|
Post by Dmitri Pendragon on Jan 21, 2016 6:21:37 GMT
"Well nothing," said a voice from the forest. "And in fact, you ain't gonna be well after we're done with you."
"That's right," said another voice, this from the other side. "You're both gonna pay."
With that, the two bandits from Horace's camp stepped out of the forest. One levelled a crossbow at my chest. The other bared his teeth in some semblance of a grin and approached slowly from a different direction.
"Uh-oh." I pushed Daira behind me. "Okay, guys, let's just sort this out in a nice way. Sorry for the headache." I nodded to the bandit with the crossbow and turned to the other. "And sorry about the broken nose, but you see we were trying to escape—"
"Shut it," Daira hissed behind me. "Don't make them madder."
"What else am I supposed to do?" I whispered over my shoulder. "Don't you see that crossbow? You think we can run?"
The sword bearer growled. "The insects talk too much. Go ahead and shoot."
|
|
|
Post by Dmitri Pendragon on Feb 1, 2016 6:22:36 GMT
The crossbowman hesitated. "Weren't we gonna take them back to Horace?"
The sword bearer growled at him. "These two ain't worth it. Pests. At least the boy." He grinned. The ugly smile split his face. "The girl ain't half bad."
"Then…shoot the boy, get the girl?" The crossbowman raised his eyebrows and glanced in the direction of the sword bearer.
"Yeah." The sword bearer stepped closer to me. "And if you won't do it, I will." He hefted his sword and looked me in the eye.
"No," said a deep voice I both recognised and didn't. "You will not."
I spun. In the trees above me, a Phoenix perched in the majesty of his race. He was humanoid, but birdlike at the same time. Skin golden, a flaming halo crowning his head. His wings rippled with fire, and his eyes burned. Despite the creature's majesty, I shivered.
Those eyes were not warm. They were cold.
Daira gasped. "You—Horace!"
"Horace," repeated the Phoenix. He stared at her. "Nay. Horace I am no longer. I am Reshdavak. Son of Davakor and Madaresh." He raised a hand, and suddenly I noticed his fingers were covered with blood. "I am who I was born to be."
My skin crawled. The blood on his hands couldn't be a good sign. Nor his transformation. But there was a chance… "Well, good to be knowing you, Reshy. But I've got to be going now. Things to do and all that." I grinned at him. "Can you let us go?"
Reshdavak's cold eyes flamed. "Take them."
Behind me, Daira screamed. I spun, raising my fists. The sword bearer slammed his fist between my eyes, and a wash of darkness followed.
|
|
|
Post by Merenwen Inglorion on Feb 6, 2016 7:02:56 GMT
I woke in a cage. It was similar to the first, but only in shape. The location was entirely new, a cave of some sort. Dark, smelly, and lit only by the glow coming from the phoenix. The murderer who called himself Reshdayak. He was perched several feet before me. I growled. “Where’s Davira?” The Phoenix leaned forward. “Right here.” He tossed something into the cage. A handful of bones clattered against the cage’s floor. Sickened, I leaned back. The cage rocked. My stomach rocked with it. The Phoenix’s flame writhed in his laughter. “The look on your face was worth the pain you gave me. To your right.” I looked. Davira—I think—was also in a cage, curled into a ball. “Tell me why I should not kill you now. Go on.” His eyes dared me to give him a reason, good or bad. By the spark in his eyes he had already made a decision.
|
|
|
Post by Dmitri Pendragon on Feb 16, 2016 7:33:21 GMT
I racked my brain for an answer. Phoenixes were clever. Super intelligence and other unfair powers like that. They would see through any web of deceit I tried to spin. And if I couldn't come up with an answer, Reshdavak wouldn't even need a blade to kill me.
Then it came to me.
"Because I'm stupid," I said quietly. "You know I'm stupid because I ran right back into your clutches last night. Because you'll get more money selling me alive than you will selling me dead." I grimaced at the thought. "I don't know why someone would try to sell a dead body, except if it's for some dark arts ritual or something."
Reshdavak regarded me, eyes still cold.
"But I'm not going to tell you what decision to make." I leaned against the bars of the cage and, heart thudding, closed my eyes. My ears strained for movement. At first, nothing save the whispering crackle of his flaming wings. Then the swish of feathers against the ground and the flap of great canopies beating the air.
I squeezed my eyes closed until the sounds ended. When I opened my eyes, shadows claimed the cavern.
Reshdavak was gone.
|
|
|
Post by Merenwen Inglorion on Feb 23, 2016 18:46:01 GMT
I sighed faintly. The cage next to me rattled, and I looked over to see Daira. Her face was bloodied, but she smiled. “You’re smarter than you look.” I shrugged. “Thank you.” Daira tapped the bars to her cage. “I assume you have an escape plan of some sort, bar death.” “Sort of.” I gathered up the bones and hid some in my clothing. The sturdiest and smallest ones went in my mouth. It was uncomfortable, but I’d done worse before. “Are you going to clue me in?” I maneuvered the bones into a position that wouldn’t require me to change my speech pattern or make a noticeable bulge on my face. “Not yet.” There was the sound of grinding stone, and light came from behind us. Shielding my face, I turned. Three bulky silhouettes approached. They stopped just short of our cages. Long, green skinned arms grasped the chains that held our cages suspended. Squat necks held devious, child-like faces. Trolls. The one that held by cage brought its face close. It said something that was very slurred and guttural. After a few seconds, I could make it out. “We are your new masters.”
|
|
|
Post by Dmitri Pendragon on Feb 25, 2016 6:30:27 GMT
I sank to the ground and spoke through the bones. My speech wasn't all that different. "Trolls."
I'd heard of trolls in the Bonobon Clan. Their bad Commonspeak was just the first of their many unique…characteristics. Not sure if they'd know what the word meant. Crafty and backstabbing, trolls—Andruki in their language—served a debauched god in a strong theocracy that allied the tribes all across the realms under a common cause. Their culture was void of any sense of empathy, morality or propriety. At least, such were the legends. I had yet to see if the inflated stories were true.
The shortest troll jabbered words I couldn't make out. I shook my head and pressed my back against the bars. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're saying."
"Then you will learn!" screeched the third, whose high-pitched voice went straight through my head. "Learn! Learn! Hahahahahahahahaaaa!"
The first troll smacked the third across the face. The Andruki cowered and backed away. The first pointed a finger at it and spoke in its slow, guttural voice. "You pull."
With deft craftsmanship, the trolls broke the chains suspending our cages with small hammers which they then replaced on their belts. They took the chains over their shoulders and pulled.
I turned and stared out in the direction Reshdavak had disappeared. Was he still plotting against us, even though he'd sold us?
I clenched my fist. I had an unfinished mission and no Andruki could keep me from it. I would escape. Daira and I both. And we would find the Phoenix again.
|
|
|
Post by Merenwen Inglorion on Mar 14, 2016 15:38:19 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Elytra on Mar 27, 2016 21:53:10 GMT
The cages moved really slowly. The trolls laughed and shoved each other as they went through the bush. "Where are you taking us?" I asked. "To work!" A troll shouted. The others laughed, stopping the cage. Work. I knew what that meant. Countless hours breaking rocks to be used in mortar. The cage slowly started forward again. I sat down on the wooden floor. This would take awhile.
|
|