The tale of Drakfot - part 22

The tale of Drakfot – Part 22, Terrible news

“Rikka, you scared me out of my sense when you did that.” Drakfot said as she
and Rikka walked out of the little room onto the bridge of Lorias Rise.

“haha, I did, didn’t I! I am sorry Drakfot but I could not help myself, one have
to grasp the fun moments when they appears, after they have already passed you
know.” She replied with a big grin.

“Yes, you are indeed correct my friend, I agree to this.” Drakfot said and
smiled with Rikka.

“You know Drakky, there is something I want to ask you.” Rikka said, now she had
that same serous voice again, but now Drakfot could feel that she was indeed
serious.

“Yes Rikka, what be it ?” She said in hope that Rikka would ask the question on
her mind.

“You speak funny, you know that ? I mean, you sound a bit more… ehm…
different then others. Why is that ?” Rikka said and looked at Drakfot.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Drakfot could hear the voices she so recently
got to learn, through something Rikka had done, it was as if they started
creeping closer and closer to her, getting louder and louder as if she was
walking into the crowd. Suddenly the world around her started to get blurry and
shaky, and all of a sudden it was as a shockwave of light struck against her
eyes and the voices shouted out loud. Drakfot had to stop then fell on her
knees, not knowing what just happened, nor why it happened. It had been over as
soon as it started, within the time of a second all this happened, leaving her
question if it had really happened or not. But that she was sitting on her knees
told her that so had to be it.
Rikka had promptly stopped and tried to regain Drakfot’s balance by gripping her
arm, but she had been too late. She was now sitting next to Drakfot looking at
her with wide open eyes wondering what had happened.

“I am sorry Rikka, I … don’t know…” Drakfot manages to studder out while she
was regaining her consciousness. She stood up but for some reason her legs were
a bit shaky but it passed within the minute.

“What happened Drakfot ? You had me worried, sorry about my direct question.”
She said and her voice told of her concern and that she felt guilt for what had
happened.

“Do not worry Rikka, you have done nothing wrong. It is a valid question indeed,
but I am afraid that I cannot remember anything beyond the day when I awoke in
Aubermouth. I know little or rather nothing of who I am beyond that time,
Rikka.” Drakfot answered the best she could whilst getting herself back in
order, straightening out her armour and brushing off some dust.

“Alright, I won’t ask about that anymore then Drakky !” Rikka said and smiled
again. It was a wonder how she could turn the mood in such swiftness that
Drakfot could not help but to stare at her for a few seconds while they
continued down the walkway.

“Perhaps in time I will find out, but for now the past is there for us to learn
from. Through wisdom of the past and knowledge of times to come we will build
our future.” Drakfot said and turned her head looking forward to simply just
walk down the walkway towards the large house which was a gathering point.

“There you go again, funnytalker !!” Rikka laughed out and poked Drakfot in the
side.

They both laughed dearly, perhaps they did not really know why they laughed.
Still they could not stop and why stop laughing even when you don’t know what
you laugh at, as long as you laugh with your heart.
They walked past the large house and headed for the platform where the trainers
often were, teaching Homins about their skills and how to improve their
knowledge. It seemed as this would be the route they would walk very often from
now on, specially since now Drakfot knew where the Guild Hall were. As they
passed the trainers they saw that there was a smaller commotion at the bar, many
Homins stood around it and seemed to be looking at something, probably another
barfight again. But as they came closer they saw that it was not that, but they
were listening to a Homin who stood there in the middle, he was talking rapidly
as if he wanted to say too much in too little time.
He was dressed in a Tryker Medium Armour, or what was left of it. It was torn to
shreds and it showed more skin then armour. And so most of his skin on the
chest, arms and legs were covered in dried blood. Blood from wounds. Homins that
stood near him tried to heal him the best they could, but it would take much
time for him to recover, the gashes and cuts were deeper then the eye could see
at a first glimpse. And he would not allow them to fully care for him until he
had said his part.

It was grave news indeed..

Through his deep breaths he managed to say one word many times before they could
calm him enough so he could talk in a normal sense.

“Kitin… the Kitin is coming.” Was all he could say at first. His eyes stared
at them all with fear, but not fear of his life. But the fear of that he could
be looking at Homins that were soon to fall and past away. Fear that if he could
not warn them, their lives would be lost. Fear that if he gave up, it would be
too late.

“Please, calm down. Take a deep breath and drink this, please. You have to calm
down.” A Zoraï lady said next to him as she handed him a small flask. Drakfot
knew her as a lady she had only seen wandering by the stables, but she seemed to
be somehow skilled in the art of heal as when she handed the flask to the Homin
and looked at him his eyes stopped moving around and met hers, then he accepted
the flask and took a big gulp. All the others looked at him with surprise, it
was likely the first time they had seen a such shaken Homin in the calm waters
of Fairhaven.

“They… they are coming… the Kitins… they are … everywhere.. they are
coming… run… be ready.. they are here… coming…” He said before he fell
on his knees breathing heavily and deeply. The potion started its effect.

“Do not worry, this is a potion that will allow your body to relax. You are
fine, nothing will happen to you now.” The Zoraï lady comforted him.

He sat there, breathing for over a moment, deeply and slowly and just stared at
the ground. Homins started to get worried around him when they heard his
message. Many had heard of the Kitin, tales from the childhood, some had fought
them in one kind or another during their training. But no one had ever met any
kind that could do what had happened to the man sitting on the ground. Fear
started to spread, still they stayed to hear the message he was bringing.

“We were.. patrolling… on our ordinary route to keep the Ragus and Torbaks
under control.” He said and was now breathing more calmly and ordered. “We were
just walking… we met a few Raguses, fought them off with ease and continued.
We had reached about halfway on our route when a large, unknown Kitin ran up to
us. At first we were startled by this new, unknown, creature but it soon showed
us its intentions and we started fighting back. It was the longest battle yet,
and we sustained some great damage, but thanks to the healers we managed to beat
this… thing… but it took time.” He was looking around and suddenly made a
face of pain and held his side.

The gash had started to bleed heavily again, but the Zoraï lady quickly held him
and got a small bag from her belt. She opened it and inside there was a white
powder. She took a handful and gently spread it over the bleeding gash and
within a short moment the blood stopped and he calmed again.

“This is a pain reducing powder, and a woundcloser. Please speak in the pace you
can, but be gentle to yourself.” She said with a soothing voice.

He coughed a little but stayed calm for another minute while the effect of the
powder was working and soon he could at least sit up again. The Homins around
had already started to small talk and chatter about what they had heard so far.
Many mentioned tales of the past, others suddenly remembered rumours they had
heard recently.

“We thought..” He tried to continue and in a moment everyone else got silent
again and focused on the wounded Homin. “We thought that we had won the battle..
and we had.. but the ward had not even yet begun.. As we investigated this new
creature we found that it was tougher then anything we had seen before, its
armour was as thick as usual, but it would not brake as easily as on the Kitins
we knew so far.”

He made an attempt to stand up and got support from the Zoraï lady who held him
firmly so he would not fall over.

“When we turned the corner.. to continue.. there were hundreds… no thousands
of them in our sight. We were stunned, we could hardly move as we saw them
walking around there, on the lands that only yesterday were empty except their
usual habitants. They walked there as if they had never done anything else, they
were looking for something.” He coughed a few times and was offered a glass of
water to soak his throat.

“Thousands of them.. all looking… we turned around in an attempt to hide, but
it was too late.. they are smart, two of them had already snuck up behind us,
they were surrounding us, without us even knowing that they had seen us. We
tried to battle them, so we could get away, but our previous battle told us that
it was an lost cause. We would not stand a chance against them. Two of my
friends…” he turned silent for a long moment… “two of my friends stayed
behind, keeping them busy so we could get away. Not to run for cover.. but to
warn you all.”

He stopped and looked at everyone again, his eyes were calmer in a way. He had
successfully managed to deliver his message. Then he spoke again.

“I do not know much, but we did split up, being told to run the fastest we ever
could to spread the news to as many as possible. To you all. I don’t know what
happened to the others, I hope they are safe.. I hope..”

Was all he could say before he fell , but was hold up by the Zoraï lady, and
fainted.

“He needs to rest, his body is in a weary state. Even telling us all this was a
too big strain on him. Please know, he needs to rest otherwise he will not
manage. He has warned up, please speak with the guards of this town, with the
corporals, with anyone that could gather forces. I must tend to him now.” She
said and two other Homins came up next to her, helping her carry the fainted
Homin into the cottage where the more experience healers were.

“Drakfot…” Rikka said and stared out into the horizon.

“Yes Rikka, what be it ?” Drakfot asked, worried, scared and confused.

“For now, fun is over. This is war.” Rikka said and closed her eyes. Suddenly
Drakfot could hear her voice in her head as she spoke to all the other voices.
“Everyone meet at the stables, there is trouble and bad news ahead. No argue,
just get there as soon as you can.” Was the words Drakfot heard.

“I understand Rikka, what can I do?” Drakfot said.

“We need healers, fighters, magicians. We need everyone Drakky. It’s we against
them, no one else will help us, but ourselves.” Rikka said as she grabbed
Drakfot’s hand and started running towards the stables outside Fairhaven.
Drakfot just followed her, still stumbled over the turn of events and the news.

Many Homins had already gathered at the stables hearing the news. And already a
messenger had arrived there. She was speaking on behalf of the Homin forces that
were gathered hearing these news.

“Homins, we face ill times ahead. The words you have heard about these Kitins
are true. Scouts have confirmed that they are spreading throughout Bounty
Beaches, but know this, we have placed a camp not far away from where they are.
We will send our soldiers there, every man that are able to fight will be sent
to these lands to squash this threat of Kitins.
But, in this we need your aid; we need you to help us make the armours and
weapons that are not in our storage, our crafters cannot keep the pace high
enough to settle this great demand of weaponry and armours. We ask every able
Homin to craft what they can craft, and to fight the best they can.
Remember, you all do this not for your self, not for us, but you do this for
everyone!”

She spoke quickly and with determination and then continued to place the note on
the stable side so everyone could read it. After that she started to gather
names and answering questions about where the crafts should be handed over and
where they could sign up.

“Drakfot..” Rikka said as they stood at the stables watching how members of the
guild came in one by one.

“I know Rikka, I have travelled the lands, now it is time to defend them.”