King's Conquest

[Efren]

The door to Efren's personal chambers opens slightly, "I beg your pardon your majesty, I bear a message from our scouts. It seems that our messengers we sent to the surrounding nations have been killed by rogue bandits."

Efren drops his quill, and closes his eyes, his friend Brahli was one of the messengers he had sent. He took in a breath, and let it out slowly. His anger building in the loss of his people, of his messengers, of his friend.

Efren turned his head from his desk. "What!!! Bloody bandits, I swear they will pay..." He turned to his servant, "Get the others in here, ready my armor. Get five of my personally trained soldiers, order them ready for leave at once."

Efren dressed into his armor undergarments. He waited for his servants to enter his room carrying his armor. When they entered, Efren stood up, and began to put on his armor, His servants tightening it. His armor had been freshly cleaned, and it gave off a wonderful glow.

His servants had him in his armor, and he grabbed his great axe from the wall behind him. "Lets hunt us some bloody bandits..."

At the gates he met his soldiers. "Brothers, some bandits have killed our messengers, and some of our friends. We will not allow this to continue any further." He looked around at his small troop. "Do not attack unless I give the order. Come, our journey awaits us."

His group contained one Bowman, one Cleric, two Foot Soldiers, And one Hunter. This was not a small force to be reckoned with. They had very little supplies, enough for three days tops. The gates opened before them, and they soon set off, the mountain getting smaller and smaller as they walked on.

Efren and his soldiers began to march off into the forest, Efren in the middle with his axe hung over his shoulder. "Get ready bandits, I bring no mercy."

[Efren]

Efren and his men had walked for two days straight, and not a single sight of a bandit anywhere. "Well this 'ere is where I have been told our messengers were attacked. Have the bandits left?"

Efren looked to his soldier. "Probably hiding in some far off distance watching us, planning a strike during the moon's rising." He looked to the sky, The sun was setting, and it would soon be dark. He looked to his hunter. "Set some traps up, I don want to have a surprise during the night. Perhaps some advanced ones." With that, the hunter set off do perform his duty. "Lets set up a camp in the forest over there, lets build us some well defended areas."

As night began to cover the land, a slight breeze began to pick up. "Well this is jus' great, I forgot my bloody jacket." the cleric had said.

Efren handed him his only jacket. "Take mine, I wont be needing it in this armor." Efren had finished his make ready sleeping area, easily disguised as a fallen branch, he will sleep in a hole he had dug, but with a view of his surroundings. He turned to the others, "I sure hope none of you bloody snore, It will give away our position. No Fire tonight, and no ale til' the sunrises."

They had all gone to sleep soon after nightfall. Late in the night, Efren was woken by a sound not to far off from their camp. It seemed they were being followed, but they had managed to escape pursuit. "Perfect.." Efren said quietly. The night was quiet due to the sounds the outsiders were making. Efren eased his axe upon his shoulder, and threw a small rock at a tree near them, waking nearly all of his group.

Dwarves' eyes were used to the dark, due to the fact that they must see inside of the caves of the mountains. He saw his men make ready with their weapons. They waited until the most opportune moment to attack.

[Efren]

Moments later, a man came into view, already bloody, no weapon, dying. Efren quickly left his hideout to help the man. "Please help me, my village has been raided by bandits, my family has been taken, my friends killed, and I am too fated to meet the same end."

The man sank back against a tree. "Inaldor, heal this mans wounds as best you can, the rest of you, we have a village to save..." The Dwarf king readied his axe for battle. He was more than ready for what was to come. After a few minutes of jogging, the village came into view, a few huts had caught fire, screaming in the distance. Efren looked at the village and shook his head. "Men kill any armed bandit, do not kill those who surrender, I will have them pass my test before hand. Save this village!"

Efren ran into the village to be first met by a woman being chased my a very unshaven bandit. "Wha's this eh? Little people coming to the rescue?" The bandit laughed. "This isn't no place for children. You best go home before ya get hurt little one."

Efren's face grew red. He knew he wasn't nearly as tall as the other races, but to be made fun of, and be called a child really pushes his buttons. Efren drew back his axe, and charged the bandit. He swung it to the side, only to have it blocked by the bandits sword, and he quickly had to go on the defensive as the bandit lashed out at him with his sword. Efren easily deflected the attempt, and kicked the man in the shin with his plate mail boots. The man grabbed at his shin, and Efren utilized this distraction as a way to strike a lethal blow. The axe connected with the bandit's neck, causing the bandit to slump over dead. Efren pulled out his axe, and readied it for what was next to come. "If this is the best they can do, they are in for one hell of a nigh'"

In the distance he heard more screams, and began to head in that direction, soon to meet up with his group along the way. "So many more bandits, so li'l time."

[Efren]

The night seemed longer now than ever. Battle after battle, the after effects were taking their toll. "We need to buy some time, there are way too many for us to handle..." Efren said panting. He had some close calls. "Jero, set some traps while we have our li'l time, we need to retreat."

Jero looked at his king curiously. "Sir, a dwarf never takes a rest during battle, no matter the odds."

Efren looked at him angrily. "I said set some bloody traps!" He had had enough blood shed for the night. The wound in his side he didn't want his men to know about had been flustering up since he had been stabbed. Jero walked off and did as he was told, and muttered something under his breath. While it was true that Efren was the youngest in the group, but he also had the most power and influence in the group.

The group retreated into the forest outside the village. They had saved many lives with their first strike, but still many lives were lost.
Efren leaned against a tree and watched over the village. He grasped his side and winced in pain. "Inaldor, I need..." Efren's legs gave away, and he fell to the forest floor as his companions ran to his aid.

He awoke the next morning, his armor stripped from him, his axe gone. He stood up wondering where he was. Efren looked around, he was in a cave, a well hidden cave. The sun was barely shining through the opening to the forest. They had failed in trying to save the village, but had stopped more damage to it.

Efren heard his group begin waking in the shadows of the cave. "Get our supplies ready, lets go home."