Ashes of Verdenheld

by Jack Wright

  Erisian’s eyes fluttered in disbelief. The nerve. If all city dwellers were like this, she’d have nothing to do with them. Her face quickly contorted into a foul frown.

  “What?” She hissed, narrowing her eyes annoyedly.

  “You heard me. What you doin’ with those weapons anyways? Not come to invade us have you?” The guard laughed hysterically. Even the other guard looked momentarily disappointed at his laughter, before turning to Erisian again with a cheeky grin.

  “I know.” He chuckled. “She’s here to resupply us! Look, she’s even got a backpack fulla stuff for us!”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” The guard began to move closer to Erisian, making her feel particularly uncomfortable. Suddenly, he lunged out and grabbed her backpack strap in a firm grip. “Come on love, give it ‘ere!”

  Erisian jolted in shock as he yanked at her backpack. “Hey, what’re you- piss off!”

  She’d had enough of this. She grabbed the guard by the shoulder and thrust her knee up hard between his legs, forcing out a wheeze of agony. As his hand lost grip of her backpack she shoved the still dazed guard off her.

  “Argh, stupid bitch!” The guard cried, clutching his groin in his hands.

  Eris clenched her fist and threw a punch as hard as she could against the recovering guard’s face. Her fist smashed him hard in the left cheek, unprotected by his cheap iron helmet. She felt his jaw shift out of place, horrible yet satisfying. The guard staggered and fell to the ground, grasping his dislocated jaw with both hands, moaning defeatedly.

  Erisian sniggered at the expense of the guard’s well deserved pain. Alas, her revelment in his incapacitation was short lived, as she looked up to see the other guard with his battered steel sword drawn and pointed at her.

  “You-you’re under arrest!” The guard stammered. “Hands up!”

  Erisian flung up her hands and backed hesitantly away from the guard. “It’s you two who should be locked up! Harassing me and stealing my stuff…”

  “That they should.” Barked a voice from behind the guards.

  Another guard stepped out from the portcullis, this one far older and more heavily built than the first two. Erisian assumed him to be in charge - his armour was more protective and better maintained than that of the other guards and by the look of the scars on his cheeks and neck, he must have been far more experienced.

  “You two, get inside.” The captain demanded.

  “But Captain, we was just messing!” The remaining guard begged, his voice quivering with desperation.

  “That’s an order. Do I have to enforce it?” The captain hissed sinisterly, placing his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword.

  “N-no sir, of course not sir.” The guard stuttered, running hastily inside.

  The captain approached the other guard, still writhing in the dirt, and smirked. “Pathetic - beaten up by a girl. Get up or I’ll get you up.”

  The guard whimpered softly and staggered to his feet, hurrying inside and glaring contemptuously at Erisian before disappearing into the wall. The captain turned to Erisian and looked her up and down.

  “You alright, girl?” He muttered.

  She was beginning to get the feeling she’d be called that a lot here. “Yeah… am I still under arrest?”

  “Nah. Those kids had it coming. Course, they’ve got much worse coming now.”

  “What’re you gonna do with them?”

  “They’ll be expelled from the guard, that’s for sure. Not ‘fore I come up with a little bonus punishment for their disobedience.”

  She was glad to hear that. At least, the expelling part - she wasn’t sure if the ‘bonus’ was all that necessary, whatever it would be. She supposed it wasn’t her problem.

  The captain looked at Erisian with curiosity. “What’s a little Nord girl like you doing all the way out here, armed to the teeth with weapons?”

  She figured she may as well be straight with him - he seemed genuine enough. “I’m an adventurer. I was just exploring and I found this place.”

  He to seemed amused by her not knowing of the Gate, although he hid it far better than the other two. “So, if you’re not passing through the gate, why’d you approach it?”

  Now that she knew this wasn’t a city, she was a little embarrassed to say. “I… was asking for directions.”

  “Uh huh…” He smirked, clearly not buying it.

  Suddenly, Erisian’s curiosity peaked. The guards said this was a gate, but a gate to where exactly? “Hey, um… out of interest, what’s on the other side of this gate?”

  “Well, the Norskar gate’s built over the border ‘tween Norskar and Verdenheld, so short answer I guess is Verdenheld.”

  Verdenheld, the land of rolling grasslands and endless forests, was on the other side of this wall? That seemed… unbelievable! “Verdenheld? As in grasslands and forests?”

  “Guess it has those. Why, you wanna go through?”

  “R-really?” Eris stammered nervously.

  “Don’t see why not, I doubt some clueless girl with a sword is going to topple the Kingdom.”

  This was insane. She only left home about five hours ago and now she was standing at the gates to Verdenheld. But her father said not to go… and so far two out of the three people she’d met from there were total bastards… Then again, she supposed it couldn’t hurt to just take a look. Right?

  “You know what… yes. I want to go to Verdenheld!” Erisian stated confidently, a mask for her anxiety.

  At this point, Erisian had made so many potentially stupid decisions that there was no point in doubting them anymore. Besides, what was the worst that could happen?

  The captain signalled a man at the top of the wall and the gates began to grind open.

  “Hey…” Erisian said, getting the attention of the captain as he headed inside. “Why is there a horse on your chest and why is it on fire?”

  The captain looked down at his chestplate, at the flaming horse painted in the centre. “It’s the sigil of House Severin. Don’t know what it means, don’t really care.”

  “Right… thanks. For that and taking care of those guys.”

  “Believe me, it was my pleasure. Besides, I’m only just getting started with ‘em.” The captain chuckled as he disappeared into the wall.

  Erisian was alone again. As the gates continued to slowly grind open, she took a moment to consider what had just transpired. Her treatment at the hands of those guards was disgusting and by the sounds of it, they wouldn’t be the last. She was so used to being treated with such respect, this was quite a terrible shock to her system. It seemed that in order to experience the world, she would have to forge through the bad bits along the way.

  The twin gates reached the top of the gateway with a loud clunk that echoed around the portcullis. The light ahead was blinding, Erisian’s eyes now adjusted to the shadow of the wall. She lifted her arm to shield her eyes and stepped into the light.

  Erisian emerged on the other side of the wall, the light of the sun still obscuring her vision. A warm breeze passed over her, a heat she had never felt in Norskar beyond a fire. The sudden transition from dark and cold to bright and warm demanded a moment for her to acclimatise, like stepping into a burning building.

  Her vision gradually normalised and before taking her arm away from her face, she looked down and surveyed the ground. It wasn’t green that was for sure, but it was certainly brighter - the deathly grey rocks were exchanged for a brighter, more welcoming shade, while the grass was a healthier yellowish colour. It was underwhelming, although she supposed it was a big ask for such a sudden transition as the weather had taken.

  “Stars above…” She gasped as she lowered her arm, a wide smile creeping along her face.

  Before her, just beyond a mile or so of rocky hills, lay rolling green grasslands unlike anything she had ever seen. It was a flawless blanket of vibrant green grass decorated with trees cloaked in more leaves than she could believe. The place appeared as a paradise to he
r, everything wrong with Norskar put right.

  The elders of her village had talked of this place with such contempt, making it out to be the most awful place in the world. They were wrong, she would have bet that most of them had never seen this place before. If they had, they would have thought otherwise.

  Erisian lost track of how long she had been stood there, immobilised by the very sight of the land she’d blundered into. A few of the guards atop the wall had begun to take interest and were peering down over the battlements, likely wondering why she had been stood there for so long. Erisian concluded that she needed to see this from up close. Her mind was racing with all the possibilities of this beautiful land - all the things she wanted to see and touch and smell. She broke into an excited sprint, barrelling down the road and over the hilltops. She knew she would be the envy of the village once she returned to tell her stories.

  Chapter Three - Caesia

  Erisian stormed down the last of the hills and down onto the grass, watching excitedly as it transitioned into an incredible green. Perhaps she would have felt stupid, being made so excited by grass of all things, but she had every right to relish this place, to experience everything these lands had to offer.

  She reached the foot of the hill and threw herself into the grass. It was nothing like the grass in Norskar - not coarse and dry, but rather soft and smooth. It felt wonderful, like an enormous bed! She rolled around in ecstasy, revelling in the tickle of the grass brushing against her skin. She must have looked ridiculous, she thought, settling on her back and gazing endlessly into the beautiful blue sky.

  “Freedom at last.” She sighed happily. “Oh, Dad. If you could see me now…”

  She could imagine just how much her father would have lost it if he saw her out there, but she didn’t care. This was her adventure and would do with it what she pleased.

  Her thoughts were swiftly cut short at the sound of heavy footsteps close by. She jolted up and searched around cautiously, meeting another pair of eyes. It was an elk, with a golden brown coat of fur and magnificent forked antlers. It stared blankly at her yet with a hint of curiosity.

  “Oh!” Erisian gasped, startled momentarily. “Heh, didn’t see you there pal.”

  She scrambled up off the ground and brushed herself off, sprinkling a vibrant shower of grass to the ground. The grass had gotten caught in her armour’s fur padding and not all of it was inclined to leave.

  “How’d you get out here?” She wondered.

  Elks were common in Norskar, practically everywhere. This place was so alien to her that she had never expected to see anything familiar here. Come to think of it, she thought, there could be anything from Norskar out here - wolves, drakes, maybe even jorgheists. She sure hoped not. She figured she should probably be more on her guard and perhaps be ready for a fight instead of rolling around on the ground like a child.

  “Sorry friend, I gotta go.” She smiled to the unresponsive elk. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

  Now she was talking to animals. She’d heard people could go crazy from loneliness, but not this quickly.

  She waved her elk friend goodbye as it pranced off into the fields. Turning around, she turned her attention to the road ahead, which veered off to the east and west.

  “Hm… where to go?” She muttered. “Maybe I shoulda got directions…”

  Surveying the horizon, she tried to deduct which direction would be more interesting. The West seemed to have a lot more going for it, what with the sea being that way. West had done her well thus far, so was her decision made.

  An hour or so passed and the sun began to sink towards the horizon, or so Erisian thought. She could hardly tell being in such a dense forest. The forests in Verdenheld were vastly different to those in Norskar. Back home, the trees were tall and sparse, with their leaves covering the trunk in a slim cone. Thus, there were no dense forests and the sun could always be seen.

  Here however, the trees grew much wider and closer together. The leaves above were condensed, creating a thick canopy through which little sun would shine. The only hope Erisian had of telling the time of day was that the trees were separated by the road, creating a slim trench through the canopy through which the light could shine. She still couldn’t see the sun itself though, which she assumed meant it was late in the afternoon.

  Erisian felt on edge heading through the forest, the canopy creating an ominous darkness around her with but a few beams of light breaching it and preventing complete blackness. It was intimidating yet in a weird way, exciting. She figured it was the lingering possibility of danger that was making her somewhat enjoy the otherwise terrifying situation. She loved danger after all. The trainers back at home always called her reckless, saying she’d get herself killed acting like she did - but what was the point of being an adventurer if you didn’t enjoy being adventurous? After all, the heroes in the stories never got anywhere by playing it safe.

  As she wandered, she quietly sung to keep herself entertained. She loved to sing, not that she was any good, but it was one of the few things there were to do around the village aside from training and staring at the drab scenery.

  “And so did the Icebane bring low Verdenheld,

  From the land of the Nords was their evil dispelled,

  And Jorvun, our saviour, he set us all free,

  From the terrible grasp of the King’s tyranny!

  And so we give thanks to the heroes above,

  For the stars, they-”

  The snap of a twig in the darkness cut her off. She stopped and looked anxiously into the blackness. She saw nothing, was she just hearing things? Her suspicions were confirmed by further snapping behind her. Her hand darted to her sword and grasped the hilt tightly, ready for her assailant to strike. She swivelled around to face the direction of the sound.

  A person was hiding very poorly behind one of the trees near the road, their foot protruding out from behind it.

  “I know you’re there!” Erisian called, sliding her sword from its sheath. “I can see your foot.”

  The person behind the tree must have frozen in terror for a moment, as not a movement nor a sound was made. Suddenly, they bolted out from behind the tree, fleeing in the opposite direction.

  It was a girl, about Erisian’s age, dressed in a tight leather jerkin over a plain white shirt, simple blue trousers and long, brown fingerless gloves covering her forearms. She ran as fast as she could for a couple of metres, only to trip on a small rock and fall flat in the mud.

  Erisian sniggered quietly, hardly able to believe what she’d just witnessed. She pushed her sword back into its sheath and walked gently over to the girl in an attempt to not agitate her.

  “Are… you okay?” She calmly asked.

  The girl pulled her face out of the mud and looked back at Erisian over her shoulders. She scrambled erratically onto her feet and turned to face her. The girl was slightly shorter than Erisian, with a scrawny, delicate frame. Warm brown, wavy hair fell to her shoulders like a silky curtain. Her tired eyes harboured pronounced, pale green pupils that almost seemed to glow very faintly in the shadow of the canopy. Her soft, round face was thick with mud, picking out her contemptuous glare.

  “Stay back!” The girl hissed, outstretching her arm towards Erisian. “I-I’ll kill you!”

  Crackling arcs of pale green energy surged between the girl’s fingers. Erisian stopped immediately in her tracks and whipped her hands up. She hadn’t expected this at all - the girl was a mage. They didn’t have many in Norskar, so the thought had never crossed her mind that she might run into one.

  “Hey, calm down, I’m not going to hurt you.” Erisian urged quietly.

  The girl smiled mockingly. “Yes, a likely story. I suppose you’ll just let me be on my way then?”

  She clearly suspected that Erisian meant to accost her for whatever reason.

  “Yeah, go ahead.”

  “Oh no, I know how this works. I turn my back, you stick me in the leg with that bow and then i
t’s straight back to Abenfurt!”

  “Abenfurt?” Erisian muttered cluelessly, genuinely never having heard of the place.

  The girl scowled impatiently. “Oh, don’t play dumb with me.” She spat. “Now I can either kill you where you stand or you can go back and tell my father that you were unable to find his darling daughter!”

  “Honestly - I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Erisian insisted, the girl’s eyes narrowing in suspicion. “I don’t know who you are or why you’re running away from me. I just got here, like, two hours ago.”

  The girl maintained an analytical gaze for a time, until she eventually withdrew her hand.

  “You do seem rather clueless, probably too young to be working for him.” She sighed tiredly. “Very well, if you’re not one of my father’s men, then perhaps you would be interested in a job? After all, you seem equipped for it.”

  A job? Erisian had never thought of how she would actually get money to sustain herself out here. She just assumed she’d use whatever treasure she found on her adventures. Then again, she had to start somewhere.

  “Sure…” Erisian replied hesitantly.

  “Wonderful! Do you have a name, Nord?”

  That was surprisingly perceptive. “How’d you know I was a Nord?”

  “You have that… rugged look about you. Name?”

  “Erisian Hestia. I’m an adventurer.”

  The girl looked her up and down. “I see. Erisian… That’s far too much of a mouthful, do you have a nickname Erisian?”

  “People back home call me ‘Risian.”

  “Risian?” The girl smirked. “That’s the same word! Removing the E doesn’t even reduce the length of time taken to say it.”

  She wasn’t wrong. Risian was an awful nickname. “You’ve got a better idea?”

  The girl thought for moment. “I know - Eris.”

  Eris. That was… actually really good. “Eris? Yeah, I like that.”