Chapter One

A Chapter by Anthony L

Part of the first chapter. I won't be uploading a whole lot having to do with the book. I do intend to get it published one day.

Orin stood by the tall black entrance to the city. His sword in hand, he prepared himself to break through the gates. Before he could attempt the task, he noticed a small gleam of light to his left. He knew what it was even before he heard the whistling sound of a sword flying through the air. Orin turned just in time to see the point of a blade stop inches away from his abdomen. Relieved that his barrier had saved his life, he pushed his attacker away from him.

The man snarled and lunged at Orin’s throat, meaning to decapitate him on the spot. Orin blocked the sword with his own, then aimed to cut the man’s knee and make it more difficult for him to walk. The sword met flesh, causing a deep gash to form on the side of the man’s leg. The cut caused him to fall forward, not withstanding his own weight.

“Who are you?” Orin asked. “What do you want?”

“To answer…both of….your…questions,” he began gasping through gritted teeth. “I am just a man….who….wants you….dead!”

With that, Orin stabbed the man through the chest, while leaning in and whispering, “You have failed, then.”

Pulling the blade out of the lifeless body, Orin glanced around to see if their exchange had been witnessed. Thankfully, it was still a couple of hours before dawn. Nobody was out on the streets, nor were there any watchful eyes gazing out of windows.

Orin made his way back to the gate, searching for the small crack he had noticed the other day. The wood was dark, making it even more difficult to find the crack with the only light in the night sky coming from the moon and stars.

When he found the crack, he slid the tip of his blade between the wood, and, leaning against it with the whole of his weight, forced the sword through the other side. Muttering under his breath, Orin cast a spell that would heat the metal, making it easier to cut a hole he could climb through.

Orin slowly inched the sword up while increasing the amount of energy he fed the spell. The smell of burning cedar permeated the air. He willed the sword to cut more quickly, his entire plan was dependent on secrecy. He moved the sword through the rest of the wood and stepped through the man-sized hole he had created.

Careful not to jingle his armor, Orin began to creep through the silent courtyard. Before he made it more than a few feet, he saw a sentry stationed on the wall. He crept to the shadows. The man on the wall turned around and looked to the courtyard. He wore the same black tunic as every soldier in the queen’s army. He held a spear in his left hand and a shield in his right. His short-sword hung from his belt, ready to be drawn if need be. Atop the man’s head was the normal helm of any mere foot-soldier.

“Cover me in darkness and shadows,” Orin whispered into the night. He felt the familiar draw of energy as he turned invisible, cloaked with a spell of the night. Though he hid in darkness, this was no evil spell.

Orin crouched down and quietly made his way to the wall. He paid no attention to the sentry, but focused on the quiet path before him. He would’ve preferred wearing soft leather armor over the loud metal armor he had on. The leather would allow him to move much more quickly, adding a sleek and stealthy edge to his stride. Moving against the wall, Orin hid in the shadows. With the help of natural darkness, his spell required a significantly smaller amount of energy to keep him hidden. After making his way along the wall, he came to the door hidden in the stones that he had learned about earlier that week.

Drawing on his energy, he cast a spell to open the lock. At first, the amount of energy used to open the simple mechanism astounded Orin, but then he glanced down and found the lock to be old, and covered in rust and grime. The lock clicked open and Orin slipped inside the dark castle wall.

The first thing he noticed inside the room was the smell. It hit him like a wave, all at once, filling his nose with the old musky stench of a sewer, mixed with the smell of decaying rotting flesh. He could taste the build-up of bile on the back of his tongue. It took all of his will for Orin to not double-over and get sick. The second thing he noticed was the complete absence of light. Even with his heightened sight, Orin saw nothing. There was absolute darkness.

Reaching to the energy deep within his body, Orin began reciting a simple spell, “Light, fill the room, take away the darkness of the room.”

The light from the spell lit up the room, and gave everything a two-dimensional look. Orin let his eyes wander over the objects in the room. Bodies littered the floor, but they were all skeletons. It was obvious that nobody had been in this room for quite some time. There were even skeletons hanging from the walls, hung up by chains wrapped around their wrists. All of the bodies had the same clothing on. He could tell the difference between the males and females; males wearing a small cloth around their waist, females the same but with another rag around the torso.

The queen’s brutality sickened him. No doubt she had locked them in here for some petty crime, or because they had been poor, starving, begging peasants. He had to put a stop to it before she hurt anyone else.

Orin walked across the room to the other door. The lock on this door, too, was rusted. He used the same spell on it as the first door, and opened it. The door led to an old passageway lined with unlit candles. After looking down the hallway to the left and right, he realized neither direction seemed to have an end. He decided to test his luck and ran left. There weren’t even any doors along the passageway. He kept moving though, and eventually saw a door on the side of the passage. As he approached the door, a soldier emerged from the entrance. When the soldier saw him, he quickly ran inside and slammed the door. Orin walked slowly to the door and inched it open, peeking inside. There were five soldiers, each preparing to fend off an attacker.

Orin burst through the door, lunging forward and stabbing the nearest soldier through his back, before anyone had a chance to react. He swung his sword at the next soldier, hitting the greave on his left hand, breaking it. The man cried out in pain and dropped his shield. Orin smote him down with a quick lash to the chest. A sword came slashing down through the air towards Orin’s neck. He lifted his shield and blocked the full force of the blow. He backed out of the room with his shield raised, hoping to take on each soldier one at a time instead of all three at once.

The first soldier rushed at him with a mace, swinging it back and forth like a mad-man. Orin made sure to not get hit. Shield or not, one hit from that could kill him instantly. The reckless soldier got the mace stuck in the wood of the door. Orin laughed in his face, but the soldier pulled out a sword and struck out at him. Orin parried the blow with his own sword, and tried to get past his enemy’s guard, but was unsuccessful. The soldier tried to sneak around to Orin’s side, but Orin followed his footsteps. It was only a matter of time before the reckless man made a mistake, and here was Orin’s opening. The man held his sword with both hands and swung at him with as much force as humanly possible. Orin ducked, the sword flew over his head. This left the man wide open to an attack. Orin slashed out at his gut, cutting a gaping hole through the man’s bowels. The soldier fell forward, smearing the floor with blood.

The next soldier had a little more finesse. He stayed back, only taking the surest of shots at hitting Orin. He had a large dagger, and wielded it as any expert of the blade would. He crouched down, with a small parrying shield, and the dagger hidden behind it. The end of the shield had a small blade protruding from the side, in the same direction as his fist. This was a rather deadly opponent. If Orin wasn’t careful, he knew he could quickly lose his life. Then an idea came to him. Maybe these soldiers weren’t protected by any barriers. It was worth a shot to test it out.

He shouted one of the few phrases of death, hoping it wouldn’t be blocked by anything. The soldier in

front of him collapsed, holding his chest armor and coughing.