Record of Lodoss War Fansite.

Archives: A New Balance

Chapter 14: Into the Wildlands

    Ultarik took lead after everyone started out, he had studied the map enough to know the route and lead them to the start of the shortcut. This one was hopefully enough to test their physical prowess, though the risk of infighting was always there too that would weaken the group. They all had to be on their toes now, for anything could happen going through the Wildlands.

    Toan remained quiet and tried to block out the tension in the air though he was particularly sensitive to negative emotions. Their newest companions both had him on edge, though for different reasons entirely. He grumbled to himself without realizing it something about how he had such a hard time for just being a dark elf and yet these types joined up without much of a fuss. “This is by far the strangest party I have ever been in, and that is saying a lot for me,” he sighed.

* * *

    Hiding a look of distaste when the Dwarf was allowed to join the group, Fenix mounted, having to help Granite up once more. At least having a female dwarf, who had a beard that made any stumble he grew look pathetic, holding on to him made the logical part of his brain work overtime.

    First, that grassrunner showed up. The cursed thing was an annoyance, but in the end rather useful for situations. It bothered him that the little guy gained access, but it was just a grumbling bother. In the end, that wasn’t something that concerned him. No, three individuals did that quite well; surprisingly enough, the dark elf wasn’t one of them.

    First on his list was Ooke. There was something purely sinister about him, something that made the hair on his back stand up and dance a merry jig. He had a feeling that he wouldn’t be friends with that guy, and more likely, he would have to watch his back.

    The second was Coras. The merc seemed bound and determined to get the grassrunner to take a swing at him, likely wanting to smite the little guy down with extreme prejudice. Well, in the end it was the bringing in of the dwarf that put him on the list. He doubted Coras was a major threat, just a nagging in the back of his head.

    Finally was Ultarik. The barbarian was certainly more uppity than he was when they had first met. He wanted them all in a neat package for something, and had seemingly threatened violence to keep it that way. While he had confidence about his abilities to defend himself if push came to shove, he was in no hurry to see if he could manage to keep the pointy end of a sword from lopping off his head. If Ultarik came out swinging, he had no doubt that his action would be to smite the family jewels, and run as if Falaris was chasing a few inches behind.

    Without turning to Anisa, he spoke. “Hey Anisa, you ever get the feeling things are about to get bad? Like, not end of the world bad, but ‘I’m about to get screwed by an unknown’, bad?”

    Anisa’s ears perked up a bit at Brahm’s words. Often times, that bad feeling meant a fight of some sort was coming, and she did enjoy fighting. “Well, we are passin’ through the Wildlands,” Anisa replied. “I won’t be surprised if we meet any beasties.”

* * *

    The ride was bumpy and rough, as Ooke knew it would be. This don’t bother him one bit, he was thinking of other things. Brahms, has a loathing for us that anyone one with an open eye could see. I can see it is not that he hated Dwarves, for he has no quarrel with Granite, the voice in Ooke’s head echoed.

    “I have done nothing to express my intent and he is not a high priest…so what was it that he knows. Eh, it’s not important to me now,” Ooke murmured softly

    The voices shifted thoughts, Coras is our main focus for now between him and Alm stands a force waiting to explode and we might have to put that into action, when it best suits us.

    Ooke turn away from his thought “The dark elf is quiet, it would seem that this is truly a group of misfits, no?” he asked Coras.

    Coras was glaring at Alm too much to notice the others in their conversation. He didn’t want to input anything anyways. There was something unknown about the grassrunner that bothered him. He looked at Brahms for a second, and turned his gaze back to Ultarik then finally to Toan. He was starting to get paranoid that they were on to him. Brahms especially, and that irked him. He didn’t do anything wrong, not yet at least, but if they were to not pull their weight he’d cut them off like an infected limb. “It’s awfully quiet,” he muttered. “Why hasn’t anything attacked us yet? Does the grassrunner smell that bad?”

* * *

    Alm sneezed. He was getting cold, and the height of the horse made him feel dizzy and queasy. He didn’t want to throw up in front of the others, and especially not in front of Granite and Anisa. He felt the same way on the way to Raiden, sick, and dizzy. Maybe it was just traveling, or maybe it was the fact he wasn’t in control, either way it bothered him. He could feel Coras’s glare on his head, even thought he never looked back. He looked up to Anisa when she spoke and hugged in closer. “Please don’t say that, I don’t want something to hear that and add to our misfortune.” He was starting to feel dizzier. “Anisa, my head is spinning. I hate horses, I really do.” He clung to her out of safety, not to be misinterpreted by his earlier behavior in the camp.

    Anisa, not one to be comforting, wasn’t quite sure what to do with Alm. “Well, jest don’ be hurlin’ on me, mate,” the half-elf replied.

    Granite overheard Alm and reached over from Brahms’s horse to touch Alm’s arm. “Aww...Alm, are you sure you want to come with us? It’s dangerous out here.”

    Alm put on a brave face. “Of course, you guys would be lost without me.” He joked despite his current motion sickness. “I won’t get sick Anisa, I was just telling you why I was gonna hold onto you tighter. So you didn’t hurt me later.”

* * *

    Ooke gave a half chuckle and began in to an Dwarven bar song;

    “In a neat little state they call Valis
Apprenticed in trade I was bound
And many an hour of sweet happiness
I spent in that neat little town
Till bad misfortune befell me
And caused me to stray from the land
Far away from my friends and relations
To follow the black velvet band…”

    He hoped this would help clear some tension for now… they had better things to worry about.

    Coras grinned listening to the dwarf’s song. It wasn’t the type of music, per say, he’d wish to hear traveling the Wildlands, but it was better to lighten the mood, the dwarf’s deep voice doing such a merry song. Coras hated how everyone just let Alm come along, but he had no real say in the matter. Things would come to a head sooner or later and the grassrunner would show his true intentions. He paused in his thoughts. Why am I so fixated on that grassrunner? He decided to give it no thought yet, just to bide his time until he could think in private.

* * *

    “Thats not really what I meant...” He said passively, looking about. If things were to quiet, that usually meant something was disturbing the animals within the area. Although with the amount of noise they gave off, it wouldn’t surprise him that much if they were the reason. “Well, Alm, if you want to trade places, I would be glad to. Although I think I might risk a bit of pain,” Fenix said with a chuckle, patting his horse’s neck. At the moment he was trying to forget the fact that the hairs will standing on the back of his neck—although he was wondering why he was still thinking about that dwarf. In the end, he had been with people he didn’t trust, but never really thought much about them other than not to turn his back on them. Something was wrong, and first chance he got he was going to investigate this matter further. “Anyway, I trust our two long eared travelers will keep their ears open for unwanted guests.”

    “Nah,” Alm giggled like a child. “I rather like my place at this point. Anisa smells like my mother does.” He rubbed his face into her back. “Besides, as long as I behave, I’m allowed to stay near her.” He gave a quick smile to cover the dizziness in his head. He blanched and held in closer to Anisa. His eyes hurt from being open for so long. He couldn’t stand being on a horse for too long and the silence was killing his ears. He didn’t really like the dwarf’s song but that was more because he felt that Ooke was trying to steal his only real friend in the party away from him.

    Anisa gave a slightly uncomfortable chuckle at Alm’s comments and actions. She didn’t like being compared to anyone’s mother, and she didn’t know what to do to make Alm feel better. It was too bad Granite couldn’t easily ride a horse on her own and carry Alm.

    Ultarik didn’t mind the song, in fact it kept his attention focused on the road ahead. The new member named Ooke did not bother him, just as long as the dwarf did not infringe on any of his goals then all was fine. Keeping his eyes on the road ahead he wondered what the next challenge they had to meet would be.

* * *

    As the mercenaries rode, they had attracted the attention of nearby creatures. They silently followed alongside, expertly stalking through the underbrush along side the walking horses. They were not usually social creatures, but it was spring, and mating season. They had been drawn to this little-used path through the forest by a careful, unnatural spreading of pheromones through the region. There was only one large female in the area, but five males had come as well. With such a large assortment of man and horse meat, they couldn’t help but hunt these delicious treats.

    Suddenly, a pair of long pincers shot out from brush at Toan’s horse, as he was one of the nearest to the rear.

    Ooke heard the swift snapping sound behind him, and a cold chill ran down his spine. He gave a smile at the thought that something bad was about to happen but choose to say nothing he only glanced over his shoulder, dropped his brow and gave a sinister smile, where no one could see him do so.

    Toan’s ears picked up the noise but it was too fast for him to evade. Fearing for the horses safety at the moment, he whipped the supplies from his side and swung them at the pincers to deflect them. The horse escaped with a deep gash, but not one that would kill it. Toan was bucked off as it panicked and hit the ground with a roll, barely avoiding serious injury. “Ouch...” he grumbled as he attempted to pick himself off the ground and get his weapon out.

    Ultarik heard Toan rolling and wheeled his horse around, seeing the pincers deflected he reached for his throwing axes and held them ready. “Company already, what just attacked you?” He looked around warily, he would dismount and use his main weapon if he had to. For the most part he would rather use his throwing axes, as they could even be used from horseback.

* * *

    Anisa sharply wheeled her horse around when she heard the activity behind her. Her horse squealed and jumped, tugging at the reins, but it obeyed her command.

    “Oh shite,” Anisa cursed. A giant mantis emerged from the underbrush to capture its quarry of horse and dark elf meat. With a brown underside and green back, it blended well into the forest. It wasn’t alone though. Four more mantises appeared, and they each focused on a horse and rider.

    A pair of pincers shot toward Anisa’s horse, and the half-elf had no time to fight back. With a curse, she wrapped her arm around Alm and fell backwards out of the saddle with the grassrunner held to her chest.

    The mantis’s claws caught Nylitha around the barrel and began to lift the thrashing horse off her hooves. The horse writhed and screamed and kicked, and before the mantis had lifted her more than five feet off the ground, the mare’s desperate flails freed her. The horse fell back to the ground, landing on her side. A strong snort of air escaped her, but she couldn’t seem to stand back up.

    Anisa set Alm down and drew her sabers. The half-elf hopped to her feet and dashed straight toward the mantis as it began to reach down for Nylitha. Anisa used the horse’s hip for a boost and launched herself up toward the mantis’s face.

    The giant insect was now distracted from the winded horse, and its attention turned toward the half-elf flying towards it. It reached upwards, but not quickly enough to catch Anisa. She brought down both blades on top of its head, between its eyes, but they did nothing but chip flakes off the mantis’s exoskeleton.

    She fell backwards onto the raised claw and launched herself forward again, this time hoping to land on its back.

    Alm watched Anisa’s gallant attack do little damage. With her second attack launched, Alm decided to resort to shamanism, seeing that he could do little with his tiny rapier. “Sylph, I think now would be a very good time to work out a little deal: get me through this and I promise to try harder.” He gulped.

    Alm took a couple of deep breaths in and held his fingers aloft. “Oh little sylph, winged wind, help me in my time of...just attack the big bug, okay!” A blue-green streak flew from Alm at the mantis that Anisa had targeted and struck it on the pincer. The mantis ignored the fruitless attack and Alm sighed heavily. “I knew I should’ve paid more attention...”

* * *

    Coras gripped the reigns tightly in his left hand and drew his sword with the right. “Ooke, I’m going to make a single pass by them, if you want I’ll let you off here before I make my charge, but this is a limited time offer.” He kept away from the mantises for now, biding his time until he could make his move.

    Without a second thought, Ooke cast a spell of rage and fury on Coras, “Death waits for no man,” he chanted, before he slid off the back of the horse to let Coras take care of business. Now with his feet on bare earth, Ooke readied his hammer and focused on the mantis after Toan’s horse, he knew it would lose interest in the horse soon and he would be prepared to defend himself.

    “Uhhhg,” Toan grumbled in sore pain as he stood and managed to get his sword out. To his side he saw Ooke take a stand. “That hammer of yours ought to crack that thing’s body,” he said. His horse circled around the two men and stood behind Toan as if seeking protection from him the dark elf who had promised to protect it. “Well at least animals like me,” Toan chuckled to himself. Then he nodded to Ooke. “Let’s go!”

    That said, he ran up to the mantis ducking a swipe from its long crushing claws. The separation between the torso and abdomen looked like a good place to jab it, so he thrust his sword into that spot. The mantis did not stand still in the face of this obvious attack and moved so that the sword’s point hit at an angle, cutting the pressure needed to force a crack in its shell out of the attack. “Tch!” Toan nearly swore as he saw the results of his attack, a large gash in the exoskeleton but no break through to the actual flesh. Now in danger of being crushed again, he leapt back to his original position. The mantis’s claw struck the ground where he stood with an impact that would have crushed his entire body, throwing up stone and dirt.

    Seeing an opportune moment as the claw meet the earth, Ooke ran up and took a heavy swing, landing the hammer on the claw as it meet the earth and cracking the claw wide open. Shortly after, the other claw flung Ooke into a near tree. “Well it won’t kill it but it will disable it,” Ooke mumbled. Ooke cracked his neck to the side and stood back up and returned to his stance. “Bring it to the ground and I can work on its head,” Ooke shouted out to Toan.

* * *

    Looking back, he grimaced at the site of the large insects. The roads may have bandits, but at least their hides weren’t as thick as steel. When one mantis took an interest in his horse, he reared it back, removing his quarter staff and kept the horse faced forward. For the poor mare, it was probably a nightmare facing off against such a beast. For Fenix, it was a nightmare just keeping the horse reined and under control enough for him to implement his plan. As the Mantis charged, he turned his horse around. His plan wasn’t to fight it face one. He’d seen just the amount of damage that a saber could do. His plan was based more on his mount.

    With a sharp crack, he brought the staff down on the horses flank. When it sent a kick at the mantis, he hoped that the horses might would do more than his would.

* * *

    Ultarik looked at the Mantises and grinned, as he turned to face one of them he threw his axes with as much strength as he could muster. They whirled through the air and struck their target true, however they did minimal damage as well but one of them clipped a soft part of the giant mantis. Once their strike had finished they returned to his hands and he readied another attack, also preparing for a counter attack in exchange.

    He too got attacked and barely avoided the attack, taking a small slice to his right arm. He gritted his teeth in frustration and put his throwing axes away, dismounting he drew his huge axe and grinned. “Let them come, let them taste my cold steel of death...”

    He then readied to attack, this time he would have no mercy and attack with full strength. He was going to make this one pay, like he did to many foes who struck him in battle.

    When Brahms’s horse had reared up, Granite fell out of the saddle. Though she bruised her rump, it was probably the best. Brahms’s horse could move faster and she could fight on foot.

    Granite had never faced monsters, or real battle of any sort. However, she felt little fear for her life in this one. The mantises weren’t paying attention to the smaller people, but to the horses, which would be more filling meals. This allowed Granite to move freely, at least for a little while. The dwarven woman took her mace from her belt and charged at the closest mantis, the one that had struck at Brahms’s horse.

    She approached one long, spindly leg and threw her weight into a swing with her mace. With her dwarven strength, it took only one hit to smash the exoskeleton enough to make the leg useless. The mantis lost its balance and fell a bit on the wounded leg. Its weight caused the crushed side of its leg to break completely.

    The mantis’s large, bulbous eyes swirled around madly, looking at the horse and rider, and the dwarf that was now circling around him at a jog. It was no longer looking for food, it was looking to defend itself. It turned its upper body and struck out a claw at Granite. Luckily for her, she was a little slower than the mantis had aimed for. The claw impaled the ground directly in front of her, almost close enough to touch her nose.

    The force and surprise caused Granite to tumble backwards, and on her back, she saw the mantis lance out with another claw. She rolled aside as the claw stabbed the ground where she had laid, showering her with dirt. The dwarf hopped to her feet quickly as the mantis struggled to withdraw its claws from the soil.

    Granite charged, heading for the front leg opposite of the one she had smashed. She swung, cracked the leg, then threw the weight of her shoulder into it.

* * *

    Alm grunted. Everyone seemed to be fighting but himself. He swore loudly and charged at the beast Anisa was fighting. His sword struck the creature in the leg, the recoil nearly toppling him over as well. The mantis struck at the fleet grassrunner but ended up striking its own leg instead. Though the wound was minimal, the mantis’s foremost leg was damaged enough that even Alm could cripple it.

    Anisa landed on the wing cases on the mantis’s back and clung onto them to keep from sliding off the slick back. Attacking the exoskeleton was fruitless, but if she could find a joint, she could do some serious damage. While holding onto the wing case, Anisa used her other hand to maneuver a saber between the two halves of the case.

    The mantis realized the disturbance and opened the wing cases to shake off the attacker. As they began to move, Anisa jumped off and nearly fell as its gossamer wings lifted from its back. However, clinging onto one of the delicate wings, she swung toward its softer back plates beneath the wings. It was clear the wings were nothing but vestigial as she used them as a swing and crushed them. Giant insects were not natural, and were assumed to be experiments of Kastuul that escaped into the wilds. These mantises were far too large for flight.

    Though the wings were easily crushed, they were still firmly attached to the mantis and held Anisa’s weight long enough for her to sink a saber into its back.

* * *

    With Ooke’s weight off of his horse, Coras spurred his mount onward, his sword poised to strike as he passed. He swung on a sidelong angle, his sword scoring deep into one of the mantis’s exoskeleton. But due to his new strength at the cause of the spell, his sword lodged deep in the belly of the beast, and the pass knocked him clear off his horse, still clutching his sword lodged deep in the dead mantis’s body. He cursed and tried to kick free, as the mantis fell on top of him. Still in rage from Ooke’s spell, Coras flailed wildly at the dead bug, trying to remove its carcass from on top of him.

* * *

    In the midst of battle Ultarik issued a battle cry that could be heard through over the field of battle and a little beyond, it lasted until his axe had come down in a forceful smash that cleaved through the mantis’s well armored carapace and cleaved a deep gash through its head and into part of its body.

    “Stupid insect...” He pulled his axe from the carcass and looked for another target, now he was at home and enjoying himself. This did remind him of the battles he fought in before, all through dealing with the mantis he kept focused on its eyes as if he were staring it down. As his axe came crashing down one of its attacks hit him, as blood trickled from a slash to the side of his right shoulder.

* * *

    Alm still lay under the crippled insect. He assured himself that he was safe for the time being. My weapon is nearly useless against this thing. He looked up and noticed movement between the interlocking joints of the carapace. Spitting on his hands he gripped the sword with both hands and drove it upward into the mantis. The blade’s wound was not fatal as the grassrunner had hoped, as the blade was too short to drive deep enough, but the insect would be slowed with the current wounding on its underbelly.

    The mantis was all but sitting idly with Alm sticking it in the stomach. It thrashed about trying to trample the little annoyance. Though Alm was struck a few times, the impacts left not much more than bruising, as well as opening the wound in his side once again.

    As the mantis collapsed, Anisa slipped on the slick carapace and bodily fluids. The wing she clung to now had to support all of her weight, but it was already damaged. The wing ripped and Anisa fell off to the side.

    The half-elf landed on the forest floor, still clinging to a fistful of gossamer wing. Swords weren’t very useful for killing the mantis. While it was fatally wounded, it was still thrashing about and dangerous. Anisa turned to her magic. Holding her hands out toward the enemy, she called upon one of the most taboo spirits in shamanism.

    “Great Salamander, spirit of fire, come to me! Seek me enemy’s wounds and consume!” the half-elf called. She struck her saber on a rock, and from the spark created, a lizard-like spirit formed and shot toward the mantis. It grew and multiplied, and each salamander spirit began to dive into the cracks in the mantis’s armor.

    It was during their attack that Anisa noticed Alm clinging to the mantis. Salamander spirits weren’t the easiest to control, or to trust. They wouldn’t hesitate to set his hair or clothes ablaze.

    The half-elf shot toward the flailing mantis and snatched Alm, carrying him to safety.

    The salamanders began to disappear into the wounds, but the mantis began to steam and crackle. It collapsed in defeat as its body was consumed in fire from within.

    Alm shuddered. “Fire...bad.” He clung to Anisa for a second. “Anisa...you actually cared enough to save me.” He hugged her. The pain from the open wound made him feel a little faint. He didn’t want to pass out so he bit his lip to keep him level headed. “I wonder if poor Coras is alright?” He paused and looked at Anisa’s face. “You aren’t hurt are you?”

    Anisa set Alm down and brushed herself off. The act of altruism surprised herself, and she refused to comment on it. “I be well,” Anisa replied. “Ye ain’t looking too good yerself, mate.”

* * *

    Ultarik saw that Toan had left an opening in the giant mantis attacking him, right after his was finished off and he wheeled around he made a charge at the with his axe ready for another strike. His axe struck hard and true, splitting the exoskeleton and carving almost a quarter of the way into its torso. Pulling his axe out he looked to Toan and grinned, for the most part he was trying to keep their travel time down.

    Toan felt relief as Ultarik cleaved into the mantis. He had not been looking forward to drawing its head to the ground so it could be crushed, but was about to do so if it meant helping the others and their animals more quickly. “Thanks,” he said with a tone of deep appreciation. “I owe you one.”

    “Are you both alright, you and your mount that is?” Ultarik asked as he watched the others fighting, Alm was in quite a bind and Granite was still fighting. The grassruner would survive, though he might still need some help.

* * *

    With only one insect left to bring down Ooke relaxed and watched the mayhem. He then smiled. “Ah the sight of blood and death could bring no man a better pleasure.” Ooke noticed the wounds and pains his fellow travelers had endured, wondered if any other members of the party knew how to heal. He figured it wasn’t his place to heal any of them considering none of them trusted him anyway, but this could be away to gain trust. Wait it out see what kind of help they offer each other, the voice in his head echoed.

    “You’re right we’ll wait and see,” Ooke muttered to himself.

* * *

    The final remaining mantis was crippled by Granite’s blows to its legs and fell with a heavy thud, as it could no longer support its weight. Granite ran around to the front of the mantis and it began to lash out with its claws. Granite stayed just far enough out of range and the claws only buried themselves in dirt. As the mantis struggled to raise up again, using its claws for support, Granite dashed forward and launched herself at the mantis’s head.

    Her mace smashed through the exoskeleton of its head, either due to her strength or pure luck of finding a weak point—she had that Cha Za enchantment after all. The mantis went mostly limp, save for some twitching limbs.

    Toan’s eyes wandered and were caught by the Salamander. “That’s impressive,” he said, and figured that those two would be alright. He was surprised to find that Granite was holding her own as well and nearly sprinted to her, but he then realized that Coras seemed to be the one in serious danger. He made an alarmed noise and began to run towards him. He waved to Ooke and Ultarik beckoning them to follow. “Please help me lift this!” he pleaded, and took hold of the carcass’s sides, trying his hardest to move it. He was physically strong but it was quite heavy. The kicking and flailing did not help either.

    Ultarik was actually glad Toan was safe and sound, that everybody was as they served his purpose alive and not dead. “I have fought many battles, though mostly I have cleaved men down with little remorse. Your welcome, it is better to have a living companion than a dead one.”

    Ultarik followed and helped lift the carcass up so Coras could get out from under it, he took the head and lifted up from there suing all his strength.

    Ooke followed Toan in an attempt to help Coras but knew that with Coras enraged to be careful. On his way there he couldn’t take his eyes off of Granite. She held her own well and the sweat dripping off her made her that much more attractive. “Hmm...I could really take that beard for a ride!” Ooke grunted with a smile. Then he realized he said it out loud. “Oh well he thought, I doubt she heard it,” he said softly to himself and began to help Toan with the insect.

    Coras came back to his senses under the weight of the giant mantis. ”Oh...for Marfa’s sake...“ He looked over to the rapidly approaching Toan and Ooke and rolled his eyes in embarrassment. ”...Have I fallen so far out of grace to be seriously stuck like this?” He muttered, now awaiting rescue from under the giant bug. This was somehow the grassrunner’s fault. He never lost himself in battle before that annoyance had shown up. He knows magic, Coras thought. It was all starting to make sense now...it was the grassrunner.

    Anisa looked over the road to see the damage done. The corpse of five mantises nearly circled the group. All the members of the group survived, though Coras was stuck under a corpse. Anisa put her fists on her hips and laughed triumphantly. “We be a good team!” she announced. Anisa glanced down to Alm. “Go check on me ‘orse, would ye? I’m gonna ‘elp Coras.”

    The half-elf left Alm and jogged over to the mantis corpse to help Toan and Ooke.

* * *

    Alm lifted his shirt and looked at the ripped stitches. He gingerly plucked them out of his skin and sighed. With the amount he’d move around, he doubted the wound would ever close right. And though the battle interrupted the journey and his horrendous time on the horse, he still felt a little sick from the ride, something he hoped would be cured with time. Alm went over to the burning carcass of the female mantis and thrust the tip of his rapier into the flames. When it heated he brought it to his skin and sealed the wound shut. The excruciating pain overwhelmed the grassrunner for a moment causing his body to limp to the ground unconscious.

* * *

    Between Anisa, Toan, Ooke and Ultarik’s combined strength, they lifted the carcass off of Coras. Anisa bent down to examine the mercenary’s injuries. “You ain’t ‘urt bad, are ye mate?”

    Coras got to his feet quickly and retrieved his sword. “Not hurt, at least not physically. My pride will mend in time.” He thanked his companions and looked to the unconscious grassrunner. “Is it dead, or just sleeping?” He pointed at Alm and smirked. “We could always leave it here if its dead.”

    Ultarik kicked the corpse and laughed, as it was still and not even twitching to a kick it was dead. He had a sense of humor, though it was rare he ever showed it, and this time, he completely missed Coras’s point. “You’re welcome and I’m sure it’s about as dead as the rest of them are, when you hit it the thing toppled over like a sack of potatoes. At least pride heals faster than the body, at least sometimes...”

    He then looked around and saw that Alm was passed out and made his way over there, shaking his shoulder a little he saw that the wound was now sealed. “If he’s out like this for a while then we might have to travel a little more slowly, does somebody have bandages to bind his wounds?” His arm was not doing so well though too, lifting the mantis corpse had strained his wound more.

    Granite saw that Coras was helped and turned her attention to Alm. Coras made a crude remark about Alm, which Ultarik didn’t seem to catch. The barbarian went to check on Alm, and Granite crossed the road to see to him as well.

    “I can take care of him,” Granite said as she hurried to Alm’s side. “Brahms! I need my bag!” she called out.

    Ooke thought that this would be as good a time as any to start helping others. It would seem this small battle has brought a bit of togetherness to the rag tag group. “I can mend a wound or two if anyone needs it,” Ooke announced to the group, as he took his seat and caught his breath. “I can’t promise that it will be painless though, but it is effective,” he reassured them.

    Alm rose quickly to a sitting position. “Whoa...I don’t think I’m in Raiden anymore.” he joked. “I had the strangest dream...” he went on, not caring whether anyone was listening or not. “And you were there.” He pointed to Granite and gave her a wink. “And you were there...” he smiles at Anisa and gave her a little point. “And you were there too Coras.” He gave him a little smile. “But I was dancing a jig on your bug raped corpse.”

    Once Coras was taken care of, Anisa walked to her horse. She suffered little more than some bruises and scrapes, so she needed no healing. The corpse of the mantis she had killed still burned. The salamander spirits were greedily eating away at the carapace of the mantis. Anisa ignored it, but the salamanders wouldn’t just burn themselves out. She gave a chuckle at Alm’s comment to Coras as she passed.

    Nylitha still lay on the road, breathing heavily. The mare’s sides were lacerated, but those were superficial compared to what she suffered from the fall. She had to be around nine hundred pounds, and the fact that she hadn’t stood through the entire battle meant that she was as good as dead.

    “Git up, ye nag!” Anisa shouted and gave Nylitha a kick to the rump. The horse gave a labored snort, but didn’t even sit up. “Aw bloody ‘ell...” Anisa cursed.

    Ooke took notice of Anisa’s horse, “If that horse dies, it’s going to make the journey twice as long,” Ooke said as he got up and walked over to the horse. “Let see if we can stop that from happening, I just hope it doesn’t kick me.” Ooke let out a deep dwarven chuckle. He knelt beside the horse and laid his hands on it. He then began feeling for broken bones and other major wounds.

    Nylitha let out a squeal of terror as the dwarf laid his hands on her. The mare sensed something evil about him, and even in her condition she began kicking her legs.

    “It ain’t gonna git better,” Anisa said, unaware of Ooke’s clerical powers. The half-elf drew her saber and walked from the flank to head of her horse. “Sorry, girl, it be for the best,” she said to the prone animal. With a quick flourish, she cut through the horse’s throat. However, with her sword being of human make, it couldn’t cut through bone. With a little leverage from her foot, she cut through the vertebrae and severed the horse’s spinal cord.

    Anisa gave her sword a flick to cast off the blood, then examined the blade. Between the mantis exoskeleton and horse, they would need sharpening.

    Ooke stroked the dead horse’s fur and then gripped it’s fur and skin tightly in his fingers. “We should probably get moving if we want to make any progress before nightfall,” Ooke stated. He became very still inside because the horse would have made a great sacrifice, but now it was life less and would have no meaning.

    Toan nearly became ill at the site of the animal being put down, and he stroked the face of his own horse, glad that it was not aware of what was going on. Did we have to do that? he wondered to himself, while replacing the items that had fallen and cleaning the light wounds on the horse with care.

* * *

    Granite tended to Alm’s wounds once Brahms brought her bag over. She watched Ooke and Anisa investigate the horse, and realized just how badly injured it was. When Anisa drew her sword, Granite gasped. She knew she should probably look away, but she found herself riveted. Anisa killed the horse quickly, and the sound of her sword crunching through bone gave Granite chills.

    The dwarven woman looked away. She wasn’t unused to the slaughter of animals, at least not from seeing her parents or brothers kill chickens and pigs, but it tended to remind her a bit of her own mortality.

    “Hey sweet,” Alm said poking at his side. “I can touch the tissues. Eww...it kinda feels like a sea sponge.”

    While it seemed that everyone else was busy staring at Anisa’s horse, Coras watched the grassrunner with his face twisted with absolute disgust. Alm, the object of his hate poked at the nasty looking wound in his side with childish abandon, not seeming to feel a thing other than its tactile sensation on his fingertips. The whole scene was almost too much for the young man as he tried to hold down his breakfast.

    Ooke stood up and looked around. “Yeah if we don’t move, this mess will surely attract other possible threats.” Ooke then walked over to Coras and whispered, “There goes a perfectly good sacrifice, it’s to bad they would notice if we tried to sacrifice the grassrunner huh?” Ooke gave a crooked smile while these words came out. He could taste Coras hate and enjoyed every bitter bit. He also felt no remorse at feeding his anger.

    Tasty, Ooke, tasty, maybe we’ll see human death sooner then expected, the evil voice in Ooke’s head laughed.

    “Maybe,” Ooke replied.

    Coras grinned widely. “I’m afraid that the grassrunner would make too poor a sacrifice. Even the dark goddess wouldn’t want that annoyance on her hands.” He looked over to Anisa’s horse. “Yeah, it’s too bad. But we can’t really do this out in front of these people. Brahms, Anisa...they might get upset. We can’t afford to lose fodder quite yet,” He whispered.

    Anisa unpacked her saddle bags and repacked everything into her backpack. The saddle could fetch a few gold pieces, but Anisa wasn’t even going to consider lugging it along. The half-elf stood and walked out to the middle of the road. “Let’s get out ‘ere ‘fore somethin’ else comes, eh?” Anisa said.

    Ultarik watched as Alm played with his wound and Anisa killed her horse, such sights did not phase him as he tied a strip of cloth over his injury. Everybody seemed alright otherwise, which was all that mattered as he was responsible for them getting through alive. “So we’re short one horse now, I suggest more of us will have to double up. Unless anybody has any other ideas, we should get moving soon.” After that he made sure his gear was all in place once again, after that he watched the others and assessed them as far as combat went.

* * *

    “Stop poking at it!” Granite ordered Alm as she dug in her pack for anything that could be used as bandages. She wasn’t a doctor, but she had patched up skinned knees and cuts on her little brothers. This was worse than any of their wounds. She had a few strips of cloth in her sewing kit, and thankfully, they were long enough to wrap around Alm’s small torso. Granite folded one into a pad and placed it over the wound, then used another strip to tie it in place.

    “Well, that’ll do for now,” Granite said. “We can do more when we make camp, but we need to go.”

    Alm pouted at the loss of his spongy play thing. He slipped his shirt back down and looked over to Anisa’s horse. “Hey, Anisa, your horse is missing its head. What happened?” he hadn’t been paying attention to much more than his wound and was just starting to notice that there was the evidence of a battle just around him.

    Ultarik realized that something was up, especially when Alm was asking about what happened. He wondered about the whole situation with Alm, he was confusing as ever. “We were ambushed by giant mantises and fought them off, no big deal it’s the risk of traveling in the wilds, Alm. There should be a spot along the road where we can rest, this route may hold more surprises for us yet so keep your guard up. If somebody needs a ride I have room on my horse for one person, going on foot would slow us down.”

    “Mantis damn near killed ‘er,” Anisa explained to Alm. “I had t’finish the job. How ‘bout you ride with Toan?”

    The half-elf turned to Ultarik. “‘ey, I’ll ride with ye mate!”

    Ultarik looked to Anisa and nodded, his horse could handle the load and they needed to make haste. She would have to get another horse, though that would for a while. “Very well then, tis a shame about your horse. Though it is only natural for a battle, I have seen this before where I am from.” He then mounted his horse and offered to help her up, as direct as his actions seemed he was at least polite.

    The half-elf took Ultarik’s hand and gracefully swung up into the saddle behind him. “Let’s go!” Anisa shouted, waving her arm towards the road ahead.

    “Shall we mount up and return to the trail?” Ooke said to Coras.

    Toan’s head popped up at the mention of his name. “Sure, he can ride with me,” Toan said, actually thankful that the grassrunner would be away from pestering the ladies or annoying the other men. He mounted and addressed Alm, “that’s if you don’t mind riding with me, of course.”

    “I have no qualms, either way,” Alm said, letting Toan help him up onto the horse. “You seem to be grossed out by the horse’s death? Were you two close?” Alm didn’t mean it as a joke, but it seemed to come out rather twisted. “I uh..didn’t mean it like that,” he corrected.

    Coras retrieved his horse and helped Ooke up onto his stead. “Shall we get going?” He grunted as he mounted. “I’d like to not get attacked by another set of giant bugs, if you don’t mind.”

    The group of adventurers fell in line after each other and slowly proceeded. Most of the horses were carrying a substantial amount of weight between human and dwarven riders.

* * *

    Not long after they left, other animals did find the scene of the battle. At first it was only scavengers that came to pick over the corpses of the mantises and horse, but soon came more dangerous creatures. A hunting manticore caught the smell of blood as it scoured the forest for a meal. It preferred fresh food, but the horse was only recently dead.

    As the horrendous combination of lion, man, and scorpion entered the clearing, the scavenging animals dashed off into the forest. Ignoring the insectoid carcasses, it went directly to the horse. While what was left was a good enough meal in itself, it had a pride to feed as well. Whatever being was riding the horse was certainly not here and had to still be alive. The manticore examined the site and found evidence of other horses and riders.

    The beast launched itself into the sky on its leathery wings and returned to its nesting site to gather the rest of its pride.

« Previous Chapter | Next Chapter »

Chapter List | A New Balance Storyline