DogEye
05-30-2005, 09:44 PM
<looks better in word... /nods, might want to copie and paste this then print it out... it's like 16pages long and my adverage chapture leagth is 10 pages... this message brought to you by the save your eyes foundation... also this story is based on White Wolf's RPG changling, based on... pretty losely... my world is my own... i just use basic chariture discriptions and some terms, that's all... by the way <>= author notes or comments here, and without further ado... chapture 1...>
As Four It Began
*crashhhhh*
*clashhhhh*
*fooooooorrrrrr*
*rrooooooorrrrrr*
The waves clashed up against a rocky shore cliff. It seemed like the jagged walls stood to hide some secrets in the twilight as the foamy waves came up against it. The ocean’s assault never seemed to end upon the jagged, gray rocks. The rocks managed to hold a walking path above the bitter wave assault. Though narrow it was walkable and lead to an entrance of a cave that glow with an eerie light. The wind was the wave’s ally; it made the narrow path treacherous to anyone that decided to go to the cave. The sea sprayed the path with water droplets that felt like missiles to tender skin, and made the path slick to any feet that treaded about the road. Skeletons of past ships dotted the area, the ocean was relentless to all, land and sea fairer. No one would tread upon the cliffs for nothing and much less enjoyment.
Seen in the distance a person of average stature, maybe just slightly shorter then average, in a dark, black, silk robe trimmed in gold made his way to the caves. Very little seemed to bother him, as if the attackers just stayed their distance for one reason or another. It was obvious that who ever this was, was a sidhe, with dark features and hair, pointed ears, and a clam noble charm about him. He peeked into the cave and in a very charismatic voice asked, “Hello? Are the most beautiful ladies of the world home?” his voice echoed through the cave as if music.
“Oh Siben, come in come in,” a voice answered, unlike his own this voice was screechy, “oh sisters, we have a visitor.”
Siben walked down the narrow cave, the ceiling was so low it made him have to duck down a little. The cave also had many jagged edges as did the cliffs outside. Finally, he got to a room that was open enough for him to stand up straight without bumping his head, “thank you my dear ladies, the weather is horrid outside.”
In the center of the room stood a stand of smooth stone with a round dish of stone that held a shallow puddle of water with a few natural gems and crystals piercing the top of the water along the edges. Around the stone bath where three harpies and a siren, the harpies looked ragged and ugly, with pointed teeth and dull ugly feathers, wiry hair and weathered skin. Just the opposite of the siren, who had all the same features only smoother and more pleasant to observe. “Ahhh yes, it has been that way for awhile now,” one of the harpies replied.
“So what do we owe your great presents?” another harpy asked.
“I wanted to ask you if you could peak into the future for me,” Siben replied.
“The future we see is not set in stone Siben,” another one replied.
“I know Trilly and I hope it is not, I’m just afraid my brother plans on my death. I want to know what he is planning so I can plan on stopping him,” Siben explained.
“Ahhh, so we will try and see what is the future,” Tirry laughed delighted, “gather sisters, to the stone, to the water shallow rim,” Tirry chanted as the other three gathered round.
“To the mist of fog below” the second chanted. A fog began to lift out of the water in the dish.
“To the future of life unfold,” the third added. A dim light began to show through the fog now spilling out of the stone basin.
“And show us the track of present now…” the siren continued in a pleasant velvety voice. The fog gently swirled up and spread.
“Find the future of the one who is near” Tirry screeched as the water in the stone bath began to mist and swirl out to the floor and surrounded Siben’s feet. All four of them gazed into the pool, their eyes glowing an eerie cream.
“I see a plan that is clever,” the second stated.
“I see a gem of remarkable beauty,” the third added.
“I see a horrible creature is plotted,” the siren broke the chain and screamed of fear.
Tirry looked at the pool as the mist quickly faded, “The future is in a fog, nothing can be seen clearly. Maybe it is that monster Iris seen.” The mist retracted terribly fast back into the pool.
The two other sisters agreed.
“What monster?” Siben asked.
“Oh, a horrible one, it reached for me. I don’t think I was suppose to see it,” Iris said distressed.
“Then the monster is conscience about us. Beware Siben that means this monster is closer to you then you think,” Tirry warned.
“I bet you that creature belongs to my brother,” Siben remarked.
“That maybe true, but then again something different maybe after you,” the second harpy added.
Siben looked to the side and nodded, “Yes, that could be,” he paused a bit, “What about this clever plan and this gem though?”
“The plan is most surly your brothers,” the second harpy said, “Yes, you may die if he succeeds but something is blocking it, I could not see any details, nor could I for see success or failure of this plan.”
“The gem is unclear; I can not say where you would find it. It is from something unexpected, it is something unexplained,” the third explained.
Siben looked around, trying to make some since of what was going on, “Well, I guess with the future being unclear I should take some preventative measures.”
“That would not be an idea left in vain,” Trilly commented.
“I guess I’ll have to bid you lovely ladies farewell for now, I must contact a good friend of mine elsewhere in the world,” Siben smiled as he walked out of the cave.
“Farewell and Good luck,” the harpies called after.
Siben made his way down the path, just as a fog drifted into the shore. At the base of the cliff stood two trolls that dwarfed Siben altogether, they stood a well built ten feet in the air and had blue skin, with stub like horns growing out of the forehead.
“You find out anything?” one asked.
“Not much, much less useful stuff,” Siben replied.
“We going to head back?” the other one asked.
“Not yet, I’m going to have to talk to a friend of mine in the next town,” Siben said, “Come on hurry up, we can be there before the sun goes down.”
“Yes sir,” they both said less then pleased.
Amidst the fog as they left, stood a shadow that seemed to be watching. The harpy cave was now sealed with a boulder that wasn’t there before. The weather seemed to calm down out of fear of this shadowy figure that stood there, watching, waiting… for something unknown.
Silence… the beautiful secret kept by both satyr and eshu. A world that lived in the nature of trees, a forest that outlived the hand of time and the cruelty of the barren dead land around it, an image of life amongst the cracked, dusty floor and the rock hard ground a deciduous forest bloomed like a flower amongst the wreckage of years past. The forest told its own tales of sadness, about warriors and heroes long since pasted, all that remains is the blessed ground that many finally rested in the great calming beauty of the forest… the forest itself made death for these few fortunate one, who managed to make their last breaths out of the battle in the dieing land, peaceful. Alas though, the forest no longer supports as much life as it once did, most of the chimeras had wandered away, only a few mortal creatures remained. Mostly birds and a few smaller creatures that seek shelter from the cursed lands that surrounded them.
A satyr walked through the forest, looking like he has seen one too many battles, with a muscular build, a few medium colored features, and no longer having his left eye, perhaps he lost it in a battle long pasted. He didn’t wear much more the loin cloth, a few leather straps going across his chest and a belt with a small, crudely made bag attached. Like most satyrs his horns where similar to a mature ram’s, and also had the lower portion of a goat’s as well. He looked around a finally sat down on a fallen log, he looked long at the flowers peeking up from the leafy ground. Despite his lost eye and aged appearance, he didn’t look mean… in fact far from it. After awhile he pulled out a journal from his bag, perhaps poetry or love songs but his appearance would lead you to believe it was an actual journal debating his own life, reflections of his war torn past, or maybe of happier times to be remembered in the calming tranquility of the forest around him.
He closed his one good eye and took a deep breath, absorbing the peace around him, he seemed to have some of his youth restored in the calm… he wasn’t as old as he looked; it was the battles in his life that aged him.
*creeeeek*
*Craaaashhh*
*BOOOM*
Bursting out of the bushes, a blurred image that nearly ran the satyr over if he didn’t dodge out of the way in time.
“Hey! What the???” he yelled barely getting out of the way of the person running, “Shit…” The trees in the distance where ripped, splitting and falling down, the tougher trees shook as if some great mass ran into them, a rumble vibrated the ground.
A dragon swiftly followed the blur, quite small it stopped for a second, looking at the satyr, “If you want my advice, I’d start running now.”
The satyr, not to argue with the point the dragon made, stumbled quickly to his feet (or hoofs) and started after the dragon. He didn’t have much trouble keeping up with the dragon and finally saw a little ways ahead what almost ran him over. It was a young eshu, Native American in appearance. Still the image was blurry and he was having difficulty focusing on the eshu. Finally caught up to the running eshu, “Might I ask what the hell we are running from?”
The eshu glanced back at him, “Manicore… I… think…” she panted.
“Run, don’t stop…” the dragon commanded.
“What do you mean ‘You think’” the satyr asked.
The dragon looked at the satyr with a scowl, “Questions… later, RUN NOW!”
“Could be… a dragon by now,” the eshu added.
“What do you mean ‘could’ be?” the satyr looked behind him for a second; the peaceful oasis had become a race with something. The sound of the trees falling was getting closer.
“Well it was… a monkey… before we started… running,” the eshu said.
“Shit, what did you do to make it mad!” the satyr started to pick up some pace.
“I think… it likes… that tree a whole… lot,” the eshu sprung off of a rock.
“What the hell did you do to its tree?” the satyr dodged a low branch.
“Well it is the only… ACK!” the eshu got knocked over by the low branch, suddenly a paw of black claws came down just as she managed to get up, “If… we… get one… mile… out of… here… we… should be… okay…” the eshu panted.
“Okay then, move it! I’m not about to become dragon bits,” the dragon stated, “She’ll explain why she is trying to kill herself if she manages not to.”
“Can’t argue with that,” the satyr agreed.
“Then don’t,” the dragon said coldly.
The dead lands opened up into a desolate plain, dust shifted with the wind. The satyr looked around, “Okay follow me. This way…” he pointed off to the right.
The eshu looked a bit confused.
“Come on Star,” the dragon motioned to follow the satyr.
Star looked up, “straight… shorter,” she panted.
“I know, but it is going to get dark soon. We’ll be closer to a town if we head this way,” the satyr explained.
Star turned to follow, stumbling a bit then gasping in a deep breath and stared a flat out run, just as a manicore tore through the trees. The rest of the run was fairly quite, the satyr glanced back to make sure they where following. The eshu was still a blur to him though she started coming into focus, suddenly she was a blur again. The manicore was gaining ground; finally the satyr crossed the one mile mark and came to a stop. The eshu was just about there when a rock pricing through the hard cracked ground tripped her. Dust sprayed up from the ground as she fell on her face, sliding just behind the mile radius. Looking behind herself as she was getting up she saw the manicore on top of her getting ready to sting. Just as the stinger came down the satyr reached out and grabbed her shoulder and dragged her out of the way, the manicore roared in frustration as it realized it had only stung the ground.
“BRRRROOOAAAAARRRR,” the mainicore screamed as it reared up on its hind quarters, ready to pounce. Suddenly, it stopped… looked around… growled in frustration after realizing how far away it was from the oasis. The manicore looked once more at Star and the satyr, turned around and slowly shifted its form into a unicorn. With a leap and a kick, the creature ran back to the oasis with unmatched speed.
Star, still panting from the run, looked shocked and relived. The dragon landed on the ground next to her, “Let’s not do that ever again… next time you say something will be easy I’m not listening…”
“Well, that was… fun…” Star panted.
“Interesting way to end my day, you two okay?” the satyr asked.
“I’m… fine…” Star answered.
“Interesting isn’t the word for it, really Star… I really can’t tell... are you bent on killing yourself? Or what?” the dragon groaned.
“Not to change the subject… WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?!?!” the satyr asked looking at them and pointing in direction the creature ran off to.
“Um…” Star looked around then picked up her bag around her shoulder still panting, it looked as if she had something in her hand, “I believe it was a shifter…”
The dragon nodded, “At lest you managed not to drop it.”
Star dug out a small tube with a cork; she opened it up and dropped a small nut into the tube then put the cork back on it.
“Do you have a death wish or something!?!” the satyr replied still in a bit of shock.
The dragon looked around for a bit, then turned to the satyr, “Actually, it is just the opposite… quite a long story.”
The satyr, finally calming down, and seeing things in a much more focused fashion, scratched the back of his head and laughed a little, “Well I can’t say this is the worst thing that has happened, after all my hide is still intact.” He looked at the eshu for a minute; she didn’t look like many other eshus he would’ve come across… it was oblivious that she wasn’t use to combat or running a flat mile or so. . She was young probably around eighteen. She had black hair and three feathers oriented one side going down a strand of hair. The darkness of her hair didn’t seem to completely suit her face for some odd reason. Sweat dampened her forehead and dripped on to her tan leather plate armor. She seemed a little bit more muscular then most eshus as well as a bit shorter. Her eyes seemed to shift colors with the light
Star weakly got back to her feet again and placed the tube into her bag. Then looked questionably at the satyr.
“Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself,” the satyr said quickly.
“Really, no worries here… I’d be impressed if you could introduce yourself running from a creature that may or may not want to eat you,” the dragon lowered his head.
“Well anyway, my name is Cyclops but most of my friends refer to me a Cy,” Cy finally said extending his hand.
Star looked at the dragon a second then up at the satyr, “Well my name…” Star looked to be collecting her thoughts, “My name is Starfang, but most just call me Star… and this is Conwell,” she pointed to the dragon, completely ignoring Cy’s extended hand.
“Well, so why did you decide to make the shifter mad?” Cy asked a little more calmly.
“As Conwell said, ‘it is a long story’, and it is getting late we need to get moving,” Star said looking at the shadows, her eyes seemed to gaze farther then just over the plain, that or she couldn’t focus on anything except catching her breath.
“Ahem,” Cy coughed, “there is a reason I told you to follow me.” Cyclops scanned the area and walked over to a small weed, grabbed what seemed to be air and reviled a camouflaged jeep.
Star looked at the jeep and then at Cyclops, “Okay, how do you not lose your car?”
“Easy, I park next to something I can see,” he replied folding what appeared to be distorted air, “I got tired of random creatures getting in my car and car-jackers helping themselves. So I got an invisibility sheet, put an end to that stuff now I need to make sure I remember where I parked it or else I’ll lose it for a month and a half like last time,” Cy laughed.
“Er car-jackers?” Star looked around confused.
“Well, you’d be surprised,” Cy said with a grin, “Anyway, you can tell me this long story while we drive to the freehold that I belong to. It seems like a story that is bound to be interesting”
“Okay,” Conwell jumped on the back of the passenger seat, “Hurry up Star.”
“I really wouldn’t recommend walking to town when it is getting this late,” Cy added.
Star walked slowly to the passenger side, trying very hard not to look as if she was staggering, very unsuccessfully.
Cyclops waited for Star patiently to get in before starting the engine, “So I bet your glad not to be walking,” he laughed seeing how she was staggering, “so what is this story of yours.”
“Well it starts a few months ago, in our village. It was harvest time and like always I was helping carry grain to the silos. Everything was going as planned and we where blessed with a large harvest.
Anyway, I just remember seeing someone on the peak. Dragonfang Peak is secret and no one was allowed on it except for a few ceremonies. I pointed the strange figure out to many of my people but no one seemed to see him but me, so I ran into my hut and grabbed my sword and put on some crud armor then climbed up the peak… I warned the figure to go away, but he started chanting strange words. At this point I knew that couldn’t be good so I rushed him.” Star started.
“Yeah, I love her philosophy; ‘if it is a bad thing, attack it’ don’t bother to think it could kill me…” Conwell interrupted.
“Conwell… shut up…” Star continued, “At this point most of the battle was a blur, I just remember getting blasted by some spell once, getting up rushing him again, getting blasted one more time, and then hearing our village’s three elders just as everything went black.”
“Yeah the those three where worried you weren’t going to pull through… specially since the last nuke was as point blank as you could get,” Conwell added.
“So you somehow managed to come through and…” Cy began.
“Well I was out for a month if I remembered right, when I finally woke up the three elders where hesitant on filling me in on what exactly happened,” Star replied.
“Yeah, they didn’t want you to go running off and getting yourself killed…” Conwell stated.
Star looked frustrated at Conwell, “You want me to tell the satyr or not?”
Conwell looked away, “Okay, okay, go on…”
“The three elders briefly trained me in the next month to use more efficient weaponry, or as you know them as artifacts, before explaining the myth to me,” Star looked off beyond the deadlands.
“Myth?” Cyclops inquired.
“Yes, the myth of the Plague. A terrible disease that has tormented our tribe every 20 or so years, it was caused by a very powerful sidhe, who is known to cast spells just to torment fae and mortal alike… this was the person on the peak. On top of that, I didn’t completely interrupt his spell, it has already killed a number of people in the month I was knocked out, and a few more in the weeks I was recovering.
Now it only affects one last person in our tribe, a little girl, and I refuse to let that spell take one more life so the elders sent me off on my way to find ingredients to a medicine that will cure the plague… so I managed to get the first ingredient just now, two more to go,” Star finished.
Cy nodded understandably, “What are the last two?”
“Seven dragon tears and petals of the swamprock flower,” Conwell said.
Cyclops looked at Conwell curiously out of the corner of his eye.
“Me? No, fire-breathing dragons shed no tears,” Conwell answered.
“Well, that makes since, I guess…” Cy nodded.
A gust of wind made a small dust storm well up, as if warning travelers of the danger of nightly voyage.
“Well this is it,” Cyclops smiled as they entered a small western style town, complete with saloons and dusty roads. A well stood in the center of the tiny town, and troths and harness rails lined the outside of most buildings though no horses to speak of where in town. Cy parked his jeep outside the saloon with the name “DRY WATER SALOON” on the sign above the door. “The Dry Water is the home base for the Tinfold freehold,” Cy explained, “Siben wants to extend the freehold beyond the bar but we don’t have enough fae to make it a reasonable move.”
Star looked up at the freehold, as if she never saw one before… “Tinfold was a dragon, right?” her gaze fixated on something beyond the sign it seemed.
“Yes, she was a dragon…” Cy paused, looking curiously at Star “Not many people know that…”
“Our tribe specialized in dragon myth,” Conwell explained.
“Well, don’t be shy… come on in Star, Conwell,” Cy smiled, not needed any more explanation.
Inside the saloon tables scattered about the floor, a stage stood at the far left end, and the bar at the far right. Everything was made of walnut and other dark woods, and a staircase was hidden behind the far wall as one may walk in. The bar was carved in very high detail. A boggan stood behind the bar speaking to a troll with a guitar strapped to his back, a conversation drifted across the empty bar room. The troll dwarfed the boggan in his immense size, not that boggans weren’t short enough already. The boggan had a friendly composure about him.
“And so I’m just standing here wiping off the bar, when Catlina came running out of Sam’s workshop with Sam close behind with a wrench yelling and cursing like he always does when some one messes with his creations. I have to say it was sort of nice to have something happen in an uneventful day,” the boggan laughed.
“So that’s way Catlina teleported home so soon…” the troll stated calmly, as the boggan placed a drink in front of him.
“Yep, any longer and I’m sure he would’ve killed her,” the boggan nodded, “or at lest tore her up really good.”
Cyclops walked up to the two fae, “How’s everyone doing right now?”
“Back already?” the troll asked.
“Yeah well, long stories are followed by longer ones, anyway I met someone you guys should meet,” Cy looked back at Star, who was still looking at the Saloon’s layout, “Come on, they don’t bite,” he reassured.
“Oh, um… hiya,” Star said almost nervously, Conwell perched on her shoulder looking around as well, then hopped off onto the bar as Star walked up to it.
“Guys, this is Star… Star this is Bob,” Cyclops pointed to the troll, “and the barkeep’s name is Rhubarb,” he pointed to the boggan behind the bar.
“Well, nice to meet you,” Star said glancing over at Bob nervously.
Cy laughed, “Don’t worry bout Bob here, he wouldn’t harm a fly… he just looks big and scary.”
Bob laughed at Cyclops’ comment, “Almost hate to say it… he’s right, anyway, howdy ma’am.”
Rhubarb just smiled, “You want anything to drink? I can make anything you want… on the house, we don’t get many travelers.”
“Water would be great,” Star smiled, still a bit worried about the ten foot troll.
“Oh nonsense, have an ale or martini, I can make any kind of drink!” Rhubarb insisted.
“If you insist then lemonade… I really don’t like alcohol,” Star stated.
Rhubarb smiled, “Well noted, I’ll be sure to remember that,” he produced a lemonade almost instantly from under the bar and set it in front of Star, “I was never much of a drinker myself,” Rhubarb laughed.
“So where do you come from?” Bob asked.
“A small tribe…” Star answered.
“The Dragon tribe…” Conwell added.
Bob nodded, “You looking for something?”
“From the story she told me, a few things,” Cy nodded.
“Aye,” Star replied, “and much of it a task to get, but I’m sure I’ll be able to get everything.”
“Though, we could use some help,” Conwell nodded, Star scowled at him, “What? We need some help, admit Star… for once?” he pleaded.
“We are just passing through Conwell,” Star narrowed her eyes, “We are just here because dealing with zombies isn’t first on my to-do list.”
Cyclops nodded listening carefully, “Of course,” he smiled, “Maybe you should just stay till our freehold leader gets back; he should be back tomorrow morning anyway… I bet he can tell you the fastest ways to get to where you need to go to, after all he is well traveled.”
Star looked at Cyclops, “Well, since he will be here tomorrow anyway, maybe I will talk to him then,” she smiled, and then walked outside.
Conwell looked at Cyclops a little bit stunned, “Okay, how did…?”
The satyr put his elbows on the bar by Conwell, “You need to understand how a young fae thinks. They will never admit they need help half the time especially if you offer it directly or try to convince them of it. As long as you know what not to do you find out what to do.”
Rhubarb nodded, “Yep, Cyclops knows more about young fae then anybody I know. He has a real talent.”
Conwell looked at Cyclops one more time then flew off after Star.
A room of gold and red, delicate detail enhanced even the most inconspicuous piece of furniture. A line of red carpet leads the way to a section with a gold couch with red cushions and a couple of matching chairs with high backs surrounding a huge fireplace with very detailed gold trim. The detail on the fireplace was outstanding, loin heads on either side, grape vines twining up the insider and outer pillars, and finally above it all a dragon (Japanese in style) staring off at any guests in the room with a rising sun right behind it, the claws open as if ready to snatch the guest that was the slightest bit unaware. The walls remained white to avoid making the room too rich though a delicate gold trim outlined the wall and huge paintings adorned the wall in many places. The paintings where of Greek gardens, flowery hillsides, and a single portrait of a beautiful, elegant satyr female on a garden bench under a cherry tree in full bloom.
Siben waited quietly on the couch, his two body guards stood at either side of the doors. The doors were oversized with a little planer gold detail then the rest of the room. It was silent in the room, no one really talked much. Siben fumbled with a piece of paper he took out of one of his pockets and after looking at it for a few seconds put the paper back in his pocket.
Suddenly the one of the doors opened and in walked a male satyr. He was wearing a white gi with a black belt. He calmly looked up at the two guards and then proceeded to a small cupboard containing fine wines and steamed glasses.
“So Siben, would you care for anything to drink?” the satyr smiled as he glanced over at Siben.
“Nothing for me thanks,” Siben replied.
The satyr proceeded to pour two glasses of red wine and walked over to Siben placing one of the glasses on the coffee table right in front of him.
“Siben, I know you better then that,” the Satyr smiled, “so what is concerning you so that you can’t enjoy a drink with an old friend?”
Siben looked around then picked the paper back out of his pocket and handed it to the satyr, “This should explain most of it Vangar.”
Vangar picked up the paper and looked at it… it was a letter. Vangar looked carefully at it and started reading…
My dear brother,
This trifle has gone on too long… what would Iran think of us? It is about time we put our differences behind us. After all Iran would. It is about time we got together on a friendlier note, rather then a hostile one.
So as I write this letter to you my brother, I plan on visiting your freehold within seven days of this letter’s arrival. Though it was your stupid mistake that cost Iran his life, I am willing to put that aside. I’m sure he forgives you… though it is questionable.
As I said before I’ll soon come to Tinfold, I look forward to seeing you on a much lighter note for a change… I might even have a special gift for you.
Your dear brother,
Ivan
“Well, I see where you are concerned…” Vangar looked at Siben, “Can he make it more obvious is the question.”
“You must give him a few points for effort though,” Siben looked away.
“I’d say he is definitely planning something. You’ve been to your harpy friends yet?”
“Yes, and they couldn’t tell me much, just confirmed my brother has a plan and a possibly a monster in his possession.”
“Monster?”
“Yes, Iris saw some beast that attacked her in the vision.”
Vangar paced a minute then sat down looking at the paper, “Wonder what kind of beast… it really isn’t you brother’s style to use anything more then minions, he isn’t exactly a summoner.”
“Wish I knew.”
“Did they tell you anything else?”
“Now that you mention it… they did say something about a unique gem I would run across somehow, but not where about I would find it.”
“Maybe that means your fortune is looking up finally,” Vangar smiled.
“Must be… I never run across treasure in my freehold,” Siben laughed.
“Well, I’m sure I can guess what your request for me is,” Vangar smiled, “if it is going to Tinfold and making sure your brother doesn’t cause trouble, of course I’ll go with you… if I guessed wrong you’ll have to fill me in.”
“No, you still know me better then I know myself,” Siben smiled taking a sip of the wine, “When can you be ready?”
“Give me an hour and we’ll be at the edge of the dead lands by sunset. It was getting boring around here anyway lately,” Vangar stood up and walked to a cabinet and opened the doors. Inside lay on a rack a katana, its hilt gave off a gentle glow. Vangar gently lifted the sword out of the cabinet and wrapped the shaft belt around his waist. “I do nothing without my family’s sword,” Vangar smiled.
“God, I didn’t even notice you weren’t wearing it,” Siben laughed.
Vangar smiled, “I do need to put it away once and awhile, but I keep it close by. I’ll be back with my bags in a few minutes.” Vangar swiftly walked out of the room.
Siben got up and stood in front of the fireplace gazing at the dragon. The dragon returned the gaze, it seemed like it had gotten colder in the room and things close by seemed far away. The dragon stared, it was almost as if it was warning Siben of something but just could not break through. The message, like the harpies visions, was lost to the abyss. Siben shook himself awake and sat back down on the couch.
Star walked about the ghost town, only the fae of Tinfold inhabited the town. Most of the building contained animatronics figures that where covered in lightly in dust. Star kicked up dust from the ground and watched the light breeze carry it away; she sat down on a stoop to a general store and closed her eyes. Only the breeze made a sound, it was peaceful and the suns warmth soothed away the soreness from her tired legs. Conwell landed on a close railing and looked off into the horizon, “You think this Siben guy is going to be helpful?”
Star looked up at the dragon, “Maybe… if he knows the way the Canvas.”
“You know Canvas is going to be much harder, you might have to fight,” Conwell looked down.
“Fight? I’ll tell you when I’m worried about fighting…” Star grinned.
“Heh, I guess that’s not something you’d worry about right away,” Conwell replied, “I was just making sure no one did anything to your head.”
“Huh??? Why would you think that?” Star looked at Conwell in surprise.
“Didn’t take you long to agree with that satyr…”
Star closed her eyes again, “Mostly since my legs are aching, we have to stay the night anyway… and it’s strange, I don’t get bad vies here… lest not as bad of vies.”
“Tinfold must’ve put her seal on this place before she left,” Conwell nodded, “She never liked violence, and I know she took care of some orphaned fae during a war in this area.”
“So this place was like an orphanage?”
“Kinda, I guess… she never really talked about it cause it would normally get her scorned by other dragons, it wasn’t much of a secret though… many of the other dragons knew, they just didn’t say anything.”
“Dragons aren’t the friendly sort I’m guessing.”
“No, most dragons want to be left alone… others want to be nice despite our fierce reputation, or like me cursed by a slightly more powerful dragon.”
“Admit it… you’re a “nice” dragon,” Star laughed.
“AM NOT, if I had my fire breathing ability back you’d be toast!”
“Heh, so mice just become crispy spontaneously?”
“Hey watch it… I can still get you with my tail…”
Star snickered, “You’re a nice dragon… admit it, you wouldn’t harm a fly.” Star stood up laughing.
“I’ll show you!” Conwell tried to strike her with his tail but Star dodged. Star suddenly turned her head to the edge of the dead lands.
“OWCH!” she cried as Conwell successfully hit her his on his second try, Star looked up at him scowling then turned toward the dead lands once again.
“I told you you’d get…” suddenly Conwell realized Star was focusing on something, “What’s going on Star?”
“I wonder what made the dead lands like they are now,” she turned back to Conwell.
“All I know is that this place use to be a chimerical battle ground. I never came here cause it was full of warring fae, I heard the battles where intense… and there was many casualties. By the time it was over no one really knew what started it in the first place, all that was left was the repercussions. The land absorbed so much energy that it trapped those who died in battle, and reanimates them when the moonlight hits the ground,” Conwell looked down at Star, “I only know pieces about what I’ve heard, there has to be hundreds of stories.”
“Why is the oasis different though? Didn’t it absorb magic from the battle too?”
“Aye it did, but also it was said that Tinfold lost one of her scales in the area, and somehow that de-cursed or prevented the curse from spreading there.”
“The tree, that must be why they sent me to this tree. It makes since, if the scale prevented the curse, then it would be in the center right under the tree.”
“Careful with trying to get everything to make since Star,” Conwell warned.
Star looked up at him and grinned, “You know I already know I’m crazy to some extent, just trying to stay away from full blown insanity.”
Conwell sighed, “Come on, I bet they’ll eat without us if we don’t get back.”
The night air began to sweep into the town, it was cool and sweet. The sky started to hue into black as tiny specs brightened the sky, the moon started to show a golden silvery light.
Star looked around as everything started to darken, her eyes seemed to shift color as well, the breeze welled up around her and departed with a small amount of dust from the ground, everything seemed peaceful, a harmony that went uninterrupted, undisturbed from the rest of the world quieted the area.
“Star? You coming?” Conwell called back.
Star looked around then ran after Conwell, “Yep, just didn’t want to leave anything lying around.”
Star and Conwell re-entered the Dry Water Saloon, smells of dinner lofted through the air. Rhubarb looked up from the counter, “Ahh, just in time… what can I get yas two to eat,” he smiled.
“What is there?” Star asked curiously.
“Anything you like I can make, as long as I know what it is,” he laughed.
A nocker walked into the bar, he looked at Rhubarb, “Make yourself useful and get me my dinner boogen.”
Star glanced over at the slightly rude man, short, skinny, and a red and white face. It didn’t look like he smiled much at all.
“Dam it what are YOU looking at eshu!” he shouted, “and who the hell are ye?”
Star looked around then started to speak, she was cut short by the nocker.
“Oh wait, I heard of yas, you that dam eshu that almost killed Cyclops. What do you think you’re doing here anyways!”
Star looked at Conwell for a second and whispered, “Nocker?”
Conwell nodded.
The small man walked right up to her and jabbed her with a steel rod he was carrying, “What are you two idiots talking about behind my back? The hell with you if you say you two aren’t saying stuff behind my back, I know dam well better. So what say ye!?”
“Sam, leave the Eshu alone,” Rhubarb chimed in behind the bar, “She’s not doing anything to you.”
“Well, your not helping! You should have me a plate of food by now, bah! You talk too much to be useful, I should make a machine to replace you one of these days after I finish my dam engine!”
A winged cat jumped up on the bar and looked around at the fight. It looked at Star and Conwell a second and casually walked to them. Star smiled at the cat and scratched it’s ears, ignoring the loud little man of complaining. The winged cat purred, and sat just close enough to Star to be scratched behind the ears.
“I’ll tell you what yous be good for boggan! And it ain’t your usefulness….” Sam got cut short as he turned to see the cat purring for Star, “Well, hell… if the cat likes ya guess you can’t be that bad of a dam eshu… good for nothin’ and useless but not bad,” Sam walked back to a bar stool he then climbed up on, “Dam it Rhubarb! Ain’t you going to introduce me to the new idiot?”
Rhubarb chuckled to himself before saying, “Sam this is Starfang, Starfang this err… rude nocker’s name is Samuel.”
“Rude? I’m not being rude dam it… and I’m not the one not doing his job.”
“You do know, Sam, it DOES take a few minuets to make, longer if you complain about it,” Rhubarb retaliated and slid a plate of food in front of Sam.
“Fine… need to find something to make ye work faster then,” Sam snared, “Pleasure meeting you Star… come on kitty I got some nice cream for yas in my fridge.”
The cat jumped off the bar after the nocker. They walked into a door in the back and disappeared.
“Nice cat…” Star observed.
“Yeah Sam really loves that cat, it is the only thing here that makes him possible to stand being around other people. Anyway,” Rhubarb coughed, “what do ya two want to eat.”
“Grapes would be great,” Conwell said quickly.
“Hmmm,” Star thought quietly, “Maybe a bowl of gritten soup?”
Rhubarb looked a little surprised at the request.
“If it is too much I can just have vegetable…” Star replied to his surprised face.
“Nono, just surprised an eshu would request it, normally get that request from sidhe, really no problem at all.” Rhubarb replied as he went to work.
“Um, aren’t the others eating?” Star asked looking around the empty bar.
“Yes, they eat at all different times though or insist on eating by themselves,” Rhubarb smiled as he put the soup and the grapes in front of them, “Only time you’ll see everyone eating together is at breakfast and if Siben calls a meeting.”
“Where is this Siben anyway?”
“Out of town, he left about a week ago… looked a little nervous, to be honest it worries me some… then again I worry a lot so I’m told.”
Star took a sip of the soup, “Good soup Rhubarb, haven’t had this since I was a little girl.”
“Aye, it is simple to make but most fae other then sidhe don’t have a taste for it. Anyway I was wondering where you have to go next anyway.”
“Hmmm, guess I forgot to tell you guys… I need to head to Canvas swamp next.”
“Ack! Redcaps… I hope you don’t plan on going alone,” Rhubarb said shocked.
“Why?” Star looked at Conwell a second.
“Redcaps are cannibals, they eat anyone or anything.” Rhubarb looked worried.
“Well Star he IS right, redcaps will pose a problem,” Conwell nodded.
“Well then we can just avoid them then… right?” Star stated calmly.
“It is possible, but might be tricky to get in then,” Conwell said.
“Well then! That’s great, Siben will be able to help you guys then,” Rhubarb smiled, “Siben knows a good teleporter name Catlina, I’m sure Siben can convince Catlina to help you two.”
“At lest that is good to know,” Conwell said confidently, “Maybe this will be easy for once.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Star whispered under her breath jokingly.
The sun lowered in the sky as the edge of the grassland started to give way; it was the hour before dusk. The moon’s image started to press into the sky, the air cooled and awaiting the night. Clouds seem to drift away and let the tiny specs of starlight speckle the darkening sky.
“We should stop here for the night,” Siben ordered seeing the dead lands just ahead of them.
“Aye,” replied Vangar as he set his bag on the ground and started to rummage through it.
“Why we gotta stop?” one of the trolls replies, “daylight not gone yet, we can cross the dead lands in an hour…”
“Bah all today has been is move move move, ‘let’s get there before sundown’ is all I’ve been hearing all day,” the other troll argued, “What’s a few miles more? It’s not like we have feet that can feel anymore!”
“Knowing you, you’ll stub your toe and will be hopping on one foot for ten minuets,” Siben said in a sarcastic manner, “and we’ll have to fight zombies for the rest of the night.”
The troll set his bag down on the ground and grumbled, “Well I better get a chance to bash something soon…”
“You want to bash something Mason? Then go bash us up some dinner…” Siben said smartly.
Mason looked at the other troll, “you coming Velgar?”
“You where the one that volunteered … try to get a nice goat or better yet a deer.” Velgar replied angrily.
Mason grabbed Velgar by the shoulder, “Come on now!” he ordered.
“Alright,” he replied flinching a bit. Both trolls walked off clubs in hand.
“Good help hard to find?” Vangar asked.
“Hard to find and keep alive, more like it,” Siben took one of the bags the trolls where carrying and opened it. He drug out the tents and laid them out then pointed to them and a stream of magic flowed out of his hand and set up the tents almost instantly.
Vangar looked down at his tent for a second, “Um could you?”
“Why not,” Siben laughed as he used the same spell on Vangar’s tent.
“I should learn that spell one day,” Vangar commented standing back and looking at the spells handy work.
“Just tell me when and I’ll be happy to oblige.”
“Heh, might take you up on that soon.”
“Wonder what has happened at the freehold since I’ve been gone…?”
“Probably the same daily routine.”
“Yeah, Cy probably went to the oasis, Rhubarb and Sam fighting, Catlina probably went home early because she messed with Sam…”
“Catlina visited you guys?”
“Yeah as soon as I found Mason and Velgar I asked her to teleport us back to Tinfold.”
Vangar got out his canteen and took a few sips, “Heh, I can just see Sam chasing Catlina out of his workshop.”
“Hope I get there before my brother does, no one would know what to do.”
“Well Cy would probably show him the door.”
“Only if he is there, if he is still at the oasis we can only hope Bob would do the same thing… but you can’t get him to fight, my brother knows that too.”
“Sam would try to run him off I’m sure.”
“Yeah Sam would, but a nocker isn’t the biggest threat you can pull, and Rhubarb would hide under the bar,” Siben chuckled as he sat down by a nearby tree stump, “Can’t wait to go home.”
“How long does it take to find something to bash for dinner?” Vangar asked, “I saw lots of plain deer in this area, they don’t even hide well there is so many.”
“Those two? We’ll be lucky if we eat.”
“Why? They can’t hunt?”
“No they argue too much… I’ve just learned to ignore it.”
The dusk started to set in, the moon and the stars where brightening. It wasn’t long before the sun set completely. Vangar and Siben dozed off only to be awakened by Mason and Velgar yelling at them for being asleep when they finally caught something.
Mason threw the carcass down in front of Siben, “Okay we caught one now you fix it.”
“Fine,” Siben sighed, “I’d rather just sleep and have it for breakfast but if you insist…” He walked over to an opening and caste a spell, a whirlwind came up and hollowed out a small pit in the ground. Vangar decided he should help some too, so he dug in his bag and pulled out a hatchet then started to cut up the tree for wood with it. Vangar grabbed as many pieces he could and walked over to the pit, spilling the armful of wood into it. Siben twitched his fingers a little and the wood busted into flames. Siben looked sleepily at the fire; its glow filled the area with dim light and warmth. Velgar, getting tired of waiting, skewered the dead beast and set up a rack to cook it. The fire cracked and sparked, spitting flames up when the animal’s fat hit the fire. The smell was nauseating for awhile as the skin burned away.
Siben, half asleep, began dreaming of what the harpies said, a gem… a remarkable one at that… one that might be of riches, the emerald of Atlantis, something that everyone else said was just a myth. Maybe a ruby no one knew about, that gave its holder enhanced powers.
“Siben? You awake?” a voice shattered the half dream; Vangar was in front of him holding a plate of meat, “here looks like you should eat something.”
Siben looked at the meat chunks, “I really can’t wait to get home now… where Rhubarb makes the food…” The meat still smelt foul, “What did you do bring back road kill?” he looked accusingly at Mason and Velgar.
“I TOLD you that spell would make it smell bad but Nooooo …” Velgar glared at Mason.
“Oh come on, I couldn’t get close enough to bash one so I had to cast the only spell I know that won’t kill us,” Mason said defensively.
Siben and Vangar looked down at their plates… “I think we’ll have the oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow…” Siben coughed.
“Errr I think I’m not that hungry, yeah I think I’ll wait till the morning…” Vangar said setting his plate to the side.
“Why not we just go to bed and get an early start in the morning, you two can remember to dose the fire… right?” Siben asked.
“Aye Aye, master. Well, I will at lest… can’t say much about my brother though,” Velgar said sneering, “If I wasn’t a troll I would try to get out of eating this junk too.”
“Oh yeah, I didn’t see YOU helping much!” Mason yelled.
“Well alright, try to keep the arguments down too and have a good night,” Siben smiled as he went into his tent to sleep, it would be an interesting day tomorrow anyway… if his brother shows up…
The stars shown brightly in the clear night sky, the moon full and lustrous beamed down light that made an eerie glow cover the ground, a shadow stalked back and forth, a panther… waiting to strike, waiting for the right time. The groans of the undead rang softly throughout the dead lands, souls trying to escape, make it to the oasis, be freed… perhaps if they could find a soul to take their place they’d finally be freed, maybe two… perhaps they need to force three souls to take their curse away… perhaps… even more.
As Four It Began
*crashhhhh*
*clashhhhh*
*fooooooorrrrrr*
*rrooooooorrrrrr*
The waves clashed up against a rocky shore cliff. It seemed like the jagged walls stood to hide some secrets in the twilight as the foamy waves came up against it. The ocean’s assault never seemed to end upon the jagged, gray rocks. The rocks managed to hold a walking path above the bitter wave assault. Though narrow it was walkable and lead to an entrance of a cave that glow with an eerie light. The wind was the wave’s ally; it made the narrow path treacherous to anyone that decided to go to the cave. The sea sprayed the path with water droplets that felt like missiles to tender skin, and made the path slick to any feet that treaded about the road. Skeletons of past ships dotted the area, the ocean was relentless to all, land and sea fairer. No one would tread upon the cliffs for nothing and much less enjoyment.
Seen in the distance a person of average stature, maybe just slightly shorter then average, in a dark, black, silk robe trimmed in gold made his way to the caves. Very little seemed to bother him, as if the attackers just stayed their distance for one reason or another. It was obvious that who ever this was, was a sidhe, with dark features and hair, pointed ears, and a clam noble charm about him. He peeked into the cave and in a very charismatic voice asked, “Hello? Are the most beautiful ladies of the world home?” his voice echoed through the cave as if music.
“Oh Siben, come in come in,” a voice answered, unlike his own this voice was screechy, “oh sisters, we have a visitor.”
Siben walked down the narrow cave, the ceiling was so low it made him have to duck down a little. The cave also had many jagged edges as did the cliffs outside. Finally, he got to a room that was open enough for him to stand up straight without bumping his head, “thank you my dear ladies, the weather is horrid outside.”
In the center of the room stood a stand of smooth stone with a round dish of stone that held a shallow puddle of water with a few natural gems and crystals piercing the top of the water along the edges. Around the stone bath where three harpies and a siren, the harpies looked ragged and ugly, with pointed teeth and dull ugly feathers, wiry hair and weathered skin. Just the opposite of the siren, who had all the same features only smoother and more pleasant to observe. “Ahhh yes, it has been that way for awhile now,” one of the harpies replied.
“So what do we owe your great presents?” another harpy asked.
“I wanted to ask you if you could peak into the future for me,” Siben replied.
“The future we see is not set in stone Siben,” another one replied.
“I know Trilly and I hope it is not, I’m just afraid my brother plans on my death. I want to know what he is planning so I can plan on stopping him,” Siben explained.
“Ahhh, so we will try and see what is the future,” Tirry laughed delighted, “gather sisters, to the stone, to the water shallow rim,” Tirry chanted as the other three gathered round.
“To the mist of fog below” the second chanted. A fog began to lift out of the water in the dish.
“To the future of life unfold,” the third added. A dim light began to show through the fog now spilling out of the stone basin.
“And show us the track of present now…” the siren continued in a pleasant velvety voice. The fog gently swirled up and spread.
“Find the future of the one who is near” Tirry screeched as the water in the stone bath began to mist and swirl out to the floor and surrounded Siben’s feet. All four of them gazed into the pool, their eyes glowing an eerie cream.
“I see a plan that is clever,” the second stated.
“I see a gem of remarkable beauty,” the third added.
“I see a horrible creature is plotted,” the siren broke the chain and screamed of fear.
Tirry looked at the pool as the mist quickly faded, “The future is in a fog, nothing can be seen clearly. Maybe it is that monster Iris seen.” The mist retracted terribly fast back into the pool.
The two other sisters agreed.
“What monster?” Siben asked.
“Oh, a horrible one, it reached for me. I don’t think I was suppose to see it,” Iris said distressed.
“Then the monster is conscience about us. Beware Siben that means this monster is closer to you then you think,” Tirry warned.
“I bet you that creature belongs to my brother,” Siben remarked.
“That maybe true, but then again something different maybe after you,” the second harpy added.
Siben looked to the side and nodded, “Yes, that could be,” he paused a bit, “What about this clever plan and this gem though?”
“The plan is most surly your brothers,” the second harpy said, “Yes, you may die if he succeeds but something is blocking it, I could not see any details, nor could I for see success or failure of this plan.”
“The gem is unclear; I can not say where you would find it. It is from something unexpected, it is something unexplained,” the third explained.
Siben looked around, trying to make some since of what was going on, “Well, I guess with the future being unclear I should take some preventative measures.”
“That would not be an idea left in vain,” Trilly commented.
“I guess I’ll have to bid you lovely ladies farewell for now, I must contact a good friend of mine elsewhere in the world,” Siben smiled as he walked out of the cave.
“Farewell and Good luck,” the harpies called after.
Siben made his way down the path, just as a fog drifted into the shore. At the base of the cliff stood two trolls that dwarfed Siben altogether, they stood a well built ten feet in the air and had blue skin, with stub like horns growing out of the forehead.
“You find out anything?” one asked.
“Not much, much less useful stuff,” Siben replied.
“We going to head back?” the other one asked.
“Not yet, I’m going to have to talk to a friend of mine in the next town,” Siben said, “Come on hurry up, we can be there before the sun goes down.”
“Yes sir,” they both said less then pleased.
Amidst the fog as they left, stood a shadow that seemed to be watching. The harpy cave was now sealed with a boulder that wasn’t there before. The weather seemed to calm down out of fear of this shadowy figure that stood there, watching, waiting… for something unknown.
Silence… the beautiful secret kept by both satyr and eshu. A world that lived in the nature of trees, a forest that outlived the hand of time and the cruelty of the barren dead land around it, an image of life amongst the cracked, dusty floor and the rock hard ground a deciduous forest bloomed like a flower amongst the wreckage of years past. The forest told its own tales of sadness, about warriors and heroes long since pasted, all that remains is the blessed ground that many finally rested in the great calming beauty of the forest… the forest itself made death for these few fortunate one, who managed to make their last breaths out of the battle in the dieing land, peaceful. Alas though, the forest no longer supports as much life as it once did, most of the chimeras had wandered away, only a few mortal creatures remained. Mostly birds and a few smaller creatures that seek shelter from the cursed lands that surrounded them.
A satyr walked through the forest, looking like he has seen one too many battles, with a muscular build, a few medium colored features, and no longer having his left eye, perhaps he lost it in a battle long pasted. He didn’t wear much more the loin cloth, a few leather straps going across his chest and a belt with a small, crudely made bag attached. Like most satyrs his horns where similar to a mature ram’s, and also had the lower portion of a goat’s as well. He looked around a finally sat down on a fallen log, he looked long at the flowers peeking up from the leafy ground. Despite his lost eye and aged appearance, he didn’t look mean… in fact far from it. After awhile he pulled out a journal from his bag, perhaps poetry or love songs but his appearance would lead you to believe it was an actual journal debating his own life, reflections of his war torn past, or maybe of happier times to be remembered in the calming tranquility of the forest around him.
He closed his one good eye and took a deep breath, absorbing the peace around him, he seemed to have some of his youth restored in the calm… he wasn’t as old as he looked; it was the battles in his life that aged him.
*creeeeek*
*Craaaashhh*
*BOOOM*
Bursting out of the bushes, a blurred image that nearly ran the satyr over if he didn’t dodge out of the way in time.
“Hey! What the???” he yelled barely getting out of the way of the person running, “Shit…” The trees in the distance where ripped, splitting and falling down, the tougher trees shook as if some great mass ran into them, a rumble vibrated the ground.
A dragon swiftly followed the blur, quite small it stopped for a second, looking at the satyr, “If you want my advice, I’d start running now.”
The satyr, not to argue with the point the dragon made, stumbled quickly to his feet (or hoofs) and started after the dragon. He didn’t have much trouble keeping up with the dragon and finally saw a little ways ahead what almost ran him over. It was a young eshu, Native American in appearance. Still the image was blurry and he was having difficulty focusing on the eshu. Finally caught up to the running eshu, “Might I ask what the hell we are running from?”
The eshu glanced back at him, “Manicore… I… think…” she panted.
“Run, don’t stop…” the dragon commanded.
“What do you mean ‘You think’” the satyr asked.
The dragon looked at the satyr with a scowl, “Questions… later, RUN NOW!”
“Could be… a dragon by now,” the eshu added.
“What do you mean ‘could’ be?” the satyr looked behind him for a second; the peaceful oasis had become a race with something. The sound of the trees falling was getting closer.
“Well it was… a monkey… before we started… running,” the eshu said.
“Shit, what did you do to make it mad!” the satyr started to pick up some pace.
“I think… it likes… that tree a whole… lot,” the eshu sprung off of a rock.
“What the hell did you do to its tree?” the satyr dodged a low branch.
“Well it is the only… ACK!” the eshu got knocked over by the low branch, suddenly a paw of black claws came down just as she managed to get up, “If… we… get one… mile… out of… here… we… should be… okay…” the eshu panted.
“Okay then, move it! I’m not about to become dragon bits,” the dragon stated, “She’ll explain why she is trying to kill herself if she manages not to.”
“Can’t argue with that,” the satyr agreed.
“Then don’t,” the dragon said coldly.
The dead lands opened up into a desolate plain, dust shifted with the wind. The satyr looked around, “Okay follow me. This way…” he pointed off to the right.
The eshu looked a bit confused.
“Come on Star,” the dragon motioned to follow the satyr.
Star looked up, “straight… shorter,” she panted.
“I know, but it is going to get dark soon. We’ll be closer to a town if we head this way,” the satyr explained.
Star turned to follow, stumbling a bit then gasping in a deep breath and stared a flat out run, just as a manicore tore through the trees. The rest of the run was fairly quite, the satyr glanced back to make sure they where following. The eshu was still a blur to him though she started coming into focus, suddenly she was a blur again. The manicore was gaining ground; finally the satyr crossed the one mile mark and came to a stop. The eshu was just about there when a rock pricing through the hard cracked ground tripped her. Dust sprayed up from the ground as she fell on her face, sliding just behind the mile radius. Looking behind herself as she was getting up she saw the manicore on top of her getting ready to sting. Just as the stinger came down the satyr reached out and grabbed her shoulder and dragged her out of the way, the manicore roared in frustration as it realized it had only stung the ground.
“BRRRROOOAAAAARRRR,” the mainicore screamed as it reared up on its hind quarters, ready to pounce. Suddenly, it stopped… looked around… growled in frustration after realizing how far away it was from the oasis. The manicore looked once more at Star and the satyr, turned around and slowly shifted its form into a unicorn. With a leap and a kick, the creature ran back to the oasis with unmatched speed.
Star, still panting from the run, looked shocked and relived. The dragon landed on the ground next to her, “Let’s not do that ever again… next time you say something will be easy I’m not listening…”
“Well, that was… fun…” Star panted.
“Interesting way to end my day, you two okay?” the satyr asked.
“I’m… fine…” Star answered.
“Interesting isn’t the word for it, really Star… I really can’t tell... are you bent on killing yourself? Or what?” the dragon groaned.
“Not to change the subject… WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?!?!” the satyr asked looking at them and pointing in direction the creature ran off to.
“Um…” Star looked around then picked up her bag around her shoulder still panting, it looked as if she had something in her hand, “I believe it was a shifter…”
The dragon nodded, “At lest you managed not to drop it.”
Star dug out a small tube with a cork; she opened it up and dropped a small nut into the tube then put the cork back on it.
“Do you have a death wish or something!?!” the satyr replied still in a bit of shock.
The dragon looked around for a bit, then turned to the satyr, “Actually, it is just the opposite… quite a long story.”
The satyr, finally calming down, and seeing things in a much more focused fashion, scratched the back of his head and laughed a little, “Well I can’t say this is the worst thing that has happened, after all my hide is still intact.” He looked at the eshu for a minute; she didn’t look like many other eshus he would’ve come across… it was oblivious that she wasn’t use to combat or running a flat mile or so. . She was young probably around eighteen. She had black hair and three feathers oriented one side going down a strand of hair. The darkness of her hair didn’t seem to completely suit her face for some odd reason. Sweat dampened her forehead and dripped on to her tan leather plate armor. She seemed a little bit more muscular then most eshus as well as a bit shorter. Her eyes seemed to shift colors with the light
Star weakly got back to her feet again and placed the tube into her bag. Then looked questionably at the satyr.
“Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself,” the satyr said quickly.
“Really, no worries here… I’d be impressed if you could introduce yourself running from a creature that may or may not want to eat you,” the dragon lowered his head.
“Well anyway, my name is Cyclops but most of my friends refer to me a Cy,” Cy finally said extending his hand.
Star looked at the dragon a second then up at the satyr, “Well my name…” Star looked to be collecting her thoughts, “My name is Starfang, but most just call me Star… and this is Conwell,” she pointed to the dragon, completely ignoring Cy’s extended hand.
“Well, so why did you decide to make the shifter mad?” Cy asked a little more calmly.
“As Conwell said, ‘it is a long story’, and it is getting late we need to get moving,” Star said looking at the shadows, her eyes seemed to gaze farther then just over the plain, that or she couldn’t focus on anything except catching her breath.
“Ahem,” Cy coughed, “there is a reason I told you to follow me.” Cyclops scanned the area and walked over to a small weed, grabbed what seemed to be air and reviled a camouflaged jeep.
Star looked at the jeep and then at Cyclops, “Okay, how do you not lose your car?”
“Easy, I park next to something I can see,” he replied folding what appeared to be distorted air, “I got tired of random creatures getting in my car and car-jackers helping themselves. So I got an invisibility sheet, put an end to that stuff now I need to make sure I remember where I parked it or else I’ll lose it for a month and a half like last time,” Cy laughed.
“Er car-jackers?” Star looked around confused.
“Well, you’d be surprised,” Cy said with a grin, “Anyway, you can tell me this long story while we drive to the freehold that I belong to. It seems like a story that is bound to be interesting”
“Okay,” Conwell jumped on the back of the passenger seat, “Hurry up Star.”
“I really wouldn’t recommend walking to town when it is getting this late,” Cy added.
Star walked slowly to the passenger side, trying very hard not to look as if she was staggering, very unsuccessfully.
Cyclops waited for Star patiently to get in before starting the engine, “So I bet your glad not to be walking,” he laughed seeing how she was staggering, “so what is this story of yours.”
“Well it starts a few months ago, in our village. It was harvest time and like always I was helping carry grain to the silos. Everything was going as planned and we where blessed with a large harvest.
Anyway, I just remember seeing someone on the peak. Dragonfang Peak is secret and no one was allowed on it except for a few ceremonies. I pointed the strange figure out to many of my people but no one seemed to see him but me, so I ran into my hut and grabbed my sword and put on some crud armor then climbed up the peak… I warned the figure to go away, but he started chanting strange words. At this point I knew that couldn’t be good so I rushed him.” Star started.
“Yeah, I love her philosophy; ‘if it is a bad thing, attack it’ don’t bother to think it could kill me…” Conwell interrupted.
“Conwell… shut up…” Star continued, “At this point most of the battle was a blur, I just remember getting blasted by some spell once, getting up rushing him again, getting blasted one more time, and then hearing our village’s three elders just as everything went black.”
“Yeah the those three where worried you weren’t going to pull through… specially since the last nuke was as point blank as you could get,” Conwell added.
“So you somehow managed to come through and…” Cy began.
“Well I was out for a month if I remembered right, when I finally woke up the three elders where hesitant on filling me in on what exactly happened,” Star replied.
“Yeah, they didn’t want you to go running off and getting yourself killed…” Conwell stated.
Star looked frustrated at Conwell, “You want me to tell the satyr or not?”
Conwell looked away, “Okay, okay, go on…”
“The three elders briefly trained me in the next month to use more efficient weaponry, or as you know them as artifacts, before explaining the myth to me,” Star looked off beyond the deadlands.
“Myth?” Cyclops inquired.
“Yes, the myth of the Plague. A terrible disease that has tormented our tribe every 20 or so years, it was caused by a very powerful sidhe, who is known to cast spells just to torment fae and mortal alike… this was the person on the peak. On top of that, I didn’t completely interrupt his spell, it has already killed a number of people in the month I was knocked out, and a few more in the weeks I was recovering.
Now it only affects one last person in our tribe, a little girl, and I refuse to let that spell take one more life so the elders sent me off on my way to find ingredients to a medicine that will cure the plague… so I managed to get the first ingredient just now, two more to go,” Star finished.
Cy nodded understandably, “What are the last two?”
“Seven dragon tears and petals of the swamprock flower,” Conwell said.
Cyclops looked at Conwell curiously out of the corner of his eye.
“Me? No, fire-breathing dragons shed no tears,” Conwell answered.
“Well, that makes since, I guess…” Cy nodded.
A gust of wind made a small dust storm well up, as if warning travelers of the danger of nightly voyage.
“Well this is it,” Cyclops smiled as they entered a small western style town, complete with saloons and dusty roads. A well stood in the center of the tiny town, and troths and harness rails lined the outside of most buildings though no horses to speak of where in town. Cy parked his jeep outside the saloon with the name “DRY WATER SALOON” on the sign above the door. “The Dry Water is the home base for the Tinfold freehold,” Cy explained, “Siben wants to extend the freehold beyond the bar but we don’t have enough fae to make it a reasonable move.”
Star looked up at the freehold, as if she never saw one before… “Tinfold was a dragon, right?” her gaze fixated on something beyond the sign it seemed.
“Yes, she was a dragon…” Cy paused, looking curiously at Star “Not many people know that…”
“Our tribe specialized in dragon myth,” Conwell explained.
“Well, don’t be shy… come on in Star, Conwell,” Cy smiled, not needed any more explanation.
Inside the saloon tables scattered about the floor, a stage stood at the far left end, and the bar at the far right. Everything was made of walnut and other dark woods, and a staircase was hidden behind the far wall as one may walk in. The bar was carved in very high detail. A boggan stood behind the bar speaking to a troll with a guitar strapped to his back, a conversation drifted across the empty bar room. The troll dwarfed the boggan in his immense size, not that boggans weren’t short enough already. The boggan had a friendly composure about him.
“And so I’m just standing here wiping off the bar, when Catlina came running out of Sam’s workshop with Sam close behind with a wrench yelling and cursing like he always does when some one messes with his creations. I have to say it was sort of nice to have something happen in an uneventful day,” the boggan laughed.
“So that’s way Catlina teleported home so soon…” the troll stated calmly, as the boggan placed a drink in front of him.
“Yep, any longer and I’m sure he would’ve killed her,” the boggan nodded, “or at lest tore her up really good.”
Cyclops walked up to the two fae, “How’s everyone doing right now?”
“Back already?” the troll asked.
“Yeah well, long stories are followed by longer ones, anyway I met someone you guys should meet,” Cy looked back at Star, who was still looking at the Saloon’s layout, “Come on, they don’t bite,” he reassured.
“Oh, um… hiya,” Star said almost nervously, Conwell perched on her shoulder looking around as well, then hopped off onto the bar as Star walked up to it.
“Guys, this is Star… Star this is Bob,” Cyclops pointed to the troll, “and the barkeep’s name is Rhubarb,” he pointed to the boggan behind the bar.
“Well, nice to meet you,” Star said glancing over at Bob nervously.
Cy laughed, “Don’t worry bout Bob here, he wouldn’t harm a fly… he just looks big and scary.”
Bob laughed at Cyclops’ comment, “Almost hate to say it… he’s right, anyway, howdy ma’am.”
Rhubarb just smiled, “You want anything to drink? I can make anything you want… on the house, we don’t get many travelers.”
“Water would be great,” Star smiled, still a bit worried about the ten foot troll.
“Oh nonsense, have an ale or martini, I can make any kind of drink!” Rhubarb insisted.
“If you insist then lemonade… I really don’t like alcohol,” Star stated.
Rhubarb smiled, “Well noted, I’ll be sure to remember that,” he produced a lemonade almost instantly from under the bar and set it in front of Star, “I was never much of a drinker myself,” Rhubarb laughed.
“So where do you come from?” Bob asked.
“A small tribe…” Star answered.
“The Dragon tribe…” Conwell added.
Bob nodded, “You looking for something?”
“From the story she told me, a few things,” Cy nodded.
“Aye,” Star replied, “and much of it a task to get, but I’m sure I’ll be able to get everything.”
“Though, we could use some help,” Conwell nodded, Star scowled at him, “What? We need some help, admit Star… for once?” he pleaded.
“We are just passing through Conwell,” Star narrowed her eyes, “We are just here because dealing with zombies isn’t first on my to-do list.”
Cyclops nodded listening carefully, “Of course,” he smiled, “Maybe you should just stay till our freehold leader gets back; he should be back tomorrow morning anyway… I bet he can tell you the fastest ways to get to where you need to go to, after all he is well traveled.”
Star looked at Cyclops, “Well, since he will be here tomorrow anyway, maybe I will talk to him then,” she smiled, and then walked outside.
Conwell looked at Cyclops a little bit stunned, “Okay, how did…?”
The satyr put his elbows on the bar by Conwell, “You need to understand how a young fae thinks. They will never admit they need help half the time especially if you offer it directly or try to convince them of it. As long as you know what not to do you find out what to do.”
Rhubarb nodded, “Yep, Cyclops knows more about young fae then anybody I know. He has a real talent.”
Conwell looked at Cyclops one more time then flew off after Star.
A room of gold and red, delicate detail enhanced even the most inconspicuous piece of furniture. A line of red carpet leads the way to a section with a gold couch with red cushions and a couple of matching chairs with high backs surrounding a huge fireplace with very detailed gold trim. The detail on the fireplace was outstanding, loin heads on either side, grape vines twining up the insider and outer pillars, and finally above it all a dragon (Japanese in style) staring off at any guests in the room with a rising sun right behind it, the claws open as if ready to snatch the guest that was the slightest bit unaware. The walls remained white to avoid making the room too rich though a delicate gold trim outlined the wall and huge paintings adorned the wall in many places. The paintings where of Greek gardens, flowery hillsides, and a single portrait of a beautiful, elegant satyr female on a garden bench under a cherry tree in full bloom.
Siben waited quietly on the couch, his two body guards stood at either side of the doors. The doors were oversized with a little planer gold detail then the rest of the room. It was silent in the room, no one really talked much. Siben fumbled with a piece of paper he took out of one of his pockets and after looking at it for a few seconds put the paper back in his pocket.
Suddenly the one of the doors opened and in walked a male satyr. He was wearing a white gi with a black belt. He calmly looked up at the two guards and then proceeded to a small cupboard containing fine wines and steamed glasses.
“So Siben, would you care for anything to drink?” the satyr smiled as he glanced over at Siben.
“Nothing for me thanks,” Siben replied.
The satyr proceeded to pour two glasses of red wine and walked over to Siben placing one of the glasses on the coffee table right in front of him.
“Siben, I know you better then that,” the Satyr smiled, “so what is concerning you so that you can’t enjoy a drink with an old friend?”
Siben looked around then picked the paper back out of his pocket and handed it to the satyr, “This should explain most of it Vangar.”
Vangar picked up the paper and looked at it… it was a letter. Vangar looked carefully at it and started reading…
My dear brother,
This trifle has gone on too long… what would Iran think of us? It is about time we put our differences behind us. After all Iran would. It is about time we got together on a friendlier note, rather then a hostile one.
So as I write this letter to you my brother, I plan on visiting your freehold within seven days of this letter’s arrival. Though it was your stupid mistake that cost Iran his life, I am willing to put that aside. I’m sure he forgives you… though it is questionable.
As I said before I’ll soon come to Tinfold, I look forward to seeing you on a much lighter note for a change… I might even have a special gift for you.
Your dear brother,
Ivan
“Well, I see where you are concerned…” Vangar looked at Siben, “Can he make it more obvious is the question.”
“You must give him a few points for effort though,” Siben looked away.
“I’d say he is definitely planning something. You’ve been to your harpy friends yet?”
“Yes, and they couldn’t tell me much, just confirmed my brother has a plan and a possibly a monster in his possession.”
“Monster?”
“Yes, Iris saw some beast that attacked her in the vision.”
Vangar paced a minute then sat down looking at the paper, “Wonder what kind of beast… it really isn’t you brother’s style to use anything more then minions, he isn’t exactly a summoner.”
“Wish I knew.”
“Did they tell you anything else?”
“Now that you mention it… they did say something about a unique gem I would run across somehow, but not where about I would find it.”
“Maybe that means your fortune is looking up finally,” Vangar smiled.
“Must be… I never run across treasure in my freehold,” Siben laughed.
“Well, I’m sure I can guess what your request for me is,” Vangar smiled, “if it is going to Tinfold and making sure your brother doesn’t cause trouble, of course I’ll go with you… if I guessed wrong you’ll have to fill me in.”
“No, you still know me better then I know myself,” Siben smiled taking a sip of the wine, “When can you be ready?”
“Give me an hour and we’ll be at the edge of the dead lands by sunset. It was getting boring around here anyway lately,” Vangar stood up and walked to a cabinet and opened the doors. Inside lay on a rack a katana, its hilt gave off a gentle glow. Vangar gently lifted the sword out of the cabinet and wrapped the shaft belt around his waist. “I do nothing without my family’s sword,” Vangar smiled.
“God, I didn’t even notice you weren’t wearing it,” Siben laughed.
Vangar smiled, “I do need to put it away once and awhile, but I keep it close by. I’ll be back with my bags in a few minutes.” Vangar swiftly walked out of the room.
Siben got up and stood in front of the fireplace gazing at the dragon. The dragon returned the gaze, it seemed like it had gotten colder in the room and things close by seemed far away. The dragon stared, it was almost as if it was warning Siben of something but just could not break through. The message, like the harpies visions, was lost to the abyss. Siben shook himself awake and sat back down on the couch.
Star walked about the ghost town, only the fae of Tinfold inhabited the town. Most of the building contained animatronics figures that where covered in lightly in dust. Star kicked up dust from the ground and watched the light breeze carry it away; she sat down on a stoop to a general store and closed her eyes. Only the breeze made a sound, it was peaceful and the suns warmth soothed away the soreness from her tired legs. Conwell landed on a close railing and looked off into the horizon, “You think this Siben guy is going to be helpful?”
Star looked up at the dragon, “Maybe… if he knows the way the Canvas.”
“You know Canvas is going to be much harder, you might have to fight,” Conwell looked down.
“Fight? I’ll tell you when I’m worried about fighting…” Star grinned.
“Heh, I guess that’s not something you’d worry about right away,” Conwell replied, “I was just making sure no one did anything to your head.”
“Huh??? Why would you think that?” Star looked at Conwell in surprise.
“Didn’t take you long to agree with that satyr…”
Star closed her eyes again, “Mostly since my legs are aching, we have to stay the night anyway… and it’s strange, I don’t get bad vies here… lest not as bad of vies.”
“Tinfold must’ve put her seal on this place before she left,” Conwell nodded, “She never liked violence, and I know she took care of some orphaned fae during a war in this area.”
“So this place was like an orphanage?”
“Kinda, I guess… she never really talked about it cause it would normally get her scorned by other dragons, it wasn’t much of a secret though… many of the other dragons knew, they just didn’t say anything.”
“Dragons aren’t the friendly sort I’m guessing.”
“No, most dragons want to be left alone… others want to be nice despite our fierce reputation, or like me cursed by a slightly more powerful dragon.”
“Admit it… you’re a “nice” dragon,” Star laughed.
“AM NOT, if I had my fire breathing ability back you’d be toast!”
“Heh, so mice just become crispy spontaneously?”
“Hey watch it… I can still get you with my tail…”
Star snickered, “You’re a nice dragon… admit it, you wouldn’t harm a fly.” Star stood up laughing.
“I’ll show you!” Conwell tried to strike her with his tail but Star dodged. Star suddenly turned her head to the edge of the dead lands.
“OWCH!” she cried as Conwell successfully hit her his on his second try, Star looked up at him scowling then turned toward the dead lands once again.
“I told you you’d get…” suddenly Conwell realized Star was focusing on something, “What’s going on Star?”
“I wonder what made the dead lands like they are now,” she turned back to Conwell.
“All I know is that this place use to be a chimerical battle ground. I never came here cause it was full of warring fae, I heard the battles where intense… and there was many casualties. By the time it was over no one really knew what started it in the first place, all that was left was the repercussions. The land absorbed so much energy that it trapped those who died in battle, and reanimates them when the moonlight hits the ground,” Conwell looked down at Star, “I only know pieces about what I’ve heard, there has to be hundreds of stories.”
“Why is the oasis different though? Didn’t it absorb magic from the battle too?”
“Aye it did, but also it was said that Tinfold lost one of her scales in the area, and somehow that de-cursed or prevented the curse from spreading there.”
“The tree, that must be why they sent me to this tree. It makes since, if the scale prevented the curse, then it would be in the center right under the tree.”
“Careful with trying to get everything to make since Star,” Conwell warned.
Star looked up at him and grinned, “You know I already know I’m crazy to some extent, just trying to stay away from full blown insanity.”
Conwell sighed, “Come on, I bet they’ll eat without us if we don’t get back.”
The night air began to sweep into the town, it was cool and sweet. The sky started to hue into black as tiny specs brightened the sky, the moon started to show a golden silvery light.
Star looked around as everything started to darken, her eyes seemed to shift color as well, the breeze welled up around her and departed with a small amount of dust from the ground, everything seemed peaceful, a harmony that went uninterrupted, undisturbed from the rest of the world quieted the area.
“Star? You coming?” Conwell called back.
Star looked around then ran after Conwell, “Yep, just didn’t want to leave anything lying around.”
Star and Conwell re-entered the Dry Water Saloon, smells of dinner lofted through the air. Rhubarb looked up from the counter, “Ahh, just in time… what can I get yas two to eat,” he smiled.
“What is there?” Star asked curiously.
“Anything you like I can make, as long as I know what it is,” he laughed.
A nocker walked into the bar, he looked at Rhubarb, “Make yourself useful and get me my dinner boogen.”
Star glanced over at the slightly rude man, short, skinny, and a red and white face. It didn’t look like he smiled much at all.
“Dam it what are YOU looking at eshu!” he shouted, “and who the hell are ye?”
Star looked around then started to speak, she was cut short by the nocker.
“Oh wait, I heard of yas, you that dam eshu that almost killed Cyclops. What do you think you’re doing here anyways!”
Star looked at Conwell for a second and whispered, “Nocker?”
Conwell nodded.
The small man walked right up to her and jabbed her with a steel rod he was carrying, “What are you two idiots talking about behind my back? The hell with you if you say you two aren’t saying stuff behind my back, I know dam well better. So what say ye!?”
“Sam, leave the Eshu alone,” Rhubarb chimed in behind the bar, “She’s not doing anything to you.”
“Well, your not helping! You should have me a plate of food by now, bah! You talk too much to be useful, I should make a machine to replace you one of these days after I finish my dam engine!”
A winged cat jumped up on the bar and looked around at the fight. It looked at Star and Conwell a second and casually walked to them. Star smiled at the cat and scratched it’s ears, ignoring the loud little man of complaining. The winged cat purred, and sat just close enough to Star to be scratched behind the ears.
“I’ll tell you what yous be good for boggan! And it ain’t your usefulness….” Sam got cut short as he turned to see the cat purring for Star, “Well, hell… if the cat likes ya guess you can’t be that bad of a dam eshu… good for nothin’ and useless but not bad,” Sam walked back to a bar stool he then climbed up on, “Dam it Rhubarb! Ain’t you going to introduce me to the new idiot?”
Rhubarb chuckled to himself before saying, “Sam this is Starfang, Starfang this err… rude nocker’s name is Samuel.”
“Rude? I’m not being rude dam it… and I’m not the one not doing his job.”
“You do know, Sam, it DOES take a few minuets to make, longer if you complain about it,” Rhubarb retaliated and slid a plate of food in front of Sam.
“Fine… need to find something to make ye work faster then,” Sam snared, “Pleasure meeting you Star… come on kitty I got some nice cream for yas in my fridge.”
The cat jumped off the bar after the nocker. They walked into a door in the back and disappeared.
“Nice cat…” Star observed.
“Yeah Sam really loves that cat, it is the only thing here that makes him possible to stand being around other people. Anyway,” Rhubarb coughed, “what do ya two want to eat.”
“Grapes would be great,” Conwell said quickly.
“Hmmm,” Star thought quietly, “Maybe a bowl of gritten soup?”
Rhubarb looked a little surprised at the request.
“If it is too much I can just have vegetable…” Star replied to his surprised face.
“Nono, just surprised an eshu would request it, normally get that request from sidhe, really no problem at all.” Rhubarb replied as he went to work.
“Um, aren’t the others eating?” Star asked looking around the empty bar.
“Yes, they eat at all different times though or insist on eating by themselves,” Rhubarb smiled as he put the soup and the grapes in front of them, “Only time you’ll see everyone eating together is at breakfast and if Siben calls a meeting.”
“Where is this Siben anyway?”
“Out of town, he left about a week ago… looked a little nervous, to be honest it worries me some… then again I worry a lot so I’m told.”
Star took a sip of the soup, “Good soup Rhubarb, haven’t had this since I was a little girl.”
“Aye, it is simple to make but most fae other then sidhe don’t have a taste for it. Anyway I was wondering where you have to go next anyway.”
“Hmmm, guess I forgot to tell you guys… I need to head to Canvas swamp next.”
“Ack! Redcaps… I hope you don’t plan on going alone,” Rhubarb said shocked.
“Why?” Star looked at Conwell a second.
“Redcaps are cannibals, they eat anyone or anything.” Rhubarb looked worried.
“Well Star he IS right, redcaps will pose a problem,” Conwell nodded.
“Well then we can just avoid them then… right?” Star stated calmly.
“It is possible, but might be tricky to get in then,” Conwell said.
“Well then! That’s great, Siben will be able to help you guys then,” Rhubarb smiled, “Siben knows a good teleporter name Catlina, I’m sure Siben can convince Catlina to help you two.”
“At lest that is good to know,” Conwell said confidently, “Maybe this will be easy for once.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Star whispered under her breath jokingly.
The sun lowered in the sky as the edge of the grassland started to give way; it was the hour before dusk. The moon’s image started to press into the sky, the air cooled and awaiting the night. Clouds seem to drift away and let the tiny specs of starlight speckle the darkening sky.
“We should stop here for the night,” Siben ordered seeing the dead lands just ahead of them.
“Aye,” replied Vangar as he set his bag on the ground and started to rummage through it.
“Why we gotta stop?” one of the trolls replies, “daylight not gone yet, we can cross the dead lands in an hour…”
“Bah all today has been is move move move, ‘let’s get there before sundown’ is all I’ve been hearing all day,” the other troll argued, “What’s a few miles more? It’s not like we have feet that can feel anymore!”
“Knowing you, you’ll stub your toe and will be hopping on one foot for ten minuets,” Siben said in a sarcastic manner, “and we’ll have to fight zombies for the rest of the night.”
The troll set his bag down on the ground and grumbled, “Well I better get a chance to bash something soon…”
“You want to bash something Mason? Then go bash us up some dinner…” Siben said smartly.
Mason looked at the other troll, “you coming Velgar?”
“You where the one that volunteered … try to get a nice goat or better yet a deer.” Velgar replied angrily.
Mason grabbed Velgar by the shoulder, “Come on now!” he ordered.
“Alright,” he replied flinching a bit. Both trolls walked off clubs in hand.
“Good help hard to find?” Vangar asked.
“Hard to find and keep alive, more like it,” Siben took one of the bags the trolls where carrying and opened it. He drug out the tents and laid them out then pointed to them and a stream of magic flowed out of his hand and set up the tents almost instantly.
Vangar looked down at his tent for a second, “Um could you?”
“Why not,” Siben laughed as he used the same spell on Vangar’s tent.
“I should learn that spell one day,” Vangar commented standing back and looking at the spells handy work.
“Just tell me when and I’ll be happy to oblige.”
“Heh, might take you up on that soon.”
“Wonder what has happened at the freehold since I’ve been gone…?”
“Probably the same daily routine.”
“Yeah, Cy probably went to the oasis, Rhubarb and Sam fighting, Catlina probably went home early because she messed with Sam…”
“Catlina visited you guys?”
“Yeah as soon as I found Mason and Velgar I asked her to teleport us back to Tinfold.”
Vangar got out his canteen and took a few sips, “Heh, I can just see Sam chasing Catlina out of his workshop.”
“Hope I get there before my brother does, no one would know what to do.”
“Well Cy would probably show him the door.”
“Only if he is there, if he is still at the oasis we can only hope Bob would do the same thing… but you can’t get him to fight, my brother knows that too.”
“Sam would try to run him off I’m sure.”
“Yeah Sam would, but a nocker isn’t the biggest threat you can pull, and Rhubarb would hide under the bar,” Siben chuckled as he sat down by a nearby tree stump, “Can’t wait to go home.”
“How long does it take to find something to bash for dinner?” Vangar asked, “I saw lots of plain deer in this area, they don’t even hide well there is so many.”
“Those two? We’ll be lucky if we eat.”
“Why? They can’t hunt?”
“No they argue too much… I’ve just learned to ignore it.”
The dusk started to set in, the moon and the stars where brightening. It wasn’t long before the sun set completely. Vangar and Siben dozed off only to be awakened by Mason and Velgar yelling at them for being asleep when they finally caught something.
Mason threw the carcass down in front of Siben, “Okay we caught one now you fix it.”
“Fine,” Siben sighed, “I’d rather just sleep and have it for breakfast but if you insist…” He walked over to an opening and caste a spell, a whirlwind came up and hollowed out a small pit in the ground. Vangar decided he should help some too, so he dug in his bag and pulled out a hatchet then started to cut up the tree for wood with it. Vangar grabbed as many pieces he could and walked over to the pit, spilling the armful of wood into it. Siben twitched his fingers a little and the wood busted into flames. Siben looked sleepily at the fire; its glow filled the area with dim light and warmth. Velgar, getting tired of waiting, skewered the dead beast and set up a rack to cook it. The fire cracked and sparked, spitting flames up when the animal’s fat hit the fire. The smell was nauseating for awhile as the skin burned away.
Siben, half asleep, began dreaming of what the harpies said, a gem… a remarkable one at that… one that might be of riches, the emerald of Atlantis, something that everyone else said was just a myth. Maybe a ruby no one knew about, that gave its holder enhanced powers.
“Siben? You awake?” a voice shattered the half dream; Vangar was in front of him holding a plate of meat, “here looks like you should eat something.”
Siben looked at the meat chunks, “I really can’t wait to get home now… where Rhubarb makes the food…” The meat still smelt foul, “What did you do bring back road kill?” he looked accusingly at Mason and Velgar.
“I TOLD you that spell would make it smell bad but Nooooo …” Velgar glared at Mason.
“Oh come on, I couldn’t get close enough to bash one so I had to cast the only spell I know that won’t kill us,” Mason said defensively.
Siben and Vangar looked down at their plates… “I think we’ll have the oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow…” Siben coughed.
“Errr I think I’m not that hungry, yeah I think I’ll wait till the morning…” Vangar said setting his plate to the side.
“Why not we just go to bed and get an early start in the morning, you two can remember to dose the fire… right?” Siben asked.
“Aye Aye, master. Well, I will at lest… can’t say much about my brother though,” Velgar said sneering, “If I wasn’t a troll I would try to get out of eating this junk too.”
“Oh yeah, I didn’t see YOU helping much!” Mason yelled.
“Well alright, try to keep the arguments down too and have a good night,” Siben smiled as he went into his tent to sleep, it would be an interesting day tomorrow anyway… if his brother shows up…
The stars shown brightly in the clear night sky, the moon full and lustrous beamed down light that made an eerie glow cover the ground, a shadow stalked back and forth, a panther… waiting to strike, waiting for the right time. The groans of the undead rang softly throughout the dead lands, souls trying to escape, make it to the oasis, be freed… perhaps if they could find a soul to take their place they’d finally be freed, maybe two… perhaps they need to force three souls to take their curse away… perhaps… even more.