Acheval
05-05-2006, 03:01 PM
By Barry K
I used to wonder how these types of situations occurred. The stories about how a person could fall into such a bad situation with no feasible way out and no time left to think about an escape. I used to wonder how this happened and how the hell they thought they could turn it around. Today that person is me and I guess the answer to that question is simple. They thought they could turn it around because there was no other way to go. They just didn't have any other choice but to keep walking down that path of destruction and hope that there would be a turn up ahead that would lead them back to where they once went wrong. It was wishful thinking if I thought that I could turn this mess around.
I feel like a ghost trapped in Pandora's Box.
'Its not over yet' I keep telling myself but as the beads of sweat trickle down my forehead and soak into my dark hair before landing abruptly in the murky swamp I start to lose hope. I feel queasy being tied upside-down and having to view the tall trees that make an arena out of the gloomy marsh. These trees with their slender gray branches that extend as far as two griffin wingspans; it's almost as if they could reach down and choke me to death.
Is it bad if I wish they would? As I said, there's no easy way out and the sentry guards don't help my confidence. Surrounding my position are murderous hell hounds that are watched by a number of Minotaur slaves. These hired hands are in pairs and located at four different spots near where I am tied up. Even their axes seem to be anticipating the death of a Dragon Knight. Looking on the bright side, the brutes appear to be pre-occupied with the elf across the bog. This is the poor lonely soul I quested to save.
My self-appointed objective was to save this stranger elf of Irollan on my journey back to base. I was returning to speak with my superior commander for reasons only he would know. However, I over heard from a banished mage at one of the numerous taverns in Talonguard say that he had learned of a message passed down from Sar-Badon's death bed. This mage spoke of new orders that were going to be given to many if not all Dragon Knights and this news troubled me.
I was roughly a quarter of the way back to base camp when I caught the trail of these damned infidels. I heard screams and judged that the elf was being tormented, possibly kidnapped by these hired hands. Her cries tore through the night sky as a unicorn€s horn would tear through an enemy on the battlefield
The elf must be of some significance to my captors. They sure are paying a lot of attention to her. My guess is either they want to hear a confession about something or they just enjoy harrowing a helpless soul. I must do something to free myself! Yet with my hands and feet tied to this hulk of a tree, it will take some time to cut loose.
€œAre the chances of you Bull-headed Freaks smelling good about as good as me escaping?€ I taunt outwards to no one in particular. Just then the largest of the Minotaurs turns and strides towards my position swaying side to side as he marches towards me. His stench beats him to the spot. I cringe and tell him again how beautiful his natural odor is.
€œYou speak from a point of no authority. Close you mouth or you will lose it.€ The large Minotaur retorted.
I€m stunned. Two full sentences from a Minotaur! Understanding the language of men was hard to find in these animals but this one spoke it clear as day. Now€s my chance, I can€t let him get any farther away from me; just a little more time until I can fight back.
€œIf you are to kill me at least give me a reason for capturing the elf.€
€œYou€ve spoken your last word. Die foolish Knight.€
I€ve succeeded.
Thankfully, I€m a superstitious fool because before I was captured I slipped my necklace into my gauntlets, as I always do before battle. This allowed me to use the sharp point to cut the rope. Luckily for me Minotaurs don€t tie knots as well as they swing an axe. They had used one long piece of rope and I only had to cut one part of the rope to loosen it enough to liberate myself.
I fling my feet forwards from their suspended position and knock the beast back. His weapon falls to the side and I quickly release my hands to grab the great axe. The large Minotaur gives an order to his armed forces and the battle has begun.
I easily dispatch the first two Minotaurs and catch the third off balance as he charges from my left. Quickly following the third Minotaur, a hell hound knocks me down from behind. I lose the axe.
Wrestling the hound away with all my strength I hurl it in the opposite direction. The other three hounds are charging towards my location with the other five Minotaurs taking up positions behind the hellish dogs. I find the axe and for the first time in my life I am ready to die. Saving the life of that elf is worth dying and killing for. I€ll be damned if I see her depart this world from this accursed field of rotten stench.
In a rage of fury, I thunder forth with the strength of ten Knights and the courage of twenty Angels. I bash one hound into another, sending both flying to the left. And I quickly swing the axe across my body for a death blow to the third hound. However, by this time the Minotaurs have reached me. As I try to swerve out of the way but I€m hit in the back. A second axe comes down barely missing and nearly dispatching the left hand from my body.
I lay on the ground bleeding and with body energy depleted.
I can€t think. I can€t move. I can€t breath.
My end has come. In me there is not five minutes of life and I fear that no medicine can save from death€s cold touch.
Suddenly a flash rips into the line of beasts that were grinning and steadily strolling around my area of final rest. The blue blast sends my executioners reeling a good 40 meters in the air from my position. The elf! She has broken free and saved me from a decapitation.
I hear soft foot steps approach my position and a gentle voice tells me: €œStay calm brave Knight. You have saved me from my captors and you may yet live.€ She continues, €œMy power has one spell left for you. I will teleport you back to your people. Whether they can save you or not is no longer in my hands. Thank you again.€
I am whisked away in a perfect harmonious sound that lands me in smooth silky sheets with the sun on my face. It is the next day and I am alive. I open my palm and expect to see my werewolf necklace that freed me from bondage. But there is something different in my hand. It€s a light blue ring with a sun symbol encrusted on it.
My life is saved by one whom I never met. One good deed does not go over looked in exchange for another.
I used to wonder how these types of situations occurred. The stories about how a person could fall into such a bad situation with no feasible way out and no time left to think about an escape. I used to wonder how this happened and how the hell they thought they could turn it around. Today that person is me and I guess the answer to that question is simple. They thought they could turn it around because there was no other way to go. They just didn't have any other choice but to keep walking down that path of destruction and hope that there would be a turn up ahead that would lead them back to where they once went wrong. It was wishful thinking if I thought that I could turn this mess around.
I feel like a ghost trapped in Pandora's Box.
'Its not over yet' I keep telling myself but as the beads of sweat trickle down my forehead and soak into my dark hair before landing abruptly in the murky swamp I start to lose hope. I feel queasy being tied upside-down and having to view the tall trees that make an arena out of the gloomy marsh. These trees with their slender gray branches that extend as far as two griffin wingspans; it's almost as if they could reach down and choke me to death.
Is it bad if I wish they would? As I said, there's no easy way out and the sentry guards don't help my confidence. Surrounding my position are murderous hell hounds that are watched by a number of Minotaur slaves. These hired hands are in pairs and located at four different spots near where I am tied up. Even their axes seem to be anticipating the death of a Dragon Knight. Looking on the bright side, the brutes appear to be pre-occupied with the elf across the bog. This is the poor lonely soul I quested to save.
My self-appointed objective was to save this stranger elf of Irollan on my journey back to base. I was returning to speak with my superior commander for reasons only he would know. However, I over heard from a banished mage at one of the numerous taverns in Talonguard say that he had learned of a message passed down from Sar-Badon's death bed. This mage spoke of new orders that were going to be given to many if not all Dragon Knights and this news troubled me.
I was roughly a quarter of the way back to base camp when I caught the trail of these damned infidels. I heard screams and judged that the elf was being tormented, possibly kidnapped by these hired hands. Her cries tore through the night sky as a unicorn€s horn would tear through an enemy on the battlefield
The elf must be of some significance to my captors. They sure are paying a lot of attention to her. My guess is either they want to hear a confession about something or they just enjoy harrowing a helpless soul. I must do something to free myself! Yet with my hands and feet tied to this hulk of a tree, it will take some time to cut loose.
€œAre the chances of you Bull-headed Freaks smelling good about as good as me escaping?€ I taunt outwards to no one in particular. Just then the largest of the Minotaurs turns and strides towards my position swaying side to side as he marches towards me. His stench beats him to the spot. I cringe and tell him again how beautiful his natural odor is.
€œYou speak from a point of no authority. Close you mouth or you will lose it.€ The large Minotaur retorted.
I€m stunned. Two full sentences from a Minotaur! Understanding the language of men was hard to find in these animals but this one spoke it clear as day. Now€s my chance, I can€t let him get any farther away from me; just a little more time until I can fight back.
€œIf you are to kill me at least give me a reason for capturing the elf.€
€œYou€ve spoken your last word. Die foolish Knight.€
I€ve succeeded.
Thankfully, I€m a superstitious fool because before I was captured I slipped my necklace into my gauntlets, as I always do before battle. This allowed me to use the sharp point to cut the rope. Luckily for me Minotaurs don€t tie knots as well as they swing an axe. They had used one long piece of rope and I only had to cut one part of the rope to loosen it enough to liberate myself.
I fling my feet forwards from their suspended position and knock the beast back. His weapon falls to the side and I quickly release my hands to grab the great axe. The large Minotaur gives an order to his armed forces and the battle has begun.
I easily dispatch the first two Minotaurs and catch the third off balance as he charges from my left. Quickly following the third Minotaur, a hell hound knocks me down from behind. I lose the axe.
Wrestling the hound away with all my strength I hurl it in the opposite direction. The other three hounds are charging towards my location with the other five Minotaurs taking up positions behind the hellish dogs. I find the axe and for the first time in my life I am ready to die. Saving the life of that elf is worth dying and killing for. I€ll be damned if I see her depart this world from this accursed field of rotten stench.
In a rage of fury, I thunder forth with the strength of ten Knights and the courage of twenty Angels. I bash one hound into another, sending both flying to the left. And I quickly swing the axe across my body for a death blow to the third hound. However, by this time the Minotaurs have reached me. As I try to swerve out of the way but I€m hit in the back. A second axe comes down barely missing and nearly dispatching the left hand from my body.
I lay on the ground bleeding and with body energy depleted.
I can€t think. I can€t move. I can€t breath.
My end has come. In me there is not five minutes of life and I fear that no medicine can save from death€s cold touch.
Suddenly a flash rips into the line of beasts that were grinning and steadily strolling around my area of final rest. The blue blast sends my executioners reeling a good 40 meters in the air from my position. The elf! She has broken free and saved me from a decapitation.
I hear soft foot steps approach my position and a gentle voice tells me: €œStay calm brave Knight. You have saved me from my captors and you may yet live.€ She continues, €œMy power has one spell left for you. I will teleport you back to your people. Whether they can save you or not is no longer in my hands. Thank you again.€
I am whisked away in a perfect harmonious sound that lands me in smooth silky sheets with the sun on my face. It is the next day and I am alive. I open my palm and expect to see my werewolf necklace that freed me from bondage. But there is something different in my hand. It€s a light blue ring with a sun symbol encrusted on it.
My life is saved by one whom I never met. One good deed does not go over looked in exchange for another.