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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Funeris" data-source="post: 2545025" data-attributes="member: 22792">Chapter 2: Journey into Darkness ContinuedA pungent odor snapped Spinum back to reality.  The dense fog of reality drifted away like smoke from a dying fire.  The mage moved his hand to rub his aching head, only to find his hands bound tightly together.  Razor-vine scratched through the flesh around his wrists, old streams of blood stained his forearms.Following the vine with his eyes, he found the end tightly secured around the fist of an overbearing creature.  Green and orange mottled flesh danced beneath boils and scars.  Oversized, rough ears sloped backward and away from the beast’s face.  Within the lobes, dozens of wooden circles pierced fleshed.  It turned its head toward the mage and grunted.  Large, razor teeth shimmered dull yellow with spittle beneath lips drawn thin in a grimace.  The eyes were fathomless orbs of black.  Only a gleam of calculation within the orbs marked the thing as intelligent.Okay, either this is a baby troll or one of the half-breeds I’ve read about.  The mage sat in silence, observing as much as possible and plotting an escape.“I am glad you have awakened,” the creature rumbled.  Its breathing was heavy and raspy; it sounded as if it were suffocating.  It cocked its head to the side and spit a wad of phlegm and bone onto the ground.  With one meaty claw, it beat upon its chest.  The gurgling of thick and probably rank fluids sounded from within.  Its beady eyes flared red for a moment and then returning to a dull sheen.  “You will answer for your crimes within my wood.”“And what crimes would those be?  I have done nothing but travel through the forest.  Unless that is a crime, I am not guilty, beast.”It laughed hoarsely for minutes, pausing only to drain its lungs.  “I am Orange Leaf and I am only half beast.  I have just as much education as you, black mage.”  Orange stood, stretching to his full nearly eight foot height.  His massive claws lifted upward, dragging the vine and even Spinum easily into the air.  “Just my luck to bump into an intelligent beast,” murmured the mage.“No, not luck,” Orange Leaf corrected.  “I felt the forest cry out in pain and when I tracked it to its source, I found you.  And you were tainted with an aura of necromantic energy.  But do not fear, man.  I justly punish the wicked that pass through my forest.”  The half-troll chuckled inwardly.“And what is my punishment for so small a spell?”  “Death, of course.  All uses of death magic will be repaid with the blood of its caster.  Those are the laws.”Spinum shuddered, his mind working quickly.  “And who made that law?”“I did.  My forest, my laws.”  The half-troll lowered Spinum to the ground and began leading him southward.“I don’t think the Church of Ara’kull would agree with you, druid.”  Venom laced the young mage’s voice.“Do not make me enjoy killing you, wizard,” Orange Leaf grunted vehemently.“Or what?  You’ll kill me twice?”  Spinum eagerly searched his mind for the spells he had prepared.  His mind, however, was a blank slate.  He glanced left and right, searching for his tome or a weapon, anything.“I have removed your weapons and tome from your possession.  I am no fool.”“But…I…I didn’t do anything!  What you sensed must have been the Inquisition.  They had…something…with them, something unnatural!” screamed the mage.“It has been years since the Inquisition has been near this forest, long before my time.  I will not believe your lies,” Orange’s dagger-like claws drew close to the mage’s face.  “You will silence yourself if you do not wish me to do it rather painfully.”“My father and brother died back there!” shrieked the youth.  “You can go back and see for yourself!”“And why did you not die with them?”  The half-troll stopped his movement, lurching the mage to an imbalanced stop.Spinum’s lip quivered.  “Because I am a coward and did not want to die.”“Those are the first words out of your mouth that I believe.  However, you’ve already admitted your crime.  You will be punished and then I see if your other lies are truths.”Spinum opened his mouth in protest, only to meet the blunt force of the half-troll’s fist.  The mage slumped backward to the forest floor. Orange Leaf lifted the lanky human and tossed him onto his shoulder.  “Well, this should make traveling a bit easier and less annoying.”  The druid stepped toward the nearest plant and bent down to cast an incantation.Pain flooded throughout the druid’s body and he crumpled onto the dirt, hands clutching futilely at his stomach.  The pain boiled and burned from the inside.  Shrieks and screams filled the druid’s ears, his mind.  He glared around, seeing the plants in his vicinity wither and die.The pain passed as quickly as it had taken the druid to his knees.  The shrieks quieted and when he looked about, the plants appeared normal and vibrant again.  Orange Leaf stood again warily.  Placing Spinum back onto his shoulder, he stepped into a plant and vanished into thin air.</blockquote>

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