High Fantasy Chapter 2

I followed Kendra out of the tunnel that winded back on itself nearly a dozen times. It was rough cut stone walls like it had been dug out manually.

“Just how deep is this?” I asked.

“Abandoned mine shafts. They go on for miles. Without directions a person would be more likely to get lost and die down here than find you.” Kendra huffed. “Don’t try anything funny.”

“I savor nothing more than the sight of the sun again.” I promised her. It had been too long, I’d almost forgotten what it looked like.

Even if I could feel the resonance with the ground and find a path, I was reluctant to part with company.

It sounded childish even in my own thoughts, but I had done a lot of thinking in my time alone and I craved human interaction.

Before it had all been about finishing the next duel alive, then the rebellion and in the end I was imprisoned for over fifty years.

I had spent much of my time in the darkness remembering couples that had seemed happy in the streets, holding hands and smiling at each other.

At the time I just ignored it, because that wasn’t the life for me.

But the more I thought about those people, the more I craved it.

“You are quiet.” Kendra noted.

“I’m just thinking. There has been a lot of time for me to think, I’m not exactly used to talking.”

She brushed it off an continued to lead me out of the mine shafts. Kendra wasn’t exactly the talkative sort.

We turned a corner and light shone up ahead. It was just a small prick of daylight down the shaft, but it made my heart race and my legs hesitate.

Doubt couldn’t help but bleed into the back of my mind.

Had all of the time down here warped my mind? Was this even real?

Rather than let those consume me, I pushed forward, like I always did.

My stride devoured the space between me and the sun.

“Hold up.” Kendra shouted and I didn’t even realize that I had broken into a full sprint.

I wasn’t going to stop, even as the sunlight grew brighter. My eyes watered and stung to the point I had to close them, but I finally stepped out of the mine into the sun.

It felt like my skin was on fire, warmth had been long forgotten. Anything but the cold darkness was a complete shock to my system and I felt my legs buckle and I lay down on the dirt outside with my hands shielding my eyes trying to help them adjust.

I wanted to see the world.

“What are you doing?” Kendra huffed coming out of the mineshaft behind me.

“Was the sun always this bright? I want to see it.” A frustrated groan escaped my throat. “Damnit.”

Kendra was oddly quiet and I shielded my eyes enough to get a blurry glance at her standing ridged, watching over me. “I didn’t consider how long you’ve been down there. A few years? Were you the disaster on the Tolpien border towns a while back?”

I laughed. “A few years. Sure, we’ll go with that. Also, what’s a Tolpien?” My eyes were getting better and I was able to blink while peering between my fingers and see a clear view of the world around me.

It was an overgrown mine shaft entrance.

But the greens were so vibrant that just the weeds made my mouth water and my stomach growl.

Kendra was frowning, things were starting to bother her.

I suspected she was starting to realize she had bitten off a bigger task than she’d been expecting.

“The Lolapien mountains up north, named for their people.” She said the words slow, gauging my reactions.

“The Calcus mountains.” I corrected her.

But she shook her head. “I haven’t heard anyone call them that since… my grandfather. About forty years ago the Lolapien people were discovered in hidden valleys among the mountains. Though Nevindra has tried to conquer them, the mountains have proved too difficult. You see them as slaves though. Probably had a few in your scorcerers tower.”

“Yeah, do they look different?” I managed to get my eyes adjusted to the point I could shade them and watched Kendra.

It might have been a long time since I saw a woman, but Kendra was beautiful. Legs that went on for days in tight black stockings, though her military coat hid everything up past her thighs. It only parted enough to see her thighs because of the sword poking out.

At that point I suddenly realized, I must look like a complete mess.

“You weren’t put down there recently. How long have you really been down there?” Kendra rest her hands on the sword.

“Drawing that sword would be a deadly mistake.” I sat up, still shielding my eyes. “You wouldn’t last a second against me, even with my magic still being drained.”

“I won’t repeat myself, what are you?”

“A slave. Or I was, then I became the leader of a rebellion.” I managed to pull my hands away from my eyes completely and able to see. “King Damien the third brought the military to bear against our rebellion, it was put down and six of the countries best scorcerers including a few royal bastards managed to chain me in ademantite and cuff me with molten nullstone.” I held up my wrists that showed off the white stone with the greenish silver of the ademantite embedded in it and then wrapped crudely around the manacles.

“King Damien the third died before I was born.” Kendra blinked slowly at me and took a cautious step back.

“If it helps at all, he was a pretty rotten man.” I shrugged and slowly stood.

“They don’t teach slaves magic, slaves aren’t allowed to use it.” She returned to my earlier question. “Lolapien’s don’t have magic like us or the elves. They have tough bodies and animalistic traits.”

That they no longer let slaves use magic concerned me. “No one but the threat of death taught me magic. I suspect I might have something to do with why slaves aren’t allowed to use magic anymore.”

Kendra didn’t move, she didn’t even blink.

I wasn’t sure if she didn’t believe me or if she was just in shock. “Now, I’d like to get as far away from here as I can.”

Looking around this place was so abandoned there wasn’t even a path that led away from the shaft.

“This way. We should stay off the road though. There’s a stream I passed this morning, we should probably get you cleaned up before anyone sees you.” She wrinkled her nose but tucked away in a bush she pulled out a sack. She couldn’t have enough for more than a day or two on the road.

I lifted my arm looking at the dirt crusted to my skin, some of it a lovely dark red from my recent fun. “You don’t happen to have any clothes in there?”

“Nothing that’ll fit you.” Kendra slung the bag over her shoulder. “We’ll get you cleaned up and see what we can get from one of the farms before we head into the village. We are so far out in the boonies that there probably isn’t even a proper tailor in the village.”

I grunted, nobles.

Always taking things for granted.

I'm going to stop this one here, mostly because I'm torn in which way I could take it. Either he takes the quest for revenge and we get that plot, oooooor he ends up rejecting the revenge and we traipse through the world and pick up some lovely ladies along the way. I'm really on the fence for this one and I'm not quite sure I'm ready to make that decision.

For those of you who don't know, I'm mostly a discovery writer. So, half the fun is finding out along the way.

Tomorrow I start dabbling a little in dragon's justice 5 writing exercises, so I'll be quiet on her for 1-2 weeks while I get dragon 5 going and then I'll start editing and plopping them up here around the end of the month.