15 Chapter 14 - Carry On

There was a pounding through Archers head as he regained consciousness. He reached over to grab his clothes, but his hand only touched the floor. Letting out a sigh, he sat up in bed. His vision spun as he tried to take in his surroundings. Haven was already gone and appeared to have been for a while. Continuing to look around, he couldnt see his clothes anywhere in sight. Panic spread through his body, not for his clothes, but for Spada that was with him. Standing up and rushing around the room, he couldnt find any of his gear. He even looked under the bed and had no luck. "I need to get back to Master," he thought. He grabbed the linens and wrapped himself in them.

"Why did she have to take my clothes too?" Archer mumbled under his breath as he walked out of the room. As he made it clear of the halways, he noticed the familiar wood of the walls at the bottom of the stairs, confirming his suspicion that he was still hat the tavern. He slowly crept down the stairs, looking around the corner to see if the coast was clear. There were a couple of people in there, enjoying conversation and a drink.

Archer pondered if he could leave without being noticed, but it seemed unlikely. At this realization, he sprinted across the floor to the front door, his linens flapping in the wind as he ran, exposing his rear to the onlookers in the tavern.

"Wh.. Who.. Oh my.." Were the last words he heard as he bursted through the door. Not stopping, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him down the road. A couple of workers along the road started to chuckle as he ran past, making his cheeks flush with embarrassment. He didn't catch any sight of the thief as he made his way back to Jacobi's house. Finally he made it to the well he had sat at the night prior before he heard the music. "Not too much further." He turned to make a left but fell flat on his face as he did. Pain shot through his three small toes as he looked behind him to see that he had been bested by a stone laying on the ground. There were a couple of screams a few yards from him and when he observed the source, it was the same children he saw the morning prior in the woods, both running away.

Scowling, he got back up and finished his trek to Jacobi's house. He burst through the door and Shuien was sitting in a chair with his sword in his lap and a rag in hand. Master Shuien looked up at Archer and began to chuckle. "Good night I take it?"

"No! I mean.. yes.. at first. But my stuff is gone, including Spada!"

"Why did you take the sword with you?!" Shuien asked, very obviously angry. "Who was it and tell me everything?"

Archer recounted everything he remembered from the night prior. Shuien listened, still clearly irritated. After the story, Shuien piped up, "You were drugged. Thats clear. Whoever did this intentionally singled you out, probably because you made yourself easy to target. I literally just told you about this stuff yesterday Archer. Now the most precious item you could even possess is in the hands of some wench."

"Can I at least get some damned clothes? I'm sure the kids who saw me will forever have the sight of my rear imprinted into the memories." Archer said, ashamed of himself. Nothing Shuien could say would make him feel worse about the events that had transpired. He didn't care about the clothes as much, cause Archer needed new ones anyways. But Spada.. his fathers sword. He wanted it back. It was his link to sanity among the chaos that was starting in the world.

As though he could read the princes mind, "We will go back to the tavern and ask around, see what we can find out." Although the words gave Archer slight reassurance, it didn't stop the guilt panging through his body. "This is my fault to begin with. Being swooned by a stranger," he thought to himself.

"Jacobi! Do you have some clothes that would fit our youngin here?"

The grizzled old man poked his head through the door and looked at Archer. "I should have something from my younger days. Your not too much smaller I was."

Shuien continued to polish his sword, although the sword shone it the peeking sunlight, he seemed as though he was bored. After several moments, Jacobi walked back into the room carrying a bundle of clothes under his arm. He threw them to Archer who was still squatting in the corner. Archer grabbed them greedily and stood up to begin changing. The other two men in the room averted their eyes as he did so. The pants were basic brown. Nothing about them was fancy, they were a cotton material but the seemed to fit fine. The top was a sleeveless leather vest. And lastly were some worn brown boots. "Not my type, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm just glad he had stuff to fit me." Archer thought to himself.

Finally dressed, Archer stood up and straightened himself. "I sincerely appreciate your help Mr. Jacobi." The old man grunted and gave him a brisk smile. Shuien stood up and face his friend, a smile tugged at the corners of his cheeks as his eyes teared up a little. "I'll miss you as always my friend."

"You as well little man." Jacobi then gave Shuien another hug, not a rough one this time though to keep from reopening his wound. After an uncomfortably awkward amount of time, they separated and Archer followed Shuien to the front door. As they opened the door to step put, the old man yelled out, "Hey runt!"

Archer turned around and looked at Jacobi's face. They seemed sad and in his right hand, he held his warhammer. "I wont be needing this. Take care of her." He extended his arm outside of the door and placed the hammer in Archers hands along with the shoulder sling. "That hammer has been in my family for generations, however; my son is dead and I have no one to carry it. Her name is Pride's End."

Bowing his head as a sign of respect and gratitude, he gratefully holstered the weapon over his shoulder. The weight was significant. He had never wielded a weapon that carried so much mass before, which gave him a newfound respect for the mans strength. Archer knew we would need practice before he was able to sufficiently use it.

Walking back down the road to the tavern made Archer cringe at the thought of his 'not so pleasant' run that morning. They made it to the tavern and walked in. It was completly empty with the exception of a chunky looking man standing behind the counter. He eyed the duo through his half moon glasses as they walked in.

"What can I get fer ya?" He asked.

Shuien was the first to speak, "Last night there was a lass here. Auburn hair, blue eyes and dress. Where would she be at around this time?"

"Straight to business, eh? I can't say I know who yer talkin bout."

Shuien reached in his coat and slid a gold piece across the counter to the man, not saying a word.

"Ahhh! Thats right, that lass. Yeah she was here, she comes through now and again when she passes Hammerstone, never seen her leave in a such a hurry before though." He eyed Archer, "Did something happen?"

This time Archer opened his mouth, "Where did she go?" His words seemed more urgent than he intended them too, but the barkeep didn't seem to care.

"She usually makes her way through here to that Puraloke place. Pretty sure that's where she's from. She only comes through every few months, but she's a nice gal and makes good company, never causes any strife with our folk."

Luckily Archer knew that was where his destination was to begin with. The anticipation started to clutch at his chest, he was ready to leave now. Content with their answers, they walked out of the tavern.

"Pleasure doing business with ya." The barkeep called behind them as they crossed the threshold.

They continued down the road past the tavern, out of Hammerstone. There was one more town between here and Puraloke. There was slight cloud cover in the sky now, casting shade over their path and the run down town.

About a mile down the road, Archer had removed Pride's End from his back and was making himself grow accustomed to the weight of it. Reaffirming in his mind that it would definitely take some time. Amongst the bird that were chirping into the wind, a scream came from Hammerstone. The scream was followed by a howl that flooded the air. Turning quickly, Archer started to run back but was stopped by Shuien.

"Tell me, how can you help? Surely its the beasts, but you have an unfamiliar weapon, no armor and im injured. Our best hope is to press on to Puraloke and rendenvouz with some help."

"So your willing to sacrifice their lives for our sakes?" Archer was furious. His limbs lite up again, ready to intercept whatever threat was going to come their way.

"Even more will die if you do go and risk you life. If you die, our world as we know is finished. Sacrifice the few for the many. You need to learn to make the hard decisions for the better good if your gonna assume your fathers role as king. So lower your pride and get your head out of your ass." Shuien had an intensity on his face that emulated the battle of Draconvale.

This was the first time the master had been so brash with his words towards Archer, but he paused as he processed Shuiens words. He took a breath and tried to clear his mind, accepting reason. "Fine.."

Archer reholstered the hammer and they continued on down the road at a jog this time, hopefully the monsters would remain occupied long enough for them to escape. Archer wept as he listened to the screams of his citizens fade one by one till he was finally out of earshot from them. They needed to hurry.

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The clear blue water stretched underneath Alirick. The castle walls a couple of leagues from him wouldn't be able to stand against him as he flew closer, and he knew this. Alirick could see the foam from the ocean slapping the shores of the kingdome walls. Taking a deep breath, he felt the fire well within his mouth as he fired a bolt at amazing velocity towards the wall, cause the stone near the impact to crumble to dust and ash.

Batista began to fire at him and a couple of the bolts that didn't bounce off of his scales, pierced the skin between the skin flaps of his wings. Agitated now, Alirick swooped low to the base of the castle and released a stream of flame from his maw that melted the stone to the ground. Towers began to crumble with another mighty breath, the mighty dragon fired another bolt into the ground that launched dirt into the air. After two more shots, there was a loud explosion and the sounds of screaming and howling.

"Come children. Its our time!" He cried out with his mind as he turned direction to the sky and left as quickly as he had come in. His red scales glinted in the sun as Alirick began to listen to the sounds of metal and death. There were splashes in the water as his army spread and Aliricks job was now done here. He continued to his flight path, away from the fight, back towards the mainland shoreline.

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