Rigmor and the guardian crossed the river taking their time walking across the bridge, stopping once near the middle to simply listen in silence to the flow of the water, the sounds of the forest around them alive with the sounds of the life that thrived within its boundaries. Rigmor appreciated this as she liked the feeling that listening to the water flowing along its path to unknown places gave her. They began the journey up towards the watchtower. It would become their first stop along the way.
As they approached the first bend in the path as it began to ascend upward they could hear the woods go silent and the sound of some wolves on the hunt were carried as their songs danced with the winds warning, we’re coming, and we’re hungry. From out of nowhere a flash of black fur launched itself at the guardian. His speed was unnatural though, he pulled his long blade out of its scabbard with ease and had it flashing with blinding speed towards the attacker.
Rigmor had the two-handed sword pulled out of its scabbard on her back and readied it for an attack too. The two of them danced together in their dual of swords against black death. It wasn’t long though before the wolves laid dead around them.
They both took a few minutes to clean their swords by swiping them slowly through the soft bristled fur of the dead wolves. Afterwards, they looked at each other with a slight grin Rigmor said, “Well done, guardian. You earned your title today.” The guardian replied, “You might want to reserve those words for later once we return with the stolen goods. This journey has just begun and I sense….then his words fell silent. ” Rigmor looked at him quizzically but he would say no more and continued up the trail towards the watchtower.
The watchtower was another battle with some common bandits that had decided to take up residence in the tower to harass travelers that were unfortunate enough to decide to travel past them. The battle was harder, these were human predators and one was an Orc, a tough warrior to go against at any time. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t know he was fighting against someone with the Dragon blood flowing through his veins.
As they neared the barrow, the snows were blowing and the sky grew darker as snowflakes began to swirl around them. Rigmor turned to speak with him with her bow drawn and ready, “You sure about this? This looks like a perfect place for an ambush.” The guardian never hesitated with his response, “Yes, there’s something about what were doing that just seems like it needs to be done, that its important not just for Lucan and his sister Camillia, but for some future something or other.”
Rigmor stood there defiant for a moment but then said, “Okay guardian, you take the lead on this and I’ll have my bow ready just in case.” Once they began the ascent on the stone stairs carved from the mountain long ago when this barrow as made a battle with bandits broke out.
There had been three of them, two archers and a two-handed swordsman. The guardian went after the swordsman first. Rigmor had an archery contest with the other two. You could hear the sound of arrows flying across the air along with the sound of swords colliding and ringing out with the quality of their blades. However, in the end between the guardian unmatched speed, his instinct for knowing where to strike with the best results and Rigmor’s accuracy with a bow all three laid dead before long.
Rigmor watched the guardian deliver a final blow against one of the archers. He then turned and called out, “Are you okay, are you injured?” She was take off guard by this sincere show of feelings for her welfare, “Yes, I think so, no harm done. What about you, are you..” He responded immediately, “Come on, its cold out here. Let’s get inside where maybe we can find a fire to warm up to.” Rigmor looked at him dumbly for a moment, then said, “Or more bandits, what then, have you considered that?”
