In the name of love. Part 1.

Davien was many things.

An extremely well-educated Herbalist.

A Tinkologist of the highest degree, on the counsel of Bant.

A mentor and tutor to many an apprentice and aspiring mage in and about the city.

But one thing he was not?

A skilled physical combatant.

Today was the day that this would be made painfully clear.

Everything had happened so fast.

One second, he and his wife Amoura had been harvesting plants -Greasewood to be exact- just out of eye-shot of the Gatemen automaton. The next, a seemingly random band of drooling and screaming Sand Orcis were upon them.

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Sand Orcis were a hostile yet not uncommon occurrence out and about the Eastern roads of the Kingdom of Bant. They were known to hunt the great Oliesh whales (a nomadic sand beast whose journeys often brought them to the hilly, dune-filled lands between Bant and the oasis known as Myso that was just to its South and East) nearly year-round, and it is because of this that they have nearly complete control of the market when it comes to the oil that is the massive creatures life-blood.

They were many things, the Sand Orcis.

Uncouth.

Unkempt.

And most of all, woefully uncivilized.

Outside of their lust for gold and silver coin alike, a lust that forced the very few of their kind who traveled to market for the trade season to be JUST socially behaved enough to do so, they were not a type to be incorporated into "normal" society.

In short, Sand Orcis were not the type that you would want to bump into out on the desert sands in the dead of night, or even in the middle of the morning if you were unprepared in either situation. Their very way of life seemed to be thus: Be mean, detached, cunning, and materialistic in both disposition and temperament.

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Amoura had been on her knees, plucking away at the leafs of a Greasewood plant.

"Sarcobatus" or "Creosote" is used as a potent medication in many parts of the desert region."

She mused aloud both to her husband and herself.

A sample this healthy was both uncommon, and rather valuable.

The arrow that very suddenly landed next to her head and sank into the soil-sand half way up its shaft, was far more common, and far less valuable.

The second arrow had stuck her left shoulder, throwing her back and to the ground before a shriek could escape her lips. It had pierced through cleanly, with half protruding on either side of her body.

Davien had been just across the path from her.

He had heard the tell-tell whistle of an arrow cutting through the air.

He had heard the sudden and sharp inhalation of his wife.

He had dropped his bag full of herbs and plant parts, and spun on his heel.

He had frozen for just a second as he caught sight of the three…

No, four!

No…SIX Sand Orcis that were now charging toward Amoura and himself.

He shook off the initial shock, then quickly deduced how much time he had to react.

A quick side step had him to Amoura's side.

-40 yards-

"Are you beyond combat?"

He shouted quickly, but not without concern.

-35 yards-

"Nay!"

She replied as she took to her feet with some assistance from his Davien's outstretched hand. She snapped the arrow off at the half way point, flinching but not uttering a sound of pain.

-28 yards-

He reached into one of his belt pouches with his left hand, and tossed a small, glass vial of Aether-aid (a potent medical elixir that he had brewed up himself) to her.

-24 yards-

She daftly caught the vial, and popping the corked top with her thumb, she splashed its contents over the wound,

-20 yards-

It's effects were palpable and immediate.

The wound began to rapidly heal, forcing the rest of the shaft, and the arrows head out of the backside of her shoulder.

-15 yards-

Davien and Amoura locked eyes with each other, silently passing between them their love.

-12 yards-

Davien's eyes flashed a pale green as he drew upon his internal Aether.

He felt the air began to vibrate in the palms of his hands.

His right foot slid back to distribute his balance, and he raised his hands before him calmly.

He was no fighter, but he knew how to protect his wife and himself when it mattered.

-8 yards-

A soft song of metal rang out as Amoura drew her short sword from its frog clip at her back, simultaneously, her left hand undid the strap that held her buckler to her lower back.

It fell easily into her waiting hand.

She was no "warrior" but she knew how to brawl for her husband, and take care of herself when it mattered.

-5 yards-

Davien swallowed his last bit of fear.

He had to keep his wife safe.

He had to be as brave as she was.

-1 yard-

The lead Orcis leaped and swung his knobby club in an awkward overhead, two-handed chop.

It was caught easily by Amoura's raised shield.

Davien's right foot shot forward and he thrust out with his right palm, into the stomach of the creature just as it's weapon made contact.

A bright green, pulsing wave of Aether blasted the Orcis backwards-and-into it's next in line.

The first's body folded around that of the second.

They fell together in a broken heap.

Two down.

And on they came.

Amoura ignored the numbing sensation in her shoulder and met the charge of the third creature head on. Her sword swam at dizzying speed, nearly bypassing the hastily mustered defenses of the surprised Sand Orcis.

With a blood-rusted sword in one hand, and a club in the other, it began to fall back slowly, struggling to adjust to the unexpected resistance.

Davien had no time to admire his wife's swordsmanship.

He stepped between her fight and the three that remained.

His eyes aglow, he spread his legs and readied himself.

The three slowed to a halt, and in unison, they turned their heads to look at the crumpled mess pile that used to be their lead man and his second.

In unison, they showed their wickedly sharp fangs and growled deeply.

Davien knew that he could not take all three on, if at all.

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Amoura pressed the attack.

Her initial volley of blows had taken the brute by surprise, but it started to regain not only it's footing, but it's confidence.

They went back and forth.

-Block-

-Block-

-Duck-

-Counter-

-Parry-

-Block-

Her stamina waned.

Her shoulder ached.

But she kept her vigilance, even as her muscles began to burn from exertion.

The Orcis ducked again beneath her cross slice, and dropping its club, it scooped up a handful of sand, and threw it into Amoura's face as he rose.

She had seen this coming, but in backpedaling, her foot caught an ill-placed stone and she very suddenly found herself not only falling freely, but partly blinded,, as a forth of the sand found its way over the lip of her shield and onto her sweat-caked face.

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Two of the three Orcis that remained fanned out to either side of Damien as they slowly advanced with swords and cruel looking daggers drawn and at the ready.

With a guttural bark, and a point of his sword, the Sand Orcis in the center-furthest from combat Davien observed.-

urged the two -now to his left and right- to attack.

Davien ducked and turned.

In motion he caught three things:

Amoura in mid-fall.

Two blades from individual targets rushing towards his midsection.

A large and quickly approaching figure coming from the direction of the East gate of Bant.

He moved on reflex alone.

With his right hand he lashed out with a powerful, controlled burst of Aether towards the closer of the two, to his now front.

The creatures head snapped back as the blast struck his face.

This sudden shift in the direction of the top half of it's body caused it's sword strike to come up mercifully short.

At that same instant, Davien turned just enough to sucked in his stomach just enough for the second blade to slip by without connecting. He let himself fall towards his wife.

His left hand, and his mind were then focused on her.

With a bit of effort, and a far bit more retrain, his next push connected with her and forced her fall onto more of a controlled tumble.

A shadow passed over her.

Then him.

And suddenly the ground shook.

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Amoura could hardly see her approaching attacker.

Nor could she see how or where her husband was.

Time seemed to slow as she felt her right heel suddenly stop as it caught the stone.

She felt gravity shift as her balance was undone.

Thinking quickly, she had lifted her shield before her face and bent her knees.

She would fall into the backward momentum and make some space between herself and the rushing Orcis.

She could suddenly feel herself being pushed.

"DAVIEN!"

She thought as she let the assisting shove carry her onto the upper half of her back, then over and onto her feet.

Where her head had been not a second ago, an ugly sword had stuck hard.

The impact at such close proximity was jarring, and bits of sand and dirt stung Amoura's face as she dug her sword into the ground to slow her backward motion to an unsteady halt.

Her adversary wasted no time in pressing the attack.

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The Orcis to Davien's now back

-The one he had blasted in the face-

was unceremoniously slammed into a tree after completing its unintentional back flip.

The impact with the tree had actually done more damage than Davien's push spell.

Bruised, scrapped up, but not seriously hurt, it gathered it's dropped sword and set it's feet to charge back into the fray.

The other one that had been directly before him had not been so lucky.

When it's blade had missed it's mark, it had adjusted it's posture, turned swiftly, and attempted a powerful follow-up back swing. The blade connected with something solid and unmoving.

An arm?

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The sword of the Sand Orcis had sliced cleanly through his robes the first time around, but not close enough to spill his guts upon the sun baked soil-sand.

The next swing would cleave him in two.

He simply had no time to react.

And several push spells preformed in rapid succession, had left him a but drained.

He was starting to feel sluggish.

He glanced in the direction of his wife and silently prepared himself for the fatal blow.

It never came.

Dirt and sand sprayed him as the Gatemen Automaton landed just a foot to his right with it's gleaming back to him. Upon landing, it's gears and levers shifted, and it's top half rotated 180 degrees so that it could face it's master.

It's right arm was a blur of motion as it snapped into the perfect position to catch the incoming blade.

CLANG!

"You were beyond my visual abilities master. I sensed danger."

Its flat and detached voice echoed a bit as it generated Aetherial sounds from the hole that was it's mouth.

The Sand Orcis looked down and found the blade of it's sword locked firmly in the grip of the Automaton.

"MECHA!"

It shouted in both surprise and terror as it's eyes bulged.

It let the handle of the weapon go in an attempt to turn and flee.

The Gatemen was quicker.

It's gears turned and squeaked softly.

It's joints flexed with speed that was far beyond that of any human.

Gatemen were an intricate part of the main defenses of the city of Bant.

6'10 by design, the Automaton guardians were constructed of a rather complex system of pistons, gears, valves, and cylinders, all fueled by Aetheralzine -a rare and expensive imported fuel source.- built onto a frame of enchanted Arcadia wood.

All of this was cased in a series of containment units that were forged of titanium alloy plating and fashioned after the average human build and armor style.

In short, the Sand Orcis had little to no chance.

The Orcis as a whole were on average no more than 5' tall, with arms and legs that were closer to the lengths of those of humans, but with much more muscle. With a broad and arched back, and matching broad shoulders, they were definitely stronger than they looked, and one would be foolish to underestimate them.

Gatemen didn't tend to underestimate anything other than their own strength on exceedingly rare occasion.

The Orcis that had relinquished it's grip on it's sword was to busy putting as much distance as it could between itself and the death machine. It knew that 1-on-1 it had no chance.

It would retreat to fight another day.

Yes.

It would fall back to the dune base camp that it and it's compatriots had dug out not more than a mile from here. It would get there, and…

It felt a hard punch to the center of it's back and looking down, it could see the tip of a very familiar looking sword protruding from it's chest.

Soon all was black.

Three down.

The tree-slammed Orcis had very nearly completed it's charge when the Automaton had suddenly appeared, seemingly falling from the sky.

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*Minutes before the attack*

Boongaloot was not a stupid Sand Orcis.

He knew that the two humans collecting plants at the edge of the trail would be no easy hunt.

But a fun and lucrative one?

Hellz yes.

He had watched them leave the safety of the city.

Had watched them walk past and away from the damnable Mecha Man.

Good.

They would be alone.

Boongaloot was not fond of the Mecha men…

He had lost many-a-good Goblin slave, and Sand Orcis warrior to the things, and had only ever "killed" a handful of them in return.

-if you could even call it killing-

They were hard to stop…

To strong,

To fast.

And if you did get a good cut or bash in, it didn't do much.

The Mecha men didn't have any squishy bits to aim for like the Meat men did.

He hoped that the humans would venture far enough out today that he and his group could have at them without the interference of the Mecha. So far this seemed to be going well.

They were only…

1…2.

TWO!

While he had among his group at least…TWICE that.

He wasn't very good with numbers.

But he knew OUTNUMBERED when he seen it.

The Fe-male (as the humans called their Notboys) had a stupidly small shield on her back, and what looked to Boongaloot as a child's play-sword on her hip.

All of his Orcis had either a sword, a club, or both!"

This was a good match!

He had not only MORE numbers of individuals, but also MORE weapons.

The man seemed far less prepared. He had no weapons, just the bag that they were using to collect the plants.

Why do humans even take them?

To eat?

To wipe their butts after sploosh?

YES. That had to be it.

Orcis ate no plants…

But humans were no Orcis.

He had no time for this.

As soon as Boongaloot thought that the pair was a good distance away from the gate, and more importantly, the Mecha man, he urged his group to advance.

Silently at first, they made their way down the slight incline and between the tall Acadia trees that dotted the area around the city, and in the shallow valleys that were created by the ever present dunes.

Near the edge of the forest, and just before they exited the thickest covers, he had pulled his lone archer to the side and handed him a special batch of arrows.

He was to attack first, and aim only for the Fe-male.

Distracting her would be key to their quick victory. The man would likely be little threat, as unarmed as he was.

The archer eagerly took to his task and let loose a pair of arrows in rapid succession, then tossed the bow aside and tore his sword from it's sheath as the other four Orcis did.

With a deep and authoritative bark, Boongaloot gave the signal to charge.

He held back and fell behind by a couple of yards.

He held back not to help, but to watch.

As he had been ordered to.

He would join when the time was right.

Then and only then, would he make his move.

Boongaloot was not a stupid Sand Orcis.

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TBC.

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Hey all! Thank you again for venturing with me into the world of Enverdolmol!

I am honored to have crested 1.9k readers! You all have no idea how much that means to me!

I will continue to post as often as possible, be it character bios, map updates, new chapters, or just to check in and give you all updates.

I couldn't ask for a better crowd!

I hope that you all enjoyed this new chapter and introduction. There are just a few more to go before I began to post all of the Part 2"s.

Stay safe,

Stay healthy,

And stay vigilant folks!

till we meet again her upon this road of stories in Enverdolmol,

Safe travels my friends.

-Redd.