Re: Fable , the unofficial novel... and soon to be official!
Chapter 2
Arrows of Change
As he walked to the Fields, he felt the beauty of the greenery in his sights. Normally, Dominic would have neglected nature and its attractions, but somehow, today was different, and he could sense it. It seemed like there was a huge amount of change, about to cross his path, anytime now… Maybe it was just the wind, maybe the seasons were replacing. Maybe… He felt all those flowers, all those trees, beckoning to a breeze of difference. He didn’t know what it all meant. It could just be that: Change.
Just past the gate to the Fields, was Theresa, dancing in circles around an old scarecrow. The scarecrow wore a watermelon shell as a hat, which had many pigeon bite marks on it. Theresa turned at the sound of crunching leaves behind her. Her eyes widened at his arrival. “Oh, Dommy!”
She ran over to him. “Where have you been?”
“Dying,” his hands were behind his back in an attempt to hide the present. She smiled at this.
“As usual. Do you remember what day it is?”
“Sure did,” he tossed her the present.
Pulling the bowtie off, she let the sack fall to the dirt, staring at the doll in her hands with quavering, dumbfound eyes. Agrias the Paladin. The exact copy of what she saw last night. She smiled, brightly. “I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me brother! It’s just like in my dream.”
“Dream?”
Theresa stopped dancing. “Huh? Oh, it’s nothing,” she turned and hugged the doll, tightly. “C’mon, Mother will be home, any moment now.”
The two children walked down the road, Theresa kept Agrias close to her chest.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I love it.”
They walked side by side towards their home, crossing the gateway between Oakvale and Barrow Fields. Theresa’s eyes strayed over the many plants that grew along this path. Flowers swayed gently in the wind, leaves caught by the breeze, a nearby pond rippled…
She stopped in her tracks, startling Dominic. “Theresa, is something-“
She turned around to face the Oakvale gate, the one they had just gone through a minute ago. Goose pimples crawled over her skin. This scene… This scene was all too familiar to her, she saw this before. In a dream. Last night’s dream. She shook her head, in horror, her cheek muscles tensed up. She let the doll to fall from her arms, leaving it to lie pathetically on the dirt road. She moaned to herself before screaming out loud, in a shrill voice that was unheard before by Dominic. “No… No, no, NOOO!!!”
“What is it?! Theresa!” Dominic shook her arm vigorously, trying to catch her attention, but she could only stammer.
“Something- Something terrible is about to happen-”
As soon as the words got through Dominic’s skull, a man appeared at the gate. He ran through it, sheer, cold fear written all over his face. “Help! Help! Bandits!”
The man pushed the two aside, trying to get as much distance from the gate as possible, but fell face forwards, an arrow protruding from his back. Theresa stumbled to the side, recovering before she could fall. Dominic, on the other hand, fell into a thick bush, hitting his head hard on a rock. He lost consciousness, concealed by the bush, unaware of what was happening down in the village…
Everything was shaded in crimson light. Dominic’s eyesight could only see a blurry mix of colours. Red colours. He pushed himself out of the bush, trying to regain some of his strength. The hit to his head was a painful one, and an energy-draining one. He got onto his hands and knees, but was immediately overcame by a wave of nausea. He tried again, this time slowly. His head was still throbbing, but other than that, he wasn’t harmed. He got to his full height, his vision improving gradually. He turned around to the source of the red lights, and forgot his pain. Everything was burning, as fire ate through the village like a hungry dragon. He stumbled forwards, falling to his knees. He tried to cry out, but his voice was lost. Oakvale, burned to the ground… “No…”
He got to his feet, ignoring the stabbing knot in his head, and ran toward the burning village. He ran through Mid-Oakvale, past many charred shops and houses. The once ‘mysterious’ tavern, now stood in a mess of smoke and ash. He slowed in the smoke, trying to get his breath back, but it was hard to strain the air of any oxygen. He stopped, took in a gasp, and caught a noise. Screaming. Somewhere close…
“Help!”
He turned to his left, towards the house where the screams came from. The door was already off its hinges, burning away. Dominic looked around, spotting a jar of flowers on a windowsill. He picked it up, threw the flowers onto a nearby patch of dirt, and poured the water onto the door, creating a wet bridge across the flame to the other side. Running across, he scanned the room for the source of the screaming. A small girl cowered from the flames, in a corner, her arms shielding a teddy bear. Dominic leapt over a flame and landed next to her. “Don’t hurt me! Please, go away!”
Dominic picked her up with both of his arms, revealing his face. Emily stopped screaming. “Dominic!” He looked around and found his bridge of water evaporating. He rushed forwards, putting the stinging of his feet out of thought, bursting through the wall of flame that used to be the doorway. Once outside, he took a long breath. Emily looked up at him with half-shut eyes. “Thank you… Dominic…” she mumbled, before falling unconscious in his arms. Carrying her with him, he hurried to his house. There was a trail of blood coming from somewhere near his house, heading off onto the coast and out of sight. Where was everyone? Mom, Dad, Theresa, Kenneth… where were they? Even the guards were missing. What happened? He turned around a corner, and almost dropped the girl. His heart stopped, his veins felt cold. He saw a body, lying in front of a house… his house… He set Emily down beside the path, and approached the body. By the fire’s light, he saw a familiar face, a face he grew up with. His father’s… His father’s body lay spread across the steps to his house, a carving of Theresa cracked in two beside his leg. A deep wound was slashed across his chest, his blood darkening his clothing. Dominic knelt next to him, wondering whose blood was strewn over the ground. Succumbing to his tears, he rested his head on his father’s shoulder. “Father…No…”
“Gotcha!” Dominic looked up and saw a man. He had a brown mask over his face, and a skull tattooed onto his forearm… a bandit… The bandit charged at him, smirking an almost toothless grin. Dominic held his arm out to shield himself, as the bandit raised his scimitar to strike. But then, there was a very bright flash of blue. The bandit’s body convulsed and he stopped. His eyes rolled upwards to stare into the back of his head, his body covered in lightning (was that even possible?). He fell to the ground, scorched. Behind the bandit, Dominic saw, was a tall man, his hand lit by some strange magic. The stranger lowered his hand and walked over to the dazed boy. “Get up, boy. You don’t want to lie around here.”
Dominic got to his feet, staring at the man. He wore strange purple armour over his clothing. His pale skin was covered with glowing blue lines and markings. His white hair also had a blue tinge to its ends, his light grey eyes were hardened by battles. “You must come with me, now. Its not safe here.”
Dominic wasn’t sure to trust this man, but then, he had just saved his life. He ran to get Emily, again noticing the blood trail from his house. The man followed him. Dominic picked the girl up, and turned to face the man. “Take my hand.” Dominic stood up, hesitating. He looked back at the blood on the ground. It was coming from his house and so might be someone he knows. If he was fast enough, he might be able to catch them before…
“Take my hand.”
Again, he hesitated. He shook his head at the blood, and took the stranger’s hand. The stranger closed his eyes, his markings shining slightly. Instantly, Dominic felt light, felt the ground beneath him vanish, and felt the world rushing past him, whitening out…
Dominic crumpled forwards. He fell into a mound of dirt and grass, not in the slightest was he aware of his position. A hand pulled at his shoulder forcefully, making him stand up. He stumbled over to a nearby fence post, dizzily, and used it to balance himself. He bent over it and vomited on a bush of blooming flowers.
“Thought you’d have a stronger stomach-”
Oh, shut up! Dominic turned around and swung a fist at the stranger, clumsily, in an attempt to keep his mouth shut. The stranger simply stepped away and chuckled. “Whoa, boy. I’m not your enemy.”
Dominic groaned and fell backwards. Stars filled this patch of sky. The sight made him yawn. The stranger picked Emily up. “My name is Maze, and I come from the Heroes Guild.” He waved to a path cutting past some trees behind him. “I’ll take you there, once this girl is taken to Bowerstone. Just stay here while I take her there.”
Maze walked out of Dominic’s field of vision, leaving him to fall unconscious.
When he awoke, Dominic found himself in a soft and comfortable bed. Looking around, he saw many shelves and beds scattered across the room. There was a thin sword resting against each bedside table, reflecting the light that came from tinted windows and a cosy fireplace. On a nearby bed, dozens of books laid. On another were bottles among jars filled with weird, glowing liquids. A silver arrow rested on a bed opposite his. Dominic sat upright and gave a long yawn, stretching out a bit.
“Finally, the farmboy has awoken.”
Dominic turned to see a dark-skinned girl standing at the foot of his bed. She had a foreign look in her, with her weird hair and the strange way she carried herself around. She smiled at him and pointed at him with a short spear she was fiddling with. “You’ve been out for two whole days. I was starting to think if you had fallen into death or something…” she shook her head. “Anyway, I’m Whisper. Who are you?”
“Dominic… my name’s Dominic-” he yawned again and got to his feet.
“And where are you from? You’re surely not from Bowerstone, you don’t look like them.” She tossed the toy spear onto the bed with the many books.
“Oakvale. You?”
“Ahhhh… Oakvale, huh? Isn’t that the village that go- never mind. I’m from Samarkand. It’s a little south off Albion.”
Dominic just nodded. He knew what she almost said: the village that got burned down. He shook it out of his mind.
“Well, Dominic of Oakvale, welcome to the Guild,” she held her arms out to indicate the whole place. “This is where the best get trained to kill scum… And when I say the best, I meant it. You’d have to be good to even survive a week here. Most don’t. Anyway, the Guildmaster told me to bring you to him as soon as you’re awake. Get dressed-” she pointed at his bedside table. There was some kind of uniform on it. “I’ll be waiting outside.”
She left the room, leaving Dominic to groan on his own. His entire body still ached badly, but at least the burns on his feet have healed. Slowly, he tossed his old, charred clothes aside and put on the guild uniform. It was a white tunic and robe, lined with bronze lines and patterns, complete with a pair of flexible leggings and gloves. He slipped on his new pair of white boots, and walked out of the door, letting Whisper to lead the way.
“And I thought girls were slow… Now, let’s go see the Guildmaster. He’s waiting for us down at the melee rings.” They ran down several flights of stairs, across a room with a huge map of Albion for a table, and later along a long banquet table in what seemed to be the mess hall. They reached an arched doorway and walked into the sunlight. It pierced Dominic, who was suddenly aware that he had not seen the sun since that- since that day. He squinted his eyes, as the brightness of the sun made it hard to see much. He slowed so that he wouldn’t run into anything. It took him a moment to adjust, but once he did, his jaw dropped. The courtyard of the guild was beautiful. Lush, green grass and flowering bushes lined a stream flowing through the main training grounds. Four long coffins, made of polished white marble, surrounded four statues. On each coffin, the name of the valiant hero that was buried there, was carved on, along with the hero’s last achievement. The statues, Dominic presumed, were the Heroes that were buried here. But the face on one of the statues was blank an it held only a simple sword. Dominic walked up to read the statue’s coffin.
Here, will lie the Hero destined to stand among these saviours. Only the purest of hearts can.
There were many more statues encircling the sides of the courtyard. There was one of Agrias the Paladin, standing mightily with her huge but swift mace. Fresh flowers surrounded a very new statue of Ezelea the Intellectual. Also there were Quigley the Quick, Reactive Clinton, and John of Ash. Dominic approached the hulking statue.
“Look out!”
Dominic turned to look for the source of the voice, and saw a silver projectile flying for his head. He ducked, just in time, feeling the object zoom through the top of his black hair. He turned around to find an arrow, very much similar to the one he spotted on a bed, lodged into the neck of the stone John. A girl ran over to him, and helped him onto his feet. “I am sooo sorry! Are you alright?”
She was very pretty and had that childish look in her eyes, hinting her immaturity. She had almond-brown eyes, and bright, smooth skin. Her blonde hair was tied in a long ponytail with a golden ribbon. She carried a short bow made out of ebony. She also wore a white apprentice robe.
“Am I alright? Am I al- you nearly beheaded me!” He looked at her in anger, but then realised how sensitive she really was. Her head drooped in guilt and despair. Dominic shook his head and forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for being angry and all… I just woke up.”
She brightened up and glowed, smiling at him. “I see… well, my name’s Alex. What’s yours?”
“Dominic. Nice to meet y-” she leaned forward and pecked him on his cheek. He stopped in mid-sentence, his eyes wide open.
“Nice to meet you, too. I hope to see you around more,” and with that she slung her bow onto her shoulder and hopped into the banquet hall with springs for heels. He remained where he stood, staring at the doorway she just entered, speechless and stunned.
“Hey, farmboy!”
“W-what?” he looked around in confusion, finding Whisper waving at him from the far side of the courtyard.
“Wow, you’re slow. You coming or what?!”
Dominic shook his head vigorously, trying to get Alex’s smile out of his eyes. He wiped a small sweat droplet off his eyebrow and continued after Whisper. “What happened? You fell asleep again?”
“I was nearly killed,” he said as they walked together to the melee rings. “Twice.”
Whisper laughed. “Barely part of the guild, and yet you sound like a Hero, already.”
Beyond the courtyard, there were many rings filled with sand. Two rings had straw dummies with targets placed on their heads and chests, shot at by archers with both longbows and crossbows. A majority of the other rings were stationed between the archery rings and a huge elm tree. A few apprentices wielding swords made of either iron or wood occupied these. One ring stood on a small island in the middle of a pond that fed the stream.
“Ah… Dominic of Oakvale, here you are,” an old but wise-looking man, who stood beside a melee ring, called out to him, beckoning him to come to him. “I am the Guildmaster here at the Heroes Guild, and I’m glad to welcome our latest apprentice. Maze told me of your incident two days ago. According to him, you have incredible potential.”
Dominic nodded as the Guildmaster continued. “We are here to teach you the arts and ways of a Hero. All in all, there are three basic combat disciplines for you to practise, the first being melee. Get into the ring.” He pointed at the ring he stood next to. It had a straw dummy in it, standing right at the centre.
Dominic jumped into the ring. “Let me guess… hit the dummy?”
“As hard you can. We shall see your worth.”
Dominic nodded again, then turned to the dummy. He drew his fist back and hit the dummy, hurting himself in the process. The dummy barely shook, though.
“Hmm… could use some help. Here, try this,” the Guildmaster passed a newly made wooden sword to Dominic. He fell into an offensive stance and threw the sword around in his hands. The dummy’s head sagged and leaned onto one side, as if it was mocking Dominic. “Ermm… I guess Maze’s getting a little too old for his job.”
This was getting frustrating. Whisper was right. You have to be strong here. Dominic’s left eye twitched, his neck turning red. He turned back to the dummy and closed his eyes, remembering why was he here in the first place…
Theresa’s face swam in front of him.
“Something- Something terrible is about to happen-”
Her face dissolved away, replaced by many different faces.
“Now get going, and stay out of trouble for me, will you?”
“Rosie’s missing! I looked everywhere. I think she’s… she’s gone!”
“Happy now, you ungrateful little whelp?!”
“You’re just like your mother.
“Dominic!”
Everything grew dim, lit only by crimson flames, filled only by smoke and screams. Then, another face appeared : the bandit’s.
“I got your daddy, I did. I got him real good…”
No…
“He begged and begged and begged, before I diced him up!”
No!
“No!”
A blur of brown decimated the dummy, its straw flying everywhere. As the dust and straw settled, Dominic was revealed. He was panting furiously, almost bending forward in pain. He looked around, realising everyone nearby staring at him. He must have yelled out loud. Slowly, like a crawling wave, people applauded and clapped, amazed by his astounding speed. “That’s more like it, farmboy!”
The Guildmaster joined in the clapping. “ Yes, a very good show of speed indeed. Maze was right after all…” he broke off, as a thin man, who wore a black guild uniform, ran up and tapped the Guildmaster on the shoulder. The senior whispered something in his ear and left. The Guildmaster signalled an apprentice to come forward. “Can you fetch the other new student?”
“Yes, sir,” and he, too, left.
The Guildmaster turned around to face Dominic, with a satisfied face. “It seems that the beetles infesting the Guild Woods had just attacked a visitor. They seem to have gone out of hand. This is a good opportunity to put two of our newest students to the test.”
Dominic jumped out of the ring, and readied his wooden sword. “C’mon, Whisper!”
Whisper, on the other hand, didn’t budge. “Sorry, farmboy, but I’ve already been here for a month myself. Sooo… I’m not coming with you.”
“Oh, well then… who is the new student?” he pointed the question at the Guildmaster.
“Oh, she’s a sweet girl. You two will get along, nicely.” He winked.
Leaving Whisper to join the other apprentices, the Guildmaster led Dominic to the Guild Woods’ entrance. It wasn’t far from the melee rings, just a little over a minute’s walk. “ Now then, all you have to do is to drive, and if you can, kill all the beetles that come out from their holes. They usually come out in waves, and each nest has a ‘king’. The kings are dark red instead of the common black. As soon as the king is dead, the others will flee. Just bring the king’s body back as proof of your success.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
“Dominic!” A very familiar voice shot out from behind them. Alex was running, her bow swinging in her hand.
“I guess she’s the new student?” he asked, with a very small hint of annoyance, something the Guildmaster couldn’t miss.
“Yes. Apparently you have met before?”
Dominic nodded as Alex hugged him, tightly. He smiled at her. “Alex! How long has it been?”
“Well, its only been ten minutes, but it seemed…” she winked sneakily. “…like forever…”
The Guildmaster chuckled, beckoning the two. “Well, children, best get going.”
The Guild Woods was small in size and had several ponds doting the area. Trees of many varieties grew tall and short, while brown mushrooms the size of dinner plates were spotted along the dirt path. Right at the end of the path, several slabs of ancient stone protruded around a makeshift bench in the middle of a clearing. Small, brightly coloured birds flew overhead, as a squirrel was seen darting from tree to tree. Dominic held his wooden sword high, looking for the black of a beetle. Close by was Alex, who knelt down to examine a tiny cyan flower. “Isn’t it pretty?”
“What?”
“The flower, it looks pretty, right?”
“Wh- Uh… yeah,” he looked at her, then at the flower, and back at her. “Aren’t we suppose to be killing insects?”
“Hmm… I think so,” she stood up and got her bow out. She slid one of her silver arrows from its mini-quiver and notched it. She readied her aiming stance and closed on eye. “Ooh! Look! A squirrel!”
“Alex!”
She sulked, frowning. “Sorry…”
Dominic sighed and surveyed the clearing. There wasn’t a sign of any sort that showed where the beetles might hide. He crept quietly and stopped at a tree with orange leaves. Nothing. He turned around-
“Found one!”
Alex pulled the bowstring back and let the arrow fly. Dominic ducked and looked back. A beetle no smaller than his head was impaled upon the tree by her arrow. There were buzzing noises, erupting from all around them. More beetles emerged, dropping from the treetops and crawling from under the bushes. “Found the rest!”
Alex pulled another arrow. “Let’s do this!”
A huge beetle flew in and tried to attack Dominic, only to be bludgeoned away by the flat of his sword. He slammed one beetle to the dirt and slashed another behind him. He jumped and crushed a beetle under his boot, spinning around to bash a particularly big one out of the air. Arrows followed more arrows, crossing around Dominic. Each one pierced the beetles’ armoured hide like butter, pining them to the wood. Dominic ducked as an arrow shot past, impaling two beetles at once.
“Nice shot!”
“Thanks!” She beamed at Dominic. He swung around to bat one beetle away and hit another into a large group of beetles. “Home run!”
“Alex, what’s a ‘home run’?”
“No idea!”
In a matter of minutes, most of the drone had been demolished. The ones that still lived retreated, leaving the two to chase them off. Dominic wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked around. “Phew! That’s that.”
“But what happened to the-”
A louder, more violent buzz emitted from an old grey tree. Its pincers emerged from a hole between the roots, red as blood. They alone were much bigger than the black beetles. Slowly, it appeared. The King Beetle was at least four times bigger than the more lowly black ones. It was about the size of a medium-sized dog, its antennae reached out to them, twitching and twisting. “Alex!”
She shot her best one, but it merely ricocheted off its extremely thick exoskeleton. “Oh no…”
Dominic charged, pulling his sword up. The beetle jumped into the air and tackled him with its outstretched pincers. He dropped his sword and backed off, looking for a weakness. They couldn’t penetrate its armour, so a normal hit would be pointless, but there must be something…
“I got! Its belly! Attack its belly.”
Alex aimed and shot, but the beetle grew quick. It landed to let the arrow go off its back again. Dominic ran forwards and jumped onto it. He wrestled the monster as Alex loaded another arrow. “I only have one more shot!” Dominic swore as she aimed, but she couldn’t get a clear shot. He was always in the way, and she did almost behead him back at the courtyard. They rolled over, Dominic elbowed the beetle between its pincers, momentarily stunning it. “Alex, now!”
She let go of the bowstring, letting it glide through the air before it nailed the beetle’s underside. It squirmed its legs in pain. Dominic rolled away and grabbed his sword. Before the beetle could recover, he smashed the flat side of his sword against arrow’s back-end, driving it into the King Beetle, and through its back. It went limp, rigid. Dominic turned to Alex, with a painful smile on his face. “You okay?”
She nodded, lowering her bow. “It almost had you there.”
“Almost, but almost doesn’t cut it.”
She grinned, wiping the beads of sweat off her face. “Let’s get this to the Guildmaster.”
Dominic tugged at the arrow that killed the King Beetle and dragged the body along. As they emerged from the Woods later, they were greeted by a small applause from a group of people. The Guildmaster walked forwards, welcoming them back. “Excellent work, the both of you. Never have I seen this much skill at such a young age.”
“What do you mean?” asked Alex.
“Yeah, how did you see us?” Dominic threw the carcass aside.
The Guildmaster smiled. “Oh, we have a few… eyewitnesses…” He beckoned at two of the seniors behind him. One was stroking a squirrel’s back, while the other had a small, rectangular mirror in his arms. “No matter, though. Alexandra, you have –no doubt- chosen archery as your main skill.”
He nodded at her bow, and she gave a cheerful thumbs-up. He looked back at Dominic. “What about you, Dominic? Melee, Archery or Will?”
Dominic lowered his head in thought. Melee, Archery or Will? Then, came the memories from Oakvale, of Oakvale…
Crimson light bathed the scene, as fire tore through the village like a stampede of flaming horses… his father laid on the dirt, his eyes unblinking and lifeless… the bandit ran, his blade out and ready… his father… his family… his village… his life… they must be avenged…
He opened his eyes and stared at the Guildmaster with a weird look on his face, knowing that he might destroy himself with what he was going to do to himself. “I would like to study all three.”
Gasps came from the crowd. A young apprentice said, “What?!” as many more exchanged glances and murmurs. Whisper stepped out from the crowd, amazed. The Guildmaster eyed him. “Are you really sure of your choice?”
“Y-yes I am.”
The apprentice who shouted previously pushed his way to the front. “Nobody has ever attempted that kind of training. Not even Delfe, or Holdr, or-or… Solcius! He’s mad!”
“So what?!” the crowd quietened down. “So what if no one has ever gone through three? There’s always room for firsts! If the greatest Heroes hadn’t, then I would become the greatest Hero this world will see for- for two hundred years!” He glared at the apprentice, who cowered and retreated back into the crowd. The Guildmaster, noticing the solid look on Dominic’s face, raised his hand to silence the crowd. He sighed.
“So it is decided, then, but be warned. Once you begin your training, you won’t be able to graduate as a full-fledged Hero, until you’ve completed all three training methods.”
Dominic nodded. The Guildmaster waved to eveyone. The crowd dispersed and departed. “Good, lad. Now, follow Chadwick McMillan here to the dining hall. Your dinner is waiting for you.” He left, leaving the apprentice that shouted at Dominic, to deal with him. The Guildmaster smiled to himself. “That lad is something.”
