stomach and then another in the chest before it could even raise its weapon. The
final creature, seeing it's companions slaughtered before it, gave up on a spell it
had been trying to cast and fled deeper into the forest. The wolf gave chase
snapping at its ankles as it fled, a well timed bite tripped the creature causing it
to fall to the forest floor. Struggling for it's life the creature kicked and
punched out at the wolf, keeping its lethal teeth away but receiving minor cuts on
its arms and legs in return.
The bear waddled up to the fallen creature, caught one of its arms in its teeth and
wrenched, causing the creature to scream out in pain and momentarily stop its
struggle. This was the only opening the wolf needed, jumping onto the creatures
chest it placed its teeth around the creatures mouth, biting deep and pulling at the
same time the wolf ripped the creatures throat out. After a few more seconds the
creature was dead and the two animals began ripping chunks of flesh and guts from
the corpse and devouring them.
"There's nothing like a good bloodbath to finish off the day." The human
warrior surveyed the carnage they had just unleashed, a look of pure happiness on
his youthful face.
"I'd prefer a nice hot bath and a cold bottle of wine myself", this was
said by a young female who had just dropped out of a large tree and was moving
towards the warrior. She wore a woollen cloak made to a high standard over soft
leather armour in shades of purple and brown. "So, what's the plan Draco?"
She was speaking to the hooded figure that was currently moving towards the two
animal companions.
Draco ignored the question and proceeded to examine the minor wounds both animals
had gained during the fight, both animals ignored the questing fingers and continued
eating their prey. Happy that the wounds would heal on their own without
complication Draco turned towards the others and gave the question some thought.
"It'll be dark long before we get back to Ascalon so we should either set up
camp somewhere here or try to make it to a local settlement. What you think
Marthan?"
The warrior pondered the hunters words for a short while before giving his answer.
"I can think of only one settlement close by and I believe we'd be better of
in the forest, the bedding has less bugs to begin with, sorry Serra." Marthan
gave Serra a big toothy grin, ignoring the look of disgust she was giving to the
brothers.
The group began going through the items the beasts had been carrying, stuffing
anything of value into their packs and even going as far as skinning three of the
largest specimens.
"Well well, what have we got here?" Marthan was holding a large flask
close to his face, sniffing at the contents.
Draco looked up from his skinning to see what Marthan had. "Careful Marthan,
not everything these guys consume is good for us."
Marthan grinned at Draco before taking a long swig of the contents. "Nice,
Dwarven ale, still in its prime too." He replaced the contents the stopper and
attached the flask to his belt before finishing his scavenging.
After a few more minutes the group had finished their scavenging and headed off to a
clearing they'd passed earlier, the animals trailing behind contentedly.
By the time the sun disappeared completely from the sky the group had set camp and
was enjoying the Dwarven ale by the light of a fire. Draco sat contentedly with
Serra leaning back into his arms and resting her head on his chest. He could smell
a faint trace of blood mixed in with the fragrant soap she liked to use, leaning
down he brushed his lips gently against her neck.
"I love you." he said as she turned to look into his eyes, a smile on her
lips, those lips that looked so tempting. He lent closer, closing his eyes in the
process and felt a whack on his arm.
"Save that for when you get a room and get some of this down you." Said
Marthan. It was times like this Draco wished he didn't have a brother but the moment
had passed so he took a swig and passed the flask to Serra, who contemplated it
before deciding it was the best she could hope for.
