Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7383758" data-attributes="member: 143">Glad you're still enjoying the story, SolitonMan. * * * Chapter 141Kurok jolted awake.  The sun had disappeared beyond the horizon but it was still light enough to tell him that he hadn’t been asleep for more than a few hours.  The air was bitingly cold, and there was a sharp wind that tore mercilessly into his shelter.  That was a niche in the cliffs barely large enough for him to fit inside.A faint scrape of something on the slope outside his shelter told him what had pulled him from his rest.  Slowly he lifted himself up, drawing his cloak around him.  Even that movement awoke fresh pains in his back.  The extraction of the hunter’s arrow had not been a pleasant experience.  He’d used his last potion of healing, but it had not been enough to fully restore him.  Nor had the brief rest he’d managed, but he could feel his magic swirling within him, and that would have to be enough.He crept forward to the edge of the crevice and peered out.  He was not entirely surprised at who he saw, standing about ten paces away.  Usk Bloodrider also looked rather the worse for wear.  His worg, standing in his shadow, growled a warning as Kurok appeared.  The rest of the worgs and the surviving goblins—a scant fraction of the force that had arrived here just days ago—were waiting a short distance further up the slope.Usk watched him silently, waiting.  It used to be that Kurok was the one who made others uncomfortable, but that seemed like it had been an eternity ago.  “My death will not be purchased cheaply,” he said.The goblin leader’s face twisted into an expression of disgust.  “If we ever see you again in these mountains, your life is forfeit,” he said.  Without waiting for a response, he turned and headed over to rejoin his people.  The worg shot him one final growl then trailed behind its master.Kurok watched until the depleted column made its way up the slope and disappeared over its crest.  Then he pulled his cloak around him and returned to his shelter.  He would need a full night’s rest; he had another long and difficult journey ahead of him.* * *“Wildrush!”A collective sigh went through the worn and tired group at Glori’s announcement, followed by a few dull cheers as others spotted the familiar outlines of the hilltop town through the thinning trees ahead.After a week in the wilds of the Silverpeak Valley, they all looked and felt a little ragged.  The men all sported beards, even Kosk, who hadn’t bothered shaving.  The days had been long; first they’d followed the tracks left by the fleeing worgs to the valley’s edge, then they’d spent a few days scouting and mapping the eastern approaches where the valley floor was accessible to the mountains.  Rodan had suggested that Wildrush would probably have to start patrolling that region, lest another raiding party—or a goblinoid army—approached from that direction.The men and dwarves he’d brought with him included a mix of miners and trappers who knew the valley, if not as well as the tiefling ranger.  They showed deference to the adventurers, doing most of the work in setting up their camps each night and standing watch.  The five of them had been a bit distant.  Part of it was their need for rest and recovery after their ordeal, but even after their physical wounds had healed they were all preoccupied by what had happened to them inside the ancient shrine under the stone mound at the valley’s edge.  There were a few conversations about their experience, mostly pairing off during their long marches through the forest, but the fact that none of them had an answer for what had been done to them when they’d first stood in front of that wall of ancient runes always led them back to where they started.Now that their destination was in sight, the mood lightened.  Rodan’s men began to talk about the first thing they would do on arrival, the leading contenders being a drink, a bath, or a visit to “Jolene’s Place,” a local establishment that had an easily-guessed purpose.  The companions didn’t join in the banter; their thoughts were on different objectives, including a visit to the Governor that would likely lead to more questions than answers.“Kosk,” Glori said, nodding toward a figure that had broken off from the main group.  After a moment the dwarf walked over to him.“I figure we’ll part ways here,” Kiefer said.“There’s no reason you can’t go back to town with the rest,” Kosk said.  “I’ll speak for you, if that’s an issue.”“Nah, it’s not that.  It’s time I was moving on.  You were right before.  Going with Rodan doesn’t wipe the slate clean on what I did before.”“It means something that you wanted to help,” Kosk said.“Yeah.  Well, if there’s something I learned from you, it’s that a man pays his debts.”“I taught you that?” Kosk asked.Kiefer snorted.  “Yeah, well, I guess I picked it up somewhere.”  He gave the monk a furtive look.  “You have changed.  I guess… maybe it means that any of us can change.”“Take care of yourself, Kiefer,” Kosk said.“Aye.  Tell the others I’m sorry, eh?  For what happened before.”  Kosk hadn’t told his companions anything about the other dwarf’s role in the ambush at the mine, and neither had brought up their past relationship, though it was obvious that they’d met each other before.“As far as I’m concerned, that matter’s closed,” Kosk said after a moment.Kiefer nodded, then broke away from the group, heading off in the direction of the road that led down into the valley.“What was that all about?” Glori asked when the dwarf returned to the group.“Just saying goodbye to a bit of my past,” Kosk said.Xeeta went over to Rodan, who’d trailed a bit behind the others, as if his steps had suddenly grown heavy.  “It’s been a long journey,” the sorceress said.“Yeah,” Rodan said.  Both of them knew that she wasn’t talking about their recent exploration of the valley.They trudged another twenty steps before she spoke again.  “We did what we had to in order to survive.”“I know that.  We… we were what they made us.  But I’m glad to see that you were able to become more than that.”“You as well.”“I know it probably means little now, after everything… but I am sorry.”“Like I said.  We were all just trying to survive.”“And now?”“It seems like you have found a home for yourself,” Xeeta said.“Yes.  It wasn’t what I expected… and it took a long time.”“I’m sorry if I put that in jeopardy.”“It’s probably better this way.  I told myself that I was just trying to protect everyone, but the fact remains that I was lying, living a lie.  Pretending to be something that I was not.”“You… we… are more than the sum of our heritage.”“If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be here,” Rodan said.  “Have you found what you were looking for?”Xeeta looked thoughtful for a moment.  “I don’t know.  For a long time, I thought it was a place.  A place far away from where I started.  A place that was safe.”“That’s what led me here,” Rodan acknowledged.  “Not that any place is truly safe, not with what we bring with us.”“There’s no escaping it,” Xeeta said.  “But of late I’m starting to think that home isn’t really a place at all.”Rodan glanced over at the other adventurers.  They weren’t talking, and all seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.  “I think I know what you mean,” he said.  “It’s fortunate to be able to find that.”“Yes,” she said.  She kicked a rock, and it skittered up the slope ahead of them.  “So, what happens now?”“I don’t know,” he said.  “I suppose I find out if I can rebuild the trust I had earned here.  Before they knew what I was.”“Who you are hasn’t changed,” she said.  “Once they realize that, then they may be able to trust you again.  And given what we now know, it’s not like they can afford to turn away an ally.”“And what about us?” Rodan asked.Xeeta was quiet for a few moments longer.  “Answering that question may take a little more time,” she said.He nodded.  They remained silent as they walked up the rest of the way to the waiting walls of Wildrush.</blockquote>

Verification