Disclaimer: I do not own Record of Lodoss War. Author's Note: This is my first revised attempt to write this story. I hope you enjoy it. Write to trachtemis@hotmail.com with your comments, flames, and critiques. Record of Lodoss Wars: The New Beginning By Trachtemis Parn turned to Deedlit. "Shall we head home?" he asked. The blonde elf looked at him. Her eyes danced and sparkled playfully. She shook her head softly, "Yes," her soft, musical voice answered. In a quick, graceful movement, she had mounted Parn's white stallion, Miko. Parn watched her admiringly. He was amazed that after what she had just gone through, she was her bright and cheery self again. It must have been awful for her. He knew it had been for him. She had given up her safety, her freedom, to save him. She was captured and brought to Marmo to be sacrificed to Kardiss, goddess of war. You see, she was the High elf. The only one capable to bring this goddess back. He had gotten there just time to save her from this horrible death. A gentle tap on the shoulder aroused him from his dreamy state. Deedlit had gotten off the horse to see why he hadn't mounted after her. " Are you okay?" she asked. A slight frown had appeared on her lovely face. Parn shook his head quickly, before mounting Miko. Deedlit shrugged off the feeling that something had been bothering her dear Parn. She followed him, mounting the same horse. They rode for a couple hours in silence, which, for them, was quite unusual. Deedlit watched the landscape as they sped by. Like all elves, she had a certain bond with nature. When ever she was alone with it, she played with the fairies and used her magical bond. She snapped out of her dreamy daze when, the horse came to an abrupt stop, nearly throwing Parn and her from the saddle. She looked over Parn's shoulder curiously. What she saw made her gasp. " The King's Road! Its caved in!" she whispered, horrified. The site of the cliff where the King's Road had once been was horrifying. " But how? And when? We just went over this very spot a couple weeks ago!" Parn said. He looked into her eyes. A dark shadow covered them. The sparkles, that had been dancing playfully in her eyes just an hour ago, were gone. She's scared, he thought. " Don't worry. The king and the princess are okay. We'll go around the road and report this to the castle. Everything will be okay," he said softly, but assuringly. Deedlit nodded but began to wonder whom he was trying to assure that everything was all right. Parn sighed and rapped the horse with the reins. The horse bucked then turned around and began to gallop in the opposite direction; the direction of the setting sun. Episode I: Deedlit placed her hand on the moss growing on the tree. Suddenly the moss began to glow. Small, naked, female fairies fluttered from the glowing moss and encircled Deedlit. "Fairy friends, tell me who caused the King's road to collapse," she ordered softly. The fairies fluttered gracefully around her head. Two settled quickly on her long delicate ear. "A young man with long black hair. He blasted the road with an alien energy," the first chattered. Deedlit smiled and nodded, "Thank you, but I need more information then..." "A scar, like a cross, on his chin," the second fairy whispered. "Woodchuck!" Deedlit exclaimed. "And a jeweled circlet made of gold on his forehead," the first prattled exciting, "Not very masculine." Deedlit gasped, "Are you sure?" The fairies nodded and settled back into the moss of the tree. "Woodchuck," she whispered, "and Karla." That's when she saw the troops of Colbolts. Deedlit unsheathed her sword and brandished it. Colbolts? she thought, It's one thing to see a small pack, but there's at least three troops of twenty. She lifted her hand to her forehead and squinted. They were headed towards a small camp north from Parn's and her camp. "Parn!" she yelled excitedly. Parn looked up at Feedlot's perch in the oak tree. "Parn!" She repeated, "There's sixty Colbolts headed north. I think, no I'm positive, they are heading to a camp up north." "Sixty? After the war, I didn't think there was even twenty Colbolts left!" he cried. "Well there is. We have to inform King Kashue. He has to know about this activity!" "I'll stay and monitor that camp. You go to King Kashue," Parn ordered. Deedlit smiled. "You mean you want to spy on them." her expression turned serious. "You'll get caught. Plus I asked some fairies about the road. They described Woodchuck and Karla's circlet. Karla has something to be with this; I can feel it," Deedlit explained, narrowing her eyes. Parn shook the image away of his past encounters with Karla. The last encounter was when Woodchuck had presumably died. Lalyia had once been controlled by Karla's soul and mind, which somehow is in a circlet. The circlet attacks a person and makes them a host for Karla. Karla, the 500 year old gray witch, had also disappeared after Parn, Ghim, Who was someone very close to Lalyia, Slayn, Woodchuck, Etoh, and Deedlit had removed the circlet from Lalyia's forehead. That was Ghim's final resting place, a kind of happy place, because he finished his mission, to save Lalyia. Parn cringed at the thought that, Karla might be up to her old tricks again. She had helped Marmo try and take over Lodoss, but abandoned them when they tried to resurrect Kardiss. She didn't care who ruled Lodoss only that it stayed in one piece. Of all things why did it have to be Karla? "Parn! Are you listening to me?" Deedlit yelled angrily. "Deedlit! Go. I can Do this. As you said, King Kashue must hear of this!" Before she could protest, Parn began to saddle Miko. "Parn, are you crazy! You are not going into a creepy Colbolt camp without me!" She protested. "I must, and you must go tell King Kashue." Deedlit folded her arms against her chest and began to pout. "It's not fair!" Parn ignored her remark for further argument and began to pack up their supplies. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RECORD OF LODOSS WAR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deedlit walked slowly to up to the cliff. In her left hand was a parchment for King Kashue And Princess Fieona. "Silth, spirit of the wind, guide this parchment to King Kashue and Princess Fieona." As summoned, Silth, spirit of the wind, swirled around her. The parchment left her hand and began to move through the air at a quick rate. "Let's hope it gets there in time," Deedlit whispered before turning her back on the spirit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RECORD OF LODOSS WAR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parn began to wonder if Deedlit had made it to King Kashue yet. He knew of the obstacles and danger he was about to face. He turned his horse towards the Colbolt's camp. "Hiya!" he cried, rapping the reins against the horse's flanks. After about an hour or so, Parn saw a horror he had hoped he would have never saw. People, men, women, and children, were being used as slaves to build a giant castle. Cobolts, trolls, and dark elves whipped the weak humans and forced them to work. If they had grown to weak to work, they were fed to the dragon in the magic cage. Parn looked away as he heard the cries that belonged to a ten year old child, and the shrieks of his mother as he was killed. "What's this? A spy?" a trill voice announced its presence behind Parn. His right hand started for his sword. "If you know what's good for you, you'll unbuckle your scabbard and turn around very slowly. Or you can die by my hands. Your choice." Parn moved his hand slowly and unbuckled his scabbard letting his only weapon fall to the ground. He then turned around slowly to face his captor. A dark elf's smile glittered as he snickered at Parn's quick surrender. "Foolish human," he laughed before smacking Parn with his sword hilt. Parn yelped at the pain before falling unconscious. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RECORD OF LODOSS WAR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parn awoke in a cold sweat. He was in a cage near the dragon. Two sick children lay beside him. They were bruised and pale making it hard to see what gender they were. Looking out of the cage he saw at least a hundred people working with chains clasped onto their ankles. He then collapsed back down on the wooden floor of the cage; the fever had begun to take it's toll. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RECORD OF LODOSS WAR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A short haired red head looked up from her work. A small cry had distracted her from the dull slave work she had been doing. Her eyes searched the grounds until it reached the slave cage or what the slaves had begun to call it, the meal cage. There was a young man with short brown hair and in a familiar armor lying against the bars inside the cage. She recognized him immediately. "Parn!" she cried out. "Shut up wench," a dark elf growled, hitting her with the whip. At that, the slave behind her growled and stood up. A murderous glare appeared in his eyes. " A beserker," the elf snarled angrily. "Orson! Wait, why am I telling him to stop?" the red head thought out loud. Her eyes focused on the cage Parn was in, she spoke, "Orson, free me quickly." Orson broke the chain and advanced on the elf. The red head ran to the cage. "Parn! Parn!" she shook his pale hand. Suddenly Orson came running toward the cage, tore the bars apart, and put Parn over his shoulder. "Come on Shiris. We got to get out of here," he ordered. Shiris nodded and began to run from the camp as fast as she could. Orson was right behind her. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RECORD OF LODOSS WAR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deedlit surveyed her surroundings. She had been jumping from tree to tree, looking for Parn, for an hour. Suddenly two people running caught her eye. She focused on them. Shiris and Orson and what seems to be a hurt boy slumped on Orson's shoulder? She jumped down, landing in front of them. "Hi Orson, Shiris," She said cheerfully. Suddenly noticing who the hurt boy was she cried out, "Parn!" TO BE CONTINUED.......