Sworded Tales

Kurn’s howl of pain as the creature clamped its mandibles with full intent of severing his leg at the knee was bitten off into his own fierce snarl of determination.  His knuckles blanched white with the force of his grip upon his embedded sword.  His neck corded as the rain pouring down his face mingled with sharp sweat; with a chitinous crack he wrested the sword free from the creature and lifted it to his full reach.  That the creature had firm hold of him had one advantage — it couldn’t dodge.  Kurn slammed his sword point-first into the creature’s back with full intent of taking its head off. Continue reading

Gerard drew up, absorbing his surroundings.  Merinde drifted to a standstill as she watched the Halfling.  Anibel was absent for the moment.  She periodically emerged using what she referred to as windows of opportunity.  Both Merinde and Gerard had pressed her for details, but the enigmatic spellcaster would, or perhaps could, offer no additional insight.

“Did you feel that?” Gerard asked.  Merinde shook her head.  Gerard nodded and said, “Another faint tremor, but they’re definitely falling off.  I’m hoping that’s good.”  The Ranger had voiced his interest in determining more details surrounding the tremors, but the collective thought was for expediency in their quest to reach the Seeming.

“You’ve been changing our course,” Merinde said. Continue reading

Rôhn hefted the warhammer in his meaty hand, eyes shifting back and forth taking in the unfolding scene as if he were deciding which beast to extinguish first.  With a curt nod and a grim visage, Rôhn pounded across the ground on his stout legs, bellowing a war cry as he charged the Ankheg menacing Kurn from the south.

“My hammer will find your skull!” Continue reading

Scissoring slices of slipper-leaf gnashed between considerable lengths of teeth.  The pungent punch of the roughage brought the chewer to the brink of retching, but penitence was necessary to maintain the upper hand.  One could not allow the curse to take hold.  Not fully.  Such roads lead to oblivion, and that was a path that must be avoided at all costs.  Too much work to be done.

The chewing halted as the figures dropped from the cleft of stone.  The penetrating eyes that watched forced a mind geared toward meat to focus on the actions at hand.  Cloud cover shifted the rays of light, and the scales which coiled tightly about the watcher responded.  A gentle modification of hue and a dulling of the gloss granted virtual invisibility once more. Continue reading

As the sun descended toward the horizon, a chill began to seep into the air amidst the lengthening shadows. The horses stamped with unease, hooves muffled only slightly by the damp underbrush of the scrubby terrain.  Haron did his best to keep the animals quiet, steaming breath pouring from flared nostrils as the boy gathered reins and patted necks in consolation.

Zulian continued her circular sweep of the area, her lithe form disappearing for brief instances behind clusters of evergreens or thick uprisings of shrubbery.  She carried the shortspear loosely in her hand and remained wary of the nearby sounds and sights of the sparse wood. Continue reading

“Yes, I did, didn’t I?” Anibel said, her ghostly finger tapping against her translucent lips in thought, “How much time has passed since we spoke at the attack site, Gerard?”

Gerard gave it a moment’s thought, then said, “Almost a second sun since we last spoke.”

Anibel smirked and shook her head.  “I’m not sure if the divining methods I envisioned will still be sound.  The magics will likely have dissipated beyond reasonable tracking methods.” Continue reading

Cheskith raised his voice then, albeit just enough to carry to those discussing things at the fore.  “Another route, I wonder?  Go back a short while, then circle around?  To travel in the dark is preferable to being eaten in the dark, I think.”

All the same, he still keeps alert for any signs or sounds of approach.

The barbarian replied to Kurn, “I was too far from the bodies, and they are too far rotted to see what sort of wounds they have.”

Kurn nodded.  Given Borlak’s expressed preference, and Zulian’s, and Rôhn’s absence of objection, Kurn spoke up, “If we’re to camp soon and near, if this predator or predators can be found, let’s deal with it now.  Backtracking to an alternate route may still find us in its domain when we must rest.” Continue reading

Both Halflings turned to Merinde, their expressions equally dubious.  Gerard was the more concerned.  Merinde had displayed no positivity since her arrival.  Her tone and words had conveyed that her sardonic wit was razor sharp.  He hadn’t known her for very long, but core characteristics were hard to mask.  Hearing the positive notes coming from her mouth gave him pause.

“What?” she asked, “It’s not like I’m going to wander off on my own, and the nearest piece of civilization is what, a tenday or so away?” Continue reading

Rôhn nodded, a glimmer of fierce determination in his stony gray eyes, and strides forward, muttering on the word “Rôhn,” with some emphasis, as he passed Kurn.

Cheskith pushed aside his debate as to the horse as the tension rocketed skyward with some unknown discovery in the bushes and Borlak’s odd reaction.  A battle seemed imminent, and whomever was out there – assuming that this wasn’t all some horrendously false alarm – wasn’t likely to give him the time to work his words more subtly and dissuade them from their course.

He whispered words to himself, bringing power to the fore in preparation for its next unleashing, then paused; if there were indeed people or creatures hiding amidst the underbrush, then surely they were not entirely beyond detection. Continue reading

“May?” Merinde asked.

“The region was fickle to begin with,” Gerard replied, “Now it’s more so.  Anything beyond that is speculation.”

“Why you and why alone?”

“Those are wonderful questions,” Anibel said, her matronly stare falling on Gerard. Continue reading