Rashemen - Book 3

Remove all ads!

Nakia carefully rolled up the scroll, wrapped it in a bit of silk and then in some leather. Then she placed it in a pouch and that pouch within her bag-of-holding.

She walked to the window and looked out into the night. Selune cast her light across the land causing some of the buildings to shine with silver and deep shadows that seemed to move as the Moon Goddess crossed the sky.

Nakia stood at the window for a long time. She was her parents' daughter and had learned much of her peoples history as well as how to survive in a world dominated by tall folk. Halfling the word coined by the humans was not what they called themselves. But there was much that humans did not know of Yondalla's children.

"Mother, keep our people safe, both your children and those I travel with."

She then turned from the window and prepared for bed. Her sleep was full of dreams. Again she saw Sepp. He seemed to beckon to her but she could not hear what he said.

 

Atten raced through the tree-tops. He had now worked up exactly how a squirrel used its bushy tail as a form of balance and he hardly ever got it caught in the branches any more.

Following the hunters in squirrel form was much easier and faster than trying to be stealthy as a human on the ground. The only problem was that it would be tricky if he had to suddenly cast a spell. For the time being he was content to follow the hunters, so long as they did not go near the deers with their new-born young. This was a particularly vulnerable time for them.

Luckily (for the deer, and possibly for the hunters as well), the men seemed to be heading in a different direction. In fact, they did not seem to be that interested in hunting at all. They seemed to be travelling with some urgency, maybe even driven by fear.

The hunters, followed by the squirrel-Atten, approached the edge of the forest. As the trees thinned, it became more difficult for Atten to continue to follow. He watched from a high branch as the group left the woods. They seemed to be heading in the direction of a nearby human settlement. They seemed to be very keen to get there before dark.

“Multpan . . . . am I curious enough to want to follow them there?”

[ July 12, 2006, 04:14: Message edited by: Harbourboy ]

 

"OK then, I haven't been out of this forest for a while and there is something about the way those guys are moving that makes me think there is something worth following up here. But I don't think I want to be running across open fields as a squirrel."

Atten scampered to the base of the last tree. His squirrel image blurred and he made the change back to his human form. He had spent much time on his shapechanging skills over the last few months, but the squirrel was still the form that he found easiest. The main thing he was glad of was that all his clothes and gear came back when he reverted. It would have been an almighty hassle to have to go back and get his clothes again every time he changed.

 

Her restless dreams woke Nakia. It was dark outside but that was fine with her. The dream of Sepp bothered her. Was it only a dream or did it mean more? She needed to talk to someone. She dressed and headed down stairs hoping one of the group might be there.

As she entered the common room she saw Maron sitting near the fire. Near her were four men who had make-shift bandages and torn clothing. From their attire and accoutrements she figured they were hunters.

As she passed them she heard them talking excitedly.

"They's coming here. I tell's ya they's coming here. Big ugly things. Killed Rolf and Sam. We told the town guard. Never saw nothing like them before. Heard one say, 'kill em. don't let em warn Multpan.' They's coming."

They gulped their drinks and called for more, shivering and shaking.

Greeting Maron she sat. "I wonder what that is about. Did we land in the fire or the frying pan?"

 

Maron opened an eye and looked at Nakia. SHe opened the other and pulled herself upright.

"Hmm, I wonder. Do you think we should see what's going on?"

Answering her own question through her actions, she approached the wounded hunters and pulled up a chair.

"Good evening gentlemen. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, and wondered if my friend and I could help you."

She indicated Nakia, before continuing, "I am Maron, a priestess of Sune, and can offer you healing if you so require. As for the subject of your conversation, well, our group could aid you there also."

She smiled as she finished, and waited for a response.

 

Ciana moved out of the shadows where she'd been sitting and thinking after she had finished playing; she stood next to Nakia awaiting the answer.

 

Atten padded softly along the trail left by the hunters. He quietly approached the village of Multpan and remembered how much he disliked the place. But he did get a strange feeling about the life energy coming from the settlement. Something . . familiar.

 

The men stared speechlessly at the beautiful, charismatic, winged creature sitting with them. Finally one gurgled out; "Avariel, begorey, a real live avariel. Beautiful."

Another one shook himself and responded to her question. "Aye, we could use some healing. Jake here got a bad head wound. He's the worse hurt. We ran across a bunch of monsters headed this way. Two of us got killed. Just luck the rest of us got away. They'll be here soon. Don't know how many. I got the feeling the ones we met were scouts for a bigger group."

Another piped up, "Never seen nothing like them before. Big like ogres but twisted. Strange looking." He fell silent just staring at Maron.

Nakia stood quietly behind Maron listening. Then she spoke, "What direction? Can you tell us where you saw them? I think a little scouting is in order. It's dark a perfect time for a little rogue to go out."

The men kind of jumped in their seats. "Hey, a halfling." Then he saw Ciana. He just stared open mouth. "Urrgh, from the Nine Hells to Heaven." Someone murmured.

 

"Oh, root-rot! Not this lot again..."

Atten knew before he opened the door who he was going to find inside. Nakia, Maron, and Ciana's life signatures were too familiar form him not to notice their influence on the energy around the tavern.

"Hmm, but no sign of Sepp, or Jex. I wonder what happened to them."

With a sigh, Atten pushed open the door. He did not have to wait for his eyes to adjust to the light to direct an answer to the halfling in the corner.

"I can tell you what direction they're coming from. And you're as foolish as ever to even consider 'scouting' in those woods after dark without the help of someone who knows the place."

 

"Atten! Whooee! It's good to see your charming, friendly face again. And hey ya, the dark's my thing."

Nakia runs over and hugs him as best she can. He just looks at her with that patient 'what idiots I have to put up with' look he does so well.

"I know you don't like it inside but come have some honey mead or whatever you want and tell us what's going on. Lot's have happened to us."

She tugs on him to get him over to the table.

 

Atten rolls his eyes and follows the halfing, but with his eyes more on the frightened hunters.

"If you insist....."

Atten accepted the honey mead, but only because he knew the bees who had produced the honey, and was aware that the local bee harvester was one of the rare townsfolk who actually had some sense of respect for those temperamental but valuable creatures.

"If we want to know what's going on, we'd better ask these chaps. They're the ones I followed here. They're hunters but, see, they're not carrying any carcasses. Either it's been a bad hunt or they dropped anything heavy in order to move faster. Hmm, that guy doesn't look in a good way."

Atten put down his mug and strode over to the one named Jake. He examined the head wound. It was festering badly.

"How long since he was hit?"

Another hunter replied, "Only this morning."

Atten shook his head. "That's impossible. This wound has days worth of infection. No way could it have got this bad so quickly. What exactly did you say hit him?"

 

Ciana smiled and tried not to laugh at Atten's attitude, she'd never actually met him before, as he'd split from the party when she joined them; but the tales she'd heard from Nakia and Maron seemed to be so true. A wise, patient man who just preferred nature to people.

 

The hunter shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know exactly what hit him. Just that those brutes were big - and smelly."

Atten could not hide the look of concern on his face.

"Now please think hard. There are only a handful of things that I know of that can cause a wound like this. Did the creatures that attacked you look . . how do I say this . . alive?"

 

The hunter stared at Atten a moment then replied.

"Alive? They weren't skeletons or mummies. Oh, I seen some green slimy stuff on em and when we did hit em they didn't bleed red blood. Just oozed some sort of greenish yellows stuff. Stunk like the grave too."

 

Maron rose and took a close look at the injured man's head. She nodded her agreement with Atten. After the man agreed she laid her hands on his head. There was a soft glow and the wound cleared and then slowly healed.

"Hey thanks. That feels good." Jake picked up his mug and took a good swig looking much better.

Nakia spoke up, "These creatures sound like ghouls or ghasts. Means some one is manipulating them. A mage, probably a necromancer, I bet. But why? Not common to attack a town."

One of the men spoke up, "Hey could be Hargon. Remember him?" The others nod. "yea, kicked out by the priests and clerics a while back for dabbling in necromancy. Wasn't very good at it. Wasn't good at magic. Most folks thought he was a joke."

One of the others remarked, "I heard from a merchant passing through that some guy called Hargon had got him a reputation for necromancy. Think it was north of here somewhere."

They stare rather bewildered at each other.

 

"They sound too big to be ghouls or ghasts. Unless these boys are exaggerating. In any case, it sounds like trouble is coming. Little though I care about this village, I'd still like to see whether this is a threat that needs to be dealt with."

 

"Ogre ghouls? Whatever I agree we check, Atten. You know the woods so why don't you and me go take a look."

Nakia grabs her stuff and heads to the door looking back to make sure Atten is following.

 

Ciana looked at Maron as the other two left.

"The brithers and Kongol are upstairs asleep for the moment, let's leave them there. Elendie and Del are outside somewbere, we'll see if we can find a priest to tell us about this Hargon person"

Maron nodded and the two left the Inn.

 

Atten followed Nakia outside.

“I don’t think we really have time to go on a research field trip to find out about this Hargon clown. I reckon we’d better go and see if those things are still headed this way, and whether they are causing any problems in the forest. There are baby deer in the groves at the moment. I won’t see them harmed!”

 

Nakia smiles and nods at Atten.

"Lead on, Defender of the Wild, tis true I don't know this forest. Now what is the size of ogres but looks walking dead and smells walking dead?"

Nakia trots along with Atten as he moves silently into the forest.