Post by Drozgul on Aug 26, 2010 2:35:34 GMT -5
Bolaneer~
Over the drift, Olie spotted the patrol. As the boy turned to warn his new friend, he saw Bolaneer already preparing his effects for a fight. The youth took a breath to speak but thought better of it, and pulled his sword, “Finally I’ll get to use this thing.”
“I don’ think so lad,” he tossed his hefty crossbow to the young man. “Yeh’ll perch there, where I’ve laid yer spot.” He pointed to a large rock where several extra bolts for the weapon lay already. “You set up there, take a shot at tha’ big one the moment he begins his attack. And don’ dare let me see yeh, or I’ll fire back.”
The boy’s recent smile had faded completely. “So just how am I supposed to learn anything from that?”
The small looking dwarf became quite large in presence as he rose and with a hand at Olie’s collar he whispered fiercely, “If you learn nothin’ from one man taking on four armed trolls, then yeh’re too simple to be taught anythin’ at all!” He released his grip, fetched his baldric and belt, and began his movement through the deep snow. “Zug-zug stays here, be sure of it unless I call fer ‘im.” He referred to his pet boar, who snorted hard in the cold.
As the frustrated rogue watched his mentor, he raised the stock up to his shoulder, already loaded, and released the safety lock. The four craning bodies seemed very orderly and ready, with spears and axes, they were formed in a staggered, widespread diamond at the cavern entrance. Zug-zug danced impatiently in wait for his master’s signal.
Bolaneer moved silently through snow that should easily have made its telling crunch sound if not for its fresh powder and his stalking skill. He lay a trap of explosives in the white as flurries slowly drifted down over the scene, the trolls had not yet detected him, though they had easily peered in his direction once or twice.
The work now done, he threw off his hood and charged a line toward the closest of the troupe still without sound, he was spotted only the moment before his first blow landed, setting his axe blade deep into the scout’s unprotected chest. As the others advanced on him, Olie did just as told, and let loose the first heavy quarrel, landing it squarely in the left shoulder of the humanoid.
Bolaneer grinned at the distraction made perfectly, and pried the spear from the hand of the first fallen guard. Wheeling around, he launched it with ease. A well placed shot to the upper thigh, the approaching troll was crippled but not killed. His duplicate from the opposite side had closed and began to swing his axe. With a shift and a bend, Bo’s own axe handle was all that could be seen from Olie’s distance, as it clung to the abdomen of a wincing, dying attacker.
Olie had already prepared his second shot but was unaware of his being spotted. The large target he had shot into was charging toward the boy. His blitzkrieg was made known to him only after the trap had sprung, blasting black snow and dirt into the air. Sparing not even a second, Olie squeezed the trigger again, catching the scorched lower belly. The enraged troll seemed now more fearsome than ever, as he rushed again, blindly though it seemed, toward the rocks.
The hardy dwarf ripped one of his blades back from its bloody sheath, and delivered a true, sturdy swing that splintered the skull of his failing competitor. He already knew from the explosion that Olie was in possible danger. “Shoot, dammit!” he hoped under his breath.
Olie’s fingers were damp with sweat as the third bolt finally cranked into ready position. As the final shaft was tripped, his mark had taken a leap up to him, swinging down madly, catching the shot neatly between chipped tusks. Dropping hard against stone, its eyes glared back at Olie in defeat.
His first kill had made him proud and also more aware. It may have been his own life if not for his reaction and training. He only wished he were sure his teacher had seen him, to know he had used his knowledge well.
Bolaneer trekked back to his companions, gathering his weapons and brushing the fresh blood off in the bright snow. Replacing his effects once more, he reached into his pack for a truffle for his pig. Zug-zug dug into the powder after his treat, grunting happily.
“You didn’t call for him, why not?” Olie posed.
“Because I was relyin’ on yeh ter look after ‘im, and yeh did just tha‘. Yeh can’t ‘ave done tha’ with him running all abou‘.” Bo was looking over the messy scene. “Besides, now I know yeh ‘ave what it takes ter save yer own skin.”
As they picked up their things, and prepared to enter the cave, storm clouds began to move overhead.
“Jus’ perfect! Now we’ll have ter move in and, stay there ter keep from freezin‘. Zug-zug will have ter keep with the wagon overnigh‘, he’ll be makin’ too much noise in a cave we’re not sure is empty. And yeh can be certain its not empty the way they were watchin’ her.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The cave mouth sentinels were much easier to dispatch then he expected, still he would not let on to his young companion that this was true for fear the lad’s ego would overtake his rising confidence. Bolaneer gazed once more to the broken ice troll bodies before leaving them to be sure they were finished, and then continued with his infiltration. Their study of the lair would take them deeper tonight; perhaps even finish the job here and now if the chips fell true.
“There, lad” Bo uttered quietly. He pointed to a crag that would easily hide the lithe figure of Olie, and the boy followed his word as quickly as it had been given with the knowledge that the dwarf had saved his life a handful of times already with but only a word or two. After a step into the shadow, where he knew Olie would not be able to see well, he was already quite aware he had gone a step too far without his faithful shadow.
Bolaneer had only just caught the scent of the freshly sharpened steel that parted the air in front of him. The scene carried on as though in slow motion when Bo drew up his crossbow haft into the swing burying deep in its splinters, disarming the first of what he now knew to be an ambush party. Pulling at the head of his hip-harnessed axe he thrust it straight up, splitting his assailant’s chin, dropping him.
“On me heels boy!” He heard the footsteps and then a few more to follow as he led the young novice into the darkness blindly. A breath later and a spilling of marbles on stone caught his ear, bringing the corner of his mouth up. “Very clever boy,” he thought to himself, “now yeh’re thinking.” The bodies behind slipped to the slate helplessly detained. “More ahead now,” he barked. “Make a light’ so I don’t have to watch your wee arse!”
Olie’s crackle of tinder singed his nostrils, but the light only revealed his very fear. There were three more of them now, clinging to the walls around them in the small arched circle where he and Bo now stood back to back. After a flicker the forms kicked off their marks and were upon them instantly. Without enough time to react, the boy caught a heel under his eye, sprawling him against Bolaneer’s broad back. The torch hit stone, and already began to flicker low, in the seconds it took for the dwarf’s axe handle to bludgeon one silhouette a square head shot; he wrapped it around and cut deep into the hip of another. Loosing his grip, the dwarf pulled his crossbow again to shoot the bleeder to death, spinning the butt in his hands instantly to use the sword that still clung to the stock. He cross-framed his weapons as a shield deflecting blow after blow, baiting the enemy into revealing a weakness in his speed. Dropping the weapon from one hand he sacrificed a bare fist strike into his own strong jaw to allow his soon victim to hook his own foot within the bow and string. With a dipping motion he lifted, the splitting sound of skull on rock immediately followed by an outcry confirmed his trap succeeded. This target now owned his dead comrade’s blade, sheathed heavily in his sternum. The entwined effects a crude display.
His ears caught the running footsteps beyond Olie’s scattered marbles, moving away quickly. Over his shoulder, as he finally drew an easy breath, he heard quiet. The stillness was already taking that air from his lungs. His eyes found his familiar shadow, unmoving, a single sturdy knife buried in his back. Bolaneer’s instinct was to chase the coward, but his feet did not move at this suggestion.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bolaneer’s blade edge bit into the hardest earth he’d ever struck. Never before had his arms felt so heavy with a swing of the familiar haft. The last inch of dirt was removed with as great of difficulty as the first. The only easy part was covering the young face below the soil, so he’d no longer have to see the empty eyes looking back.
The tools in the bag left behind allowed the dwarf to carve a few words into the simple handle of the freshly polished short sword.
“Never even got to draw the damned thing,” he huffed, his chest pounding with stubborn anger.
He stood looking at the sight a long moment to be sure it was as proper as he could muster. He mouthed the notched words one last time for the storm clouds to see overhead, they were for no one else.
-A BOY IN MY SHADOW STOOD A MAN APART-
Clambering up into the creaky wagon seat, he reached for the reigns, only to realize they were still looped to the side opposite him. Leaving the space on the bench, he gently snapped the leather, and began to move away from the site.
~~~~~~~~~~
The freezing rain streamed from the cave mouth until early morning as he sat, tugging on his pipe. The day prior was washing over him just as the rain moved the soil outside. He had taken the time to get away a few miles before resting. The tobacco’s sweet taste hung on the pipe stem as he drew slowly from it. Olie had packed Bo’s tobacco pouch with his own blend as promised the day before, even as the dwarf had forbade it. It was the only keepsake he would retain, until even it would be smoked away. As the sun rose over the snowy steppes he stood to declare with a nod that he needn’t bother sleeping today.
Over the drift, Olie spotted the patrol. As the boy turned to warn his new friend, he saw Bolaneer already preparing his effects for a fight. The youth took a breath to speak but thought better of it, and pulled his sword, “Finally I’ll get to use this thing.”
“I don’ think so lad,” he tossed his hefty crossbow to the young man. “Yeh’ll perch there, where I’ve laid yer spot.” He pointed to a large rock where several extra bolts for the weapon lay already. “You set up there, take a shot at tha’ big one the moment he begins his attack. And don’ dare let me see yeh, or I’ll fire back.”
The boy’s recent smile had faded completely. “So just how am I supposed to learn anything from that?”
The small looking dwarf became quite large in presence as he rose and with a hand at Olie’s collar he whispered fiercely, “If you learn nothin’ from one man taking on four armed trolls, then yeh’re too simple to be taught anythin’ at all!” He released his grip, fetched his baldric and belt, and began his movement through the deep snow. “Zug-zug stays here, be sure of it unless I call fer ‘im.” He referred to his pet boar, who snorted hard in the cold.
As the frustrated rogue watched his mentor, he raised the stock up to his shoulder, already loaded, and released the safety lock. The four craning bodies seemed very orderly and ready, with spears and axes, they were formed in a staggered, widespread diamond at the cavern entrance. Zug-zug danced impatiently in wait for his master’s signal.
Bolaneer moved silently through snow that should easily have made its telling crunch sound if not for its fresh powder and his stalking skill. He lay a trap of explosives in the white as flurries slowly drifted down over the scene, the trolls had not yet detected him, though they had easily peered in his direction once or twice.
The work now done, he threw off his hood and charged a line toward the closest of the troupe still without sound, he was spotted only the moment before his first blow landed, setting his axe blade deep into the scout’s unprotected chest. As the others advanced on him, Olie did just as told, and let loose the first heavy quarrel, landing it squarely in the left shoulder of the humanoid.
Bolaneer grinned at the distraction made perfectly, and pried the spear from the hand of the first fallen guard. Wheeling around, he launched it with ease. A well placed shot to the upper thigh, the approaching troll was crippled but not killed. His duplicate from the opposite side had closed and began to swing his axe. With a shift and a bend, Bo’s own axe handle was all that could be seen from Olie’s distance, as it clung to the abdomen of a wincing, dying attacker.
Olie had already prepared his second shot but was unaware of his being spotted. The large target he had shot into was charging toward the boy. His blitzkrieg was made known to him only after the trap had sprung, blasting black snow and dirt into the air. Sparing not even a second, Olie squeezed the trigger again, catching the scorched lower belly. The enraged troll seemed now more fearsome than ever, as he rushed again, blindly though it seemed, toward the rocks.
The hardy dwarf ripped one of his blades back from its bloody sheath, and delivered a true, sturdy swing that splintered the skull of his failing competitor. He already knew from the explosion that Olie was in possible danger. “Shoot, dammit!” he hoped under his breath.
Olie’s fingers were damp with sweat as the third bolt finally cranked into ready position. As the final shaft was tripped, his mark had taken a leap up to him, swinging down madly, catching the shot neatly between chipped tusks. Dropping hard against stone, its eyes glared back at Olie in defeat.
His first kill had made him proud and also more aware. It may have been his own life if not for his reaction and training. He only wished he were sure his teacher had seen him, to know he had used his knowledge well.
Bolaneer trekked back to his companions, gathering his weapons and brushing the fresh blood off in the bright snow. Replacing his effects once more, he reached into his pack for a truffle for his pig. Zug-zug dug into the powder after his treat, grunting happily.
“You didn’t call for him, why not?” Olie posed.
“Because I was relyin’ on yeh ter look after ‘im, and yeh did just tha‘. Yeh can’t ‘ave done tha’ with him running all abou‘.” Bo was looking over the messy scene. “Besides, now I know yeh ‘ave what it takes ter save yer own skin.”
As they picked up their things, and prepared to enter the cave, storm clouds began to move overhead.
“Jus’ perfect! Now we’ll have ter move in and, stay there ter keep from freezin‘. Zug-zug will have ter keep with the wagon overnigh‘, he’ll be makin’ too much noise in a cave we’re not sure is empty. And yeh can be certain its not empty the way they were watchin’ her.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The cave mouth sentinels were much easier to dispatch then he expected, still he would not let on to his young companion that this was true for fear the lad’s ego would overtake his rising confidence. Bolaneer gazed once more to the broken ice troll bodies before leaving them to be sure they were finished, and then continued with his infiltration. Their study of the lair would take them deeper tonight; perhaps even finish the job here and now if the chips fell true.
“There, lad” Bo uttered quietly. He pointed to a crag that would easily hide the lithe figure of Olie, and the boy followed his word as quickly as it had been given with the knowledge that the dwarf had saved his life a handful of times already with but only a word or two. After a step into the shadow, where he knew Olie would not be able to see well, he was already quite aware he had gone a step too far without his faithful shadow.
Bolaneer had only just caught the scent of the freshly sharpened steel that parted the air in front of him. The scene carried on as though in slow motion when Bo drew up his crossbow haft into the swing burying deep in its splinters, disarming the first of what he now knew to be an ambush party. Pulling at the head of his hip-harnessed axe he thrust it straight up, splitting his assailant’s chin, dropping him.
“On me heels boy!” He heard the footsteps and then a few more to follow as he led the young novice into the darkness blindly. A breath later and a spilling of marbles on stone caught his ear, bringing the corner of his mouth up. “Very clever boy,” he thought to himself, “now yeh’re thinking.” The bodies behind slipped to the slate helplessly detained. “More ahead now,” he barked. “Make a light’ so I don’t have to watch your wee arse!”
Olie’s crackle of tinder singed his nostrils, but the light only revealed his very fear. There were three more of them now, clinging to the walls around them in the small arched circle where he and Bo now stood back to back. After a flicker the forms kicked off their marks and were upon them instantly. Without enough time to react, the boy caught a heel under his eye, sprawling him against Bolaneer’s broad back. The torch hit stone, and already began to flicker low, in the seconds it took for the dwarf’s axe handle to bludgeon one silhouette a square head shot; he wrapped it around and cut deep into the hip of another. Loosing his grip, the dwarf pulled his crossbow again to shoot the bleeder to death, spinning the butt in his hands instantly to use the sword that still clung to the stock. He cross-framed his weapons as a shield deflecting blow after blow, baiting the enemy into revealing a weakness in his speed. Dropping the weapon from one hand he sacrificed a bare fist strike into his own strong jaw to allow his soon victim to hook his own foot within the bow and string. With a dipping motion he lifted, the splitting sound of skull on rock immediately followed by an outcry confirmed his trap succeeded. This target now owned his dead comrade’s blade, sheathed heavily in his sternum. The entwined effects a crude display.
His ears caught the running footsteps beyond Olie’s scattered marbles, moving away quickly. Over his shoulder, as he finally drew an easy breath, he heard quiet. The stillness was already taking that air from his lungs. His eyes found his familiar shadow, unmoving, a single sturdy knife buried in his back. Bolaneer’s instinct was to chase the coward, but his feet did not move at this suggestion.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bolaneer’s blade edge bit into the hardest earth he’d ever struck. Never before had his arms felt so heavy with a swing of the familiar haft. The last inch of dirt was removed with as great of difficulty as the first. The only easy part was covering the young face below the soil, so he’d no longer have to see the empty eyes looking back.
The tools in the bag left behind allowed the dwarf to carve a few words into the simple handle of the freshly polished short sword.
“Never even got to draw the damned thing,” he huffed, his chest pounding with stubborn anger.
He stood looking at the sight a long moment to be sure it was as proper as he could muster. He mouthed the notched words one last time for the storm clouds to see overhead, they were for no one else.
-A BOY IN MY SHADOW STOOD A MAN APART-
Clambering up into the creaky wagon seat, he reached for the reigns, only to realize they were still looped to the side opposite him. Leaving the space on the bench, he gently snapped the leather, and began to move away from the site.
~~~~~~~~~~
The freezing rain streamed from the cave mouth until early morning as he sat, tugging on his pipe. The day prior was washing over him just as the rain moved the soil outside. He had taken the time to get away a few miles before resting. The tobacco’s sweet taste hung on the pipe stem as he drew slowly from it. Olie had packed Bo’s tobacco pouch with his own blend as promised the day before, even as the dwarf had forbade it. It was the only keepsake he would retain, until even it would be smoked away. As the sun rose over the snowy steppes he stood to declare with a nod that he needn’t bother sleeping today.