Post by Ricky-K on Jul 23, 2003 10:03:14 GMT -5
Prologue
Malagar surveyed the mass of undead soldiers crammed into the valley, his black hair and cloak blew in the evening wind coming off from the Sea of Sorrow. Several fires had been lit, giving the sky an eerie, evil glow.
At last, he thought, everything is going according to plan.
“Sire.” A wheezy, horse voice said, Malagar turned to see an undead messenger, it was completely devoid of flesh, blood and muscle only leaving only a skeleton.
“Yes?” asked Malagar
“The soldiers are ready, as soon as you give the command we will be able to march.”
“Good, good.”
“Shall we go?”
“Yes, go now.” The messenger turned and left. Looking toward the sky Malagar said,
“Master, everything is going according to plan.”
Chapter 1
The tall, blond man rapped hard on the cottage door and waited for several minutes. The door opened, the man who stood there was in his mid-forties he had long black hair and wore simple clothes but around his waist in a sheath was a gold-hilted bastard sword.
“Kendaric! You old fool!” he exclaimed as he moved foreword and hugged his old war friend.
“Hello Drake.” Kendaric said smiling toothily.
“How longs’ it been? What? Twenty years?”
“Must be,”
“Come in, come in old friend!” said Drake, turning and walking towards the stove, Kendaric followed. Drake lifted a pot of tea and poured two cups, he handed one to Kendaric as he sat down.
”Thank you,” said Kendaric. “So, how’s life out here in the country? Must be boring, after all that adventure all those years ago…”
“Nah” said Drake smiling “I prefer the quite countryside to the city.”
“Life is never dull in the city, we’re just after crushing a small band of Thieves that have been raiding caravans along the north pass.”
“How is the king nowadays?” asked Drake
“Dead.” Kendaric said simply.
“What!?”
“Died this morning, assassinated” Kendaric paused, looking at the horrified expression on Drake’s face. “One of the maids went in to wake him this morning and found him lying in a pool of his own blood, stabbed to death.”
“Do you know who did it?” Drake asked, looking concerned.
“Yes, we caught… it not long after we found the King dead, apparently the King put up a fight and the thing was bleeding to death we just followed the blood.”
“What was it?”
“Shape-Shifter.” A look of comprehension dawned on Drake’s face. “Yes, that’s why I’m here.”
“It can’t be. We finished him twenty years ago! I watched him die!”
“Gods or in his case, Fallen gods don’t die very easily, and Malagar is an extremely crafty one.” Kendaric said scratching his head.
“This is ill news, and I take it Reagan is next in succession?”
Kendaric nodded a gloom expression on his face, Drake’s expression turned to one of utmost loathing.
“That fool on the throne! And if our suspicions are correct and Malagar really is back then Reagan wont make things easier.”
“Yes, Reagan never believes anything unless he’s staring it in the face.”
Both of the old friends fell into a thoughtful silence. A loud crash broke the silence, Kendaric and Drake jumped to their feet, swords drawn as three goblins broke through the door, two more smashed through the windows.
The small green creatures wore black leather armour and held clubs in their hands.
“Goblins!” exclaimed Drake,
Without hesitation Kendaric swung at the first goblin, the goblin had no time to react before it’s head was cut from it’s shoulders. Drake charged the goblin closest to him and rammed the point of his sword into the goblin’s chest, then pulled the sword out, the goblin fell to the ground in a pool of blood. In only a few seconds the band of goblins had all be defeated. Kendaric kneeled down beside the goblin closest to him and rummaged through the goblin’s pockets, he pulled out a talisman and a roll of parchment.
“Aha!” he said holding the talisman, it was black and shaped like an oak tree. “this band of goblins came from the Dark Forest, but how, no, why would they be this far south?” he unrolled the parchment, read it over a few times then handed it to Drake saying, “That explains it.”
Drake took the parchment and read it:
To all those of evil intent,
A sum of 5000 gold pieces will be given to whoever can hand
The heads of Kendaric of Southdown and the head of Drake Renguard
You know where to find me,
Malagar Denenamove
“We leave now.” Kendaric said, stepping over the dead body of a particularly ugly goblin and walking out the door.
