First Encounter

The two of you travel in silence for most of the day until finally you come to the Elven woods. You take one last look back at the road behind you and deep inside you feel that it will be a very long time before you are able to return home. “We rest here for the night,” you tell the blond elf as you dismount. “Can you set a fire?” you ask, she nods and without a word begins to collect firewood as you set up the two tents which will be your homes for the several weeks it takes to get to the elven city.

“We start at first light,” you tell Sylvanis as you dine on some roasted pheasant. She declines your offer to share and makes a meager meal of foraged berries. That night you sleep fitfully, excited at the proposition of such a heroic adventure and more then a little distracted by thoughts of the beautiful creature sleeping less then 10 feet away.

Dawn seems to come all too quickly as you rise from your bedroll and begin packing up camp, today begins the second leg of your journey and you can’t help but feel a little nervous about what lies in the unknown depths of this enchanted woods.

“Shall I take the lead now sir knight?” Sylvanis asks in her melodic voice. You nod in acceptance and she pulls ahead of you on the path. While you don’t usually like following anyone, the little elven ass swaying and jostling on the horse in front of you certainly helps take your mind off such things. You are amazed by how adept she has become at riding and sullenly admit that if she keeps improving like this she will eventually match even your own abilities in the saddle.

“How long is this journey?” You ask around midday.

“It is nearly a two weeks ride to Quin’tel Terron, but the village of Tel’Arin is merely a half-week ride.” She responds. You nod and the two of you continue to ride in silence.

An hour or so later you are startled out of your daydreams by the sound of movement in the bushes. “Reign in your mount and remain perfectly still,” Sylvanis whispers as she reigns in her own mount ahead of you. Unconsciously your hand leaps for your sword hilt.

Ahead of you the elven girl begins to chant in a beautiful and completely inhuman language. Briefly a feeling of embarrassment washes over you as you realize how sinfully ugly you own coarse language is. You shake your head of such thoughts and allow your eyes to scan the forest in the direction of the sound.

Suddenly Sylvanis lets out a startled cry, “Orc!” she practically screams.

As if on queue the hideous form of the orc jumps out from behind the bushes, blood and gore pouring from his mouth and the half eaten carcass of a dead rabbit hanging limply from the other.

As he takes in the two of you he tosses away the rest of the rabbit and his face splits in a horribly bloody grin. “Entertainment,” he says in a deep guttural bark.

Inwardly you adrenalin starts pumping and your mind racing, you wish you had donned your armor this morning, still, a mounted soldier usually beats a foot soldier, and apart from his very thick looking grey/green skin, the orc really isn’t wearing any armor.

With a swift motion he reaches over is shoulder and grabs the handle of a massive battle axe, he then turns to Sylvanis with a look of undisguised lust, “Girl, I hope your feeling frisky cause in about a minute I’m gonna be ramming my cock into your tight little elven cunt.” Then he turns to you, “But first I’m gonna chop this silly little human into tiny pieces.”

With surprising speed he lunges at you, axe over head and prepped for a deadly overhead blow, but despite his speed and agility he is simply no match for you and mid lunge you find the time to draw your sword and lightning fast you thrust forward and into the orc’s unprotected neck with such **** that his head is impaled and then completely severed. Without a sound the decapitated orc crumples to the ground followed a half-second later by his severed head.

You remain perfectly still for several minutes, listening intently for the sound of any more attackers. Satisfied that you are safe for the time being you to Sylvanis, who, paler then ever, dismounts and proceeds to the mutilated corpse, after several seconds examining his cloths she lets out a sigh of relief and her colour returns to her face.

“He is a scout,” she explains, “and in a race as egotistical as the orcs it’s probable that he is here alone, so our chances of meeting another for sometime are quite rare.”

“Still,” you finish off her train of thought, “one of us should remain on watch while the other sleeps.” She nods in agreement. You travel for several more miles that day until finally you make camp. You agree to take first watch as it will give you time to tend your sword before any rust sets in. After a quick, cold meal Sylvanis unfurls her blanket and promptly retires while you keep watch.

Half way through the night you wake Sylvanis so that she can take watch and you sleep, however, despite your fatigue you find it very difficult to calm your nerves enough to rest and you spend most of the night staring discretely at your elven companion. You awake the next morning groggy and tired yet excited about what the future will hold.