The Seven Heroes chapter 1 part 3

Chapter  1 part 3

The first few to arrive are short and scrawny. With mismatched cloth and leather pieces hanging on their bony frame, they look like kids playing soldiers. One may actually lower their guard seeing that they are up against something alike a child. The prince and the knight knew better. The long ears, sharp yet unkempt teeth and bloodthirsty eyes tell a different tale altogether. They are monsters.

The knight activated his lantern shield that gave off a faint light. First there were four creeping towards them, when the goblins noticed the light of the shield they abandoned stealth and ran towards the knight. Brandishing crude looking metal pieces fashioned as swords, they jeered and shouted as they come swinging their “blades” about.

When the four met the knight another six came into view, and then another eight after. The knight is outnumbered.

“Well, I would not have it any other way.” The knight muttered as he unsheathed a short sword that was kept in his round shield.

The knight held his own against the number of opponents; at first he was shouting a battle cry loudly, he then sang as he block blows and slash through leather and cloth. It was quite a sight; a bright light amidst the jeering, unending, sharp cutting darkness. Everyone’s eyes are on him.  

Then came the orcen. They were twice the height of goblins and three times the girth. Their massive frame supports the large two handed axes they seem to prefer wielding. Their faces look more of a swine than of a man so they cannot be mistaken for a human.  Three large orcen warriors bore down towards the knight.

The knight bashed the first orcen with the edge of his shield and created some space. He threw a sword to the bushes where Roan and his sister were hiding and shouted as he braced himself for another hard blow from a different orcen.

“GET READY TO RUN!”

Rolan did not understand. They are outnumbered, how can they escape!

He grabbed the sword as he looked around. His confusion turned to surprise as he stood. The goblins are all gone. The knight is just fighting three orcens. He then noticed a large sword decapitating an orcen from behind and found why all their enemies seem to disappear one by one. The prince prowls the darkness.

One of the orcen finally noticed the prince and turned to deal with him while his other comrade kept on attacking the knight.

“Wrong choice.”

The prince glared up to the orcen, his menacing eyes glowing in the dark did not seem to bother his nemesis. The orcen held his axe with both arms and started a wide horizontal swing.

Whilst the knight fights by exchanging blows and meeting their opponents head on, the prince fights with speed and vicious accuracy. Prince Roan ran towards the left of his enemy dragging his sword through the air and ducked through the horizontal swing of the axe. Using the momentum, he placed his left foot behind him and pulled the sword around for a diagonal arc.

The sword caught the orcen as he was reeling from an over winded blow. They only needed to deal with one more.

“Rolan Vincent Galder, take your sister and run behind us.” The prince started running and passes through the dueling knight and orcen.

The orcen slumped to his knees when he passed through.

“Hey that was mine, naughty prince!” They knight’s face showed his dismay.

“Nope, mine… that makes it eighteen to four.” The prince smirked when the knight started running.

“Hey now, come on-” The knight started to argue as he started his sprint but the prince cut him off.

“I know I would not be able to take that many if you haven’t gotten all their attention.”

The prince once again proved unreadable. He changed the way he talked quickly and without hesitation. He then flashed a genuine smile to his aide and friend.

“Thanks Johann. That fight was all you.”

The knight Johann reddened with embarrassment and stuttered a complaint.

“H-How the heck can I get mad with that? You’re unfair Roan.”

Johann then turned to the two civilians and beckons them forward.

“F- Fine, fine, let’s just get out of here. You two, please come closer to me. I can protect you. My name is Johann von Milne, a knight of Alexander and the person ahead of us is our crown prince, Lord Roan Halcyon til Alexander, next in line to the throne of the kingdom of Alex-”

“Johann, the short version is enough. I think we are supposed to be running for our lives. Silence seems ideal at the moment.” The prince once again interjected. The rest of the run was quiet... if not for the jingling and jangling of the knight Johann’s armor and his muttering.