Chapter 2 - The Giant Boar

"Have you gotten used to your new sword yet?" Gareth came out into the courtyard watching me train.

"Well-" I said, swinging my sword at the dummy, and having the sword bounce back due to the dull blade.

"That bad huh? Well keep at it, sooner or later you'll figure it out I'm sure of it" Gareth sat down next to me on the ground, watching me continue to 'master' my new sword on the training dummy.

"I was thinking-" Gareth said after a while, "What if instead of testing your new sword on a dummy, we test it out on some monsters?" Gareth stood up and brushed some dirt off his back. 

"I can't even make a dent in the dummy, how do you think it's gonna go if I end up fighting a monster with this thing?" I responded.

He looked at me and shrugged. 

"We won't know until we try" he smiled.

"Good, again!" Gareth shouted commands at me as I tried to cut down a giant boar that was roaming the forests outside of the city.

The boar was massive, even in giant boar standards. According to some of the locals this giant boar had been causing problems in the ecosystem in the forest, forcing more dangerous monsters to flee towards the villages. Keeping monsters like this in check is part of what it means to be a royal knight of the kingdom, usually this beast wouldn't have been a problem- if it hadn't been for my new 'magical sword'. 

"It's getting slower, keep at it!" Gareth shouted.

"I'm not even able to cut the damn thing" I snapped back at him as I dodged away from the boar's attacks. 

The giant boar rushed past me and stomped its feet in the ground, grunting and wheezing of anger. It turned around looking right at me, getting ready for another charge.

Immediately as it started to charge towards me again, I jumped up onto its back and used the only sharp edge of my sword to stab it. However, the only sharp edge of the sword was at the end of it making it hard to stab it's back while trying to maintain my balance. 

"Gyaarghhhh!" It yelled out in agony, as blood started to spew out from its wounds.

"Very good!" clapped Gareth from the tree line a little ways off. 

The giant boar planted its feet and started shaking violently to try and get me off. 

"Oh no, you don't!" I yelled as I pushed my sword deep into the giant boar's neck.

"GYYAAARGGGGHHH" the giant boar let out a large dying scream as it took a few steps forward, before toppling over to its side. 

"Well well well, I knew you could do it, even with that flimsy sword of yours" Gareth walked over.

I hunched down, placing my sword in the ground and leaning on it as I tried to catch my breath. "Yhea- but it sure wasn't- easy" I said gasping for air.

"No? Looked easy from where I was standing" he laughed. "The villagers are gonna be ecstatic when they see this, having both rid them of a dangerous threat and given them food for at least the next few days". 

"How are we supposed to move this thing?" I asked him.

Gareth turned around and pointed at a wagon he had placed behind the treeline. After bringing it over he grabbed the dead giant boar and placed it on the wagon single handed. "There, now drag this over to the villager chief and I'll go notify the king mkay?" before I could even object Gareth had run off.

I had no more energy left in my body to scream at him, and just accepted my faith. The village wasn't too far off, but with this incredibly heavy boar and this flimsy wagon it was still going to take me ages, so I started walking. 

Getting the wagon to move at all proved a challenge in itself as the weight of the giant boar pressed the wagon down putting stress on the wheels. Once I managed to get it moving things got a little easier, I had even started to move quite fast. Before I realized it I was running down hill with the wagon tumbling after me.

"Shiiiit!" I screamed as I tried to slow the wagon down, but it was too late. The wagon with the boar on flew down the hill at an incredible pace before it stopped at the end of the hill. Luckily, when I reached the bottom, the boar was still sitting firmly on top.

As the sun set over the horizon, the entire forest was lit up with an orange hue, before promptly going dark and letting the stars take over the sky. 

Around me I could hear all manner of different sounds rustling in between the bushes and trees, the smell of blood from the giant boar was most likely attracting hungry animals towards me which only made me go even faster. 

By now I had lost track of how far I had walked and my mouth was starting to dry up. I stopped the wagon for a moment and reached into my backpack for some water. 

As soon as I reached for the water I could hear steps behind me, they were quiet steps as if someone or something was making as little noise as possible to sneak up behind me. 

I slowly reached for my sword, and tried to look behind me with my peripherals to see what I was dealing with. As I reared my head I noticed a wolf standing at the edge of my vision, but it couldn't have been the one that made the noise, it was standing too far back, which means there's most likely a whole pack of them behind me. 

In a flash I dropped my water to the ground and rolled over to the side. I would've dodged the wolf's attack if it weren't for its abnormally long claws. The cuts to the side of my stomach seared in pain as I tried to get my balance. I looked up and saw four wolf's lined up in front of me. They had white long fur, and red glowing eyes… These weren't regular old wolves, these are direwolves. 

I managed to stand up straight and assume an attack position, getting ready for any attack. One of the direwolves were larger than the others, probably the leader- which meant taking out this one would hopefully make the others flee. 

The first direwolf made its move and jumped at me baring its fangs, I jumped to the side just before it got me and used my sword to hit its head. Although the long sides of my sword were dull, it could still deal damage if used correctly. 

The first wolf stumbled forward a little before gathering its wits again. Now the second wolf ran towards me as the first one circled around my back. The two direwolves dashed forward at me simultaneously, I jumped up and over them as they crashed into each other, knocking the other out. In front of me now were the leader of the pack and two of its followers.

The biggest of the direwolves stepped forward, as its two remaining followers stood still watching their leader. It was coming to finish me off itself.

The Alpha direwolf was comparable in size to that of the giant boar, perhaps only a few meters shorter. Its long rows of teeth could chomp a man in two, I wouldn't let that happen. 

It roared furiously as it dashed head first at me, I used my sword as a shield to block its teeth and jump to its side dealing a blunt blow to it. 

The Alpha circled around and dashed right at me once more. It trampled ahead at a great speed, Its red eyes glowing even brighter. 

As it was about to hit me I dodged to the side only to notice that one of the other Direwolves I had knocked out had gotten back up, and was now standing behind me. 

The Alpha had lured me into a trap, by dodging from its attack I was now an optimal target for the second wolf. 

Before I had even noticed it, the second direwolf had already latched its teeth to my leg and was biting down violently. 

As blood was gushing from my thigh I let out a painful scream, and shoved my sword into the wolves mouth pushing the sharp end up its skull. A few seconds later the wolf's grip loosened before keeling over. 

The Alpha howled furiously as it bouldered towards me, obviously angered by the death of one of its kind. 

With no more strength in my right leg, I kneeled down at the last moment before the Alpha charged me, and shielded myself using my sword before closing my eyes. 

After a few seconds I heard a dying gasp, as the Alpha had been impaled on my sword, not being fast enough to react, it charged right onto the sword and died. Soon after the other remaining direwolves howled at the sky, before running off into the forest. 

I was starting to lose consciousness from all the blood loss, I removed my shirt and tied it around my wound to stop the bleeding. Before I could find a place to sit down I fainted and fell over.

"He's coming too! Get the Elder" I could hear the voice of a young boy. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a straw knitted roof. 

As I tried sitting up a searing pain shot up my right leg. I looked down and noticed that my wound had been patched up, someone from the village must've found me and brought me back.

A moment later an old man came into the room, followed by two others. It must be the village elder, I thought to myself. 

"You're awake!" Good, we were worried there for a minute" the elder smiled. 

"Good thing that little Benjamin here loves to wake up early or we might not have found you in time" the elder patted a young boy on the head, the boy was hiding behind the elder's leg watching me.

"Thank you Benjamin, I owe you my life" I said and smiled at the little boy. The boy turned away and ran out the door.

"Ah Benjamin is a little shy, he'll come around. But more importantly, how are you?" The elder grabbed a chair next to the bed I was in and sat down.

"My leg is on fire, and my chest aches- but other than that I'm good. Thank you" I bowed as much as I could from a seated position without opening any wounds. 

"The giant boar!" I exclaimed, remembering I didn't get to deliver it before fainting. 

"Ah, no need to worry. Some of the other villagers went back into the forest and brought back the giant boar, as well as the alpha direwolf that attacked you while we were patching you up. I must say, slaying both a giant boar as well as an alpha direwolf on the same day is quite the accomplishment" he leaned back in his chair. 

"As thanks for helping us I've tasked our craftsmen to use the alpha's fur to craft you a gift, although it won't be ready for a few days" the elder said and stood up.

"You should stay here with us for a while until you're back on your feet- your gift will be ready by then. You should also know we've sent a messenger to the castle to notify sir Gareth about the state your in" he said before leaving the room. 

The next day the villagers would serve me food they made from the giant boar, and change the dressings on my wounds. Several days later it was finally time to leave, as the villagers had all come together to host a little celebration. 

"Just as promised-" said the Elder as he handed me a hooded coat made from the pelt of the Alpha Direwolf. 

From simply looking at it I could tell it was made with great care and meticulous craftsmanship. The coat had several embroidered symbols running down the back of it.

"A gift from us to you for helping us get rid of the beasts in the forest" the elder said and bowed, the rest of the village following suit. 

"Thank you everyone-" I answered, getting embarrassed by the amount of people paying their respects to me. 

"Don't forget this sir!" The little boy from before came running over to me, clutching my scabbard in his arms. 

"Thank you Benjamin" I thanked the little boy and ruffled his hair.

I packed my things, and waved the village off as I made my way back to the city.

"Finally!" Gareth said, greeting me at the castle gates. "Getting overwhelmed by mere direwolves doesn't sound like something you would do?" he roared. 

"I wouldn't have been overwhelmed if I had a proper sword!" I snapped back at him. Gareth glanced over at the sword hanging sheathed on my back, and grabbed it from me.

"Well, well, well. What did I say?" Gareth grabbed my scabbard and pulled the sword out from it.

The sword I carried looked nothing like the sword I got from the swordsmith. The sword had changed from a shabby, dull blade, to something more akin to a royal guards sword. Although looking heaps better than before, it was still nothing to scoff at.

"At least it's got sharp edges now" I thought to myself. 

"So it's true- it does change appearance" I took the sword back and looked it over.

"I think it's about time she get's a name right?" Gareth said.

I thought for a little bit. After Gareth and the dwarven swordsmith mentioned the legendary heroes who's swords all had names, I started looking into it. Many of them had unique names that either described its appearance or were symbolic of the sword itself. As the ore used to create this sword is tied to an ancient elder dragon I did have one name I liked…

"I'll call her Draconis".

End of Chapter 2