The sun is just beginning to rise and a cool breeze caresses the quiet shores of Nen Harn. Nothing seems to disturb the two wanderers. Threland sleeps on the soft sand of the strand, while Sefa swims a little way off the shore, keeping herself away from Threland so as not to awaken him. Her hat, scarf, sword, boots and gloves are all in a pile beside him. She spends her time seeing how far down she can dive, daring herself to go deeper and deeper. A drunken night has led them quite far from their beloved Bree-town and into the surrounding wilderness.
The man stirs, the sunlight reaches his eyes. He sits up and yawns behind his hand. Rubbing at his eye he stares towards the far distance of the lake. A small sleepy smile rises on his lips while he stretches, as his gaze stops at the sight of Sefa. The woman’s form was not hard to miss, her reddish head breaking the stillness of the water. To him she is a beloved friend, he always enjoys her company and manners, though those days he has begun to see her differently, something more than that. The happenings of last had led him to come to the realization that her heart will belong to another man. Being around her, a shoulder for her to lean on would be enough at least, he thinks as he gazes ahead.
Sefa resurfaces with a splash and notices that he is awake. She swims strongly over to join him, smiling at him. ‘ello pudding!’, she calls out to him. She looks tired, apparently having not slept at all, her eyes looking a little bloodshot.
'Ello Sef's! Enjoyin' yer swim?'
She grins at him, 'oh aye! Tis a grand swim! You slept well?'
'Aye! Slept very well..Ah dreamt of-..Of.. Well, somethin' Ah can't r'member now.'
'Always the way I find! Want me to go and find some breakfast? You must be hungry by now...?'
‘Aye…ya think there's anythin' 'round 'ere?'
'I saw an apple tree when we first came here and there's always fishes and stuff like that? Why don't I go and look for some apples and you see if you can get a fire going?'
Threland nods, 'Sounds loike a foine plan t' me.'
Sefa swims out the water and slips her feet into her boots before limping off to try and find the apple tree. Threland watches her leave, then gets to the task. He does not stray far from their spot, beginning to gather twigs and branches. A broad smirk adorns his face as he recalls the previous day; the two had spent it playing a game to kill their boredom. He remembes how each tried to bug the other, how Sefa dared him to strip naked and dance atop a rock, in revenge for Threland daring her to remove her top and climb a tree. His cheeks flush out of the memory of embarrassment, though amusement dominates his emotion.
He lights up a fire and waits. He feeds the flame whilst peering at the calming sight of the lake.
Time passes. Sefa does not return.
Threland goes on for another search for branches. Giving a few impatient glances to the direction towards the woods, where Sefa went, he keeps the flame alive.
She is nowhere to be found still when it dies out.
A frown rises on his features as he fixes his eyes to the forest ahead, then glances at the sun; It has risen much, before midday however. He rises and choses to follow his friend into Far Chetwood.
The forest echoes with the sound of trembling eaves, birds chirping, stretching branches, all disrupt the peace of the woodlands. A foreign voice arises through the murmuring of the wilderness, Sefa’s name echoes within, through the mannish throat. First distant, then closer as the woman hears it. Sefa stretches he ear as she catches his calls, crawled behind a rock and a few high reeds. She does not leave her spot as she cries out his name, "Threland! Over here!". She cringes at the loudness of her voice in the otherwise silent woodland. Threland pauses and listens, he hurries to the source of the call, sighing after in relief to the sight of the beckoning woman.
‘Whot th' hell are y' doin' out 'ere!? AH thought-‘
She hushes him, gesturing for him to duck quickly; 'Threland...get down...'
Threland blinks and does as Sefa indicates, crouching next to her. He whispers with a worried look on his face, 'Whot's the matter?'.
Sefa blinks a few times, looking relieved. Presumably Threland is just in the nick of time as a small orc patrol of half a dozen orcs comes around towards them, clearly hunting for them. She quickly moves to try and press herself and Threland down into the reeds. He falls into the plantlife face-first, his palms resting on the ground, and looks up slowly, widening his eyes with horror at the orc patrol. The clattering sound of metals, unsynchronised and barbaric sounds from the beings fill the air, along with the foul scent. '..Balrogs Blazes..', he curses with hushed words. Sefa remains utterly still, going as silent as she can to try and prevent the orcs from seeing or hearing them. They move closer towards them, spreading out to hunt Sefa down - having spotted her earlier and currently looking for her. The two lie down unmovingly, the man holds his breath and tilts his eyes around towards the incoming orcs. He gazes at her, with alert eyes, before resuming scanning the area. Sefa keeps her fearful eyes on an orc as it makes its way over to the edge of the lake, sniffing loudly and growling something foul in its own tongue. Threland's heart pounds so strongly that he fears it will be heard, staring up at the creature. She gasps slightly as the orc suddenly turns straight towards them, the beast having heard or smelt them. It comes straight towards them, calling out gruffly to the other several members of the patrol as it bears down on them.
Threland curses and jumps up, grasping immediately at the hilt of his sword before drawing it and banging it against the orc's already drawn weapon. ‘Run Sef's! Get out of 'ere!’.
Sefa sits up quickly but doesn't stand up. She looks up at him; 'Pass me a sword, I can't run!', she shouts as he battles with the creature, twirling his weapon he hits at the orc's blade, up and right and left, reaching for his other sword, baring his teeth as he doesn’t find it. He tosses Sefa his knife instead. Not much to stand against the increasing threat, in the meantime more orcs gathering around the spot of hussle.
Threland attempts a slash for the orc's head, like he once managed to behead one, but the thing appears more quick then the latter and turns the blade upwards, rubbing sounds of iron against iron can be heard as the weapons are raised and locked. The foul beast draws a barbed knife and snarls as it plants it to Threland's ribs. He yelps loudly in pain and stands still for a moment. Sefa screams as she sees the blow go into her friend. The orc draws its blade out viciously while she somehow manages to heave herself to her feet, apparently having difficulty standing - all the running having taken its toll on her. She moves to place herself between Threland and the orcs. One of them slashes out towards her and she manages to avoid the hit but another orc darts forwards and manages to send a slash towards her arm making her drop the blade on the ground.
The man holds at his injured side, the living matter streaming around his fingers as he grimaces, holding his blade up tightly and stubbornly, refusing to go down. He is about to step aside and charge at the orc facing Sefa, yet his timing is horrible; another one snarls, crawled on the rock and leaps to the air, armed with a bat, which it aims for Threland’s head. The man widens his eyes and starts to turn at the sound, but too late. He falls on his knees, facing the ground woozily as he clutches on his head. The orc with the barbed knife attacks Sefa with a stab which she manages to dodge; she lunges forwards, dodging scooping up her blade before flinging it forwards, managing to decapitate the orc's head. She then throws it forwards into some of the other orcs and turns to help Threland.
The other orc that hit his head stands behind him, giggling gruffly in amusement to his suffering. It approaches him, spinning the bat to strike him again. It though freezes in spot, looking down…A blade sticks out of its gut, Threland holding the other end. He has made a blind strike of desperation, completely by accident. It seems that luck smiles on him this time, the dying creature slowly clambers to the ground. Threland looks up blearily at Sefa red-stained forehead and the side of his shirt apparent. The woman
stumbles forwards to try and grab Threland and drag him towards the water, seeing the lake as their own chance of survival but she's cut off by another two orcs who round down on them. She let's go of Threland and stands over him protectively as the orcs turn to face them.
Threland gazes towards what appears to be a blurry image of Sefa and the shimmering water. He leans to one side, trying pathetically to stand, however dizzily falls down again, grunting painfully. The two orcs scream wildly as they point their blades at Sefa and Threland each, ready to attack. Yet again however fortune favours him. One og the orcs, the one pointing at Threland suddenly falls to the ground. None had considered nature’s fury against the obiminations of the enemy, right until a large bear emerged from the depths of the forest and clawed the orc’s head, ripped its neck off, snarling loudly. The orc’s companion turns quickly, intimidated, crying out fearfully.
Sefa’s heart pounds with hope. She uses this distraction to grab her friend once more, dragging him off into the water, stumbling somewhat, the gash to her side bleeding down her clothing as she enters the water. She supports him up in the water by putting her left hand around his shoulders, allowing the water to take his weight as she floats him on the surface of it. Another orc appears to witness the vicious mauling of the other two, but flees at the sight of the bear. A horrid curse in a foreign, barbaric language is heard from the distance. The orc's shouting has aroused the attention of another two of its kind, which run around from a different angle to avoid the bear. They run into the water, making towards the vulnerable pair. Sefa moves them deeper into the water, away from the feral beast which busies itself with the orcish flesh.
Threland blinks as he regains some of his focus, quite disoriented however as he swims along quite weakly. The two orcs shout at the pair as their heavy armor doesn't allow them to swim into deep. They stay to the shallows baring their teeth angrily and drawing their spears, one of them aiming a throw towards Sefa's way. She manages to dodge to the side, which splashes harmlessly into the water, then She puts the knife between her teeth and reaches over to grab the spear, still supporting Threland upright as she swims off towards the middle of the lake, trying to get out of range of further attacks. a soft breeze blowing towards Sefa and Threland, aiding their swim across the lake somewhat as the waters urge them that way. The orcs scream and snarl angrily as they lob another spear, which hits the bottom of the lake. Suddenly a cracking sound can be heard, and out of unbelievable luck, a massive branch from the giant tree falls, crushing the two creatures and splattering in the water, another wave ushering Sefa and Threland towards the shore.
She freezes her swimming suddenly when she spots what's waiting on the shore, another orc and this one with a bow. It laughs evilly and sends an arrow straight towards them. The arrow hits the water beside them. Sefa reacts quickly and moves in front of Threland, turning her back to the archer in order to protect Threland. It fires off another arrow which lands in her shoulder, its momentum lessened somewhat by the water but still not enough to prevent all damage. She cries out in pain, still somehow continuing to tread water and hold Threland up and keep the knife in her teeth and the spear in her hand. widens his eyes at her shout and looks at her. He grunts while he grasps at her shirt and drags her weakly towards the shallows where they can both stand. He grabs a rock and lobs it blindly towards the snarling sound of the orcish laughter, his luck not having yet ran out; he manages to daze the enemy. Sefa grins as they make it safely to the shore on the other side. She keeps her arm tightly around Threland as they stumble out onto the surface, keeping a hold on him to keep him upright, looking pale from her bleeding side and shoulder. He seems to have regained most of his focus, stumbling along with her as fast as he can.
She turns and stumbles off to one side, running quickly, only to bump straight into another orc. She lunges forwards with the weighty spear, letting go of Threland and standing in front of him. The orc dodges to one side and darts forwards to grab Sefa by the neck, lifting her off the ground as she flails wildly, grabbing the knife from between her teeth and trying to hit out at the orc with both spear and blade, although his heavy armour keeps him fairly well protected. ‘No!!’, Threland cries out. He raises his blade, staggering after Sefa as the wind blows some dust into the orc's eyes and causes it to stop and send a blind punch for Sefa's face. The man bares his teeth as he uses all his strength to fight back the pain. Lunging himself at the monster he tackles the orc, and causes the three to stumble Threland on the ground. Sefa grins as the punch misses, gasping for breath and wobbling to one side as the orc lets go of her. She stabs down with her spear, plunging it into the orc's back and killing it easily. She reaches over her shoulder, touching the arrow that remains there briefly before shrugging and leaving it there. She hurries over to Threland and shoves the blade into her belt, offering her hand, adrenaline keeping her going even through her pain.
Threland gives her a look of hope, seeing that Sefa is relatively alright, blood trailing down the bridge of his nose. He takes her hand, charging into the woods together with her, running at the same speed as Sefa with his sword at his other hand, the orcs having lost track of them after a while of helpless charging into safety.
