A tiefling with gray skin and an intense frown sat under a lone birch tree in the backwater town of Rivermoot. He sat still, forgetting to drink, with his mind locked on the fork in the path before him.
Do the ancestors have rights to a child? Or is it the mother?
***********************************************************
Ix settled down in not to far from him and dug out a pen and paper from his things. The silky southlanders voice was full of condescension after hearing some things from Xujja.
"Well... those girls have some romantic notions, but you arent going to learn to read by cuddling close over a bottle of wine."
"No? Dont I need to learn all the words anyway, even the ones on the wine labels?"
"No... learning your words is a circular waste. What you need to learn are /letters/. Once youve broken the common tongue down into the letters that make up sounds... you can teach /yourself/ any word you come across."
"Huh?"
Ixazix finished what he was writing and showed it to Xujja. It looked a big like a word, but it was very long. Ix began to explain the alphabet.
********************************************************
Xujja was sitting with someone different. He didnt look at her, he found it was easier to think about this topic while he focused on the water.
"So you want her killed?" the female voice asked.
"No... I dont want any harm to the mother. Just to poison the child within."
"There will be a cost, but I will look into it, Im willing to help the girl out."
********************************************************
"You cant go letting girls educate you, my friend." Ix said as Xujja was looking over the printed alphabet.
"Why? wots it matter?"
"What does it matter? Consider their motives. The girl wants to get cuddly, distract you. Certainly you might like the distractions but you didnt learn anything but a few words. You should have some basic grasp of literacy by now, not just those few words."
Ix always seemed to be right. He and Abelia had showed a reliable record of being right, and for giving good advice. Xujja focused on the letters, writing them himself and repeating the sounds Ix told him each one meant.
********************************************************
Xujja didnt like being right about people like Garlus. The old dwarf had been one of the few he thought of as real people, but now he showed himself with his refusal to help. Insisting he there were no secrets between him and Dawn the bearded man had indeed shown Xujja the door to a moral lesson.
Dawn IS a secret that she keeps from you, poor old fool.
Disappointing, the truth. The rest of the conversation he and the dwarf shared on the little bridge outside High Hold was lost to the tiefling, its volume dropping off even as he made his goodbyes.
*********************************************************
The bugbear was hurt and overwhelmed with fear. The shaggy beast broke from combat and ran just as Xujja had hoped.
The tiefling called out to his Queen, the white lady Auril.
The bugbear erupted in frost right away, he slipped in his attempt to escape. The thing shivered in pain. The ice grew thicker, the bugbear gasped as it got back up to run.
Xujja followed behind at a walking pace.
The bugbear died in place there, It had just managed to stand up before being frozen solid.
Blood and souls for the hungry winter.
Xujja struck the frozen statue with his greatsword, shattering the icy corpse into thousands of tiny fragments.
*******************************************************
Ix came back the next day to check on his progress, and to get to a bit of work. Xujja had been distracted and hadnt learned too much. It took Ix a bit of digging to get to the real issues, but as usual he exposed all situations for what they really were... and gave him a history lesson.
"Ah... so you explored both options, like I suggested." Ix asked.
"I did."
"How did they feel? Drawn to either help or harm?"
"I dunno. I guess Im torn. I think about my folk... and where I come from. Galls me a bit to think of something born free could be raised in walls. My mother always threatened to kill me if I embarrassed the ancestors with weakness... seems like she would drown that kid afore lettin it get raised like that."
Xujja drank down some of his Kirinwood wine and added more.
"But then... my mother was just a crazy old bitch that lived in a hut. I was left to my sorry mother... why shouldnt that kid suffer the ignorances of its mother?"
Ix laughed.
"Right. Makes no sense to hang onto something I should have let go of already. Even after seeing how each one felt... I still dont know."
They drank a bit longer in silence before Xujja went on.
"I guess I am coming to agree with you... dwarves and elves arent really very much different, save that dwarves are a bit more brave."
"Is this a change of topic?"
"Not really.... It were the dwarf that wanted to put his ego in between me helping Dawn without her knowing."
"Oh... you asked him?"
"Why not? They were friends before... and he buys, bought my gems anyway."
"Shouldnt mix business life with real life, or pleasure. Thats why I dont play those drunken kissing games with members of the pack."
Xujja only shrugged. Ix went on.
"Dont put to much stock in the opinions of the weak, either."
"You are calling dwarves weak?"
"As weak as elves.... of corse, individually they are strong... and telling such truths might get you attacked, even killed."
"Then it dosnt seem very weak aye?"
"Of corse it does. Consider this... how true is a truth if you have to MAKE everyone agree with your sword?"
"A sword cant make a truth. It can defend a truth... or enforce a lie, but the facts remain facts."
"Right... so how can any one individual fight to prove their fallen race is strong?"
"hmmm"
"It isnt their arms that are weak.. it is their will, their philosophies. They in fact have very strong arms."
*********************************************************
"Your desires, Xujja, are the strongest thing about you... not your arms." Umraely had said to him in the shade of the birch tree.
*********************************************************
Ix was still talking.
"Strong arms are why the Giants and Dwarves were some of the first races to dominate the world. Elves too, for their magical powers."
Xujja listened intently. It was a preposterous thing Ix was building up to, but Ix had been right so many times before.
"Where do you see dwarves living mostly?"
"Fortresses, isolated mountain-keeps... with deep mines?"
"Right.... and you understand that at one point they were all over the world? with great empires in the places where humans rule now?"
"Really? They insisted they prefer under the ground."
"They might say that, but at one point they struggled to rule the world above. Funny thing about losing a war... youll come up with all sorts of lies to keep your morale up. The drow do this too."
"I see."
"They couldnt hang onto their lands, their failures as a race become evident when they were expected to succeed in the arc of history.... Dwarves and elves alike. Drow too."
"But you said they were superior to humans"
"They are, born that way at least. Think about this... the gods are powerful. Moreso than us...yet some teach flawed, weak, lessons."
Torm, Bane, Helm
"Right"
"That makes them weak. Gods and cultures alike."
***********************************************************
A little boy locked in a tiny black space under the stairs. He hadnt been let out for what felt like days, maybe a whole week. The blizzard howled outside, muffled by the deep snow packed around the house, but a howl none the less.
One of his hands had stopped bleeding, the other still had the nail penetrating the palm. The cold of the nail in his hand was what had awakened him finally.
The little gray boy in the black box had to pull the other nail from his hand. He forced his eyes open, and brought his hands together. Snatching the nail out of its place hurt so bad that it made him pass out again.
He dreamt of a beautiful womans voice haunting the hills. He dreamt of the blizzard outside.
********************************************************
"The strength of the humans.. is their numbers. They fail to have the culture or discipline of older races... but if they make enough humans eventually they will make superior individuals." Ix added.
"It seems a flawed strategy for survival" Xujja answered.
"Not at all... humanity is the most adaptable of the folk... but they are only a step in the process."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"I mean that with each year wolves pick at the weak deer... they replace them, and the stronger ones beget stronger ones still."
Xujja listened as Ix went on.
"You can see it in dogs, or horses... mixing lines makes better beasts. It will make better people too."
Ix made sense as usual, Xujja kept listening to the bard.
"A combination of the dangers of the world, and the impulses of men to lay with exotic women... has made the hybrid races, and has shown which lines are most fit to survive."
Xujja drank more, this made too much sense.
"My own nation of Dambrath is strong not because we had an early start, but because our blood is powerful now, relevant now. Aglarond in the east is much the same. These groups GREW in power from the hardships of the world.
Xujja was still listening as Ix went on.
"Weak humans and orcs replaced weaker elves and dwarves. Orc tribes are often led by halfbreeds, half-elves let go of both their ancestors and make new nations, and the planetouched such as you speed up the worlds pace of growth. When older weaker cultures are broken or invaded by stronger ones.. it usually results in a cultural flowering for both peoples, in the best cases it creates something better than both original groups."
"I see. I want to read these histories myself."
"Alright... well lets see how you are doing with your letters then, eh?"
********************************************************
A dreary day under a willow tree, keeping out of the rain with Abelia.
"And when she does leave you, choose her world and faith over you... It will mean she never really cared about you at all."
********************************************************
Xujja sat alone again, only the birch tree and a bottle of rum to keep him company. He had explored both extremes in his search for some sort of comfort. Kill the child, or assist it to grow strong?
The answer was simple, and had been with him all along. It was his mantra of late.
Let go.
Being torn, indecisive, was a weakness. He was being as bad as those people who narrowed their eyes at him, empowering him with their fear. All his thought and energy over the past week had gone into wondering about some brat he would probably never see, just like he had never seen his father.
*******************************************************
You are an ugly boy, and no one will ever love you!" His mother declared as she was nailing his hands to the porch.
*******************************************************
Telling me I was my father... a good way to trick me, twist a knife.
Xujja drank down more of his rum. Reason and philosophy were proving to be heavier than sword and armor.
Let go...Even of your ancestors, your mother, your child... Let go.
The wind forced the birch tree above to sway. Xujja had forgotten to drink, sitting still.
*********************************************************
She is always so pretty when she is crying her eyes out.
Dawn looked down at him with tears in her eyes as she spoke.
"I am the only one who has ever loved you, Xujja!"
********************************************************
Really... I should let go, but some lies just taste so very sweet.
_________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone reading.
J
The Cold Road (18+ sexy and violent)
Xujja heard the depressing news as he came back across the bridge to Rivermoot. One guard spoke to another as the tiefling drifted past.
"I heard Caldor and Ryu talking about the girl they found fallen... always sad to hear the fall of an elf.
Xujja slowed down to listen to them.
"It were one of the locals?"
"Not really... just that wood elf lass that been through here a few days back. Real pretty girl."
"What was her name?"
"I think one of them said it were Misha."
*********************************************************
Xujja was brooding, he found it easy of late to slip into a sour mood. He drank down more of his Winterwine. A shadow passed over him. Xujja looked up to see a rare sight. A girl was smiling at him, one of the faerie folk.
"Hello again, Xujja." She said with a wave.
"Hey lass. Havent seen you in a few days, did I miss that trip to..?"
"Winters Edge? No, I was just going to set off... if you still wanted to come with me?"
*********************************************************
"Elves too, and drow... both of them to a greater degree than the dwarves" Ix said as he watched Xujja practice his writing. The southlands bard kept talking as Xujja wrote.
"They fell even further than the Dwarves. Their great age allowed them to build massive, vast, empires. Their magical might allowed them to easily subdue the undeveloped races around them... but they wrecked all they made."
*********************************************************
Not only was the brown eyed girl very cute, but she said the most amazing things....
"Try this... I made it" She said as she uncorked a bottle of mushroom wine.
Xujja could smell the power of the brew from where he stood. A few steps closer to the elf maiden and the bottle was in his hands. He gulped down some of the potent drink.
"You say you /made/ this, lass?"
The girls smile was impossibly big as she nodded, proud of her craft. Xujja found himself liking the smile as much as the wine. It was a big, honest, smile. After a moment of staring, he realized it reminded him of Dawns smile.
Ill try not to hold that against her.
"Yes, I made it myself. I prefer to make it myself, to live off the land."
A lesson here. This isnt a city girl. This wine is sacred, made by something wild and free. It is Art.
*********************************************************
Dawn and Xujja sat under the guard tower, keeping out of the rain together. She smiled wide at him and spoke in a teasing tone.
"But you never know if you can trust me... I am a city girl after all"
*********************************************************
She even told me, warned me what she would do to me... I missed an omen of such magnitude. I deserve to have suffered at her hand. Lessons learned.
"Damnit Xujja... daydreaming while studying. Even without them present.... bitches are on your mind. You see now how learning /from/ them was a fools errand?"
Xujja attention snapped back to the lesson.
"Right.... when folks say girls is distractions, they is right. Damn."
********************************************************
A strange pair sat together sharing more mushroom wine than they should have. A tiefling, gray and bleak, passed the bottle to a pretty wood elf lass.
"What is our purpose? We should be doing something... Great." The small elf girl said with conviction.
"Purpose? Life is suffering... The only sweetness anyone is due is what they can force from the world, and keep safe with sharp steel." Was the tieflings answer.
The wine had made him see colored lights, and distorted their vision for most of the night. Despite the visions, he could see her smile waiver a bit while she digested what he said. A touch of sad on a pretty elfs face, it was like seeing white snow touch green leaves. He felt guilty for enjoying it, but did anyway.
**********************************************************
A girl he had once known, or at least thought he knew, was on the bridge looking back at him. She wouldnt come, though she was probably talking to the old dwarf about just that. Asking if she should come.
Even stopping to look, acting as if there exists an indecision on her part. Just like Ix said, the worst of the bunch. City girls.
Another drink of his mushroom wine.
What was it Abelia said?
***********************************************************
A dreary day under a willow tree, keeping out of the rain with Abelia.
"And when she does leave you, choose her world and faith over you... It will mean she never really cared about you at all."
**********************************************************
Dawn walked away, a third time. It was a terrible thing, that his knee would twitch wanting to get up. The boy who had held still while his mother pounded nails into his hands, was now a man who sat still as Dawn did much worse.
The strong thing to do would be to twist the knife himself. A detached acceptance of the suffering? Even better, Xujja decided to enjoy the torment.
It will mean she never really cared about you at all.
A few more steps, the pretty blond girl he thought he knew disappeared behind sword rock.
she never really cared about you at all.
A pretty girl with golden hair walked out from behind sword rock and off away from Rivermoot.
Never really cared about you at all.
"Beshaba Provides."
Never at all.
*********************************************************
It didnt take the drunken elf lass long to return to her optimism. The little wood elf was convinced she and her drunken companion could and should do nothing less than reshape the world itself.
"...and you... should be a king." she added to the end of her drunken tirade.
The girl looked like she was trying to be serious, Xujja got a good laugh.
*********************************************************
Misha and Xujja sat in a field of flowers, far out of sight of any towns. The closest sign of civilization was the ruined building just a few feet away. After a day of walking around, this was a nice spot to stop for a drink and some conversation.
"You must be pretty brave, I guess." Xujja said.
"Why would you say that? Because of those orcs?"
"No.. I mean... being out here, alone with me."
"You drink my wine... you like it, dont you?" the girl smiled.
It was a good answer. Xujja hadnt been sure what to think of the girl... Dawn had been the only other person brave enough to smile at his horns, and that didnt exactly evoke trust for the stranger. Still, she was a wild creature... honest. Dawn had been a city creature, she lied to herself about even her own desires. It would be wrong to judge one, or anyone else, by the other.
Xujja decided he liked the scrawny elf lass, and hoped Gruuhilda was wrong about her.
*******************************************************
Gruuhilda, a halforc bearing the seal of the oak father looked over at him from where she sat nearby.
"Gruu meet pretty lady Misha... Gruu think she too brave... shell die soon."
Xujja drank deeply of his rum. "Well damn, thats an awfully unlucky thing to say about a lass."
"Gruu only say what think true"
*********************************************************
Xujja kept listening to the guards conversation. Apparently the men who found her hadnt been strong enough of arm to carry her to the leaflords temple. He thought about hiking the moonwoods to look for the body, but heard she had come to rest in a mushroom ring.
He thought about the wine she made, and his last bottle of it. Perhaps the mushroom ring was a better place for the girl to rest anyway.
Lessons learned. Thank you and rest well, Selairilne
_________________________________________________________
Once again, thanks to everyone reading.
J
"I heard Caldor and Ryu talking about the girl they found fallen... always sad to hear the fall of an elf.
Xujja slowed down to listen to them.
"It were one of the locals?"
"Not really... just that wood elf lass that been through here a few days back. Real pretty girl."
"What was her name?"
"I think one of them said it were Misha."
*********************************************************
Xujja was brooding, he found it easy of late to slip into a sour mood. He drank down more of his Winterwine. A shadow passed over him. Xujja looked up to see a rare sight. A girl was smiling at him, one of the faerie folk.
"Hello again, Xujja." She said with a wave.
"Hey lass. Havent seen you in a few days, did I miss that trip to..?"
"Winters Edge? No, I was just going to set off... if you still wanted to come with me?"
*********************************************************
"Elves too, and drow... both of them to a greater degree than the dwarves" Ix said as he watched Xujja practice his writing. The southlands bard kept talking as Xujja wrote.
"They fell even further than the Dwarves. Their great age allowed them to build massive, vast, empires. Their magical might allowed them to easily subdue the undeveloped races around them... but they wrecked all they made."
*********************************************************
Not only was the brown eyed girl very cute, but she said the most amazing things....
"Try this... I made it" She said as she uncorked a bottle of mushroom wine.
Xujja could smell the power of the brew from where he stood. A few steps closer to the elf maiden and the bottle was in his hands. He gulped down some of the potent drink.
"You say you /made/ this, lass?"
The girls smile was impossibly big as she nodded, proud of her craft. Xujja found himself liking the smile as much as the wine. It was a big, honest, smile. After a moment of staring, he realized it reminded him of Dawns smile.
Ill try not to hold that against her.
"Yes, I made it myself. I prefer to make it myself, to live off the land."
A lesson here. This isnt a city girl. This wine is sacred, made by something wild and free. It is Art.
*********************************************************
Dawn and Xujja sat under the guard tower, keeping out of the rain together. She smiled wide at him and spoke in a teasing tone.
"But you never know if you can trust me... I am a city girl after all"
*********************************************************
She even told me, warned me what she would do to me... I missed an omen of such magnitude. I deserve to have suffered at her hand. Lessons learned.
"Damnit Xujja... daydreaming while studying. Even without them present.... bitches are on your mind. You see now how learning /from/ them was a fools errand?"
Xujja attention snapped back to the lesson.
"Right.... when folks say girls is distractions, they is right. Damn."
********************************************************
A strange pair sat together sharing more mushroom wine than they should have. A tiefling, gray and bleak, passed the bottle to a pretty wood elf lass.
"What is our purpose? We should be doing something... Great." The small elf girl said with conviction.
"Purpose? Life is suffering... The only sweetness anyone is due is what they can force from the world, and keep safe with sharp steel." Was the tieflings answer.
The wine had made him see colored lights, and distorted their vision for most of the night. Despite the visions, he could see her smile waiver a bit while she digested what he said. A touch of sad on a pretty elfs face, it was like seeing white snow touch green leaves. He felt guilty for enjoying it, but did anyway.
**********************************************************
A girl he had once known, or at least thought he knew, was on the bridge looking back at him. She wouldnt come, though she was probably talking to the old dwarf about just that. Asking if she should come.
Even stopping to look, acting as if there exists an indecision on her part. Just like Ix said, the worst of the bunch. City girls.
Another drink of his mushroom wine.
What was it Abelia said?
***********************************************************
A dreary day under a willow tree, keeping out of the rain with Abelia.
"And when she does leave you, choose her world and faith over you... It will mean she never really cared about you at all."
**********************************************************
Dawn walked away, a third time. It was a terrible thing, that his knee would twitch wanting to get up. The boy who had held still while his mother pounded nails into his hands, was now a man who sat still as Dawn did much worse.
The strong thing to do would be to twist the knife himself. A detached acceptance of the suffering? Even better, Xujja decided to enjoy the torment.
It will mean she never really cared about you at all.
A few more steps, the pretty blond girl he thought he knew disappeared behind sword rock.
she never really cared about you at all.
A pretty girl with golden hair walked out from behind sword rock and off away from Rivermoot.
Never really cared about you at all.
"Beshaba Provides."
Never at all.
*********************************************************
It didnt take the drunken elf lass long to return to her optimism. The little wood elf was convinced she and her drunken companion could and should do nothing less than reshape the world itself.
"...and you... should be a king." she added to the end of her drunken tirade.
The girl looked like she was trying to be serious, Xujja got a good laugh.
*********************************************************
Misha and Xujja sat in a field of flowers, far out of sight of any towns. The closest sign of civilization was the ruined building just a few feet away. After a day of walking around, this was a nice spot to stop for a drink and some conversation.
"You must be pretty brave, I guess." Xujja said.
"Why would you say that? Because of those orcs?"
"No.. I mean... being out here, alone with me."
"You drink my wine... you like it, dont you?" the girl smiled.
It was a good answer. Xujja hadnt been sure what to think of the girl... Dawn had been the only other person brave enough to smile at his horns, and that didnt exactly evoke trust for the stranger. Still, she was a wild creature... honest. Dawn had been a city creature, she lied to herself about even her own desires. It would be wrong to judge one, or anyone else, by the other.
Xujja decided he liked the scrawny elf lass, and hoped Gruuhilda was wrong about her.
*******************************************************
Gruuhilda, a halforc bearing the seal of the oak father looked over at him from where she sat nearby.
"Gruu meet pretty lady Misha... Gruu think she too brave... shell die soon."
Xujja drank deeply of his rum. "Well damn, thats an awfully unlucky thing to say about a lass."
"Gruu only say what think true"
*********************************************************
Xujja kept listening to the guards conversation. Apparently the men who found her hadnt been strong enough of arm to carry her to the leaflords temple. He thought about hiking the moonwoods to look for the body, but heard she had come to rest in a mushroom ring.
He thought about the wine she made, and his last bottle of it. Perhaps the mushroom ring was a better place for the girl to rest anyway.
Lessons learned. Thank you and rest well, Selairilne
_________________________________________________________
Once again, thanks to everyone reading.
J
Re: The Cold Road
With his new lover curled up safely in their tent, Xujja made his way down the road towards Rauvinwatch keep and the winterwine for sale there. His pace was brisk, while he had left his pretty faerie lover exhausted and asleep, he had noticed elves just didnt seem to sleep that long at all. He kept up his pace with intent to return to her with the wine before she awoke.
******************************************************************************
Xujja had been counting a handful of money, paying more attention to it than to where he was going. That must have been why he bumped into the girl as he rounded the bright blue tent in Rivermoot. A few coins shook loose from his hands, hitting the cobble and disappearing into the grass. The greedy mercenary didnt give the lost coins a second thought... his mind was instantly focused on the shocking beauty before him.
When Xujja had first encountered elves, it took him a while to realize that some of them were men. They were such a feminine race that even their males looked like ugly women... but their women, there was no mistaking their exotic beauty for anything other than what it was.
The girl standing before him was pretty like so many other ladies of her race, but much moreso. Both shapely and slender, her graceful figure was just as outstanding as her bright green eyes and golden yellow hair.
She had a tiny purplish-pink flower in her hair. He tried to follow their conversation... but the shape of her neck and that cute pointed ear decorated with a flower distracted him. He was pretty sure they were talking about how unhappy she was with the condition and appearance of Rivermoot.
He heard himself offering to help her get to the city.
*****************************************************************************
High Hold, Xujja sat at the riverside with another elf. He had met and liked Laniara on his very first day in the marches. She had always been a well of good conversation and honest debate of philosophies. Even when she disagreed, it was polite and rational. Xujja liked talking to her, as she had proven herself to be one of the smarter people he had met.
They had talked for a few hours, Laniara seemed a little amused when the subject turned to his recent thoughts about a pretty elf girl.
"Its just not wise to believe something only because you want it to be fact." He said.
"That is delusion... but what is it that you want to believe?"
Xujja hadnt stopped to order his thoughts.. he knew what he wanted but hadnt ever had to stop and verbalize it to anyone else. It took him a moment. He thought of the wreck that his attempts to love Dawn had come to.
"I dunno exactly... I guess mostly I just want to think that one, just one, of the girls that smile and say sweet things to me... Id like for one of them to mean it, and not actually be a bear trap with a pretty smile?"
Laniara chuckled at his answer. Xujja added more.
"Just for one city girl that says sweet things to mean them. Its so terribly hard to resist them... even though I know they are city folk. It is a rotten thing for them to be so pretty.. and act like they do."
Laniara was smiling wide, shaking her head as she responded "Choices...such difficult choices"
"Aye... I used to think girls were like drinks, like rum. You drink all you can, enjoy it, and then deal with the hangover later.... but now I realize rum is much much more innocent than girls."
Xujja forced himself to stand, and said his goodbyes to the wise sun elf. As he turned to leave, she added one bit of advice for him before he left.
"Remember though... you cannot win anything, nor earn any prize without some level of risk."
****************************************************************************
A gray skinned tiefling in blue armor sat atop a hill overlooking a strange purple lake. He sat contemplating all the winding paths his life had taken since becoming a free man. He thought with some small worry over what might come of his closeness with Iranne, and he thought on his relationship with Dawn with more than a bit of regret.
It must have been that regret that summoned her. He surely hadnt expected Dawn to walk along the road and find him... but that was just who was walking up behind him now.
Perhaps our time together wasnt a total waste, but her visit tonight is. Just go back to your goddamned city.
She didnt go away, despite the fact that Xujja didnt even turn to look at her. She spoke instead.
"Evening... Xujja"
The tiefling stayed silent. Dawn sighed heavily and kept talking.
"Its going to be a boy... a son. I thought... I thought you should know."
What a waste of a tiefling child...To be raised by fools and weaklings. Idiots trying to raise a wolf on kittens milk.
"I wanted to know.. if you might want to give him a name" Dawn added.
******************************************************************************
They had walked all the way to the city of Silverymoon, and now its massive white walls signaled the end of their journey.
Xujja had only known Iranne for the handful of hours it had taken them to get here, but he found himself wanting to talk to her more. She had said the sweetest things on their walk... she didnt fear tieflings, in fact she complimented him more than once during their talk on the way to Silverymoon.
They stopped walking as Xujja spoke to her.
"Lass... this is as far as I can go. They dont let devil-kin inside the white city."
The girl looked displeased. She didnt make her goodbyes, but lingered with him on the road. Both seemed unwilling to end their encounter just yet, even though it was time.
"Thats terrible.. they will surely get the bad luck they deserve for acting like that."
"Aye... hope so. Anyway... I uh.. hope to see you around. Maybe after you get your fill of the city."
The sun elf girl hesitated. "I dont know my way around the city.. I was hoping you might be able to show me around it..."
Xujja realized she was more interested in spending more time with him than going into the city she had been so eager to get to before.
"Well lass... maybe I got a better idea. How about we go get the drinks you wanted from the keep we passed.. and then go back to that purple lake you thought was so pretty?"
"Well, I did want to see it at night like you said... yes, lets do that. I lost my care to see the city today." She said with a smile.
The two turned away from Silverymoon and its white walls, and walked back the way they had came.
She reached out and touched his arm as they walked, and spoke to him in a pleasant but slightly teasing tone.
"Just stop calling me lass, I have a name... Id like you to use it more."
***************************************************************************
A name... why the hell would I want to give some child that isnt mine, a name? She isnt that stupid.
Being silent wasnt doing the trick. Dawn hadnt done either of the things he wanted her to do... cry, or go away. Xujja decided to help things along.
"Why the hell would /I/ want to know? What are you here for? What? You heard I might be happy out here... so you came out of your city to poke at me some?"
"Are you? Happy out here... I mean?"
Xujja almost told her, was about to toss it in her face... an incredibly beautiful faerie maiden had kissed him, held him in a lusty embrace. He almost told her, but a thought stopped him. Dawn didnt deserve to know anything about him. Using his recent happiness as a tool against her... would only cheapen what he had been given. Maybe later, when or if Iranne chose to show her affections in public, he would speak of such things... but not yet.
"It dont matter, lass" was his only reply. She had once asked him to always use her name, it felt good to remind her that now she was just some woman, and not even one he liked.
There was a long pause, a sigh from Dawn. "Nevermind... Obviously Ive made a mistake"
"You made a lot of mistakes, go and live with them now."
*****************************************************************************
He should have talked the girl out of trying to earn work as a cutter... soft noble that she was. She had been insistent that she earn her own way in the world, and using her magics in battle was the solution she found most appealing, appropriate for her station she had said.
She was not more than five feet away from him as the orc rushed at them. The girl lifted her arms, spraying magical energies over her assailant. The orc didnt stop however, he swung his mace up under her arm and into her torso. A sickening crunching sound was made as her body crumpled on the mace then fell to the ground.
He thought of another pretty girl he had been attracted to, Misha, she had died not more than a few weeks ago.
******************************************************************************
Lessons learned. Thank you and rest well, Selairilne
******************************************************************************
The difference between Misha and Iranne was simple. Misha had died alone, Iranne was with Xujja.
The orc raised his mace over the fallen girl, in less than a second he would finish her off. Xujja did not allow the orc the luxury of another second however. The tiefling stepped closer, his sword flicking out as a silver flash towards the greenskin. Xujja lopped off the beasts leg, sending it toppling over the edge of the ridge... its plans to kill the elf girl died with it in a gurgling sputter below.
The difference between Misha and Iranne was that the sun elf lass had Xujja with her. Pressing a goodberry into her mouth just in time, Xujja stopped her from bleeding out her life in his arms.
*****************************************************************************
Dawn still wasnt gone yet, she wanted to say more before going.
"You should visit Felbar. It is tightly in the grasp of your queen."
Why is she telling me that?
"It is beautiful." she added before going.
*****************************************************************************
"It is beautiful" Iranne said as she put a hand to her chest and looked out at the purple lake.
She was bent over, leaning on one of the multi-colored boulders around the strange lake. She was looking out over the waters, but Xujja was looking at her bending over instead.
"Aye... its beautiful alright. Few things can compare."
After a while of staring, she turned and walked back to sit with him and share a few bottles of mushroom wine.
***************************************************************************
Xujja kicked open the gates of Rivermoot. The guards glared at first, but when they saw him carrying the bloody and beaten elf girl, they understood. Xujja didnt spare them a glance, he simply walked past with the elf maiden in his arms.
Iranne was barely conscious, the only thing that really let him know she still lived at all was the tight grip her arms had around his neck and shoulders, and her occasional mumblings.
She rested her cheek against his blue chestplate and murmured some kind of thanks. In her delirium she pressed her lips against his chest and kissed.
*****************************************************************************
Another day, much later, he and Laniara stood in the same spot they always seemed to meet and talk, the river by High Hold.
Laniara was delighted to hear he and Iranne had grown close. She encouraged him with both serious and playful advice. She smiled wide as he described her beautiful dark brown skin and golden hair.
"An Ar'tel... you have excellent taste, lad."
Xujja didnt really feel like it was him who had chosen her, more like the other way around.
They talked on about Iranne, Dawn, and the nature of both choices and mistakes. Laniara as usual encouraged him, and this time he chose not to naysay her. This time he would accept her advice fully. Iranne had already won him over, it was just now a matter of seeking the advice to help him avoid wrecking things.
"So... how do I greet an elf in their own language?" he asked as he was getting ready to go.
She taught him to say 'warm winds and hello' in their tongue... but Xujja didnt want to wish his lady love "warm winds". Sounded to unlucky.
"Is there something more familiar, a greeting lovers might share?" he asked.
"There is" she responded. "You can say 'Vedui Lueffa'... it means greetings beloved"
It sounded soft, not something he would say, but he was sure it was something Iranne would like to hear.
"Vedui Leuffa" he repeated, committing the words to memory.
****************************************************************************
Xujja returned to the tent they had shared for over a week now. After nursing her back to health, she and he had stayed in the tent giving their blossoming passions a physical manifestation.
She was now the second woman he had ever lain with in sexual union... he found himself eager to get back to that union as he approached the tent with two bottles of Winterwine in hand.
The elven beauty was still sleeping in his tent as he crawled back in with her. She stirred when she heard him, moving a closer to put an arm around him and pull them close together. Xujja whispered the words Laniara had taught him.
The effect was just what he wanted... she woke up enough to take the bottles of wine away from him, tossing them aside to embrace him tightly, pulling him down into their bedroll.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone still reading.
J
******************************************************************************
Xujja had been counting a handful of money, paying more attention to it than to where he was going. That must have been why he bumped into the girl as he rounded the bright blue tent in Rivermoot. A few coins shook loose from his hands, hitting the cobble and disappearing into the grass. The greedy mercenary didnt give the lost coins a second thought... his mind was instantly focused on the shocking beauty before him.
When Xujja had first encountered elves, it took him a while to realize that some of them were men. They were such a feminine race that even their males looked like ugly women... but their women, there was no mistaking their exotic beauty for anything other than what it was.
The girl standing before him was pretty like so many other ladies of her race, but much moreso. Both shapely and slender, her graceful figure was just as outstanding as her bright green eyes and golden yellow hair.
She had a tiny purplish-pink flower in her hair. He tried to follow their conversation... but the shape of her neck and that cute pointed ear decorated with a flower distracted him. He was pretty sure they were talking about how unhappy she was with the condition and appearance of Rivermoot.
He heard himself offering to help her get to the city.
*****************************************************************************
High Hold, Xujja sat at the riverside with another elf. He had met and liked Laniara on his very first day in the marches. She had always been a well of good conversation and honest debate of philosophies. Even when she disagreed, it was polite and rational. Xujja liked talking to her, as she had proven herself to be one of the smarter people he had met.
They had talked for a few hours, Laniara seemed a little amused when the subject turned to his recent thoughts about a pretty elf girl.
"Its just not wise to believe something only because you want it to be fact." He said.
"That is delusion... but what is it that you want to believe?"
Xujja hadnt stopped to order his thoughts.. he knew what he wanted but hadnt ever had to stop and verbalize it to anyone else. It took him a moment. He thought of the wreck that his attempts to love Dawn had come to.
"I dunno exactly... I guess mostly I just want to think that one, just one, of the girls that smile and say sweet things to me... Id like for one of them to mean it, and not actually be a bear trap with a pretty smile?"
Laniara chuckled at his answer. Xujja added more.
"Just for one city girl that says sweet things to mean them. Its so terribly hard to resist them... even though I know they are city folk. It is a rotten thing for them to be so pretty.. and act like they do."
Laniara was smiling wide, shaking her head as she responded "Choices...such difficult choices"
"Aye... I used to think girls were like drinks, like rum. You drink all you can, enjoy it, and then deal with the hangover later.... but now I realize rum is much much more innocent than girls."
Xujja forced himself to stand, and said his goodbyes to the wise sun elf. As he turned to leave, she added one bit of advice for him before he left.
"Remember though... you cannot win anything, nor earn any prize without some level of risk."
****************************************************************************
A gray skinned tiefling in blue armor sat atop a hill overlooking a strange purple lake. He sat contemplating all the winding paths his life had taken since becoming a free man. He thought with some small worry over what might come of his closeness with Iranne, and he thought on his relationship with Dawn with more than a bit of regret.
It must have been that regret that summoned her. He surely hadnt expected Dawn to walk along the road and find him... but that was just who was walking up behind him now.
Perhaps our time together wasnt a total waste, but her visit tonight is. Just go back to your goddamned city.
She didnt go away, despite the fact that Xujja didnt even turn to look at her. She spoke instead.
"Evening... Xujja"
The tiefling stayed silent. Dawn sighed heavily and kept talking.
"Its going to be a boy... a son. I thought... I thought you should know."
What a waste of a tiefling child...To be raised by fools and weaklings. Idiots trying to raise a wolf on kittens milk.
"I wanted to know.. if you might want to give him a name" Dawn added.
******************************************************************************
They had walked all the way to the city of Silverymoon, and now its massive white walls signaled the end of their journey.
Xujja had only known Iranne for the handful of hours it had taken them to get here, but he found himself wanting to talk to her more. She had said the sweetest things on their walk... she didnt fear tieflings, in fact she complimented him more than once during their talk on the way to Silverymoon.
They stopped walking as Xujja spoke to her.
"Lass... this is as far as I can go. They dont let devil-kin inside the white city."
The girl looked displeased. She didnt make her goodbyes, but lingered with him on the road. Both seemed unwilling to end their encounter just yet, even though it was time.
"Thats terrible.. they will surely get the bad luck they deserve for acting like that."
"Aye... hope so. Anyway... I uh.. hope to see you around. Maybe after you get your fill of the city."
The sun elf girl hesitated. "I dont know my way around the city.. I was hoping you might be able to show me around it..."
Xujja realized she was more interested in spending more time with him than going into the city she had been so eager to get to before.
"Well lass... maybe I got a better idea. How about we go get the drinks you wanted from the keep we passed.. and then go back to that purple lake you thought was so pretty?"
"Well, I did want to see it at night like you said... yes, lets do that. I lost my care to see the city today." She said with a smile.
The two turned away from Silverymoon and its white walls, and walked back the way they had came.
She reached out and touched his arm as they walked, and spoke to him in a pleasant but slightly teasing tone.
"Just stop calling me lass, I have a name... Id like you to use it more."
***************************************************************************
A name... why the hell would I want to give some child that isnt mine, a name? She isnt that stupid.
Being silent wasnt doing the trick. Dawn hadnt done either of the things he wanted her to do... cry, or go away. Xujja decided to help things along.
"Why the hell would /I/ want to know? What are you here for? What? You heard I might be happy out here... so you came out of your city to poke at me some?"
"Are you? Happy out here... I mean?"
Xujja almost told her, was about to toss it in her face... an incredibly beautiful faerie maiden had kissed him, held him in a lusty embrace. He almost told her, but a thought stopped him. Dawn didnt deserve to know anything about him. Using his recent happiness as a tool against her... would only cheapen what he had been given. Maybe later, when or if Iranne chose to show her affections in public, he would speak of such things... but not yet.
"It dont matter, lass" was his only reply. She had once asked him to always use her name, it felt good to remind her that now she was just some woman, and not even one he liked.
There was a long pause, a sigh from Dawn. "Nevermind... Obviously Ive made a mistake"
"You made a lot of mistakes, go and live with them now."
*****************************************************************************
He should have talked the girl out of trying to earn work as a cutter... soft noble that she was. She had been insistent that she earn her own way in the world, and using her magics in battle was the solution she found most appealing, appropriate for her station she had said.
She was not more than five feet away from him as the orc rushed at them. The girl lifted her arms, spraying magical energies over her assailant. The orc didnt stop however, he swung his mace up under her arm and into her torso. A sickening crunching sound was made as her body crumpled on the mace then fell to the ground.
He thought of another pretty girl he had been attracted to, Misha, she had died not more than a few weeks ago.
******************************************************************************
Lessons learned. Thank you and rest well, Selairilne
******************************************************************************
The difference between Misha and Iranne was simple. Misha had died alone, Iranne was with Xujja.
The orc raised his mace over the fallen girl, in less than a second he would finish her off. Xujja did not allow the orc the luxury of another second however. The tiefling stepped closer, his sword flicking out as a silver flash towards the greenskin. Xujja lopped off the beasts leg, sending it toppling over the edge of the ridge... its plans to kill the elf girl died with it in a gurgling sputter below.
The difference between Misha and Iranne was that the sun elf lass had Xujja with her. Pressing a goodberry into her mouth just in time, Xujja stopped her from bleeding out her life in his arms.
*****************************************************************************
Dawn still wasnt gone yet, she wanted to say more before going.
"You should visit Felbar. It is tightly in the grasp of your queen."
Why is she telling me that?
"It is beautiful." she added before going.
*****************************************************************************
"It is beautiful" Iranne said as she put a hand to her chest and looked out at the purple lake.
She was bent over, leaning on one of the multi-colored boulders around the strange lake. She was looking out over the waters, but Xujja was looking at her bending over instead.
"Aye... its beautiful alright. Few things can compare."
After a while of staring, she turned and walked back to sit with him and share a few bottles of mushroom wine.
***************************************************************************
Xujja kicked open the gates of Rivermoot. The guards glared at first, but when they saw him carrying the bloody and beaten elf girl, they understood. Xujja didnt spare them a glance, he simply walked past with the elf maiden in his arms.
Iranne was barely conscious, the only thing that really let him know she still lived at all was the tight grip her arms had around his neck and shoulders, and her occasional mumblings.
She rested her cheek against his blue chestplate and murmured some kind of thanks. In her delirium she pressed her lips against his chest and kissed.
*****************************************************************************
Another day, much later, he and Laniara stood in the same spot they always seemed to meet and talk, the river by High Hold.
Laniara was delighted to hear he and Iranne had grown close. She encouraged him with both serious and playful advice. She smiled wide as he described her beautiful dark brown skin and golden hair.
"An Ar'tel... you have excellent taste, lad."
Xujja didnt really feel like it was him who had chosen her, more like the other way around.
They talked on about Iranne, Dawn, and the nature of both choices and mistakes. Laniara as usual encouraged him, and this time he chose not to naysay her. This time he would accept her advice fully. Iranne had already won him over, it was just now a matter of seeking the advice to help him avoid wrecking things.
"So... how do I greet an elf in their own language?" he asked as he was getting ready to go.
She taught him to say 'warm winds and hello' in their tongue... but Xujja didnt want to wish his lady love "warm winds". Sounded to unlucky.
"Is there something more familiar, a greeting lovers might share?" he asked.
"There is" she responded. "You can say 'Vedui Lueffa'... it means greetings beloved"
It sounded soft, not something he would say, but he was sure it was something Iranne would like to hear.
"Vedui Leuffa" he repeated, committing the words to memory.
****************************************************************************
Xujja returned to the tent they had shared for over a week now. After nursing her back to health, she and he had stayed in the tent giving their blossoming passions a physical manifestation.
She was now the second woman he had ever lain with in sexual union... he found himself eager to get back to that union as he approached the tent with two bottles of Winterwine in hand.
The elven beauty was still sleeping in his tent as he crawled back in with her. She stirred when she heard him, moving a closer to put an arm around him and pull them close together. Xujja whispered the words Laniara had taught him.
The effect was just what he wanted... she woke up enough to take the bottles of wine away from him, tossing them aside to embrace him tightly, pulling him down into their bedroll.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone still reading.
J
Re: The Cold Road
A gray skinned tiefling made his way down the highway in the dark of night. As had become usual for him, he brooded on recent events. A recent meeting had lead him to thoughts of the ocean. For a second time now he was seeing it as a parable for the world, for life. Nothing was as you ever expected it, and truly men were like bits of driftwood cast onto the tides.
Xujja licked his lips, he was sure he tasted sea salts. Both of the priestesses of Umberlee that he had kissed had tasted like that. As the village of Rivermoot came into view he wondered if the taste was just in his mind.
If Iranne can taste it on me, then its real. I will find out at the first available opportunity.
As he crossed the bridge he could see their tent where she would no doubt be waiting. He hoped she would be able to tell, he wanted her to be at least a bit jealous. Answering the nettling questions he was sure to come would be entertaining.
Really, she asked for it. She wanted to love a Devil... I would be remiss in my duties to our relationship if I didnt deliver her the experience of loving a devil.
***************************************************************************
The little gray boy dressed in rags ran as fast as he could. Snows had just begun to thaw, the whole world was muddy but still cold. Normally this time of year always made him sad, like when his mother locked him up in that terrible crawlspace. On a normal morning like this he would have already caught a fish and would usually take the time to stop and appreciate looking at the muddy mess the world was becoming.
Today was different, he had to spend this morning running from the slavers.
The scrawny boy was fast, he ran faster than anyone in his tribe. He overworked his legs, tearing across the muddy plain. He got nearer and nearer the wide expanse of shaggy white pines for which his village was named. If he could get there he could shake the men on his heels, he was in fact pulling away from the men behind him. He was the fastest boy in the village, he could outrun city folk.
Xujja found out that he could not outrun the warhounds. Behind him he heard others of the village running with him, being pulled into the snow and mud by the snarling canines. He hated the people of White-Pines but could take no pleasure in their torment or capture, he hated city folk even more.
Defeat. His mother would be ashamed, good thing she had probably already been hacked to pieces by the slavers. While they tore at his flesh Xujja wondered if the dogs would kill him too. He was sure he counted four separate sets of fangs digging into him before everything went black.
***********************************************************************
Dusk, in the backwater village again. Iranne sat curled up with Xujja at the base of a birch tree. Xujja had finally told her everything that had happened between him and Dawn.
"No dear, dont let that give you a bad impression of love. That clearly wasnt devotion. I want to be with you, not to run off to a city... I want to be yours, to give you everything and anything you want. For me love is a total commitment... to you."
It sounded too sweet, like drinking honey till it made you sick. Still, Xujja found he loved devouring sweet things.. and the girl saying these impossible things was an irresistible alien beauty. He found elves entrancing, this one particularly so.
Slender bronzed fingers slipped into his hands as she spoke again.
"Im yours... your lover, your slave, any way or words you would like to use. Anything you want."
Slave... what a terrible choice of words.
**********************************************************************
"TWENTY-EIGHT, TWENTY-NINE... THIRTY!" The whipmaster was an ancient wrinkled orc with arms like tree logs. He seemed to be taking every bit of his energy into lashing all the skin from the scrawny slaves back.
New slaves purchased by the lumber guilds were given ten lashes as an introduction to the whip. Those that showed defiance were typically given ten more. The scrawny tiefling had lashed out at his masters the moment he was unchained to be removed... so he was given another set of ten, for the third time that day.
The little boy was barely alive, his back a bloody mess and several ribs cracked, as he was carried out. The grizzled old whipmaster was actually winded at the force of the sustained whipping. The rest of the slaves would get their first beatings a day late.
Xujja thought this was probably the worst pain he had ever felt. The next day, being forced to work with cracked ribs hurt much more. In fact each day of the next few weeks was more painful than the last.
************************************************************************
Xujja looked back to Iranne. "You say some dangerous, mad things."
"True things. Since seeing your reaction to me saying it.. I am excited by the idea. Love is often described as a heart being chained. Making the idea literal dosnt bother me at all. Just accept me and youll have it, anything you want."
Xujja couldnt help but wonder if she was joking, or maybe testing him.
"So.. what do you want out of this then?" He asked.
"I only need a few things, a few minor demands." she said, offering him a smile sweeter than the things she had been saying.
"Well, lets hear em then."
"I want a home, eventually. In a more open minded land, and made from stone. A nice home... something pretty. I wont demand it, but I also think you should reconsider making a family with me."
She hesitated before adding more.
"And I really want to be able to take hot baths again. Even if the heat makes me weak... indulge me, in just that bit."
There had been a time when he would have argued. He was different now, corrupted.
Being my own creature demands letting go of even my tribes customs. The world simply isnt what I thought it was before. Give Iranne what she wants... hot baths, a home, and a devil.
*************************************************************************
Xujja sat at the purple lake again, and again his company was an elf lass. Lyre'le was one of the brown faeries, the wild elves. He had repeatedly been impressed with the girls open mind and respect for ways other than her own.
The two had spent most of the day searching around the highlands of silverymoon pass, both exploring and looking for loot.
As they relaxed from their long walk their conversation wandered. The girl often returned in conversation to her home village. She felt lost without her people, alienated by just about everyone she met. Xujja doubted she tasted city folks hate like he had, but he sympathized none the less. He saw a lot of himself in her, only she was still holding on to things he had already left behind.
"I am best with my bow, but I thrill to the call of blood and my sword... its maybe a sort of lusting."
Xujja had to smile. "Aye, it IS a kind of lust."
A sudden change of topic.
"Perhaps I should have never left my home. Things were simple."
"Is simple really better?"
"I knew my place in things."
"Dont fall into place lass... /make/ your place."
"That is what I am afraid of, that lust."
"Why fear it? Why fear your own desires?" Xujja felt like he might also be talking to himself. Maybe they both did need to hear this. He said more.
"Our lusts and desires are what drive us, make us the people we are. They /are/ you."
Xujja looked over at her, still talking.
"Learn and appreciate the self.. without knowing the self, all other tasks are senseless."
The girl still looked worried, but she probably wouldnt solve her problems in one conversation... maybe not even in a year. While he had known her he had found much in common with the wild elf girl, but the next thing she said sounded so much like his own thoughts it haunted him like a sad song.
"I fear it is the influence of civilization that is doing this to me."
*************************************************************************
The same hill at the same purple lake, a different companion. The girl had white hair, she was in fact a collection of lucky colors in addition to being very attractive. Bright blue eyes stared back at him, a curious smile as she waited for him to finish.
"A coincidence then. Ingriss, of White-Pines is my mothers name."
"Oh, well that explains a lot. It was also my grandmothers name but we are from the Moonshaes, not the mainland at all."
"I see."
"Tell me about her?"
"Who? My mother?"
"Yes"
****************************************************************************
The village of White-Pines, A little tiefling boy and his mother sat on their rickety wooden porch on midwinters night.
"Alright now... yer mothers old and is goin to bed, but you son get to stay out all night."
Xujja was excited at the prospects of being awake all night. He had never had a whole night of freedom before. He wasnt going to get one now.
"Xujja... hop off into the snow, turn around and put your hands on the porch."
The little gray boy did as his mother bid, holding still while she readied a hammer and two nails.
"Alright son... you done good so far. Now Ill leave you out here in sacrifice to Auril. If you dont freeze to death, or if a holy wolf dont come eat you.... then youll live to go fishing tomorrow. Remember your prayers."
His ancient withered mother had a slight smile as she hammered her sons hands to the aged wood planks of the porch.
***************************************************************************
The pretty white-haired girl with his mothers name had settled closer while they were talking. She reached out to touch his cheek, her hand passed over his ear, pushing a bit of hair from his face. It was a reaction he had seen before in Dawn, when she was about to sympathize with him over something terrible that he had endured. As she spoke her tone was much like what he expected, but her words we very different from what her voice suggested.
"It sounds like you had a very strong mother... you seem very willful, Im sure you were a handful for a single mother."
Xujja thought it was a rare thing to hear admiration in her voice for the things she had heard of his mother.
***************************************************************************
The scrawny little gray boy made one last attempt to crawl across the bare wooden floor of their hovel to escape his beating. He would have no such luck however. His mother lashed out at his neck with one of her crutches, immobilizing him with pain.
The wicked old hag was full of supernatural rage, the crooked wooden crutch hammering down on the immobile tiefling child.
"Thats all ya got in you, lil brat? You wont last a minute in the world if you cant take mommas lil beating!"
The old woman seemed possessed with the strength of a horse, lashing with such fury at the child that bones cracked and blood stained the floor. She beat till her own wrath shook her and caused her to tumble to the floor herself.
It would be many hours later before he would awaken, with his mother nowhere in sight, and crawl back to the hole under the stairs.
***************************************************************************
Ingriss stared at him still, she adjusted her posture slightly... more tempting, more luring. Her voice entranced. The girl with his mothers name said those things he had always wanted to hear from the old monster who birthed him.
"Of course she is to be admired... look at what kind of a man she molded."
It was too much, it felt too good to hear those things. He smiled wide, looking at her tempting him.
"Tell me Xujja... whats running through your head right now?" Ingriss said, settling right up to him and setting her hand on his shoulder.
***************************************************************************
"Your late" His mother said with an ominous tone.
"But I caught a fish!" the little gray boy exclaimed.
Barely had the words escaped his lips when his mothers wooden crutch came swinging up at his neck and collided with his jaw. He dropped the fish and staggered back a few steps. Another, then another, and a few more times his mother swatted at him with the crooked piece of wood.
****************************************************************************
Ingriss now embraced him with both arms and whispered to him.
"You may ask for permission any time."
Permission? Didnt she just say she admired my mother?
Xujja kissed her neck without speaking, she pushed against him with a momentary resistance but then he bit her. Sharp fangs tore into pale flesh, the tiefling licked at her blood. A gasp of pleasure escaped the servant of the Sea Queen, and instead of pushing against him she now pressed him harder to her.
***************************************************************************
"Dawn made her choices. Wot am I supposed to do about her running off to the city? Kidnap her... and take here where? To wot end? You cant keep a girl that dont wanna be kept.... what the hell else do you want me to say?" Xujja snapped in irritation.
Jared Westlake, a friendly man wearing an unlucky color, stood on the bridge to Rivermoot. Xujja didnt mind the man so much, but he had been more than a little rude by bringing up Dawn to him. The mans tone had changed quickly when he heard the other side of the story, so an open mind was at least a good trait even if he bumbled around in such unlucky colors.
"I see. Well...I see you are hurting from this, Im sorry that it worked out like it did for the both of you."
Xujja really didnt want to be talking about it anymore but he felt like he should give the polite man an answer. Thinking back on what Iranne had told him just the night before, Xujja framed his thoughts into an answer for Jared.
"Attachment to temporary things is a futile task, sometimes you just have to let go. It is a lesson, and one I grew from, but not much more."
***************************************************************************
Drunk with rum and the delight of the test that was to come, Xujja approached the tent he and Iranne shared.
She had promised such things, it reminded him too much of Dawn the way she professed love in such dramatic ways. Dawns love hadnt lasted, and as Abelia had pointed out, never really existed at all. Still, Laniara and others had told him that an elf lass wouldnt respond like Dawn had.
Maybe she was telling the truth, probably not. Lets see how she handles this.
Xujja opened the flap to their tent and crawled in. As usual he was greeted with a hug and several kisses. Iranne could tell right away that he had been dallying with another woman.
"Where were you? Whose smell is this? Who has had their tongue in your mouth?" she asked.
So she can taste it, good. Now... lets see how she takes it.
Xujja sat down in their tiny tent, crossing his legs and uncorking another bottle of rum before speaking.
"Been kissing on a gorgeous white-haired lass I met out at the lake... lusty biting and kisses all night."
Xujja had shoved Dawn away once to test her, she had come back but in the end had proved uncommitted... so he tested this girl harder, pushed her further. He kept talking, hoping to make her angry or jealous. Mostly he was hoping to make her regret offering him such an arrogant thing as 'anything he wanted'.
"Beautiful, even... yes, a good word to describe that holy woman. I would have come back to you sooner, but she was so new and exciting that I lost track of time for a bit."
Xujja drank down some of his rum, and let his words sink in without looking at her for a few long moments. He heard soft sounds coming from her, she was taking deep calming breaths as if to avoid whimpering or bursting into tears as she spoke.
"Are you... forsaking me? You are done loving me?"
Xujja took another drink before answering her.
"No. Didnt you say I could have whatever I want? Werent you talking about being a love slave yesterday? Shouldnt you welcome my pleasure?"
Iranne moved close to him, smile returning to her lips. It was not what Xujja expected, he kept quiet while she spoke.
"I did say those things. I meant them, you can have her but you hurt me by saying you forgot the time you were supposed to come see me."
"I said it to hurt you."
"It worked. So, do I get to meet her?" Beautiful green eyes turned playful even while still wet from crying. "Do I get to kiss these girls too?"
"You arent upset anymore? Over it that easy?" Xujja asked, unsure about such a reaction.
"Yes. As long as you dont throw me away, I will be yours. I meant what I said before. I want all those things and only those things that make you happy. I want you."
"And nothing for yourself?"
"I did ask for things for myself. I want a home, I want hot baths, maybe even a family."
Xujja knew he had been changing, but hearing her say it... taking comforts from fire and heat, dwelling in a stone building forced him into brooding. Xujja had accepted these things, and had been tamed. Had he been tamed or had he simply woken up to the world beyond his tribe? His thoughts flickered to his friend Lyre'le for a moment, and how sad she had been seeing this happen to herself.
Steel, writing, gold, wine, rum, and women... they all lured the heart, and they were all in such abundance in the civilized world. You had to become complicated to know indulgence. Simple was no longer appealing.
I fear it is the influence of civilization that is doing this to me.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone still reading.
J
Xujja licked his lips, he was sure he tasted sea salts. Both of the priestesses of Umberlee that he had kissed had tasted like that. As the village of Rivermoot came into view he wondered if the taste was just in his mind.
If Iranne can taste it on me, then its real. I will find out at the first available opportunity.
As he crossed the bridge he could see their tent where she would no doubt be waiting. He hoped she would be able to tell, he wanted her to be at least a bit jealous. Answering the nettling questions he was sure to come would be entertaining.
Really, she asked for it. She wanted to love a Devil... I would be remiss in my duties to our relationship if I didnt deliver her the experience of loving a devil.
***************************************************************************
The little gray boy dressed in rags ran as fast as he could. Snows had just begun to thaw, the whole world was muddy but still cold. Normally this time of year always made him sad, like when his mother locked him up in that terrible crawlspace. On a normal morning like this he would have already caught a fish and would usually take the time to stop and appreciate looking at the muddy mess the world was becoming.
Today was different, he had to spend this morning running from the slavers.
The scrawny boy was fast, he ran faster than anyone in his tribe. He overworked his legs, tearing across the muddy plain. He got nearer and nearer the wide expanse of shaggy white pines for which his village was named. If he could get there he could shake the men on his heels, he was in fact pulling away from the men behind him. He was the fastest boy in the village, he could outrun city folk.
Xujja found out that he could not outrun the warhounds. Behind him he heard others of the village running with him, being pulled into the snow and mud by the snarling canines. He hated the people of White-Pines but could take no pleasure in their torment or capture, he hated city folk even more.
Defeat. His mother would be ashamed, good thing she had probably already been hacked to pieces by the slavers. While they tore at his flesh Xujja wondered if the dogs would kill him too. He was sure he counted four separate sets of fangs digging into him before everything went black.
***********************************************************************
Dusk, in the backwater village again. Iranne sat curled up with Xujja at the base of a birch tree. Xujja had finally told her everything that had happened between him and Dawn.
"No dear, dont let that give you a bad impression of love. That clearly wasnt devotion. I want to be with you, not to run off to a city... I want to be yours, to give you everything and anything you want. For me love is a total commitment... to you."
It sounded too sweet, like drinking honey till it made you sick. Still, Xujja found he loved devouring sweet things.. and the girl saying these impossible things was an irresistible alien beauty. He found elves entrancing, this one particularly so.
Slender bronzed fingers slipped into his hands as she spoke again.
"Im yours... your lover, your slave, any way or words you would like to use. Anything you want."
Slave... what a terrible choice of words.
**********************************************************************
"TWENTY-EIGHT, TWENTY-NINE... THIRTY!" The whipmaster was an ancient wrinkled orc with arms like tree logs. He seemed to be taking every bit of his energy into lashing all the skin from the scrawny slaves back.
New slaves purchased by the lumber guilds were given ten lashes as an introduction to the whip. Those that showed defiance were typically given ten more. The scrawny tiefling had lashed out at his masters the moment he was unchained to be removed... so he was given another set of ten, for the third time that day.
The little boy was barely alive, his back a bloody mess and several ribs cracked, as he was carried out. The grizzled old whipmaster was actually winded at the force of the sustained whipping. The rest of the slaves would get their first beatings a day late.
Xujja thought this was probably the worst pain he had ever felt. The next day, being forced to work with cracked ribs hurt much more. In fact each day of the next few weeks was more painful than the last.
************************************************************************
Xujja looked back to Iranne. "You say some dangerous, mad things."
"True things. Since seeing your reaction to me saying it.. I am excited by the idea. Love is often described as a heart being chained. Making the idea literal dosnt bother me at all. Just accept me and youll have it, anything you want."
Xujja couldnt help but wonder if she was joking, or maybe testing him.
"So.. what do you want out of this then?" He asked.
"I only need a few things, a few minor demands." she said, offering him a smile sweeter than the things she had been saying.
"Well, lets hear em then."
"I want a home, eventually. In a more open minded land, and made from stone. A nice home... something pretty. I wont demand it, but I also think you should reconsider making a family with me."
She hesitated before adding more.
"And I really want to be able to take hot baths again. Even if the heat makes me weak... indulge me, in just that bit."
There had been a time when he would have argued. He was different now, corrupted.
Being my own creature demands letting go of even my tribes customs. The world simply isnt what I thought it was before. Give Iranne what she wants... hot baths, a home, and a devil.
*************************************************************************
Xujja sat at the purple lake again, and again his company was an elf lass. Lyre'le was one of the brown faeries, the wild elves. He had repeatedly been impressed with the girls open mind and respect for ways other than her own.
The two had spent most of the day searching around the highlands of silverymoon pass, both exploring and looking for loot.
As they relaxed from their long walk their conversation wandered. The girl often returned in conversation to her home village. She felt lost without her people, alienated by just about everyone she met. Xujja doubted she tasted city folks hate like he had, but he sympathized none the less. He saw a lot of himself in her, only she was still holding on to things he had already left behind.
"I am best with my bow, but I thrill to the call of blood and my sword... its maybe a sort of lusting."
Xujja had to smile. "Aye, it IS a kind of lust."
A sudden change of topic.
"Perhaps I should have never left my home. Things were simple."
"Is simple really better?"
"I knew my place in things."
"Dont fall into place lass... /make/ your place."
"That is what I am afraid of, that lust."
"Why fear it? Why fear your own desires?" Xujja felt like he might also be talking to himself. Maybe they both did need to hear this. He said more.
"Our lusts and desires are what drive us, make us the people we are. They /are/ you."
Xujja looked over at her, still talking.
"Learn and appreciate the self.. without knowing the self, all other tasks are senseless."
The girl still looked worried, but she probably wouldnt solve her problems in one conversation... maybe not even in a year. While he had known her he had found much in common with the wild elf girl, but the next thing she said sounded so much like his own thoughts it haunted him like a sad song.
"I fear it is the influence of civilization that is doing this to me."
*************************************************************************
The same hill at the same purple lake, a different companion. The girl had white hair, she was in fact a collection of lucky colors in addition to being very attractive. Bright blue eyes stared back at him, a curious smile as she waited for him to finish.
"A coincidence then. Ingriss, of White-Pines is my mothers name."
"Oh, well that explains a lot. It was also my grandmothers name but we are from the Moonshaes, not the mainland at all."
"I see."
"Tell me about her?"
"Who? My mother?"
"Yes"
****************************************************************************
The village of White-Pines, A little tiefling boy and his mother sat on their rickety wooden porch on midwinters night.
"Alright now... yer mothers old and is goin to bed, but you son get to stay out all night."
Xujja was excited at the prospects of being awake all night. He had never had a whole night of freedom before. He wasnt going to get one now.
"Xujja... hop off into the snow, turn around and put your hands on the porch."
The little gray boy did as his mother bid, holding still while she readied a hammer and two nails.
"Alright son... you done good so far. Now Ill leave you out here in sacrifice to Auril. If you dont freeze to death, or if a holy wolf dont come eat you.... then youll live to go fishing tomorrow. Remember your prayers."
His ancient withered mother had a slight smile as she hammered her sons hands to the aged wood planks of the porch.
***************************************************************************
The pretty white-haired girl with his mothers name had settled closer while they were talking. She reached out to touch his cheek, her hand passed over his ear, pushing a bit of hair from his face. It was a reaction he had seen before in Dawn, when she was about to sympathize with him over something terrible that he had endured. As she spoke her tone was much like what he expected, but her words we very different from what her voice suggested.
"It sounds like you had a very strong mother... you seem very willful, Im sure you were a handful for a single mother."
Xujja thought it was a rare thing to hear admiration in her voice for the things she had heard of his mother.
***************************************************************************
The scrawny little gray boy made one last attempt to crawl across the bare wooden floor of their hovel to escape his beating. He would have no such luck however. His mother lashed out at his neck with one of her crutches, immobilizing him with pain.
The wicked old hag was full of supernatural rage, the crooked wooden crutch hammering down on the immobile tiefling child.
"Thats all ya got in you, lil brat? You wont last a minute in the world if you cant take mommas lil beating!"
The old woman seemed possessed with the strength of a horse, lashing with such fury at the child that bones cracked and blood stained the floor. She beat till her own wrath shook her and caused her to tumble to the floor herself.
It would be many hours later before he would awaken, with his mother nowhere in sight, and crawl back to the hole under the stairs.
***************************************************************************
Ingriss stared at him still, she adjusted her posture slightly... more tempting, more luring. Her voice entranced. The girl with his mothers name said those things he had always wanted to hear from the old monster who birthed him.
"Of course she is to be admired... look at what kind of a man she molded."
It was too much, it felt too good to hear those things. He smiled wide, looking at her tempting him.
"Tell me Xujja... whats running through your head right now?" Ingriss said, settling right up to him and setting her hand on his shoulder.
***************************************************************************
"Your late" His mother said with an ominous tone.
"But I caught a fish!" the little gray boy exclaimed.
Barely had the words escaped his lips when his mothers wooden crutch came swinging up at his neck and collided with his jaw. He dropped the fish and staggered back a few steps. Another, then another, and a few more times his mother swatted at him with the crooked piece of wood.
****************************************************************************
Ingriss now embraced him with both arms and whispered to him.
"You may ask for permission any time."
Permission? Didnt she just say she admired my mother?
Xujja kissed her neck without speaking, she pushed against him with a momentary resistance but then he bit her. Sharp fangs tore into pale flesh, the tiefling licked at her blood. A gasp of pleasure escaped the servant of the Sea Queen, and instead of pushing against him she now pressed him harder to her.
***************************************************************************
"Dawn made her choices. Wot am I supposed to do about her running off to the city? Kidnap her... and take here where? To wot end? You cant keep a girl that dont wanna be kept.... what the hell else do you want me to say?" Xujja snapped in irritation.
Jared Westlake, a friendly man wearing an unlucky color, stood on the bridge to Rivermoot. Xujja didnt mind the man so much, but he had been more than a little rude by bringing up Dawn to him. The mans tone had changed quickly when he heard the other side of the story, so an open mind was at least a good trait even if he bumbled around in such unlucky colors.
"I see. Well...I see you are hurting from this, Im sorry that it worked out like it did for the both of you."
Xujja really didnt want to be talking about it anymore but he felt like he should give the polite man an answer. Thinking back on what Iranne had told him just the night before, Xujja framed his thoughts into an answer for Jared.
"Attachment to temporary things is a futile task, sometimes you just have to let go. It is a lesson, and one I grew from, but not much more."
***************************************************************************
Drunk with rum and the delight of the test that was to come, Xujja approached the tent he and Iranne shared.
She had promised such things, it reminded him too much of Dawn the way she professed love in such dramatic ways. Dawns love hadnt lasted, and as Abelia had pointed out, never really existed at all. Still, Laniara and others had told him that an elf lass wouldnt respond like Dawn had.
Maybe she was telling the truth, probably not. Lets see how she handles this.
Xujja opened the flap to their tent and crawled in. As usual he was greeted with a hug and several kisses. Iranne could tell right away that he had been dallying with another woman.
"Where were you? Whose smell is this? Who has had their tongue in your mouth?" she asked.
So she can taste it, good. Now... lets see how she takes it.
Xujja sat down in their tiny tent, crossing his legs and uncorking another bottle of rum before speaking.
"Been kissing on a gorgeous white-haired lass I met out at the lake... lusty biting and kisses all night."
Xujja had shoved Dawn away once to test her, she had come back but in the end had proved uncommitted... so he tested this girl harder, pushed her further. He kept talking, hoping to make her angry or jealous. Mostly he was hoping to make her regret offering him such an arrogant thing as 'anything he wanted'.
"Beautiful, even... yes, a good word to describe that holy woman. I would have come back to you sooner, but she was so new and exciting that I lost track of time for a bit."
Xujja drank down some of his rum, and let his words sink in without looking at her for a few long moments. He heard soft sounds coming from her, she was taking deep calming breaths as if to avoid whimpering or bursting into tears as she spoke.
"Are you... forsaking me? You are done loving me?"
Xujja took another drink before answering her.
"No. Didnt you say I could have whatever I want? Werent you talking about being a love slave yesterday? Shouldnt you welcome my pleasure?"
Iranne moved close to him, smile returning to her lips. It was not what Xujja expected, he kept quiet while she spoke.
"I did say those things. I meant them, you can have her but you hurt me by saying you forgot the time you were supposed to come see me."
"I said it to hurt you."
"It worked. So, do I get to meet her?" Beautiful green eyes turned playful even while still wet from crying. "Do I get to kiss these girls too?"
"You arent upset anymore? Over it that easy?" Xujja asked, unsure about such a reaction.
"Yes. As long as you dont throw me away, I will be yours. I meant what I said before. I want all those things and only those things that make you happy. I want you."
"And nothing for yourself?"
"I did ask for things for myself. I want a home, I want hot baths, maybe even a family."
Xujja knew he had been changing, but hearing her say it... taking comforts from fire and heat, dwelling in a stone building forced him into brooding. Xujja had accepted these things, and had been tamed. Had he been tamed or had he simply woken up to the world beyond his tribe? His thoughts flickered to his friend Lyre'le for a moment, and how sad she had been seeing this happen to herself.
Steel, writing, gold, wine, rum, and women... they all lured the heart, and they were all in such abundance in the civilized world. You had to become complicated to know indulgence. Simple was no longer appealing.
I fear it is the influence of civilization that is doing this to me.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone still reading.
J
Last edited by mr duncan on Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: The Cold Road
...Xujja had never worked so hard in all his life. Even while struggling under the lash of Luskan slavemasters, Xujja had not known this level of exertion.
On a troubled sea, Xujja rowed the tiny boat with everything he had. Though years chopping lumber as a slave had made his arms like tree trunks banded in steel... he couldnt row fast enough. The girl in the rowboat with him might not make it to the shore in time.
For every 100 feet he pushed them towards shore, the waves sent them back 50. He felt like the sea, Queen Umberlee, was telling him to let go and give up.
Xujja didnt give up, he rowed harder, there were so many things he hated Dawn for... but looking at her frightened face in the boat with him pushed him harder...
Xujja woke up with a start, he was in his tent, in Rivermoot. His arms ached with the effort, he was covered in sweat. Behind him a girl stirred. Iranne sat up, wondering what had shaken her lover awake.
**************************************************************************
On the bridge into Rivermoot, Xujja stood looking down into the water. His eyes were active, following the tadoples below, but his mind was miles and miles away.
Lyre'le. If she were still alive, he would undoubtedly be spending time with her out in the wilds looking for battle and plunder.
Xujja had lost many, many, things in his life. His tribe and mother, two years of his freedom, he had lost his first love and his unborn child. Those things were easy to say goodbye to. He hated his tribe, and it had been his mothers time. His freedom had been restored to him. His first love had made sure he wouldnt think fondly of her, and he had never even seen his missing child. These things had been relatively easy to forget.
Not so his elven friend, she hung in his memories, impossible to shake. Xujja had let go off so many things... but he hung on to Lyre'le.
Xujja stayed there, watching tadpoles, for the rest of the day.
**************************************************************************
Mighty Auril, Queen of the snow, Mistress of Ice... I do not often bother you with requests, but I must call to your ear now. I have been wronged, your holy bloodline has been wronged. A foul lying woman took your seed and claims to raise the wolf as a kitten.
Xujja took a deep breath before continuing with the prayer.
Bring down her mistakes upon her shoulders. Settle your vengeance on her brow. Give her the coldness and black. Let her know suffering 10 times 10 times what she as insulted I and my blood with. I ask these things in your holy name. Auril, Auril, Auril.
**************************************************************************
...Dawn was stretched out on the table, her legs bent up and open, her face was covered in sweat from the struggle to give birth to the devil child in her womb. Blood poured from her, the old hag bent over looking at the scene shook her head in dismay.
“The baby is lost.” the hag offered in a grim but determined tone. “Lest we want this girl to follow, we need to get it out of her.”
Dawn turned her head towards him, but Xujja couldnt walk any closer... the further he walked towards her, the larger the room got. No matter how he pushed towards her, it wasnt enough...
For a second time that night, Xujja woke up with a start. Again he was in the little tent he and Iranne shared. Again his elven lover sat up and tried to pull him back to bed, running her fingers thru his hair to relax him back to sleep.
****************************************************************************
Lyre'le was shaken, her life with her tribe was far gone, and the changes of adulthood on her body were making her mind unstable.
She was so unstable that she even wanted to go and kill the dwarf Garlus for listening in on their conversation. Xujja convinced her that the old dwarf didnt care, and soon her mind was directed with venom at the people of Rivermoot. She needed to go in there for something... but she was now scared of the place she had been dozens, if not hundreds, of times.
"That place is full of foul roundears.... I cant go in alone. They arent my people, I cant trust them."
"Your people... well how are you feeling about tieflings right now? You seem pretty hostile to everyone around..."
Lyre'le looked back at him, her worry set aside for just a moment as she addressed Xujja.
"No... you are my friend. I trust you... will you go in there with me? In case something happens?"
In the midst of her paranoid ravings, she still remembered him, still even had a soft edge to her voice for him.
Xujja escorted the paranoid elf girl into the ugly little village.
*****************************************************************************
Xujja sat in the shade of an orange-leafed tree. Nearby was one of his favorite people, Laniara. He figured that she was probably the as sad as he was. Two of her kin had passed, and both of them had been people Xujja thought well of. In retrospect, he realized he had loved Lyre'le... They had never kissed, or even touched all that often, but he still felt this way.
Maybe this is how someone who has a brother or sister would feel without her?
"You... knew her well then? I didnt talk to much to her, but I feel the loss of any of my kin deeply, each one is a whole world lost." Laniara asked him.
"When I met her, she was on the road bleeding, almost dead. I helped her along to High Hold."
Xujja hesitated, a strange tightness in his throat that he didnt recognize, choked up his words for a moment.
"After that... I think we were together most of the day, almost every day. I spent more time with her than with my own lover."
Laniara looked to the ground. She realized that Xujja felt this more deeply than she did. She seemed to see right into the situation, in fact. Laniara read Xujja like a book, and started to tell him the things she felt he needed to hear.
"I cant tell you that this feeling will go away. You will remember her forever now."
Xujja kept quiet as she went on. His eyes felt strange, unlike ever before, they felt wet.
"All that remain now are the memories, and the memories always will."
The tightness in his throat was overwhelming and he felt as if he might lose control... he forced himself to stand as he barely made the words necessary for his exit.
"I uh... I gotta go... uh.. somewhere."
Laniara understood, her face was even a little more sad after seeing Xujja react, she nodded her farewell to him as he stumbled off.
***************************************************************************
...His wrinkled dead son laid on the wooden floor in a pool of Dawns blood. Dawns head rolled to the side, he was sure she could see him, she was looking right at him.
You asked for this... why didnt you just let me protect you? You are supposed to be more wise than I! How did you not know something like this would happen? This must have been what you wanted..... I guess its best he didnt live. Best for you.
The room distorted with a new presence, the enemy. Fire.
The hag came closer to Dawn with the orange firepoker in her hand. Xujja instinctively clenched up his fist, even if Dawn didnt want his help anymore.... even if he had prayed for her to suffer... he would defend her from fire...
He couldnt, there was no saving Dawn, because he woke up again.
It was Irannes voice he heard now, her slender arms wrapping around his chest.
"It was just a dream, my love...."
"No, you dont understand. I dont dream... not since I was in Luskan. I just stopped dreaming, ever."
"Returning or not... if you dreamed of her, you still love her. Find her, speak to her.... tell her."
"No, you dont understand."
"Find her, talk to her. Dont worry about me... if you two still have real feelings, it will work out. You know Ill share.... so long as it will please you, my love."
Xujja was always tempted when Iranne offered him other girls, but he shook his head.
"No... I never want to talk to that bitch again. I have nothing to say to her."
Iranne didnt seem to believe him... but instead of contradicting him, she pulled him to lie down where she could soothe him back to sleep.
***************************************************************************
Lathander... This is the third, and probably last time, I will pray to you. I curse the day I learned your name, I curse the day you sent your agents into my life. I curse every lie Dawn ever spoke to me while hiding behind the facade of good and sweetness. You claim to favor forgiveness... but if you also favor justice, let her know that first.
***************************************************************************
It had been weeks since he came out into the wild to look for murder and loot, but here he was on the bridge to gnoll country near fourthpeak.
A very pretty girl, Ingriss, had talked him into getting off his ass and doing something. At first he had been annoyed, but she was both persistent and pretty.
Four of them had come for battle this day. Ingriss and Xujja waited on the bridge while their companions, two wizards named Marcus and Quin were catching up.
The walk had done him a bit of good. He was feeling a bit thankful to Ingriss for her attention and help... she didnt really need him to go hunting for battle, but she had been insistent he come and had even refused to go into the hills without him.
A flicker of thought of Lyre'le passed thru his mind, but this time it made him smile.
The smile was still on Xujjas lips as he reached out and grabbed Ingriss.... then he gave her a mighty shake and let himself teeter off balance on the bridge, hundreds of feet above the rocks and water below.
Ingriss was normally a very dignified lady, but she screamed at the top of her lungs when her balance was threatened. She grabbed onto Xujja tightly with momentary fear.
Xujja started laughing. He hadnt laughed in weeks, he was still laughing while Ingriss regained her wits and started slapping him... a lot.
The two wizards were just arriving at the bridge when Ingriss had let out her scream. They both stood nearby, avoiding walking onto the bridge but watching curious.
Xujja made no move to stop her from slapping him repeatedly, he was still laughing to hard. Eventually her slaps faded, and she smiled a bit as she spoke.
"You bastard."
"You know that was funny."
Ingriss smiled a little more. "Yeah... it was pretty funny, you bastard."
Behind them, Marcus looked on the scene with worry. While Ingriss and Xujja were busy smiling at each other, Quin spoke to Marcus in an attempt to allay his worry.
"Relax Marcus... this is how they communicate.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone reading, sorry I slacked off and didnt write for a while.
J
On a troubled sea, Xujja rowed the tiny boat with everything he had. Though years chopping lumber as a slave had made his arms like tree trunks banded in steel... he couldnt row fast enough. The girl in the rowboat with him might not make it to the shore in time.
For every 100 feet he pushed them towards shore, the waves sent them back 50. He felt like the sea, Queen Umberlee, was telling him to let go and give up.
Xujja didnt give up, he rowed harder, there were so many things he hated Dawn for... but looking at her frightened face in the boat with him pushed him harder...
Xujja woke up with a start, he was in his tent, in Rivermoot. His arms ached with the effort, he was covered in sweat. Behind him a girl stirred. Iranne sat up, wondering what had shaken her lover awake.
**************************************************************************
On the bridge into Rivermoot, Xujja stood looking down into the water. His eyes were active, following the tadoples below, but his mind was miles and miles away.
Lyre'le. If she were still alive, he would undoubtedly be spending time with her out in the wilds looking for battle and plunder.
Xujja had lost many, many, things in his life. His tribe and mother, two years of his freedom, he had lost his first love and his unborn child. Those things were easy to say goodbye to. He hated his tribe, and it had been his mothers time. His freedom had been restored to him. His first love had made sure he wouldnt think fondly of her, and he had never even seen his missing child. These things had been relatively easy to forget.
Not so his elven friend, she hung in his memories, impossible to shake. Xujja had let go off so many things... but he hung on to Lyre'le.
Xujja stayed there, watching tadpoles, for the rest of the day.
**************************************************************************
Mighty Auril, Queen of the snow, Mistress of Ice... I do not often bother you with requests, but I must call to your ear now. I have been wronged, your holy bloodline has been wronged. A foul lying woman took your seed and claims to raise the wolf as a kitten.
Xujja took a deep breath before continuing with the prayer.
Bring down her mistakes upon her shoulders. Settle your vengeance on her brow. Give her the coldness and black. Let her know suffering 10 times 10 times what she as insulted I and my blood with. I ask these things in your holy name. Auril, Auril, Auril.
**************************************************************************
...Dawn was stretched out on the table, her legs bent up and open, her face was covered in sweat from the struggle to give birth to the devil child in her womb. Blood poured from her, the old hag bent over looking at the scene shook her head in dismay.
“The baby is lost.” the hag offered in a grim but determined tone. “Lest we want this girl to follow, we need to get it out of her.”
Dawn turned her head towards him, but Xujja couldnt walk any closer... the further he walked towards her, the larger the room got. No matter how he pushed towards her, it wasnt enough...
For a second time that night, Xujja woke up with a start. Again he was in the little tent he and Iranne shared. Again his elven lover sat up and tried to pull him back to bed, running her fingers thru his hair to relax him back to sleep.
****************************************************************************
Lyre'le was shaken, her life with her tribe was far gone, and the changes of adulthood on her body were making her mind unstable.
She was so unstable that she even wanted to go and kill the dwarf Garlus for listening in on their conversation. Xujja convinced her that the old dwarf didnt care, and soon her mind was directed with venom at the people of Rivermoot. She needed to go in there for something... but she was now scared of the place she had been dozens, if not hundreds, of times.
"That place is full of foul roundears.... I cant go in alone. They arent my people, I cant trust them."
"Your people... well how are you feeling about tieflings right now? You seem pretty hostile to everyone around..."
Lyre'le looked back at him, her worry set aside for just a moment as she addressed Xujja.
"No... you are my friend. I trust you... will you go in there with me? In case something happens?"
In the midst of her paranoid ravings, she still remembered him, still even had a soft edge to her voice for him.
Xujja escorted the paranoid elf girl into the ugly little village.
*****************************************************************************
Xujja sat in the shade of an orange-leafed tree. Nearby was one of his favorite people, Laniara. He figured that she was probably the as sad as he was. Two of her kin had passed, and both of them had been people Xujja thought well of. In retrospect, he realized he had loved Lyre'le... They had never kissed, or even touched all that often, but he still felt this way.
Maybe this is how someone who has a brother or sister would feel without her?
"You... knew her well then? I didnt talk to much to her, but I feel the loss of any of my kin deeply, each one is a whole world lost." Laniara asked him.
"When I met her, she was on the road bleeding, almost dead. I helped her along to High Hold."
Xujja hesitated, a strange tightness in his throat that he didnt recognize, choked up his words for a moment.
"After that... I think we were together most of the day, almost every day. I spent more time with her than with my own lover."
Laniara looked to the ground. She realized that Xujja felt this more deeply than she did. She seemed to see right into the situation, in fact. Laniara read Xujja like a book, and started to tell him the things she felt he needed to hear.
"I cant tell you that this feeling will go away. You will remember her forever now."
Xujja kept quiet as she went on. His eyes felt strange, unlike ever before, they felt wet.
"All that remain now are the memories, and the memories always will."
The tightness in his throat was overwhelming and he felt as if he might lose control... he forced himself to stand as he barely made the words necessary for his exit.
"I uh... I gotta go... uh.. somewhere."
Laniara understood, her face was even a little more sad after seeing Xujja react, she nodded her farewell to him as he stumbled off.
***************************************************************************
...His wrinkled dead son laid on the wooden floor in a pool of Dawns blood. Dawns head rolled to the side, he was sure she could see him, she was looking right at him.
You asked for this... why didnt you just let me protect you? You are supposed to be more wise than I! How did you not know something like this would happen? This must have been what you wanted..... I guess its best he didnt live. Best for you.
The room distorted with a new presence, the enemy. Fire.
The hag came closer to Dawn with the orange firepoker in her hand. Xujja instinctively clenched up his fist, even if Dawn didnt want his help anymore.... even if he had prayed for her to suffer... he would defend her from fire...
He couldnt, there was no saving Dawn, because he woke up again.
It was Irannes voice he heard now, her slender arms wrapping around his chest.
"It was just a dream, my love...."
"No, you dont understand. I dont dream... not since I was in Luskan. I just stopped dreaming, ever."
"Returning or not... if you dreamed of her, you still love her. Find her, speak to her.... tell her."
"No, you dont understand."
"Find her, talk to her. Dont worry about me... if you two still have real feelings, it will work out. You know Ill share.... so long as it will please you, my love."
Xujja was always tempted when Iranne offered him other girls, but he shook his head.
"No... I never want to talk to that bitch again. I have nothing to say to her."
Iranne didnt seem to believe him... but instead of contradicting him, she pulled him to lie down where she could soothe him back to sleep.
***************************************************************************
Lathander... This is the third, and probably last time, I will pray to you. I curse the day I learned your name, I curse the day you sent your agents into my life. I curse every lie Dawn ever spoke to me while hiding behind the facade of good and sweetness. You claim to favor forgiveness... but if you also favor justice, let her know that first.
***************************************************************************
It had been weeks since he came out into the wild to look for murder and loot, but here he was on the bridge to gnoll country near fourthpeak.
A very pretty girl, Ingriss, had talked him into getting off his ass and doing something. At first he had been annoyed, but she was both persistent and pretty.
Four of them had come for battle this day. Ingriss and Xujja waited on the bridge while their companions, two wizards named Marcus and Quin were catching up.
The walk had done him a bit of good. He was feeling a bit thankful to Ingriss for her attention and help... she didnt really need him to go hunting for battle, but she had been insistent he come and had even refused to go into the hills without him.
A flicker of thought of Lyre'le passed thru his mind, but this time it made him smile.
The smile was still on Xujjas lips as he reached out and grabbed Ingriss.... then he gave her a mighty shake and let himself teeter off balance on the bridge, hundreds of feet above the rocks and water below.
Ingriss was normally a very dignified lady, but she screamed at the top of her lungs when her balance was threatened. She grabbed onto Xujja tightly with momentary fear.
Xujja started laughing. He hadnt laughed in weeks, he was still laughing while Ingriss regained her wits and started slapping him... a lot.
The two wizards were just arriving at the bridge when Ingriss had let out her scream. They both stood nearby, avoiding walking onto the bridge but watching curious.
Xujja made no move to stop her from slapping him repeatedly, he was still laughing to hard. Eventually her slaps faded, and she smiled a bit as she spoke.
"You bastard."
"You know that was funny."
Ingriss smiled a little more. "Yeah... it was pretty funny, you bastard."
Behind them, Marcus looked on the scene with worry. While Ingriss and Xujja were busy smiling at each other, Quin spoke to Marcus in an attempt to allay his worry.
"Relax Marcus... this is how they communicate.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone reading, sorry I slacked off and didnt write for a while.
J
Last edited by mr duncan on Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: The Cold Road
Glad to see you pick up the pen again (or keyboard, in this case).
Great story, great PC.
Great story, great PC.
Re: The Cold Road
Xujja had trouble waking up, he had never slept in a bed before and he found that the overwhelming comfort it provided was hard to pull away from.
After a while he stopped trying. Giving up on the struggle to wake he rolled back over and curled up with the girl sharing the bed with him, Ingriss of the Moonshaes. He pondered the situation even as his mind teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. The tiny room seemed designed to please and soothe, as if city folk /liked/ to over-sleep.
The room was windowless, soothing darkness. Sinking into the bed with each turn or shift in position felt like sleeping on a cloud. The most comfortable part of the experience however was the girl wrapping her arms back around him in response to him curling closer. Even after the sweat of their passions many hours ago in this very bed, he could still smell the pleasing scents of Lillies and Jasmine.
Ingriss... such a terrible name for such a beautiful girl.
***************************************************************************
"Ingriss! Ingriss you old monster... get out here, now!" the tribal shaman yelled, angry and red faced.
Inside their rotten little hovel, the small gray tiefling boy and his ancient mother looked towards the shouting outside their window.
Xujja watched his one-legged mother stump over to the window, she scowled when she saw who it was.
Both he and his mother knew what the shaman was here for. Over the last few weeks, Xujja had started to sprout horns from the slight bumps on his forehead.... the tribe already hated him, now the shaman was here to kill the child before anything else happened. From outside the shaman could be heard yelling again.
"Give up the boy and you dont have to be hurt, old woman."
The ancient woman scowled again, in her youth she had killed countless men... and now someone dared to speak to her in such a manner in her old age. She muttered something about respect and made her way to the rickety set of planks that passed for their hovels front door. Before opening it she turned to her son.
"Now boy... you pay attention.... yer momma is gonna show you something exciting. I mean it.... pay attention and dont get in my way."
*****************************************************************************
A pretty white-haired girl sat with Xujja under the shade of the trees just outside Rivermoot. The two had been talking for a while.
"I know he is scrawny and... sort of weak, but he can be charming." Ingriss said.
"Oh... so thats why you stopped being so extra sweet with me, eh?" Xujja teased.
"Only a bit... you have a girl already and I figure... why not give him a chance if he is single and a little bit charming?"
It made sense to Xujja, so he hammered his slightly jealous reaction down into submission. Ingriss spoke again.
"But I dont like how he is always around those damned helmites and that Tess bitch."
"Agreed. He would make a poor sort of man if he wanted to waste time with folks that treated a girl he was interested in, the way they treated you."
Ingriss made an annoyed snort that said she agreed totally with Xujja. He added more.
"If you want to keep him away from them... offer him money to not work with em. Money from a pretty girl should have some weight with a single man."
"You think he might be worth working with us in our crew?" she asked.
"Aye... he is a bit cowardly, but that can be trained out of a man who is willing. If he responds favorably at all to you, we will have him meet Ix and see if he blends in with us."
"And you arent mad at me... or jealous?" she asked.
"Nah, like you said... I already got a girl lovin on me, and you never promised me anything... never said you were mine or nothin. I got no reason to be upset."
Ingriss smiled, pleased with his answer. "Thank you Xujja, thank you."
****************************************************************************
Ingriss, of White-Pines pushed open the door to her hovel. It as a bright clear day, with just a few inches of snow on the ground.
Just in front of their wrecked home was standing Athamus, the shaman for the village of White-Pines. He was flanked by two massive growling mastiffs and his young apprentice. He smiled a hungry wolfs smile when the withered old crone finally showed herself.
Ingriss hobbled out onto the porch, it seemed to Xujja the strength had faded from her as she limped with her one leg and two crutches out onto the rickety porch.
"Winters comin... an that boy is an affront to our safety." he said to the old woman.
"Affront? That boy is /marked/ by the Queen of Ice... this is youre one and only chance to turn back from my house and this corse of action." the old woman responded in a calm tone as she hobbled right up to his face, between his huge angry dogs.
The old woman seemed totally at peace. The shaman answered.
"I am the holy speaker here... and by Malar, I swear no unnatural spawn will litter our tribe any longer."
The old womans response was swift and merciless.
One crutch snapped out into the face of the first dog with blinding speed. The same crutch swung back and connected with the other dogs jaw. One fell to the snow, knocked out.. the other massive war-hound took off running with a terrible yelp.
The shaman raised his enchanted spear against the old woman, but the swishing crooked stick she used for a crutch came swinging up into his chin nonetheless. He was a pretty big man, but reeled from the blow. There was no mercy and no hesitation in the old womans next swing, colliding the stick into his neck... twice.
The man stumbled back, words to a spell forcing themselves from his bleeding lips. It was his magic-working mouth Xujjas mother attacked next, slamming the stick into his teeth with a loud crunching sound. Now he took a step back to get away... and again the stick lashed out, dropping the shaman to the snow.
Ingriss of White-Pines then proceeded to give the man a beating like she did her own child. The crutch hammered down on his body as ribs cracked and an arm was shattered in several places. The old woman foamed at the mouth a bit with her gleeful exertion. She didnt even pause the beating while she was talking to him.
"Oh... come on now... my little brat can take a beating better than you! Arent you gonna get up and show me what the men of White-Pines are capable of?"
Still the beating went on, a few more ribs broke... the grown man whimpered.
"Aurils Fangs! You are a soft little puss, arent you?"
And with that the crone brought down the crutch one more time... a massive blow to his neck. With a loud thump and a disgusting gurgle, the shaman of White-Pines died. A massive red stain appeared in the snow from around the mans head.
The woman now glared at the mans apprentice... "Looks like you are the village shaman now. Get this trash out from in front of my home, now!"
But it was a trick... when the younger man bent to pick up the body... the crutch came raining down again. Another blow to another mans neck... but this man died with one stroke while the rest of the village looked on.
The old woman returned her crutches to their place supporting her, and hobbled back into the doorway where Xujja watched, amazed. She looked down at her son and spoke loudly enough for the whole crowd to hear.
"Now my brat... next time the other little boys try to take a fish from you... THATS what I expect you to do. If you cant give them boys a beating like so... there will be a similar beating waiting for you when you get home."
With that she stumped past her son who was, like most of the village, staring in amazement at the two brutalized corpses in front of his rotten old house.
****************************************************************************
The talk had not gone well.
Ingriss was apparently not used to rejection, as her eyes were shimmering a bit with wetness as she came back up to Xujja, leaving Marcus at the riverbank.
"Xujja... come with me. I want to leave here... can we take a walk please?"
Ingriss never said please, she and Xujja were to good of friends for such formality. Xujja couldnt help but feel a bit bad for the pretty girl who was always quick to heal him. He finished his drink and stood up.
"Uh... sure lass, lets go wherever you would like."
Marcus was walking up behind her, Xujja thought maybe he was going to change his mind and give the priestess what she wanted... so he waited to let the city man speak.
"But dont you think if I were working with them... that it could benefit you? If I am there to temper their treatment of you."
How weak.
Thankfully Ingriss would have none of the wizards attempts to convince her further. She simply walked off. Xujja offered a nod of farewell to the others before following along with the priestess of Umberlee.
**************************************************************************
Ingriss of White-Pines stood looking over the collection of graves with her son.
"Two more men who thought they could take whats mine are lying in fresh graves... didnt think your old mother had it in her, did ya brat?"
"No mother... I knew you would win."
She slapped him. "How did you know that? /I/ didnt know I would win."
"You didnt... but?"
"Shut up and listen."
Xujja fell silent while his ancient mother spoke.
"No fight is certain, ever. When you face your foe, you have to let go. Accept what may happen, and do it anyway. Did you notice how long it took that man to raise his spear?"
"Yes."
"Thats because he was sure he had already won the fight. He was so sure of himself... he didnt even pay attention to the fact that I got up close enough to strike his dogs.... if he had kept me further away... those dogs might have lept at me, taken me down. Then the fight would have been over... an the two of us would be in the ground here rather than them."
Xujja nodded.
"But he was sure of the fight. Never be sure, never assume you know, but strike anyway... and always strike with a full blooming of brutality."
Xujja only nodded again.
His mother did a rare thing then, she laughed. "Just think what would have become of those two idiots if I had been using a real weapon..."
***************************************************************************
After their long hike to the city and back to Rivermoot, Xujja expected they would part ways.
"Thank you for the book, it was a very nice gift." Xujja said.
"You are most welcome... thank you for being with me today... I was so mad."
"I know."
"You know Xujja... I am tired of pitching a tent and resting like you savages... why dont we get a room with an actual /bed/ ?"
Xujja had never slept in a bed, he had never felt the need.
"Oh... Im good enough now for you, eh? After your shaman boy gave you that fit?"
"Xujja... dont make me repeat the reasons I tried to give him a chance."
"Relax lass, I am just teasing you. I remember what you said... but what if he changes his mind later, wont you regret rolling in the hay with me then?"
"I would rather enjoy a man with a strong will that has another lover, than be weak myself and lay with someone who chooses them over me."
It did seem a pretty stupid choice to Xujja. Money was easy to make... pretty girls were much much more valuable. Ingriss added more to her statement.
"Besides... Ive seen your lass, she is really sexy. She obviously shares... I assume she likes girls as much as she likes you?"
"Maybe not AS much." Xujja answered with a smirk.
"Good enough, lets go."
Xujja and the pretty girl with the terrible name walked off to the Anglers Inn.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone reading.
J
After a while he stopped trying. Giving up on the struggle to wake he rolled back over and curled up with the girl sharing the bed with him, Ingriss of the Moonshaes. He pondered the situation even as his mind teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. The tiny room seemed designed to please and soothe, as if city folk /liked/ to over-sleep.
The room was windowless, soothing darkness. Sinking into the bed with each turn or shift in position felt like sleeping on a cloud. The most comfortable part of the experience however was the girl wrapping her arms back around him in response to him curling closer. Even after the sweat of their passions many hours ago in this very bed, he could still smell the pleasing scents of Lillies and Jasmine.
Ingriss... such a terrible name for such a beautiful girl.
***************************************************************************
"Ingriss! Ingriss you old monster... get out here, now!" the tribal shaman yelled, angry and red faced.
Inside their rotten little hovel, the small gray tiefling boy and his ancient mother looked towards the shouting outside their window.
Xujja watched his one-legged mother stump over to the window, she scowled when she saw who it was.
Both he and his mother knew what the shaman was here for. Over the last few weeks, Xujja had started to sprout horns from the slight bumps on his forehead.... the tribe already hated him, now the shaman was here to kill the child before anything else happened. From outside the shaman could be heard yelling again.
"Give up the boy and you dont have to be hurt, old woman."
The ancient woman scowled again, in her youth she had killed countless men... and now someone dared to speak to her in such a manner in her old age. She muttered something about respect and made her way to the rickety set of planks that passed for their hovels front door. Before opening it she turned to her son.
"Now boy... you pay attention.... yer momma is gonna show you something exciting. I mean it.... pay attention and dont get in my way."
*****************************************************************************
A pretty white-haired girl sat with Xujja under the shade of the trees just outside Rivermoot. The two had been talking for a while.
"I know he is scrawny and... sort of weak, but he can be charming." Ingriss said.
"Oh... so thats why you stopped being so extra sweet with me, eh?" Xujja teased.
"Only a bit... you have a girl already and I figure... why not give him a chance if he is single and a little bit charming?"
It made sense to Xujja, so he hammered his slightly jealous reaction down into submission. Ingriss spoke again.
"But I dont like how he is always around those damned helmites and that Tess bitch."
"Agreed. He would make a poor sort of man if he wanted to waste time with folks that treated a girl he was interested in, the way they treated you."
Ingriss made an annoyed snort that said she agreed totally with Xujja. He added more.
"If you want to keep him away from them... offer him money to not work with em. Money from a pretty girl should have some weight with a single man."
"You think he might be worth working with us in our crew?" she asked.
"Aye... he is a bit cowardly, but that can be trained out of a man who is willing. If he responds favorably at all to you, we will have him meet Ix and see if he blends in with us."
"And you arent mad at me... or jealous?" she asked.
"Nah, like you said... I already got a girl lovin on me, and you never promised me anything... never said you were mine or nothin. I got no reason to be upset."
Ingriss smiled, pleased with his answer. "Thank you Xujja, thank you."
****************************************************************************
Ingriss, of White-Pines pushed open the door to her hovel. It as a bright clear day, with just a few inches of snow on the ground.
Just in front of their wrecked home was standing Athamus, the shaman for the village of White-Pines. He was flanked by two massive growling mastiffs and his young apprentice. He smiled a hungry wolfs smile when the withered old crone finally showed herself.
Ingriss hobbled out onto the porch, it seemed to Xujja the strength had faded from her as she limped with her one leg and two crutches out onto the rickety porch.
"Winters comin... an that boy is an affront to our safety." he said to the old woman.
"Affront? That boy is /marked/ by the Queen of Ice... this is youre one and only chance to turn back from my house and this corse of action." the old woman responded in a calm tone as she hobbled right up to his face, between his huge angry dogs.
The old woman seemed totally at peace. The shaman answered.
"I am the holy speaker here... and by Malar, I swear no unnatural spawn will litter our tribe any longer."
The old womans response was swift and merciless.
One crutch snapped out into the face of the first dog with blinding speed. The same crutch swung back and connected with the other dogs jaw. One fell to the snow, knocked out.. the other massive war-hound took off running with a terrible yelp.
The shaman raised his enchanted spear against the old woman, but the swishing crooked stick she used for a crutch came swinging up into his chin nonetheless. He was a pretty big man, but reeled from the blow. There was no mercy and no hesitation in the old womans next swing, colliding the stick into his neck... twice.
The man stumbled back, words to a spell forcing themselves from his bleeding lips. It was his magic-working mouth Xujjas mother attacked next, slamming the stick into his teeth with a loud crunching sound. Now he took a step back to get away... and again the stick lashed out, dropping the shaman to the snow.
Ingriss of White-Pines then proceeded to give the man a beating like she did her own child. The crutch hammered down on his body as ribs cracked and an arm was shattered in several places. The old woman foamed at the mouth a bit with her gleeful exertion. She didnt even pause the beating while she was talking to him.
"Oh... come on now... my little brat can take a beating better than you! Arent you gonna get up and show me what the men of White-Pines are capable of?"
Still the beating went on, a few more ribs broke... the grown man whimpered.
"Aurils Fangs! You are a soft little puss, arent you?"
And with that the crone brought down the crutch one more time... a massive blow to his neck. With a loud thump and a disgusting gurgle, the shaman of White-Pines died. A massive red stain appeared in the snow from around the mans head.
The woman now glared at the mans apprentice... "Looks like you are the village shaman now. Get this trash out from in front of my home, now!"
But it was a trick... when the younger man bent to pick up the body... the crutch came raining down again. Another blow to another mans neck... but this man died with one stroke while the rest of the village looked on.
The old woman returned her crutches to their place supporting her, and hobbled back into the doorway where Xujja watched, amazed. She looked down at her son and spoke loudly enough for the whole crowd to hear.
"Now my brat... next time the other little boys try to take a fish from you... THATS what I expect you to do. If you cant give them boys a beating like so... there will be a similar beating waiting for you when you get home."
With that she stumped past her son who was, like most of the village, staring in amazement at the two brutalized corpses in front of his rotten old house.
****************************************************************************
The talk had not gone well.
Ingriss was apparently not used to rejection, as her eyes were shimmering a bit with wetness as she came back up to Xujja, leaving Marcus at the riverbank.
"Xujja... come with me. I want to leave here... can we take a walk please?"
Ingriss never said please, she and Xujja were to good of friends for such formality. Xujja couldnt help but feel a bit bad for the pretty girl who was always quick to heal him. He finished his drink and stood up.
"Uh... sure lass, lets go wherever you would like."
Marcus was walking up behind her, Xujja thought maybe he was going to change his mind and give the priestess what she wanted... so he waited to let the city man speak.
"But dont you think if I were working with them... that it could benefit you? If I am there to temper their treatment of you."
How weak.
Thankfully Ingriss would have none of the wizards attempts to convince her further. She simply walked off. Xujja offered a nod of farewell to the others before following along with the priestess of Umberlee.
**************************************************************************
Ingriss of White-Pines stood looking over the collection of graves with her son.
"Two more men who thought they could take whats mine are lying in fresh graves... didnt think your old mother had it in her, did ya brat?"
"No mother... I knew you would win."
She slapped him. "How did you know that? /I/ didnt know I would win."
"You didnt... but?"
"Shut up and listen."
Xujja fell silent while his ancient mother spoke.
"No fight is certain, ever. When you face your foe, you have to let go. Accept what may happen, and do it anyway. Did you notice how long it took that man to raise his spear?"
"Yes."
"Thats because he was sure he had already won the fight. He was so sure of himself... he didnt even pay attention to the fact that I got up close enough to strike his dogs.... if he had kept me further away... those dogs might have lept at me, taken me down. Then the fight would have been over... an the two of us would be in the ground here rather than them."
Xujja nodded.
"But he was sure of the fight. Never be sure, never assume you know, but strike anyway... and always strike with a full blooming of brutality."
Xujja only nodded again.
His mother did a rare thing then, she laughed. "Just think what would have become of those two idiots if I had been using a real weapon..."
***************************************************************************
After their long hike to the city and back to Rivermoot, Xujja expected they would part ways.
"Thank you for the book, it was a very nice gift." Xujja said.
"You are most welcome... thank you for being with me today... I was so mad."
"I know."
"You know Xujja... I am tired of pitching a tent and resting like you savages... why dont we get a room with an actual /bed/ ?"
Xujja had never slept in a bed, he had never felt the need.
"Oh... Im good enough now for you, eh? After your shaman boy gave you that fit?"
"Xujja... dont make me repeat the reasons I tried to give him a chance."
"Relax lass, I am just teasing you. I remember what you said... but what if he changes his mind later, wont you regret rolling in the hay with me then?"
"I would rather enjoy a man with a strong will that has another lover, than be weak myself and lay with someone who chooses them over me."
It did seem a pretty stupid choice to Xujja. Money was easy to make... pretty girls were much much more valuable. Ingriss added more to her statement.
"Besides... Ive seen your lass, she is really sexy. She obviously shares... I assume she likes girls as much as she likes you?"
"Maybe not AS much." Xujja answered with a smirk.
"Good enough, lets go."
Xujja and the pretty girl with the terrible name walked off to the Anglers Inn.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone reading.
J
Re: The Cold Road
Xujja had trouble waking up, he had never slept in a bed before and he found that the overwhelming comfort it provided was hard to pull away from.
After a while he stopped trying. Giving up on the struggle to wake he rolled back over and curled up with the girl sharing the bed with him, Ingriss of the Moonshaes. He pondered the situation even as his mind teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. The tiny room seemed designed to please and soothe, as if city folk /liked/ to over-sleep.
The room was windowless, soothing darkness. Sinking into the bed with each turn or shift in position felt like sleeping on a cloud. The most comfortable part of the experience however was the girl wrapping her arms back around him in response to him curling closer. Even after the sweat of their passions many hours ago in this very bed, he could still smell the pleasing scents of Lillies and Jasmine.
Ingriss... such a terrible name for such a beautiful girl.
***************************************************************************
"Ingriss! Ingriss you old monster... get out here, now!" the tribal shaman yelled, angry and red faced.
Inside their rotten little hovel, the small gray tiefling boy and his ancient mother looked towards the shouting outside their window.
Xujja watched his one-legged mother stump over to the window, she scowled when she saw who it was.
Both he and his mother knew what the shaman was here for. Over the last few weeks, Xujja had started to sprout horns from the slight bumps on his forehead.... the tribe already hated him, now the shaman was here to kill the child before anything else happened. From outside the shaman could be heard yelling again.
"Give up the boy and you dont have to be hurt, old woman."
The ancient woman scowled again, in her youth she had killed countless men... and now someone dared to speak to her in such a manner in her old age. She muttered something about respect and made her way to the rickety set of planks that passed for their hovels front door. Before opening it she turned to her son.
"Now boy... you pay attention.... yer momma is gonna show you something exciting. I mean it.... pay attention and dont get in my way."
*****************************************************************************
A pretty white-haired girl sat with Xujja under the shade of the trees just outside Rivermoot. The two had been talking for a while.
"I know he is scrawny and... sort of weak, but he can be charming." Ingriss said.
"Oh... so thats why you stopped being so extra sweet with me, eh?" Xujja teased.
"Only a bit... you have a girl already and I figure... why not give him a chance if he is single and a little bit charming?"
It made sense to Xujja, so he hammered his slightly jealous reaction down into submission. Ingriss spoke again.
"But I dont like how he is always around those damned helmites and that Tess b*tch."
"Agreed. He would make a poor sort of man if he wanted to waste time with folks that treated a girl he was interested in, the way they treated you."
Ingriss made an annoyed snort that said she agreed totally with Xujja. He added more.
"If you want to keep him away from them... offer him money to not work with em. Money from a pretty girl should have some weight with a single man."
"You think he might be worth working with us in our crew?" she asked.
"Aye... he is a bit cowardly, but that can be trained out of a man who is willing. If he responds favorably at all to you, we will have him meet Ix and see if he blends in with us."
"And you arent mad at me... or jealous?" she asked.
"Nah, like you said... I already got a girl lovin on me, and you never promised me anything... never said you were mine or nothin. I got no reason to be upset."
Ingriss smiled, pleased with his answer. "Thank you Xujja, thank you."
****************************************************************************
Ingriss, of White-Pines pushed open the door to her hovel. It as a bright clear day, with just a few inches of snow on the ground.
Just in front of their wrecked home was standing Athamus, the shaman for the village of White-Pines. He was flanked by two massive growling mastiffs and his young apprentice. He smiled a hungry wolfs smile when the withered old crone finally showed herself.
Ingriss hobbled out onto the porch, it seemed to Xujja the strength had faded from her as she limped with her one leg and two crutches out onto the rickety porch.
"Winters comin... an that boy is an affront to our safety." he said to the old woman.
"Affront? That boy is /marked/ by the Queen of Ice... this is your one and only chance to turn back from my house and this corse of action." the old woman responded in a calm tone as she hobbled right up to his face, between his huge angry dogs.
The old woman seemed totally at peace. The shaman answered.
"I am the holy speaker here... and by Malar, I swear no unnatural spawn will litter our tribe any longer."
The old womans response was swift and merciless.
One crutch snapped out into the face of the first dog with blinding speed. The same crutch swung back and connected with the other dogs jaw. One fell to the snow, knocked out.. the other massive war-hound took off running with a terrible yelp.
The shaman raised his enchanted spear against the old woman, but the swishing crooked stick she used for a crutch came swinging up into his chin nonetheless. He was a pretty big man, but reeled from the blow. There was no mercy and no hesitation in the old womans next swing, colliding the stick into his neck... twice.
The man stumbled back, words to a spell forcing themselves from his bleeding lips. It was his magic-working mouth Xujjas mother attacked next, slamming the stick into his teeth with a loud crunching sound. Now he took a step back to get away... and again the stick lashed out, dropping the shaman to the snow.
Ingriss of White-Pines then proceeded to give the man a beating like she did her own child. The crutch hammered down on his body as ribs cracked and an arm was shattered in several places. The old woman foamed at the mouth a bit with her gleeful exertion. She didnt even pause the beating while she was talking to him.
"Oh... come on now... my little brat can take a beating better than you! Arent you gonna get up and show me what the men of White-Pines are capable of?"
Still the beating went on, a few more ribs broke... the grown man whimpered.
"Aurils Fangs! You are a soft little puss, arent you?"
And with that the crone brought down the crutch one more time... a massive blow to his neck. With a loud thump and a disgusting gurgle, the shaman of White-Pines died. A massive red stain appeared in the snow from around the mans head.
The woman now glared at the mans apprentice... "Looks like you are the village shaman now. Get this trash out from in front of my home, now!"
But it was a trick... when the younger man bent to pick up the body... the crutch came raining down again. Another blow to another mans neck... but this man died with one stroke while the rest of the village looked on.
The old woman returned her crutches to their place supporting her, and hobbled back into the doorway where Xujja watched, amazed. She looked down at her son and spoke loudly enough for the whole crowd to hear.
"Now my brat... next time the other little boys try to take a fish from you... THATS what I expect you to do. If you cant give them boys a beating like so... there will be a similar beating waiting for you when you get home."
With that she stumped past her son who was, like most of the village, staring in amazement at the two brutalized corpses in front of his rotten old house.
****************************************************************************
The talk had not gone well.
Ingriss was apparently not used to rejection, as her eyes were shimmering a bit with wetness as she came back up to Xujja, leaving Marcus at the riverbank.
"Xujja... come with me. I want to leave here... can we take a walk please?"
Ingriss never said please, she and Xujja were to good of friends for such formality. Xujja couldnt help but feel a bit bad for the pretty girl who was always quick to heal him. He finished his drink and stood up.
"Uh... sure lass, lets go wherever you would like."
Marcus was walking up behind her, Xujja thought maybe he was going to change his mind and give the priestess what she wanted... so he waited to let the city man speak.
"But dont you think if I were working with them... that it could benefit you? If I am there to temper their treatment of you."
How weak.
Thankfully Ingriss would have none of the wizards attempts to convince her further. She simply walked off. Xujja offered a nod of farewell to the others before following along with the priestess of Umberlee.
**************************************************************************
Ingriss of White-Pines stood looking over the collection of graves with her son.
"Two more men who thought they could take whats mine are lying in fresh graves... didnt think your old mother had it in her, did ya brat?"
"No mother... I knew you would win."
She slapped him. "How did you know that? /I/ didnt know I would win."
"You didnt... but?"
"Shut up and listen."
Xujja fell silent while his ancient mother spoke.
"No fight is certain, ever. When you face your foe, you have to let go. Accept what may happen, and do it anyway. Did you notice how long it took that man to raise his spear?"
"Yes."
"Thats because he was sure he had already won the fight. He was so sure of himself... he didnt even pay attention to the fact that I got up close enough to strike his dogs.... if he had kept me further away... those dogs might have lept at me, taken me down. Then the fight would have been over... an the two of us would be in the ground here rather than them."
Xujja nodded.
"But he was sure of the fight. Never be sure, never assume you know, but strike anyway... and always strike with a full blooming of brutality."
Xujja only nodded again.
His mother did a rare thing then, she laughed. "Just think what would have become of those two idiots if I had been using a real weapon..."
***************************************************************************
After their long hike to the city and back to Rivermoot, Xujja expected they would part ways.
"Thank you for the book, it was a very nice gift." Xujja said.
"You are most welcome... thank you for being with me today... I was so upset."
"I know."
"You know Xujja... I am tired of pitching a tent and resting like you savages... why dont we get a room with an actual /bed/ ?"
Xujja had never slept in a bed, he had never felt the need.
"Oh... Im good enough now for you, eh? After your shaman boy gave you that fit?"
"Xujja... dont make me repeat the reasons I tried to give him a chance."
"Relax lass, I am just teasing you. I remember what you said... but what if he changes his mind later, wont you regret rolling in the hay with me then?"
"I would rather enjoy a man with a strong will that has another lover, than be weak myself and lay with someone who chooses them over me."
It did seem a pretty stupid choice to Xujja. Money was easy to make... pretty girls were much much more valuable. Ingriss added more to her statement.
"Besides... Ive seen your lass, she is really sexy. She obviously shares... I assume she likes girls as much as she likes you?"
"Maybe not AS much." Xujja answered with a smirk.
"Good enough, lets go."
Xujja and the pretty girl with the terrible name walked off to the Rivermoot Inn.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone reading.
J
After a while he stopped trying. Giving up on the struggle to wake he rolled back over and curled up with the girl sharing the bed with him, Ingriss of the Moonshaes. He pondered the situation even as his mind teetered on the edge of unconsciousness. The tiny room seemed designed to please and soothe, as if city folk /liked/ to over-sleep.
The room was windowless, soothing darkness. Sinking into the bed with each turn or shift in position felt like sleeping on a cloud. The most comfortable part of the experience however was the girl wrapping her arms back around him in response to him curling closer. Even after the sweat of their passions many hours ago in this very bed, he could still smell the pleasing scents of Lillies and Jasmine.
Ingriss... such a terrible name for such a beautiful girl.
***************************************************************************
"Ingriss! Ingriss you old monster... get out here, now!" the tribal shaman yelled, angry and red faced.
Inside their rotten little hovel, the small gray tiefling boy and his ancient mother looked towards the shouting outside their window.
Xujja watched his one-legged mother stump over to the window, she scowled when she saw who it was.
Both he and his mother knew what the shaman was here for. Over the last few weeks, Xujja had started to sprout horns from the slight bumps on his forehead.... the tribe already hated him, now the shaman was here to kill the child before anything else happened. From outside the shaman could be heard yelling again.
"Give up the boy and you dont have to be hurt, old woman."
The ancient woman scowled again, in her youth she had killed countless men... and now someone dared to speak to her in such a manner in her old age. She muttered something about respect and made her way to the rickety set of planks that passed for their hovels front door. Before opening it she turned to her son.
"Now boy... you pay attention.... yer momma is gonna show you something exciting. I mean it.... pay attention and dont get in my way."
*****************************************************************************
A pretty white-haired girl sat with Xujja under the shade of the trees just outside Rivermoot. The two had been talking for a while.
"I know he is scrawny and... sort of weak, but he can be charming." Ingriss said.
"Oh... so thats why you stopped being so extra sweet with me, eh?" Xujja teased.
"Only a bit... you have a girl already and I figure... why not give him a chance if he is single and a little bit charming?"
It made sense to Xujja, so he hammered his slightly jealous reaction down into submission. Ingriss spoke again.
"But I dont like how he is always around those damned helmites and that Tess b*tch."
"Agreed. He would make a poor sort of man if he wanted to waste time with folks that treated a girl he was interested in, the way they treated you."
Ingriss made an annoyed snort that said she agreed totally with Xujja. He added more.
"If you want to keep him away from them... offer him money to not work with em. Money from a pretty girl should have some weight with a single man."
"You think he might be worth working with us in our crew?" she asked.
"Aye... he is a bit cowardly, but that can be trained out of a man who is willing. If he responds favorably at all to you, we will have him meet Ix and see if he blends in with us."
"And you arent mad at me... or jealous?" she asked.
"Nah, like you said... I already got a girl lovin on me, and you never promised me anything... never said you were mine or nothin. I got no reason to be upset."
Ingriss smiled, pleased with his answer. "Thank you Xujja, thank you."
****************************************************************************
Ingriss, of White-Pines pushed open the door to her hovel. It as a bright clear day, with just a few inches of snow on the ground.
Just in front of their wrecked home was standing Athamus, the shaman for the village of White-Pines. He was flanked by two massive growling mastiffs and his young apprentice. He smiled a hungry wolfs smile when the withered old crone finally showed herself.
Ingriss hobbled out onto the porch, it seemed to Xujja the strength had faded from her as she limped with her one leg and two crutches out onto the rickety porch.
"Winters comin... an that boy is an affront to our safety." he said to the old woman.
"Affront? That boy is /marked/ by the Queen of Ice... this is your one and only chance to turn back from my house and this corse of action." the old woman responded in a calm tone as she hobbled right up to his face, between his huge angry dogs.
The old woman seemed totally at peace. The shaman answered.
"I am the holy speaker here... and by Malar, I swear no unnatural spawn will litter our tribe any longer."
The old womans response was swift and merciless.
One crutch snapped out into the face of the first dog with blinding speed. The same crutch swung back and connected with the other dogs jaw. One fell to the snow, knocked out.. the other massive war-hound took off running with a terrible yelp.
The shaman raised his enchanted spear against the old woman, but the swishing crooked stick she used for a crutch came swinging up into his chin nonetheless. He was a pretty big man, but reeled from the blow. There was no mercy and no hesitation in the old womans next swing, colliding the stick into his neck... twice.
The man stumbled back, words to a spell forcing themselves from his bleeding lips. It was his magic-working mouth Xujjas mother attacked next, slamming the stick into his teeth with a loud crunching sound. Now he took a step back to get away... and again the stick lashed out, dropping the shaman to the snow.
Ingriss of White-Pines then proceeded to give the man a beating like she did her own child. The crutch hammered down on his body as ribs cracked and an arm was shattered in several places. The old woman foamed at the mouth a bit with her gleeful exertion. She didnt even pause the beating while she was talking to him.
"Oh... come on now... my little brat can take a beating better than you! Arent you gonna get up and show me what the men of White-Pines are capable of?"
Still the beating went on, a few more ribs broke... the grown man whimpered.
"Aurils Fangs! You are a soft little puss, arent you?"
And with that the crone brought down the crutch one more time... a massive blow to his neck. With a loud thump and a disgusting gurgle, the shaman of White-Pines died. A massive red stain appeared in the snow from around the mans head.
The woman now glared at the mans apprentice... "Looks like you are the village shaman now. Get this trash out from in front of my home, now!"
But it was a trick... when the younger man bent to pick up the body... the crutch came raining down again. Another blow to another mans neck... but this man died with one stroke while the rest of the village looked on.
The old woman returned her crutches to their place supporting her, and hobbled back into the doorway where Xujja watched, amazed. She looked down at her son and spoke loudly enough for the whole crowd to hear.
"Now my brat... next time the other little boys try to take a fish from you... THATS what I expect you to do. If you cant give them boys a beating like so... there will be a similar beating waiting for you when you get home."
With that she stumped past her son who was, like most of the village, staring in amazement at the two brutalized corpses in front of his rotten old house.
****************************************************************************
The talk had not gone well.
Ingriss was apparently not used to rejection, as her eyes were shimmering a bit with wetness as she came back up to Xujja, leaving Marcus at the riverbank.
"Xujja... come with me. I want to leave here... can we take a walk please?"
Ingriss never said please, she and Xujja were to good of friends for such formality. Xujja couldnt help but feel a bit bad for the pretty girl who was always quick to heal him. He finished his drink and stood up.
"Uh... sure lass, lets go wherever you would like."
Marcus was walking up behind her, Xujja thought maybe he was going to change his mind and give the priestess what she wanted... so he waited to let the city man speak.
"But dont you think if I were working with them... that it could benefit you? If I am there to temper their treatment of you."
How weak.
Thankfully Ingriss would have none of the wizards attempts to convince her further. She simply walked off. Xujja offered a nod of farewell to the others before following along with the priestess of Umberlee.
**************************************************************************
Ingriss of White-Pines stood looking over the collection of graves with her son.
"Two more men who thought they could take whats mine are lying in fresh graves... didnt think your old mother had it in her, did ya brat?"
"No mother... I knew you would win."
She slapped him. "How did you know that? /I/ didnt know I would win."
"You didnt... but?"
"Shut up and listen."
Xujja fell silent while his ancient mother spoke.
"No fight is certain, ever. When you face your foe, you have to let go. Accept what may happen, and do it anyway. Did you notice how long it took that man to raise his spear?"
"Yes."
"Thats because he was sure he had already won the fight. He was so sure of himself... he didnt even pay attention to the fact that I got up close enough to strike his dogs.... if he had kept me further away... those dogs might have lept at me, taken me down. Then the fight would have been over... an the two of us would be in the ground here rather than them."
Xujja nodded.
"But he was sure of the fight. Never be sure, never assume you know, but strike anyway... and always strike with a full blooming of brutality."
Xujja only nodded again.
His mother did a rare thing then, she laughed. "Just think what would have become of those two idiots if I had been using a real weapon..."
***************************************************************************
After their long hike to the city and back to Rivermoot, Xujja expected they would part ways.
"Thank you for the book, it was a very nice gift." Xujja said.
"You are most welcome... thank you for being with me today... I was so upset."
"I know."
"You know Xujja... I am tired of pitching a tent and resting like you savages... why dont we get a room with an actual /bed/ ?"
Xujja had never slept in a bed, he had never felt the need.
"Oh... Im good enough now for you, eh? After your shaman boy gave you that fit?"
"Xujja... dont make me repeat the reasons I tried to give him a chance."
"Relax lass, I am just teasing you. I remember what you said... but what if he changes his mind later, wont you regret rolling in the hay with me then?"
"I would rather enjoy a man with a strong will that has another lover, than be weak myself and lay with someone who chooses them over me."
It did seem a pretty stupid choice to Xujja. Money was easy to make... pretty girls were much much more valuable. Ingriss added more to her statement.
"Besides... Ive seen your lass, she is really sexy. She obviously shares... I assume she likes girls as much as she likes you?"
"Maybe not AS much." Xujja answered with a smirk.
"Good enough, lets go."
Xujja and the pretty girl with the terrible name walked off to the Rivermoot Inn.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks again to everyone reading.
J
Last edited by mr duncan on Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:13 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: The Cold Road
Awesome 
Can't wait to see how it plays out.
Can't wait to see how it plays out.
-
Thorin
- Dire Badger
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:19 pm
- Location: Kennett Square, PA
- Contact:
Re: The Cold Road
Seriously, excellent work. Makes me glad to associate with team evil
Thorin: New DM of TSM. Intrigue/Social Campaigns. Co Founder/DM of Exodus 2005-2009.
Beta NWN1 HDM of TSM, ALFAn since 2000.
Beta NWN1 HDM of TSM, ALFAn since 2000.