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[quinlan]

Chapter 2.14

During the next day he searched for his belongings. He found them all in a storeroom. He gathered them and stuffed his backpack with dry rations and other food from the priest's provisions and left the temple. It was built in a plateau high up on the Worldscap Mountains and was surrounded by even higher mountain peaks all around. It was a very secluded place. It had to be, in order to survive in the midst of a "holy" empire, as the Istarians thought of the lands under their dominion.

He was brought unconscious to the temple, so he had a hard time finding the route out of the plateau and down to the roots of the mountain. The priest proved to be right concerning his knee trauma; it didn't have healed. Because of it he spent considerably more time than necessary in order to find his escape route and the pressure he put to the injured foot took its price. Bones knitted imperfectly, for from then after lancinating pain permeated his body whenever there was change in the weather. From the roots of the mountain after orienting himself as to where he was, he moved towards a lumberjack camp he knew existed in the area, and from there to Cuda, capital city of the Midrath province.

After his latest adventure, he was fed up of the life in the northern region, well over the point of repletion. At the age of 35 he decided to move again. No more excitement was to be found in those provinces. Also, rumors had reached his ears of trouble brewing between Istarian landholders and the Silvanesti elves in the highly contested, rich lowland and forests northwest of the large stretch of desert and barren land, which constituted the easternmost boundaries of the Istarian Empire.

Land disputes arose more and more often between the greedy Istarians and the Silvanesti who resisted the blatant attempts of annexation of their lands at their northwest borders with Istar. That region had become a theater of increasing violent conflict between the elven Wildrunners and Istarian legions and mercenaries whom the landholders had hired in order to protect the human settlers. Dangerous work, but very well paid. So he traveled to the southwest. The years spent in the north had bestowed upon him the reputation of an extremely able tracker and fighter, so it didn't take him much time to find work there.

Two years of mercenary work and things were looking good for him, until the prospect of even better visited Zelmar. A wealthy Istarian landlord with many connections to the ruling hagiocracy in the capital, Nuram Nul, offered him an extremely lucrative contract, one that even if he wanted to, the financial payoff was way to high to refuse it. So he went to the capital to visit Nuram Nul, something he had not done many times through the years since he left after the murder of the priest.

He wasn't afraid because of his crime. He believed he had taken all precautions then, and in any case he did so every other time since then. Nobody has seen his face clearly upon his visits and in his service as a mercenary in general. He was very secretive. He met the noble, accepted the contract and assumed leadership of the mercenary band Nuram had hired. Then passing through eastern Dravinaar, he led them to Yandol, the capital city of the province. It was the most important hub of commerce in the region and controlled the flow of goods in and out of the entire south sector of the Istarian Empire. Its importance laid to its close proximity to many foreign countries. The one in which Zelmar was interested in, was the Silvanesti Kingdom?

Yandol was the meeting place for the mercenary guard with the team of woodcutters and other hapless, indebted colonists that were supposed to lead and protect during their illegal incursion in elven land. Following a southwest course that took him just outside of Balifor, the land of kenders, they reached the foothills of the Khalkist Mountains. From there, traveling parallel to the mountain range, they reached the south of the borders, avoiding thus the numerous tributaries that came down from the mountains to form the great river Thon Thalas which traveled through the Silvanesti Kingdom.

The lands around the tributaries were full of Wildrunner teams constantly patrolling the borders. Zelmar with his uncanny ability to sense their presence, managed to keep his mission away from them and cross the borders. He found an acceptable site for their camp and having fulfilled the terms of his contract, without wasting time prepared to return to Istar in order to collect the second half of his payoff, as agreed in advance with Nuram Nul.


"ZELMAR & THE ISTARIAN MERCENARIES"

Edited by quinlan, 26 April 2008 - 09:10 AM.

[quinlan]

Chapter 2.15

Unfortunately for him, things were about to resolve in an unexpected manner. A few days ago, a family from the Royal House had organized a long excursion starting from the capitol Silvanost and ending to the town Tarithnesti that was situated twelve miles from the borders. Reaching their destination they decided to continue their pleasure trip and moved southwest from the city, following the river Thon Thalas up to a large tributary that came down from the Khalkist Mountains before it merged with the main body of the Great River. From then on they planned to turn southeastern and travel in a straight line until they met again with Thon Thalas and follow it back to Silvanost. The name of the family was Silvanoshei. They were Relindar, his daughter Ellendra, Vendrin ? a Wildrunner from House Protector who served in the capacity of weapon's instructor for the Silvanoshei family, servants and a small team of Wildrunners.


"RELINDAR SILVANOSHEI"



"ELLENDRA SILVANOSHEI"



"VENDRIN BELTHIEL"



During their travels, two young Wildrunner scouts discovered the tracks of a great bear and asked Vendrin for permission to follow them. Being on a pleasure tour and not patrol duty, permission was granted and they left, eager on the bear's trail. The tracks led northwest, meaning towards the border region. Unfortunately at that broad region, half a mile inward from the border, Zelmar's mission had started building their camp. The bear's direction was such that it would pass very close by their position. Subsequently, so did the two scouts following the animal and they discovered traces of the presence of humans in the region. Silently they withdrew and turned back to inform their commander. As soon as the announcement was made, a meeting was called to decide what to do with the news.



During those years, relations with Istar had reached a very low point. Before 40 years a diplomatic mission that has been sent to the Istarian capital had been murdered and robed outside the walls of the city of the Kingpriest and despite all the assurances to the contrary, the perpetrators of the crime had not yet been arrested and brought to justice. The elves blamed the Istarians with whom they were already very negatively inclined due to their religious fanaticism and extremism and their expansionary tendencies. The affront of the humans trespass in elven lands was not to be left unanswered. The penalty for their crime was death. The humans were more numerous ? sixty mercenaries and the settlers, but it was a meaningless advantage in the forest. The fifteen Wildrunners with Vendrin and Relindar were more than a match and capable of eliminating them. So they decided to set up an ambush and kill the guilty human trespassers without mercy.



Here some information must be given concerning the Wildrunners, in order to understand their capabilities and what it was that made them so confident that they could prevail against a force of superior numbers. Non-elves didn't know much about this warrior caste. Facts were absent and hearsay was the only source of information about them. Ancient stories of children lost in the forest that returned to their homes after days with bizarre stories of wild warriors that had found them, warriors dressed in green with cloths that were like a second skin upon them, hair died light brown with yellow and darker spots. Rumors of hunters, who were found dead, killed by arrows whose shaft was red-colored ? a universal sign of warning among all bowyers/fletchers. Rumors of familiar and well-traveled paths that suddenly turned into deadly cul-de-sacs without warning and impossible to detect, so much so that death visited the unwary without awareness. Rumors for creatures not exactly elves and animals with more intelligence than was proper?



Regardless of the rumors that had a big dose of reality in them, this special warrior caste exists and has its own religion and amazing way of life. They are devoted in the worship of the deities Zivilyn and Chislev. They worship them with their minds, their hearts, their bodies and their souls. They are the protectors of all the elves living in the elven forests, but of the trees and the animals as well. Sworn protectors by their deities who in order to better serve their duty bestowed them with gifts that brought them even closer to nature and the animal kingdom than other elves. Among the gifts were the ability to shape-change, knowledge of the language spoken by all plant and animal life and many other abilities, which is not the purpose of this chapter to explain. So it is understandable that even few in numbers they could easily overcome a much larger force.


"ATTACK ON THE ISTARIAN ENCAPMENT"





"FORCERUNNER"



"WINDRUNNER"



"FORESTRUNNER"



"SONGRUNNER"



The attack coincided with the night of Zelmar's departure, trapping him with all the rest. It was the night of the white moon's High Sanction, when Solinari greater size dwarfs completely the other two moons, Lunitari and Nuitari.


"SOLINARI'S HIGH SANCTION"



The ambush was set so expertly that they surrounded the camp tightly and none could escape. The attack was so sudden that a few of the mercenaries didn't even manage to unsheathe their swords and fire shots with their bows. What followed was no battle, but slaughter. Yet, not everything went according to plan that night. Ellendra, Relindar's daughter didn't stay back with the servants as she was bid to do by her father. She had a restless and rebellious spirit and couldn't abide with the rules that forbid women, especially of royalty, to fight for the defense of their country as male warriors did. So she run from their camp and followed the attack team.



Zelmar managed to break their siege and escape the constricting ring of Wildrunners, within the chaos and confusion of the battle. The attacks came stronger from the side of the borders, for the elves wished to block their escape route. He found an opening to the southeast, which led him, deeper in the forest. As luck would have it, from the southeast came Ellendra. He detected first her presence and attacked her. The young Silvanoshei had no hope. Although she was trained in handling a long sword, she couldn't compete with Zelmar's greater strength and experience. He didn't wound her, though. He needed a hostage. In the hunt that would surely ensue once her absence was noted, she would act as his shield of protection. Without hurting her he subdued and took her hostage dragging her along in his retreat deeper in the forest.

Edited by quinlan, 05 May 2008 - 08:03 AM.

[quinlan]

Chapter 2.16

For days they roamed the forest, hunters and hunted, successfully evading with his extraordinary ability their attempts to snare him, but at the same time failing to make a breakthrough to freedom. When Relindar returned to his camp and discovered his daughter missing, he ordered a search mission assembled. Vendrin contacted many other Wildrunner teams to aid in the task, since it was apparent they dealt with an enemy highly knowledgeable in nature and capable of evading their traps. From a fallen mercenary, moments before he passed away, they learned that the one they hunted was the leader of the humans' mission who had escaped their ambush. Putting two and two together they figured that Ellendra's disappearing was connected to this man, for a daughter of the elves would never get lost under normal circumstances anywhere in elven lands. On the other hand, someone very capable at hiding his tracks could make himself invisible in the forest.

A special ability that all Wildrunners share is thought transference. At young age only simple, basic thinking concepts and feelings can be expressed, but between grownups it is evolves into a strong telepathy. This link is intense. They can mind speak each other. They can often times see through each other's eyes or overhear conversations through the link. So, in no time a large amount of teams were notified and very soon pretty much the whole forest searched for the fugitive and his victim. The extent of their mobilization was such that they cordoned off the entire forest from the borders to the North, South, West and East, a cordon that tightened and became smaller and smaller as they searched methodically from the fringe to the deeper parts. Every possible avenue of escape was eliminated. They were determined to find him. There was no room for mistakes. Capable as Zelmar was, it was only a matter of time before he run out of places to hide?

Zelmar reached the same conclusion. His fate was sealed; there was no doubt about it. One way or another, he would leave his last breath in that forest. This trail of thought led him to another conclusion, about the elven woman he dragged with him. There was no turning back, so no point in continuing to hold her. More of a burden now he had decided that he would fight to die, that he would not leave the forest alive. Strange thing, only once before he felt so alive despite his predicament. He remembered his vow years ago to live and die by his will only.

Well, since he was about to die, he would be the one to set the time and stage for his last battle and he would make sure that many elves would follow him to oblivion. Oblivion not only as in death, but to cause them also immense pain, grief and destruction not only in the physical realm, but in their pathetic souls as well. Unfortunately he lacked the time and the right tools for a proper 'treatment' to the elven woman, so he settled for the next best thing. To desecrate her by ravaging her body, by raping. To have as a last earthly delight the pleasure of her flesh, and the satisfaction of destroying an unspoilt elven girl and bring shame to her family. Destruction and pleasure, he would leave this world with as much of the two as possible. The girl proved to be a virgin, so double the pleasure for him. After sating his lust of sex on the poor elven girl, he left her naked and unconscious with her cloths dipped in the blood of her lost maidenhood laid beside on the ground. He left her somewhere to be found and for him to buy some time to prepare to fulfill his second lust, for destruction.

When Ellendra was found and brought to her senses, she was in shock and couldn't offer a single word. Her father's grief and rage was barely contained, not to mention Vendrin's, whose love for her was secret, but just as immense. She was sent back to the Silvanoshei estate in the capital and they set again upon their hunting with incredible furiousness.

Zelmar made a fateful mistake, not that he could avoid, though. In his preparation for the upcoming battle, he set numerous traps in the place he had chosen, traps with sharpened stakes for the unwary and coated in poison he had prepared from potent plants of the forest. What he couldn't avoid was the fire he made to cook the plants. He took all precaution possible to avoid detection, also for the ashes afterwards. What he didn't prepare for was the Firerunners. This branch of the Wildrunners was reserved for the Children of Sirrion, the God of fire. These runners often controlled the element of fire perfectly... being able to summon it at will. It was often said that where fire burns, a FireRunner is able to clearly see from out the flames, thus this is an important branch for information gathering and keeping tabs on enemies. Any fire lit within the Silvanesti Kingdom was a possible source of information.

Zelmar unwittingly offered them that when he lighted a small fire to prepare the poison. Little did he know that fiery eyes watched him brewing the plants he had gathered. Little did he know that he escaped death by fire only because the elves had absolute respect for their habitat and didn't summon through his fire great elementals to destroy him. The only thing that held them back was that they thought of each leave and blade of grass precious enough and not to be sacrificed lightly. Yet the defiler's position was noted and that was enough?

Edited by quinlan, 15 May 2008 - 07:48 AM.

[quinlan]

Chapter 2.17

He was good, but this time not good enough. Silently, more so than he could imagine possible, they encircled his position and waited for Relindar who had word of command to come. He came and they advanced. They were wrong in their assumption of ambush. It was imperfect. The place Zelmar had selected for his last stand was a location that permitted no more than 3 enemies to engage him, and not with full freedom of motion. His reflexes were such that the first 3 attacked at the same time he reacted to them. A regular battle ensued. They had numerical advantage, but they faced a master gladiator.

The first Wildrunner he defended against with his shield, hit him hard and threw him out of balance and ten feet backwards with his strength. He stayed there momentarily paralyzed by the force of the impact. Zelmar's broadsword snaked forth in a horizontal stabbing attack against his assailant to the right. It was only a feint. The real one came at the last instant with a sudden reverse of the grip, which allowed him to use the heavy pommel of the sword against the opponent to the left. With speed barely registering to the naked eye, Zelmar reached him from the unprotected side and his pommel hit him so hard in the head that a sickening cracking sound was heard. Zelmar's left hand left the two-handed grip and moving with a feline litheness slapped the other enemy's blade outwards while at the same instant he was already falling down on his hunkers, with his blade in one hand following in a downward slash. It made contact with the second enemy's unprotected thorax and dealt a vicious cut. He finished his motion with a backwards tumble that took him just beyond the range of the dazed opponent's last attack from the left. He avoided with ease the attack, griped his blade again in a two-handed grip. He lifted it high up the head and made half a turn to gather momentum for his next attack when an opening would present itself.


"NO! Leave him, he is mine!"


A voice filled with fury was heard from behind. It was Relindar's. He dashed ahead at the last moment and raising his longsword set himself between the Wildrunner and Zelmar, receiving the slashing blade and blocking an attack that would surely have cut the slow elve's body in half. Zelmar recovered and stepped back to assess the new and more capable opponent he faced.


"Cursed breed, foul demon of the Abyss, you dare set foot here upon this holy land? You killed my father, violated his wife and you come back after years to destroy my daughter! You'll regret this decision a thousand times! The time has come to answer for your crimes!"


"I have no idea what you are talking about foolish elf, but if you are in a hurry to meat your pathetic, wretched gods earlier, I will happy to oblige you!"


Answered Zelmar and with a roar and charged.

What did Relindar mean with his accusations? Not for the moment to reveal the story of how the Silvanosheis uncovered what they did. I simply state that they connected the theft in the Royal Treasury with Orfantal whom they learned that was murdered and didn't commit suicide, by a man with a grotesque face. With help from House Mystic they learned that he was a human renegade mage, Wilthur the Brown. Zelmar had inherited his father's curse and grotesqueness in its entirety. So, when Relindar show him, he mistook him for Wilthur himself! Some might wonder, how didn't he remember the disfigured baby of his stepmother Allustriel? No matter how ugly it was, Zelmar's was the disfigurement of a baby at that time, not of a full grown adult. Also, collectively as a family they had erased the memory of his existence.

The other warriors had already stepped back. A fierce duel commenced. Its attacks and defenses were so fast that none of the bystanders could follow. It quickly became apparent to Zelmar that he faced an opponent that was his match at the least. When they attacked it happened so fast that a small whirlwind from broken branches and fallen leaves rose around them. They both moved so fast that their attacks and blocks were practically invisible. Yet, someone was winning. It became apparent by the blossoming of wounds ? not life threatening, but a lot of them nonetheless ? upon Zelmar, in his torso, hands and feet. A look of absolute disbelief at first and then dismay transformed his face. His left hand holding the shield fell useless at his side after a while, glistening in the blood of his owner.

He tried to disengage from the fight and break a momentum he had clearly lost, but Relindar kept pushing on, dancing around him silently like a ghost, his blade the only sound. Paying the price of a deep cut in his right clavicle, Zelmar finally managed to disengage. While Relindar made a backwards movement in his dance sequence, the heel of his boot became entangled in a mess of surface roots and momentarily he lost his balance. Zelmar immediately saw the opening and the only chance he had been given in their fight to finish it in is favor. With his good hand holding the heavy blade in a one-hand grip with a sudden, strong thrust. His right foot led the movement and he put all his weight on it, in order to augment the power of his thrust as much as possible.

Something unforeseen happened that precise moment; the right leg failed to sustain the attack because it couldn't hold the pressure. A loud snapping sound was heard and a fragment from the femur bone came outwards, breaking through the scales of the armour. Relindar had his chance to regain his balance. In Zelmar's eyes there was no pain, only understanding and recognition while his enemy's blade run him through the chest, cut between two ribs and even lungs and the heart, in an impossible diagonal attack that bespoke of absolute control and precision of movement. His right leg had betrayed him left his last breath upon Relindar's sword because of a badly healed wound he received two and half years ago. His last lifeblood was leaving his body and the spark of life in his eyes dimmed more and more, until it there was none left. The half-finished curse the priest of Takhisis worded was fulfilled. He died because of it upon the blade of a master bladesinger?



"Lament of Zelmar"

Facing the inevitable and there's no one by my side
the curse will take it's toll

Is it justice or a foolish pride?

As the wind is blowing cold and the numbness takes control
how can I survive?

In darkness I seam to drown

I hold the key but not the crown
Look into my eyes and see

For all my strength I still bleed
Oblivion?

Haunted by the lust of my father
Conceived of his greed and a harsh reality

Revenge is mine and down goes the false priest

Haunted by the lust of my father

His ill-gotten son, his flesh and his blood

Facing another wound
Can't hold back the inevitable
Soon the numbness will reign in my heart
I'm caught in agony

In darkness I seam to drown

I hold the key but not the crown
Oh I wish that I could turn back

Reach out for deliverance and find it
I would offer soul and life
Feel my emptiness Dark Queen

Haunted by the lust of my father
Revenge is mine and down goes the false priest
The pain he feels, it shall last forevermore

I feel this chilling embrace
Can't wash away the numbness
The dark?

There's no fate it's all choice!
But I'm not strong enough
The path lies clearly ahead
There's no way out
It's so hopeless

Haunted by the curse of the dark priest
by spilling his blood I'm bound

Forevermore?

Edited by quinlan, 19 May 2008 - 12:48 PM.