Snippet #1050

The wind whipped down the cobbled streets, creating tiny devils in between the placed stones. A small group of people gathered around one end of the street, illuminated by a flickering torch, and all focused on one person.
He was a tall, finely dressed man, and in his hands was a long wooden instrument. He plucked the gut stretched out across the wood tenderly, smiling. "Now, you all wanted a story, so a story I shall tell." The man grinned a faded smile, his teeth the color of stained wood.

His fingers flew across the strings, causing a single note to ring out and reverberate down the warm street. The man smiled against, raising an eyebrow at the crowd, sizing them up. A group of ruffians....hm, I guess, the usual one...

He strummed the strings again and his silver tongue kicked into action.

"Eons ago, before your father's time. Before your father's father's time. Before even the time of the Church and popes. Before the time of Jesus Christ. Before the time of the great kings and ancient wars. Before the time of Northerner invasions, before even, the legends of heroes. This time, was a time of peace and prosperity. There were but two groups of people. Those that lived in villages, and those that lived outside the villages. The people were gay and made merry. The harvest was good and there was many a feast in great banquet halls. Much music was had and the wine flowed as free as the rivers.
"There was peace. But peace is a fickle thing, and is gone as quickly as the wind. And there came a time of great strife. Those inside the villages had discovered a great dungeon, when mining for metals in the hill lands.
"Inside this dungeon lived a great beast....who was awoken by the axes and picks of the village-dwellers, and was angered by their intrusion...."

Yes, this was the clutch. The monster. The thing the people wanted and craved for. The man's melodic voice echoed down the street, telling a tale of bravery and strength...a peasant's tale. His fingers occasionally plucked the strings, and his wooden smile was never far from his face. This man was a stranger in the outside world. Always shut up in great estates or monasteries. But, he was awake. Free at last. And soon the world would know his name. For he was the future hero-to-be. The role-model of the universe. This was the great, the magnificent, the not-quite-legendary Templar Jeacque Raynes-Iron.