A Hero’s Quest: It Begins
By Matthew Mangum
&
Melanie Mangum
Copyright 2014 Matthew Mangum & Melanie Mangum; All rights reserved
Mirela ran out of the large home now engulfed in flames with little Rosina hugged tight in her arms. Rosina sobbed hard, her blond curls shaking, her blue eyes filled with fear and tears. Nothing Mirela tried quieted her screams which only grew louder in the chaos of the streets. Hideous ogres were everywhere. She ducked under a half collapsed tent by the wall and rocked Rosina.
“Shh, be quiet or they will find us.” Mirela looked up in time to see a one eyed ogre look around the corner. She slapped her hand over Rosina’s mouth and ducked down low. She sighed in relief as the thing raised its club and ran off in the other direction screaming. The noise of the streets masked Rosina’s explosion of hiccups and cries.
Mirela thought fast trying to think of something to ease Rosina’s mind. “Shh. I’m sorry. But we didn’t want them to find us. Didn’t I tell you, we’re playing hide and seek.”
A rock slid sideways and a girl’s dark haired head popped out. “Shut it or they will find us!”
Mirela jumped and let out a gasp of her own. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”
“The name’s Gwynn. There’s a hole in the wall. I use it to hide sometimes. Now be quiet or they’ll find us.”
***
Gwynn led the way out of the village, flames reaching over the walls and casting terrifying shadows on the trees around them as the trio fled into the woods. Mirela’s apron fluttered around her and Rosina’s head was buried into the blue dress sleeve of Mirela’s dress. Branch’s grasped at the girls as they pushed their way blindly through the trees and underbrush. Gwynn didn’t seem to care, her clothes were already torn but Mirela kept trying to push aside branches and hold onto the small girl in her arms.
“Where are we going?” Mirela asked.
Gwynn turned sharply, “I told you to keep quiet. Ogre’s wiped out our village and could still be looking for survivors. Now shut it!” She turned and tripped. Mirela gasped as she saw the leg of an old man sticking out from under a bush.
A moan came from the trees and the girls stopped as a gray head appeared. “Elder Sodden,” Mirela stared at him, blood was pouring from a cut over the old man’s eye and his gray beard was matted with blood and leaves.
The old man wiped blood from his eye, “Is that you Mirela, maid in the Chief’s home?”
“Yes sir, and I have Rosina here.”
“Good good. The ogres got me with a rock. If they knew what I had they wouldn’t have let me stumble on till I died. They came for these.” He held up a long bundle of cloth. “The bow, dagger, and wallet of Sorcerer Majid.”
Gwynn looked at him in shock. “Those are real?”
The dying village elder studied Gwynn, “Of course they are. And now I need you my young trouble maker to carry them to Wizard Ozunian. His tent is two or three days east of here. Use the bow and dagger to protect yourselves, the wallet never runs out of food.” Gwynn took the offered bundle and the Elder closed his eyes and slumped over.
“Is he dead?” Mirela asked staring.
Gwynn nodded, “Come on, we have to keep moving. At least now we have somewhere to go.”
***
The night passed quickly and soon the sun was rising. Gwynn stopped at a stream and scooped some water to her mouth. “Is that water clean?” Mirela asked eyeing the slow moving creek.
“Clean enough, I’ve had worse. While you were busy serving in the Chief’s house and enjoying everything nice I’ve been living on the streets since I was six.”
Mirela ignored her and bent down to the stream to drink herself. “I think we’re far enough away we can slow down a bit now, and I don’t think ogres will bother us during the day.”
“You’re right; I think ogres only come out at night.” Gwynn unwrapped the bundle revealing the wooden short bow and a jeweled handled dagger in a sheath. The wallet was a small leather sack. Gwynn opened it and shook out a small roll, she handed it to Rosina he began chewing on it greedily. Then shook out another roll. “Guess this thing really does provide endless food. Hopefully something more than bread.” She handed the wallet to Mirela, “Here you hang onto this.”
“Is the bow and dagger magic too?” Mirela asked as she tucked the wallet into her apron pocket.
“That’s the story I’ve heard. When you pull the bow string and arrow magically appears, and the dagger will always return to its sheath if you lose it.” Gwynn tied the sheath onto the rope belt she wore around her loose pants. She pulled the dagger out and tossed it into the stream.
Mirela looked shocked, “What are you doing?”
“Just testing it.” She reached down to the sheath and suddenly the dagger was back where it belonged. “Guess it’s magic too. We’d better keep going though.”
***
As the girls disappeared up the trail the stringy matted hair of a witch rose up out of the tall grass. Her round face was dirty and her age could not be determined. She leaned against a heavy staff and stared up the trail a greedy expression in her eyes. “So,” she cackled, “they have Majid’s weapons and no understanding of their true powers. I’ll have to relieve them of their heavy heavy burden.” She grinned maliciously and leaning heavily on her staff began to follow after them.
***
Mirela’s steps began to falter from lack of sleep and Rosina was getting heavier with each exhausted step. Rosina had fallen asleep in her arms, but would wake up every time she stumbled.
Gwynn looked back at her. “Hurry up.”
“Can’t we rest and get some sleep? I can’t go on like this much longer?” Mirela asked.
Gwynn rolled her eyes. “If you push yourself you can go a couple days without sleep. Make the little one walk some.”
“She hasn’t gotten any good sleep all night. We could all use some sleep. We never know when we will get another chance and now is the best time while all the Ogres are sleeping too.”
“No, we need to put as much distance between us and them as we can before nightfall.”
“Carry her for me for a little while then.”
“Make her walk.”
“But she would slow us down too much if I did that and we can’t leave her behind.”
Gwynn sighed giving in. “Alright.” She took Rosina and began to stride forward again. The extra weight slowed her down some and a couple of hours later she conceded to Mirela’s gentle request to stop for some sleep and food at another stream. She dropped Rosina on the soft riverbed without warning. Rosina who had been half asleep jolted awake and began to cry.
Mirela rushed to her side and tried to comfort her. She pulled out several rolls and passed them out. When Rosina finished her roll she lay down on Mirela’s lap and fell asleep while Mirela rubbed her back until she too fell asleep.
Gwynn sat, pulled out the dagger, and cut her role into a couple of pieces. She didn’t care for plain bread, but she knew she needed the food even if eating it was a monotonous chore. While sitting still exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep.
She heard a twig snap and jolted awake. Glancing up at the sun she was angry at herself for falling asleep for so long. She heard another twig snap and quietly jumped to her feet. Peering through the branches she saw a hunched over old lady. She froze afraid the woman might see them. What if she was some kind of witch or evil sorcerous? She was glad that Rosina and Mirela were still asleep and not awake to make lots of noise. In her mind they didn’t have any real survival skills, but she was glad she wasn’t alone.
She watched as the woman p
ushed through the trees off the beaten path then went back to her companions and woke them. “We need to keep moving.” She slipped the bow over her head and headed back down the path.
***
Mirela feeling a lot better after some sleep nodded and pulled a still half asleep Rosina up into her arms and began to jog to catch up to Gwynn. “Wake up Rosina. Think you want to walk some?”
Rosina yawned then nodded. Mirela set her on the ground and held her hand as they walked.
Gwynn glanced back at them. “Hurry up.”
“We’re coming; I just want to make sure that Rosina stretches her legs a little. What’s your hurry anyway?”
Gwynn glanced back at her. “We’ve lost a lot of time with that long nap we took back there and I think I might have seen a witch. I don’t want to find out whose side she’s on. I’d rather avoid her or anyone else we meet.”
Mirela shook her head. “We have to trust someone.”
“I’ll trust the wizard we are going to find.” She kept them moving and took them on the edge of the path so they could dart into the trees if they heard anything or anyone coming.
Rosina saw a squirrel and clapped her hands. She tried to run after it, but Mirela caught her hand.
“Stay here Rosina he might bite.” Mirela said. Rosina got fussy and began to cry.
Gwynn groaned. “Keep her quiet. Ogres and anything else out here will know where to find us when night falls.”
“It’s not that easy.” Mirela dropped to her knees in front of Rosina. “If you stop crying I’ll be sure to get you a puppy as soon as I can. Wouldn’t you like that?”
Rosina rubbed her eyes and nodded with a sniff.
“What does the dog say?”
Rosina began to bark like a puppy.
Gwynn’s frown deepened. “That isn’t helping either.”
Mirela sighed. “You really are impatient. Let’s stop for something to eat again. Easiest way to keep a little girl quiet is by keeping her happy.”
“Fine.” Gwynn sat on a rock and glanced down the trail the way they had come.
Mirela pulled the wallet out of her apron and passed out a roll to everyone.
Rosina took her roll happily.
Gwynn stared at the roll in her hand then looked back up at Mirela and Rosina as they were eating. She glanced back down the path afraid someone or something might be following them, but hadn’t heard or seen anything after the old lady and she didn’t think the old lady had even seen them. She fingered the bow string around her chest.
Rosina made happy noises as she bit into her roll.
Gwynn’s nerves snapped and she threw the bread down. “I’m sick of bread.”
Mirela sighed and looked up at Gwynn. “We have only been going for a day. How can you be sick of bread already?”
Gwynn growled under her breath. “The pig’s trough has more choices than this. I want meat!”
“We don’t have any meat Gwynn.”
“Then I’ll get some.” She grabbed her bow and stocked off.
Rosina looked up at Mirela. “Good bread.” Mirela shook her head and continued to feed Rosina.
***
Gwynn was feeling scared but she didn’t want to admit it as she marched off. She also had never shot a bow in her life and was afraid when it came down to it she wouldn’t be able to help. She had only ever hid and stolen in her life. It had always been about just her, but now she had a purpose and she wanted to do it well.
She spotted a deer and sunk down into a crouch. This was the perfect moment to prove that she could defend herself and the others as well as help provide for them too. She took aim, pulling the sting back so slowly that it was like the arrow was being drawn out by her hand then let the arrow fly. It flew right past the deer and stuck into a tree. The deer looked up and around. Gwynn held her breath afraid the deer would run off. She waited for the deer to look back down at its food before drawing back the bow again. She set the arrow flying, but this one went wild. She heard an odd screaming and the deer ran off. Sighing in frustration she went to see what she had hit and found a rabbit. Her arrow had killed it. She couldn’t help a nervous laugh as she thought of the dumb luck as she scooped the rabbit up and headed back to camp. She needed a lot of practice, but she felt she would get the hang of it.
***
Gwynn was heading back to find Mirela and Rosina with the dead rabbit tightly in hand when she heard a scream from Mirela. Gwynn started running and soon came into a clearing and found Mirela kneeling on the ground crying. “What’s wrong?” She looked around and realized that Rosina was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Rosina?”
“The witch took her.” Mirela managed through her sobs. “I turned my back for just a second, Rosina was playing with a leaf, then she was gone and I found this note.” She handed the piece of parchment to Gwynn. “The witch wants the dagger and the bow or we’ll never see Rosina again.” Mirela broke down crying again and Gwynn examined the parchment.
“We’re to meet her on the east shore of the lake before nightfall.” Gwynn looked at the sun. “That doesn’t give us too long.”
Mirela got up and wiped at her tears. “But we can’t give her the magic weapons. She’s an evil witch.”
“I can’t take on a witch, and we have to get Rosina back.”
“Since when did you care about Rosina?”
Gwynn shook her head. “She’s annoying, but fine, I care, I wouldn’t want anyone to be taken by an evil witch, but especially not a little girl. Let’s just head for the lake and maybe we can come up with a plan along the way.” Mirela nodded and followed Gwynn as she headed up the trail and into the trees.
***
The sun was getting close to the hills when the two girls walked out of the forest and onto the lake shore. Gwynn was ready with her bow and Mirela held the dagger tentatively. Rosina’s screams broke the silence as the witch drug her out of the tree line. The girls turned and faced her. The witch snarled at them and pushed the crying and screaming Rosina at them. “Her screams have woken the ogres, and I’m pulling my hair out. Shut her up!” Then the witch vanished back into the tree line.
Gwynn looked at Mirela, “So much for the plan. Now what about the ogres?”
Rosina ran into Mirela’s arms and she scooped her up and hugged her close. Rosina’s sobs stopped as Mirela whispered to her. Then she turned back to Gwynn. “If we’re on the lake they won’t catch us, and the wizard is just on the other side.”
Gwynn groaned. “We don’t have a boat though and it will take a day to walk around the lake. She flinched involuntarily at the sound of an ogre’s battle cry.
Mirela shook her head. “We can push that log the rest of the way into the water and hang onto it as we cross the lake.”
Gwynn paled. “I can’t swim though.”
It was Mirela’s turn to sigh in frustration. “You don’t have to. Just hang tightly to the log.
Gwynn countered. “Can Rosina swim? What happens if she falls off the log?”
“What do you suggest then?” Mirela crossed her arms.
Gwynn looked around hoping for another plan to come to her. She hated deep water and the idea of paddling through the dark lake water not knowing what could be under them. “Maybe we can paddle a little ways out, but stay close to shore so it isn’t as deep or hide in the tree and hope they don’t smell us.” She knew as she spoke that her ideas were faulty. “Maybe they will catch the witches scent and follow after her instead.
Mirela shook her head as she walked over to the tree on the beach sand. “Come help me push this into the water. The idea only works if we can get it into the water.”
Gwynn walked over. “It might be easier to role it then push it.” She pushed her back into the tree and it rolled off of the rock it had been propped up against. Together they pushed and little Rosina giggled and trie
d to help them push, thinking it was a game. They managed to get the log the rest of the way into the water.
Mirela sat into the water panting. She took a few minutes to catch her breath then stood up and scooped Rosina out of the water and set her on the tree next to a fork in the branch. “Hang on tight.”
Gwynn stepped further into the dark water. She mournfully dropped the rabbit that had been tied to her belt, on the shore knowing it probably wouldn’t be much good after getting dragged through the lake and who knew when she would get around to cooking it. Maybe it would slow the ogres down. She took a deep breath knowing the lake was probably the safest way to go, but part of her would rather face the Ogres. She heard another ogre cry and it was getting closer. She helped push the branch further out into the water and held tightly.
An ogre burst through the branches and at the sight of them began to throw rocks at them. It splashed around them and Rosina began to cry.
“Quick, we have to go out further. Ah- ouch,” Mirela whimpered as one of the rocks struck her.