Thursday, January 27, 2011

Animal Spirit


     Gretchen had inherited the hunting cabin after her father’s death.  Her friends often asked her why she kept the place.  She only used the place a few times a year and refused to rent it out.  Gretchen would just smile and say it was her bond with her dead father.  Which was true in a way.  Her father had introduced her to the animal spirit.  The spirit was in the cabin.  Sometimes it would call for her but otherwise it did not want to be disturbed.  

Thursday, January 20, 2011

In the Land of the Others

He had been walking for days across the wastelands of Ichor. He paused on the crest of a ridge and surveyed the scene in front of him. His destination was still over the horizon. The land before him was dark and crisscrossed with several streams of lava. He looked for a path that would keep him clear of the towering spires of the Others. Angry clouds filled the sky and obscured the sun, his only method of navigation.

The Master had told him to follow the sun. In the mornings his shadow pointed the way to go. In the afternoons he walked towards the setting sun. At night he found hiding places to sleep in. The Master had tried to explain star formations to him once but he did not understand. Besides, it was dangerous to travel in the open at night. That was when the Others came out.

He did not know what was in the package the Master had told him to deliver. It did not matter. He did what the Master told him to do.

There was about an hour of daylight left. He considered his choices. He could find a spot now to spend the night. There were almost certainly caves in the side of the ridge he was on. Or he could keep going and be that much closer to his destination. But it would be harder to find suitable hide spots down on the plain. He kept going. He could not abide the idea of wasting daylight.

An hour later he was following the edge of a lava stream as the sun set. He had found no good spots to spend the night and was getting desperate. He could see the light of fires in the spires. The Others would be roaming soon. The lights of a spire were ahead of him in the distance. He decided to keep going that way until he found a place to rest. He plodded forward, fear overcoming his weariness.

He heard noise behind him and spun around. There were four Others behind him. They drew swords and moved to circle him. He shifted his walking staff and assumed a fighting pose. He charged before any of them could get behind him. He struck one with a solid blow to the head and saw him crumple to the ground. But the odds were against him and he was quickly hacked to death.

The three survivors stood around their fallen opponent. One of them spoke. "What's an orc doing so far in human lands?"

"I don't know. Let's get Herric's body and get back to the spire."