The Lost Princess

Vestin hid behind a cl.u.s.ter of trees and slowly leaned forward to take a peek around one. He watched the small band of men dressed from head to toe in the Serenity Royal armor of the queen's personal army. They were the select few the queen trusted with her dirty work and they had no remorse after carrying it out.

Vestin watched as they lead their horses down the narrow path through the woods keeping eyes out for anyone from his village that they destroyed only moments ago in their search for Loraz; he clutched his fist trying his best to control his anger.

So many people, so many innocent people dead, left for dead, or homeless and in hiding. He himself, just barely made it out of the village alive. His parents weren't so lucky. Burned alive in the center of town with a couple of others they used to try and get people to talk, but no one did, because no one knew a thing about what they were looking for. Once they found out that Velaira had passed on and there was no trace of Loraz they took to violence to get the answers they wanted.

"Lowly cowards, the lot..." Vestin whispered.

He waited for them to pass by and when the close was clear he crept his way back towards a cave he found and the few people he managed to save hid. The cave was of a massive size and perfect for a small band of villagers to take refuge. Luckily he remembered it in the heat of things or many more would have died.

He heard a twig snap and pressed himself to a tree and waited. Listening for anything that would give him a hint on what it was and where it came from he carefully took out a small blade. He peered around the trunk of the tree saw it was cige, around potbellied creature with a short snout and stubby legs and a coat perfect for crafting, a great animal for roasting as well. He licked his lips and stared at the small creature with it's red and orange marbled coat. If he could catch it and take it back to the cave they would have enough for the next two days. He waited for the cige to walk a bit closer, the timing was everything when trying to kill one of these creatures. They were fast and nasty when angered, not to mention they could poison you if they bit you. He had to catch the cige off guard and with one swift thrust to the neck, it's fatal weak spot. The cige walked closer and closer its face buried in the ground looking for small bits of food. Vestin inhaled deeply and slowly released it closing his eyes and when the cige stepped up to the side of him and the tree he hid behind, he lunged blade first towards the beast and caught it in the eye.

"Dammit, I didn't time it correctly..." He spat.

The creature squealed in pain and snapped away from Vestin. Blade still in its eye the cige turned to see Vestin standing there, his arms raised at his side ready to deflect anything the cige did. With a snort and grunt, the cige charged at Vestin mouth opened and two fangs showing.

"Seems I pissed it off..." Vestin chuckled.

Planting his feet firmly in the dirt he braced himself for impact as the animal came flying towards him. The cige caught one of Vestin's shoulders in its mouth and bit down as Vestin reached with his good arm and grab hold of his knife pulling it free then ramming it forcefully into the belly of the beast several times.

The cige released it's grip on his shoulder and slumped over.

"Dammit. I have to get back fast before the poison sets in. Okay, let see if this a.s.s is dead."

He looked over at the cige and saw it belly split in several places where it was stabbed.

"If it still lives after I did that this thing is a monster. Okay, let's get you back to the cave little buddy."

Vestin found a vine and tied it to the cige then with his good arm he began dragging it towards the cave where his village hid and waited.

The walk was hard being that he was bitten by the beast. His breathing began to slow and his shoulder was starting to go numb. Sweat dripped from his chin and his vision blurred, but he pushed on with his bounty behind him. Almost about to collapse he saw a figure walking towards him and froze in his tracks.

"Ya reckless ya that, boy," Sav said.

"What are you doing here? I thought I was supposed to be the only one scouting while you guys watched over the villagers.." Vestin muttered.

"Stop talking and don't move anymore. Looks like that there gave you a good spanking before ya took him down. Didn't we tell ya not to good looking for danger boy? We still haven't finished training ya yet."

"I was able to take it down and bring it back..."

"Yer almost dead, boy. Come on let's get you back to camp."

"Don't forget that cige, the people are hungry, especially the children."

Grabbing hold of Vestin and throwing him over his shoulder while taking the vine and dragging the cige Sav smiled.

"Always thinking of others aren't ya. Relax now ya done good, boy."

Sav carried Vestin the rest of the way to the cave and Vestin finally blacked out from the poison.