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A story of a lost knight, face to face with an alien civilization hailing from the southern forests and jungles of the land of Seregoth. As the knight is slowly taken into the lands of these people, he begins to realise his potential, but losing his morality... View table of contents...



Submitted:Jan 17, 2007    Reads: 156    Comments: 0    Likes: 0   

Chapters One And Two.



Moonlit awaken�

It was a dark night, it was lucky the moon and the stars were out to light as well as they could, the ground beneath them. The trees shook in the wind, whispers in the night that covered well the approach of foot steps, from the forest emerged hunters covered with symbols painted on their skin, jewelry and carved items in their nostrils, lips, ears and eye lids, all dragging a net behind them.Inside this net was no game meat or bird, but a person, he did not move or react, but instead lied still, knocked out it would seem. A large beat of a drum woke up the person, with a start he rolled around, only to be hit hard in the side by one of the hunters, who quickly pulled out a short, dull knife, and waved it in front of the captive's face, implying "Next time it'll be your life."The captive looked around as he was dragged, he saw tall trees, that seemed to grow into the sky, he saw long grasses and creatures running through them, and climbing up the trees, but looking on the ground itself he saw plain, dirt track, with all the stones brushed aside, and straight through the forest, They're not taking me to a camp, there wouldn't be a road leading to a camp, they're taking me to a town.The captive looked up and saw that the lead hunter was carrying his long sword on his back; a nice little trinket he's found there, stupid bastard probably doesn't know how to open it. But it was far from within reach, chances of some heroic get away were very small indeed. The captive was worn out, he could barely move his ribs to breathe, the hunters did their work well, I'm a helpless prey, once across the neck would end me, and I couldn't do a thing in the world to stop it.The captive remembered why he had been sent here, an army of the best warriors of the land was sent into the forests of the south of Seregoth. Another army of mysterious soldiers attacked Seregoth many months before and was still fighting The King's Legion, and as a flanking measure, warriors were gathered to search the woods, for signs of this mysterious civilization, but that idea faded away as the weeks went by in the forests, the captives fellow warriors were lost one by one, until he himself was alone, just staring at his palm, and the red insignia shining back at him.He looked at his palm now and all he saw was the same insignia with a large deep gash across it,� he remembered doing that as well, one of the last days before he was captured, Knights of the Red Mark be damned, they knew what they sent their Knights into, at that he scooped some dirt from the track into his hand and rubbed it over the mark, until his entire hand was dirty, and there was no trace of the mark on his hand at all, happy with his work, he lied back down, never being able to be comfortable as he was being dragged across rough ground, and was being dragged.The moon shone in his eyes, and he was cold inside, he gathered up any kind of warmth he could, and shut his eyes.��

Chapter Two

Near Escape

�He opened his eyes, and realized that they had stopped, his back was sore from being dragged continually, and his side was still winded from being hit hard. He saw that they were at a small camp, in a small clearing in the forest, and that he was at the base of a tree. In front of him he saw all three hunters around a fire talking to each other with clay cups in their hands, and trying to enjoy the night it would seem.The captive sank down on to the tree, it being far more comfortable then the dirt and rock laid ground, he sat and looked around the forest, seeing the trees higher up, and the grim fate of anyone trying to escape, looking around he saw trees that stretched on forever, and roots that would trip over a giant, the captive looked up, but saw a gleam of light in the corner of his eye, he looked down quickly and saw a shiny, long object, it was the captives sword, The idiot left it with his pack, and its far within arms reach as well! The captive smiled for the first time since he entered the forest almost two weeks ago.The captive knew that just grabbing the sword would be foolish, as he would still be in a net, lucky for him the holes in the net were arm sized and he could reach out and grab it easily enough, I must wait until one of them comes over for the pack, then cut him down and cut myself out of the net. After going over the plan in his head first, the captive waited for the right moment.After around ten minutes, the hunters began speaking, in a language that the captive could understand. It was a course rhythm, but mystical and captivating.�In forests deep, dark and blackLike dark jaguar we trackAnd capture those who enter our landActing force of the God's hand�Blood rains downAs red as our skinPaint on the marksHunt with our kin�Shower in bloodThose to here they goTear their flesh for foodOf the Gods below�After finishing their song, two of the hunters took out daggers, the third frantically looking on his belt for his dagger, but in vain, one of the hunters pointed to the pack next to the captive, and the third hunter ran towards it and searched inside. The captive's chance had come; he grasped the hilt of the blade, and waited. The hunter pulled the dagger out of the pack and turned to face the fire, as he did, the captive slashed out his sword and struck down the hunter with one blow, the captive then cut himself out of the net with a firm strike, throwing the remains of the net aside quickly, the two hunters turned to face him, and the captive put his blade ready.The hunters both had their daggers ready, eyes fixed upon him, but the captive wasn't afraid, he held his long red sword firm, and waited for one to move, though both looked to be doing the same. The captive dug his foot into the ground, and drew his sword closer to the right side of his face vertically, the classic Red Mark form, looking rather regal in his pose, the captive was implying the term, "Come and get me"One of the hunters lost his nerve, shouted a large war cry, and charged at the Knight. Trying to swing the blade into the Knight's side, the Knight countered knocking the dagger out of the hunter's hand, and cutting off three of his fingers with it. The Knight then swung his sword around and cut the hunter side to side, sending the top half flying to the ground, and the bottom half toppling down.Only one left, dig in and fight The knight took his original pose, waiting for the other hunter to attack, he drew the sword close, and could hear the sound of dripping blood close to his ear, and the faint pat as the drop hit the ground.The hunter smiled to the Knights surprise, with the gape grin that would be very humorous in different circumstances, not when he has a knife drawn. The hunter put out his right arm, the Knight pulled his sword closer, expecting an attack of some sort. The hunter then raised his left arm, with the dagger clenched inside his hand, he sunk it into his right arm without pain or expression, the Knight stepped back in surprise at the hunter's action. The hunter then put his arms out both the dagger arm, and his other self wounded arm, and raised his head with his eyes shut, the Knight took steps toward the hunter, and after the first step, the hunters eyes shot open, revealing them as entirely blood red, he suddenly shot his arm up at an incredible speed and the Knight was sent hurtling back to the tree, with a huge thud, the Knight smashed into it and fell at its base, What, what just happened? The Knight's thoughts were weary, and he was close to being knocked out.The hunters eyes returned to normal, and he approached the captive, he went over to his pack, and pulled out another net, then threw it over the captive, then took out a long length of rope, and tied it around the loose end of the net, trapping the captive once again. Before they left, the hunter picked up the captives sword, he picked it up and rubbed the blood off with a piece of cloth, then threw the cloth on the fire, producing an eerie red smoke, and at the sight of it, the captive passed out.


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