Velus in the Vale, part II
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 19360
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"Hoooooooooeeeeeee! HOOOOOOoooooooooWAH! WooooooooooeeeeEEE!...."
The nightmarish howls echoed in his ear as Velus awoke in a cold sweat. A mist seemed to blur his vision for several moments. He staggered around his small room over towards a table and poured a basin of water on his head. The mist did not clear. "Velus, you've got to get over this..." He told himself, shaking in the knees as he did so. His head began to twirl and the room began to spin. He fell to the ground with a thud!The fall wasn't bad enough to knock him out, but he did bruise his head and cut it slightly. He put his hand to the wound to see if their was any blood. "BY THE GODS!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!"His hand was covered in a gray blood. He began to tremble uncontrollably. This was just too much for him, everything went black.Thirty minutes later Velus (his head in a bandage and still unconscious) was on the winding road to Shadowdale, his brother at the reins of the swift family horse. The day had brought many strange omens for Zephyros. First he had awoke just before dawn, as he always did, and had opened the front door only to be greeted by a dead, black serpent; the likes of which he had never seen. A strange rune in fiery red marked it's largish head. Strangely, at the same time, a sense of responsibility had suddenly overwhelmed him. As if the gods has taken the weight of the Shreken and laid it on his shoulders. Without really knowing what he was doing he took the snake and hid it in a bag, hiding it from his entire family. Besides, his father would probably blame the cat and then skin it alive, but Zephyros knew that it must have been brought by something else.The bittersweet singing of the morning birds suddenly caught his ear. He had come to learn the subtle speach of the birds, although he had to be silent and quiet down his thoughts to do so.... Chirp-chirp! Gray souls! Black souls! Chirp! That moan like wounded doves! We hear them, we fly! Leave Havnheim sky! The shadows grow deep, and no longer sleep! We fly! We fly!Zephyros scratched his head. Birds would often sing queer songs, but this was the weirdest one he had ever heard. Then he had heard Velus scream in terror.*** The old monk was standing over the bed where Velus lay, shaking his head. He was all the little Vale had in the way of a wizard (so to speak)-and so he deserved some respect. His fireworks were average and his elixirs were weak, warts he charmed off often reappeared days later, and of a much larger size; tomatoes he enchanted usually only ended up growing slightly bigger and would often times turn purple or white. Dried up cows he would bless would...well, you get the point. But as much as magic-users were distrusted, they were also needed. Most of his skill lay in the arte of healing and meditating, anyway. So he was the village (and valley's) wizard like Gluck was the village (and valley's) scribe-by default. Shadowdale made due with badly written records and inefficient spells for this generation."They never told us about this in the monasteries in Luthor." He mumbled as he ground a dried herb with a mortar and pestle. "This is black magic, mind you. He probably brought some curse back with him from the Dragon's Cave! I feared this weeks ago when Mayderry Two-River brought him to me. You'd have to be blind not to recognize it! I hope he hasn't brought a curse to the whole Vale!" Zephyros grew a little angry. "Velus has brought no curse to anyone! Maybe if you could read half of the scrolls in your library you'd be more educated as to his condition!"The monk huffed. "Now listen here, young man! You best choose your words carefully! There are strange rumors running round the mill ever since the destruction of Penn, and indeed sometime before. If your family has brought a curse to this valley..." "I see that you have nothing useful to tell and no knowledge to help my brother with, so I will be leaving now..." Zephyros had had enough and was ready to leave."Not so fast." The monk blocked Zephyros's way. "I must send word to my brothers and sisters! I will not let him out of my sight until..." POP!The monk never saw the mean left hook that Zephyros sent him, but he sure did feel it. He fell to the ground. Zephyros quickly grabbed his brother and dragged him out of the the steepled tower."This is bad." The younger Westwind said to himself as he sped past the last round building of Shadowdale, the Whispering Willow Inn, back towards the farm in the hills that overlooked the valley. "This is really bad." He suddenly stopped his horse. It occured to him that he could not go home. He had already gathered all of Velus's things anyway (and had marveled at the armor, sword, and scroll velus had brought), but he knew to go home was to bring trouble to his entire family. He had a horse (He was a little sorry he had to take it from his family), a little money, and all that he needed to survive in the wilds. It also occured to him of a man who could help, an infamous man in most of Allaria (and associated with a dark Guild of assasins), but a local hero in the Vale. The man that had originally formed and trained the Fellowship of the Black Hand. He would also need to tell the leader the news of the dead Fellows in Olde Nelon. He changed directions and sped towards the stone keep in the hills.
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Ib
4/4/2002 1:36:06 PM
Extending Enabled
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