Suddenly, a grey-cloaked man appeared in front of him, tired and exhausted, nearly emaciated; but cunningly glowing were his eyes and something mysterious was seen, semi-hidden, hanging on his belt. The white-cloaked traveller threw a rather sinister glance at him. The grey-cloaked person thought it better to pass by with haste. The lad, whose name, by the way, was Algor, grinned broadly, showing a set of perfect teeth and not slowing down a step. Very soon, the road curved near a miniature wooden sign in the shape of a clawed finger; the road created a fork here which led to a few directions. Algor turned and headed towards one of them, obviously reaching for the forest ahead - a forest, which, most likely, was a living place for some sort of creatures; there were small huts seen in between the dense foliage. Algor made a quick, quiant gesture with one hand, muttering a word at once. He then phased out of reality with a swift movement of the air. No doubt, the invisibility spell was a good thing to be used at this place; gnolls didn't like intruders and sent out the patrols which guarded the entrances to the village, constantly walking around it - and he didn't plan to kill the defenders of the village thus letting everyone know he was in. He crept into the village moving on tip-toes and trying his best to prevent the armor from clinking and dinging.
Soon he met the first patrol which consisted of a pair of guardsmen... guardsgnolls - a cross between a hyena and a man, dressed in light armors and colored cloth sleeves. They kept their eyes at the vicinity and paws on bared swords. Algor sneaked past them, but a dried root almost made his presence known as it squeaked under his feet. Sniffing the air suspectively, the gnolls turned towards the place he was standing in. Algor froze. The halfmen stood there, with their arms outstretched, looking stupidly at the "void". Algor cussed mentally as they did the thing he feared the most - they moved closer towards him, checking if something was wrong. Definitely, they must had sniffed his scent of sweat in the wind. He jumped at the opposite direction so they wouldn't feel him; unfortunately, he stepped on a huge hyena in a spiked collar; apparently, it acted as a guardian dog. Barking and snarling, it sprang into the air and attacked, trying to bite the invisible flesh. It hit the platemail instead; teeth gritted, Algor faded in the existence - his invisibility had dissolved. For a moment, there was silence; then, the two engaged themselves at the appeared warrior with the cries of alarm. Algor parried the first slash just in time, and, dodging the pierce from another, kicked the hyena in the nuts. It made a long howl of pure suffering and pain and fled from the field. Whether it had been the howl of the poor dog that had attracted another three guards and a whole lot of village folks, or the cries of the attacked guards, but the crowd was moving stunningly fast towards Algor. They were scarcely armed with serious weapons, but Algor strongly doubted whether he'd be able to defeat them. But he was absolutely sure that now his target was out of reach; he was trying to make his way through to the gnoll shaman who was told to be the keeper of many magical secrets. Soon, he barely had the time to think... He has just finished his fight with the guardsmen, when the others arrived and charged at him. Algor was parrying and slashing in a frenzy, slowly realizing that he'd need something bigger and better than merely a sabre to have the battle won. So, having beheaded a careless gnoll, he raised his left hand. A rumble emerged from deep beneath the ground which cracked a few moments later. With the screams of terror, many gnolls left the field of battle, fleeing head over heels. But many survived and left to fight. Algor deftly parried another slash of a gnoll's sword, jumped in the backwards direction and hit the foe, heading for the neck. A fountain of blood shot in the air, staining the human, and the beheaded body of the gnoll slowly fell onto the ground to disappear in an enormous crack in the earth. However, it gave another gnoll the time to sneak behind Algor and make an attempt to behead him too. Obeying his gut instinct, Algor made an arcane movement; boy, did he move that fast! Yes, he did and the gnoll's sword only reached a horn of his helmet, severing it completely. Algor made an attack himself; from his current position he could only make it for the gnoll's legs. Apparently, he had cut the gnoll's main heartstrings and powerful spurts of blood stained his once white cloak. Barely noticing this, Algor then turned towards a squad of gnolls, raging. A hit, a slash, a kick; then he felt an intense pain in his hand. A jolt of pain shot through his brain and he nearly lost the grip on his sword. Clutching it as tight as he could, he managed to take the life of another gnoll, now facing vicious hyenas. Four of them charged at him; with a swift movement of his hand he struck them with lightning; only two survived. But a hunched old gnoll Algor didn't even notice ambushed him from behind, making his shoulder bleed as he sank his yellow, scratched yet hard claws into it. Blood streamed down his body, dripping on the earth, mixing with that of old gnoll's. Algor still had four gnolls and a hyena to challenge; they had a look of pure horror in their eyes as they glanced at the blooded figure clad in armor, dressed in a cloak that resembled a scarlet toga now, a rather torn toga; as they glanced at their fellow-fighters now lying motionlessly on the ground, blood escaping their still warm bodies. Algor curled his lips in a sneering grin, having an uneasy feeling in his mind. Gnolls were having troubles considering the situation. Two of them clutched their swords tightly, another was armed with a small axe and the remaining one only had his claws as a weapon. Using the given moments of peace the best he could, Algor touched his wounded hand with his good one; a soft glow shone in the twilight as spidery words of magic escaped his lips. Then, bluffing the best he could, Algor made two steps towards the gnolls, trying to look vicious and bloodthirst though his body was suffering from pain; he had bet his entire life.
It was their leader to panic the first; the axe shook in his paw as his nerves played a dirty trick on him. He turned his furry back to the warrior and quickly ran out of sight - so did the others. Algor's grin even broadened. His loathing of gnolls were only matched by gnolls' hatred of him, so he couldn't stand it and cast one last spell he had the strength for - the earth rumbled once more and revealed an enormous crack that looked like a gigantic grave, setting some evil beauty to this rough, sickening picture.
The rage of the battle setting off, Algor now felt extremely tired and exhausted - almost emaciated. But cunningly gleaming were his eyes...
- The shaman will have to wait, - he thought absent-mindedly, thinking of the grey-cloaked figure he met on the road.
His lips moved once more, a whisper could barely be heard.
There was a flash in the air where Algor was standing; a crack that thundered through the village when the air rushed to fill the void that appeared after Algor teleported. And then, nothing disturbed the sight: dead, viciously massacred bodies of gnolls and a faint buzzing of meat flies that began to gyrate madly, heading towards the fresh blood...
But there was nobody to look at this scene.
| Мои два не очень связанных между собой рассказа - Algor , 16.12.2000 19:10 MSK |
