Custom Search
Alphabetical Indexes: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z - 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9
Horror Fiction Science Fiction Fantasy Fiction Dramatic Fiction Historic Fiction Noir Fiction Short Story Collections Poetry Collections
Fantasy Fiction
Chronicles of War I: The Warfarer's Exodus
Before the Wall
Chapter 1 Page 22
Chronicles of War I: The Warfarer's Exodus
Before the Wall
Chapter 1 Page 22
"A mighty fight ensued, which I cannot describe because its description escaped even Kirby's telling. All he could say was that the battle was a blur of tangled limbs, gnashing mouth parts and his own flashing axe blade. Uril's son managed to somehow fight his way free, hewing away many claw-tipped arms during his retreat, only to be at the last bitten in the meaty portion of his shoulder. Away he stumbled, near delirious, to find his fumbling way back to Farther Heights, indeed back here, to the Roaring Lion. There I saw him for the last time, and he told me this tale, just as I have related to you now. The next day, we followed back along his trail to find the lair while the sun was yet shining. Every evidence of the struggle bore out Kirby's words to the letter, of that I can attest, and many severed spider's legs were found lying on the ground. They were five sticks long and as thick as small trees, each tipped with a savage claw that oozed a vile, sticky substance. We buried Kirby's ghastly trophies with the lair and set heavy stones all around the opening to prevent another such creature from burrowing its way through there." Deldric sipped at his horn morosely. "We were forced to burn Kirby's body, as this is the law with anyone killed by beasts of the Otherside. Sometimes plagues ensue from these incidences, you see.
"As was the case with Murgold Ronwyn's daughter. She used to weave with her mother down by the square, and right pretty she was, too. Many a young man in this outpost town had his eye on one of Ronwyn's daughters or another. There were five in all, but Murgold was the fairest.
"She was a bit queer though, on akin to Kirby's queerness, in that she had such a fetish for mushrooms that nothing and no one would could dissuade her from picking them. I once with my own eyes saw her climb four sticks or more up the Barricade, itself, just to get her pink little hands on a parcel of 'shrooms growing out of a split in the stones. And this from a tiny little girl still frightened of the dark. On the day after her fourteenth birthday, and the year before she was to wed a cousin of mine named Eldon, Murgold went off in search of her favorite treat. Rumor has it that she was angry with her mother that day, all because the old woman had not prepared a traditional birthday dish of 'shrooms and greens for her. So she set off on a mushroom hunt alone, shirking her chores.
"It wasn't long before she found herself at the Wall, eyeing a giant peach of a mushroom that had sprouted just at its base. This she plucked and ate raw on the spot, stem and all.
"That night, she awoke in a terrible fever, only to find red spots had blossomed all over her body. The spots were like a rash, but they bled from the skin, a dark, viscous blood unlike any flow I had ever seen before. By dawn, she was bleeding from her eyes, ears, nose and gums. By next evening, she was dead.
"As was the case with Murgold Ronwyn's daughter. She used to weave with her mother down by the square, and right pretty she was, too. Many a young man in this outpost town had his eye on one of Ronwyn's daughters or another. There were five in all, but Murgold was the fairest.
"She was a bit queer though, on akin to Kirby's queerness, in that she had such a fetish for mushrooms that nothing and no one would could dissuade her from picking them. I once with my own eyes saw her climb four sticks or more up the Barricade, itself, just to get her pink little hands on a parcel of 'shrooms growing out of a split in the stones. And this from a tiny little girl still frightened of the dark. On the day after her fourteenth birthday, and the year before she was to wed a cousin of mine named Eldon, Murgold went off in search of her favorite treat. Rumor has it that she was angry with her mother that day, all because the old woman had not prepared a traditional birthday dish of 'shrooms and greens for her. So she set off on a mushroom hunt alone, shirking her chores.
"It wasn't long before she found herself at the Wall, eyeing a giant peach of a mushroom that had sprouted just at its base. This she plucked and ate raw on the spot, stem and all.
"That night, she awoke in a terrible fever, only to find red spots had blossomed all over her body. The spots were like a rash, but they bled from the skin, a dark, viscous blood unlike any flow I had ever seen before. By dawn, she was bleeding from her eyes, ears, nose and gums. By next evening, she was dead.
FreeSoftwareApps.com - Goooggle.com - Publish-ME.com - SafeFreeDownloads.com - SafeFreeSoftware.com - SafeFreeSoftwareDownload.com