by JoshuaDurron » Wed Oct 09, 2002 10:40 am
Baron
The guard captian stood looking out from the fortifications of Gungnir. It was a quiet night. In fact, most of the late night shifts were quiet. He liked it like that.
Several of his men were clustered together a few feet behind him, playing some dice game. He really didn't care. There had been little trouble there of late, and the day had been rough, seeing both an inspection from Castle Baron, and a surprise attack drill. The captian thought it best to let the men relax.
He took a few moments to gaze up at the stars, wondering at their beauty. It was at that moment that he noticed it. A star falling from the sky. He smiled.
One of the men behind him took note, and stood for a better veiw. "Look, mates," the man declared, "tis a shooting star! A child born tonight is under a lucky omen indeed."
For a few moments, the guards watched the star in silence. Then most of them went back to their game. The captian continued to watch in silence. It was unusual for shooting stars to last so long...
Two minutes after he first spotted the star, it was apparent to the captian that the falling star would strike ground. An unusual occurence. Very unusual. It bothered him. Was there some mage up to mischif out there?
The falling star struck a minute later, between the fort and the Isalia ruins. The captian quickly called his men together. Five minutes later, they made a sally out from the fort in the direction of the fallen star.
It was almost morning when they reached it. The captian was tired, and he was sure his men were as well. But when they finally reached the crater, what they found brought them fully awake.
It was the darkest moment before dawn. And from the still-smouldering crater arose a vision from nightmares. We've all seen them, at least once in our lives. Shadowed figures, and glowing eyes. Eyes that stare at us with a gaze that turns out blood to stone. And from the darkness come reaching, grasping, rending, tearing things. Things that grab us and tear our dreams away, that rip our thoughts from our head and leave nothing but fear, things that take all we hold dear and leave terror in their wake.
Such was the thing that the Gungnir guards faced that night. And as the captian lay on the ground, his life bleeding out with the rest of his men, he couldn't help thinking that any child born that night was born under an ill omen indeed.
The creature looked about at it's opponets. They weren't even worth mentioning when it came to fighting skill. He picked up one of their cloaks and threw it over his back, this with some difficulty. He now appeared to be some sort of hunch-back, except he stood far, far to tall. The figure then shuffled off into the countryside.
Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/ujoshuadurron.showPublicProfile?language=EN>JoshuaDurron</A] at: 10/9/02 2:56:27 pm