Trouble with Begininings by Mariah Pompa

Mariah Pompa

4/15/17

Revised 5/6/17

The Trouble with Beginnings

For some reason there always had to be something that went wrong. Their group had been fine the whole way through the “Forbidden” canyons because they packed enough water. The boat used to cross the monster infested waters of lake Leviathan had been enchanted out of sheer luck. They had even found the fabled Sword of Conquers as they had been sent to do. How many people could actually say they completed their quest?

It was a gorgeous weapon well, scabbard was from what she could see. To those unschooled in swordsmanship a sword as mighty as it may be always returned to its scabbard, a metal or leather casing made just for that sword. In this case the sword refused to leave its scabbard and the ‘valiant’ Prince Valerio had tried to remove the blade from its sheath but it wouldn’t budge. Since then things had been pretty dull except for the Prince’s mutterings about “stupid swords” as if scolding the weapon would get it free. Sabine was more than happy they had accomplished their mission. They would be greatly awarded for their achievements and she could finally get away from this annoying prince.

“Maybe if I try twisting it?”

“It’s a sword your highness there’s only one way of drawing a sword and that’s gripping the handle” Markov called from the front of their party. The whole group was done hearing the prince try to solve the “mystery” of the sword but it was obvious that there was no use. If the tales of old were true then only the worthy could draw that sword and his royal highness certainly wasn’t one of them.

“I know that but maybe there’s some trick to it? I mean the runes on it must be some kind of instructions”

“Yes but no one can read them, even our resident navigator” Markov nodded towards Ryu as he tried to keep his footing but couldn’t get his eyes off their map.

“I wrote down a few things, so what?”

“If you spent less time writing and more time watching then we wouldn’t have needed to get you knee guards two days into our quest”

“Hey I was going to get them anyway” Ryu’s attempts to save face were pointless they’d already spent a majority of their journey watching him fall flat on his face.  

“Don’t bother Ryu guys” Sabine warned but they caught the smile spreading across her lips “we all know you’re getting a helmet next”

“Thanks Sabine you’re a real pal”

“Of course Ryu”

 “Speaking of purchases we need a few things, how close are we to that village you found?”

“It’s straight ahead but there was something on the map about a river?” Ryu dug through his satchel for the next map.

“A river? That’s good right?” Sabine was hoping for a moments rest. Their water skins had been half full when they passed a small lake but there had been too many nymphs to trust it. They held no qualms with the wood folk but nymphs would only delay them more and Sabine wanted to get home. She had been stuck with this rag tag group for almost a year and as much as they’d bonded she needed a break.

“Not quite” Ryu warned, unrolling his map. “See here it says that the river is cursed though it’s called the Damned River by the locals, why not just call it the Cursed River?”

“Do you really want to argue with the villagers again Ryu?”

“They were trying to marry me off to some girl I bought bread from!”

“They were barters Ryu and grains were their main form of currency, of course they would want you to marry one of their girls for three whole loaves of bread that’s a fortune” Sabine was enjoying the navigators exasperation until he turned the tables.

“Oh yeah Sabine my wedding would have been great but I think you joining that herd of satyrs would have made this trip”

“Hey! At least I had the curtesy to tell them no, you had to fake your own death and pawn off your bride to Harold, who I must say is probably having a grand old time living as a barter”

“Enough you two” Markov’s command shut them right up. “If we didn’t have a glorious honor awaiting us back home then I would be envious of Harold because he doesn’t have to hear you’re bickering”

“Sorry Markov”

“Now that Damned River you spoke of is just over there so the village must be close”

“Yes we just can’t touch the water or we’ll be cursed”

“Sounds easy enough” Muttered Valerio.

“Stop right there!” And there went all their luck.

A man dropped down from the closest tree, nearly losing his footing on the landing. Righting himself Sabine was able to get a better look at him and recognized his dark tunic and grey shoulder guard as a symbol from the bandit’s guild.

Its bandits, always bandits.

“Why is it always bandits? Don’t they have something better to do?” Sabine was too tired to care about voicing her thoughts now.

“Do you really want to ask them?”

“Fine, fine I’ll wait till after to ask questions”            

“Silence!” The bandit was done with their chatter as much as Markov was. “I don’t want this to be messier than it has to be so I will only ask that you relinquish your valuables”

“You would dare attack your prince?” Leave it to Prince Valerio to get them killed on the last leg of the journey.

“Were still in Saldez territory” Apparently the bandit knew the thieving laws because while their kingdom of Aurora had a monarchy the neighboring country of Saldez was a democracy. The laws surrounding royalty and the offenses some might make towards them weren’t up held as severely as they were back home.

“Damn your right, the bandits are right” Valerio threw up his hands, magical sword and all.

“Your highness sarcasm won’t help us here” Markov warned, eyeing the bandit.

“It might have if he were actually funny but only some royals luck out” The bandit taunted, smirking when the prince lunged.

“That’s it!!”

“Sabine get a hold of him” It didn’t take much to restrain the prince, Sabine grabbed his sword arm and kicked his weaker leg forcing him to one knee. The bandit watched the whole thing with a smug look before drawing his own sword.

“Since you don’t want to cooperate we will have to take them by force”

 “You can try but you won’t like the outcome” warned Markov.

“We’ll take our chances” The bandit whistled sharply and four men left the trees just as he had. This would have been a good strategy but the trees they picked had far too many roots sticking out to land safely. Using this to their advantage Sabine’s group drew their weapons.

“Sabine stay by Valerio’s side, don’t let him out of your sight”

“Yes Markov”

So the skirmish began. Sabine stuck to the prince’s side dueling one of the off kilter bandits. They must not have been a part of the bandit’s guild because they didn’t have the grey shoulder guard nor any real training. Her opponent’s swings were heavy and uncoordinated leaving her plenty of openings to strike his shoulders and sides. If he hadn’t been wearing good armor her sword would have done some serious damage. Was this some kind of joke?

Foolish as he was Valerio managed to take down his attacker but that didn’t stop the leader from taking his place. The prince was lucky Sabine was there to guard his back because the blow from that bandit was a heavy one. He must have caught on to their pairing because the bandits switched places when they found an opening. This kept Sabine from Valerio and that just made everything harder!

The lead bandit used the Prince’s surprise to his advantage knocking down his guard with his heavy strikes. Valerio was still using the sheathed sword of Conquers which was no better than a practice sword if he couldn’t draw it. It didn’t help that the bandit was faster with his attacks, throwing a few kicks when they were locked together weakening the prince’s defenses. Valerio might have a sword but he had never used it in battle leaving him awkward and the bandit was more than willing to take advantage of him.    

Sabine was doing her best to get away from her opponent but where he lacked skill he made up for in determination. She needed to get rid of him or find a way to slip past him before something happened to Valerio but it looked like luck wasn’t on her side. The lead bandit threw a few cheap punches before he out right cracked Valerio in the jaw with the hilt of his sword. The prince was dazed, stumbling over his own feet till the bandit kicked him in the chest sending him crashing to the ground. The prince might have fallen straight back but the sword had gone flying into the grass by the river’s edge.

Swinging her sword in a downward arch Sabine managed to not only block her attacker but spun into it rolling over his back. It took a harsh kick to the side of his leg but her attacker went down with a shout. Sadly while she was busy escaping her opponent the lead bandit walked over the unconscious Prince and went straight for the sword.

Charging forward Sabine rammed the pommel of her sword into the leader’s lower back. If the other bandit had shouted this guy out right shrieked. Using his surprise to her advantage she hit him in the back of the head giving Valerio some company on the forest floor. This would have been fine but the bandit threw his sword when he shrieked sending it right passed the sword of Conquers right into the river, tipping the sword of conquers towards the river.

Diving forward Sabine managed to grab the swords golden handle.

“I’ve got it!” Reaching back she grabbed some of the grass and pulled herself back up trying to stay as far away from the water as possible.

Remember that luck she was talking about? Well she was wrong it hadn’t run out with the bandits, it ran out here by the water’s edge.

Leaning away from the water she was almost back on the grass when a slow screeching filled her ears. Looking down she watched in horror as the scabbard slowly slipped off the blade. If she let go of the grass to grab it she would fall in but if she let it go-there was no chance to try saving it now because someone took hold of her ankles and pulled her away from the water’s edge.

Rolling over Sabine raised the sword ready to strike only to find Markov. Sweet relief flooded her chest and Sabine could feel her heart being released from fears steely grip.

“Oh thank the gods”

“I wouldn’t thank them just yet Sabine”

“What’d you mean Markov? What’s happened?” It took some work but she managed to sit back on her forearms.

“You grabbed the sword Sabine but the scabbard fell off in the river”

Lifting the sword Sabine found that Markov was correct she held the Sword of Conquers in her hand in all its golden glory but the scabbard was nowhere in sight.

“Well it looks like we finally found a way to draw the damn thing” Ryu muttered wiping his brow with his sleeve.

“Valerio’s going to kill me”

“Not if you get it back before he wakes up” Markov glanced toward the prince and pursed his lips. “If the swelling of his jaw is anything to go by he’s not getting up for a while”

“The master bandit there probably broke it” Ryu mused sheathing his sword.

 “Would it be safe to get the scabbard back? You said anything that falls in that river is cursed”

“Yeah…I don’t know but it’s worth a try right?”

“Ryu you take Valerio and that bandit, go to the village for help with his jaw, we’ll follow the river and get the scabbard”  

“Alright Markov” Ryu dug through his satchel to find the map for them no doubt they would need it even if they did follow the river.  “Here you go”

“Thank you” Markov took the map and nodded towards the unconscious prince sending Ryu on his way.

“Come on Sabine let’s get that scabbard” Offering a hand Markov chuckled at her groaning.

“Why did it have to be bandits?”

“Because we’ve had smooth sailing up until this point there had to be some kind of conflict”

“And it couldn’t have happened earlier?”

“No, now come along we have another quest to go on” Markov patter her shoulder and started making his way down the river. It should be an easy job finding the scabbard since it was gold in a clear blue river but Sabine had other worries.      

“What about the other bandits? How do we know they won’t try something now that it’s just the two of us?

“I know you’re still a bit lost Sabine but if you haven’t noticed you wield the Sword of Conquers and I highly doubt they’re going to challenge us when you have such a blade”

Looking down at golden sword Sabine was mystified by the weapon seeing it for the first time. The gold was the first thing you noticed because it was the main material used but there were intricate lines of silver and steel woven down the middle of the blade. The three metals shined in different ways in the sunlight and it occurred to Sabine that she was truly holding the sword of Conquers. 

“Markov…”

“Yes Sabine”

“I drew the sword of Conquers”

“Yes, yes you have”

“What am I going to do?”

“About what?”

“About the sword! I can’t keep it” Sabine exclaimed. “The King sent Valerio to get it so the royal family could use it and now I’ve drawn it from its magical scabbard”

“Which is floating down stream”  

“Markov!” Her leader came to a stop as exhaustion settled in. It took a moment but he rolled his shoulders before turning, giving her his full attention.

“Look Sabine I don’t know what’ll happen when we return but either way we’re giving them that sword” Sabine glanced from the blade to Markov. “But only three of us know that you were able to draw it so whether you tell the king or not is up to you”

Heaving a sigh Sabine nodded.

She would decide by the time they got the scabbard back because there was no way she could put such a weapon in a normal scabbard. It was the fabled Sword of Conquers it could cut through grown men and was used by the rulers of old to strike down any opponent that dared challenge them. For some reason it had chosen to let her draw it and not Valerio, the crown prince.

Whatever happens she had a choice and that was all that mattered.