Shadow
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Fantasy lives Forever
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Post by Shadow on Apr 12, 2007 11:23:09 GMT -5
(i turned a little something into a bigger piece of work enjoy or not lol. I call it Reflection and heres chapter 1)
Chapter 1: Why are we Fighting?
Shrill screams were racing each other along high walls and up strong barracks. The battlefield was red with a pool of tears, among these tears was the clashing of metal and bitter sweet odore of death. Above was no better, the sky a dismal grey waiting for the right time to start a down pour; that may have its advantages, some of the blood would be washed away. Arrows streamed in unity down onto the madness below. More screams and shrieks. The battering of sharp arrows against armor and strong shields pierced the world of war for a moment then back to the usual smashing of sword on sword. There was no where to run. No where to hide. You either fought for your life or fell into darkness.
All humans against each other, how could that be right; surely they should be trying to work together to eliminate the rein of Spirits. Not that it would ever be that way. People were too stubborn, either that or they thrived on fighting. Eagle hoped they did not thrive on fighting as he threw a man from off the top of the wall he was defending. This was no life not the one he longed for. There he was again sticking his sword into some other unlucky soldier.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and span round to give whoever it was a fatal poke with his blade. Only the soldier he was faced with was on his team, he was wearing the armor with a black raven painted on the front of it. He stopped himself from wounding this man in the nick of time.
"Eagle they need you down there. Too many ladders. The wall will be breached," panted the soldier in a panic.
It was annoying everyone knew who he was because of the helmet he was forced to wear. It had an eagle carved into the back of the metal. An eagle to match his name. He could throw the helmet aside and not have people come to him for help but then he would suffer afterwards for losing the helmet; that was if he survived the war, well he always survived, this war was the same as the ones before it.
He ran to the edge of the wall swiping through anyone that dare stand in his way as he went. When at the edge of the wall he placed his hands against it, leaned over and glared down at the craziness below. Everybody looked as though they were tiny ants running around, taking each other down. How he wished people were more intelligent than ants. Then again he could not really criticize, he was in the war as well. The ladders certainly were a problem for them. There must be something he could do.
"Spears!" Eagle yelled loudly gesturing with his hand for soldiers to come over and use spears. "Send spears down the ladders!" he shouted as instruction before that was the last the soldiers on the wall saw of him.
When convinced that enough people had heard him he leaped like an elegant cat onto the nearest ladder. There was a woman nearly at the top of the ladder; heavily he kicked her as hard as possible in the head. She blacked out and fell from the ladder, then he pushed off from the wall, ignoring the rest of the people climbing up the ladder, it was his ladder now. They were gliding down to the ground, it felt as though they were flying as the ladder fell. Most people were shouting and screaming in fear, so they should be. Not him. Before the ladder hit the floor he saw his victim, jumped and landed on the unsuspecting fighter.
Striking out with his sword Eagle helped to defend the wall from the ground. When fighting for some reason he never got nervous, it was as though he did not even have a soul. People said it was because he was hard and fearless, he himself did not know what made him that way but it was not true he was not fearless. Nor was he totally heartless; war was the worst thing in the world. It was just when fighting his soul felt as though it had disappeared and all that mattered was staying alive.
That battle was no different; he fought through anyone that came in his path, slashing them to shreds, not caring it was their own fault for going to war in the first place. They were asking for death. Only after a long five days of on going fighting did something wake up inside his soul; that soul people did not believe he possessed, the soul he thought vanished when fighting.
It was a warrior's fault, he had only been fighting as usual, then somebody had to go show him some mercy. He did not know mercy, struck this crazy fool down for letting him walk free. After doing it he felt sick on realizing what the word mercy meant. No one had ever taught him about mercy, that was typical of the world. That man he had struck had a friend, it was time he moved, he would not be the cause of his friend's death too.
He ran over to the main wall, he refused to do it anymore. War no meant anything to him; Freyr could go and find himself a new warrior as he refused to play that role for a second longer. Goodbye helmet, he was no longer Eagle the warrior, he was not going to be controlled by a king that did not treat him with the respect he deserved. He lent up against the wall watching the war rage on, kept a sword at his side in case something happened to come his way. People sure did come his way, he dodged as many as he could possibly manage and defended himself with a sword when he was forced too. The armor was a problem he noticed after a few minutes, the raven revealed who he was fighting for, it was Freyr's symbol. When he was in the clear he clumsily yanked off the armor and threw it down to the floor. There it was gone, he no longer belonged to either side of the fighting, perfect.
Waiting for the fighting to be over was too difficult. You had to either be part of it or get out of there. He was going to get out of there while he still had the chance. Without giving it another thought he darted through the battlefield. Swiftly he weaved in and out of all the fighting, shouldering past a few people in a bid to get back inside the castle he had been defending. Somehow he got there; he had to take a detour over a high wall first and kill a few soldiers but he got into the city and ran through the streets and up to the castle.
Going back to the place he wanted to run away from would not make sense to many people, alas he was not one to run without making sure he was doing the right thing first. He was not sure he knew which side of the fighting was supposed to be good and which was bad; he had been brought up thinking that Freyr's side was the good honest one. Everything was so confusing. What if he was on the wrong side? Freyr did have a short temper and was quick to judge, the man would also give him some evil punishments for wrong behavior.
Taking a deep breath he moved on through the giant oak doors of the grey stone castle. Passed into a giant entrance hall where flames danced in their brackets, illuminating off suits of armor. He was in luck, there was Freyr stood against a wall staring malevolently at him, he looked back at Freyr through his innocent soft brown eyes.
"What dare I ask are you doing away from battle?" sneered Freyr. "Why are we fighting?" Eagle asked. Only Freyr was not listening, he spoke over the top of him instead. "Where is your armor and your helmet?"
Eagle was growing impatient and irritated with Freyr, those possessions meant nothing to him. "Why are we fighting?" he repeated this time shouting over the top of Freyr's words. Freyr arched his eyebrows at him, Eagle sure knew that look, that was the expression used when Freyr was angry with him; it was too bad for Freyr that he was growing angry too.
"Get back out there!" roared Freyr pointing to the castle doors. "No you tell me why you make me fight? Why do we fight against those people? Shouldn't we join forces with them, to help rid the land of Spirits?"
"You know nothing," snorted Freyr. "Then teach me. You had me taught how to fight, but never why. If you don't tell me I'll leave. I mean it," Eagle said. Freyr let out a loud sneery laugh, one that pierced Eagle's heart. Why did Freyr mock him so? He knew why Freyr did not care about him at all; to Freyr he was just some chess piece he shuffled round a board. The game was up, he was leaving and would never go back. He made a sharp turn for the door, adamant on leaving not that he got very far. Guards were at his shoulders before his feet even touched the world outside the castle. He struggled to get free, his attempts being useless.
"Leave me huh? All you have is me. You can stay in your room until I think of suitable punishment for your disobedience," Freyr smirked, as the guards dragged him past the wretched man.
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Sam
Rank 1 (Still a Newbie)
Assasinate Ethan by Dawn..
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Post by Sam on Apr 25, 2007 18:55:43 GMT -5
Well I'm not quite sure where the story is going, it's a fight, so.. Maybe a prologue to start off the readers into the History and whats going on.
I do like your descriptions, however, but you should make the conversations a little more diverse and interactive. Maybe talk about the terrain a little more, and where the enemy stands.
But this seems more like a Prologue, a little action to start a prologues always good. Eagle sounds like an interesting character.
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Sam
Rank 1 (Still a Newbie)
Assasinate Ethan by Dawn..
Posts: 80
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Post by Sam on Apr 28, 2007 23:36:30 GMT -5
Right, cool. But it's good that you start off with a fight, to keep things interesting, and make the reader think theres some action, may I ask what kind of angle of a story you're going for?
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Shadow
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Fantasy lives Forever
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Post by Shadow on Apr 29, 2007 14:15:32 GMT -5
Angle of the story that's a hard one to explain but I'll give it a shot. I want it to be emotional but be full of adventure at the same time. Eagle is going to be that kind of character who is discovering himself, and has to find out who he is the hard way, with a little help from a friend. So it's an emotional yet adventurous fiesty action fantasy story, with a bit of magic thrown in there as well. (it was a short story at first but I thought there was more areas to explore so am going to try and turn it into a novel).
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Shadow
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Fantasy lives Forever
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Post by Shadow on Apr 30, 2007 14:52:45 GMT -5
Sorry no kitty cats, but I'll maybe rework it who knows?
Eagle is going to befriend a guy called Sasha, only theres a bit of a twist to their friendship, because Sasha's best friend was the man that showed Eagle mercy and Eagle kind of killed him, so when Sash eventualy finds out about that there's gonna be some furr flying. And Sasha's going to be chasing after the girl he's madly in love with but won't admit it and she hates him but tags along anyway because Sasha stole and lost her horse and sword, so she wants paying back. Well I think I might have her as a character but am not sure yet.
Now about that cat... that could be a good idea, a cat that is not really a cat at all but is really a sorcerer pretending to be a cat so he can trick Eagle into something...maybe???
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Shadow
Rank 0 (Total Newbie)
Fantasy lives Forever
Posts: 34
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Post by Shadow on May 1, 2007 17:49:32 GMT -5
Chapter 2: Flight For Freedom
Eagle had never noticed how dank and dreary his tower room looked up until that day. He had been sat in the room for hours, day had turned into night and no one had come to see him. He'd had no food or company. Being a prisoner in your own personal space was quite a depressing thought, not that he was going to get depressed, whatever the situation there was always a way out of it.
He got up from off his straw mattress and went over to the window; too bad the window was too small for him to fit through or he would have been long gone already. War was still raging, he could not see it but heard the yells, screams and all those other terrifying battle noises. He stared up at the sky, no moon or stars could be seen that night, the world was cast in misty shadow. He breathed out the window and watched as his breath circulated into the night air.
Bored he went to sit in the center of the circular room and sat down on the floor, crossing his legs. Softly he began to sing to himself to pass the time of day; singing people would think he was mad on entering the room, not that it mattered maybe he had grown mad living in the same castle for his whole sixteen years. It was time to go and see the world and seek his purpose in life. Everyone had some purpose, you made your own luck and found that purpose, it was not premeditated. At the end of his song he lay flat out on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Pigeons sometimes nestled in the rafters. He searched around for some but there were none there; he really was a lone. His eyes flickered after scouring the ceiling for pigeons, flickered and dropped shut, for he had worked so hard in that battle, well the part he had played in it.
Four days later and he was still locked up in his room, only he had been given some food and drink. Freyr never let him go hungry, that told him he meant something to Freyr; the missing piece of puzzle was what did he mean to Freyr, that he had been mulling over for a couple of years.
He heard the bolt go on the outside of his door. It would not be food this time, he had been given food approximately an hour ago; it certainly was not food there was that pale faced king of his with the white greasy hair, clad all in black. Eagle glared over at Freyr wondering what his punishment would be this time, another beating he supposed.
"The war is won. No thanks to you," murmured Freyr.
Eagle shrugged his shoulders and stared down at the floor, hung his head on purpose to make it look as though he feared Freyr. "And now you've come to punish me right?" he sighed.
"That is right. I am afraid it has to be that way, you know I have to keep you in order. If I didn't you would never learn. You are getting more reckless as you get older, it's your own fault," said Freyr.
He sat on his straw mattress, still glaring down at the floor. Freyr came over and yanked him to his feet. He allowed Freyr to grip hold of his arm and literally drag him out of the tower room. They descended the first lot of stairs on their way to the chamber where Freyr always beat him. Eagle kept playing the scared kid as Freyr pulled him around the castle. Not for too much longer, he waited for the right moment when they were going down a dark narrow passage; here Eagle used all the strength he had and rammed Freyr into the wall.
"I don't need you anymore!" Eagle shouted, backing off from a furious Freyr.
"You ungrateful wretch! I give you all this. Teach you to read and write, train you up and that is how you repay me?" hollered Freyr, as he rubbed a sore shoulder where it had made contact with the wall. "You'd be in the gutter if it was not for me, if I had not taken you under my wing you would be nothing," Freyr yelled.
Eagle felt a rough hand catch his face, there was Freyr beating him as usual; all Freyr seemed to know was violence. He always got hit when he said something out of place. He had never had enough strength to stand up to Freyr in the manner which he was doing then, had always been afraid to in case he was doing the wrong thing, something that day was telling him it was right.
"Get a life you fool! Get a life and stay out of mine!" Eagle found himself screaming. He also found himself with a fist against Freyr's face. He struck so hard it had the wicked man fall to the floor; Freyr had not seen that blow coming as Eagle had never turned on him before, so he'd not had the time to avoid the punch.
The problem being Freyr was not unconscious, just stunned. Even still Eagle had the advantage, so took the golden opportunity to try and get his freedom. It was going to be a cat and mouse chase, with him being the mouse. If he got caught he would be in for a severe beating, he kept this in mind as he sprinted through the castle with all the speed he had in him.
He was Eagle, the young skilled warrior he could out run Freyr easily if he put his mind to it. Freyr had trained him and had taken him in, but that did not mean he owned him. He managed to reach the great hall, there were guards there blocking his way out. He took a quick glance behind his shoulder, Freyr was closing in on him. It was not going to happen, the castle he no longer wanted as home. With a swift flick of the wrist he drew his long sword from it's sheath. He took a strike at one of the guards that was in the way of his freedom, swiped at another and flew through the great oak doors.
The guards feared him, as he was growing up and could probably kill them easily if he wanted to, that was not his intention, all he wanted was the chains that held him to the castle to be cut from his wrists. They would be cut, he was determined to get away from all the fighting and live his own peaceful life. For effect he screamed as he ran, Freyr was right behind him and it was a scary process. Scary but adrenalin came with being so frightened, this feeling of excitement caused him to be excited and go faster. He had never run so fast in his life. Freyr was wheezing behind him, trying his best to keep up, that was not very easy at all for that man.
"Sorry!" shouted Eagle as he sprinted through the towns market and ran into somebody accidentally. "Really sorry," he said on jumping over someones stall. He had caught it and sent oranges rolling all over the place. Freyr was a few seconds behind him, attempting to follow the tricky path he was setting for him. "He's gone mad! Freyr wants to beat your hero!" Eagle screamed on getting over the stall and running on into the streets.
Taking a quick look at the towns people and Freyr he saw that they were trying to restrain the furious king. Only that furious king was a tyrant and people were scared of him, so soon let him go on his way. At least it had brought him some precious few seconds. No more looking back until he was in the clear, look straight ahead and everything would be alright. Ignore Freyr and concentrate on getting to the mountains.
Yes the mountains, he could hide out on the mountains. Running forever would never work, so he would go to the mountains and hopefully be able to hide and Freyr would fail in finding him, then he would be free to travel to some town or village and try get a job. He had never had a job before, had always been dependent on Freyr, not no more, (well unless you called being forced into being a warrior a job).
He ran through the main gate of the city, out into the dismal consequences of battle; dead bodies everywhere, not a pretty sight at all. Being used to the stench he carried on running, wanting to avoid standing on the dead but not really having the time to concentrate on that. He kept uncontrollably shouting sorry as he went, as he really did feel sorry for being disrespectful. He let out a grin as he heard Freyr stumble behind him, his old master was not really one for battlefields, this was probably the first time he had stepped foot in one.
"GET BACK HERE YOU WORM!" Freyr screamed at him, whilst picking himself up off the floor and charging full speed after him. Eagle totally ignored Freyr and kept his eyes fixed keenly on his destination, Freyr could rant and rave all he liked, it would not get him to go back to the controlling king. Freyr's voice was gradually dying away as he got closer up to the mountains, Freyr was falling behind and that meant he would be safe for a while, it would give him chance to climb up the mountain and hopefully find a good hiding place.
Holding onto his side he panted and kept on going; he had been running for what must have been an hour and the stitch in his side was unbearable, it caused him to slow down to a jog. To say it was a freezing cold day he had got ever so hot, with his free hand he fanned his face then took a quick glance behind him, Freyr was merely a dot out on the distant flat land he had sprinted across, it looked as though Freyr had been made to turn his running to a walk. That did not mean he could start walking himself, pushing yourself was a number one rule being a warrior, not that he was a warrior anymore.
The mountains he had made it! They looked so beautiful, like giant gleaming spears pointing up into a pink winters dream. He put an aching foot onto a unkept path, which had been created by people many years ago. There was a path because at the top of one of the mountains was a large lagoon that was so clean and clear the water was divine to drink, if rumor be true. Nobody could be bothered to venture up the mountain anymore, as a result the path had become overgrown with weeds and nettles. Eagle kicked away some brambles to clear his way and stumbled tiredly along up the mountain. Getting through a messy path that was going steeply uphill was difficult when you were exhausted, even still he carried on trekking. Harsh traveling was all mental, exercise hurt nobody. "All you have to do is keep on going. You have done worse than this," he panted to himself to keep himself in a positive frame of mind.
Only he could not keep going forever. The sky grew pitch black, thick clouds shielded the moon and stars and Eagle fell to his knees, giving up for the night. He could not see a thing, the path could be anywhere. It would do no good to go on any further, not without some light at any rate. It was extremely cold up on that mountain, it instinctively made him huddle up on the floor and start rubbing his arms with his hands. Sleep would have been impossible if it was not for the fact he was exhausted. Forgetting about the cold surroundings he drifted into a numbing sleep.
When a faint sunshine fell onto his face in the morning, Eagle slowly sat up and blew into his shivery hands. His whole body was freezing and clothes were so stiff he was sure they were stuck to him; he'd had a rough night without realizing it. Blowing into his hands was not working, his breath was just as cold as the air, maybe even colder. A fire would be a good idea but that could not happen, the smoke would attract Freyr like a hound to rabbits. Grumbling he got up then bit his chapped lips and started walking, that was the only way he was going to ever get at least a little warm.
He soon re found the path which he thankfully had only wandered slightly off and carried on with following it. As he journeyed on he swung his arms around to attempt to warm them up a little, rubbed his hands together and even stopped a few times and jumped up and down on the spot, these attempts to get warm worked a little, which he knew he should be grateful for. He sure wished he had a cloak to wrap around himself; as he fantasied about a cloak he failed to notice where he was going. Did not see the man in the middle of the path and fell straight over him, only being drawn back into reality because of his fall.
"You clumsy thing, you almost ended up in my fire," grumbled the man who he had fallen over. Eagle scrambled from off the man and took a sideways glance at the fire which was right in the middle of the path, of all the places to build a fire that was the worst. "Silly place to make a fire, someones bound to trip into it," he commented.
"Well I did not think people used this path anymore, no one ever comes up here now a days," the man excused himself. Then gave Eagle a shifty look because the lad had sat beside his fire and did not look as though he was in a hurry to move.
"I'm cold," Eagle said seeing this man giving him that shifty look.
"Can you not light your own fire?"
Eagle ignored that remark and held his hands over the fire, thankful for its warm glow. He sure did not want that fire there, it might attract Freyr, not that he could ask this man to put it out no one would agree to that in these frosty conditions. Instead he made use of what was there, warmed himself up and gave this man a weak smile hoping he would not mind his company for a few minutes.
"You're not moving on my account are you?"
"I won't stay long, just long enough to warm up," said Eagle. The man sat staring into his fire for a moment, they sat in silence for a few minutes. It felt really awkward for those few minutes then the man piped up. "What's a lad like you doing up this mountain all on your own?"
"There was a war, I came from there, well ran away more like. I don't like fighting," Eagle replied, as simply as he could possibly make his explanation.
"Same war as me I take it? Against Freyr's castle, you were against Freyr weren't you?"
"Erm yeah sure was," Eagle mustered making sure he did not make eye contact with this man, he could hardly tell him he had been fighting for Freyr, that certainly would not go down too good. He still had mixed feelings about Freyr's people and this other sides people. He had no idea who were the good honest people, he had a gut feeling it was not Freyr's though. There was silence again for a few more minutes then a loud yet tired shriek broke the quiet.
"Thought you could runaway from me boy! You'll regret that when I get you home!"
Eagle's eyes bulged out of his head as he saw Freyr work his way over to him, panting out loud. It looked like he had not been the only one that'd had a rough night. He looked over at the man he was with, the man made no reaction to him just looked into his fire. He was getting no help there, not many people knew Freyr by appearance and he had no time for explanations; so hurriedly got to his feet and started to run for his freedom for a second time.
The mountain kept going up and some time he would run out of mountain to climb up then he would surly be caught. There was no way he was going to trap himself like that, his only option was to hide and hope that Freyr would not find him. He skidded off the path and into some shrubs and small scabby trees, there looked like a good place to hide or at least the best option he had. This was actually quite a stupid idea, he had panicked and ran without thinking. Freyr knew which way he had gone and would surly follow. Freyr had followed, he watched in fear as Freyr tackled his way through a shrub like some wild beast.
Now what was he supposed to do? "Leave me alone please!" Eagle yelled, and started up his running again when Freyr carried on going after him, determination glinting in those cold eyes.
"Come back here now boy and I will not hurt you. We can go back home and I will forget about your disobedience," Freyr called after him with a fake sweetness to his voice. Only Eagle had heard that tone before and believed it, Freyr was not tricking him again.
"LIER!" screamed Eagle still in panic. He kept going but went too quickly and tripped over a bush he had failed to notice in the ground. By the time he had managed to pick himself up Freyr had gripped hold of his shoulders and was giving him a violent shake. "Let me go!" he shouted trying to push Freyr off of him, but it did not work, Freyr was gripping him tightly with both his hands.
"I brought you up, you are staying with me and shall do as I tell you! It's a serious beating for you this time boy, when we get back. How dare you run away like that! Push me up against a wall! That I can straighten out, nothing a good beating won't cure you wretch," Freyr laughed at him.
"Leave me be. I don't want to fight, you can't make me, not again," Eagle gasped feeling his heart sinking.
"Oh but I will. You will fight or will never see the light of day again," sneered Freyr.
"Kill me it'd be better than you controlling me," Eagle sniffed.
"Who said anything about killing you, worm?" Freyr chortled.
Freyr was really going for it now, calling him all sorts of names. He winced as Freyr rose a fist, ready to give him the first dose of a beating. As Freyr rose that fist he saw that man behind him, the one with the fire. He opened his mouth to scream for help but stopped suddenly when he saw the man give his head a shake. That was when Eagle saw that the man was clutching hold of a branch from one of the scabby trees. It may not be one of the strongest branches in the world but when that man heavily brought it down on Freyr's head it sure did have an impact. Freyr did not even have time to react, he literally just lost his grip on him and fell to the floor with the force.
"Thank you! Thank you so much sir!" Eagle gasped as he stared down at an unconscious Freyr.
"Come on lets go, he will wake up sometime," he said as he threw the branch to the floor and strode away through all the shrubs and nettles.
Grateful for the help Eagle followed after the man who had rescued him from having his freedom taken away. The man walked fast and Eagle had a job keeping up with him because his panic had not entirely gone away yet. As he walked he found out that he was shaking. He followed the man back to his fire and sat down next to him beside it, and once sat down his shaking seemed to die away.
"You had better get gone, when he wakes up he'll be awful angry," said the man sounding distant.
"What about you?" Eagle asked not liking to leave his rescuer alone on the mountain, alone with Freyr. "I am a tough guy. I can handle that lunatic," the man reassured him, giving his sheath a pat.
Eagle stay sat for a moment, contemplating his next course of action, he sure did have to get from off that mountain as soon as was physically possible. Only he came to the realization that his throat was as dry as a bone after all that fast traveling. Without a drink he would die from thirst. Yes he would carry on up the mountain to that lagoon and then hurry down it before Freyr woke up. He was sure he could manage to go get his drink if he was quick about it.
Whilst thinking up his plan of action he could not help but notice his rescuer looked really upset about something. He was constantly staring into the fire, and looked as though at that point he was blinking back tears. He supposed the least he could do was try and cheer him up after the guy had saved him from a lifetime of being ruled over by Freyr.
"Are you alright?" Eagle asked. He got a small shake of the head in response. "What's the matter?" he urged.
"Nothing you can help with, unless of course you can bring back the dead," muttered the man and slammed a fist to the ground remembering the incident back at the war with his best friend and a certain young warrior. "That little squirt! I'll kill him if I ever get hold of him!" he roared, getting carried away with himself. "Killing my mate when he showed him some mercy as well. I told him not to, Eagle is pure evil and Lance should have got rid of the squirt when he had the chance!" he yelled to himself more than to Eagle.
"Eagle you sure it were him?" Eagle said feeling his heart pounding a crazy beat in the back of his throat.
"Sure, saw the back of the little brutes helmet; the one he always wears, has an eagle carved into the back of it, I would not mistake that never," he spat in disgust into his fire. "Honestly that evil little kid causes innocent people so much pain. I lost my best friend, if I ever urrr," he growled aggressively.
Then seemed like a very good time to depart, he wanted to go right away but guilt was weighing his heart down like an anchor. "I'm sorry about your friend. Really I am, I hope you do alright," Eagle said quickly then turned round and started his climb up to the lagoon, feeling absolutely terrible, he was a cruel wicked person. He knew the man his rescuer spoke of, the one who had shown him mercy and he had struck anyhow.
The man looked up from his fire, glad to get some kind words, only when he lifted his head the lad was carrying on up the mountain. That certainly was not the right way to be going. Thanks to Eagle's kind words he felt inclined to go and escort him up the mountain, make sure his master did not grab hold of him again. Quickly he kicked dirt into his fire to put it out then ran to catch up with Eagle.
"You are going in the wrong direction," he said. "No I'm not. I'm thirsty," Eagle said quickening up his pace, wanting this man to leave him alone.
"And I could do with cleaning myself up. Looks like we are going in the same direction for the time being."
"I suppose," Eagle shrugged, there was not much he could do about this man following him, there was only the one path after all.
The man planned to go with Eagle up to the lagoon, then he would walk him back down to where his fire had been. When he got back there he would resume to sitting and brooding over his dead friend. There was nothing else for it, as he did not feel much like traveling for some time.
As he walked all Eagle could think about was how nasty he had been, it was war people got killed but that man, Lance, had shown him some mercy, Lance could have killed him but gave him a chance to live. In a trance he hiked up the mountain, having the man follow silently after him. Was he really as evil as people made him out to be? No they were wrong they must be, he had broke free from that, he no longer wanted to kill people, he had never wanted to, Freyr had manipulated him, told him lies. Not that anyone would understand that.
Everything was silent apart from their boots padding on the rocky path. They were nearing the lagoon, it was inside a wondrous cavern. The cavern looked amazing, when it came into sight Eagle stopped walking for a moment to admire it. Maybe it was a good people no longer came up to visit the lagoon, they might destroy it, as they destroyed each other. Even though the cavern was as grey as the mountain around it, there was that mysterious eerie effect that rested on it's rough surface. Weird really when it was the same yet so different.
The man over took him and went into the cavern, Eagle watched him go then after a few minutes followed in after him. Inside it was really dismal and drafty as the wind swept through all the mouth of the cavern, and other cracks that were about. At the center of this place was a clear blue lagoon, a lagoon which the man was filling up a canteen he carried with it's water. When done with the canteen Eagle observed him put the canteen into his pack he carried then splashed his face with water straight from the lagoon.
Not wanting to have anything more to do with the man through guilt, Eagle went to sit on the opposite side of the lagoon to him. He bent down to the lagoon, cupped his hands ready to take a drink. Only he did not get as far as having his drink, for his reflection caught his eye. He brushed a strand of his scraggy hair out the way of his face and stared back at a murderer.
"It won't come off!" Eagle shouted as he splashed his face with some water. "I'm covered!" he screamed and threw even more icy cold water over his face.
"Whoa don't overdo it. You are clean," the man said as he watched Eagle going mad with the water.
"No! I'm a murderer. I've killed people. Many lives I have taken!" Eagle yelled in hysterics.
"As have I and countless others," said the man as he got to his feet and slung his pack over this shoulder.
"I can't kill again, I just can't do it!" shouted Eagle still going crazy with the water, drenching himself in it.
"Do not do it then if you do not have the heart for such a life. We are not all made for war and fighting."
The man had no idea of how he was feeling; he felt extremely guilty and was sure that Freyr was a bad king, he must be, no good kind hearted king would have forced him to go to war and beat him if he had only been slightly naughty or given a wrong opinion. He had killed for such a man, killed for the wrong man or so he assumed.
He did not deserve to live for all those innocent lives he had claimed, especially for killing Lance who had shown him some mercy. Feeling guilty and upset he dived into the deep depths of the frosty cold lagoon. He swam as far down as he could manage, the world did not need Eagle, he did not deserve the world. When he had swam as far as he possibly could, he actually tried gulping down water, attempting to fill his lungs with as much of it as possible. It was working, he was managing to drown himself. His eyes slipped shut and the cruel world turned black and bleak, his body sank further than he could swim then darkness totally took him.
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