A Kingdom of Ashes (Zombies! Pirates! Giant Lizards! Intrigue!) UPDATED 07/01/05!!

[Laurel]

Oh great Muse please hit him over the head..... There is only so much actual work I can handle!

Update!

 

[The_Universe]

Another long update proceeds at a decent pace. Maybe something by the end of the week?

I do have a general question for you posters, and any of you lurkers out there...would you prefer more frequent (much) shorter updates, or the longer updates I've been providing, spaced in time about like they are now?

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Another long update proceeds at a decent pace. Maybe something by the end of the week?

I do have a general question for you posters, and any of you lurkers out there...would you prefer more frequent (much) shorter updates, or the longer updates I've been providing, spaced in time about like they are now?

I think that shorter updates draw more readers-- especially at first. But, I could be completely wrong.

 

[Angcuru]

While I prefer to write my story hour in long, weekly updates, I like to read them either way. But I hate when a SH I'm reading doesn't get an update in a long time and drops off the radar. So shoot for bi-weekly maybe. Heck, I DON'T KNOW!!! >_<

Just do what feels best to you. But do it sooooon.

 

[The_Universe]

Edriss Kiva​

It was all going according to plan. Edriss couldn’t help but smile through the darkness as he fired his crossbow, unaiming, into the crowd of the dead that surrounded him. The key was simply to look like he was trying. The darkness helped, and what aid the shadow couldn’t lend him was made up by the fact that everyone had other concerns at the moment. Zombies, it seemed, made an excellent distraction. Mistress Blackadder would be pleased.

Beside him, Arfin’s arms swung back and forth mechanically as he pulled his heavy axeblade through body after body, hacking through the approaching horde like so much fleshy lumber. The dwarf’s grim expression was almost too much to bear. He had to try, in order to keep from laughing. It seemed that the dwarven mercenary had been totally taken in by the ruse.

It was perfect. Darkson would be pleased. As long as Darkson was pleased, his master was pleased. As long as Darkson’s master was pleased, Edriss would be rewarded. He risked a smile at Selura. She smiled, raising a jeweled dagger to her forehead in a mock salute. She kept her eyes on the swordswoman – Edriss had already guessed she was a paladin – but the salute was clearly meant for him. She mouthed the words, “Thank you” to the paladin even as she risked a direct look at Edriss.

For a moment, her blade and eyes flashed orange in the darkness, turned to catch what at first appeared to be the dying light of Aon. The sun had set hours ago. This was something different. The ship, as Darkson had promised. Edriss smiled, and the shadows deepened around him.

The burning vessel soon came into view, parting a cloud of mist and smoke as it barreled toward the unprotected Thanesport docks. Risking a look into the harbor even as he loosed another bolt over the dwarf’s head, he was able to make out the letters painted onto the vessel’s enflamed hull. HMS Skyracer.

Before he could say as much, the flaming ship managed to capture the attention of the rest of his desperately huddled circle. To his left, someone cursed. He hid another smile. Fear always seemed to darken the night, and if there was one thing that Edriss Kiva liked (and indeed, there may have been only one thing), it was darkness.

Selura spoke, echoing the sentiment he would have felt, had he not known all that was happening in Thanesport this night. “That ship will burn down the docks, and everything near it! We have to get out of here, now!”

He nodded his approval of her words. They would flee, deeper into the city, carrying tales of the pirates, the walking dead and—of course—the Bluestar. As Thanesport burned, its citizens would flee, carrying the tale further. He was nearly feverish with anticipation, already able to taste the dread on the air around him. Thanesport would be the first, but not the last.

He turned to run then, slamming another bolt down into its home atop his crossbow. As he jerked the string back that would allow him to fire the bolt, he grasped at the dwarf’s shoulder, ready to pull him away from what would shortly be nothing but smoldering ash. He had no love for the foolish drunk, but he knew that there had to be someone to tell the story of how it had happened. Arfin was as good a choice as any.

“Let’s go!” Edriss cried, tugging on the Dwarf’s tunic. “That ship’s not going to slow down!”

He took a few steps, ready to weave between the shambling corpses that even now pressed toward them. He smiled wryly. The dead made excellent, if unsubtle, servants.

He got only a few feet before another voice stopped him dead in his tracks. Sliding to a halt on the blood-spattered cobblestones, he asked for clarification.

“What?!” he shouted, ducking under the windmilling arms of another zombie – absurdly, this one appeared to be dressed as a cook, swinging at Edriss with what appeared to be the remains of a wooden cook-spoon. Edriss did not smile, the half-heard statement having driven all capacity for mirth from him.

The voice, as it turned out, had belonged to the other mid-elf: an ugly young woman with decidedly equine features. “I said, ‘we have to stop that ship!’ If we let it get much closer, the docks and every ship in the harbor will be nothing more than cinders by this time, tomorrow.”

The paladin broke in, wiping gore off of her curved blade as she spoke. Smearing red across the green leather she wore, she said, “If the Light is with us, then it’s possible that Thanesport won’t follow the ships into ash. But I wouldn’t count on it.”

“The archer,” she continued, motioning toward the mid-elf, “is right. We must stop that ship. Now.”

Edriss wanted to scream. This was no longer going according to plan. These people weren’t brave, they were idiots. Before he could open his mouth to berate the swordswoman for her foolishness, Selura spoke. “Of course, you’re right!” she said, her eyes sparkling with the oncoming flames’ light, “we will do our part to save this city!”

Momentarily shocked, Edriss stood dumbfounded, his jaw open in disbelief. Selura could have stopped the ship with little more than a snap of her slender fingers. Edriss knew from painful experience that with a thought, she could have sent the burning hulk of the Skyracer to the bottom of the river that formed Thanesport harbor. What, he thought (indeed – almost screamed), was she doing?

Before he could ask her, she pressed on, deftly avoiding the grasp of yet another zombie that she had helped create during the voyage to Thanesport. “You,” she said, pointing to the paladin, “and I will need to warn whatever watchmen remain. There was a watch-house back the other way, beyond the Rusty Scabbard.”

Widening her steely gaze to the rest of the group, she continued, “The rest of you – stop that ship. No matter the cost.” At that, she let her gaze rest fully on Edriss. As she did, a single word echoed in his mind. A thought—not his own—roared across his consciousness. He knew, once the intrusion had ended, that it had been Selura. At last, Edriss knew what Selura planned. His smile returned, this time even wider.

Another bolt sailed outward from his reloaded crossbow, knocking one of the shambling dead off of its feet. “Arfin, lead on. We need to stop that ship.” Inside, Edriss was laughing. Irony, it seemed, could be just as comforting as shadow.

* * *​

Daniel Kairn​

Corporal Daniel Kairn couldn’t be blamed for failing to see the Skyracer. After all, he was asleep. As his men played dice in the cargo hold of the Exeter, he had just taken a moment to close his eyes. That moment had turned into several minutes, and then an hour.

In his years in the King’s army, Daniel had learned how to sleep through anything. As his men shouted and howled at their dice below him, he snored happily, feet splayed out in front of him, head resting against the hilt of his sword. He wasn’t normally so careless. But he was in Thanesport. What could happen in Thanesport?

And so it came to pass that while Corporal Daniel Kairn dreamed of an encounter with a mistress he did not have, four sets of feet passed by him, unnoticed, and then dropped down into the upper hold.

Daniel did wake, at least for a moment, as his men’s shouting suddenly quieted. They had been surprised by the sudden entrance of what appeared to be four armed civilians onto one of the vessels of the King’s Navy, but Daniel didn’t know that. Such things tended to carry heavy legal consequences, and so guarding vessels like the Exeter was usually nothing less than an excuse to engage in any one of the number of vices that most soldiers share. But Daniel was not one to let silence infringe upon his well-deserved rest. He yawned, stretched, and closed his eyes once more, oblivious to the incursion.

His men resumed yelling immediately. Daniel was able to put his mind, as well as his eyes, back at ease.

* * *​

Kaereth of One Oak​

There were eight of them, and they seemed surprised. One of them managed to speak. He sounded angry. That was probably not good for Kaereth, or his new friends.

“Drop your weapons,” he howled, “Now!”

Kaereth didn’t know why the soldier was yelling. Kaereth didn’t have any weapons. The liar (Edriss, he thought he had heard the dwarf call him) spoke for them. “You don’t understand! There’s a ship outside! On fire! You have to stop it!” He didn’t sound very convincing to Kaereth.

As it happened, he didn’t sound very convincing to the soldiers, either. “A likely story,” another called out, suspicion evident in his squeaking voice. “What did you do to Corporal Kairn!?” the same one continued, his voice cracking wildly.

A third soldier shouted, “He never would have let them pass, alive!”

A fourth cried, “They killed the Corporal!”

A fifth bellowed, “They must be pirates!”

A sixth grunted, “Pirates!?”

A seventh screamed, “Pirates! You bastards!”

An eighth roared, “Get them!” and then pointed an accusing finger in Kaereth’s direction, scrambling across the crudely drawn chalk circle they had been using for their game. Gold and silver clattered and flashed in the darkness as they lurched to their feet, no longer interested in conversation.

They hauled weapons to the ready in the cramped upper hold of the ship, tensed, and charged Kaereth, his two friends, and the liar.

The ugly girl took two steps back, yanking an arrow from her scabbard and placing it along her bow in a single, smooth motion. Kaereth hoped she wouldn’t hurt them too badly. They weren’t bad people. They were just stupid. He would smash lightly. But Kaereth was going to smash. Kaereth smiled.

Two of the soldiers came at Kaereth, swinging their swords as best they could in the low-ceilinged hold. Kaereth ducked under the first blow easily; steel slicing the air just above his right shoulder. The second blow was faster, harder. As the sharp blade swung toward his face, he threw up an arm, hoping to soften the blow on one of the bracers his master had given him.

The blade bit deeply into the leather, and then past it into the young half-orcs forearm. Kaereth roared in pain, instantly ashamed of his lack of discipline. Pain was power, and power was good for smashing. He snapped his jaw shut, funneling his momentary rage into a blinding, savage kick. His foot thudded into the man’s torso, throwing the surprised swordsman onto his back, gasping for air. Kaereth was sorry. Kaereth had struck too hard – he thought he had felt ribs snap with the blow. Next time, Kaereth would try to play nicer with the stupid men.

Beside him, the liar moved, as well. Edriss left his crossbow dangling from his belt, instead sliding knives from the inside of his sleeves. Two of the other men dove at him, swords swinging toward the liar in low, flat arcs. Edriss caught a blade on each of his knives, twisting his hands, pulling the over-extended soldiers toward him. Pivoting quickly on his left foot, he drove a suddenly-freed dagger into one of the soldier’s throats, silvery steel suddenly bright, sickly red in his hand. The soldier gagged once, lifeblood running over the pale mid-elf’s gloved hand, and then fell limp, dead.

If Kaereth knew that these men weren’t bad, he knew the liar should be at least as smart. Kaereth was angry. Kaereth wanted to talk to the Liar. But Kaereth had other concerns. There was still the other man with the sword.

The dwarf was less successful. Unable to react quickly to the charging warriors, he put up his axe, spinning the haft in his hands. Using the massive blade as a makeshift shield, he backpedaled. The clang of steel against steel rang through the ship, but none of the soldiers’ strikes touched him.

For a moment, Kaereth was glad to see his new friend unhurt. But he had his own assailant to deal with. The soldier lunged forward, his blade singing as it darted toward Kaereth’s ribs. As his foot came forward, it hit the flailing arms of his still-gasping friend, stumbling forward. Kaereth saw his opening. His left hand snapped outward, grasping the thrashing soldier by his uniform’s stiff collar. Kaereth sidestepped, jerking back on the collar as his right fist hurtled toward the warrior’s face. The blow easily connected, and the already unbalanced warrior flopped, unconscious, over his wheezing prostrate companion.

Meanwhile, Edriss had dealt with the last of his own opponents. Heaving his bloodstained blade away from the first soldier’s throat, he continued his spin. He smiled, suddenly inside the reach of the guardsman’s sword. The clean dagger punched through the man’s ribs along his side. His lung punctured, he gurgled as his eyes rolled back into his head, and collapsed toward mid-elf in a dying embrace.

The dwarf dug in his heels, halting his short retreat. His height not presenting a problem in the restricted space of the hold, the mercenary swung the flat of his blade forward, his opponents’ blades ringing against his own as the force of his blow gave him an opening. Raising the massive axe over his head, he drew the flat down, hard, metal whistling through the air. It stopped, suddenly, on the head of one of the closest warrior. The man crumpled to his knees, unconscious.

Before he could move to strike the other, an arrow sailed over his head, thudding into the remaining combatant’s shoulder. He grunted as his hand went limp, his sword clanging on the hard wood of the lower deck. Unarmed, the axe-wielding warrior made short work of him, a blow to the head sending him to join his companion in painful slumber on the floor.

Behind him, a surprisingly feminine yelp rang out as the two remaining soldier’s attacked, unaware that they were the only two conscious guards remaining. Kaereth turned to see her drop her bow, drawing a short, curved dagger just fast enough to parry away another blow. Blood ran down her jerkin, over her ribs – she was already paling.

While the liar relaxingly crouched to clean blood off his daggers, slowly sliding the stained blades across the uniforms of the guards he had killed, Kaereth and the dwarf rushed to aid the injured woman.

They ducked and weaved around their blades, parrying what she could not dodge in a flurry of flashing metal. Her eyes widened as she saw the half-orc and the dwarf rushing to help her, but the soldiers didn’t seem to notice – they continued to slice in at her, seemingly unaware that their companions had already fallen. They grunted, nearly in unison, as fist and axe slammed down onto their skulls. Falling into a haphazard pile of limbs, the ugly bleeding girl smiled weakly to Kaereth, and the dwarf.

“You okay?” Kaereth asked, concern evident on his guileless face.

“I’m fine,” she replied, grimacing as she gingerly ran her fingers over the wound in her side.

The dwarf spoke, then, his gruff voice matter-of-fact, no longer slurred. “I’ve no bandages lass, but I can surely make somethin’ to stem the bleedin’.”

Her lips spread into a reassuring, if weak, smile. “It’s really alright,” she continued, her strangely soft voice still managing to fill the hold. “The wound is shallow. It won’t heal tonight, but I’ll live. Regardless, we have more important things to attend to, I think.”

The dwarf’s eyes widened, as if he had forgotten the fireship that had brought them aboard the Exeter in the first place. “The ship!” he exclaimed, turning back to the liar—Edriss.

“How close is it, lad?” he continued, urgency driving the rough concern from his voice.

“Too close,” he muttered, pocketing a small sack of coins from one of the fallen soldiers. “These boys won’t be interfering any time soon. Lead on, Master Arfin!” he called to the dwarf, mockingly, motioning toward the ladder that led down deeper into the Exeter, to the gunnery hold. “We have a felony to commit,” he finished, grinning. Kaereth wanted to smash the smile off of his face. He took a deep breath. There would be more time for smashing later. Kaereth would smash. Kaereth smiled.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

It really looks great, Universe! YAY!!!!!

 

[Xath]

Fantastic...but now I demand MORE!!

 

[The_Universe]

And more you shall have...soon. Shower me with accolades (and money!) and the story shall reveal itself!

 

[AIM-54]

Looking good, there, Kennon!

I especially like Kaereth's "knew" friends.

 

[Laurel]

"We are so smart- s-m-r-t!!"

And more you shall have...soon. Shower me with accolades (and money!) and the story shall reveal itself!

OHHHHHHHHH!!!! Adventure, truths, secrets, blood, and- small brains! Hey while reading this understand the monk is actually the one with the low int., yet aptly and truthfully he is the one getting the most Oh how true it is... and what greatness is found in Wisdom

NOW MORE!!!!!! we cry for those unfinished pages!

And as for money how about 500 dollars? I know I have a monopoly game box around somewhere.....