"Erdrick, wake up! We are under attack!"Erdrick gets up out of bed, quickly puts on a shirt of chain mail, grabs his sword, and runs downstairs to his father.
"O.K., Dad, I'm ready to fight. Who's invading our castle?"
"Ha! Erdrick, you're much too young to fight the Krathaino clan of orcs. Go down to the cellar with your sister."
"But Dad..."
"GO!"
Erdrick angrily walks down to the cellar, swinging his sword through the air with rage.
"Hi, Erdrick," Erdrick's sister Liza chuckled, "why aren't you out fighting the orcs?"
"Shut up, Liz. It's bad enough that Dad sent me down here away from the action. I don't need your insults."
"Sorry, Ed. It's just that with all of your training, I would figure that you would be one of the first warriors out there. You are only thirteen, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just leave me alone."
Erdrick goes to his basement bedroom, takes off his chain mail, and puts down his sword. Then he goes to a bar in the corner of his room and begins doing curl-ups.
".......Ninety-two...... Ninety-three............... Ninety-four............."
Liza walks into her brother's room.
"What are you doing, Erdrick?"
"......... Ninety-five........... Curl-ups. Ninety-six......."
"Why?"
"....... Because I'm mad. Ninety-seven.........."
"Why?"
"Because I want to be out there fighting. Ninety-eight....................... Ninety-nine........."
"Oh."
"..........One-hundred."
Erdrick gets off of the bar and starts doing sit-ups.
"One, two, three, four......"
"Erdrick?"
Erdrick gets up and sits on his bed, then pats his hand to a spot next to him.
"There's something on your mind. You wanna inform me about it?"
"The Moonstone was stolen."
"WHAT! If I get my hands on the nasty little orc that took it, I'll beat the snot outta him!"
"I don't think that that will be necessary. Do you actually think that Dad would let you fight those orcs? The Krathaino are one of the most dangerous tribes. Their hearts are made of stone when it comes to humans. If they even saw you, they would torture you to death with one of their strange weapons and then eat your insides for dinner. Not a pretty picture."
"So what. They're still just nasty little orcs, and I don't like them. I've seen orcs fighting before. They look tough, but not that tough. I could take 'em."
"Sure, Erdrick. Whatever you say," Liza grinned as she walked out of the room.
"I'll prove her wrong. There's no doubt in my mind about that. One, two, three, ........."
The next morning, Erdrick woke up before the sun and got dressed. He then went upstairs to see what was going on. He found out that the war (or battle) was pretty much over. The Moonstone was gone, and many orc's carcasses were laying around, with an occasional human nearby. Erdrick's father, David, was looking down at the ground, at the bodies, searching. For what, I don't know. I don't even think that he knew, but he was searching, nonetheless.
"Dad?"
"Yes, Erdrick?"
"What are you looking for?"
"I don't know. I'm just looking."
"You think that you're going to find the Moonstone, don't you?"
"I don't know. I'm just searching my mind." He lets out a long sigh.
"It's many miles away by now, you know. It's getting farther by the minute."
"I know, Erdrick; but yet, I still just don't know. In my heart, I feel that it's here, but I know that it isn't. It has always been a symbol of protection to me, and now it is gone. I need it near me. I need its gentle glow. I need the memories....... Of my wife."
"I miss mom, too. But her memories aren't hidden in a stone. They are in your heart; in our hearts."
"I need it back. Tomorrow when the sun rises, I will send your brother to retrieve it. This kingdom needs it, even if they never get a chance to see it. They need to know that it is safe."
"Dad, I could go. They're just orcs. I could handle them."
"Ha! You? You're too young. You're only thirteen. Your brother's sixteen. He's bigger, stronger, more mature. He would handle it better. I'm sorry, Erdrick. In a few years you'll be able to do these kind of things, but we both aren't ready for this. Thank you for cheering me up, Erdrick, but I need some time alone. You can go back up to your bedroom now."
"O.K., Dad. Bye."
Erdrick goes down to the basement bedroom and takes his stuff up to his normal bedroom. The rest of the day, he helps his brother get ready to leave for the next day, and secretly packs his own things.
Early the next morning, before anyone else was awake, Erdrick went down to the stables to get his horse ready, feed her, and pack his things on her back. After that, he rode her out about a mile away from the castle and tied her up. He talked to his horse for a while, saying that this would be cruel, but he was going to leave her there for a few hours. He then ran back home as fast as he could. When he arrived about five minutes later, everyone was still asleep. He went up to his room, and started writing notes to his family. Then he got up and put them in places where his family wouldn't look in for a few days. Then he went back to sleep.
Later that morning, Erdrick was woken up by his sister's voice coming from downstairs.
"Erdrick, wake up! Don't you want to say good-by to your brother? He's leaving any minute now."
"I'll be there in a minute."
Erdrick got up, got dressed, grabbed a piece of paper from his desk, and went downstairs. Everyone was giving Arthur hugs, kisses and good-bye's when Erdrick came downstairs.
"Arthur, don't leave until I get to say good-bye."
"O.K."
Erdrick went to the kitchen and made a sandwich for his brother. He put the note from his dresser on top of it, and wrapped them up together. Then he went back to his brother.
"Arthur, I made your favorite sandwich for you. Eat this for dinner today, O.K.?"
"Sure. Why not."
"Don't open it before dinner either, O.K.?"
"O.K.
"Good-Bye Arthur, I will miss you." Erdrick gave his brother a big hug.
"Bye, Erdrick. I will miss you, too." Arthur picked up his things and got onto his horse. "Good-bye, all! I will be back soon. Good-Bye!" After that he rode off.
"Erdrick?"
"Yeah, Liz?"
"I hope he brings the Moonstone back soon."
"Me too."
They all went back inside and tried to live their lives. After about three hours of wasting time (so he would be far enough behind his brother), Erdrick went up to his room and wrote a note which he put under his pillow that explained what he was about to do, and where he put the other notes. After this he quietly sneaked outside.
He walked for about a mile and found Streaming Thunder, his horse. She was happily tied to the same tree that Erdrick had just tied her to a few hour ago. He untied her, and hopped on. They rode without stopping until about dinnertime, when Erdrick found his brother reading the note he put on top of the sandwich. He looked about half mad, half confused, and then there was Erdrick to explain it all.
"Erdrick! You have some explaining to do! What is this all about?"
"Well, Arthur, simply put, I decided to come with you. I needed a chance to prove myself to you, Dad, Liz, the kingdom, but most of all, myself. Dad wouldn't give me a chance to do this, so I had to do this by sneaking out. Don't think that I left them totally out in the cold, or anything, I left notes for them so that they know where I am, but I'm sure that they won't be very happy. Do you care?"
"Well.... No. I was thirteen once myself. I know that you just need a chance to prove yourself. I totally understand. Want half of my sandwich?"
"Sure. I'm starving. I haven't eaten since about an hour after you left. What else ya' got?"
***
The next day, Erdrick and Arthur got up and rode for hours. About lunchtime, the horses began to slow to a trot.
"Arthur?"
"Yeah?"
"You hungry?
"Yeah. Lets stop and eat. Whoa!"
The horses stopped, and once their riders got off, they almost instantly found some fresh grass to munch on.
Once Erdrick and Arthur had finished eating, the horses walked back, and Erdrick and Arthur hopped on. They rode until the sun went down, and a little more, and set up camp. After they ate, they went to bed.
The next six days went pretty much exactly the same, dull and boring. By the end of this week, they came to the death mountains. When they decided that they could ride no more, they found a grassy place to put their horses, and left. They were loyal horses, and they would be in that area for weeks. The very first day, Erdrick and Arthur climbed four mountains and at the end of the day, stumbled upon a cave to stay the night, for it was raining. And what a storm it was, I might add!
The next morning, the sun didn't come out from hiding to wake them up, so the duo got a late start. It was still raining. The first few hours of travel were miserable, but after that, the rain died down and it wasn't so bad. About an hour after the rain totally stopped and the sky cleared up, the entrance to the cave of the Krathaino appeared to the eyes of the two for the first time.
It was a secretive cave, but not too secretive. There were beautiful carvings all around the entrance. This had to mean that this cave was not build by the Krathaino tribe, it was probably built by Dwarfs, and was then taken over by the Krathaino many years ago. The Krathaino, meaning "wield" (because they so much loved hundreds of different, interesting weapons) in ancient Hyrulian, hated anything beautiful. Anything even slightly decorative inside the cave was probably instantly destroyed, and many windows were probably sealed closed. Anyway, Erdrick and Arthur had just gotten their first peek at it.
"Erdrick, do you think that there are any entrances to this cave that the orcs haven't discovered yet or have forgotten about?"
"Yes, I do. Did you bring any maps of this cave along with you?"
"Yeah. Dad gave me one of the best. This one is almost a complete map of the cave. There are a few entrances on the other side of the mountain, but they might be guarded. Want to check them out?"
"Sure, let's go."
They secretly walked around the mountain until they found a small cavity in the side. It was about ten feet wide, eight feet tall, and barely thirty feet deep. They went inside to rest and maybe have a bite to eat. This chasm was beautifully decorated, but at the back there were four or five large boulders blocking something. Erdrick decided to go back there and check it out. He actually managed to move one of the boulders totally out of the way, and began to budge another.
"Arthur!"
"Yeah, Erdrick?"
"I need some help moving these boulders. I got one totally out of the way, but I need help with the rest."
"O.K., Erdrick. I'll be right there."
Arthur got up an helped Erdrick with the boulders. They easily had them rolled out of the way, and discovered that these were blocking an ancient tunnel. It wasn't very big, but big enough to fit the two adventurers. It stank like dead bodies after rotting for years. When the duo got to the end of the tunnel they found that another boulder was blocking their way.
"Why are you stopping, Arthur"
"There's another cursed boulder in the way."
"Can you move it?"
"I can try."
A minute later, the boulder was shoved out of the way, and the stench was overwhelming. The partners had stumbled upon a forgotten dungeon! There was no one in sight so Erdrick and Arthur searched around. In roughly every cell, there was a dead body, half rotting, half bone. The prison was only one square block, and the pair met where it was blocked off again. They picked a few stones off of the obstructed doorway, and saw a deserted hallway. They had the stones cleared quickly and were into the hallway. At the end of the hallway was a metal door. It was locked with only one metal bar and that was easily taken off. Once Arthur had the door open, the first torch light was seen! The bad thing about this was that this was now the unforgotten territory. This was where the orcs patrolled!
There was another hallway outside of the doorway to the left which was deserted, but to the right was where the life was. They followed the hallway to the right, and at the end was another hallway. This hallway only went left, and there was a locked door to the right. At the end of the hallway to the left was what looked like the main entrance to the cave- guarded. On the sides of this hallway were pillars, which Arthur and Erdrick hid behind while sneaking up on the orcs once they were about two pillars away from the guards, they drew their swords. They quickly sneaked up next to the guards, and slit their throats. A painful but silent way to die! The orcs fell to the ground, and revealed keys on their belts. Arthur took one of each key and put them in his pouch. After this, they walked back down the hallway to the locked door. Arthur tried a few keys, and the door eventually opened with a squeak. There were two more guards right there, but they were easily killed because they weren't ready. There was another hallway in front of them with many doors to each side. Arthur took out his map and studied it for a while.
"O.K., Erdrick, we need to follow this hallway, turn left, follow that, turn right, follow that, turn right at the first opportunity, and go into the second door on our left. I think that will take us where we want to go."
"Whatever. You lead."
They followed these instructions, killing a few unsuspecting guards on their way, until they came to the second door on their left. Arthur found a few matching keys, and tried them in the keyhole. The first one worked. He put the keys away and drew his sword. Then they went into the room. It had a familiar purplish glow. All eyes were drawn to the center of the room. There was the Moonstone! Guarding it were four burly - looking armored orcs. They let out a few snorting chuckles and drew their swords. They were moving straight towards Erdrick and Arthur. The heroes pulled the shields from their backs and put on their helms. Then they charged at the guards. They looked for unprotected areas of the orcs bodies while they were defending themselves and eventually found green flesh across the neck. Every free stroke with their swords they aimed for the neck. Erdrick hit one of them there, and he fell down. Then Erdrick kicked another one to the ground. He stumbled backwards onto the sword of the other orc and was killed. The weight of the orc falling on the first one killed him, too. Now it was a fair fight, two versus two. Arthur managed to pull a dagger from his leg and somehow hit one of the orcs in the neck. He was killed instantly. Now there was one left. It seemed easy, but there was a reason that he was the last one left. The final orc ran to the table with the Moonstone, lifted it up above his head, and chanted some ancient words which sounded evil. Energy radiated from the Moonstone and a great fireball shot from the stone, right at Arthur. He was not ready for this, and Erdrick jumped in front of Arthur with his shield. The shield was destroyed, almost instantly, but no one was hurt. As the orc got ready to shoot another fireball, Erdrick ran up and stabbed him in the stomach, which was revealed when the orc raised its arms. The freshly killed orc fell to the ground, and Erdrick grabbed the Moonstone. He put it in his pouch, and together they ran back down the hallways, and into the deserted areas. They re-barred the door to the prison area, went back to the original prison block, and entered the tunnel. They crawled faster than they had ever crawled before, and came to the small cavity in which they had rested earlier. They saw half of Arthur's food, which he had set down to move the boulders earlier. They exited the mountains all night without rest, and found their ponies right where they had left them a few days before, asleep. They woke their ponies, and rode. The ponies could sense fear in every aspect of the heroes, and they moved faster than they ever had before. The duo rode without rest for two days straight, but finally needed it. They slept for many hours, but awoke when the sun came up, slightly refreshed. They rode another day, totally, eating only while on horseback. At the end of the day, they set up camp, and relaxed until sunrise the next day. They had one more day of riding, and would be finally home. At the end of the day, they finally arrived. They went a mile past the castle, and set up camp there. They wanted to be rested before Erdrick had a world of explaining to do.
The next morning, Erdrick didn't get up by himself. He had to be pulled up with a fight.
"Arthur, leave me alone! I want to sleep!"
"But Erdrick, the sun is awake, so you should be too. You have to get ready so that you can talk with your father."
"What? I didn't hear what you said."
"I said that you have to get ready so that you can talk with your father.
"What? I still didn't hear you. I guess I'll just have to go back to bed."
"You heard me. Now GET UP!"
"Fine, but do we have to talk to him today? Why today?"
"We do because I said so. We just can't leave our father waiting. We can't leave the kingdom waiting. We just do."
"O.K., O.K., I'll get dressed. Do you know what I'm going to say to Dad?"
"Hah! Yeah, right. You decided to come with me; so it's your problem."
Erdrick bathes in the water and then gets dressed. The water is warm, but he is still shivering in nervousness. After he is all ready, the two brothers grab their things and start walking their horses to their home. After about fifteen minutes, Erdrick and Arthur can see their home. They put the horses in the stables, and walk to the front door. Knock, Knock, Knock!
Princess Liza walks to the door.
"Erdrick, Arthur, you're home, safe!" She runs to them and gives them each a big hug. "Dad, Dad, come down here, Arthur and Erdrick are back!"
Something is heard dropping, and then running footsteps are bellowed throughout the castle. After a very short while, King David is seen running down the stairs.
"My sons! You are home alive! Thank Heavens! Are you two O.K.? Are you hurt?"
"We're fine, Dad, we're just glad to be home."
"Erdrick, why did you just leave on this journey? I specifically told you not to; but no matter. You are alive! And I expect that you have the moonstone, don't you?"
"Of course we do, Dad. We...." Erdrick is interrupted by his brother.
"Erdrick killed the most orcs. He even saved my life by diving in front of a magic fireball. Then he ran up and killed the final orc. If Erdrick hadn't gone on this quest with me, I would have been surely killed. He proved to be extremely helpful. I think that he may well be a better warrior than I am."
"Arthur... You are a much better warrior than I am. Don't say that. I would have been surely killed without you, too. Plus, I needed someone to help with the boulders."
"Thanks, Erdrick. You are a great little brother."
"Hey- I'm not that much smaller than you are. Only about five inches."
"But I'll always be older."
"Sons, let's go inside and get you two re - acquainted with your home. You can tell us your whole story inside. Come on."
"O.K., Dad. You lead."
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