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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mathew_Freeman" data-source="post: 1584295" data-attributes="member: 1846">The Beginning of the Tale of Keeran the Knife (This story is being told from the perspective of a human storyteller, Ghele, some years after the event) "Now, the first time Keeran the Knife is mentioned in a story is this one, so sit quiet all of you, and I'll tell you about it." "Keeran was part of Jez's band - of course you all know the stories about what THEY got up to, I've told you many times. This story is an early one. I'll tell you about the people involved in it." "Firstly, Pallas the Quiet. He didn't talk much, Pallas, except to Apari Ghostwalker, but he was a mighty warrior. He was always there with the others, always stood side by side. The most dependable man you could ever want to fight alongside, and in those days you needed men like him." "Katrin the Valourous, too. Firey, she was, with a bright blade and high spirits. Never gave up, and some say she had the power to truly hurt the forces of the Shadow when the need was great. When it came down to those fine moments between light and Dark, Katrin was there for you." "Apari Ghostwalker, the Jungle Elf. He may have been quiet, he may have been cagey, but his magic and his sacrifices kept the others going. Although sometimes they never knew it. His sharp eyes and quick channeling was just the ticket, he always knew what to do in the face of the enemy." "And of course Keeran himself. He wasn't Keeran Twoblades or Keeran the Knife yet, of course. For this story he was just plain Keeran, a former courier who'd left his brother for the first time to help the elves out, and never saw him again. That was the tragedy of it, he never really got to say goodbye to him. Keeran was a dark man, a violent man. He never formed much in the way of friendships, but those he trusted, trusted him right back." "Zana the Sarcosan was also in Jez's band, but she's not in this story." "Now on the day I want to talk about it, Jez's band had gone to a bridge on the Felthera, the old rope bridge that isn't there any more since the battle. There they were to help the patrol out there wait for reinforcements." "Now then, when they got there they found that Tom O'the Bow was the patrol leader, and he and his men were in trouble. A band of goblins, and orcs, and an uruk, yes and uruk! had attacked them and were trying to cut down the central tree! They'd even cleared the vines out of the way and were using a huge saw to do it! Very worrying." "Jez's band knew they couldn't let this happen, and Apari made Pallas and Katrin able to fly like birds so they could carry Keeran over to the big tree. They went up, up, up, high into the sky, then swooped down on the oruk standing there. He was big as a horse, the uruk, with an enormous axe the size of a man, but none of the Band hesitated." "BANG! In went Pallas with his vargatch, SLICE! went Keeran with his orcslitter - he only used one then, the other one came later, and BOOM! went Katrin with a mighty blow indeed. The uruk howled in pain and struck back at Pallas, wounding him, and then Pallas lunged forwards again, cutting the uruk deep." "And then Keeran, little Keeran dived and rolled forwards as the axe of the Uruk whistled over his head, and as he came to his feet he thrust out his orcslitter and he called out "For Tane!" and he struck that Uruk dead on the spot!" "After that it was all over fairly quickly. Pallas and Keeran and Katrin killed all the other orcs and goblins that were hurting the tree, and kept watch. Now soon there were much worse things to come, but that's all you're getting tonight. But remember, it was Keeran that struck the blow, the littlest of them, and he struck it because he was quick, and clever. So even if you're not big and strong, you can still be the one that makes a difference."</blockquote>

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