Author: Iceth
Notes: "A story for The Journey's End..."
Since birth Slyjak had roamed the Arien Plains, always following his tribe leader, and living by the laws of his tribe. Slyjak was a normal Kankoran, dark brown skin and eyes, and a ferocious temper that often led to skirmishes with his young tribe-mates. He had recently achieved the platform of adulthood, and was looking forward to finding his first mate. He was informed, however, that he must first make a merchant trip into Earendam to purchase his first set of armor, and a sword.
He was both excited and irritated by this information. He was glad to be considered man enough to make this venture alone, but he wanted to find his mate very soon. He couldn’t disobey the head male of his pack so, as many young Kankoran of his tribe before him had, he ventured toward Earendam.
He started south early the next morning; away form his tribe’s current location at the base of the Brintnor Mountains, at a gentle trot. He set off with a pouch of two hundred gold, more than enough for a fine set of equipment. He soon came upon the Arien Road, encountering for the first time these gentle creatures called humans that he had heard so much about.
He continued west, reaching the gates of the city by late afternoon. The people there weren’t really friendly, but he got few actual stares. He followed the directions that his father had given him and arrived at the weaponsmith first.
He bought himself a nice shortword, and proceeded to find the weaponsmith. Once there he purchased a set of nice plain chainmail. He knew he would not make it back to his encampment even before midnight, so he decided to use what was left of his gold to spend the night at the Arien Way, an inn he had heard a few passerby mention.
At the inn he settled with the innkeeper for a room for the night, and headed for the bar to drain what little money remained in his purse. After a few mugs of nice strong ale he decided to relax at a table. As he sat down a rowdy bunch of what appeared to be the lizard people, Srryn, looked in his direction. The tallest and most muscular Srryn stood up and walked slowly, and quite drunkenly, towards Slyjak. He noisily slammed his hands down on the table, upsetting most of Slyjak’s last mug. Slyjak looked menacingly at the dumb Srryn, curling his upper lip to show his bright white fangs.
The Srryn, without even a word, took this as an insult. "Who are you that think you so tough?" he hissed.
"I be Slyjak son of Kngrod the Swordsman." Slyjak replied.
"Well, Slyjak son of the Swordsman, I think I’m going to have to show you that you can’t just snarl at anyone in this town."
At this point Slyjak had had just about enough. As the clumsy, drunken Srryn made an attempted swing at him he whipped his new sword from its scabbard and parried the slow blow. He quickly used the Srryn’s drunkenness to his advantage by tripping him to the ground, sending a full set of tables and chairs flying. As the Srryn was getting up he threw his shoulder at him, sprawling him on the ground with a powerful bash.
Just then a local member of the Guardians happened to arrive. "What’s going on here? Who started this? ", He demanded. The Srryn, who had quickly regained his drunken stance, blurted out "It was this ugly Kankoran here sir, he started the fight." As he finished his statement all of his buddies joined in raising their voices and yelling that it was "the dirty Kankoran’s fault."
Slyjak didn’t even have time to reply. The Guardian simply yelled "Slyjak is a criminal, protect the innocent," and jumped at him with a flurry of blows that identified him as a Swordmaster. Now, even though the Swordmaster Guardian had much more experience, and better equipment than Slyjak, he had a distinct advantage. He had trained often with his father Kngrod, and easily recognized that the Swordmaster was in the Form of The Bull.
His father had made him learn the weaknesses of each form, even those with little apparent weaknesses, and he instantly knew the Swordmaster’s mistake. When one was properly trained the Form of The Bull was deadly, but this Guardian was not as smart as his father was. He had, in his hurry to charge, run at Slyjak with his shoulders leaned too far forward.
Slyjak took immediate advantage of this the way his father had taught him too. He simply dodges the first attack, then as the Guardian came in closer he fell to his stomach, and the Guardian fell over him. He rolled quickly on top of the now stunned man and cleanly slit the man’s throat, he had died a quick and painless death. Slyjak could not say the same for the Srryn, however.
As he stood to face the now quite pale drunkard two more Guardians stumbled into the inn. They looked at the corpse on the floor, and the blood on Slyjak’s shortsword, and instantly ran after him. These two were obviously not Swordmasters. One appeared to be a fighter, but Slyjak heard him mumble what sounded like a spell under his breath, and the second was definitely a Scholar, clad in flowing gray robes, and wielding an oak staff.
Slyjak definitely did not want to face these two unknown enemies, so he quickly ran straight at them, and did a diving roll out into the street. It was now very dark, and he was soon lost in this strange city. As he turned around yet another unfamiliar corner he saw what appeared to be the gated to the city. Figuring he could outrun his pursuers once into the plains, he made a mad dash for the gate. As he neared it, however, two gate guards stepped out into the open.
He skidded to a halt, and prepared to battle his way from the city. The first guard died quickly, Slyjak was very quick and had managed to slip his blade into the guard’s side after parrying his attack. The other guard, however, was a little bit tougher. He raised a call, yelling "Slyjak is a criminal, protect the innocent!" and Slyjak knew the two Guardians would be on him in an instant.
He was right.
He didn’t even have time to turn as the fighter stuck his blade deep into his side. At the same moment he heard a vast yell and a giant jet of flame jumped from the Scholar’s hands and directly into him. The pain was just too great. He collapsed on the ground, and the fighter finished him off with a quick swipe to the head. Slyjak never found his mate.