By: Chryseas Posted on: July 31, 2010
Keen eyes examined the plains around him, anything could be hiding out there. A stray hair of auburn fell across his face and he blew out a breath with his mouth to get it away. The wind was very soft and gentle today in the Sangre, but still troublesome at times.
He flexed his dominant right arm and gripped his shortsword tighter. His left
hand did the same with its weapon as he tensed. Right foot, left foot, he
stalked across the plains, keeping downwind. Icy blue eyes swept across the
horizon and found themselves lock upon a noble buffalo. He had hunted buffalo
before, they were fierce but nothing he couldn't handle.
Quietly, creeping up he waited until the last moment to step upwind from the
buffalo, facing his opponent head on. There was no honour in taking an enemy
from behind, even if the enemy were a non-sentient creature who gnawed grass. He
slashed with his right sword, diagonally left down to the right, across the
buffalo's face. Again, he slashed in quick succession, left sword across the
buffalo's temples, not quite as deep as the first cut.
He stumbled backwards as the buffalo head butted his abdomen, his lithe Mhun
body not able to take such a force and nearly landed on his rump. Gritting his
teeth, he quickly took an offensive stance before the buffalo could attack him
again. Sparing only a moment of thought to his timing, he advanced again, both
swords attacking back to back. He side stepped the next headbutt, but still got
clipped by that massive head on his hip, spinning him aside.
"By the Great Mhunna!!" he cried and plunged his two swords into the buffalo at
the same time. The corpse twitched and then finally heaved one last breath.
He felt a stray hair on his forehead again and wiped it away, but a white
feather was what left and drifted off into the distance.
"Curious..." he mumbled to himself.
A groundhog popped up next to his feet and he nearly jumped. Only a warrior's
training kept his body calm and he lunged. The groundhog seemed to giggle at him
as it ducked back underground, missing the blades he sent towards it.
Suddenly, another groundhog popped up to his left, then disappeared just as
quickly. Another. Another. Again...
"What in the name...???" He sliced his blades out in a circled arc around him.
None of the blades landing a hit. He touched his mindseye tattoo, assuring
himself he wasn't hallucinating behind blind eyes.
Suddenly, he looked up from the holes at his feet and found he was in a sea of
groundhogs. 'Oi... this is worse than getting teamed in Manara. Crafty devils!'
he thought to himself.
The wind blew harder and he was surrounded by the stench of dampness and
oppression. Gnolls gave their toothiest grins as they brought their weapons down
upon his body.
The pulsing, stabbing pain in his arm from the wound lasted only a moment before
sheer will to live forced him to parry for all he was worth. Enraged, he filled
himself with steel. He sliced. Right. Left. Doubleslash.
His vision was impeded, he couldn't spare a moment to wipe the hair that kept
falling in his eyes. He blinked, gnoll teeth, gnoll sword. Blinked again,
feathers...?? Slash!
His arms were bloodied to his elbows, but he stood triumphant. Four gnolls lay
at his feet, in varying positions, faces arrayed in visages of true death. His
own wide grin was unmistakeable as he collected the coins from around the dead
bodies. Gold glistened in the minimal light.
Each time he picked up a beautifully, shiny gold sovereign, he closed his fist
around it on the ground and lifted it to find a feather in his palm. A feather
so pristine and snow white, it also seemed to glisten like diamond dust...
"Son, what in all of SAPIENCE are you up to?? You screamed like a wounded bear!"
A voice in the distance called.
Stunned out of his idle reverie of the feather, he looked around. He was in his
room. His training swords were gripped tightly in his fists and his bedding was
strewn around the entire room. Pillows looking like they had been heaved across
the room exploded in feathers where they fell. A Mhojave falcon and various pet
birds squawked loudly amidst the rubble that was now his room.
He looked up at the voice's speaker then with a slightly flushed grimace on his
face. "Hi mom... Umm, practicing?"