The Bloodwood Curse: An Epic Fantasy Adventure of Swords, Magic and Romance. (The Rosethorn Chronicles Book 1)

by Peter Summersby

  The elf with the star on her face broke off and came to stand in front of Aife and Akuchi. She saluted and then removed her helmet.

  The rest of the men continued to march past them and formed up in front of the gate.

  “Princess.” The commander bowed deep. “I am Force Commander Lui, sent to assist in the defence of this human fort.”

  “I welcome you.” Aife bowed less than Lui. “How many men did my father send?”

  “I command the battalion,” replied the force commander. “Three hundred strong.”

  A new group of elves appeared from the forest wearing the same dark green paint and leather jerkin and trousers. Instead of sword, shield, and spear they carried composite longbows and several sheaves of arrows each.

  “I am amazed that my father was able to outfit such a force so quickly,” commented Aife.

  “With the curse broken, our magic is returning,” replied Lui.

  “We should inform Oggy that the dark elves are not attacking but are our allies,” Akuchi suggested. “We should have spoken to him before they arrived, but it should be okay.”

  “Yes. That would have been appreciated,” Lui agreed.

  Aife and Akuchi walked up to the fort. The soldiers created a corridor for Aife, Akuchi and Lui to walk through before closing ranks behind them.

  The gate door creaked open and Oghenekaro and Lief stepped out.

  “Akuchi,” Oghenekaro said. “I assume there is an explanation for this.”

  “They have come to help defend the fort,” Aife piped up.

  “Who are they?”

  “They are dark elves,” Akuchi said, “like Aife here.”

  “We have never had dark elves in the fort before,” blustered Oghenekaro, “how do I know they aren’t coming in to take over the fort?”

  “I have a treaty with them,” explained Akuchi.

  “You are running short on manpower,” said Aife.

  “That is true,” admitted Oghenekaro. “Open the gates!” he hollered.

  The large double gates swung open with an audible creak and a shower of dust caused a small cloud to settle over Oghenekaro and Lief.

  Lui strode forward and stood in front of Oghenekaro.

  “I am Force Commander Lui.” She bowed. “It is a pleasure to work beside you.”

  Oghenekaro looked at her and reciprocated her bow. “I look forward to working beside you.”

  Lui waved her hand in the air and the soldiers started to march through the gate and formed up in the marshalling ground. Several duelling partners stopped their practice and watched the soldiers form straight tight lines.

  Three companies, one archer, and two infantry companies, formed six neat lines on the marshalling grounds. The soldiers of the fort formed a crowd to watch the dark elves.

  To be continued…

  Epilogue – Progeny, seals and the curse.

  9th day of the 7th month 610th year of the 8th era

  Akuchi’s eyes snapped open to the sound of metal grating on metal. That is a sword being drawn.

  He climbed out of the bed and stepped into his slippers, his body still taut from thirty years of farm work. He crept out of bed and down the hall. The house had gone through several renovations to accommodate his growing family. He glanced down the hall to the rooms where his four boys each had their own rooms and his three girls all shared a single large room. This prevented his boys from fighting each other. The bedrooms were on the second floor with the living room, kitchen, and the dining room all spread out on the bottom floor. At the top of the staircase he collected his sword from the stand that held the family weapons: his falchion, Aife’s glaive, the boys all had long swords and the girls had short swords. He drew the sword from its leather sheathe.

  A loud thump of wood hitting wood crashed through the room. A creak in the floor boards behind him startled him and his heart lurched into his stomach. Spinning on the spot, he saw his beautiful wife stepping out into the hallway. The light caught her thick frame. Even after thirty years of hard work she had managed to fill out nicely. His heart yearned for her.

  She strode out to him and without saying a word picking up her glaive.

  “Should I wake the children?” she whispered.

  Her question was drowned out by another loud crash on the front door followed by the splintering of wood.

  “Get the children out of here,” he instructed.

  She nodded, turned and marched down to the corridor as he took off down the stairs.

  He came to the landing. The spacious house was adorned in some hand-crafted furniture that the boys had made and some pieces that Aife had grown to fulfil a function. On the far side of the expanse was open plan lower floor. Akuchi could see the door was partially caved in but had not yet given in to the attacker’s attempts.

  “Leave this place!” he called. “I have no quarrel with you.”

  Another thud of wood hitting wood and then a crash as the door finally gave way.

  The attackers dropped the ram and leapt over it, entering the house.

  Akuchi raised his sword, and it glowed in the low light. He ran forward, dodging around the obstacles in the room.

  The dark elves spread out in the main living room that had the most space.

  He joined them and brought his sword down on the first who blocked the first attack with a black sword.

  They bounced off each other. He swung his sword in an upper cutting motion and took off the elf’s hands.

  The elf collapsed and looked at his felled hands. Blood spurted from wrists. His face drew back in surprise and horror.

  Another elf came from behind and stabbed at Akuchi, catching him in the arm. Akuchi spun to meet him.

  The elf over extended and was pushed on his shoulder and ended up in the fireplace. Another elf came forward and stabbed, catching Akuchi in the ribs.

  Akuchi turned and swung at the elf who danced out of the way.

  The elves rained down cuts and slashes on Akuchi, waiting for an opening, causing Akuchi to spin and swing wildly at them. Blood poured from multiple wounds. His vision turned dark.

  ***

  Akuchi awoke in pain. His sides burned, and he lay in a pool of blood.

  “Father, father,” his son called to him. “Can you hear me?”

  “What…” Akuchi coughed blood, “Happened?”

  “The dark elves attacked from the forest. They cut the girls down and killed mum,” he wailed, tears pouring down his face. “I was in the fort, when this happened.”

  “Tunio,” Akuchi coughed blood again. “Take my sword and leave this place.”

  “I shall exact my revenge on my grandfather,” Tunio vehemently declared.

  “No.” Akuchi coughed, blood running out of the side of his mouth. “Take no revenge, it will destroy you. You must leave this place. Your mother’s people only fulfil the conditions of the curse.” Akuchi coughed.

  “What are you talking about, Father?”

  Akuchi’s last breath died in his mouth. Tunio leant forward and buried his head in his father’s chest, sobbing.

  ***

  After mourning till he could cry no longer, Tunio gathered his father’s sword and scabbard and set it against the wall. He gathered the bodies of his younger brothers and sisters, finally adding his mother’s body to the dead in the living room. He lit a brand and set the house on fire. He sheathed the sword and stepped back to watch the farmhouse burn to the ground. Tunio strapped his father’s sword on his back and knelt into the grass, placed his head to the dirt and wailed.

  A young woman stepped out from the shadows. She knelt beside Tunio and held him as he wailed into the morning sun rising over the other side of the house. She was naked her nubile body cast in the flickering light of the house fire.

  A dark elf stepped forward out of the forest and the young lady gasped.

  Tunio jumped forward and reached for his father’s sword.

  The dark elf raised his hand, motioning Tunio to stop. He w
as painted in orange with an elaborate pattern covering his entire body. Beside the man a dark elf woman stood with an elaborate headdress on her head. Her body was also painted in orange with an even more elaborate pattern across her nubile body.

  “Your father knew his purpose,” the dark elf man said.

  “He gave his life so that his wife’s people and you may have a future,” the female elf priestess said.

  “Then why did my siblings have to die also?”

  “There can only be one,” the priestess stated. “You carry the sword. You are the head of your family. Go with the blessings of the gods. You have a sister and a brother. Find them.”

  “You are only alive now because my father told me not to avenge you,” Tunio threatened.

  The woman beside him gasped again, covering her mouth with her hands and stepping back from Tunio.

  The dark elf man raised his hand into the air and flicked his hand forward. The light around the campfire was filled with dark elf soldiers all painted in a blend of orange and green. They stood flanking the priestess.

  “You are alive because your uncle spared you certain destruction,” explained the first dark elf man.

  The young lady with Tunio jumped again, this time coming to stand behind him, clutching his shoulders and peeking over his shoulder.

  “Your future does not belong to the Bloodwood, leave this place and enjoy your life,” the dark elf finished.

  ***

  A woman swept an unused room. She bent over her sweeping, the room empty apart from her. She placed her hands on the top of the broom and rested her head on the top of it. A gentle breeze wafted through the room, cooling her bare skin. She stood tall and glanced around. After checking, she sighed and returned to her sweeping. She came to a slanted section that came out of the wall forming a small bench. She lifted her broom and wiped it across the surface of the wall. A cloud of dust shifted billowing across the room. Once the dust settled, she looked down at the bench. Set into the bench were eight glowing stones fixed under a thick pane of glass, arrayed in a circle. In the centre of the circle was a script that she couldn’t read. As she looked mesmerised at the glowing circles, the one closest to the wall blinked sputtered and then faded.

  She gasped and then dropped her broom and ran out of the room. She ran down the hall in only her undergarments brushing aside acolytes and priests till she came to the high priestess room. She banged on the door.

  “Come in,” called an elderly lady from behind the door.

  She opened the door and fell into the room.

  An old lady sat in a leather chair, her robes of deep purple arrayed neatly over the chair.

  “Child,” the lady began. “Where are your robes?”

  “I left them,” she heaved as, she drew in another large gulp of air, “in the room with the glowing gems.”

  The priestess stood and crossed to the young lady on the floor. She grabbed her and pulled her to her feet.

  “Show me!”

  The young lady wrenched her hand away and shook her head.

  “I can’t go out there without my robes,” she stammered, backing away.

  “You came here without them you can go back to get them.” The priestess grabbed the woman by the arm and dragged her out of the room.

  The woman kicked and let loose a loud scream, drawing the eyes of the other priestess and acolytes, all dressed in the robes of their station.

  The priestess dragged her out of the room and marched her down the doorway to another priestess’s room and knocked on the door.

  The occupant opened immediately, revealing a lady wearing a white robe with silver hemming.

  “Mother,” she exclaimed, then looked down at the naked woman hanging of the priestess’s arm. “Amy! What is going on Mother?”

  “Where was she tasked to work today?” mother asked.

  “She was tasked to clean the old sacrifice room.”

  “Amy here crashed into my room in a frightful state just now, Clair,” Mother informed.

  Mother marched on, continuing to drag Amy by the hand. Clair followed along with several other priests and acolytes further back.

  They arrived at the old sacrifice room. Mother dropped Amy in a heap at the door. She scrambled to her robe and hastily donned it. She remained on the ground, her raven black hair covering her face.

  Mother looked across the room and saw Amy’s broom lying on the far side of the room. She marched up to the boom and then peaked at the waist-high bench.

  “The gem died,” Amy explained.

  “I can see that one of the gems has faded,” confirmed Mother.

  “What does the writing say?” asked Clair standing beside Mother.

  “Eight seals, hold doom at bay, the lights in the palace hall watch the seals,” intoned Mother.

  “What does that mean?” Clair asked.

  “It means the end of the world is coming,” replied Mother her face going white. “I never thought this day would ever come.”

  “That stone watched the seal of Despair,” explained Mother, pointing at the dark stone. “The other are for Lies, Strife, Evil, Wrath, Damnation, Hate, and Disbelief.”

  “What happens when they all go dark?” Clair asked.

  “The world will be attacked,” Mother continued. “From what we don’t know, but from the name of the seals it will be very horrible.”

  “Can we do anything and restore the seal?”

  “No, once the seal is down it can’t be restored by us only the gods can do that.”

  “Is there anything we can do?”

  “We can prevent the next seal from falling.”

  “How do we do that?”

  “We must spread the truth of our faith to all the corners of the world.”