《Flare: Darkness is Coming》


 The Emberborn Princess

    Dawn heard a loud high pitched neigh as her carriage made a sudden stop. I was having such a nice dream too, Dawn thought as she let out a big yawn. She rubbed her eyes and asked, ¡°Is everything okay up there?¡±


    ¡°Princess, it looks like there are some goblins trying to attack the carriage. Don¡¯t worry, I can take care of them.¡± Replied a man''s voice.


    Dawn recognized the man¡¯s voice as Leo, the man her mom sent to protect her on the road. Yeah like I am going to let him have all the fun, Dawn thought as she started putting on her leather armor. Dawn liked her armor, it fit well and made it so she could move around freely. She combed her hand through her hair, making sure to move her hair around her horns so they would show through her crimson red hair. She lastly strapped her scimitar to her leather belt.


    Dawn stepped out of the carriage and onto the road. She could hear a river on the other side of the carriage. Wow, why is it so cold out here? She thought as she shivered. Dawn rubbed her eyes again and she looked around, there were five goblins. Leo was standing in front of her with his spear in both hands, fully clad in armor. He was a rather tall man about six foot, bright green hair, pointy ears and a rather fair face. His armor was silver thin platmail with blue accents to match his eyes. He was only a little older than her as he was 21 years old. Oh fuck, Dawn thought as she ducked as a fire ball went right over her head landing directly onto the carriage. The carriage ignited instantly.


    ¡°Oh come on, all my stuff is in there!¡± She screamed at the goblin who launched the flame.


    ¡°Queen Julia was right.¡± Leo said, then he took a deep breath in. Wind started to surround Leo and he lunged forward, the wind pushing him forward and surrounding his spear. The wind pushed the spear deeper into the Goblin.


    The goblin squirmed and Leo looked to Dawn and said, ¡°demons are even attacking carriages on the road. Something has got to be making them this brave.¡± The goblin went limp on his spear and Leo swiped his spear to the side and the goblin slid off.


    Dawn drew her sword in her right hand and focused on her left. Flames come to me so I can burn this goblin alive, she thought with anger. A powerful ball of flame gathered in her left hand. Dawn threw the ball of flame at the Goblin that set her stuff ablaze. It hit the goblin directly, liting it aflame and burning the goblin to ashes. Burn you stupid goblin, she thought as the smell hit her nostrils. She heard a high pitch neigh from behind, she quickly turned around only to see their carriage blitzing full speed the way they came. That''s not good, Dawn thought as she turned around to the enemy at hand. What are we going to do now? Dawn could feel herself getting angry her skin started to turn slightly more red. She screamed change at the nearest goblin.


    Dawn shouted, ¡°all my stuff was in that carriage!¡± She slashed down at the goblin leaving a deep gash behind. For good measure she put her hand on his chest and ignited his chest point blank with as much flames as she could muster. ¡°That''s for my stuff!¡± The goblin burned to a crisp in seconds.


    Gods these goblins smell so bad. Dawn thought after the smell of something akin to burning garbage hit her nostrils.


    ¡°That''s not good, I do not think we are going to be able to catch up to the horses.¡± Leo threw his spear hitting another goblin in the forehead. It fell to the ground as he walked towards it. ¡°One left¡­ You want it princess?¡±


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    ¡°Oh yeah I need to get my anger out somehow.¡± She said as she started to focus her flames into a sphere again. The Goblin turned around and started to run the other way. ¡°I am not gonna let you get away after what you guys did!¡± She yelled and launched the flame at the last goblin with a smile. The flame hit its square in the back and the last goblin fell to the ground burnt to a crisp. ¡°Burn goblin burn! That was for my clothes!¡±


    Leo looked at her and asked. ¡°Now what, all our stuff is gone?¡±


    ¡°You are correct, not sure I needed to be reminded of that¡­¡± Dawn said, holding back her anger and looked around for a moment. ¡°There has got to be an inn somewhere close to the river. We can follow that road and then figure out a plan.¡±


    Dawn pointed to a road that went along the river to the right of the bridge, the sun was setting and it was starting to get colder. Leo put his spear on his back and put his hand above his brow to see better.


    Leo said as he squinted, ¡°I think I can see a building in the distance, did you manage to grab your gold before the carriage took off?¡±


    Dawn stashed her sword in its sheath reaching for her coin pouch. Oh come on. Shrugging, she said, ¡°I did not. How much money do you have on you?¡±


    Leo took in a deep breath and then exhaled and said, ¡°not much about 10 silver pieces. Wow, not the best way to start this journey.¡±


    ¡°Agreed, well that should be enough to get some food and stay the night¡­ Right?¡± Dawn said as starting to walk towards the building in the distance, she walked with grace and a little speed. At least I hope so, Leo has taken care of paying people so far.


    ¡°It should be enough, yes,¡± Leo said as he walked next to her.


    As they walked along Leo looked to the fence to their right. ¡°Oh wow look at that they must have built this wooden fence rather fast and recently from the looks of it. Probably to keep the goblins out.¡±


    Dawn looked to her right, the fence did look like it was put together quickly and there were logs leaning up against it. ¡°You are more than likely correct. Looks like it''s not just in the Fire Empire that they are getting more aggressive.¡±


    Leo nodded and rubbed his chin as he said, ¡°looks like Queen Julia was right. We should try to get the word out as fast as possible and get everyone on the same page. The roads at least at the borders aren''t as safe as I thought they would be. We are gonna have to find another route.¡±


    Dawn looked around and thought out loud, ¡°maybe a boat would be best. We could ask the inn if their town has a ferry service.¡±


    ¡°Good call we will have to ask when we get there.¡± He pointed down the road and said, ¡°Looks like there is a town that way, wanna head there now?¡±


    ¡°Nah it''s cold and getting dark, I think the inn is the best place to start. Maybe they will have some warmer clothes too.¡± She then cupped her hands and gathered flames in her palms holding it to her face, ¡°Awe nice and warm.¡±


    ¡°It would not be a bad idea to buy some cloaks not only to stay warm but to hide a bit. If the boat idea falls through, we can always use them to stay a little bit more hidden on the road.¡± As he approached the door he grabbed the handle, twisting it. Opening it and bowing in one quick motion. He then put on his best butler impression and said ¡°After you princess.¡±


    ¡°Thank you sir.¡± She then walked in and so did he, closing the door behind him.

 Fish so much Fish

    As Dawn walked in, she smiled and sniffed. She could smell fish cooking, it was strong but it smelt good. There were sounds of people talking all throughout the inn, it seemed to be a pretty popular place. As she walked further in, she could feel the warmth of the hearth on the other side of the room. To the left side of the hearth, she could see a bar counter with a well kept woman behind it. To the left of the bar there was a set of stairs going up and to the right of the hearth there was a door that the smell was coming from. Leo stood next to Dawn as he looked around as well.


    Dawn spoke as she pointed towards the counter, ¡°Looks like that''s where we check in, maybe we can purchase some food.¡±


    Leo just nodded and they both headed towards the counter. As they were walking two kids ran right in front of them, they would have ran right into Dawn if she didn¡¯t move to the side.


    Right after they hear a female voice shout from a table to their right, ¡°Watch where you are playing kids! My apologies.¡±


    Dawn giggled a little and said, ¡°Not to worry kids will be kids.¡±


    The woman smiled at Dawn and went back to talking with some woman at her table.


    Dawn then kept walking forward, Leo following behind. The Bar clerk was about Dawn''s height being 5 foot 6 inches. She had brown hair and eyes and was wearing a simple cloth dress.


    The clerk smiled and in a gentle voice asked, ¡°hello. How can I help you?¡±


    Leo smiled back and said, ¡°hello. Two rooms and meals please.¡±


    The clerk looked at Dawn''s directions and seemed to be taking Dawn in. She must not see many Emberborn on the road, Dawn thought as she smiled at the clerk. The Emberborn are a race of people made by the God of Flame. They have red hue skin and horns. Most have horns and some have tails and even fewer have wings. They tend to stick to warmer climates so do not venture fire from the fire empire.


    The clerk shook her head and said, ¡°That would be 1 silver and 6 copper pieces please.¡±


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am do you have change for two silver?¡± Answered Leo grabbing two silver pieces from his coin pouch.


    ¡°Absolutely, here''s your change.¡± She handed him back 4 copper pieces.


    Dawn spoke up with a smile as she could tell whatever was cooking would be delicious, ¡°So what''s for dinner?¡±


    The clerk''s smile grew larger as she replied with, ¡°Oh it is our famous Lavraki and a side salad.¡±


    ¡°What is ummm lav..raki?¡± Asked Dawn with a slight head tilt.


    The Clerk responded with all the excitement she could muster, ¡°It is made from a popular fish in the region roasted and seasoned with our special seasonings. The results really emphasize our special seasoning blend. I am sure you will love it!¡±


    ¡°Oh that sounds super yummy! Cannot wait to try it. I have not had many fish so it will be nice to try something new.¡± Replied Dawn with a slight smile and almost worried tone.


    ¡°I am excited we can introduce such a cultural delicacy to you! Here are the keys to your room.¡± The Clerk then handed Leo two keys. ¡°Please be seated anywhere and I will bring you your meal, would you like water or our local spirit?¡±


    Leo rubbed his chin for a moment and said, ¡°Oh since we are trying new things I will take the local spirit please.¡±


    ¡°Me too¡­ Please?¡± Dawn responded a little timidly, she was not a huge fan of fish. The Fire realm is mostly a desert, so fish was rather rare but she was okay trying new things.


    Leo turned around and looked around for an open table, it was rather packed in here.


    Leo pointed to a table in the back right and said, ¡°Dawn let''s sit over there.¡± He started to walk towards it without waiting for a reply.


    Dawn smiled and nodded at the clerk and said, ¡°Thank you Miss.¡± Then Dawn started following Leo after a moment, realizing he wasn¡¯t going to wait.


    ¡°You are welcome!¡± The Clerk said then started talking to the next people in line.


    They both sat down and Dawn said, ¡°This place seems really nice, wouldn¡¯t mind staying here a few days while we get our bearings.¡±


    Leo leaned back in his chair and looked around a bit, taking everything in. Then he spoke, ¡°if we do that we are going to have to find some way to make money, this place is not cheap and we have supplies to buy.¡±


    Dawn responded with excitement, ¡°I hear you can get information from bars and innkeepers, let''s see if she has some information for us on that.¡±


    Leo scratched his chin and squinted a bit and said, ¡°yes that is a good idea.¡±


    The clerk arrived with two wooden goblets, ¡°here are your drinks. Your food will be ready in a few moments.¡± She then handed one drink to Dawn and the other to Leo.


    Dawn spoke quickly and with excitement, ¡°Hello again, thank you for the drinks! I was wondering if I could ask a quick question?¡±


    ¡°Sure, ask away.¡± Responded the clerk with a smile.


    ¡°We are rather new to the area, are there any good ways to make a quick silver piece around here?¡± Dawn asked, then took a sip of her drink. ¡°Oh, that''s good,¡± Dawn smiled and took another sip.


    The clerk thought for a moment and said, ¡°I think there are a few depending on what you are looking for. I hear that the guards have a few monsters they are paying to get rid of. There are also some merchants in town that could probably use an escort to one of the nearby towns. Asking around town might be a good way to find work as well, someone might need help with odds and ends. Mercenaries are not coming around as much as they used to so I am sure you can find work.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the information, that''s more than enough to go on.¡± Leo said as Dawn finished up her drink.


    ¡°May I have another?¡± Dawn asks and lets out a belch.


    The clerk was taken back for a moment then giggled and responded, ¡°yes you can. I will bring it with your food. You are welcome, I have other guests to attend to so I will be back when your food is done!¡±  She smiles and nods then turns around and walks away.


    Leo said, ¡°Well we got some good information. Let¡¯s wait until tomorrow and start in town to find supplies. Then we will go talk to the town guards to see if we can get some money from monster hunting.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a plain to me.¡± Dawn said and looked around for a few moments. The kids that almost ran into her were still running around and she watched them for a moment. A nice smell hit her nostrils. ¡°Oh look, the food is on the way!¡± Dawn said with excitement in her voice.


    Her stomach growled, she almost forgot how hungry she really was.They had not eaten much on the road, Dawn wanted to talk to the king as soon as possible and see what he thought of the increase in demons.The server delivered the food and they both thanked her for the food.


    Dawn took the first bite with caution but as soon as she bit into it, she proclaimed, ¡°YUMMY!¡± She could hear Leo laughing, but she didn¡¯t care she then started to scarf down the rest.


    The rest of the meal went on uneventfully, Dawn finished her food first, so she started looking around. She noticed the two kids running around the place and thought back to why they started this journey.


    Cannot believe my Mom tricked me, Dawn thought. She summoned me to the throne room on my birthday, so I thought it was going to be a cool birthday present. It was 18th birthday, so maybe she was going to give me the throne. Dawn shook her head. Okay back on subject rather than that she was concerned about the massive rise of demon sightings. I guess the only gift she gave me was that carriage that.!. Stupid goblins set on fire. She felt her skin start to boil and she took a few deep breaths in to calm down.


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    Dawn noticed one of the kids stopped playing and was looking at her. Oh, have I been staring? Oops. Dawn smiled and waved at the kid, the kid waved back and went back to playing. Good that fire is put out, I better look somewhere else now.


    Dawn drew her sight over at a big fish on the wall.  Why is there a fish on the wall? Wow it is a rather large fish it must be a trophy of some kind¡­ I wonder what kind of fish it is, it looks like nothing I have seen¡­ Oh yeah back to my mom, she only gave me one guard and sure Leo is strong but one? I mean I get it. She wants us to move fast. The fewer people the more quickly they could move but she could have at least sent one of her maids with. Plus we have been moving through the nights too so one more person to keep watch would have meant I would get more sleep. Dawn thought and let out a yawn.


    Leo noticed Dawn staring at the fish for a while and said, ¡°Cool fish right, pretty big. I am sure there is a cool story behind it.¡±


    Dawn got snapped out of her train of thought, and responded with, ¡°oh yeah pretty cool. I am not used to people putting fish on walls. Where we are from, they usually only put fabrics and art on walls.¡±


    ¡°It is rather interesting. I am getting rather tired, so I am going to head to bed. Have a good night, I will meet you down here in the morning.¡± Then Leo got up and started to walk away.


    ¡°Good night! See you here tomorrow!¡± Dawn yelled and waved at him as he walked to the steps and started to climb them. ¡°Well, I should head that way too.¡± She said out loud, put her hands on her legs and got up.


    Dawn walked to the stairs slowly taking in the sights of this happy little inn. She noticed it had a few fish on the walls, as well as some fishing rods and a nice painting of the ocean. She went up the stairs, looked at her key and saw a number. She found the room with the same number on the door of it and headed into her room. It wasn¡¯t too bad, a nice sized bed, a wooden cabinet and a window. It only had one lantern on the cabinet that was already lit. It was a bit dark in her room even with the light. Dawn was used to having much more light but she could live with it. I mean now that the carriage is gone, we probably have to sleep in a tent so I should enjoy the bed while I can.


    ¡°On the ground, ew¡± she said to herself and let out a sigh. ¡°Well time for bed.¡± She then got ready for bed, turned off the lantern, jumped into bed and threw her sheets on top of herself.


    Dawn was so tired she fell asleep within only a few moments. She got woken up to some light showing in the window, what¡¯s that bright light? Oh yeah that''s the sun she thought and giggled to herself. Letting out a big yawn she got out of bed and dressed. I hope they have coffee. She was not a morning person, usually taking an hour to get up every day. Dawn opened the door and headed downstairs. When she was on the last step the smell hit her, coffee yes!


    Dawn headed towards the clerk behind the counter, she was the same lady as the night before. ¡°May I have a coffee please?¡± She rubbed her eyes and let out another yawn.


    With a smile the clerk said, ¡°absolutely the gentleman you came with already paid for you so go sit down and I will bring coffee and breakfast to you.¡± She pointed to the same table they were at last night and said, ¡°He is right over there if you would like to sit with him again.¡± She then walked over to the kitchen.


    Dawn headed towards the table at an almost zombie-like pace and sat down at the table. She just stared off into space for a few moments.


    Leo spoke up first, ¡°Good Morning, how did you sleep?¡±


    Dawn responded, ¡°Good morning, one moment, coffee.¡± As she said that, the clerk came by with a mug of coffee and a slice of toast with jelly on it. ¡°Thank you!¡± She happily said and grabbed the drink and took a sip. She smiled, nodded and said, ¡°better.¡±


    ¡°You are welcome and happy to hear it.¡± The clerk laughed and walked away.


    ¡°So now what.¡± Dawn said and then took another big sip of her coffee.


    Leo crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, ¡°well let''s start in town and start with supplies. We only have a little over 8 silvers left so it might be best to start with a tent, backpack and ropes.¡±


    Dawn bit into her bread and said, ¡°I am guessing that is not enough to buy clothing? All I got is the armor I am wearing now.¡±


    Leo shook his head and said, ¡°nope probably not. We will have to do a few odd jobs in this town before we can get clothes or even move on to the next town.¡±


    ¡°Well dang.¡± Dawn said with a bit of sadness in her voice. She finished her coffee and bread and stood up. ¡°Let''s get to it then.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good.¡± Leo said as he stood up and headed to the door.


    Dawn followed andLeo arrived at the door first. As he opened the door they could feel a chilling gust of air. Walking out they could see the sun just peeking over some trees. Leo noticed there were a few goblins by where they lost their carriage and pointed at them and asked, ¡°want an early morning exercise?¡±


    Dawn shrugged and said, ¡°sure I have a new move in mind I wanted to try.¡± They both started heading towards them.


    A little over halfway to them it looked like the goblins noticed them, one of them yelled what was probably a battle cry. Then they started running towards the two heroes. It looks like the little guy only had two allies this time, Dawn thought. Then with a smile she drew her sword in her right hand and gathered a flame in her left. Dawn then slammed her left hand into her sword and controlled the flames around her blade. The flames encompassed her blade making it look like it was on fire. Dawn grounded herself and waited until there was only a few moments till the goblins would reach her and then swiped her blade vertically. Releasing a flaming arch, knocking all three goblins onto their backs.


    ¡°Well that was pretty cool.¡± Leo walked forward and put his foot on a goblin as it was about to get up and thrust his spear into him.


    ¡°Thank you, I am going to have to add that one to the list.¡± Dawn said as she walked up to the goblins.


    It looked like the goblin in the middle took most of the damage as it was leading the pack. It was burned to a crisp. Dawn threw a small fireball at the last one burning it to a crisp as well.


    Leo looked down at the goblin his spear was still in, ¡°do you think we need to keep like a part of them for proof?¡±


    Dawn shrugged and said, ¡° I do not know¡­¡± Dawn squirmed at the thought of touching the goblins, ¡°but I am not gonna be the one to do that.¡±


    ¡°Sure it does not bother me, not much different then skinning an animal but what piece do you think?¡± He asked. He pulled his spear out of the goblin and put it away. Then he took out a knife looking at its face and bending down. ¡°With their green skin and pointy ears I could see it being the ears. They also have unique fangs so I could also see those being the pieces to grab.¡±


    Dawn shrugged and quivered a bit as she put away her sword. She said, ¡°just grab both and let them tell us when we find someone that will take them.¡± She looked away before he did the deed.


    ¡°Now where do I put them?¡±


    ¡°The goblins have to have some sort of money pouch on them. We should look for those.¡± Dawn looked around trying to look away from whatever Leo was doing. ¡°Oh it looks like that one has one.¡± She bent down and grabbed the pouch and opened it. ¡°Only one copper piece dang.¡±


    ¡°Well makes since, they probably don¡¯t have much use for money. They probably just took it off someone. This one has one too but it''s a bit bloody so you can keep that one and I will use this one for the ears and tusks.¡± Leo said as he finished up and popped those pieces in the little leather pouch.


    Leo stood up and asked, ¡°so ready to head to town?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let''s go. Hopefully these goblins are worth the effort.¡±


    Leo brushed off his knees and said, ¡°that took us like five seconds even if they are a copper piece or two it''s worth it.¡± Then he started walking down the road towards the inn and town.


    ¡°I mean fair but still.¡± She then started walking with him, the rest of the trip to the town was rather uneventful.