Shadow of Hope V
With the arrival of the horses and riders, though he wonders if the wild one should be described as a being that happens to be on a horse rather than a rider, the scribe puts up his book and pen. Closing the chest, he places the vessel on his back and picks up his shield, walking toward the group.
After looking at the lizardman, dwarf and human, he gives the matron a glance and a smile. “On the eve of the Spring Equinox. Not that you can tell,” he says by way of greeting, glancing skyward and pulling his hood over his head.
A young woman nudges the buckskin gelding with her boots, but the animal is disinclined to move any faster. She sighs, noting that it was dark now and she is late. She mutters an oath in her native tongue. What happened to her plan of being early, to be there to greet her unknown companions? “I should not have stayed for those extra rounds,” she lamented to her mount with a laugh, who twitched an ear in response, clearly used to her habit of talking to him.
The bridge finally creeps into view, and in its fore the assembled group of strange figures. “Ah, well, looks like we need to make an entrance!” she muses whimsically to the buckskin.
The spirited woman rides straight up the middle of the road and amidst the others. She takes a look at those present, her eyes pausing on the lizardman, curious but not hostile. Her eyes fall on the stately figure at the center of the circle, then she smiles and slides off her mount. “Better late than never,” she quips.
The young woman then turns and says, “Greetings to you all, my new companions. I am Katarina Tshurka, luckbringer of the mistress of smiles.”
Katarina’s beauty is staggering, the toned and shapely body of a dancer evoking elicit memories. Her dark sun kissed coloring is reminiscent of desert dwellers but with eyes a startling shade of blue. Black hair cascades freely down her back, tethered loosely by a colorful collection of scarves. The striking nature of the woman is only amplified by the sinister length of black leather whip coiled at her belt.