Wow I really haven't been on much lately.. :/ I'm trying to catch up on the the story. Looks great so far!
I hope you do catch up. And as to your character, he's coming, don't lose faith in me.
This was a great chapter!:clap: Can't wait for more!
Thanks. Well here is the next update. I wish I wasn't so busy, otherwise I probably would have already ended book 2. But anyway, we'll get there. Enjoy.
--Oh, this is one of those long chapters broken down into several pieces, like that Cocytos one in book 1. I don't know how long this one will be, but you know what to expect now.
Keeping herself well hidden behind a large boulder, Hel waited patiently for Avonite to come back. She had left her sister's side a few minutes ago and only to take care of a little problem.
They were in central Midgard, and so very close to the dig site. The region, being mountainous terrain and all, contained lots of boulders of assorted sizes and shapes, but not only that, there were herbs, short grass, trees, and pine trees covering some of the mountainous terrain. It was also very cold, but upon their arrival to the region, queen Hel had summoned a magical spell to defeat that cold and keep herself and Avonite warm.
From her place behind the boulder, Hel could hear a few voices from soldier sentinels who spoke to each other off in the distance as they kept vigilance around the place. Hel hardly paid any heed to what they were saying, for it didn't matter at the moment, all she wanted to do was have a look at the gigantic corpse that had supposedly been found. Worried as she was feeling, she decided to simply calm down and wait for Avonite's return.
A few minutes later Hel heard footsteps approaching from the left side. Hel prepared a quick fire ball, but her spell's power died quickly in her hand when she realized it was just her sister Avonite, who was returning from her little expedition.
"Here, put this on," Avonite offered her sister a soldier outfit complete with armor and helmet. Avonite was already dressed in such an Artolian armada outfit, which made Hel regard her from head to toe.
"These belonged to two female soldiers, getting them was easy enough."
Hel gave her one of those curious, investigative looks.
"No, I didn't kill them, sister, I just knocked them out after I lured them out from their posts. Those two shouldn't be a problem for us, but we have to be careful around the place, it is crawling with guards. I'm pretty sure the little princess has had in mind keeping that find secure from the moment it was discovered, so we have to be very careful out here."
Hel, relieved to hear that Medusa had not killed the two soldiers, nodded and took the soldier gear from her sister. Excitedly, for it had been a long while since she had done this kind of daring, adventurous thing, she began to put the outfit on just as Avonite turned around to keep an eye out while her sister changed. A few minutes later, Hel, in her Ailyth looks, resembled an Artolian soldier before Avonite's examining eyes. The serpent lady, who at the moment resembled Hel's daughter, nodded at her and told her that she looked as good as a normal soldier, but admitted that she was the one who looked better in the captain gear. Hel just rolled her eyes and asked her. "Now what, then, Miss Captain?"
"Now you follow me. I will take you to where our brother's remains are being dug out."
"Lead on," Hel seemed anxious to get going, even Medusa could tell that.
Together they left their hiding place and headed towards the main encampment, where it was that most of the workers and soldiers slept after a hard-working day.
***
Hel and Medusa, disguised as soldiers, went walking through the main encampment without much trouble arousing for them, but just as they were about to leave the last of the tents that marked the end of the main encampment, they heard warning shouts coming from the north side.
"Intruders!" was what Medusa and Hel made out of the voices that were shouting in the distance. "Intruders!"
The first thought that came to mind for the two deities was that they had been discovered, that the warning shouts were referring to them. Medusa and Hel stopped dead in their tracks and stared confusingly at one another, thinking they had to take some sort of rash action if indeed they had been discovered.
Suddenly, just as several soldiers began to rouse themselves all around them due to the warning calls, a panic-stricken soldier who wielded a sword in his right hand came running out of nowhere from behind two large mounds of deposited dirt and stone that stood thirty feet or so away from the main encampment.
"Intruders!" he arrived the area shouting, and when he took notice of the captain, he rushed towards her. "Captain, there's trouble at the dig site!"
Medusa, who had the soldier right in front of her, hesitated for a bit and just remained staring at him in a confused way. The soldier, after noticing that the captain seemed kind of young, also stared at the captain in a confused way.
Hel was the one who reacted by shouting, "Captain! Didn't you hear him?"
"What are you talking about, soldier?" Medusa snapped out of her confusion and asked him. "Intruders you say? Well how many and what kind? Report to me now!"
By this time, other soldiers who had been sleeping earlier within their small tents or bedrolls, were already surrounding them, most of them curious to know what the hell was going on.
"A portal, they arrived through a portal!" explained the soldier as good as he could with all his felt tension and all. "The other sentinels went to greet them, but I saw two falling quickly to several winged beings that I have never seen before! But there was a female mage firing magic at us. Quickly, we must do something!"
Medusa turned to regard her sister at that, and Hel rose her eyebrows in surprise and leaned her head just a tad bit, letting Medusa know that she'd better say something before someone began to question their genuineness as being soldiers. "What do we do, captain?" Hel was even bright enough to add in her sister's support, Medusa did not dismiss that assist and felt proud of her sister.
"Go to the dig site!" was what came to Medusa's mind at that time. "All of you!" she pointed at several soldiers who were around them and even drew her steel sword out. "We have to guard this place as was instructed to us by the princess!"
The young soldier said nothing at first, neither did the rest, but when the female captain shouted at him. "Now! We'll be right behind you, lad!" he nodded and looked at the other soldiers who had surrounded them as they had been talking.
"Follow me, comrades," he told them, then he courageously took the lead. Six soldiers, their weapons already drawn, followed him to the north side while others stayed behind to wake other soldiers from their precious sleep.
And just then, Medusa was about to begin trotting away to the north, but Hel detained her by grabbing her right arm.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"What now?" asked Medusa as she turned to regard her.
"Why the hurry?" asked Hel, letting go of her sister's arm. "This could be trouble for us right here, you fool."
"What do you mean?"
"You heard that soldier's report! Who else would want to secure those remains?"
Medusa licked her lips nervously and looked away. "I don't understand..."
"I doubt those intruders are even human," said Hel, believing deep within herself that the intruders were indeed big trouble for them. "I expect them to be Baldr's followers."
"W-what?" Medusa asked, her face going pale, tension running through her arms. "You think Beliza and them folks from Ashland have come?"
"I didn't say that," Hel said, shaking her head. "But we cannot dismiss the warning. If we are to go to those remains, then we better be ready to expect anything."
Medusa nodded.
"Now lead the way, sister," Hel ordered as she looked about the encampment. "And be ever at the ready."
Medusa led the way and Hel followed close behind. During the way, Hel had also unsheathed her steel sword, but both Medusa and Hel knew they would never be using them, rather if it came to fighting it out with those intruders, they would be using the weapons they always used: magic.
A few soldiers joined with them, and as they all went running to the north and past tall mounds of deposited dirt and rock, they all heard wild shouting and battle sounds coming from over yonder, and they saw the darkness being illuminated at times, followed by the sounds of loud, magical blasts.
*end of part 1 of ??*