Legend Of Dragoon Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Dragoon II ❯ The Swordsman and the Desert ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: brain0loss0due0to0you 
Non Anime: Legend Of Dragoon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.13.2007 | Updated On: 04.13.2007 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.3K | Visits: 430 | Status: Work In Progress
Non Anime: Legend Of Dragoon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.13.2007 | Updated On: 04.13.2007 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.3K | Visits: 430 | Status: Work In Progress
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Chapter 3) The swordsman and the desert
When Orrin woke in the morning, smells of breakfast wafted in the air, sausage, bacon, pancakes, almost anything assosciated with breakfast. He redressed and went downstairs, Aljandro greeting him with a hearty smile. "Eat up!" he said, "I suppose after we see Rashe'm, we'll be heading for Mille Seseau. It'll be quite awhile before we can eat normally again." Orrin thought as he sat at the table and began to eat. "So, I guess I made a good choice with him. He can fight AND cook! At least we won't go hungry." At the same moment, Al began to pack kitchen items and spices.
As the two set out the door, heading for the swordsman's house, Orrin wore the same Jade tunic and black pants, while Al wore something resembling a uniform, that varied in hues of brown. He also carried something resembling a small axe. He had reasoned to Orrin that it was too big to fit in the sack of kitchen supplies. The two looked really odd walking together. A really tall, bulky man, was walking next to a twig of a kid in comparison. While walking, Orrin decided to ask, "You mentioned the "Peace Enforcement" yesterday. Is that what they wear?" He pointed at Al's clothes. Al replied, "In fact, it is! It also happens to be my favorite color, so I would have worn it anyway."
After about a half hour of walking, Al halted Orrin in front of a house. "We're here." he said deeply. When Orrin placed his hands in his pockets, Al said, "No, don't show him those! He's a "recovering thief", I guess ya could say. I know him because I'm the one who stopped him. Showing him those could set him off to his old ways." Orrin thought for a second. "Then how are we going to explain our journey?" Al turned to face the door and knocked on it. "Trust me, I've got something in mind." Before the door swung open, revealing a man in his twenties, Orrin remembered to take his hands out of his pockets, to avoid the man's suspicion. The man immediately recognized Aljandro. "Hey, Al! I haven't seen you in a while!" Al came in the door, "In a way, I guess that's good," he said. They both laughed heartily, and Orrin entered and shut the door behind him.
The inside looked almost like Al's house, but the only difference was the multitude of scratches in the walls, evidence of practiced swordplay. Rashe'm invited the two to sit in his living room, and asked, brushing his striking black hair with his fingers, "So, what brings you and the kid here, Aljandro? " After another good laugh, Al said, "I told ya, ya can call me Al. And the kid is a kid of a friend of mine. He has relatives in Mille Seseau, and while his mother's sick, she asked me if I could take him to her sister's until she got better. I was wondering if ya'd like to come along. Ya know, catch up on lost time, get a little action in our non-active lives. So, how about it? Ya in?" Rashe'm took a few moments to think about it. Sarcastically, he replied, "And give up the fine livings I've got here?" He continued, "....... Sure, I'm in! But I'd like to visit the weaponry store before we set off."
Orrin and Al waited for Rashe'm outside the weaponry store or some ten minutes. Orrin brought up suddenly, "How are you gonna explain to him once we get there? It'll look suspicious to him if we get there and say 'Oh, we forgot to say, he doesn't have an aunt'. How are you going to get out of that one?" Al laughed and said, "I told you, I got it covered. What, don't you trust me, Orrin?" That's what this world had come to, Trust. Orrin had to be careful about the stones. If they got into the wrong hands, instead of helping the world, they would destroy it. Rashe'm came out of the store with a new sword, a broad sword. He was wearing red clothes, and he had shoulder, knee, and chest plates, useful for any fights. "All right, ninnies. Let's move!" The three headed towards the edge of the city, but Al stopped short. "OH!, sorry, I almost forgot. I have to report to work, tell them I'll be off duty for awhile. Ya both could wait here or come with me. Either way, they have to know, or they'll think I'm dead." Both Orrin and Rashe'm decided to stay on the edge of town. Orrin wanted to learn more about Rashe'm, and vise versa. "Ok, I'll be right back. Don't go off without me." As he faded out of sight into the crowd, Rashe'm started to want to start off anyways, just to see Aljandro's reaction.
Beginning conversation, Rashe'm asked, "What's your aunt's name? I want to know to be polite when we get there." Since Orrin didn't have an aunt, he had to activate his imagination. "Umm.... Carroll. Yeah, auntie Carroll." came out of Orrin's mouth. Rashe'm looked skeptic, but brushed it away. "What's your mom sick of?" Orrin replied, "I don't know, the doctor said it, but I can't recall right now." Rashe'm then asked, "Your dad taking care of your mom?" This struck the pit of Orrin's stomache. No one had mentioned his father for five years, since the accident. His father had gone to the well to get some water for dinner, but never came back. The well was outside of Dranc, and his father had been attacked by bandits, apparently for mouthing off. There was blood at the scene, but no body. It was rumored that he was carried off by the bandits. This was what caused Orrin to take up practicing with a sharpened stick. He was too young to get a real weapon. Once again, Orrin had to lie. "Yeah, he's home taking care of her." Then, taking advantage of the quiet moment, "What about you? Al told me you used to be a thief?" Rashe'm rubbed his hand behind his head. "Yeah, I guess I was, but I didn't get off cheaply." He pointed at his right ear, or what would have been his right ear. Orrin hadn't noticed it at the house at all. "I completely robbed a house. I owed a loanshark some money, and that was the fastest way to pay off. They only cut off my ear because just before I sold the stuff, that damned conscience kicked in, and I returned it all. Luckily, that's when I met Aljandro. He felt I did the right thing," Rashe'm then went sentimental, "and then I told him my problem. He insisted on paying the tab, but I told him it wasn't all that big of a deal. He's a great guy, always looking out for his friends. Your mom's lucky, I guess." Seriously, he continued, "So, all in all, I still have all ten fingers. Normally, those would go fir....." Orrin cut in "Eight. You have all eight fingers." After a quizzical look from Rashe'm, he explained. "My town's doctor figured out that the thumbs aren't fingers. They don't move the same way as them."
Al returned as it bagan to grow dark. The three ventured out into the desert, even though night fast approached, heading Northwest to Mille Seseau. "We'll go until it's almost pitch black." Al said. "Then we'll set up camp and a fire." Orrin was intrigued to talk to Al about the incident with Rashe'm, but now wasn't the time. Then Orrin considered showing the gems to Rashe'm, knowing that he probably wouldn't steal them, but then again, that would unravel the web of lies. So, he just dropped the subject in his mind.
The desert became colder as the night grew denser. Orrin remembered the cold from his trip to Heidra, only this time, it was colder. Al finally stopped and announced, "Okay, time to set up camp. Rashe'm, set out the blankets, Orrin, find something dry to be able to make a fire with. I'll try to find some water, if there's a nearby oasis, and if not, then from a cactus, to be able to make something to eat." With the orders set, the three got to work. It wasn't easy for Orrin to find anything burnable. There were mainly weeds. Rashe'm decided to help after he set up the beds, and by the time they all got back, Al had a pot of water, waiting with some flint, and Rashe'm and Orrin each had an armful of weeds. It was enough for a fire that would last about a half hour, perhaps longer.
The fire was going, water was boiling, and the three sat waiting around the fire. Al added some ingredients for a stew, the traveler's food. They waited for their stew, listening to the night sounds that can't be heard from the city. Even the stars seemed to shine more brightly. Once the stew was finished, they began small talk around the dying light of the fire, filling their stomaches and warming their bodies. Orrin was about to swallow another spoonful, but then Al started acting very odd. He kept looking back and forth, side to side, as if searching for something. "Quiet, I hear something." he whispered to the others. Silence pervaded once again, only with the crackle of fire, but then Orrin heard it, too. Something was hissing, loudly. Al grabbed his mini-axe and Rashe'm grabbed his sword. Following suit, Orrin took his sack off of his sharpened stick. Whatever was coming was going to attack.
The three stood in a circle, backs to backs, Rashe'm suggested it. Before Orrin realized it, there were some twenty scorpions surrounding them. They stood a foot off the ground, going up to about two feet, and their tail stingers were level with Orrin's eyes. Everything stood still, until one of the scorpions struck. It would have hit Al, if he hadn't brought his cleaver down on the end of the oncoming tail. The creature shrieked foully, piercing the night. The others attacked, trampeling the fallen scorpion, but before Orrin could even blink, Rashe'm had killed six of them. Orrin used the wooden spear to parry the blows of the scorpions coming at him, it was pretty much all he could do. Even though he had trained for five years, he still never really had an opponent, at least, not that big. Al had brought down three more with his axe, leaving about ten. Feeling unproven, Orrin lunged at a scorpion, piercing its back. But its tail came lashing at him. He would have been dead, but Rashe'm cut off the tail before it could kill him. "Watch yourself next time! And now you owe me!" Rashe'm shouted.
There were three left, each without a tail. They attacked using their pinser-claws, since their trump cards were hacked off. Orrin, Al, and Rashe'm literally had to be on their toes. The last scorpions split up and each took their target. With one swift synchronized action, the last three scorpions met their doom by the traveling trio of "warriors". Before they returned to the fire, they rounded up all of the bodies of the scorpions. "I don't see why we're doing this." Orrin complained exhaustedly, but Rashe'm cut in just as Al was about to explain. "If we shuck all of these scorpions, we'll have food for a few days, and burning fuel as well. And if we leave them here, more animals will come, see us, and we'll start the cycle all over again." Orrin was going to return to the camp after his savage survival lesson, but he suddenly heard a faint hiss, right near him. He was standing next to Rashe'm when the thing hissed, and when the scorpion revealed itself, it came after Rashe'm. Orrin thought quickly. He didn't know why, but something spurred him. With a quick jab, he struck the scorpion, before it could strike Rashe'm. Slowly pulling out his spear, Orrin told Rashe'm, "Now we're even!" A smile quickly spread accross Rashe'm's surprised face.
The battle had been dragged away from the campsite to avoid loss of sleeping spots, and they were glad when they had returned. Two tarps were placed out, and they began to shuck the scorpions, a messy job. Orrin asked out to the open, "Why'd the scorpions attack anyway?" as he shucked off the outer skin of a carcass. A bashful smile crossed Al's face. "I guess it's my fault, really. As I was looking for a spring, I stumbled into a scorpion nest. I couldn't tell, but I thought I heard a squish. I didn't see any scorpions around, so I walked on, pretending it didn't happen. They must have follewed my scent." Rashe'm and Orrin both gave Al dirty looks. Rashe'm said, "Maybe you should look where you're going next time! Just watch, tomorrow, you're going to get a hoard of Canbrian Dayflies after us!" When the conversation died, and their shucking deeds were finished, Al tamped out the fire and the three drifted to sleep.
Chapter 3) The swordsman and the desert
When Orrin woke in the morning, smells of breakfast wafted in the air, sausage, bacon, pancakes, almost anything assosciated with breakfast. He redressed and went downstairs, Aljandro greeting him with a hearty smile. "Eat up!" he said, "I suppose after we see Rashe'm, we'll be heading for Mille Seseau. It'll be quite awhile before we can eat normally again." Orrin thought as he sat at the table and began to eat. "So, I guess I made a good choice with him. He can fight AND cook! At least we won't go hungry." At the same moment, Al began to pack kitchen items and spices.
As the two set out the door, heading for the swordsman's house, Orrin wore the same Jade tunic and black pants, while Al wore something resembling a uniform, that varied in hues of brown. He also carried something resembling a small axe. He had reasoned to Orrin that it was too big to fit in the sack of kitchen supplies. The two looked really odd walking together. A really tall, bulky man, was walking next to a twig of a kid in comparison. While walking, Orrin decided to ask, "You mentioned the "Peace Enforcement" yesterday. Is that what they wear?" He pointed at Al's clothes. Al replied, "In fact, it is! It also happens to be my favorite color, so I would have worn it anyway."
After about a half hour of walking, Al halted Orrin in front of a house. "We're here." he said deeply. When Orrin placed his hands in his pockets, Al said, "No, don't show him those! He's a "recovering thief", I guess ya could say. I know him because I'm the one who stopped him. Showing him those could set him off to his old ways." Orrin thought for a second. "Then how are we going to explain our journey?" Al turned to face the door and knocked on it. "Trust me, I've got something in mind." Before the door swung open, revealing a man in his twenties, Orrin remembered to take his hands out of his pockets, to avoid the man's suspicion. The man immediately recognized Aljandro. "Hey, Al! I haven't seen you in a while!" Al came in the door, "In a way, I guess that's good," he said. They both laughed heartily, and Orrin entered and shut the door behind him.
The inside looked almost like Al's house, but the only difference was the multitude of scratches in the walls, evidence of practiced swordplay. Rashe'm invited the two to sit in his living room, and asked, brushing his striking black hair with his fingers, "So, what brings you and the kid here, Aljandro? " After another good laugh, Al said, "I told ya, ya can call me Al. And the kid is a kid of a friend of mine. He has relatives in Mille Seseau, and while his mother's sick, she asked me if I could take him to her sister's until she got better. I was wondering if ya'd like to come along. Ya know, catch up on lost time, get a little action in our non-active lives. So, how about it? Ya in?" Rashe'm took a few moments to think about it. Sarcastically, he replied, "And give up the fine livings I've got here?" He continued, "....... Sure, I'm in! But I'd like to visit the weaponry store before we set off."
Orrin and Al waited for Rashe'm outside the weaponry store or some ten minutes. Orrin brought up suddenly, "How are you gonna explain to him once we get there? It'll look suspicious to him if we get there and say 'Oh, we forgot to say, he doesn't have an aunt'. How are you going to get out of that one?" Al laughed and said, "I told you, I got it covered. What, don't you trust me, Orrin?" That's what this world had come to, Trust. Orrin had to be careful about the stones. If they got into the wrong hands, instead of helping the world, they would destroy it. Rashe'm came out of the store with a new sword, a broad sword. He was wearing red clothes, and he had shoulder, knee, and chest plates, useful for any fights. "All right, ninnies. Let's move!" The three headed towards the edge of the city, but Al stopped short. "OH!, sorry, I almost forgot. I have to report to work, tell them I'll be off duty for awhile. Ya both could wait here or come with me. Either way, they have to know, or they'll think I'm dead." Both Orrin and Rashe'm decided to stay on the edge of town. Orrin wanted to learn more about Rashe'm, and vise versa. "Ok, I'll be right back. Don't go off without me." As he faded out of sight into the crowd, Rashe'm started to want to start off anyways, just to see Aljandro's reaction.
Beginning conversation, Rashe'm asked, "What's your aunt's name? I want to know to be polite when we get there." Since Orrin didn't have an aunt, he had to activate his imagination. "Umm.... Carroll. Yeah, auntie Carroll." came out of Orrin's mouth. Rashe'm looked skeptic, but brushed it away. "What's your mom sick of?" Orrin replied, "I don't know, the doctor said it, but I can't recall right now." Rashe'm then asked, "Your dad taking care of your mom?" This struck the pit of Orrin's stomache. No one had mentioned his father for five years, since the accident. His father had gone to the well to get some water for dinner, but never came back. The well was outside of Dranc, and his father had been attacked by bandits, apparently for mouthing off. There was blood at the scene, but no body. It was rumored that he was carried off by the bandits. This was what caused Orrin to take up practicing with a sharpened stick. He was too young to get a real weapon. Once again, Orrin had to lie. "Yeah, he's home taking care of her." Then, taking advantage of the quiet moment, "What about you? Al told me you used to be a thief?" Rashe'm rubbed his hand behind his head. "Yeah, I guess I was, but I didn't get off cheaply." He pointed at his right ear, or what would have been his right ear. Orrin hadn't noticed it at the house at all. "I completely robbed a house. I owed a loanshark some money, and that was the fastest way to pay off. They only cut off my ear because just before I sold the stuff, that damned conscience kicked in, and I returned it all. Luckily, that's when I met Aljandro. He felt I did the right thing," Rashe'm then went sentimental, "and then I told him my problem. He insisted on paying the tab, but I told him it wasn't all that big of a deal. He's a great guy, always looking out for his friends. Your mom's lucky, I guess." Seriously, he continued, "So, all in all, I still have all ten fingers. Normally, those would go fir....." Orrin cut in "Eight. You have all eight fingers." After a quizzical look from Rashe'm, he explained. "My town's doctor figured out that the thumbs aren't fingers. They don't move the same way as them."
Al returned as it bagan to grow dark. The three ventured out into the desert, even though night fast approached, heading Northwest to Mille Seseau. "We'll go until it's almost pitch black." Al said. "Then we'll set up camp and a fire." Orrin was intrigued to talk to Al about the incident with Rashe'm, but now wasn't the time. Then Orrin considered showing the gems to Rashe'm, knowing that he probably wouldn't steal them, but then again, that would unravel the web of lies. So, he just dropped the subject in his mind.
The desert became colder as the night grew denser. Orrin remembered the cold from his trip to Heidra, only this time, it was colder. Al finally stopped and announced, "Okay, time to set up camp. Rashe'm, set out the blankets, Orrin, find something dry to be able to make a fire with. I'll try to find some water, if there's a nearby oasis, and if not, then from a cactus, to be able to make something to eat." With the orders set, the three got to work. It wasn't easy for Orrin to find anything burnable. There were mainly weeds. Rashe'm decided to help after he set up the beds, and by the time they all got back, Al had a pot of water, waiting with some flint, and Rashe'm and Orrin each had an armful of weeds. It was enough for a fire that would last about a half hour, perhaps longer.
The fire was going, water was boiling, and the three sat waiting around the fire. Al added some ingredients for a stew, the traveler's food. They waited for their stew, listening to the night sounds that can't be heard from the city. Even the stars seemed to shine more brightly. Once the stew was finished, they began small talk around the dying light of the fire, filling their stomaches and warming their bodies. Orrin was about to swallow another spoonful, but then Al started acting very odd. He kept looking back and forth, side to side, as if searching for something. "Quiet, I hear something." he whispered to the others. Silence pervaded once again, only with the crackle of fire, but then Orrin heard it, too. Something was hissing, loudly. Al grabbed his mini-axe and Rashe'm grabbed his sword. Following suit, Orrin took his sack off of his sharpened stick. Whatever was coming was going to attack.
The three stood in a circle, backs to backs, Rashe'm suggested it. Before Orrin realized it, there were some twenty scorpions surrounding them. They stood a foot off the ground, going up to about two feet, and their tail stingers were level with Orrin's eyes. Everything stood still, until one of the scorpions struck. It would have hit Al, if he hadn't brought his cleaver down on the end of the oncoming tail. The creature shrieked foully, piercing the night. The others attacked, trampeling the fallen scorpion, but before Orrin could even blink, Rashe'm had killed six of them. Orrin used the wooden spear to parry the blows of the scorpions coming at him, it was pretty much all he could do. Even though he had trained for five years, he still never really had an opponent, at least, not that big. Al had brought down three more with his axe, leaving about ten. Feeling unproven, Orrin lunged at a scorpion, piercing its back. But its tail came lashing at him. He would have been dead, but Rashe'm cut off the tail before it could kill him. "Watch yourself next time! And now you owe me!" Rashe'm shouted.
There were three left, each without a tail. They attacked using their pinser-claws, since their trump cards were hacked off. Orrin, Al, and Rashe'm literally had to be on their toes. The last scorpions split up and each took their target. With one swift synchronized action, the last three scorpions met their doom by the traveling trio of "warriors". Before they returned to the fire, they rounded up all of the bodies of the scorpions. "I don't see why we're doing this." Orrin complained exhaustedly, but Rashe'm cut in just as Al was about to explain. "If we shuck all of these scorpions, we'll have food for a few days, and burning fuel as well. And if we leave them here, more animals will come, see us, and we'll start the cycle all over again." Orrin was going to return to the camp after his savage survival lesson, but he suddenly heard a faint hiss, right near him. He was standing next to Rashe'm when the thing hissed, and when the scorpion revealed itself, it came after Rashe'm. Orrin thought quickly. He didn't know why, but something spurred him. With a quick jab, he struck the scorpion, before it could strike Rashe'm. Slowly pulling out his spear, Orrin told Rashe'm, "Now we're even!" A smile quickly spread accross Rashe'm's surprised face.
The battle had been dragged away from the campsite to avoid loss of sleeping spots, and they were glad when they had returned. Two tarps were placed out, and they began to shuck the scorpions, a messy job. Orrin asked out to the open, "Why'd the scorpions attack anyway?" as he shucked off the outer skin of a carcass. A bashful smile crossed Al's face. "I guess it's my fault, really. As I was looking for a spring, I stumbled into a scorpion nest. I couldn't tell, but I thought I heard a squish. I didn't see any scorpions around, so I walked on, pretending it didn't happen. They must have follewed my scent." Rashe'm and Orrin both gave Al dirty looks. Rashe'm said, "Maybe you should look where you're going next time! Just watch, tomorrow, you're going to get a hoard of Canbrian Dayflies after us!" When the conversation died, and their shucking deeds were finished, Al tamped out the fire and the three drifted to sleep.