Avalon/Roleplay Section/Hector/Uncertain Times
Previous: Attacks on the Capital
Uncertain Times, part I
It has been 2 days since the battle in Cteduul, and there are rumors of Monsters bashing the country side near Lacint. It’s not long after that Hector receives word he’s been waiting for.
He goes up to his room, where Jessica lies, sleeping. And gently knocks. She’s been sleeping for long periods of time, and Hector is a bit concerned for her. “Jessica, my dear, I have some news.”
Jessica opens her eyes slowly, it’s nearly two in the afternoon, she’s been asleep for 16 hours. For the last two days, she's felt completely drained. Something happened the night the consuming light sent her into a coma for a day. She sits up, groggy and soar. “What’s the news?”
“Those damn creatures are attacking one of our regions, and I must go to help fend them off. I would like you and Arian to stay here, please, until I return. It should only be a couple of days.”
Jessica looks at him, somewhat fixated on his armor plate. He looks down, self conscious that something looks funny. She’s just staring, at nothing really, he realizes. Then he walks around the bed to sit next to her. “What troubles you, my dear?”
Jessica looks up, and with a calming smile says, “Nothing. Because you feel for me, as you do, nothing is wrong.” She sits up a bit and kisses him.
Hector feels completely at peace. This woman he loves, is able to sooth him as nothing has ever soothed him. He smiles at her and gently gets up. “Please, stay here, don’t wonder off. Arian will watch over you, you’ll be safe!”
Jessica nods, then lays back down. Hector watches her for a moment, and she falls asleep again. Peacefully sleeping.
Hector goes down stairs and comes across Arian. “Sir, would you mind protecting her? I’m sure things will come for her, and you are about all there is that can stop the dark things from getting to her.”
“But of course, the entire fate of all man-kind rests in her, and I will see that she is protected.” Arian says, looking awfully trustworthy in Hector's eyes right now. Hector has bonded much closer to Arian in the past 3 days. The event at the Marsh, and the time together afterwards has given Hector the understanding of the Druids and how Arian and his people work.
“Very well, Arian, I depart now, with my giant army of three men!” He says, then slaps Arian on the shoulder with a large smile on his face.
Arian nods to him, then lifts his hand to rest on his shoulder too. “Be careful, Hector, do not let this be your last adventure with us!”
Hector smiles and grips his shoulder a bit tighter, “Of course, I’m a big boy, I can handle it!”
Arian smiles at Hector and Hector walks off, fully suited and closes the door behind him. A large clunk is heard as he closes the door, and his boot steps can be heard walking into his front yard to greet his three soldiers.
Arian turns, a frown on his face, and dashes back to the “Whispering Grove” book and flips through the pages, searching for something. He’s worried there may be a time table to plant the seed. Finally, he finds what he is looking for. Nothing to be worried about, the seed must incubate for 4-8 weeks before it must be planted. They’ve got plenty of time.
Uncertain Times, part II
Hector and his four men ride into Lacint. There is already a large Avalonian army there, and Hector rides up to the General. “Michael, sir, my four men are here to serve, give us orders and it shall be done.”
Michael turns and smiles at Hector. “You look hardly yourself, Hector, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing sir, just a few bumps on the head back in Cteduul from the invading creatures there.” He smiles, looking up at Michael.
“Very well, we could use you on the right flank. Meet up with Revan and you guys take them from the right side. Hector, break through, and do what damage you can!” Michael says.
Hector looks over and nods, and leads his four men to the right side of the formation. Revan looks over and sees Hector. “Hey, glad to see you. How’s Jessica?”
Hector returns the smile and feels a little better now that he has seen his friend. “She’s doing great! We’re going to have to head out soon to get the tree rebirthed. I’m hoping after all of this you can come with me to help.”
“Oh yeah, I would love to!... Hector, please, take care of yourself. We need you out there!”
Hector looks up and smiles. Why is everyone so concerened for him? First Arian, now Revan.
Just then, a large, low horn blows, and over 80 Monsters come plowing onto the battle field. Four wraiths hover above, groaning and making sounds unintelligible to normal men. The Creatures charge, Hector, Revan and the rest of the army hold their ground. The humans have mustered about 120 men to fight them. Victory should be theirs, Hector thinks.
As the Monsters charge, Hector sees Jessica, standing out on the Battlefield, between the Monsters and the humans. He shakes his head, and looks again. She’s no longer there. He feels confused. Did I just imagine that? Hector steadies himself and takes a deep breath. The dust is mounting as the Creatures charge towards the humans. Hector hears a loud horn, that of Michaels men sounding the charge. They take off, Meeting up with the Monsters in the open field. The two masses clash like waves on the shores of the Ocean. Monsters are falling rapidly, and one of the Wraiths turns and floats away. Hector and Revan are there; they smash into the right flank and begin to cut the Monsters down. Hector has all four of his men still. Hector and Revan slice the right flank wide open, and they pour into it, killing whatever moves. The Monsters are forced to the left, and one of Revan’s men hit the ground. Two of Hectors fall.
Suddenly, Jessica is there, holding her arms up and closing her eyes. A creature sees her and darts for her, trying to crush her. Hector moves, to protect her, and slices at the beast. Suddenly, she’s behind the creature, and two more Monsters charge her. Hector slices the large Monster and moves in behind him to confront the two that are charging. The Monster Hector passed wheels around and charges Hector from behind. Revan sees Hector being surrounded, but is caught up in his own fight. He yells, “Hector, look out, it’s a trap! Stop, don’t go in there!”
Hector is dazed, his eyes are glazzed over and his head is soaking wet with sweat. He charges a head, two more Monsters close in around him, there are five now, surrounding him. He spins to see he is completely surrounded. Revan is there, slicing at one of the Creatures. Hector attacks too, but three beasts attack him at once. Hector sees a white flash as three crushing blows hit him hard. He falls, motionless to the ground. Revan and his men push through, trying to get to Hector. Hector opens his eyes and sees Jessica standing there. She fades away, and is replaced by a wraith.It set me up As it turns and floats away, Hector’s last view is of a large boot coming down towards his head.
Uncertain Times, part III
While Hector was wounded, he was suffering from a high fever. His knee was dislocated and his head was smashed. As his body recovered, he broke into a terrible fever and sweat throughout the night.
He had dreams. He saw Jessica standing on a small hill. Creatures lined the horizon. There were more monsters than Hector had ever seen. He watched in horror as they started their charge towards her. The sound was so thunderous, that Hector covered his ears, but his chest and head pounded with the sound of roaring waves of creatures pouring down the hillside. He saw Jessica, standing on a hilltop, her arms raised to the heavens. She just smiled. The Creatures closed in, and Hector felt like his feet were in wet clay, he couldn’t run towards her. He started to cry, screaming for her to move. She calmly turned back to Hector and smiled. “Don’t be sad,” and she turned back. As she did, the Monsters reached her. They pounced on her and she disappeared in a sea of misshapen creatures and mangled monsters. Suddenly, a bright light flashed and a deafening boom was heard, low and thunderous. As a wave of light burst from the pile, it consumed the creatures and they all disintegrated and exploded into small dust particles.
Hector looked on at the desolation of the creatures for hundreds of miles. He searched, and could not find Jessica anywhere. He did find one living thing in this whole mess. A small, budding sapling.
He jerked awake, soaking wet from sweat. His head felt compressed and tight. His head had swollen from the crushing blows of the creatures, and his knee felt like it had been crushed by a boulder. He looked around his tent, and was all alone.
He grimaced as he stood and hobbled out of his tent to find a field full of dead creatures and all three of his soldiers, lying stacked with the rest of the dead.
He was alone. The army had to move on because of time constraints and a need to chase the monsters. He was standing in Lacint, a newly conquered region, all alone and in a lot of pain. He must ride out and get back to the capital to hire another crew. He felt bad, as he had trained these men well, and was not looking forward to starting over.
Hector slowly and painfully packed up camp, and loaded it on his horse, then walked her back to Cteduul.
Upon arrival, he was feeling much better. He had eaten some black Mombo root, and it had eased his swelling and pain. He walked into the recruitment center and picked out 8 of the best men there.
His scribe came up and read Hector his orders… “Sire, you are to proceed immediately to Sheja for a Take Over there with his Greatness, General Michael.”
Hector nods. “I won’t get to see Jessica, please, scribe run this note to her, and let her know I’m well.”
Hector grabs his horse, and orders his men to march. They head north, through Henhower to Sheja. Hector reflects back on when he was here last. The victory was sweet, but the time before was full of peril and desolation.
He thinks now of Jessica and his dream. He certainly hopes there is nothing telling of his dreams. She seems strong, but she could never survive such an attack. No one could, and it was rather frightening to imagine it. His heart picks up pace, and his head starts to throb as it does. He takes out the black Mombo root, and eats some more.
As he rides into Sheja, he sees Michael. “Hector, I’m happy to see you’re alive. You do realize, you killed three monsters as you went down! It was amazing, I’ve never quite seen such valor!”
Hector smiles, It would be nice to have remembered that! “Well, I didn’t fare too well when they smashed my leg, and bashed in my skull.” His smile grows bigger.
Michael laughs out loud, “That was really something! My apologies for leaving you there all alone, unattended, but our great ruler wanted us to move on to Cori and take it before anything further happened there.”
“Of course mi’lord, I completely understand. It’s quite all right. I got to sleep in, and drink all I wanted, it was really a great break!” Hector says with a wry smile.
Michael laughs loudly. “Well, we’re up for a boring time I’m afraid. We have one person who lives in this large land, and he’s not bending to our will. We are trying to be nice, so let’s pray this goes quickly so we can take Vale next”
Hector turns to Michael, “Vale, that is like a paradise. It basks in the shadows of Wudenkin yet gets all the fine weather of the plains. I guess you couldn’t ask for a nicer region!”
With that Hector and Michael go into an abandoned building and setup Avalon's headquarters. It appears to have been the governor’s palace. On further investigation, Michael and Hector find the wine cellar, and decide to treat their men to a night of musing and celebration for all their hard work and dedication to the realm.
Next: Hector's Return
