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Rogues Paid Gold: Riffraff and Runaways Ch.6
Riffraff and Runaways is the first in (hopefully) a number of book-length stories in what I am calling "Rogues Paid Gold". It is a fantasy story taking place in a world that I have been working to develop for over three years (and I'm still not done yet) I hope you enjoy it and are interested in going through the journey along with the characters.
Things are still in the drafting phase right now. This is by no means the final form of the chapter. Critique is more than welcome.
Other comments such as what worked and what you enjoyed are also a big help to the development of this project.
This is the first time I've done combat in this project. Don't know how successful I was at it. I personally think extended action like this is a weak point in my writing, admittedly. I allocated most of my writing stats into characters. Oh well, I can only improve as time goes on.
Chapter 1 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/47108770/
Chapter 2 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/48752162/
Chapter 3 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/49597363/
Chapter 4 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/52304327/
Chapter 5 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/53094343/
Chapter 6
(Chapter title still being figured out)
Vlakas’s black form glided with nearly indetectable motion against the night sky as he carried his passengers homeward. Cade, adamant about not spending unnecessary Gold, dismissed the idea of employing a tavern’s rooming services even at the late hour. A weary Elysia rested secure in the hold of Syrus who provided the young rodent an opportunity to relinquish her guard to slumber. This opportunity resulted in naught, however, due to the rantings of a recently awakened Amber. Bound to one of Vlakas’s spines, the fox hurled curses while fighting against her bindings as if in the throes of convulsions.
“How much longer?” Elysia rubbed at eyes she had given up on closing.
“Took us from late afternoon to the start of sundown to reach Jahrrko, miss,” Cade called back from the dragon’s head. “Don’t worry your little head. We’ll make it back to camp within a couple hours.”
“Hours? Cade, the girl needs to sleep,” Syrus said. “We should have stayed the night at Jahrrko.”
Cade strode along Vlakas’s neck to meet with the others. The clutches of weariness had begun to creep into his own muscles. True, he was eager to rest away the soreness lingering in his side from where Amber’s blade had struck him, but coin remained a sparse resource that required preservation. Surely the others understood that.
“You can blame this one for keeping us past our planned departure.” Cade pointed an accusatory finger at Amber, who made as if to bite it despite being well out of reach. “We could have left before nightfall had she not kept me with her inane contest.”
“What a lark,” Amber snarled. “Ya didn’t need ta drag me inta yer business. Ya an’ that wolf coulda been mountin’ each other in yer tents or whatever it is ya do by now if ya just let me be, ya spitscorned gash!”
Syrus fixed a stern gaze at Cade. “Why did you want her around, exactly?”
“Aw lookit you, askin’ the smart questions,” Amber shouted.
“Everyone shut up!”
Elysia’s shout stopped the verbal altercation short. The three stood still, each waiting for one of the others to venture a word over the rushing wind serving as the only obstruction to total silence. A dismissive snort from Amber finally broke the awkward stillness.
Cade sighed. “Look, kid. I apologize. Everyone’s tired and not in their right minds because of it.” He placed a hand
on Elysia’s cheek, giving her fur a light squeeze. “A nice bed right now sounds wonderful, but I can’t be spending the Gold I just got on luxuries we can go without. Would you rather be tired now but able to eat later, or rested but starving in a couple days? Understand?”
The young mouse sniffed. “Fine.”
“Of course, things would be a lot better if someone would keep her mouth closed for the moment and let little girls sleep.” Cade cast a nasty eye at the tied-up fox. “Maybe then I could release her?”
Amber turned her head away. “Fine.”
A lurch almost knocked Cade off balance, but he stabilized himself on the spine that housed Amber. An increased rush of air pelted against his fur as Vlakas’s body tipped downward in a rapid descent, plummeting out of the sky like a shiny black meteor.
“What in the many hells?” Cade raced along the dragon’s scales to the head, leaving behind the panicked squeals of Elysia, shrill squawks of Kairi, and increasingly colorful language of Amber.
Upon reaching Vlakas’s head, he gripped the ropes attached to the dragon’s horns, refastening the lifeline to his belt. Summoning all his strength, he yanked the reigns back in hopes of stopping the dragon’s freefall. Vlakas didn’t listen.
“Vlakas! What are you doing? Vlakas!”
Cade peered past the dragon to where the unwelcoming rocky terrain of the Aridescan Outlands rapidly approached.
“Hello, thickhead. I’m talking to you!”
When no sound of recognition came in reply, Cade scrambled over the side of the head, pulling the rope that held him in place taught. Hands clutching the rope, paws against the armored wall of dragonhide, he peered into the mixture of night and wind, studying Vlakas’s features. He cursed Fortune. The dragon’s lids lay sealed shut.
Cade hurried up the rope, the stern face of Syrus meeting him. The Ranger drew himself close to one of Vlakas’s horns with one hand and clutched a terrified Elysia with the other.
“What’s going on?”
“The big moron’s asleep.” Cade stomped against the dragon’s head in desperation but only received a throbbing paw for his efforts.
“What good is extra coin when we’re paste on the ground and can’t use it?” Syrus said.
The weasel wasted no time dwelling on his companion’s criticism. Reaching into his satchel, he pulled out an oblong seed and presented it to his companion. “Think you can aim in the dark?”
Syrus took the dried pod from him with one hand and traded off Elysia with the other. In a fluid motion, he unholstered his longbow while Kairi lent aid by pulling an arrow from the quiver with her beak. She held it in place while Syrus affixed the seed to the arrowhead with twine.
The wolf gave the bird’s head a single stroke. “Thank you, Kairi.”
“If you could do it sometime tonight, that would be ideal.” Cade transferred the tether from around his waist to Syrus’s, a cumbersome task with a trembling Elysia clutching onto him and burying her face into his cloak.
“Glad to know these things are finally useful for more than waking me or ruffling Kairi’s feathers.” Syrus pulled back on the bowstring, concentrating on keeping balance as well as aiming, both feats rendered nearly impossible by the winds blustering around the plummeting dragon.
With eyes focused on his target, the wolf’s mind drifted back to his childhood, the words of his mother echoing in his memory. Focus, Syrus. Block out everything else. Nothing exists except you and your target.
“Quickly, Syrus!” Cade shouted. A glance downward presented the impending crags of the Outlands, the threatening rocks like teeth lying in wait mere seconds away.
One second.
Syrus sent the arrow cutting through the air toward its target.
Two seconds.
The arrow struck true. Colliding against the top of Vlakas’s snout, the seed released an impact of energy with a thunderous crack. As if being slapped in the face, the dragon awoke with a bewildered snort.
Three seconds.
Cade handed Elysia back to Syrus before grabbing the reins and yanking back in a single motion, utilizing every ounce of his weight in hopes the sensation would reach the dragon in haste.
Four seconds.
Vlakas swerved upward as his master commanded, but his immense size performed with lackluster speed. The dragon’s chest struck stone, sending a shockwave through the scales that robbed the passengers of their balance. Paws knocked out from under him, Cade clung to the rope serving as his only lifeline. His weight pulling on the tether, unwittingly guiding Vlakas to veer to the left. Straight into another rock formation.
“Brace for impact!”
The warning came only moments before the earthen structure shattered to pieces against Vlakas’s massive body. The dragon fell again, thudding against the ground and skidding across the dry plains before laying still among the settling debris.
Cade clutched the rope, body stiff and shaking as the rumblings and crashing of disturbed rocked surrounded him. Keeping his eyes shut, he knew only the angry cacophony as he wrapped arms and legs around his only safety like a newborn clinging to its mother. His own tremors stopped only once those of the earth did, and only after the surrounding crumbling stilled did he dare to open his eyes. Allowing his body to relax, he scanned the dragon’s dorsal side for any sign of his companions. A shrill call resounded through the air as Kairi dove and swooped around the falling dragon, crying out continuously until a groan from Syrus granted her a reunion.
The wolf lay with his back against the desert floor. One arm grasped Elysia close, holding her shivering body against his chest. The fractured remains of his bow, linked only by the string, rested in his other hand.
Cade called out to them. “How are you faring? Any grievous damage?”
“Little one’s okay from what I can tell. Just shook up is all.” The wolf struggled to sit up while shattered remnants of arrows rattled around within his beaten quiver. He sighed before calling up to Cade. “My back and hip feel a wreck, but I think I can manage.”
“’Ave ya dullards forgotten someone?”
Amber’s voice snapped Cade to attention. He traversed the dragon’s back to where the fox thrashed about, snarling and cursing at Cade while he fought against her frenzy to undo her bindings.
“Yer gonna wish that imbecile’s fall had killed me.”
Apart from Kairi, each of the travelers sported at least some degree of bump, bruise, or soreness, though fortunately, no lasting damage lay sustained. Even Vlakas, who now enjoyed a significantly smaller size, scampered around the area as if the tremendous ordeal never occurred. Fortune could not, however, fend off the surrounding four pairs of disapproving eyes that glowered at Cade in the dark.
“Fine,” he said. “Maybe we should have stayed the night in Jahrrko, but there’s nothing to do about it now. Are you lot going to stare at me all night, or are we going to head back to camp?”
Elysia crossed her arms, turning away from Cade. “If you think I’m getting on that dragon again, you’re as dumb as he is.”
“Well, we can’t just sleep out in the Outlands without shelter. Do you know how cold it can get at night? Not to mention bandits, predators, and…”
Elysia stamped her paw. “I want to stay on the ground.”
Amber snorted. “Well, ain’t this a fine scat-stained bed ya found yerself in, weasel.”
Syrus took a turn to weigh in. “Elysia, Cade’s right. The Outland barrens is no place for a girl to spend the night.”
“Well, that’s why I have you, isn’t it?” The mouse raised her arms, turning in a circle while continuing to huff around. “Though, maybe I’m safer on my own.” Elysia marched away from the group only to be halted by Syrus’s grip on her arm. She squirmed, pulled and grunted in his grasp, but relented once it was clear she struggled in vain.
Syrus shifted his attention to the dark, barren landscape, scanning the desert for signs of threat or salvation. His brow furrowed. Off in the distance, a small light glowed in opposition against the surrounding darkness.
“Hey, Cade. Do you see that?”
The weasel peered out into the night. “Excellent eye as always, mate, ha ha!” He punctuated his satisfaction with a hearty slap to the wolf’s back.
Amber leaned on her sword, chewing on a claw. “What’s got ya so happy?”
Ignoring her, Syrus held out an arm for Kairi to perch on. “I need you to fly to that fire. Circle around it as much as you need to get a read of the area. Then come back and tell me what you saw. We’ll be heading there as an arrow travels.”
Kairi clacked her beak and nodded before lifting herself from her perch, beating her wings so that she remained airborne without altering her altitude. The bird gave Syrus a rattling coo that sounded tinged with sorrow before darting away in the direction of the distant light.
Cade and the others made their departure for the same destination soon after. They started their journey atop Vlakas who crawled across the desert, serving as a beast of burden. This took some coaxing on Elysia’s part, but after being shown the method of travel, she acquiesced and joined Syrus atop the dragon. Their easy traversal quickly came to an end when sleep deprivation once again rendered the reptile a sluggish and drowsy liability. The job of carrying Elysia, who had dozed off while atop the dragon, then fell on Syrus who transported his charge on his back, taking care not to wake the girl. Amber followed behind the wolf with Cade trailing along in the rear. The weasel didn’t expect her to carry through with any of her threats of violence against him, but having his back to her vicious temper was something he wished to risk. Vlakas, freed from his role of mount, lay snuggled up getting warm in the hood of Cade’s cloak that he knew so well.
A prolonged shriek heralded Kairi’s return. She circled overhead in the distance, sending out the cry into the darkness until Syrus mimicked the signal. Coming to roost on the wolf’s outstretched arm, she produced a series of rapid clucks and chirps to which the Ranger granted his full attention.
“She says the light is coming from torches in a small settlement. It appears to be a ranch judging from the beasts she saw corralled in pens for the night. She didn’t see anyone about, so no guards mean less threat of conflict. Hopefully, the residents are willing to spare a place of any sort for the night.”
As they trekked on, the full grip of the Aridescan night snuck upon the group. The cool breezes of the evening gave way to a merciless chill that surrounded them and sunk into bristled fur. Steps grew heavy. Limbs fought against being lifted. Eyes threatened to close. Only the approaching torch light spurred the group onward.
Upon reaching their destination, a multi-leveled structure of brick and mortar presented itself to the travelers. It stood strong - albeit moderately aged - betwixt two large enclosures that housed a multitude of sturdily-built beasts. The quadrupedal mammals sported tough, dark hides, naked except for a blanket of fur that grew atop their backs and extended to the shoulders. Atop the animals’ bovine features rested a large, broad, flat crest of covered bone that extended upwards like a shield. Packed in their pens with little spare room to be had, the animals slept tightly against one another, their crests locked together in a crude phalanx formation.
Despite their cramped accommodations, the beasts slumbered in peace even as Cade rapped against the wooden door with the iron knocker.
No response.
He tried again before impatience prompted a third, harder knock soon after. While he prepared yet another attempt, the door swung open, ripping the metal from his grasp as a voice shouted out from the dimness of the unlit doorway.
“We don’t want you here, sycophants of Kajo. Leave or you’ll wish you had, you will.”
A knife pointed at the weasel backed the stranger’s threat.
Things are still in the drafting phase right now. This is by no means the final form of the chapter. Critique is more than welcome.
Other comments such as what worked and what you enjoyed are also a big help to the development of this project.
This is the first time I've done combat in this project. Don't know how successful I was at it. I personally think extended action like this is a weak point in my writing, admittedly. I allocated most of my writing stats into characters. Oh well, I can only improve as time goes on.
Chapter 1 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/47108770/
Chapter 2 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/48752162/
Chapter 3 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/49597363/
Chapter 4 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/52304327/
Chapter 5 can be found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/53094343/
Chapter 6
(Chapter title still being figured out)
Vlakas’s black form glided with nearly indetectable motion against the night sky as he carried his passengers homeward. Cade, adamant about not spending unnecessary Gold, dismissed the idea of employing a tavern’s rooming services even at the late hour. A weary Elysia rested secure in the hold of Syrus who provided the young rodent an opportunity to relinquish her guard to slumber. This opportunity resulted in naught, however, due to the rantings of a recently awakened Amber. Bound to one of Vlakas’s spines, the fox hurled curses while fighting against her bindings as if in the throes of convulsions.
“How much longer?” Elysia rubbed at eyes she had given up on closing.
“Took us from late afternoon to the start of sundown to reach Jahrrko, miss,” Cade called back from the dragon’s head. “Don’t worry your little head. We’ll make it back to camp within a couple hours.”
“Hours? Cade, the girl needs to sleep,” Syrus said. “We should have stayed the night at Jahrrko.”
Cade strode along Vlakas’s neck to meet with the others. The clutches of weariness had begun to creep into his own muscles. True, he was eager to rest away the soreness lingering in his side from where Amber’s blade had struck him, but coin remained a sparse resource that required preservation. Surely the others understood that.
“You can blame this one for keeping us past our planned departure.” Cade pointed an accusatory finger at Amber, who made as if to bite it despite being well out of reach. “We could have left before nightfall had she not kept me with her inane contest.”
“What a lark,” Amber snarled. “Ya didn’t need ta drag me inta yer business. Ya an’ that wolf coulda been mountin’ each other in yer tents or whatever it is ya do by now if ya just let me be, ya spitscorned gash!”
Syrus fixed a stern gaze at Cade. “Why did you want her around, exactly?”
“Aw lookit you, askin’ the smart questions,” Amber shouted.
“Everyone shut up!”
Elysia’s shout stopped the verbal altercation short. The three stood still, each waiting for one of the others to venture a word over the rushing wind serving as the only obstruction to total silence. A dismissive snort from Amber finally broke the awkward stillness.
Cade sighed. “Look, kid. I apologize. Everyone’s tired and not in their right minds because of it.” He placed a hand
on Elysia’s cheek, giving her fur a light squeeze. “A nice bed right now sounds wonderful, but I can’t be spending the Gold I just got on luxuries we can go without. Would you rather be tired now but able to eat later, or rested but starving in a couple days? Understand?”
The young mouse sniffed. “Fine.”
“Of course, things would be a lot better if someone would keep her mouth closed for the moment and let little girls sleep.” Cade cast a nasty eye at the tied-up fox. “Maybe then I could release her?”
Amber turned her head away. “Fine.”
A lurch almost knocked Cade off balance, but he stabilized himself on the spine that housed Amber. An increased rush of air pelted against his fur as Vlakas’s body tipped downward in a rapid descent, plummeting out of the sky like a shiny black meteor.
“What in the many hells?” Cade raced along the dragon’s scales to the head, leaving behind the panicked squeals of Elysia, shrill squawks of Kairi, and increasingly colorful language of Amber.
Upon reaching Vlakas’s head, he gripped the ropes attached to the dragon’s horns, refastening the lifeline to his belt. Summoning all his strength, he yanked the reigns back in hopes of stopping the dragon’s freefall. Vlakas didn’t listen.
“Vlakas! What are you doing? Vlakas!”
Cade peered past the dragon to where the unwelcoming rocky terrain of the Aridescan Outlands rapidly approached.
“Hello, thickhead. I’m talking to you!”
When no sound of recognition came in reply, Cade scrambled over the side of the head, pulling the rope that held him in place taught. Hands clutching the rope, paws against the armored wall of dragonhide, he peered into the mixture of night and wind, studying Vlakas’s features. He cursed Fortune. The dragon’s lids lay sealed shut.
Cade hurried up the rope, the stern face of Syrus meeting him. The Ranger drew himself close to one of Vlakas’s horns with one hand and clutched a terrified Elysia with the other.
“What’s going on?”
“The big moron’s asleep.” Cade stomped against the dragon’s head in desperation but only received a throbbing paw for his efforts.
“What good is extra coin when we’re paste on the ground and can’t use it?” Syrus said.
The weasel wasted no time dwelling on his companion’s criticism. Reaching into his satchel, he pulled out an oblong seed and presented it to his companion. “Think you can aim in the dark?”
Syrus took the dried pod from him with one hand and traded off Elysia with the other. In a fluid motion, he unholstered his longbow while Kairi lent aid by pulling an arrow from the quiver with her beak. She held it in place while Syrus affixed the seed to the arrowhead with twine.
The wolf gave the bird’s head a single stroke. “Thank you, Kairi.”
“If you could do it sometime tonight, that would be ideal.” Cade transferred the tether from around his waist to Syrus’s, a cumbersome task with a trembling Elysia clutching onto him and burying her face into his cloak.
“Glad to know these things are finally useful for more than waking me or ruffling Kairi’s feathers.” Syrus pulled back on the bowstring, concentrating on keeping balance as well as aiming, both feats rendered nearly impossible by the winds blustering around the plummeting dragon.
With eyes focused on his target, the wolf’s mind drifted back to his childhood, the words of his mother echoing in his memory. Focus, Syrus. Block out everything else. Nothing exists except you and your target.
“Quickly, Syrus!” Cade shouted. A glance downward presented the impending crags of the Outlands, the threatening rocks like teeth lying in wait mere seconds away.
One second.
Syrus sent the arrow cutting through the air toward its target.
Two seconds.
The arrow struck true. Colliding against the top of Vlakas’s snout, the seed released an impact of energy with a thunderous crack. As if being slapped in the face, the dragon awoke with a bewildered snort.
Three seconds.
Cade handed Elysia back to Syrus before grabbing the reins and yanking back in a single motion, utilizing every ounce of his weight in hopes the sensation would reach the dragon in haste.
Four seconds.
Vlakas swerved upward as his master commanded, but his immense size performed with lackluster speed. The dragon’s chest struck stone, sending a shockwave through the scales that robbed the passengers of their balance. Paws knocked out from under him, Cade clung to the rope serving as his only lifeline. His weight pulling on the tether, unwittingly guiding Vlakas to veer to the left. Straight into another rock formation.
“Brace for impact!”
The warning came only moments before the earthen structure shattered to pieces against Vlakas’s massive body. The dragon fell again, thudding against the ground and skidding across the dry plains before laying still among the settling debris.
Cade clutched the rope, body stiff and shaking as the rumblings and crashing of disturbed rocked surrounded him. Keeping his eyes shut, he knew only the angry cacophony as he wrapped arms and legs around his only safety like a newborn clinging to its mother. His own tremors stopped only once those of the earth did, and only after the surrounding crumbling stilled did he dare to open his eyes. Allowing his body to relax, he scanned the dragon’s dorsal side for any sign of his companions. A shrill call resounded through the air as Kairi dove and swooped around the falling dragon, crying out continuously until a groan from Syrus granted her a reunion.
The wolf lay with his back against the desert floor. One arm grasped Elysia close, holding her shivering body against his chest. The fractured remains of his bow, linked only by the string, rested in his other hand.
Cade called out to them. “How are you faring? Any grievous damage?”
“Little one’s okay from what I can tell. Just shook up is all.” The wolf struggled to sit up while shattered remnants of arrows rattled around within his beaten quiver. He sighed before calling up to Cade. “My back and hip feel a wreck, but I think I can manage.”
“’Ave ya dullards forgotten someone?”
Amber’s voice snapped Cade to attention. He traversed the dragon’s back to where the fox thrashed about, snarling and cursing at Cade while he fought against her frenzy to undo her bindings.
“Yer gonna wish that imbecile’s fall had killed me.”
Apart from Kairi, each of the travelers sported at least some degree of bump, bruise, or soreness, though fortunately, no lasting damage lay sustained. Even Vlakas, who now enjoyed a significantly smaller size, scampered around the area as if the tremendous ordeal never occurred. Fortune could not, however, fend off the surrounding four pairs of disapproving eyes that glowered at Cade in the dark.
“Fine,” he said. “Maybe we should have stayed the night in Jahrrko, but there’s nothing to do about it now. Are you lot going to stare at me all night, or are we going to head back to camp?”
Elysia crossed her arms, turning away from Cade. “If you think I’m getting on that dragon again, you’re as dumb as he is.”
“Well, we can’t just sleep out in the Outlands without shelter. Do you know how cold it can get at night? Not to mention bandits, predators, and…”
Elysia stamped her paw. “I want to stay on the ground.”
Amber snorted. “Well, ain’t this a fine scat-stained bed ya found yerself in, weasel.”
Syrus took a turn to weigh in. “Elysia, Cade’s right. The Outland barrens is no place for a girl to spend the night.”
“Well, that’s why I have you, isn’t it?” The mouse raised her arms, turning in a circle while continuing to huff around. “Though, maybe I’m safer on my own.” Elysia marched away from the group only to be halted by Syrus’s grip on her arm. She squirmed, pulled and grunted in his grasp, but relented once it was clear she struggled in vain.
Syrus shifted his attention to the dark, barren landscape, scanning the desert for signs of threat or salvation. His brow furrowed. Off in the distance, a small light glowed in opposition against the surrounding darkness.
“Hey, Cade. Do you see that?”
The weasel peered out into the night. “Excellent eye as always, mate, ha ha!” He punctuated his satisfaction with a hearty slap to the wolf’s back.
Amber leaned on her sword, chewing on a claw. “What’s got ya so happy?”
Ignoring her, Syrus held out an arm for Kairi to perch on. “I need you to fly to that fire. Circle around it as much as you need to get a read of the area. Then come back and tell me what you saw. We’ll be heading there as an arrow travels.”
Kairi clacked her beak and nodded before lifting herself from her perch, beating her wings so that she remained airborne without altering her altitude. The bird gave Syrus a rattling coo that sounded tinged with sorrow before darting away in the direction of the distant light.
Cade and the others made their departure for the same destination soon after. They started their journey atop Vlakas who crawled across the desert, serving as a beast of burden. This took some coaxing on Elysia’s part, but after being shown the method of travel, she acquiesced and joined Syrus atop the dragon. Their easy traversal quickly came to an end when sleep deprivation once again rendered the reptile a sluggish and drowsy liability. The job of carrying Elysia, who had dozed off while atop the dragon, then fell on Syrus who transported his charge on his back, taking care not to wake the girl. Amber followed behind the wolf with Cade trailing along in the rear. The weasel didn’t expect her to carry through with any of her threats of violence against him, but having his back to her vicious temper was something he wished to risk. Vlakas, freed from his role of mount, lay snuggled up getting warm in the hood of Cade’s cloak that he knew so well.
A prolonged shriek heralded Kairi’s return. She circled overhead in the distance, sending out the cry into the darkness until Syrus mimicked the signal. Coming to roost on the wolf’s outstretched arm, she produced a series of rapid clucks and chirps to which the Ranger granted his full attention.
“She says the light is coming from torches in a small settlement. It appears to be a ranch judging from the beasts she saw corralled in pens for the night. She didn’t see anyone about, so no guards mean less threat of conflict. Hopefully, the residents are willing to spare a place of any sort for the night.”
As they trekked on, the full grip of the Aridescan night snuck upon the group. The cool breezes of the evening gave way to a merciless chill that surrounded them and sunk into bristled fur. Steps grew heavy. Limbs fought against being lifted. Eyes threatened to close. Only the approaching torch light spurred the group onward.
Upon reaching their destination, a multi-leveled structure of brick and mortar presented itself to the travelers. It stood strong - albeit moderately aged - betwixt two large enclosures that housed a multitude of sturdily-built beasts. The quadrupedal mammals sported tough, dark hides, naked except for a blanket of fur that grew atop their backs and extended to the shoulders. Atop the animals’ bovine features rested a large, broad, flat crest of covered bone that extended upwards like a shield. Packed in their pens with little spare room to be had, the animals slept tightly against one another, their crests locked together in a crude phalanx formation.
Despite their cramped accommodations, the beasts slumbered in peace even as Cade rapped against the wooden door with the iron knocker.
No response.
He tried again before impatience prompted a third, harder knock soon after. While he prepared yet another attempt, the door swung open, ripping the metal from his grasp as a voice shouted out from the dimness of the unlit doorway.
“We don’t want you here, sycophants of Kajo. Leave or you’ll wish you had, you will.”
A knife pointed at the weasel backed the stranger’s threat.
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
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File Size 20.6 kB
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