Thief in the Night
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 85534
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Minestus sailed through the night sky like a shapeless shadow. His yellow, cat-like eyes scanned the rolling plains below, where humans slept in their hovels, oblivious to the winged horror above. These audacious men of the north were trying his patience of late. When he’d last settled down for one of his ‘naps’, they had been nothing more but a few scattered, warring clans - sparse in number and fearful of the mountains. But upon his recent ‘awakening’, he had been horrified to discover that they had spread and multiplied like roaches across the great expanse of the north, and had even built cities within the lower ranges of the Shrekken.Over the years he had driven most of them off, toppled their towers, drank their rivers, burned their fields, and devoured their livestock and children, but still some persisted. This enraged him even further. It wasn’t that they directly threatened him, it’s that they smelled so terribly awful. Humans to him were nothing but filthy worms whose only redeeming value was their amusing sense of importance and the clever metal workings they were sometimes capable of (though the dwarves of yore had TRULY excelled in that craft). And also they made fun experimental play things, and the young ones sometimes made a nice snack. And the death warder? He was still tinkering with his machine! The dragon grew tired of excuses, but lacked the knowledge to operate the Nexus. Something was wrong, though, this he knew. Belboz was holding something back. It was a delicate matter…..… Exotica was sleeping fitfully in the tallest tower of her father’s keep. The door that led to the balcony was open on this moonless summer’s eve, allowing a warm breeze to sweep through the chamber and caress her naked body. Then, still bespelled by Morpheus, she felt an alien presence in her mind.She awoke with a start. “Good evening,” said a low, bone-chilling voice.There, standing at the door to her balcony was a tall, imposing man, his entire body aglow in flame. His eyes, two burning embers, bore into her. She tried to scream out, but could not. She tried to cover her nakedness, but was paralyzed with fear. She felt exposed and violated, but most of all terrified. Minestus licked his lips as he beheld her nubile form. For all of his disdain for humans, he still had an unquenchable thirst for the blood of their virgin daughters. He had grown bored lately, completely and utterly bored. There was no one to challenge him! No one to whom he could display his true might! No one worthy of his unbridled power. He was Minestus the Great! Minestus the Cunning! Minestus the Terrible! He deserved better than this.At least he could toy with this one, the daughter of these men’s ‘great leader’, who fancied himself a ‘king’. At least he could fulfill his basest desires. She looked like a tasty specimen, and he would savor her death like a fine wine. He had been expelled from his Order for such acts of depravity, but he cared little. The dragons of his Order were Lingwyrms at best, no match for his flame and his sorcery. “Don’t be afraid,” he whispered in her mind. “You might even enjoy yourself.”“You’re the Dragon of the Southern Caves, aren’t you?” the princess perceived, though no words left her lips. “You are an insightful one. Some call me Minestus, but you can call me Lord and Master.”“Are you going to hurt me?” “Among other things, yes.”Lord Fred had finished telling his tale to his trusting squire. In his slightly ‘doctored’ version of events, he had placed more importance on his first encounter with the illusory dragon that had guarded over Adele [3775]. He didn’t exactly lie, though he did omit a few important and unimportant details. And it was all terribly rushed and amended. This went against the code by which he had lived his entire life, but these were dark days in Allaria. He must take whatever credit he could. He was now in a position to become one of the most powerful men in the realm, and reassert his family’s waning influence. A rekindled war with the powerful duchy of Trescent had been looming on the horizon - the House of D’Honaire and Mollari had been feuding for a generation now. With his newfound wealth and power, that waspy miscreant Duke Zular Mollari would be forced to submit like the lowly dog he was. “There will be great rejoicing in the streets of Pellgar,” Luc commented as they rode along the dusty trail. “The people there have suffered under Minestus for five long years now. The crumbling walls can finally be repaired and the people will no longer be forced to hide in the smoldering ruins. And you, Frederigo, will be hailed as a hero!” They had now come into the last of the foothills, into a once populated but now abandoned region called Stonewall. The earth was scorched here, and piles of stone gave testament to once great cities. Minestus had truly ravaged this land.For the first time since his strange departure from the caves, the full impact of what had happened finally hit him. Minestus was dead! He found himself being less and less concerned with the plight of the Tellurians, or even their strange machine and their gaudy ring. He was no fool, however. Even the mightiest mages in his land could never come close to unleashing the nebulous powers he had been witness to. For now he could only say a silent prayer for Astra and hope for the best. Matthius’s condition, meanwhile, seemed to be worsening. Fred had done what he could to doctor his wounds, but the man was still out cold. Exotica, too, was exhausted. She would pass out for a few minutes, even as they rode along, but her dreams were plagued with nightmares and she would awaken with a cry of terror. The dragon had not had time to fully have his way with her, but she had had a taste. She would be fine, in the end. Matthias, though, was another story.Meanwhile.....
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Ib
2/4/2009 11:43:36 AM
Extending Enabled
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