A Kingdom's Defilement Ch. 01

A Kingdom's Defilement

Chapter 1

By Noobwriter96

*-*-*(Here's another story I've been cooking up. To those new to my works, I try to set up first the setting and the story before getting to the sex and stuff. This is more of an anthology-like work, where it dives in from different characters all set in the same time period and world. Big thanks for taking the time to read my works.)*-*-*

For as long as she could remember, Anilla had long wanted to be part of an adventure. Growing up on a mundane little village on the empire's borders, stories were all that made her life feel more exciting. How she imagined to be in those stories of old, when the world was young and ripe, full of magic and mystery. To be the daring hero vanquishing the forces of the darkness and on the center of everyone's adoration. Back when creatures of myth like the orcs and goblins and elves roamed the land in broad daylight, not in some flickering fire told through an elder's lips.

Oh, how she longed she could take back that wish now.

The forest that she had lived all eighteen years of her life was as dark and foreboding as it had become alien. Barely recognizable and sinister as she and her friends ran for their lives, away from the burning wreckage that had been their village. The crunching of leaves and the flitting trees were but a blur to the three girls as they made their haste through the woods. Their hearts threaten to burst out of their ribcages as they ran like never before in their young life.

Sweat soaked locks clung to their cheeks. Heart abounding in their ears. And the dalliance of a hundred malevolent shadows as they set fire to their village and rounded up their loved ones.

Anilla could hear them.

Abounding and bloodthirsty, the very forest floor shook in their footfalls as they came running toward Anilla and her friends.

They were so close, thought Anilla. The dying light of the sun cast the world in sinister darkness. Where they were heading, Anilla herself does not know. Only to keep one foot in front of the other, far away from the burning wreckage that had been her home.

Her thighs burned as did her lungs. The edge of her vision was encroached with blackness. It was getting harder and harder to keep on moving. Her eyes fluttered as her lungs tried to heave further and her legs one more lunge. To stop now was to die.

Was this the end? Is this the way she was going to die?

A hand yanked her away from her manic fleeing and she nearly screamed before laying eyes on Avicia. The older girl was more composed, her eyes steady as she half-dragged her and Myelle to an old tree. She pressed a finger to her lips and pointed to the hollow concealed behind the brambles. The three girls hurriedly crammed themselves in, their heaving chests pressed against one another and hoped that the shadows of the hollow would swallow them and conceal them from their pursuers.

Each passing second stretched unto eternity as Anilla's senses became aware of every minute detail. A single trickle of sweat. A piece of old bark against her skin. And Myelle's panicked whimperings.

Anilla feared that her own thundering heartbeat would give them away.

Du-dum, Du-dum, Du-dum did her heart go pattering against her constrained breast as the earth shook at the coming of their hunters.

Time halted to a pause for Anilla and her friends.

Would they see her?

Follow their tracks to this cramped little hideaway?

She became conscious of her own breathing. Air being sucked in too loud. Rasping in her nostrils. Down to her overspent lungs. She forced herself to became the very essence of stillness. Wanting to meld to the very tree itself. Her hands clasped around their lips, having no trust over her own fear-addled thoughts. Avicia wrapped hers around Myelle, the poor girl too shaken to do it herself and maybe, just maybe, give away their position.

A stampede of footsteps came. Too many and too loud. Pieces of old bark fell at their passing. Her bones jangled at the quivering soil beneath her. These could not be the same ones that raided their village, they were just too many. Tears fell from Myelle's eyes, her mind dawning on the horde of pursuers that were behind them. How were they going to escape?

Everything was quiet after the last footsteps faded far from them. Almost as if they hadn't passed at all.

Not trusting and cautious, they waited a little more. Night had fully settled in. The idle time gave her just enough respite to unmuddle her mind and thought this time yesterday Anilla was having dinner with her mother. It felt like a different, faraway life from this moment.

They whispered deathly quiet.

"What are we going to do?" Anilla voiced, having spoken in the first time in hours.

"We must warn the Guard Outpost. It's our only hope and the kingdom must know that the Old Enemy has returned," Anilla envied Avicia with how simple she laid out their course in action. They were all worse for wear but there was a steadiness in the older girl's demeanor. Ever since they were little, Anilla had always been the one to lead them into whatever adventure she could find. From trying to find faeries in the old quarry or chasing around in the prairie, Anilla had been the leader in these little jaunts of theirs while Avicia settled on merely following.

Now, with their lives on peril, she found herself leaning unto Avicia's quiet resolve for fear that she might succumb to fear at any moment. Anilla looked the older girl in the eyes and nodded her assent at her plan. It was the best that they could come up with. They could not stay inside the hollow forever. As soon as they were out of hiding, how naked and exposed they felt for being out in the open.

It was too quiet and too dark, who knows what could be watching them? By whatever fortune that was left to their poor luck, the moon was about and cast the path to be taken in faint light. They tried not to make any noise as best as they can and went about low as they used a path that was known to the villagers but seldom used. Their progress was painstakingly slow, with the enemy already way ahead of them, the three girls did not want to risk discovery.

Anilla allowed herself a flicker of hope.

So far, they had not caught a sight of the dark creatures as they made their way. Perhaps they had veered off towards a more tantalizing prospect. Thinking back, the direction they headed was the other way from where the Outpost should be.

Yes, that's it!

But that isn't to say they were in the clear yet.

A loud thud brought Anilla from her musings as Myelle stumbled and fell flat on her belly

All three were frozen solid on the spot as their ears craned for any sound or proof that they had been discovered. A lifetime could have passed and still they found themselves alive and well. Avicia helped Myelle get to her feet as if she was like a child and proceeded to walk the rest of the way towards the outpost. There doesn't seem to be any enemy nearby as far as they could tell.

Despite being the same age, Myelle had always been too innocent and naïve for her own good. The first to cry and the last to run, Myelle's softness both endeared and annoyed people. And Anilla hated herself for being the latter in this moment. Myelle's clumsiness could very well had spelled their doom. And yet the more she looked at the sniveling girl, the more she couldn't keep up her hate. She just felt sorry for Myelle and to herself.

Was this an adventure like? To be exhausted to the brink of death? To doubt those that had stood by you all your life? If so, she couldn't wait for this one to end and maybe, just maybe, pick up some semblance of her life back together. She was a bad adventurer and an even worse friend for the thoughts that laid occurred to her. Anilla just wanted this night to be over.

Anilla was deep in her thought, making her lag behind as Avicia held Myelle upright. The outpost lay not far off, nestled in between the crossroads leading to the Royal Highway but something odd. The fires were out, but the unmistakable shadows of movements in the inside proved that there were people there. Avicia was eager to put Myelle at ease and in the protection of the outpost and surged forward. As Anilla trudged after them, her eyes caught sight of something glinting in the faint moonlight.

They had just crossed the gate, when once again Myelle's scream shook Anilla from her thoughts.

Anilla rushed towards the two and through the outpost's gate, the sight that greeted her drained the blood from her cheeks

The monstrously towering forms of half a dozen orcs surrounded and pinned her friends to the ground. The guards that they were supposed to ask for help now lay lifeless, strewn about the grounds of the outpost. "Run Anilla! Run!" Avicia screamed before being pinned to the ground by an orc. Myelle was a sniveling mess, too afraid to break free as she was restrained by another monstrous orc.

Anilla froze, like the brief moments when a doe caught sight with a hunter's gaze. She looked towards her friend's eyes and not a moment sooner, fled.

Avicia, breathed a sigh of relief, even in the vile clutches of the vile creature that held her captive. At the very least no another soul would fall upon the hands of these dark spawns that have once more assailed the land. She could face what awaited her with some semblance of peace to this fact.

A loud roar of fury brought her away from her reverie. As did the orcs from their musings on their prey.

Anilla did not run away. She merely ran back and picked up the glinting object that had been a guardsman's sword. With it, she struck at the nearest fiend with righteous fury. Several times this night alone Anilla failed herself at her lifelong dream to be an adventurer. No more. Come what may, she will not continue her life's adventure like a coward. Nor will she venture it alone, without her friends.

The blade struck true.

For a moment, Anilla had the brightest of hope.

For only a moment.

The blade barely made an inch into the thick hide of the orc and no matter how hard she pulled; it did not budge. She pulled and pulled until finally it broke free, a gentle trickle of blood flowed from the wound but it seemed to be of no concern to the beast, merely raised a brow at Anilla's efforts.

Anilla readied another swing at the orc, but before it could descend, a fist struck her right in her gut, air driven out of her stomach and lungs. Her mouth tried to work, to suck in air but none came. Slowly, she was surrounded as her vision edged with blackness. The last thought she had was how she didn't fail herself a third time this night before darkness claimed her.