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 Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:40 pm
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Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:43 pm
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prologue......
As we moved into the pathetic decaying town, our battalion would split into two groups, one would head to the south entrance of the town. This would cut off any escape for the rebels. I paced myself so that I stayed up with the other royal guards. It was strange, I had train with so many of them yet I knew not one name. Our captain held up his paw. "Stop, this is where we will split. Remember we live for the empire. Fight well and die with honor." The captain then turned and headed with the other group to the south entrance. This was my chance to prove myself. I was to lead this group into the last known rebel gathering place. The Wandering Fox, the local tavern. I adjusted my sword, check to make sure it wasn't sticking in its sheath. The broadsword gleamed as it slid out, the Royal insignia standing out like a lone star on a clear night. It was a Lion with a rose in its mouth. The emperor being a lion Fur. It was said that he found a lone rose in a field during the aftermath of a great battle. When he picked it, a strange woman approached him and told him that he was to leave the humans side and build a castle here. The emperor followed the old womans words, creating the vast empire of Seriya. I motioned for the men to follow me, we ran half crouched through the village, pads on the bottom of our feet keeping our footsteps quiet. As we reached the tavern, we could hear laughter and loud conversations taking place in side. I went lower putting one paw to my sword. Suddenly blood sprayed the side of my face. Yelling filled the air, followed by the whistling of arrows. "It's a trap fall back!" I yelled sword out in my paw. Rebels came flooding out of the tavern. As the first one reached me, I deftly knocked his thrust away and split him from neck to belly. But before he had even fallen, two more had taken his place. The fighting was choatic, I stuck at whatever moved near me, heart racing my only thought was to escape. I had lost all means of time, after what had seemed a eternity it was over. I stood, fur matted with blood and dirt, cuts and scrapes throbbing with a steady ache as the adrenaline left my body. I fell to my knees, gazing over the dead bodies lying in the dusty town road sun glowing off the blood. I tried to make sense of what had happened, when a old woman suddenly came out of the tavern. I could do nothing but watch as she slowly moved to me. She layed a paw on my shoulder. "What is the matter, young one?" she asked the air. "You.......your blind." I gaped. The old woman laughed, "Yes, I do believe I am. Now tell me what is the matter?" She was a owl Fur, also called a Avian. She looked at me, waiting for the answer. "My men........I failed..........this.........this wasn't supposed to happen." I stammered. "Why is that my child?" She asked calmly.
"Wha..........well........we were better prepared, they shouldn't have known we were coming............I was to prove myself here, now I must return in shame?" I said dejected, I couldn't go back as a failure. I would be killed or worse exiled. "Are you so sure? Could it not be that you were meant for a different destiny?"
"What......What do you mean?" I asked standing and backing away from the strange old Fur. She said nothing, instead pointed at the base of an old oak standing a few feet away, there was a rebel slumped against it. He was alive.
I moved swiftly, sword flashing in the late sun as it found it's way to the rebel's neck. Wham! I felt a sharp blow to the side of my head, turning with the blow found myself pointing my sword at the old woman, who in turn was pointing her walking stick at me. "What the devil are you doing, you old hag!" I screamed at her as the beginnings of blood trickled down the side of my head. "Mind your tongue whelp! You must listen to what this child has to say." She returned. I laughed, "You expect me to listen to what some filthy rebel has to say." I spat at her. Conversations with known rebels was considered high treason, and punished by death.
"Sh........shut up......you.....b*****d...." The rebel gasped. I pounced at him once more my blade found his furred throat. The Dingo Fur gasped then was thrown into a fit of coughing, blood appearing on my blade. "You must tell him quickly my child." The old woman said kneeling next to the wounded Fur, laying a feathered arm on his shoulder. "Are you sure it is him, ancient one. He cares nothing for the people." The rebel gasped to the old woman. "Wait.....What do you mean I care nothing for the people, We protect the citizens of Seriya in every action we take. We live for the empire." I said defensively. "Yes........the empire but not it's..pe...people.
We....suffer everyday...under heavy taxes...under abuse by you Royal Guards. The economy is failing, the land rotting......look...look at this town. How can....you be so blind? The rebel visibly seem to be straining to continue talking. I tried to summon a argument but each one seemed weak in the face of the desolate land around us. "Surely It can't be like this everywhere." I said, the empire couldn't have let things get as bad as this.
"No.......it's....much....worse." The rebel said with his last breath. I stood staring at the dead Fur, thoughts racing in my head. "I'm not going back to the Castle, am I?" I asked the old woman. She laughed "Well now that would be up to you. But the decision now is whether you want to." She said softly. "I......don't know. I have to find out what is really going on." I said. The old woman simply nodded. I began to stripe off the royal guard armor, it was so much a part of me it was like tearing of one arm. I felt unbalanced without it. I picked up my broad sword, lifting it I stared at the empire's insignia. I sheathed it and began walking. "Where are you off to, young one?" the old woman asked.
"I don't known nor do I care." I said stoically. I continued down the dirt road with night pressing down on all sides, till the decaying little town could no longer be seen.
Chapter 1
Three years have passed since that fateful day, I now find myself sitting in the local tavern of Grestil, south of the Seriya border. The humans around me were so loud. The hood of my cloak is pulled low hiding the fur of my face. My hands gloved and I sat at a table in a corner decorated in shadow, Furs were rarely welcome in the humans' realm of domain. That isn't to say that all humans hated Furs, but the majority always won. So I hid myself from the empire and the humans, all but a few, working as a ronin, a traveling swordsman. Doing whatever I could to survive, honing my swordsmanship along the way. The barmaid brought me another mug of ale. Vile stuff, but after days of traveling I was gripped with thirst. I stood, leaving gold on the table. Draining the last of the ale, I moved silently between the humans careful not to draw attention to myself. As I left the tavern, the cool air of a spring night hit me. I breathed deep, It helped clear the headache gained from the roar inside the tavern. I readjusted my katana. It was called Kitetsu, the polished wooden sheath felt familiar and warm in my paw, the gloves had come off once I left the tavern. The handle was rose wood, wrapped in a treated leather bind. The Tsuba or the guard depicted a rose wrapped around grave. I stared down the road, lowering my hood as I went. "I knew it, your a fur devil." I froze. s**t, I should have waited till I was away from the town. I thought to myself, turning I saw the owner of the angry voice. A middle age man wearing the clothes of a middle ranked noble holding a rapier was glaring at me, body tense with bloodlust. "please, I don't want trouble and you want to keep your life." I said calmly moving my paw to Kitetsu. I never heard what the man said next as his throat exploded, point of a small katana pointing through dripping his life blood. I instantly had Kitetsu out and ready the slightly curved blade glowed in the moonlight. The man fell, dead before he had even hit the ground. Just behind him holding a blood stained Ebony handled black bladed katana was a young human girl. She stood about my height and was dressed in dark assassin garb. "Ceri, why are you here? You didn't have to kill him you know." I said sheathing Kitetsu. The girl, Ceridwen Morte, sheathed the black blade, Sol Katti next to it's sister sword the Ivory handled katana Mani Katti. "He was going to attack you, so I killed him. We are even now." Ceri said without emotion. "Yes......well......thank you then." She was referring to the time she had been hit with a stray arrow in battle and was dying. I had come upon the aftermath of the battle, seeing her move went to investigate. I nursed her back to health, though I told her she owed me nothing she insisted on repaying me. "Come, I will accompany you to the next town." She said, without waiting for me to answer set off down the road. I turned back to the lifeless form lying in the road. I felt no remorse, too often the ignorance of man cause his own death. I set off after Ceri, padded feet silent on the road next to Ceri's boots. I wasn't sure whether or not it was a good thing she decided to travel with me.
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Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:44 pm
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:39 pm
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:03 pm
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We stopped some time after the sun had set. I dropped my pack and began to build a fire to warm us, as the cold of night crept up. Ceri sat and began to clean and resharpen Sol Katti, the blood had already been wiped off as it caused the blade to stick in the sheath. After I had successfully built a roaring fire to chase the night cold touch away, I began to shed my armor. "What are you doing?" Ceri asked freezing. "We need meat........well, I need meat. So I'm going to hunt." I responded studying her, not much could put Ceri on edge and I was surprised to see that it was something I had done. Once I was down to my trousers and nothing more, I set out away from the camp site. "I'll be back in a little while." I said over my shoulder. "Don't die." Ceri said sarcastically. I ignored her and went low, placing my front paws on the ground. I took off into the darkness low and fast, eyes glowing into the blackness of the night. It wasn't a problem of vision, it was a problem of scarcity. There just wasn't enough wildlife in this barren region. I sensed movement off to the left, turning on the spot I quietly and quickly closed the distance. A wild buck, My mouth began to drool, venison was a commodity in this region. To find such a supple buck was good fortune indeed. I went even lower, allowing the brush to cover me. Stilled my breathing and stalked the buck till I was in striking range, I crouched lower till my belly was touching the cool earth. I stayed there tensed for a second, then I pounced. Letting all the tension spring up through my muscles I hit the buck just as it looked up into my eyes. My claws raked the sides of it's muscular body as it bucked and kicked franticly fighting for its life. My teeth found its throat and bit hard, locking into its beating pulse. Warm blood washed over my muzzle as the life and the fight slowly died out of the bucks eyes. I stood letting the trill and the adrenaline of the hunt fade from me. I lifted the buck and laid it over my shoulders. Making my way back to the faint light of the fire, I reached the edge of camp and dropped the buck next to the fire. Ceri stared at me, I stare at Ceri. She had stripped most of her upper armor and leather off, so that she was barely dressed. I couldn't tear my eyes away, in the three months we traveled together before I had never seen her take off her gear, unless it was to bathe. "What are you staring at?" She asked smirking. "Nothing, you just have always kept your armor on before." I said looking away, and speaking to the night air. I sat down and proceeded to gut and clean the buck, Ceri still smirking at me. "What have you been up to the past months or would that be year?" Ceri asked returning to her work on Sol Katti. "The same wondering." I replied, not looking up from the deer. I stood to retrieve a stick for the use of a roasting spit. Once I had constructed my roasting spit and had the venison over the flame I settled back, eyes once more finding Ceri's revealed flesh. The animal instincts of Furs were pretty restrained to the three most essential, Food, Mating, and Safety. I had long been deprived of two. "Tell me something, Ceri. Why, if we are even now, are you traveling with me?" I asked staring across the fire at her. "I need your help." She replied bluntly. "Oh, and what with?" I was interested now, as Ceri never works with others. "You're former home took someone from me. I want her back." Ceri said the last with gritted teeth and a very cold look in her eyes. "Seriya, I have not returned after finding out that the emperor starves his people and lets his kingdom rot from the inside out."
I said looking down as memories streamed back into my mind's eye.
"I know, but there is no other I trust. I can not do this alone." She pleaded, that causing me worry more than anything else could have. "Ok, you know I'm happy to help a friend." Ceri smiled weakly. I frowned, though Ceri and I had been through much together, you could never tell just what side she stood on. I was sure that it was just part of the assassin package though, reaching out to see if the meat was cooked yet.
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Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:44 pm
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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:38 am
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