Sorceress of the East
Posts: 1717
(12/31/02 3:57 am) Reply
News from the front
The rain was pouring down on the dark land of Dedra, turning its ashy soil into slippery muck. The clouds have covered all the sky for three days. A group of warriors sat huddled around one of the tiny campfires that they had been allowed to make. The struggled to keep their shelter of spears and sheilds steady against the growing wind, and did their best to dry off more wood for their fire.
Under normal circumstances, such a group of men would not be found warming themselves around the same fire, but in the three weeks that they had been forced to wait for the aproaching Dedran army, most of the old barriers had been broken down. Much of the time they sat silently, watching the flames and thinking of home.
One young man, an Elnadorian noble by the looks of him, grew tired of the akward silence. "I miss my home," he said.
"I miss the forest," said a Galanan man who sat beside him, drying off some herbs that had been drowned in the water collected by his pouches. "This place is misserable. Not a tree in sight! Only rocks and mud."
"And rain," corrected an Islander. "It's nothing compared to where I live, but it's something different when it all goes into the ocean."
"I have never seen the ocean," commented a dark-skinned Sandling who casually sharpened his dagger. "What is it like?"
"Oh, it's wonderous! You can watch the sun rise over the water every day. They say that you can even spot the sunken ruins of the Golden Isle if you look in the right place. And the beach goes on forever. Miles and miles of sand, stretching further than you can see."
"That sounds like my home," the Sandling said with a sigh, putting his dagger away. "But we have no ocean of course.*
"Not much of a beach if there's no ocean!" the noble laughed, but simply the word home brought to mind images of those they loved and everything they had left behind.
A young archer tied his hair back away from his face. "I miss the rivers and the woods. Fishing, hunting..."
"What woods do you hunt in?" the Galanan asked.
"The forest near the edge of my uncle's farm, on the outskirts of Esseniar. And my grandfather owns a house just outside the flood zone of the Nados." He sighed heavily.
There was a long silence as they listened to the droplets of rain pounding on their shields.
I made a promise to my younger siblings," the Sandling began, "that I would return with trophies to my villiage. Helmets and shields and the like."
"How many siblings do you have?" the archer enquired.
"Six. Two brothers by my father, and a brother and three sisters by my mother's other husband."
"Six? Goodness! Dari-Nai must have given quite the blessing to your mother," the Galanan replied. "I always found the Sand people's tradition of having two husbands quite a curious thing, though."
"Oh, two is nothing," the Sandling laughed. "My Aunt has five!"
"I got siblings back home too," the archer said. "Two little sisters. Whenever a suiter comes by, I make sure he gets a good look at my arrow with his name on it!"
The Sandling turned to the noble. "Do you have any siblings?"
"One older brother," he said. "He's staying home to take care of things. It's been hard for my father to cope since mother died, and he always was the favorite."
When the Sandling turned to the Galanan, the white-robed healer said, "I don't have any siblings, but my wife back home should be expecting our child any day now."
Sorceress of the East
Posts: 1722
(12/31/02 6:16 pm) Reply
Re: News from the front
"No kidding! How old are you anyway?"
"116 years old next spring." The other stared at him. "But you have to remember that life expectancy for my race is nearly 1000 years!"
"I've got a girl back home, too," the archer said, drawing the attention away from the healer sitting across from him. "She's tall, with eyes as green as emralds, and hair as dark as stormclouds. She tans pretty well, too. And she's pretty strong for a woman!"
"Sounds like she has Islander blood in her somewhere," the tall sea-farer said. "You could have easily just described half the women on the Blue Islands!"
"What about you, my good southerner?" said the archer to the Sandling. "Do you have any one back home?"
"I am afraid that I do not yet."
"What? A good-looking guy like you? I would have thought you'd be saught after by half your tribe."
"I thank you, sir, but I have not had the honor of being chosen yet."
"Honor?!" the noble laughed scathingly. "Ha! Women shouldn't chose you, you take them!"
"How can you say that?" the Sandling hissed.
The Galanan gave the noble a hard look. "Long have my people been ruled by a woman, the Anadea. I'm sure my tribesman friend would agree with me when I say that the female of any race should be held in high regard. They are more precious than anything in this world."
"You treat them as betters. They're not! If anything, they can be more decietful and manipulating than we are."
The Islander and the archer looked at each other, obviousl not wanting to get into this fight. They looked at a sixth member of the circle-yes, there were six. One had simply remained silent. The sixth man, dressed in a dark green cloak stood up. The argument. mienwhile, had escalated.
"You Galanans are push-overs! You can't even take care of your own race, and let women rule! What kind of men does that make you?"
The Galanan was red in the face. Normally, healers don't fight, but such an insult struck a chord in him, a nerve that was set aflame. "At least I'm not an abusive worm who thinks that his family's wealth makes him above other mortals!"
The cloaked man through back his hood. "Enough!" he shouted. His outburst shocked the other members of the circle. His eyes burned with black flame, and as he stood the raging storm seemed to lessen.
Lord of Isengard
Posts: 586
(1/3/03 3:19 am) Reply
Re: News from the front
Please continue...
I shut my eyes and turned them on my heart. As a man calls for wine before he fights, I asked one draught of earlier, happier sights, Ere fitly I could hope to play my part. Think first, fight afterwards--the soldier's art: One taste of the old time sets all to rights.
Sorceress of the East
Posts: 1779
(1/25/03 11:49 pm) Reply
Re: News from the front
"Enough," he repeated in a calmer voice. "There is no point in fighting each other. That is only what the Evil One wants. Save your energy for the battle tomorrow. Your squabbling will only weaken us."
The archer looked up. "This is the first time you've spoken stranger. I was begining to think you were mute."
The man in the cloak ignored him.
Turning to the young noble he said, "Why do you insult this man?" Meaning the Healer. "Why do you hate his people so?"
The young man had no answer to give, and only looked away, avoiding the stranger's eyes. There seemed almost to be a calming energy coming from the man in the cloak, and those that had been preparing to fight seemed drained of that terrible, violent energy.
Lord of Isengard
Posts: 663
(1/27/03 5:31 am) Reply
Re: News from the front
You envy love...sad
I shut my eyes and turned them on my heart. As a man calls for wine before he fights, I asked one draught of earlier, happier sights, Ere fitly I could hope to play my part. Think first, fight afterwards--the soldier's art: One taste of the old time sets all to rights.
Sorceress of the East
Posts: 1784
(2/2/03 8:55 pm) Reply
Re: News from the front
"What?"
The stranger looked into the noble's eyes. "From the time you were a young boy, you have wanted to be loved. You never thought you had your father's aproval, your sweetheart fell for your brother, and your mother left when you coundn't even walk. You never felt love, but always wished you had, and envied and hated those that did."
The noble couldn't respond. He could only ask, "How do you know?"
The stranger sighed. "You wear the scars on your heart so plainly for those who can see it."
Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn.
DaisyTook Princess of Windigate
Posts: 2074
(2/3/03 11:02 am) Reply
Re: News from the front
Nice story Silver. BTW Just to let you know I've started our new RPG. It's in Windigate. Umm... It's where we'll be in the future, and what we'll be doing and whatnot. Umm... so far I've posted parts of my story twice.
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