Deciever, Story But Not Related to TES Options

[Tulustan]

Last few weeks I have had ideas for stories rolling around in my brain muscle, so here is me trying to share one of them. Critiques are welcome!

Chapter 1

It had been roughly five years since I had gone north to the port city of Tanon in search of wealth. I had heard many things about the city, especially how easy it was to find a job on the wharf, which being of the prespant class left me very few choices in work. Slowly I had worked my way up the labor ladder on the wharfs and had become the manager of wharf four. It was still hard work especially getting the newer members to unload cargo quick enough and safe enough as to not hurt themselves or the cargo.

This year however I had begun to take a liking to one of the new dockhands. His name was Marcus and he had been working on the wharfs for only a few months. However, he had the brains to listen to my advice and not get himself seriously hurt or killed yet, and also no complaints had been filed against him (all extremely rare for new dockhands).

All in all life was going pretty good. I looked at the machine in the corner that told me what hour of the day it was… very nice almost time to go home. I decided to go down and arrange some festivities for the night.

As I walked onto the wharf the familiar feel of the treated wood groaned under my feet as the ocean tried to lazily dislodge it from the earth that it had been built into. Not much had changed about wharf four in the five years I had worked on it. A few broken planks here and there and that one time the crane had broken and almost clove the wharf in half, but it was still the same thing with a few scars and the blood of the men who worked it.

As I reached about halfway across the wharf I spied Marcus unloading a medium sized grey crate by himself. “Hey there!” I yelled to him.

“Whoa, if it isn’t the grand ol boss here to the rescue.” He yelled back. “Gonna actually contribute to this little shindig for once instead of sittin on your boat all day watchin us do all the work?”

“Hey! It takes a lot of strength writing those reports for all the crates you’ve dropped!” I replied not having to yell with the distance closed to within a few feet.

“Ah dang, you know I don’t drop any crates. But please feel free to keep sitting there while I do real work!”

I let out a little chuckle at that and began to help him lift a couple of the heavier crates off of the ship. I mean hell it’s a great way to keep in shape and I owed him after the drunken stupor I managed to drink myself into the night before.

Even though I had not totally recovered from that previous night I asked him “After were done off loading this ship wanna go to the Musty Sailor and grab some of the new import from Mumbril. I hear they added some extra zing to their new batch of ale!”

“Are you joking with me? After last night you wanna go drinking again? I mean cmon you just about killed yourself in that pile of puke you conjoured up! But yeah I guess, hopefully this time you’ll be walking me home though… Yeah I just realized the likelihood of that statement, ya drunky.”

“Hardy har har, see ya there. I gotta go take care of a few administrational things first.” under my breath, but loud enough to hear me I muttered “like getting you fired”.

“oh, you bag of dicks” he responded then said “later, don’t get too drunk before I get there to drag your boat home” he finished.

At that I walked back to my office at the end of the wharf and began to get all the reports ready to hand in the next day to the “dock master”. By the time I had finished my paperwork it was dark out and the candle lit room cast shadows of all the odd bobbles I had collected over the time I had lived in Tanon.

As I left my office the familiar smell of saltwater assailed my nostrils. Usually I just ignored it automatically but for some reason it was intensely strong. I kept walking back to my house. The whole way there the pungent aroma of the saltwater assaulted my senses.

I approached the shortcut to my house. It went behind the butchers shop and a few tall apartment buildings. Most of the city was built out of solid stone, one of the few in the kingdom. It was a key hub for commerce and with an abundance of quarries and a limited supply of farmland the city had built vertically.

As I reached my house, an apartment complex grafted onto the side of the southern wall, I noticed that most of the blankets over the windows of each apartment were down. I found this to be very odd because it was still early in the night and still fairly warm outside.

I got into my room and began changing into clothes I did not care overly much about (didn’t want to have to worry about puking on myself and buying a new shirt). I took care to put my dagger back on however, never know when you can use one in a enclosed area full of men whose heads may be a teeny bit infected with alcohol.

I left my house on the same route I had come in and when I got to the back ally I thought that I noticed someone following me. I ignored it, this being one of the safer cities in the kingdom thanks to all of the wealth it had acquired.

About halfway through the ally I heard someone full out sprinting in behind me. Quickly I turned around and began to pull my dagger. However, as the blade almost cleared the phantom behind me tackled me to the ground. He reached for something in his lavender robe, quickly I thrust my leg upward and into his growing getting enough force to somersault him over me.

I looked back to notice that he had somewhat recovered and had drawn a sword. Quickly I rolled to my feet and pulled my dagger. He came swift and fast with a lunge for my chest. I barely got the parry in time to stop the blade from gutting me. Again he tried to inflict damage on my innards using the same thrust. However this time I was more prepared and managed to parry the thrust easily. I noticed that he either must not have been expecting such a strong parry or was very inexperienced at using a sword because the parry had left his middle right open.

I took the advantage. I jumped on him with all of my might and knocked him to the ground. Right when we hit the ground I pummeled him once in the face with the butt of my dagger and kicked his sword away.

“Why are you attacking me!” I yelled into his face. The sound I got back was that of a mad animal trying all it could to break free. The thing was it wasn’t me he was trying to break free of. It was like something inside the man wanted out, or control of the body. I repeated my inquiry.

His face turned savagely red but it looked like something was winning over and he managed to mutter through gritted teeth “Heh help me”.

I had no idea how to help this man or even if he needed helping maybe this was just a ploy to break free from my hold. I began to ask in what way I could assist him when all of a sudden I heard a zinging sort of noise from my left ear, there was a wet smacking sound. The attacker had stopped moving altogether underneath me and a warm fluid had begun to puddle near my left knee where I was holding his arm down. That is when I noticed a small dagger handle jutting out of the side of my attackers’ neck.

This post has been edited by Tulustan: Dec 7 2010, 05:11 AM

[Tulustan]

Chapter 8

“Hey Hawke, we almost there?” I asked.

“Were actually there now.”

The area around us was no different from the last few hundred miles. A bit frustrated, I stated “No were not, there is nothing here.”

“Stop asking and just keep walking.”

“We’ve been traveling for days. Why are we in such a hurry to get there?”

“Jehmundi is trying to arrive before the other clans can stop him. He believes something is there that will give us the upper hand.”

“Upper hand in what?”

“It doesn’t concern you.”

Oh yeah right it doesn’t. If there is a war going on I want out at the first stop. I didn’t tell him that. He would probable just laugh and find a way to make fun of me. Some of the forward scouts began yelling about something.

Hawke listened to their yells intently then quickly flicked his head my way and with a grin on his face said “Sounds like we’ve arrived. C’mon lets go have a look!” He immediately increased his pace. The land had hardened up considerably in the last mile making it a lot easier for me to keep pace.

Cresting the hill the whole ruin came into view. The sun had begun to set leaving an angry reddish tint on the horizon bathing the place in healthy shadows. The ruins themselves were situated in a crater. Most of the buildings were just piles of rubble flattened from age and decay, but there were a few still standing fighting time. We began to descend into the city. All of the streets had a downward slant to them that sloped towards the center of the crater.

Turning towards Hawke I said “This is pretty creepy.”

“Yeah, not much is known about these ruins. They have been around for so long there is no history. Some people say that a hole between us and the underworld was formed at the center and began pulling the city in. Others believe that some magical weapon was used to stop a great war. The idea that most people these days believe though is that it’s just a massive sink hole.”

A sink hole, it was too perfect for a sink hole to outline an entire city. “What do you think did it?” I asked him.
“I think a bunch of gnomes dug out the city from the bottom because they were fed up that the theater didn’t make more plays about their kind.”

“Wha-“ I stopped myself. It just sounded too farfetched. There is no way he could believe that. “Do you really believe that?”

He smiled then said “Why does it matter what I believe. There is no proven or accurate history of the incident. There are no facts about this place at all.”

“Fair enough.” We kept walking towards the center of the ruins. The place was huge. I had believed Tanon to be one of the largest cities in the world but this place could have fit eight or nine Tanons inside the perimeter and still have room for more. How it could have sustained a population out here without a large source of water or farmland was beyond me.

The sun had descended by the time we had arrived at the center or at least what seemed to be the center. Everyone had begun to set up camp. “Fellessen you luck out tonight. I don’t think I’ll have time for our regular training session. Jehmundi will most likely need me to help search for what he’s looking for. So unpack and enjoy the night, just don’t guzzle the khundi juice again.”

I yelled “That was your fault!” but he was already out of earshot or just ignoring me. I began to set up camp. Once that was done I promptly laid down and after weeks of intense training and never ending walking. Sleep came fast.

* * *

“-ake up.” Darkness was all around me. Hawke was jostling me awake.

Groggily I said “I thought you said I wasn’t going to have to train tonight?”

“It’s not training. Jehmundi wants to see you, something’s changed.”

My brain was still fuzzy and was having a hard time processing the information. “What? Why does he want to see me? I look the same as always.”

“Not like that. Just follow me, and put your pants on.”

Heat went into my face. I had forgotten that I took my pants off before I had gone to sleep. Hurriedly I pulled them up to my waist and tied the straps together that held them up and sped after Hawke.

When we arrived Jehmundi began talking to Hawke excitedly but Hawke did not seem nearly as excited. Hawke’s face went from shock to anger to sadness to acceptance in the course of the conversation. The little of the language I knew was not enough for me to understand even a tenth of what the two were discussing.
“Go with Jehmundi, do as he says. Trust your training and you will make it out of this. See you soon.”Hawke looked over at Jehmundi nodded and walked away.

I watched as Hawke disappeared around a tent. Jehmundi grabbed my arm and yanked me in the direction I was supposed to go. What was going on? He began talking to me. I tried to respond. His face whipped around towards mine. A look of disgust was plastered on his face, then a look of understanding, and he immededitately broke out in laughter. I must have botched that translation.

The laughing stopped. His hand flung out and grabbed my arm and began to pull. I followed. He let go knowing that I would continue to follow him. He seemed like he knew where he was headed. Had he found an ancient magical artifact after all? Guess I would have to wait and find out. The structures around us were becoming more coherent, becoming less a pile of ruble and more that of a quiet deserted city.

“Oomph” I hit a wall. No, just Jehmundi, the man had stopped so suddenly. He muttered something pulling out a stone in one wall in front of us. A low gruble then a creak, a whole section of the wall moved. The passage that was uncovered was dark. Really dark, there was no way I was going to go in there.

Jehmundi turned around, looked me hard in the eyes then motioned towards the opening. Oh great, I was going first down stairs into god knows what, for god knows why. My feet began to move towards the opening. Soon I had taken a few steps and could see nothing. Jehmundi was behind me somewhere. I moved my hand close to my face and squinted trying to make out any detail. Nothing. Putting my left hand forward and the right one against the wall I resumed the descent.

How deep could this thing go? How long had it taken to dig this place out? My mind kept putting relevant thoughts along those lines out. Just walking gets so boring. “Ouch” My right hand had gotten pricked on the wall. Returning the hand tentatively I made a discovery that the wall was no longer stone. It was metal with what felt like a hell of a lot of sharply cut designs. The floor flattened out. Must be near the end hopefully. I noticed a large curve outward in the wall. This had to be an atrium of sorts. I reached out as far a possible with my left hand and touched nothing. Wherever I was now it was a lot bigger than the passageway I had just taken.

I heard Jehmundi’s footsteps behind me. A constant metal on metal ping for every footfall getting louder the closer he came. The pinging footsteps passed me and walked on for a bit, then complete and utter silence. What was going on? Surely Jehmundi had something to illuminate this room. Still nothing. I wanted to shout, make some sort of noise. It was caught in my throat and was quenched by something else in me.

Wind began to assault my left side. Wind? How? It got faster and faster making the loudest noise in the world. Something else joined in with the winds howl. Jemundi! He was chanting something. The force of the wind nocked me to the ground and its speed was still accelerating. My knees against the floor I tried standing up. The attempt was futile. Suddenly something grabbed my ankle and yanked me away from the wall. Every inch I was pulled the wind went down. Finally the thing had let go and only a slight breeze remained. I got to my feet and something collided with my face. Blood began pouring down my face.

My veins began to pump blood. Adrenaline raced through me. “WHY!” I yelled. Frustration over everything in my life bubbling to the surface. I felt a portion of something forced itself into me body.

“Because this is your destiny.”

“What? You can’t speak my language!”

“You are not speaking that language.”

What was happening? How could I understand him much less know their language. I had learned a few words and phrases from Hawke but he had given up soon after trying to teach me. “Wha, what is happening?” I stammered.

Calmly and evenly Jehmundi stated “The re-birth of the crystal walkers.”

“Why am I needed, and what the hell are the crystal walkers?”

“You are the sacrifice that has been prepared.”

“To hell with you!” Confusion finding the adrenaline coursing through my body lit into anger, like an ocean of kerosene and a match becoming a massive fire. “NO!” More of the essence from earlier flowed into my body and a tingling began to manifest itself inside.

“How do you plan on stopping it?”

“I’m going to kill you!” I felt strong now.

“Come and give it a try.”

Pulling out my sword I did. The voice had come from my left. Muscles tensing and a sudden release went into putting the sword through Jehmundi. Anticipation for the hit came and went. There was nothing there. My futile attack spun me out of control. The cold metal of the floor pressed against my back. My hand burst with pain and just like that the sword was gone. This was it, I was dead.

Jehmundi didn’t finish me immediately. Could he see me? “You westerners think everything is won by strength and power. Bigger equates to better.” He said with a sneer.

“Finish me then!” I yelled. No intention of letting him kill me I rolled away from where I fell moving closer to the wind. A low flicker emanated from the center of the atrium. It grew steadily until it was bright as day.
Jehmundi looked straight at me, his whole body glowing red, and said, “As you wish.” Quick as light he pulled two scimitars from their sheaths and charged. I jumped low into a dive and caught his feet in my arms pulling him to the ground. I scuttled away before he could get the scimitars into my flesh. Picking up my dropped sword and whipping my body around I just barely dodged a slash. Constantly parrying I was on the defensive. He fought like Hawke and I had not beaten Hawke once in training.

The wind was right behind me. One or two more steps and I would lose all footing. Three more strikes came in for varying angles and I blocked the but was forced another step back. He was purposely trying to put me in the tornado. ‘Let me help you.’

Why was Jehmundi offering help. “What?” I asked him.

“I sai- -othin-.” The noise of the wind had distorted his voice and followed up with another fevered attack. I sprang forward to the right trying to get some distance from the angry windstorm. “Ther- -s no esc-!” Jehmundi yelled towards me. He was already pushing me back, the few feet that were gained vanished quickly.

‘There is only one way out this. Let me help you!’ The voice was coming from inside my head! I had gone insane. That was the only answer. Well mine as well see if the ‘other me’ could help me.

A sudden sharp pain made itself known from my shoulder. In the seconds of self-contemplation my guard had gone down enough and now I was paying the price. ‘Do it!’

I couldn’t move my arms, my legs, nothing was responding to my commands. My eyes looked straight at Jehmundi but I had not directed them there. His attacks became more ferocious than before. My hands leapt forward with lightning fast precision that I had never before been able to attain. A quick kick went into Jehmundi’s gut, he crumpled. My foot had again gone out and hit him in his stomach.