Amtgard Legends

Please note this is chapter two. If you haven't read the first please return to may page and do so. Thank you for joining me on this journey.

Chapter 2

The trip to Razor Hills was long, but it was a path that all in Storm Grove knew well. They were Storm Groves closest and most trusted allies, meaning several people traveled between the two territories year round.

It took roughly 3 or 4 days of travel depending on weather conditions and small encounters. Enodus looked over his map and smiled. It had been a while since he'd made such a long trip, not the one to Razor Hills, but beyond. As a matter of fact, the last time was probably when he and Sorin had left their home island and headed for Storm Grove.

He looked over at Sorin, who had somehow managed to bring a whole mini tent with her and looked absolutely comfortable. Where had she packed that thing?

"You know, this is the same route we took to get here from Solaris,"

"It's been about four years since then, hasn't it? Funny how things turn out that way. it's a path I'd hoped never to walk again," Sorin sighed and smiled down at the book she'd been reading.

Sleth regarded them in silence before fixing his eyes back on the road and his ears to the forest around them.

The next morning as they pressed on the crisp air pushed past them from behind, almost like it was trying to hurry them along. It was strange how cool the air was and yet the trees didn't show any indication that fall was approaching. The leaves that rustled around them were as vibrant green as the emeralds they were named after, but the chill was undeniable, as if nature itself had been caught unprepared.

Sleth made a motion to stop the group, noting that the forest around them was far too quiet. He was right, they couldn't even hear birds chirping.

Enodus placed his hand on a large sapling at the edge of the tree line and closed his eyes to listen to the world around them. Jerking his hand away as if he'd been shocked, he looked at the others in confusion, "nature's gone… silent,".

Enodus couldn’t believe what he was hearing, or the lack thereof. It was impossible, the voice of nature is a cosmic definite and yet the proof was all around them. He moved swiftly back to the path and past his companions, “We need to keep moving,”

“This doesn’t make any sense, are you sure of what you heard Enodus?” Sorin’s brow furrowed in contemplation, but Enodus just kept walking in silence, his mind filled with his own concerns.

“Razorhills is still a two day journey from here, maybe once we arrive the others will know what’s going on. We can shave off half a day if we only stop to rest once,” leave it to a scout to determine location without the use of a map.

The next few hours were uneventful. Keeping to the main path, they managed to avoid running into any goblins or beasts. Nightfall crept upon them quicker than expected, forcing them to make camp.

Sorin watched as Enodus pulled an impossible amount of cooking utensils and ingredients from his bag and set to work on making a small fire. She’d always thought he looked most at ease when cooking.

“Do you remember the first night we had to make camp here on the mainland?” She sighed and picked absent mindedly at a twig in her hands, “you picked some wild mushrooms and I had to catch the fish because you were to impatient and kept pulling your line from the water to soon, but the meal you made from so few ingredients was one of the best I’d eaten in days… or maybe I was just starving,” she laughed as he scoffed at her playfully.

“My dear lady! Every meal I make is nothing but the best thank you very much! I couldn’t make something other than good even if you gave me nothing but dirt and bugs, you’d think you were eating porridge,” he placed his hand over his chest in mock offense, “Though, I suppose after a couple weeks on the open sea anything would taste like heaven,”

“You know,” Sleth intervened, “you two speak a lot about your first trip to the Emerald Hills. Where exactly did you come from? If it took you two weeks to sail to the mainland, then you must be from one of the nearby island nations,” as he spoke Sorin’s smile faded and her expression turned sour.

Enodus turned his eyes back to the meat that sizzled in the pan before him, “well you’re not wrong. We're from the small island nation of Solaris,” he paused as he added more ingredients to the pot, “It isn’t far from the coast, but it’s a rather secluded place. No one is allowed on or off of the island without a permit or direct permission from the queen herself,”

“So then, why did you come here? Were you sent as ambassadors for your people? Why did she allow the two of you to come all this way?”

“She didn’t… you could call us refugees I suppose, or escapees of an overbearing ruler,”

“Dictator is more like it,” spat Sorin, Sleth noticed how tightly she gripped her hands together, her knuckles turned white from the force. He watched as her eyes seemed to glaze over and her mind drifted to a place he couldn’t see, she didn’t look like the person he had come to know.

Enodus turned to her and sighed, “Sorin!” she jumped at the sound of his voice, back in the present, “I know how you feel, but I need you to stay focused on the mission ahead of us,”

A thought suddenly crossed her mind, “How close will we be? Where is this island we have to find?” Enodus turned his gaze back to the fire to avoid her accusing gaze.

“We will be right on the border of Solaris territory,”

Rage caused her to spring to her feet and stare daggers into Enodus’s skull, “ you KNOW what they will do to me if they catch us Enodus, your punishment may not be ideal, but they will torture and kill me simply for the pleasure of hearing me scream. How could you not tell me before I agreed to come with you, you must care so little for our friendship to put this mission before my life,” she didn’t wait for his response, just turned and made her way to her small tent like set up and began leafing through one of the books she’d brought with them, not really reading, just feeling the pages and smelling the worn leather of its bindings to calm her nerves.

He understood why she was angry, it was hard for him too. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t wanted to go himself, but no one else knew the way as well as they did, or could navigate that part of the ocean like Sorin could. He sighed, she would have to choose soon if she wanted to turn back, after they passed through Razorhills it would be too late for her to return to Storm Grove on her own. Filling a bowl with the stew he’d made, he handed it to Sleth, “eat up, there’ll be plenty now that she’s mad at me,” she’d always had a habit of not eating when she was angry and no one would be able to convince her otherwise.

Sleth took a bowl over to Sorin and sat it silently on the edge of encampment before returning to his spot, to Enodus’s amazement he saw her pale hand snake out and grab it. He stood corrected, she wouldn’t eat when it was HIM trying to persuade her when she was angry.

It wasn’t long before Enodus was drifting to sleep as the cool air brushed his worries from his mind. Sleth took first watch from the trees above the group. Although the fire had been doused his eyes adjusted quickly to the moonlight.

It wasn't until hours later, as Sleth prepared to wake Enodus for his shift, did the night begin to stir. He listened as light footsteps made their way close to the camp. Goblins, three of them. Two no more than skin and bones, but the third… he was big enough to be an orc and his skin appeared to be covered in ready to burst boils. He moved as if he was already dead. Glancing toward his companions as he notched an arrow, Sleth noticed Sorin was already awake, she leaned from her makeshift tent with her starknife at her side. She hadn’t seen them yet, but she knew something was coming. Enodus however, was snoring from his place at the base of a tree, not an ounce of concern evident in his awkwardly angled sleeping body. Drawing his focus back to the threat at hand he noticed they were now tip-toeing straight at Enodus’s snoring self, the demonic smile that spread across the largest goblin's face unsettled him. He had hoped they’d just take a little food and go, ‘unfortunate’ he thought as the misshapen monster pulled his cleaver from its place at his hip and Sleth let his arrow fly. It struck the goblin right where his heart should have been, but instead of falling lifeless to the ground as Sleth had expected, the goblin laughed. It sounded like a drowning beast. It turned to face the tree line where Sleth hid among the canopy. Its eyes were like that of a changeling with black ooze dripping from the corners and the same ooze now leaking from the wound in its chest. This was no longer a goblin, whatever now possessed this poor beast was something far worse.

Sleth dropped from his place in the trees and drew his sword, “you weren’t as quiet in your approach as you thought, beast. You may be able to take an arrow to the chest, but what if I cleave your head from your shoulders?” Enodus stood angrily as he woke from the commotion, Sorin rolled her eyes as he massaged the crick from his neck.

“That’s one thing you creatures can never seem to do correctly, trap your prey. Even if most of them are sleeping,” Enodus searched a moment for his sword before turning to face the goblins, “didn’t anyone teach you it’s rude to attack people when they’re unarmed,” as he spoke, a purple and green mist fell from his mouth and he grinned. The smaller goblins tried to run as they noticed the mist but their feet were already frozen in place, they fell limp and lifeless in seconds, but the large goblin remained unaffected. The viscous black liquid oozed down the goblins body, melting the ice that trapped its feet.

It charged Sleth, flailing its arms wildly and bringing its cleaver down with a force hard enough to create a small crater in the earth where Sleth had been standing only moments before. Sleth slashed at the beast with multiple quick movements, leaving gaping wounds in its flesh, but it only dripped more of the black goo, no blood, no organs, no groans of pain, only goo.

Bringing its arm back quickly, the goblin slammed Sleth across the chest, flinging him into the air. Sorin had also stopped trying to slash at the creature and glanced at Enodus who nodded knowingly. “The strength of ice is mine to evoke,” they chanted in unison and slammed their glowing hands into the beast. It tried to whip around, but was already encased in ice. Sleth corrected his position in the air and plunged his blade through the now frozen creature's skull, causing it to shatter into tiny ooze filled pieces.

“What the hell was that thing?” Sleth asked as he put away his sword and looked closely at one of the shards.

Sorin placed several samples into a vial and stored them in her satchel for further research once they reached Razorhills, “I’m not really sure. Even in all the books I’ve read on monsters and things that can possess other things, I’ve never seen a mention of ‘black ooze that can wear a corpse like a bodysuit’. I’ll be able to analyze this more in a proper lab,”.

Hours passed as they cleaned up their camp and packed their things, no one slept the rest of the night for fear of another odd attack. Enodus stared at the frozen bits of monster as the unsettling events repeated themselves in his mind. As the sun rose over the trees and the rays found their way to the remains, the black ooze looked as if it were being boiled inside the shards of ice before it fizzled away like it had never been there at all. Enodus picked up one of the now empty shards and studied it in surprise.

“Look you guys, that black stuff just disappeared. It’s like it can’t stand direct sunlight,”

Sorin stared at the shard in his hand, a bad feeling forming in the pit of her stomach, but she didn’t dare speak her thoughts aloud, “We need to go, we have to reach Razorhills before the next nightfall,” the others nodded in agreement.

As they walked each step felt more and more unsettling, something wasn’t right and they could all feel it now. Enodus began to recount the events since this had all started, first the mysterious island appears, then the voice of nature goes silent and now this odd substance that pilots other creatures like puppets. It couldn’t be a coincidence, that island had to be the root cause, but how?

The silence made the rest of the journey feel like an eternity, but eventually the tree line broke and they saw the gates of Razorhills towering in the distance. The group couldn’t help but smile and sigh in relief.

“It’s been a long time since we were last here, probably not since our journey to Storm Grove. Feels like that was another lifetime now,”

Sorin laughed at the thought, “we happened to walk right in on one of their celebrations and they welcomed us like family, no questions asked. We had so much fun,”

“Then why didn’t you stay here, if you liked it so much?” Sorin smiled at Sleth’s question.

“Isn’t it obvious? It isn’t where we were meant to be, Storm Grove was calling to us,”

Enodus laughed, “don’t let her lie to you, it’s because they already had a bookstore. She was truly heartbroken when she found out,” Sorin rolled her eyes at him, but laughed any way.

As they approached the gate Enodus saw Cooper standing guard, “good day Cooper! It’s good to see you, old friend. How have you been?”

As he caught sight of the group, Cooper's stance became more friendly, “Ah Enodus and company! Good to see you made it safely, Drakel told me you’d be arriving soon,” Cooper slammed his hand against the iron doors and shouted up toward the garrison, “open the gates! The storm crows have arrived!” Turning his gaze back to the group his eyes grew serious, “he says it’s important you go to him immediately Enodus,”