Dorelith||Silibard||Night time||Aradrin & Bear
It was late when Bear Bringswood reached the outskirts of Creid. The tiny village seemed silent, save for the warm orange glow in the distance at the old Dalebell farm.
“They must be havin’ a gala.” These roads were different than those he had come from. Here the cobblestone ended and the well-worn dirt began. There were more hills here too. Yet every hill, every rock, and every blade of grass seemed nostalgic. Bear knew immediately he was home. The man was unlike most halflings. Halflings do not travel. They don’t adventure, and they most certainly come back in worse shape than when they left. Creid was a tiny village, yet everyone here knew each other, and each while distinctively different shared one common core, they didn’t leave the safety and sanctity of the valley.
Bear, however, was different. Not only was he coming back from an adventure; he was also about to go right onto another when his business here was finished. The summer air in the valley was perfect for farming. Those who’d be staying here would undoubtedly have a great farming season. In many ways, this made the burden on Bear’s mind all the greater. Here he was, a Dwarf, and he was about to go on the greatest undertaking of his life; war. War to Halflings is a foreign word. If they had their own language, the word would not be included. How were those in his village going to understand what Bear was about to do. The gossipers, the children… his parents. In this tiny little village, everyone knew everything.
They’d know he’d come back defeated too. Currently, the bearded male wore only scraps of clothing. It was a far cry from what he had gone on his most recent adventure in. No more armor, and the weapons he had brought were lost too. Before the little Dwarf went out to war, he’d have to make damn sure he’d have the right equipment. The Gorman’s farm was coming into view now. As the trail winded through the valley, Bear knew only three more houses stood before him and his home.
The Bringswood’s lived close to the center of town. A large river (on a Halfling scale) flows nearby their farm. In terms of land, the Bringswood estate had the third largest farm in the village. What it lacked in size, however it made up in quality. Well plowed fields, and fertile soil had made for some of the most productive yields in Creid. The old farm was coming into view. It was sat inside a large hill. A fully hewn steel-wood door bearing the Bringswood crest, and holding the tiniest slot you’ve ever seen for mail, were among the only indications of this being a dwelling. There were windows sat inside this hill, and some had candles flickering nearby. Behind the hill sat large fields, and a barn (which would have looked more like a shed to most Big-folk). Bear’s destination was there.
It took Bears stumpy little legs another twenty minutes to reach the barn. Here, all of his old things were still in place. His favorite anvil, his favorite hammer, and many raw materials he had stored over the years. Some were quite rare. Some were so rare, they’d be able to buy this entire property. Bear had saved them for a time of dire emergency, for a time when the threat of extinction has levied against “Dwarven Culture”. Now though, Bear faced something equally great. His first life or death adventure. It was one where he might never come back to see his little farm, and little barn, and little tools ever again. It was time to make his finest works.
Everything from the wood to the materials had to be decidedly chosen. An expert’s eye was required to check the temperature, and make sure the metals melted just right. Too hot, and the metals might crack. Bear had been making weapons and armor, for a lifetime. His skills were good enough that only a few hours per piece, was required to make a masterwork. By the time morning rolled around, a once-full box of impossibly rare materials, had been reduced to scrap. But, by the time the sun was approaching noon, there was a new set of Dwarven armor, bearing a crest of a Bear. There was also a single silver sword (well by Big-folk standards it would have been a short sword, at best.) It was beautiful. While sheathed the weapon looked almost ethereal sitting upon a crafting table. “Maid of Honor” was to be its name. But this weapon was in no way meant for a male’s hands. The handle was slender, and the weapon lighter than most of Bear’s bulkier pieces.
Which reminded the Dwarf of something. His weapons were inside the house. These were axe’s which Bear had made as a testament to his skill. They had never seen the sting of battle before. Placing his remaining materials inside a large trunk, and placing his smith tools inside it as well, Bear stacked both this trunk, and anvil on his back. With a few lumbering steps the Dwarf found himself inside his childhood home. He meant to be stealthy. To quietly grab his axes from his bedroom, and sneak out before his parents were alerted. Alas! What a fool he had been.
“Cubby! Is that you Pumpkin?” His face flushed beet red. Taking his axes, he placed them on his belt, near his hammer, and carefully walked out of his room.
“Uh, yeah. It’s me, dad.” Haverty was standing near the door. The sweet smell of vanilla weed filled the air from a pipe. Cooper was next to rise, and his footsteps (loud for a Halfling) could be heard in the bedroom. “Cubert’s home!” Cooper came to join his partner near the door, wearing a floral vest as bright as the sun. “What’s wrong, Cub? You look sad.” Bear knew he’d have to face this moment. He’d been dreading it since he got back.
“Dad… Dad, I got somethin’ I want to tell the both of ya’. I’m goin’ ta war, and there’s nothin’ ya can do to stop me. I thought this over, but there’s a nice lady I gave my word to and she expects me to come back to fight the good fight.”His parents, were obviously hit hard by this. Haverty’s pipe shook a bit. His breath intensified on the wooden piece. Cooper pretended he hadn’t heard right, playing with the buttons on his vest. Their son had always been a bit bold, but never had anyone in the village seriously considered war. “Are… are you sure?” Of course he was sure. He owed his life to Iphigenia, but he couldn’t tell them of his time being a slave.
“I’m sure dad. I got to be firm on this.” He could no longer bear the thought of upsetting them. Within an hour, he’d left his dwelling, and was onto a winding stretch of road. From this point, it’d take the little guy a few weeks to find the camp.
It would be night time by the time he finally saw the torches of the camp. They were being put out now, but thankfully Bear had already found them.
"How dare you? My mother was a nice Lady!" The insult to the woman (and himself) who'd given birth to him didn't affect him. That cocky smile you often found on his face, was there now and his opponent was lying on the ground, gasping for air. He wasn't dead, no, just momentarily incapacitated. Killing someone in a place like this drew far too much attention, but Aradrin Soreyn would not have his honor questioned by the likes of the man on the ground. Or anyone in the establishment in which he found himself, really.
He had been playing a game of cards with the man. The stakes were high and Ari didn't have a penny to his name. The lure of the prize was too great for him to resist though, and so he had to play. Fortunately, he won. The outcome wasn't what he had expected.
No sooner had he collected the coins and stuffed them in the leather pouch in his belt, before he'd been assaulted. Given that his opponent was larger than him, he'd figured that it'd be easy enough to beat seven colours of shit out of Ari and take his money back.He was wrong.
"Really? People like you have friends?The three (just as large) men who entered the room looked at him and cracked their knuckles, necks and other various joints. Probably to intimidate.
Alright, you've still got your money. Be smart. Vastly outnumbered, too close quarters and no friends to help. If only this had been closer to Darkwood Keep, he would've had someone who could help.
"Would he? I wonder if Th-" He was cut off by one of the men who shouted some nasty insult at him and started moving. Ari didn't have time to finish his thought before he had to do something.
"Well, this has been wonderful! Wonderful, I say!" A few steps toward the window.
"But..." A dramatic pause was always good.
"I must take my leave." And with that he let himself fall backwards out the window and landed (to his own surprise - this had gone wrong before) on his feet.
You could only live off prizes from card games for so long. In the years since his escape from the Messiah Queen, he had been too afraid to take up actual work somewhere. Partially because he doesn't want to remotely have anything to do with something that could potentially help the Queen, and also because he didn't want to get recognised. Few people would recognise him, but it was a chance he didn't want to take.
"So you've stooped to this? Lord of Eres Adrin." Aradrin said in a mocking tone. It was dark already in this small town, and it was dripping. It smelled nice, but it made the town look more awful, dreary and boring than it was. Ari set off in a light jog through the streets. more than ready to get the hell out of there.
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For weeks had he been searching and searching and searching. It went on and on, but the tracks and clues he seemed to find that might indicate where they were, ended up leading him nowhere. Truth be told, he'd been searching for years, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that he decided to get himself together and actively, constantly search for his Queen. His Queen, mind you.
Ever since that night where he'd won all that money, no one had seen him in town except for when he bought provisions. Aradrin was getting closer now. He could feel it. Something was happening.
Your help would be welcome here, Ser Vael. The exiled noble thought to himself as he sat at the edge of the forest, looking at the dimming torches and watching guards walk around putting them out. You and your sensing things. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he popped another piece of dry bread into his mouth.
With his hood up and with the help of the trees and the darkness, he was almost impossible to see where he was sitting, giving him the opportunity to study the camp before doing anything. It was good to be certain that this was the right place, so he didn't walk into the Inquisitor Trainee Field Trip. He'd had enough of them.
The guards had steadied after some time. With most of the exterior torches doused, those on patrol duty would find it easier for their eyes to adjust to the dark. Of course, Bear had no problem walking right in. He knew most of these guys; the ex-gladiator who Bear used to take blows from in the ring was now on wall duty. Another who used a net, and Bear found himself never having an upper hand against, now held a bow his fingers poised on a notched arrow. Bear had found himself an empty tent inside the walls of the fortress. Those pinnacle to the cause slept inside, but Bear had just been a slave, he was of no real importance here. There were many slaves more valuable than him, and that was part of the reason Bear came back. He wanted to prove himself, and his race.
Upon unloading his torrent of goods into his tent (which was quite sizable being made for big-folk and all) Bear sat down on a nearby tree stump, and took out his old carving blade. Now in the stillness of the night, with high walls protecting him, the dwarf could finally take the time and whittle him a decent pipe. Whittling was an engrossing hobby, it let the little man think and plan his steps. If there was one thing he wanted to do in this army it would be to be of use. He could see himself doing this in two ways. The first was by acting as a shield. He’d work his way up the ranks, and finally be of use to Iphigenia the woman with the golden mind.
The second way, was forging. Bear was a hell of a smith, and far better than many of these men would ever guess. At night, it would be impossible to make out every minute detail of Bear’s armor, but in the day it would shine brighter than a torch. He’d never made for big-folk though, but given enough practice and that would change. All he’d have to do is convince them to give him a shot at whatever passed for a forge room in a derelict camp such as this. It’s a shame he had never built battlements, as the walls here could certainly use them. His knife bit into a tiny block of stone the new pipe would be fashioned from. He was working on the long, smooth, shaft when Bear heard commotion from some of the guards.
There was someone outside of the camp walls. A soldier with keen eyes must have spotted him! Bear gripped his larger axe. Placing it alone on his back, the dwarf moved closer to the gate to hear what all the commotion was. “I swear I saw him, I swear there’s a man out there.”
”A man huh?”[i] Bear had wanted a chance to prove himself. A chance to show he was really worthy to join the cause. What better way, than by finding a near invisible man in the dark. Without asking questions, and while gripping his axe, the dwarf ran from the gates.
Forest terrain is worse for Dwarves than humans. Tree roots which are annoying and easily tripped over, are hurdles for Dwarves. So a forest, with many tangling roots, in the dark, is not the best battle field. The male ran through what he could before launching himself over a root. He honestly had no clue where he was going, but certainly hoped shouting proved effective. “I know you’re out here, Come! Show yourself and we will tussle like real men!”
Less torches were now lit, the guards were still there, and Aradrin was still in his spot. “She moves around a lot. That’s wise. Makes them difficult to find.” He mumbled to himself, smirking. If there was one thing he looked forward to, it was meeting Iphigenia. In his mind that’d be soon. Of course, once they heard his name they would know who he was. Sometimes Ari forgot that most people thought he was dead. Eres Adrin fell to the Messiah Queen a long time ago. Nevertheless, he was sure she’d welcome him. Or was he sure? If he was then he would be already in that camp and sitting, drinking wine with his Queen. His brows furrowed and the man sighed.
Despite their moving around constantly, the guards had not become lax it would seem. By the few that stood by light, it was clear that they were freedmen and not some belonging to the Messiah Queen. He had to get in there without bloodshed. It’d be a poor first impression and he wasn’t sure if the guards were so strung up that they would swing their swords before asking questions.
Aradrin stood up abruptly, turned and took three steps and then turned back around as if the decision he had to make was getting harder and harder.
A tenth of a second before he started walking towards the camp, something happened. Someone came storming out of the gate, towards the spot he had been in. Aradrin stepped behind a large oak tree nearby and hoped the dark would conceal him. It was one man, or, half-man. It was something. It was…
His head titled to the side in confusion and the grip on his sword hilt loosened.
This was confusing and amusing all at the same time and Ari… Ari can’t help himself.
“Alright, you’ve caught me! Just…” He stifled a chuckle by biting his knuckle. “Back away slowly,” It was obvious that he was just about to break. “You don’t stand half a chance!” The fact that he had actually said that made it all the more funny and Aradrin broke out in hysterical laughter.
There was a chance that the… Person, on in the dark was armed, so he managed to regain control a moment or two later and step out from his cover.
Stomach muscles still sore from laughing, relaxed and not on his guard, Ari had not expected what happened next. “Alright, alright!” Hoping that this could be resolved quietly only proved that, in this regard, he was wrong. “Oh, fu-"
There he was! The bandit, the coward. Sneaking around in the dark like a villain waiting for the chance to kill the one good shot humanity had at taking down the closest thing they’d ever known to an evil overlord. Of course, Bear cared not about that. Or about the fact that the Messiah Queen was actually evil. No. All Bear cared about was that someone had been sneaking around Iphigenia’s camp. That was enough to send the normally stoic, and quite sensible (these attributes were completely biased) half-man into a frenzy!
And if that wasn’t enough, the fiend was laughing at the sight of Bear!
OH! The shame, the half-humanity! How could anyone be so cruel as to laugh at Bear’s proud form, and mighty figure? Sure, he wasn’t the tallest man. But he had the bushiest beard of any living creature Bear’d ever seen, and that had to count for something. The laughter only drove Bear into a full on tantrum. With gusto the Dwarf threw himself from the road and into the sneaking fiend.
“Nobody laughs at a Dwarf!”
Bear might be small, but he was quite hefty. There were decent sized rocks which weighed less than him. Add on some heavy armor, and thirty pounds of axes, and a body which was only tall enough to hit center mass, and the rocket-formerly-known-as-Bear was quite a force.
He impacted the soldier with a dull thud. If bear didn’t know any better, he’d say that armor might have been smashed, and if the fiend was so unlucky, maybe even a couple of ribs.
“Laughter was part of me’ strategy.” Bear said defiantly, as his feet hit the ground, and his hand now gripped for the smaller of the axes. “So, how would you like to see the warden, or leader, or whatever passes for warden or leader in this camp?”
Unfortunately the Dwarf didn’t know anything about how the camp was structured, he only just got back. However, there were footsteps approaching. Soldiers from the fort, eager to see the commotion. Hopefully Bear got himself a nice pat on the head from Iphigenia for this. Or, well any kind of appreciation would be good, for one so small he certainly liked being noteworthy.
The first thing that entered Ari’s mind was the fact that he’d always been taught never to underestimate his opponents. Then he snapped out of it when he felt the ache in his side. He’d received a shoulder to the ribs. An armoured shoulder. With a surprising amount of force behind it. Surprised. That would be the key word here.
Aradrin sucked in a few breaths of precious air and looked up, dazed and confused. Standing over him with an axe in his hands was the tackler. “You are…” Aradrin sighed, letting his head hit the ground before he forced himself to sit up and look at the half-man. “The hairiest thing I have ever seen.” A jolt of pain shot through his side. He raised his left hand and motioned in front of Bear’s face with it and said. “Why doesn’t all that act as a cushion?” He was part annoyed of having been tackled like that, and part annoyed because he’d let it happen. “I’d like to not see the warden at all… I have a problem with chains."
He’d had the wind knocked out of him in a way he had never tried before. While he sat there and tried to steady his breath and figuring out if he had broken anything, it struck him. What was this person in front of him? Dwarves didn’t exist. Or, well, he’d never seen one. And never met anyone who claimed to have seen one. It wasn’t a child. Far too hairy for that. A really, really short man? Technically that’d be a dwarf...
“Put the axe down, I’m not here to.. Wait, why did you tackle me?” The look of confusion on his face had definitely not lessened. Aradrin slowly got to his feet and leaned against a tree, hearing the sound of footsteps closing in. “I suppose I’ll get to meet the queen now?” He exhaled deeply and winced in pain.
One more look at the person next to him didn’t answer the question of what he was. The closest answer was dwarf, but that was unlikely. The guards who’d heard the commotion appeared through the brush and quickly pointed the weapons at Ari. “Easy, now.” He said and tried his best at a smile to convince them he was friendly. “Let’s just-“ Swiftly, two men pushed him down to his knees and clasped his hands in chains.
Another took his sword and dagger and pushed him with his spear, to make him move forward. “Did you call your friends?” Aradrin asked the half-man. “You’re equally talkative.”
He realised then that he had asked so many questions immediately after their encounter, that he hadn’t given Bear the opportunity to reply.
[i]I had hoped to meet the Queen with some dignity. It’d make it easier to convince her of who I really am.
This captive sure was a talkative one. But, those who met Bear normally were. Those who got tackled by Bear however… well the Dwarf couldn’t remember the last time anyone had gotten up after one of his flying tackles. It had taken the man a few years to perfect that technique. Normally, he used it to slam into the nether-regions of Great bears, and take them down a few pegs. Bear himself, seemed roughly uninjured from the assault. His heavy armor and dedication to technique (or lack thereof) seemed to cushion most of his blow.
“I might be the hairiest and the tiniest thing you’ve ever seen. But I’m also the Dwarfiest… I’ll work on that last part.” Bear didn’t know much when it came to ill will, once a scrap was completed, he was back to his good spirits.
However, the sounds of marching boots had come to interrupt this scuffle. Bear had hoped to go a few rounds with this night stalker, maybe take a few blows and measure the worth of his opponent. But, that was not to be. The soldiers ran in unison. Unlike Bear, they hadn’t stumbled on the scraggly roots of the trees here. Their clearance was good enough to step over tiny obstacles. Soldiers from the camp were mostly, if not entirely, freed slaves. Even when trained to be soldiers they had a long way to go till they lost their brutish gladiator style of fighting. Of course, once they got close enough to identify the situation, they treated the captive like an animal. Their capture was rough, but Bear knew to expect such things.
“Are the chains really necessary? The man said he didn’t like chains. “ Bear put his axe to his side, and began to lean on it. His hands fiddled for a pipe and some Halfling weed before putting it in his mouth and lighting it.
Of course, Bear knew he was in no place to be giving orders. These men had stayed with the troupe while the Dwarf had gone home. If he could have demanded, he’d have told them to take this prisoner directly to Iphigenia. But it never hurt to ask. These men in particular Bear had met before. They were all slaves with the Dwarf back in the pens. So, he figured, at the very least he could ask them to do him a simple favor.
“Could ya tell Iphy I’m back, and I caught her a prisoner? Oh! And I made her a present too. It’s as pretty as she is. And a damn sight prettier than any rose ya’d find ‘round here.”One of the men Bear knew by name. In the pens, the others had called him the ravager. He was big, hulking muscles, and bald. Rarely did he wear armor, preferring an all-out attack to defense. Bear and the Ravager had met once before on the fields of battle. They had managed a tie, only because Bear had a style which relied on shielding himself from blows. Even with their sordid history, however, there was still respect between these two men. But, this didn’t mean that the man would be delivering every word of Bear’s message. No, Bear would have to deliver the finer details himself. Not many survived the Ravagers swords, and those that did could rely on him to be a comrade. A solid grunt would be all the confirmation of this request. No doubt the prisoner would be brought to a tent, or holding cell of some kind. But, at least Iphigenia would be the first to know.
“I’ve done all I can for ya, night man. If you ever get yourself out of this situation, come on by for another fight. You’ve got spirit, and you’d probably do a damn sight better on me than most.” Bear was all for compliments. Even, if the situation wasn’t the best of times to say them. Following the men to the base, Bear would finally have time to establish himself around the camp. He didn’t know how his life would change from here on out, but he was sure it’d be better than it was before.