An old story

Grab a cup of coffe and attend to the more simple things in life.
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Jax2
Grandmaster Scribe
Posts: 95
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:23 pm

An old story

Post by Jax2 »

I wrote this back in 2009, posting it now for people to (hopefully) enjoy. Let me know what you think :)

Alright, alright children, settle down now. You've asked me for another tale, and while I may only be a fisherman, we hear the stories of those who pass through these parts as much as the next fellow does, so I'll tell you of something new, which I overheard one day back when you lot were yet tall enough to steal a cookie from the counter top!

I was sitting in the tavern, my usual spot when not at home or out prowling the great seas for tomorrows dinner, when a fine young man entered and looked around. He had the face and body of a young man, anyhow, but his eyes seemed far more wise than his years seemed to allow. He seemed to be looking for someone. He came to me and asked if he might share my table for a spell. Being a well mannered person, I felt obligated to oblige him and so I did. He sat down slowly, still searching around the room and finally fixed his gaze on me. He introduced himself as Griffyn, an odd name to be sure, as it was a fabled beast half lion and half eagle, said to be as ferocious as anything. Looking into his eyes again, I felt the name suit him just fine.

We sat there for the better part of half an hour, he had ordered his lunch from Carl and ate his food as if the taste mattered not, more of a requirement to stay healthy than an enjoyable sup. He did not speak to me more than to pass a few words about the weather and to ask about the local weapons smithy. I sat patiently, for I could tell that this young lad had more to talk about than such trivial matters, and sure as the sea is blue, he began his tale.

"You know," says he, "Some days I wish I were a fisherman like you." which surprised me as I hadn't told him my profession and had nothing upon myself to identify me as such, but I kept my surprise to myself and waited for him to continue. "Aye, a fisherman would be nice indeed, nothing to do but relax on the deck of a sailing ship and make your way in life by the rod and reel. My life isn't so simple, you know?" I didn't take offense to his obvious misunderstandings of a fishermans life ... "Me, I trained to be a fighter from as far back as my memory will allow. Every day, it's the same thing, up early, practice fighting, have lunch, practice some more ... I was tired of it, I'll tell you, but then my life changed." He seemed to drift deeper into his thoughts as he looked for the words to speak ... "Two weeks ago, the love of my life died. A finer woman you would never find. Her name was Elsie. She and I had been engaged to be married not more than a month ago, with her fathers blessings. My heart yearned for the time when we would be together forever, but alas, it wasn't meant to be."

"You see, we would often go out riding in the fields beyond Trinsic, my hound running next to my horse on one side, and she on her horse on the other. It was great fun for the both of us as our love of the outdoors was equal. On a Sunday, 2 weeks past, I had a notion to show off the speed of my steed and drove him far ahead of her. I could hear her laughing far behind me when suddenly the laughter turned into a shriek of horror. I pulled in my reigns and turned my horse around, fearing she had fallen off her mount and was injured. I wish it had been so. Instead, a giant beast with wings as wide as two horses had my darling in his talons and was flapping into the air. I shouted at the beast and spurred my horse back towards my love as fast as it could go, but alas, by the time I reached where she had been, the beast had carried her aloft and was heading away from me." He shuddered visibly and took a swig from his mug of ale, composing himself for the rest of the story.

"I followed the beast as far as I could, watching in horror as my Elsie twisted and turned, trying to get loose from the claws of the monstrosity. It barely seemed to notice and flew on, it's gray wings flapping steadily. I could go no further as the daemon climbed above the mountains. It landed on a shelf far above me and looked down at me, knowing I could not reach it. My heart aches far too much to tell you what it then did to my darling Elsie, but I can say that she didn't suffer for too long, thank the gods. I screamed and the daemon seemed to get a grin on it's face as it knew I was helpless to do anything. As if the goal was simply to cause me pain, it left my Elsie there on the shelf and took off once again, quickly gaining speed over the mountains and vanished."

I raised my hand slowly and asked the young man if he would like to relax a moment and when he nodded his thanks, I called out to Carl for another round. I was eager to hear the rest of this story and the lad seemed like he could use a drink. Carl brought two fresh mugs for us and we sat for a moment, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Soon, I could tell, he would be ready to finish the remainder of his tale.

"I rode for six days, checking every hold I could reach in those mountains and I never found a trace of the beast." he said, an angry look playing across his face. "On the seventh day, I found a shepherd with his flock of sheep out on a pasture. He was sitting beneath a large tree playing a certain melody as he watched his sheep. I sat down near him and asked him if he had any news of a strange beast flying around the country side, and he paled at my question before explaining that he had lost three sheep to the monster in the past three days. He told me where he had been when each sheep was taken and that he had moved each time, but the beast still found his flock. I was surprised he had remained out here after that, and told him as much, but he only said that he had nowhere else to go and the beast had left him alone, at least. He explained to me that each time the daemon had taken a sheep, it had flown off towards the south-east, back towards a rather steep looking mountainside. I thanked him profusely and took to my mount again, my hound eager as always to run with me."

"I searched that mountain for most of the day, at times having to dismount and go forward on foot, as my horse couldn't fit through crevices and on small paths made by the wild animals of the area. My hound and I made camp that night near the peak of the mountain. While I was sleepy, I had a very difficult time getting any rest, my blood still boiling with hatred for the monster that took my poor Elsie. Sleep, though, did come to me on it's own sometime during the cold night. My hound slept by my side, sharing the heat of our small fire with me. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't be here to tell you this tale. I awoke to a slow growling coming from his throat, and at first, I mistook it as a nightmare, which he seems to have now and then, growling in his sleep at things only known to him. I looked over at him and knew immediately that there was something dreadfully wrong, as the hackles on his back were at their ends, a sure enough warning as anything."

"I quickly got into a crouching position and slowly drew my sword, looking in the same direction my hound was staring at. With a sudden bark from him, the daemon exploded into our campsite from a clump of trees where I hadn't seen a thing moving. I was up in an instant, running towards the beast as it ran towards me, the tip of my sword leading the way. My hound burst ahead of me with inhuman speed and leaped at the monstrosity seconds before I could get near. The beast howled as my hounds teeth ripped into it's ugly gray flesh and the noise only drew my hound onwards. Without warning, the beasts arm flew quicker than my eyes could follow and sent my poor hound rolling to the ground, whimpering as he impacted the rough stone. I lunged again towards the beast and this time I was able to get closer enough to see a tear in one wing that I had noticed the first time I'd laid my eyes upon it. This was the same beast that had taken my Elsie, without a doubt. This was the monster I had been looking for and one of us were going to die that night, it, or I."

My hands were shaking while the young man spoke, I had heard of beasts such as these, of course. They were called Balrons, a demonic force so powerful that few have ever fought one and lived to tell the tale. I did not envy this young man, but as he was sitting across from me, I had a new admiration for him immediately. He seemed to understand the look on my face and shook his head slowly.

"Don't admire me, fisherman, for I was as frightened as a child facing his first wolf at training. I had no choice, you see? This beast had taken my love, and it was anger that drove me, not courage. The daemon charged at me, it's arms ready to grasp me and tear me to pieces, but somehow I managed to block it and my sword dug deep into it's forearm. It howled, oh how it howled. With a quick hop and flap of it's great wings, it leaped backwards from me, almost to the tree line and closed it's eyes. I felt that this would be the perfect moment to charge yet again, when my head felt as if a smithy had taken his hammer to it. I reeled slowly around, barely able to keep my legs under me and noticed that the daemon was staring directly at me, an evil grin on it's face. Magic! It was using magic against me! I don't know why I hadn't expected it, for this was certainly nothing that had come from our world. I thought back on my training and remembered a simple spell we had learned to use while fighting mages. I quickly reached into my pouch and grabbed a clove of garlic, a twig of mandrake root, and a tangle of spiders web from their pockets and crushed them together while reciting what I had hoped would be the proper phrase: In Jux Sanct!" he said aloud, drawing the looks of other customers in the tavern. He seemed to notice the stares and quieted again, continuing his account.

"I'll tell you, I've never been one for magic, but when I saw a globe of blue light surround me, I had to second guess that feeling. The daemon saw the glowing light and hissed wickedly at me, sticking it's forked tongue out between two very sharp looking teeth. We stood there for a minute, it and I, and I glanced at my hound, who was up again, but moving slowly. I didn't have time to be concerned about him as the daemon took the opportunity to quickly cast another spell and a ball of fire was heading in my direction. I charged. I don't remember what happened for a few seconds because I was engulfed in a ball of fire. I didn't feel a thing, but the sudden blaze in the dark night made my eyes sting and they shut on their own accord. I was still rushing and my sword seemed eager to taste daemon flesh again that night, for it drove deep into the beasts belly. At the same moment, the fireball that had hit me bounced back and slammed into the face of the monster, causing it to howl and hiss even more."

At that moment, our local tailor, Thomas, came into the tavern. The young man saw him in a moment and waved him over to the table. Thomas set down a large bundle on the floor near the mans feet and Griffyn took a pouch of gold out and handed 20 pieces to the tailor. Thomas took the money, grinned at the young man and walked out of the tavern again. "He was late..." said Griffyn to me, and then went back to his story.

"By the time my eyes readjusted to the darkness, I saw burning embers upon the daemons face. It didn't seem to know whether it should claw at the embers or claw at my sword which was stuck to the hilt in it's stomach. I stepped back, trying to pull my sword free, for fear I wouldn't get it back, but it wouldn't budge. It was stuck tight. I pulled with all my strength and the daemon hissed in pain, finally ignoring it's burning face and reaching for me with those claws. Seemingly from out of nowhere, my hound sprang upon the back of the daemon, just as it had almost reached me and locked his jaws upon the monsters neck, shaking with all it's might. The daemon spun itself in circles, knocking me to the ground with one of it's powerful wings, trying to shake my hound off it's back. Half blinded by the fireball, it ran smack into a tree, not only knocking itself down, but dislodging my sword, and my hound at the same time. I raced for the fallen blade, got it in my grasp and with one move, turned and thrust the point of it deep into the beasts neck, until it hit bone and wouldn't go any further."

"The monster gurgled something at me, a language I'm not familiar with and lazily swiped at me with it's clawed hands, but I gave the sword a rough twist and it breathed no more."

He stopped here. I waited for a few moments, expecting him to continue, but he just sat there looking through me at something unknown. "I miss my Elsie." He finally said. "Killing the beast will never bring her back, but I've gotten the need for revenge out of me now." I could tell he was in pain, not the kind you can get help from the healer with. "In the end, I left the beast where it lay and walked over to my faithful hound, who had received a garish wound from the beast when it had thrown him off. He had very little energy left in him and I once again relied on a simple healing spell I was taught and soon he was comfortable at least. The fight left me quickly that night and I felt empty inside. I wept, I can tell you, and not for the first or last time in the past few weeks, but eventually I had fallen asleep again, with my head resting on my hounds side. In the morning, when we woke, I searched the daemons body and found a pouch I hadn't seen before then. It had a nice pile of gold in it, which you see here ..." he said as he shook his gold pouch "and some vials of fluid I've yet to identify. That is why I am here, as the mages might be able to help me do so, and for this." he reached down with both hands and lifted the heavy bag from the floor and set it upon the table. "You know, the Thomas the Tailor is known far and wide for his handy work, so I felt it would be perfect to see him while I'm here and get this."

As he opened the bag, my eyes grew wide. He pulled out piece after piece of the most beautiful leather armor I've ever laid my eyes on, all carefully crafted out of balron hides.


Hope you enjoyed it :)
Deadwerd
Elder Scribe
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2016 7:48 pm
Location: Iowa, US

Re: An old story

Post by Deadwerd »

That was actually a very unique and interesting story, I liked it a lot!
'Deadwerd' in game, 'Deadwerd' onstage.
Jax2
Grandmaster Scribe
Posts: 95
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:23 pm

Re: An old story

Post by Jax2 »

Thank you :)
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