Arctavia - Part One, The Camp Battle
I was running. A group of arrows were shooting in the sky, and down at me. Think Iâm crazy for taking the necklace? Try being me for a day. Nothing qualifies as crazy. I jumped from the walkway to the wall, easily a five by five foot jump. I couldâve simply jumped right passed the wall, but it was a twenty foot drop. The six inch thick wall was barely anything to keep me from tripping over my feet. Oh, I forgot, Iâm a frickinâ Elf! I could run a mile on a wire without falling.
But enough bragging. The guards who dared follow my path fell off, or didnât make the jump. The others followed the walkway from the palace, aiming at me. But do you know how hard it is for amateurs to aim at a moving target, while wearing armor, and those crazy-*** helmets with slits, that limited vision! On top of that, theyâre looking sideways at me, the target, and not noticing the stairs, and falling on their faces. Well, bye for now, humans!
At the time, I was so amazed at one of my everyday palace hit-and-runs, I might not have noticed one very stubborn- more stubborn than me, perhaps- guard on his horse. So much for that plan. Then I thought âArctavia, heâs on a horse. What good is he at stopping?â Then I thought, âNo, Arctavia, notice all those trees? Can you Elves still climb trees? Just jump off the wall, onto the trees, and out of this mess.â I grabbed onto a tree branch, swung myself off, then jumped. As I was climbing tree to tree, I was thinking on who I could rob tomorrow. Dwarves, perhaps? No, theyâve helped me out, here and there. Not that I needed that knee with a spear jabbed into it tended to, I couldâve hobbled it off and cut the spear out. Then I thought, âWhy not a Wizard? What have they done for me, Arctavia? Blasted off my hand, then another mended it back on? You can never tell what those Wizards are going to do.â I smirked. And, this time out loud, âWhy not indeed?â
Itâs not that Iâm a bad guy; itâs just that everyone these days are. I rob the evil and give to the good. Oh, by the way, the good usually is me, Arctavia. I give to other good Elves when I can find them. But for now, I have kind of a pile of jewels and things. I normally rob the humans, because, whatâs their legend? A fat Wizard dressed in red, flies about in his also red sleigh, powered by his magical reindeer, with the one reindeer with a red nose. Did I mention all the reins on the reindeer are red? I always thought red was for the evil. But humans are evil, so what do I care? That I was right again. But, who builds all the gifts this jolly Wizard delivers? Elves. Itâs only a legend, and legends usually end up fake, but they abuse Elves in legends. Thatâs all I care.
Most Elven races are against the humans now, and humans go massacring Elves whenever they see âem. So humans can go massacring Elves as long as they donât fear me. Iâm trying to build up my reputation to the Elves and destroy it to the humans. Heh, look! This looks like a good camp to destroy and then spend the night in! Most people donât think Elves can fight for anything. Thatâs because they refuse to fight anyone but the Elderly, backstabbing, and usually at the war meetings. The ones they kill in battle are in their teens or twenties. I, on the other hand, am in my young thirties. I always carry two Elven daggers, a scimitar and five foot high bow. And um, maybe some poison just in case theyâre good fighters. Iâm not a coward; the bottleâs still entirely full.
I jumped from the branch, hidden by the dark, and pulled out the assorted knives, as I like to call them. I yelled out, âSo, hereâs the deal. You can fight, or run about, hoping youâll find refuge. Iâd be glad either way.â as I paced down the camp. Again, after only a half hour or so, you think I might be crazy once again, going up against a camp of fifty? Sixty, even? Elves, may I remind you, are superb with their hands and feet, and I am a superb Elf. Iâm superb not only with my hands and feet, but also blades and, just about anything else.
There was no reply, movement, or even sound to my call. Heh. Humans, **** tired every twelve freaking hours! Well, now there was sound. Footsteps? No, Marching! Couldnât be Elves. Elves run solo, even during battles. The humans were asleep, so who could it be? âUh oh. More humans?!â I thought, and then said, âAha! Dwarves!â
âNot only Dwarvesâ called one of them, âKanseirâ who, in turn, was actually Kanseir himself.
âHey, âSier, itâs been awhileâ I called out
âYou know him?â asked one of the other dwarves, perking up an eyebrow
âOh ****. Itâs Arctaviaâ called Kanseir, putting his face in his hand.
âHey, Iâve already called this camp to raid. But, for you, âSeir, Iâll let you helpâ I said, lowering the blades and approaching them.
âArctavia, what the hell are you doing here?â
âWhat do you think? Getting back to my home, but staying here for the night. What about you, may I ask?â
âWe got knocked off course on our boats because of the storm. We just happened to bump into here.â
âAye. You know what, I could follow you. I donât really need to be back at my house âtill next week. Iâd have to go right back here anyways.â
âAll right, Iâve seen you in battle. As long as you donât pull any of your old tricks, you can come.â agreed Kanseir.
Just then a human dressed in black leather pointed his sword at me. Soon more followed. I noticed a green circle on the leather, probably a mark of division in the human army. Iâm not sure; Iâd never want to study humans. The first human had dark brown hair, and a scar from the top of his eye to the bottom. The second had grey hair, and a peg-leg. There were many others coming out of their tents too. Apparently, the tents covered holes, strategically so if they were raided they could surprise them with the extra men. I wasnât going up against fifty or sixty; I was going up against a couple thousand. âI am General Akalan of the race Enaria. You thought you could run around unnoticed?â Akalan didnât notice the Dwarves in this lighting. âYou are to be brought to the King tomorrow and he will decide your fate.â
I glanced at Kanseir. âWhat be ye lookinâ at, laddie?â asked the one with the peg-leg. Kanseir nodded to me.
âOh, nothing⦠Just⦠Attack!â I shouted, grabbing for my scimitar. As the Dwarves charged out, Akalan, already having drawn his sword, stabbed me in the stomach, and watched me fall. It wasnât that Kanseir hadnât noticed, but he couldnât go unnoticed to help me, if he thought I was still alive. A Dwarf named Simbon helped out the Dwarvesâ moral by sniping humans through his bow. After they were battling for three or so hours, I thought to myself, âArctavia, you will die, but todayâs not that day. If this was fatal I wouldnât be here talking to myself right now.â Then out loud I said as I grabbed my stomach in one hand and my sword in the other, âScrew the pain.â
I leapt at the humans, stabbing three in a matter of seconds. I was weak. I grabbed a tree to catch my breath. I lunged at some more, stabbing and missing some. I muttered through gritted teeth, âCome on Arctavia! You werenât born to miss!â I heard a scream of pain and then a familiar call. Kanseirâs winning call. Akalan has fallen.
All the others retreated back the way I had come, back to the palace? Even I had by then become extremely tired. We did end up spending the night at the camp, though I didnât fall asleep quickly; there was something on my mind, despite my tiredness. I had remembered the stubborn guard was wearing the same green circle on his armor. They had known my name, because during the battle some of the Dwarves exclaimed how âArctavia has fallenâ. But what did it matter to me? What real threat was that guard, anyways? I had yet to learn his true abilities.
âSo, how dâyou know Kanseir, exactly?â asked Simbon, now promoted to a Captain of Kanseirâs army.
âRemember the Dwarven & Wizardâs War?â Simbon nodded. It was only a few years before âIn the first battle, actually, the Dwarves raided a forest I was imprisoned in for stealing some jewels and jewelry. Kanseir rescued me and Iâve fought with him every battle in that war. I used to get him into some messes by having him help me steel some of their enchanted jewelry. The only reason I did that was because I knew the Elves were hostile with men, and would need some help in the upcoming war. But thatâs not what he meant by tricks, I kind of carry bad luck to others Iâm around.â
A Dwarf brought me some rations of food as we were walking to what I knew the target was now, Arann, a Goblin hideout. I had now stitches and bandages in my wound, but that was only because they insisted.
âArctavia,â came a voice in my head, âYou promised yourself youâd rob a Wizard today. Do you now break promises?â then I thought âNever. Plus staying here is bad luck for everyone.â
âHaha, right, Iâm just going to go rob a Wizard then live merrily at my home for a bit, so like me! Iâd rather be helping Kanseir. I suppose I am in his debt a bit.â I thought, âBut then again, I would rather more to go to aid the Elven Races, and like I havenât paid him off! Iâve saved his life more than heâs saved mine, and that includes yesterday. Arctavia is in debt of nobody. I have about another hundred or so years. I have time for all.â
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So that's the start. Please tell me what you think of it so far.
