Dark clouds hung in the air like a vast cape over the world, “A storm is coming…” mumbled a man with dark leather armour at the front of a company of men, he drew his hood up and bowed his head down as a gust of cold wind hit them. A Wall of pouring water was visible rushing towards them. It his them like a thousand icy daggers hit them, nature had no mercy. They had been travelling north for five days now, their journey had been plagued with sporadic attacks from orcs and other evil creatures, there had been trouble in this part of the world, the North Downs isn’t as safe as it once was. Lightning lit up the sky in flashes of white and blue, a man at the back looked up, his dark leather armour was richly decorated and his weapons were ancient and of fine make, a dagger stuck out of his boot. “We’ll stop at the next safe place…” he muttered to a smaller person riding on a pony beside him, the hobbit looked up and nodded.
They continued through the storm for another hour, not finding any shelter in the desolate lands, the richly decorated man and the small hobbit rode behind the company talking to each other, “Alexaa, we can’t find shelter for twenty men in this weather… there is no point stopping.” The man said to the hobbit as he pointed ahead, “But.. Seraile… we will have no strength when we get there… and orcs prowl this land, we must find somewhere to stop!” objected Alexaa as she motioned towards the line of men ahead of them, “I know… next place we find.. even if it is a small outcrop of rocks… we will stop and make camp…” replied Seraile.
The land was completely desolate, the small hills provided very little and useless shelter and rock outcrops were never more than a couple of small boulders barely half the height of a man, Seraile looked ahead, his vivid green eys flashing as lightning forked the sky, “I see a line of trees there, we may shelter underneath them even with the lightning…” The company forged ahead towards the tree, as Seraile approached them behind all his men he heard a shout coming from the front , drawing his sword he spurred his horse forward to find all his mean in a battle with orcs, they were outnumbered two orcs to each man and more orcs were coming over from behind a small hill, Seraile whipped his head round and shouted “RUN ALEXAA!” raising his sword he charged into the fray, hewing down orcs that charged him with a fury that took hold only in heated battle, he glanced behind him and saw Alexaa fight off three orcs with the speed of a striking snake, he dagger biting into each one with deadly purpose, a thought hit him We cannot fight them off… we will all perish. He looked at the hill, still more orcs were poring over. “RETREAT!” He called into the battle, desperate men whose horses had been all killed scrambled away from the fight pursued by orcs, Seraile pulled a man onto the back of his horse and took his bow from the side of his saddle and began targeting any pursuers, making sure all who could got away.
They grouped up a few miles away in a small cave Alexaa had found escaping cross country, only Seraile, Alexaa and three men survived, two perished whilst escaping, succumbing to poisoned arrows, the two that remained had grievous wounds, one had a large deep gash on the side of his chest where a spiked mace had struck him, his ribs were visible and mostly broken, the other had a deep wound in his gut, one edge was ripped roughly, the serrated side of the blade worked well in stopping wounds from healing well and quickly, Seraile looked at the wounds and knew the men wouldn’t see the new day… the thought made him rage inside and wish to hunt down the orcs, but he knew he would perish in the attempt. The men seemed to know it too, even though they were in pain, they kept the air light with dark humour and jokes, Seraile made his best to prepare proper food for them to enjoy before their final adventure, they were grateful, after the meal they lay down, feeling their strength ebb away, the man with the gash to the side of his chest left first, muttering thanks to Seraile and all those with him, the second smiled as he departed and thanks them as well, but also with the words “Do not give up my friend, do not waste your chance, do what you can whilst you still can”. From those very words Seraile forged a new will, a desire to revenge his men and bring back the Defiant Daggers, more powerful and stronger than ever, fighting the evil forces spreading throughout the world. He looked at Alexaa and said “We are turning around”, at the confusing look he got in return he said “We are going to Rohan.”way in a small cave Alexaa had found escaping cross country, only Seraile, Alexaa and three men survived, two perished whilst escaping, succumbing to poisoned arrows, the two that remained had grievous wounds, one had a large deep gash on the side of his chest where a spiked mace had struck him, his ribs were visible and mostly broken, the other had a deep wound in his gut, one edge was ripped roughly, the serrated side of the blade worked well in stopping wounds from healing well and quickly, Seraile looked at the wounds and knew the men wouldn’t see the new day… the thought made him rage inside and wish to hunt down the orcs, but he knew he would perish in the attempt. The men seemed to know it too, even though they were in pain, they kept the air light with dark humour and jokes, Seraile made his best to prepare proper food for them to enjoy before their final adventure, they were grateful, after the meal they lay down, feeling their strength ebb away, the man with the gash to the side of his chest left first, muttering thanks to Seraile and all those with him, the second smiled as he departed and thanks them as well, but also with the words “Do not give up my friend, do not waste your chance, do what you can whilst you still can”. From those very words Seraile forged a new will, a desire to revenge his men and bring back the Defiant Daggers, more powerful and stronger than ever, fighting the evil forces spreading throughout the world. He looked at Alexaa and said “We are turning around”, at the confusing look he got in return he said “We are going to Rohan.”
