The Will Fire and Steel

The icy grey sky restlessly grumbled. The thick blackened clouds were dragged down by the heavy rain which it held in its delicate frame. The clouds which struggled to withstand the burden of the weight which the rain held, soon gave in. The rain poured down over the city with a roar. The sound of emptiness was disrupted by the loud gregarious boom of thunder. The moment was silent as the sound of footsteps took the air by storm. The footsteps were from a young woman. She was tall and was curvy. Her hair was like the color of lava flowing like silk down a fast, small stream. Her eyes glowed like the clear dark night sky. She runs for towards the nearest thing she could use for cover.

The cold icy rain pierced her pale and wet skin. She ran across the slippery path, her posture weakened by the weight of her soaked clothes. The quality of darkness shifted in the sky, but the rain kept pouring. The harsh rain obliterated the crystal reflection of the sky and turned it into disorientated chaos.

The storm was getting fierce by the second like a wild animal. The sight of a small barn was in seeing distance. She runs as fast as she could without slipping on the hard cobble road. It was hard to keep her balance with high heels on. She was able to make it into the barn. She tries to open the large wooden doors to the barn. Surprisingly they open with eases as she uses little to no strength to push one of the large doors to the side. Only enough to fit through and close it immediately. The wind started to pick up more and more. This storm slowly turning more into a nightmare that will never end.

The young woman took deep breathes from running. She looked at herself all wet. Her clothes look fancy, her dress was long and silky. It sparkled like the night sky after a harsh storm. She sighs in disappointment not knowing the storm will get this bad.

“Hugh why this storm all of the sudden. I hope mama and papa are ok.” She sighs in concern. By the looks of it, a flood will happen. She didn’t want them to be hurt. She continues to worry about her parents. She sat in a pile of hay. She sank into it like it was quicksand. Looking up at the roof of the barn. She stares the wood.

The hours passed by and the storm only picked up more. It only got worse as lighting and thunder boomed in the distance. Both dancing striking anything in the open. Her eyes felt droopy as gravity pulls them down. She resists the urge to sleep. She only needs to stay awake until the storm passes. Just as she was going to fall asleep there was a noise outside. It sounded like a voice and it was getting close to the door. She dives into the pile of hay she was in hiding. She peeked out only to be her eyes were showing a bit.

The barn door opens as the door was pushed to the side with ease. The figure that catches her eyes were big. Her eyes widen as she saw the tall figure. It was like a giant in her point of few. She stares at the figure until it walked forward revealing more of itself. It was a young man who had a cloak on. He was monstrous in height that he could be a giant. His hair was a deep red the same color as blood. His eyes were green as apple fresh out of spring blossoming. His glare was strong deep and fearless. He had a few scars on him. One over his right eye and a couple on his right arm. Other than that, he looks like a fierce person.

He walks into the barn looking around for something. He stands near the door looking.

“……...” he says nothing. He looked at the pile of hay spotting the women’s eyes. He turns quickly not to give the women any suspicions that she was found. He leaves closing the barn door behind him. He walked around the barn to the back door to get in.

The woman digs out of the pile of hay she’s in. she wipes off the hay off her soaked clothes and hair.

“Ok, that man…was scary. I never saw anyone like that before. The nation should make him a knight.” She says softly to herself. The man opened the back door quietly and walk in not making a sound. He walks slowly towards her.

As soon as he gets close the plank under him make a “creak” sound. The women turn around to see the man directly behind her. His eyes glow in the dark shadows. It was like he was a wolf in a human form. His gaze was strong and fearless as he looked at the woman. She stood still as she stares into the man eyes.

“who are you.” His voice was deep and cold. This makes him scarier with his looks and height. He stood there waiting for an answer from the woman. She was speechless, all she could do is stare in fear thinking what would happen to her.

The moment was silent for a seem like an eternity. The sound of roaring thunder broken the silent rule. Both stared at each other, soon the woman spoke to answer his question.

“I-I’m p-princes Amelia Holloway…” She says softly. She sounded shy and who could blame her the man in front of her was like a giant ready to kill her. He looked down at Amelia. He thinks for a few seconds before responding back.

“My name is Cage.C. Tennson.” He says in a low tone. “Why are you in my family barn? I know its storming out, but shouldn’t you be home?” he raises an eyebrow. He wasn’t fully convinced that she is a princess. He needed more proof.

“I…I was running away from my home.” Her voice was full of regret and guilt. She looked worried instead of happy running away.

“You are worried, are you? Most people who run away are happy to be free of their old life they had.” he walked past her to grab a stool for her to sit on. He fell backward into the pile of hay. It was a perfect seat for him. Amelia sat on the stool Cage placed next to her.

The storm still rages on causing havoc among the skis, land, and sea. Lighting strikes and thunder follows along. Nothing was saved outside as trees were struck by the duo. The two look up at the barn roof hearing the booming thunder and lighting.

“So why run away? You’re a princess you should be happy and have an iron fist ruling the kingdom.” Cage says. His voice started to change. He sounded like an average person.

“I-I don’t want to rule a kingdom. My parents are pressuring me to marry people I don’t want to. I don’t want to marry, I want to fight and be a knight.” Her eyes started to deform as tears form. She cries a bit knowing there is no escape from marriage. She lowers her head into her knees.

Cage fixes his posture and sits straight up. He puts a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She looks up at cage her eyes full of tears. “Don’t cry, Amelia. I know this situation is difficult, but your parents want the best for you. They want you to be happy, but I see that they need to back off a bit. You want to be a knight just tell them.” Cage voice was calm and confident. He smiles a little to show his support.

Amelia smiles a bit to his. She wipes her eyes and nods. “Fine I’ll go talk to them, but you have to make me a promise.” Cage raised an eyebrow to her request of a promise. He was a bit curious now of what the promise will be. “You’ll have to join the nations knights. You are tall and intimidating, the nation could use someone like you.” She looks me dead in the eye with a calm look.

Cage look at her with a blank face. He frowns immensely, he didn’t like that promise. He frowns soon disappear as he sighs. “That I don’t know about. The nation is your father’s army, King Holloway. There room for a farm boy like me.” I rub my right arm. He looked at his scares, it brought back bad memories. “But I promise I will join the nation once I finish my business here.”

Amelia smiles a bit greatly clapping her hands together. “Now the promise is set and…. thank you for comforting me. I would of a runaway or got myself killed if I made it to the woods.”

“It’s no problem. I had plenty of runaways come here before and you’re not the first princess I met.” He says calmly. He stands up and goes to the barn door. He grips the frame of the door firmly. He pushes it aside. The storm that was once fierce and wild simmered down to a calm and stable state. The rain was dripping a bit slower as it the ground softly. It seemed like the ground and the rain has mix like a nice brew beer or stew. The air felt thin, but it was easy to breathe. Mist covered anyone sights for seems for miles, but they could only see a few feet in front of them.

“The storm seems to be stable now. But it’s too dangerous to go alone so I will escort you.” Cage takes off his cloak saying he will take her home. He wraps it around over her shoulders. He ties a knot around the neck area so it wouldn’t come off. He had on a white shirt that was old and losing its white color. He had on pants that couldn’t cover all his legs. It only covered up to his knees. It was held by a rope tied around his waist.

She looks up at him with a small worried look.” What about you? You’ll get wet.” He nods his head

“I’ll be fine, I like the rain anyway. It makes me feel free ya know.” He walks up to her and picks her up placing her on his back.

She blushed a bit and was surprised by the sudden boost of confidence he gained. Cage was suddenly much friendlier now. He wasn’t shy like when they just met. She was curious about his sudden change of personality. He walks outside and turns around to close the barn doors behind him. Amelia held on to him. Her arms around his neck and legs wrap around his chest literally. The rain dipped and dropped on them. Cage started to get a bit wet from the light April shower, but it didn’t bother him one bit.

Cage took off his shoes and left them at the barn door. He faces where the wind blows east. The kingdom castle was only a mile and a half away. He started to walk down the wet dirt road. He started to gain speed and he slowly turns from walking to sprinting. His hit the ground making a soft splat sound. As he picks his feet the dirt followed along flying into the air. His running posture was great like he was a greatly welled built horse. Amelia held on adjusting every few minutes. Her eyes widen by how fast he was running. He was like a war horse running into battle not with a single care in the world.

Cage smiles as he runs and runs. He felt free and his feet felt great as they hit the soft wet soil. The way people could see his as a blur. His striding was long due to his height and long legs. His strides were perfect in an athlete’s eyes. Each stride he took was like a giant taking a huge step. His arms pumped faster and faster like they were some type of machines.

“You’re so fast!” Amelia whispers quietly. She didn’t want to distract him. She can tell by the look of his face he enjoyed running. She looked up at the sky watching the clouds. She didn’t want to be caught when the storm goes back to being thunderous and hard hitting.

Black clouds sprawl across the sky, billowing in from the west. Their brassy glare drains color from houses and trees. The storm was soon to pick up again after its small rest of small rain. The sound of lighting howls like a wild wolf. It was coming from the west and heading east. The two kept on the move…well, Amelia hanged onto cage with a clingy grip. The wind blew was strong and blew her hood off. The cloak still on her, it was tied around her neck. The cloak followed the direction of the wind being dragged with it. Her body and head now exposed to the rain.

They were now somewhere in the forest. The dirt road leads to the kingdom itself so they stayed on that path. Cage soon start to slow down, and his feet slid through the wet muddy soil. He soon stops eyeing something up ahead. Amelia looked curious as for why Cage stop. The rain started to pick up turning to downpour.

Cage bends down low enough for Amelia to get off his back. “Get off,” he says in a serious tone. She got off immediately as he said. She stands next to him wondering why acting like this. He stares into the distance as a fuzzy figure approaches them. It had pure red eyes and it was snarling. As it got closer to see it was a bear, but something was wrong. Its fur was black, there were a few parts where you can see brown fur. It had white armor plates on it and had armor around his face. It had bone-like spikes sticking out of its back.

“W-what is that”Amelia’s eyes widen. Her voice cracking down in fear at the sight of this terrible beast. It looked terrible as it slowly transformed into a pure wild animal of darkness. The bear looked at them its eyes pure red of hatred. It sniffed the air smelling the fear that Amelia felt at the sight of it. It got on all fours and charge at them with incredible speed. Amelia tries to turn and run but slips in the mud due to her wearing high heels.

she closes her eyes flinging her arms over her face. The moment was silent and time itself seem to stop. Cage face lowers as his eyes can’t be seen by the dark shade that covers them. He gets down to the same level as the dark bear. His feet apart from each other. His thighs were relaxed and so was his leg muscles. He waited for the moment to come. The wind whistles through the air and the leaves were dragged in that direction. A single leave was torn from its branch as it blew flipping and turning through the air. It soon fell in front of Cage time started to move again. One the leave lands on the ground the beast was right in front of cage. Cage looked up his face was calm and serious looking. His thighs tighten, and his leg muscles powered up. He with the power he uses was shown in his lung he took. The ground beneath him cracked as his feet were pushed deep into the ground. The bear and Cage collided as they bash shoulder to shoulder like sumo wrestlers.

The sound of the shoulder to shoulder clash boomed like the thunder rolling striking the ground. Amelia slowly opened her eyes moving her arms down to her side placing her hands on the ground. Her eyes show her what she wants to believe is impossible. Cage was holding the bear back as he his arms wrapped around its head. Cage was not moving one inch as he stood his ground.

“C-Cage….” She could barely speak the words. She scoots back a bit more.

“Do you trust me?” he says trying to hold it back, but he starts to lose his footing. “If you do then run as fast as you can. Don’t look ba-AHHHHHH!” he screams in pain as the black bear bites into his right shoulder. Cage felt the sharp dagger teeth dig into his skin, sinking deeper tearing up his supraspinatus and infraspinatus. The bear starts to close its jaw and the sound bones cracking filled the air with the screaming of pain. Cage acromion was crushed just by the bite by the black bear.

“Cage!” Amelia yells. She takes off one of her heels “Let him go!” she yells in anger. She stabs the bear in its right eye. The heel pierces the red eye of the bear. The bear teeth dragged themselves out from Cage skin. The marks that the bite left was big as if it was trying to bite a chunk of his skin off. His shirt was only ripped by his right shoulder.

The bear roar was a pure mixture of screech and hatred. It backs up trying to get the heel out of its eye. It was hard to watch it suffer because its paws were too big. Cage bit his lower lip trying to not show the pain he was feeling. he couldn’t bare the pain, but he managed not to scream anymore. He picks Amelia putting her over his left shoulder. He takes off sprinting off getting some distance between them and that beast of darkness. He wasn’t that fast as before but he was gaining distance. Cage kept running and running like he was a rabbit being chased by a fox. He adjusted his grip onto Amelia, so he didn’t lose her while he runs.

“S-Stop Cage now… Put me down now!” She yells trying to loosen his grip. Cage soon stopped inhaling and exhaling deeply. He let her go as he collapses. Both falling to the ground into the mud. Amelia looks at him in anger in the drop me and putting me down type of deal. “What’s the big id….” She stops before she finished her sentence looking at Cage.

He was on his knees using his left hand to put pressure on his right shoulder. the wound itself was bad, blood kept on leaking out in large amounts. Cage couldn’t keep the blood from leaking as blood stained his hand. Amelia gets up quickly and to Cage side.

“Let me see.” She says trying to check it out, but Cage moves away so she can’t see it. “You said if I trust you I do, now trust me. I know we only met today but we are in danger if that thing finds us. Let’s trust each other.” She says in a worried tone. The wound needed medical attention immediately before it got worst.

Cage let out a sigh and let her see. Amelia takes the cloak she had on and tries to rip it up but fails. She acted fast and wrap his shoulder in the cloak. Cage watches her wrap his wound with his cloak. Cage put his left hand on his head.

“Let’s just hurry to the kingdom before that bear finds us. We can’t face it alone, well I can’t in my condition” Cage stands up. His legs tremble as he tries to walk. Amelia puts his right arm around her neck giving him some support.

She tries to help but he was a bit too heavy to keep up. She stumbles herself as she walks with him. Cage and Amelia walk still followed the road. It was hard to tell what time it was due to the stormy sky. Lighting pierces through the sky lighting up through the dark clouds. The rain started to get heavier and heavier. The two had no choice but to find shelter. They got under some trees for a bit for a bit of rest, but they still were getting wet.

“Geez, this storm won’t stop. And it seems the worse is to come” Amelia says standing under the shelter of the trees. Cage sits down leaning on of the forest trees. He gives a simple nod agreeing to her statement.

“Just give it the time it will pass soon. For now, we should rest even though we are still getting wet.” Amelia looks back at him. She had to admit she was tired and they were stuck out in the rain under a tree. “it’s better to catch a simple cold then keep going.” He added. Amelia sighs and sits next to him.

“Don’t try anything buster, I’m keeping an eye on you?” she says. She yawns as she says that. Cage look at her with a ridicule look. Like he will do something to her. He looks around one last time before he closed his sleepy eyes. Gravity soon got stronger pulling their droopy eyes down shut. Soon only the sound of the heavy rain falling from the sky above filled the air. Time past as the rain dropped like the wild sea waves of the ocean. The storm raged on as it passes through the forest above. Cage and Amelia were still asleep as the thunder boomed. Something about the storm kept them asleep as if it helped them snooze off.

Cage keep one eye open in case someone was near or if danger lurked. He woke up every few hours or so until he couldn’t go back asleep. He watches the beauty of the storm as lighting and thunder strikes and light up the sky. He was amazed how this wild and fierce storm can be so beautiful and outstanding. He turns his eyes to Amelia with a sudden shiver going down his spine. She was clinging on to him as if he was a big stuff teddy bear. His face expression was blank. He moves his arm around her shoulder and pulls her close.

“Hugh, I think I made a deal with the devil. Take her home and join the Nation… it’s just not for me. I can’t go through that pain again.” He thinks to himself. He looks through the leaves that scatter across his view only showing a little bit of the sky.

Only a few feet away from them they heard footsteps. Cage head turns sharply toward the sound of the footsteps. He looked a few bushes as they shook. He saw red eyes peeking through them with a low sinister growl. Cage eyes widen as he seen those eyes before. He tries to get Amelia up, but she snores. She must be a heavy sleeper, not even same bear that’s about to attack them will wake her up. He didn’t wake Amelia up as he got up he pushed her aside. He got up to the growling beast.

“Come on then Round two.” Cage took off the cloak that was wrapped around his wound. Even though the bone in his shoulder was crush he could still move it but only a little. The bear walked out of the bushes walking on its two feet. The bear looked at cage with a deep hatred in its eyes. Both stared at each other. It was now beast vs beast both having a fearsome aura around them.

Cage spread his legs apart a bit and his places his left forearm across his stomach. His eyes never left the bears. He needed to kill it before it killed him. The bear charges at Cage with all the force it had. Cage stood his ground and his posture. The bear started to swing its right paw at him. Cage counters attacks with a straight kick to it’s under part of its jaw. It was like he uppercut the bear with his fist but with his feet. As the bear head was sent flying back it started to lose ground stepping back. Cage advance forward not letting the bear attack him. The bear recovers a Cage moves forward. The bear swings wildly with anger trying to hit Cage.

Cage was like a piece of grass in the wild wind. His body moves on its own like it was taken over. He dodges the bear attacks moving left, right, bending back a little or ducking. The bear swing was wide so Cage throws a counter punch with his left arm. He had to be careful not to slip up nor get caught by an attack. With a sudden change of attacks, the bear thrust his paw straight with his claws. Cage calm look soon change to surprised look. He turns his body to the left putting his right arm in front of him. The sharp dagger-like claws cut deep into his right arm.

“AHHH!” He screams in pain but holds some of the screaming back. Cage had two options, either lose his arm or kill the beast in on combo. First thing First he needed to get the bear claw out of him. Suddenly he had an idea and started to push in. he still had the bear claws stuck him in the right arm. The bear tries to pull them out, but cage didn’t let the bear do it. He shifts his body making sure his left arm and shoulder were pushing agents the bear.

It seems like the bear was trying to hug Cage. Cage uses his weight to push the bear into a tree. It was difficult to do with a bear trying to bite his neck. He pushes with all his might as the bear feet dragged across the ground. it left marks of its claws digging to get some friction, but the dirt was too muddy and wet. There was a thump sound as the bear back hit the tree. Cage took notice of it and started to back off a bit. The bear slowly pulls his claws and paw out of Cage right arm. Cage charges into the bear as it took its claws out of his right arm. The bear pushes Cage away as he charges it. Cage rushes forward. He slides using the muddy ground to give him more momentum. He slides his left leg back, leaning all his weight to his left side. He brings his left arm around setting up to punch. The bear was diving down aiming for Cage left side.

Both aiming for a spot to hit and both won’t back down. Both with a look in their eyes. One with hatred and no remorse and the other with no fear or mercy. But both had the same look to end this fight here and now. As the final strike was to be hit lightning strike a tree beside the two. The strike causing a bright flash.

To Be Continue……