STORIES

Jeathan’s story

                The sun beat down on Jeathan’s shoulders and the wet cloth he had stuck in his hat what seemed like minutes before was already starting to feel warm and no longer cooling.  The work though was necessary and thinking about the heat would not make it go away.  Looking around the field he saw that his work was almost finished and soon the harvest would be done.  The years had been kind to him and his family.  The god’s had blessed him with three healthy children, Halen, the oldest had been accepted into the University at Rothschurin, he was on his way to find his dreams in the senate. 

The sting of sweat running into his eye brought Jeathan back to the present, and he adjusted the cloth on his head.  Perhaps he could take another break and fetch more water to cool his head, but at this rate he would not finish his work before the sun fell.  Still, better to keep himself cool and not cook his already weary head.  As Jeathan worked the handle on the pump he saw Merrin’s cart turn in off the main road, she was home early, that was a good sign that the market had gone well today.  Jeathan could not recall it being this hot this late into the season and wondered when the weather would break and give the lands some relief, though rain had been plentiful enough at the right times for his crops.  As Jeathan worked the pump he felt a vibration stirring deep within the well below.  He had felt ground tremors before, everyone that lived this close to the mountains felt them a couple of times in their lifetime, but something about this was different. 

As he looked around to see if any of the trees or birds were being alarmed by the vibration, it was then that Jeathan realized that the vibration seemed to come from within his own body.  He remembered when he was younger and serving his mandatory duty in the militia, he had never held a sword before and the first time he had used a real metal one in practice one of the Sojnat had hit his blade so hard that he thought his teeth would rattle out of his head.  Now he felt that feeling, but from the core of himself.  He felt as though he had just run the length of his field and his vision seemed to blurr at the edges, something was not right, he felt strange and the air about him seemed to hum with energy.  Jeathan tried to calm his mind and body and the hum of the vibration eased a bit and he felt a bit more at ease, the buzzing in the air about him seemed to synchronize with the easing of the vibration.  Again he felt a bead of sweat run into his eye and burn him, it was just so hot.

Merrin turned onto the home drive with an empty cart and a pleasant jingle from her full purse.  Market had been good, but full of rumors.  Of course it was always full of rumors and one of the main reasons she liked to go to market, that and if she sent Jeathan, he would give too much in the trades.  Her husband was a sweet and hardworking man, but his kindness often got the best of him when it came to the hard parts of haggling.  She saw Jeathan at the edge of the field working the pump, all these years and he still brought a smile to her face, she hoped that the harvest was going well, with the weather cooling it would make Jeathan’s work at least more manageable.  She raised her hand and waved to Jeathan, he turned and looked her way, but the look on his face was worrying, something was wrong, his figure blurred as if she was looking at him over the top of a cookfire.  The air was split with a scream, Merrin did not realize that it came from her lips as she saw Jeathan burst into flames.


TYRFIN's STORY

Tyrfin scratched the back of her neck feeling at the small lump where the spinfly had bitten her.  Luckily it was a small one and probably would not make her dizzy.  She remembered tales her father had told her about how the bites used to only sting and itch.  Something about the insects had changed after the invasion; maybe they had feasted on too much demon blood and that had affected the little bugs; maybe the bugs were some lower level spawn of the demons.  In either case, the gods had let them exist, she was certain, to feast on her blood.  Even now, she heard the high pitch buzz of another, perhaps if she climbed down out of the tree they would be fewer near the ground.

 

Grabbing the branch above her she pulled herself to her feat on the rough and gnarly limb she often used to watch the road.  It was unfair that she had pulled road watch for the third night in a row, it was hard to keep ones whit’s about them when you had to stay up all night, Tyrfin was sure that one of the reasons she seemed to pull road watch so often was her gift.  Sure everyone in the troop could pull and use ether, who couldn't, she, however could often choose what she pulled.  Standing on the limb, she could feel the bark of the tree, but she was sure that she felt it differently than the others, she could FEEL the tree, even through the leather of her boots.  That alone made her different from the others.  When she first joined the troop, a few of the boys thought to show her the fine art of tree climbing.  At first they scoffed at her for climbing in boots, but she told them she had always climbed with boots and gloves as well.  That's when she first understood that not everyone felt the tree as she did.  It was almost like the tree told her where to place her boot, and the leather in the boot bonded with the tree.

 

A sharp snorting sound brought her sharply back to her task, she saw something and her heart flipped and her belly turned to worms.  It was a big creature with a man upon its back.  The long head and snout seemed to ignore her as it shook its head, but the man that rode it was staring fixedly at her spot within the tree.  Suddenly she knew what the creature was, she had heard stories and legends, it was a horst, though the stories she had heard told of their beauty, all she could tell at the moment was that its eyes appeared as the solid black orbs that she had only seen in demons.  Cursing herself for a fool, she started to climb down.  The man had obviously seen her stand up and the movement had caught his attention, still with the sounds of the animal he rode and his closeness to the tree, there seemed something mystical about his sudden appearance without her notice.

 

Jumping to the packed earth that now served as roads she recalled the tales her father had told her of men carving stones to lay over the packed earth to make roads that would never get muddy, and even the heaviest of wagons would not get bogged down on their solid stone.  Sometimes she envied her father for the marvels he had seen. Perhaps one day she would venter to one of the ruined cities to see if she could see these marvels for herself.  The clearing of the strangers throat startled her back to the task at hand and she realized she had been daydreaming, definitely too little sleep.  She chivvied herself and spoke  “Who’d ya be there?” manners were never her strong point, and she always thought that getting to the point was better than wasting time on pleasantries.  “an how ya be comin to this here spot?”

 

“Well met indeed” replied the stranger.  “I saw you swaying in the tree and thought that I might be of service”

 

“Where be the others ya travel with?” so this would be one of those that relied on flowery and mannerly speech to get his way, she thought.

“I travel only with sir Gaven here” he said lightly patting at the beast he sat upon.

 

Sir Gaven? This man was obviously a lunatic or a liar, probably both. But it was best to keep him civil and they could both be on about their day.

 

“Might there be a Gathering near by?  I have been traveling long and am new to this particular place.”

 

Tyrfin did not immediately understand his question, a gathering of who? She thought.  Then her fathers memories once again came to her aid:

 

“Do ya be meaning one of the Gathering Inns?;  Theys not been any of thems about since the vasion.  Theys all been destroyed they has, how be ya not knowin that stranger?”

 

“My pardon my lady, as I said, I have travelled far, perhaps then you could point me in the direction where I might find accommodations?”

 

She was starting to get an odd feeling about this old man, no he wasn’t old, he just seemed like one of the elders because of his speech.  He couldn’t be but a handful of years older than she was.  Yet something just seemed out of place, like this man had just stepped out of the past that her father had told her so much about.  Looking him over she had missed a few things from her vantage in the tree.  The man wore a plain enough cloak and a simple blouson similar to those that she had seen a few of the simple priests wear, his was parted for riding but what made it really different was the gleam of metal hinting here and there.  This man had armour, and not just the black iron forged stuff that old Tully could make, this looked like the white iron that everyone coveted.  The making of the steel, at least that’s what she thought it was called, was one of the things lost in the invasion, or maybe the mining of the ore was too dangerous and the smiths, even Tully, could make it if they had the right material.  She didn’t know, the only steel she had seen had come out of ruins and was traded about for its weight in copper.

 

“My lady….are you alright?”

 

Damn her lack of sleep she could not stop her mind from wandering, three nights was long for even her.  She heard again the buzzing of the spinflies, and her head swam pleasantly, something was happening to her mind.  Perhaps the fly that had bitten was more potent than she thought.  Was the buzzing getting louder?  She glanced up at the stranger, he seemed to be paying more attention to the tree that she had just leapt from than he was to her, he had asked her something.

 

“I’d be fine…, just …needin.. a bit o’ … sleep…Twas.. a long …” the man moved so quickly she would not have believed it had she not witnessed it with her own eyes.  The sound of ringing steel filled the air, she had heard that sound before, Daven owned some looted white iron, but this sound was almost beautiful the ring like that of a bell.  Before the blade had cleared its sheath the stranger was already on the run heading towards the tree she had been sitting in.  As she turned to follow what was going on she felt like she was trying to swim up stream, something was affecting more than just the quickness of her whit’s.  A wave of dizziness and nausea suddenly rushed over her and she saw the ground come up to meet her.  She tried to…. Do something…  say something.

 

“Bugman!, taste the bite of Dozdanwei!” she heard the stranger exclaim.  That word, that sounded familiar to her, another of her fathers stories she was sure.  Why couldn’t she recall?  Her mind had grown more than dizzy, the buzz of insects seemed to be all about her, and for now all she could do was give in to the rush of weariness that fought with the nausea in her belly.  She hoped the others of her troop would hear the sounds of battle and that the stranger might hold out until they got there.  Even so, a bugman, it was likely that it could handle them all even with the troop alerted.  A terrifying thought, but somehow as she drifted off to slumber she did not feel afraid.