Chapter 2: The Journey Begins
After departing from the village, they now move on to their journey.
"Don't worry boys' you will enjoy this journey." said the Captain trying to cheer up the recruited men.
The Captain then ordered all of his men to line up, including the new recruits. "The newly recruited men will be in the center, while the soldiers will be on the sides protecting, keep this formation. Understand!?" says the commanding Captain to his men.
"Aye! Captain!" all of the men said.
"Good, We will move hastily so we can cover great distance and reach our destination faster, it is probably a week or so traveling, so we better hurry." says the Captain.
Their number of party is not that great, only twenty men combined, not including the Captain. Where eleven of them are new recruits, and nine of them are soldiers.
After the Captain had given his orders, they now hastily moved towards their destination. The party entered in a lush green forest. The fresh air and warm atmosphere of the forest makes the men that are sobbing because of them being apart to their families and home, calm.
"Keep close to each other" the Captain yelled.
After some hours of walking in the forest, it is mid-day, the sun now already high up in the sky, They then stopped for a while to get some rest and refill their water bottle's and fill their stomach with food.
The Captain then orders his men to make a fireplace, where the foods will be cooked.
"Attention rookie's" Captain says in commanding voice. "Who among you here are hunters? or at least have any experience in hunting?. Please come forward so I can give you my orders." says the Captain.
Three men showed up, including Zeb. The three of them are experienced hunter, and they are also hunters back in their village.
"The three of you, follow me" says the Captain.
They then followed the Captain. The Captain then ordered one his soldier to bring three bows and some arrows. The soldier then came back with the things he have been ordered.
"Here is the bow and arrows that you will use to hunt the animals for food, so we can eat and fill our belly's" says the Captain.
Without a word, the three of them nods and obeyed the Captains order. They then each get a bow and some arrows. The Captain also handed each of them a small dagger.
Now the Captain looks up them, already geared up for hunting. The Captain then said. "Also, don't stray too far or you might get lost, I will not accompany the three of you or any of my soldier, so do be careful." he says laughably but in serious expression.
# # # # # # # ~
The three of them now ventured into the forest to hunt some animals for food. The three of them including Zeb, knew each other well. The one with brown hair and muscular body is named Khasos, while the one with Blond hair and skinny one is named Golus, in the three of them only Zeb is different, because of his elvish features. They knew each other well because back in their village, they always hunt together.
After some time, they catch some rabbits as well as a deer, this for them is a jackpot because they can't often find deer's. They now journey back to the camp after hunting for almost an hour.
When they arrive back at the camp, the men then immediately helped them.
"Aye! I can see that you all brought us some fortune" says the Captain who see the deer that they brought.
"Aye! Captain, It is really a fortune to hunt a deer in this forest, they are just rarely seen in here, might be lost" Khasos said with a light chuckle in his face.
The Captain also laughs at this thought.
"You three, you can keep the bow and the dagger, because from now on, you will be now the hunter in our party. Take it as a reward" says the Captain.
The party then cooked and eat the food and continued their journey onwards to the destination. The party had brought some meat that they spare, and also some water.
# # # # # # # ~
After walking for some hours, the sun now is dangerously close to the horizon and soon the night will come. So the Captain ordered all of his men to stop and make some tents and make a bonfire. He then also ordered his men to take turns guarding the camp at night. There will be five men guarding the camp taking turns every two hours.
"The men that are guarding must stay alert! , we don't know what's lurking in this part of the forest at night." says the Captain.
The sun finally settled down and the forest is now very dark, the only light source they had is the bonfire and the light in the sky that the moon and stars gave. The party now have filled their stomach, and will soon rest.
Zebram stared up in the night sky thinking about his new journey in life. Staring up into the twinkling stars above, he can't help but remember about his sad life in the past, thinking about his parent's getting killed in the war, a tear suddenly rolled out in his eyes. He thinks to himself that he will not be weak and fragile because of his past, but a foundation to build a strong courage to face future problems.
The Captain now suddenly noticed him just staring blankly in the sky. He then approached him. "What's the matter boy?" the Captain says.
"Nothing, Captain." Zeb says with a sadness on his face, while wiping the tear.
"Aye! Get some rest now boy, your shift guarding the camp is not up yet." says the Captain, and he also noticed that Zeb wipes out his tear.
"Yes, Captain" says Zeb. He then gladly takes some rest to forget everything he was thinking.
The Captain had that strange feeling again, that strong aura of his. "This boy have some talents on his own that is beyond comparable." says the Captain in his mind.
# # # # # # # ~
It is now Zeb's turn in guarding the camp at night along with four other men. Judging by the Moon's phase it is now 10pm. Zeb is still feeling sleepy.
They guarded for almost an hour when suddenly the ground shakes terribly, then suddenly three ogre appeared. He should have seen the ogre when they are still far away because of his eyes that can see clearly in the dark, but he didn't because he is very sleepy, and he also occasionally make some light sleeps while guarding. The large ogre among the three charges and smashed one of the guards that is guarding the camp. Blood then spurted everywhere in the camp.
The other man shouted. "OGRES!!!" very loud that the whole party was alerted and awakened, now armed with spears, swords and bows.
The soldier's that are well trained charged at the ogre distracting them while the fresh recruited men throw spears and barraging some arrows at the ogre's. The captain charges the larger ogre that is holding a club, he then parries his sword to block the attack when the ogre almost smashed him to pieces. The other men that charged, are either smashed or thrown away, and break their bones. Zebram still can't believe to see such beast, let alone attacking them. Zeb was momentarily stunned when he see the ogres, Golus then gives him a smack on the back, enough to make Zeb come back to his senses. Zeb now awake, he then quickly grabs his bow at his back and then pierce some arrow at the ogres.
Zebram being the best hunter in his village as well as good at using bow's, he strike the eyes of the ogre with deadly precision combined with his eyes that can see clearly in the dark, making the ogre growl in pain. He then shot all of the ogre's eyes accurately, now the three ogre's are smashing their club aimlessly because they can't see anymore. This gives the soldiers an advantage and kill the ogre's easily.
After that bloody mess, there are many body lie dead in the camp, only few survivors left including Zeb, Khasos, Golus along with five other recruited men plus five soldiers and the Captain, a total of fourteen men left, losing seven men from the attack. Luckily the survivor's didn't have any severe wounds or broken bones, only scratches and some bruises.
The Captain now feeling angry and loss, but he didn't show any weakness, instead he still stand strong. He then ordered all of the remaining men to gather up.
"All of you, gather the bodies of our fallen comrades and dig each of them a hole from the ground. We will bury them with honour." says the Captain with sadness tracing up in his face.
After burying the bodies of their dead brother's, they then pray for them, so that their souls can go to the afterlife peacefully. After that, they then all gathered up around the bonfire, the feelings and expressions of this men are in shock, fear, and sadness. The men including Zeb, still can't believe what just happened.
The Captain then breaks the emotional silence.
"I have to confess something, specially to the rookie's." the Captain says, letting a sigh relieve in his face.
"And I think that it's better to let you guys know, because I don't want to keep this a secret anymore to all of you." says the Captain, now building up his courage to tell the truth.
The rookie's exchanged looks to each other, with confusion and curiosity in their face.
"Now, listen carefully to what I will about to tell, and please keep your thought's first until I finished." says the Captain, letting out a sigh again. "We are not really soldiers, we are assassins of the Black organization, it is highly secretive organization and only few people know about it. And I am tasked along with my trained men to recruit new assassins to be trained for our organization." says the Captain with pride in his voice, but also feel guilty at the same time.
The rookie's including Zeb, Now are very confused, but they didn't asked any questions to the Captain, instead they continue to listen.
"As to why we recruited you and why in your village, it's because we assassins need to keep a low profile as we possibly can, and your village seems to be very far away from the civilization. So we decided to go there and recruit some men. The insignia of Ivarstead we wear is just a cover-up for us to look formal and make matters easier for us to negotiate." says the Captain, once again feel relieved. "Questions?" the Captain continued.
One man raised his hand to call the Captain's attention. "Captain, you told us that your organization is very secretive and also you need to keep a low profile as possible, then why did you recruit out in the open? where many people can see, rather than recruiting secretly." the man asked in confusion.
"Good question." the Captain exclaimed. "First of all, we don't carelessly recruit out in the open, we first study the place before doing it, and as to why we recruit openly, it is because we are running low of assassins because of the ongoing war, and we need to replenish our number as soon as possible, so we recruited as many men as we can. I hope that answer's your question." the Captain answered. "Any other questions?" the Captain continued.
Golus then raises his hand. "Captain, what will happen now to us?, our family didn't know that we are getting recruited as an assassin not soldiers, and what will happen to the family of our dead brothers?"
"Aye!, Good one. As for all of you, you will still be recruited and trained as an assassin, and as for your families, you are not allowed to tell them that you are being recruited as an assassin nor mentioning the organizations name, or you will be severely punished. As for the families of your dead brothers, I'll send a letter to them informing about their dead family member when we arrive at the Black's headquarters, and the organization will also help the family for lifetime, and the future generation of the family, and don't worry, this also applies to all of you, when you die, or retired as an assassin of the Black." said the Captain. "Any other questions?" the Captain continued.
Khasos then raised his hands to ask a question. "So, we will be trained as an assassin rather than soldiers? Captain?" Khasos asked, confused as to what the Captain had just said to them.
"Yes, in fact I will going to train all of you tomorrow, but I will only train you the basics, such as how to use a bow, dagger and a sword, because our organization won't accept any useless people, and this is also for your own good, having some basics in combat will surely separate you from other people that don't know anything." says the Captain encouraging the men. "Questions?" the Captain continued.
Another man raised his hand. "Captain, if you and your men are all trained men, then why you all struggles so much in killing the ogres that just attacked us earlier?"
"Yes indeed, we are trained men, but as I said earlier, we are assassins not soldiers, so we specialized in stealth, not face-to-face combat." the Captain said. "Any more questions?" the Captain continued.
Almost an hour have passed away, answering the questions the men have asked, Zeb didn't asked any questions the entire time, he instead listens only to them. Now the men are sleepy and tired because of the attack earlier.
The Captain then orders them to get a rest, while still taking some shifts guarding the camp. The men that are guarding the camp are now more alert, because of what they had encountered earlier this night. Judging by the moon's phase it is now past midnight.
"Tomorrow will be the start of your training, get some rest now" the Captain says.
Zebram was now even more excited in this journey. Thinking the experiences that he will gain and the adventures he dreamed of.
It is just the start of his journey and many more will come.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Magus_Apex
Magus_Apex This is the second chapter, still my english is not that great nor my writing as well as how to write a proper story. But for me this is a good start. I am but still a new to writing a story.
I will appreciate if you could leave some comments, corrections and critics about this story. So I will have a better story next time. Thank you (^-^)
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