The Dark World

Chapter 5: Distractions

Marisoll

These knights wanted to defeat the dark lord, something I had only ever dared to dream about, now I had a chance.

I knew I could never do it alone, even with these men and their wizard we would more than likely still fail, but there was a glimmer of hope for the first time in years, like I had dreamed it so much it had become a reality. I would not miss out on such a chance.

I filled their bellies with food, especially the men for men fought better and endured better with full stomachs. Being a Druid meant so much more than just having the ability to shift shapes, I also received little glimpses into the future too sometimes, nothing that would be deemed too important or deep, for example, I couldn’t see whether we would win this battle or not, but small things I could see, like dreaming about two men on my land, seeing their names in my minds eye, that’s how I had known these people would be here, but again, I wasn’t allowed any important information, I wasn’t told whether they would be allies or foes, I had to figure that out for myself.

I was good at being quiet and observing, while they talked among themselves I watched the way Ezekiel watched mystic Zerena, she had been the only one who I hadn’t foreseen being here, she was a wizard so that made sense, her own gifts would have protected her from being detected by my gifts.

Ezekiel cared for her, I could tell, he watched her face with a softness in his own I had not yet seen until now, if she so much as shivered he would ask her if she was ok, if she was warm enough.

He found ways to lightly touch her whenever he could, even if it was as simple as lightly brushing his side against hers. It was sweet, I had never experienced the attentions of a man before, never been courted, never had anyone want me.

I chose to live my life completely alone when I was sixteen years of age, the beginnings of when the darkness had started. My family had not been royal people, but we had not been poor either, we lived comfortable enough and kept to ourselves in our peaceful village, we took care of our people, a simple but pleasant life.

As druids, we also had powers of the elements, well, my parents had, I had been given the gift to shift animal forms, my main form was the wolf, a stealthy, agile and fearsome animal, good for hunting, sneaking around and protecting myself, so that was now my spirit animal, the form most easy for me to shift into.

My beautiful village and people, my family, had all been slain brutally by knights under order from their king, they had heard about the crops and vegetables always growing here, the king had asked my father to provide his people too, but my father had refused these greedy men who already wanted for nothing, we only helped those who truly needed it.

The king had been enraged, sent his men to destroy our village and take our food, killed our men, my father included, used the bodies of our women for their pleasure before slaying them too. My mother had made me hide in the wardrobe, when the men had made their way up to us, she had opened a window and made me climb out. “Run Mari, run and no matter what you hear don’t you dare look back or stop, keep running. Promise me.” Those words had always stayed fresh in my mind, the fear, and desperation in her eyes.

The blood king, a name he had earned from so much bloodshed, that’s who had slain my family and I hoped he had suffered a terrible death from the darkness, if he was still alive, then I hoped he was afraid and alone, close to death.

I had not always been this hard and bitter, I used to be happy and peaceful, I had so much love to give, but death and pain does something to a person no matter their gifts or strengths, it had changed me, I was broken, I knew that.

I had forgotten so much of my village and that scared me, some nights I struggled even to remember my parents’ faces. Glimpses of my home would come to my mind when I was on the edge of sleep, the sun always seemed to be smiling down on our village, even the rain and winds had been a caressing and cool welcome, birds would sing, the animals would roam freely around us unafraid, our homes had been decorated with flowers of all colours along the buildings, it had been beautiful, now it was nothing but a ruined mess, the animals long dead, homes crumbling while others were no longer there, some remnants of stone the only reminder and proof that a home had ever been there at all.

There was no grass to be seen, only dirt and mud, where I was living now was the last patch of grassland left, I had no bed, I slept on the ground and had grown used to it, if the nights were too cold I would change to the form of the wolf, the fur would keep me warm.

I shook myself from my dark thoughts and looked at Cairn, he was different from Ezekiel, I saw more of myself in him, a broken man from pains and traumas he had yet to share. He was built strong, he had removed his armor as had Ezekiel, they both wore similar clothing, white shirts with some of the buttons undone, the sleeves loose with frilly cuffs, Cairn had pulled his sleeves up to his elbows.

He wore black tight-fitting trousers, but I had no doubt that they were stretchy enough to fight in, with them he wore laced up knee-high black boots, typical attire for most knights when not armoured up.

Even with the clothing I had no difficulty seeing his big and muscular frame, a warrior body much like Ezekiel, powerful looking and even more intimidating at six foot six, these men were not ones anyone would look at and want to mess with, Cairn in particular came across as a much more fearsome and dangerous foe, he carried himself confidently, arrogantly almost, he seemed to have a permanent smirk on his face, a thick ragged scar from his forehead traveling all the way down over his left eye and to just past his cheek made him look more scary, I expect people ran for cover whenever they saw him.

He was enjoying his food now he trusted I hadn’t poisoned it, I smiled inwardly to myself, I knew he wouldn’t trust me so easily.

As scary as he appeared, I could not deny he was an incredibly handsome man, unusually so, he still had all his teeth, nice white teeth, he had dark honey blonde almost curly hair that fell into piercing turquoise eyes, not unnatural in our world, our eyes were not limited to only browns, greens and blues, some people even had red eyes, or orange.

Cairns were beautifully striking, he had a strong chiseled jawline and full lips, I bet he could have had any lady he wanted back before the darkness, even now, I suspect he had little trouble finding a lady to spend the night with, even a lady of the night I would bet had let him spend the night with her for free.

Cairn came across as cold and mocking, cruel even, I wondered if he had always been like that. Ezekiel however, was not as easy to read.

Ezekiel came across as polite and gentlemanly, but there was a fierceness there in his eyes, a coldness even, I could tell the two men did not get along, yet they were more similar than they knew even in appearance, Ezekiel was built just as muscular and powerful, taller than average for a man at six foot five, he had no scars on his face, he had a very handsome face too and again, I suspect he had no troubles finding women to spend the night with.

He had a strong jawline too, perhaps a little softer than Cairn’s, full lips and straight black hair that fell into dark emerald green eyes.

It was my first time seeing such beautiful men, I blamed that for being distracted and unprepared when a snarer came sneaking up on us. I was still busy watching the men when Cairn jumped up, grabbing his sword and cut one of the hands off the snarer that had been behind me.

I quickly jumped to my feet too and spun to face it, snarers were born from the darkness, they were dark green in colour with sharp spikes much like a cactus, they had thin wiry arms with taloned hands all over their round body, no nose, white eyes with a black dot for a pupil, they couldn’t really see though, their main way of tracking prey was through the vibrations in the earth, the feel of someone walking, talking, it all sent a vibration into the ground and snarers used this to track.

It snapped its sharp teeth at me and I danced out of the way. I withdrew my bow and arrow, I’d fought these creatures more times than I could count, not to be underestimated, but not the most dangerous of creatures either, one of the least, in fact.

It snapped it jaws at me again, and I fired my arrow directly into its gaping mouth of razor sharp teeth, it screeched and thrashed around before finally collapsing to the floor. It was dead, but Cairn still came over and impaled its body with his sword.

“Trees are the safest place to sleep, come with me.” I didn’t wait for them to answer, nor did I look back to see if they would follow.