Continued from The Giant’s Shield (Part VI).
“Trun.” Ask’s voice sounded strained and shaken. He could hear his own panicked heart beating rapidly. “There’s something scary outside the window.” He swallowed, and the lizard in the middle seemed to grin at him with teeth that put Ask’s own to shame. Ask blinked, and they were gone. He swallowed again and slowly turned to the door. His hand rested on the handle, and he looked back. The window was empty.
Sweaty hands opened the door, and Ask looked up at Trun. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: age, anger, angst, animal, animals, ask, badger, bareback, beauty, blood, chase, cliff, cliff face, climb, climbing, climbs, cold glass, combat, concussion, creature, den, drop, eat, eating, eats, elf, elf female, emotion, emotions, empty belly, evoxe, exercise, fall, fighting, food poisoning, forest, frighten, frightened, frightening, garden plot, goblin, goblin male, grass, hands and knees, health, hole, horse, horseback, hunt, hunting, hunts, indigestion, injustice, korenila, learn, learning, leather clothing, lessons, lidded eyes, lizard, lizard man, lizard men, love, man, meat, mental-health, monster, nature, old, old man, outdoors, plains, punishment, rage, ray of sunlight, rescue, ride, riding, room with no windows, scare, scared, scares, silence, simple tools, slit throat, stalk, student, sunrise, teach, teacher, teaching, teenager, tool, tools, transportation, tree bark, trees, unjust, woman
Continued from The Giant’s Shield (Part V).
All of the events since saving the innkeeper’s wife spilled from Ask’s angry lips, right up until he came to the part where Korenila joined him in the back of the wagon. Only then did he pause to think about the events. “Korenila and Evoxe and Horse never stopped trying to help me.” Tears filled his eyes. “They got kicked out of their healing house, Korenila and Evoxe did, because of that. Horse stayed with me even though I planned to eat her.” He swallowed his tears and tried to speak, but words wouldn’t come out. His thoughts refused to stay straight.
For a long time, he just sat there in the company of a stranger, trying not to cry. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: age, anger, angst, animal, animals, ask, badger, bareback, beauty, cliff, cliff face, climb, climbing, climbs, cold glass, combat, concussion, creature, den, drop, eat, eating, eats, elf, elf female, emotion, emotions, empty belly, evoxe, exercise, fall, fighting, food poisoning, forest, frighten, frightened, frightening, garden plot, goblin, goblin male, grass, hands and knees, health, hole, horse, horseback, hunt, hunting, hunts, indigestion, injustice, korenila, learn, learning, leather clothing, lessons, lidded eyes, lizard, lizard man, love, man, meat, mental-health, monster, nature, old, old man, outdoors, plains, punishment, rage, ray of sunlight, rescue, ride, riding, scare, scared, scares, silence, simple tools, slit throat, stalk, student, sunrise, teach, teacher, teaching, teenager, tool, tools, transportation, tree bark, trees, unjust, woman
Continued from The Giant’s Shield (Part IV).
Sometime before the arrival at the pair’s home, the older goblin jostled his ribs just right, and Ask’s world turned black. Horse was running free. He couldn’t see her surroundings. His dream shifted through a haze, and he saw Korenila praying. Her words wove through the confusion.
“Bring Ask back to us safely. May he find food and shelter, may he still be alive.” She took a deep, shaking breath, and it rattled through Ask’s entire being. “He fell only recently off the drop. His horse has run away from us, going to the south. Keep her safe. Evoxe is going to build a sign for the two. Should they get lost, and look up, they’ll know where we are, he assures me.” She held back a sob. “Please, keep everybody safe. Peace with us.”
A faint voice behind her spoke, and she smiled. It was the scarred girl. Korenila’s voice faded as she spoke normally. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: age, anger, angst, animal, animals, ask, badger, bareback, beauty, cliff, cliff face, climb, climbing, climbs, combat, concussion, creature, den, drop, eat, eating, eats, elf, elf female, empty belly, evoxe, exercise, fall, fighting, food poisoning, forest, goblin, goblin male, grass, hands and knees, health, hole, horse, horseback, hunt, hunting, hunts, indigestion, injustice, korenila, learn, learning, leather clothing, lessons, man, meat, mental-health, monster, nature, old, old man, outdoors, plains, punishment, rage, ray of sunlight, rescue, ride, riding, silence, simple tools, slit throat, stalk, student, sunrise, teach, teacher, teaching, teenager, tool, tools, transportation, tree bark, trees, unjust, woman
Continued from The Giant’s Shield (Part III).
The silence niggled at Ask’s mind for what felt like hours. Slowly, he looked back downward. Even from the distance, he could see the creature’s red eyes. It somehow looked larger as it stared up at him. The goblin tried to swallow his fear as his eyes and the creature’s locked together. He flexed his claws into the stone in front of him, and it cracked. He looked in horror at the stone, then reached forward desperately to grab the face again.
Slam! A column of stone shot from the side of the cliff he was climbing, right where his belly was. He tried to hold on, but it happened too fast. His scream filled the area as he shot away from the side, out into the air. He watched as cliff and sky and shield seemed to zoom away from him, and then he began to fall. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: age, animal, animals, ask, badger, bareback, beauty, cliff, cliff face, climb, climbing, climbs, combat, concussion, creature, den, drop, eat, eating, eats, elf, elf female, empty belly, evoxe, exercise, fall, fighting, food poisoning, forest, goblin, goblin male, grass, hands and knees, health, hole, horse, horseback, hunt, hunting, hunts, indigestion, korenila, learn, learning, leather clothing, lessons, man, meat, mental-health, monster, nature, old, old man, outdoors, plains, ray of sunlight, rescue, ride, riding, silence, simple tools, slit throat, stalk, student, sunrise, teach, teacher, teaching, tool, tools, transportation, tree bark, trees, woman
Continued from The Sand Flea (Part IX).
“Hey, something’s ahead!” Evoxe’s voice was sudden, and woke Ask from his doze. His head was somewhere soft, and the sun’s warmth felt nice on his skin. He looked upward, and saw Korenila’s face. He was resting his head against her chest, and she was leaning against the forward wall of the straw cart. Beside him, Horse had her nose under his hand.
Korenila opened her eyes. “What is it, Evoxe?”
“I think it’s-” he trailed off momentarily before he continued, “It’s a house. Nobody should be living this close to the Drop.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: agony, alive, anger, animals, assassin, attempted murder, bandit, bandits, bath, blackness, blood, body image, calloused hands, CBT, chase, claws, climb, climbing, conscious, consciousness, crime, danger, death, defense, delicious soup, description, desert, distant sound, dull ache, elf, emotion, emotional, emotions, escape, execution, fat, fear, feeding, flog, flogging, food, geld, gelding, goblin, goblins, grasslands, hair, health, heat, help, horse, house, huge man, human, infirmity, innkeeper, innkeeper's wife, kill, killed, killing, love, magic, man, mane, martyrs, meat, medicine, mental-health, monster, murder, murderer, nature, neuter, neutering, nursing, orphan, outdoors, pain, patriot, patriotic, patriotism, pride, protect, protecting, protection, proud, punishment, pursue, pursuit, race, racist, rage, rape, rapist, recooperation, recovery, red eyes, refreshment, rest, roof, sand flea, second voice, self-defense, sexist, silo, slitted eyes, snarl, soft breeze, soft face, soft voice, soldier, soup, sponge bath, stable, stable hand, stable hands, storage tower, straw, survival, survive, survived, survives, tagspam, tantrum, threat, torture, transportation, tufted tail, unconscious, unconsciousness, waking, war, warm, warrior, whip, whipping, whore, woman, yard, yellow eyes, youth
Continued from The Sand Flea (Part VIII).
Ask continued to run through the healers’ temple, desperately seeking someone who believed him. His back began to burn with a dull ache. “Bandits are coming!” He pointed back, behind the temple. “They’re that way!”
Several scoffed at the panting goblin.
“Liar!”
“You’re for Njolr!”
“You’re just going to rob us blind!” The patients’ voices kept the priests from hearing, and as Ask tried to run towards a male priest that had fancier robes than the rest, a hand wrapped around his ankle, and a group of seven patients bustled him out the same door he entered through. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: agony, alive, anger, animals, assassin, attempted murder, bandit, bandits, bath, blackness, blood, body image, calloused hands, CBT, chase, claws, climb, climbing, conscious, consciousness, crime, danger, death, defense, delicious soup, description, desert, distant sound, dull ache, elf, emotion, emotional, emotions, escape, execution, fat, fear, feeding, flog, flogging, food, geld, gelding, goblin, goblins, hair, health, heat, help, horse, huge man, human, innkeeper, innkeeper's wife, kill, killed, killing, love, magic, man, mane, martyrs, meat, medicine, mental-health, monster, murder, murderer, nature, neuter, neutering, nursing, orphan, outdoors, pain, patriot, patriotic, patriotism, pride, protect, protecting, protection, proud, punishment, pursue, pursuit, race, racist, rage, rape, rapist, recooperation, recovery, red eyes, refreshment, rest, roof, sand flea, second voice, self-defense, sexist, silo, slitted eyes, snarl, soft face, soft voice, soldier, soup, sponge bath, stable, stable hand, stable hands, storage tower, straw, survival, survive, survived, survives, tagspam, tantrum, threat, torture, transportation, tufted tail, unconscious, unconsciousness, waking, war, warm, warrior, whip, whipping, whore, woman, yard, yellow eyes, youth
The nights were growing cooler, and Ask’s back almost didn’t hurt at all anymore. Despite his recovery, Korenila insisted he should stay, and he couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t mind taking orders from her. She was kind. That must have been why, he was sure. He was given his freedom to wander the barnyard, however, and wander he did.
Horse was never far behind, and nobody seemed worried about Ask’s presence. He expected people to avoid him, or to be rude to him. Instead, the stable hands were polite and helpful, and several offered to help him saddle Horse. He declined in the most polite way he knew, and a few laughed good-naturedly, while others frowned at him for his poor word choice. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: agony, alive, anger, animals, assassin, attempted murder, bandit, bandits, bath, blood, body image, calloused hands, CBT, chase, claws, climb, climbing, conscious, consciousness, crime, death, defense, delicious soup, description, desert, elf, emotion, emotional, emotions, escape, execution, fat, fear, feeding, flog, flogging, food, geld, gelding, goblin, goblins, hair, health, heat, help, horse, human, innkeeper, innkeeper's wife, kill, killed, killing, magic, man, martyrs, meat, medicine, mental-health, monster, murder, murderer, nature, neuter, neutering, nursing, orphan, outdoors, pain, patriot, patriotic, patriotism, pride, protection, proud, punishment, pursue, pursuit, race, racist, rage, rape, rapist, recooperation, recovery, red eyes, refreshment, rest, roof, sand flea, second voice, self-defense, sexist, silo, slitted eyes, snarl, soft voice, soldier, soup, sponge bath, stable, stable hand, stable hands, storage tower, straw, survival, survive, survived, survives, tagspam, tantrum, threat, torture, transportation, tufted tail, unconscious, unconsciousness, waking, war, warm, warrior, whip, whipping, whore, woman, yard, yellow eyes, youth
My travels led me through regions that grew more and more familiar, the farther I walked from home. The pristine, primeval forest, with its high trees and unfrightened wildlife faded slowly over the miles into first forests that were far far from grand, and then to plains that smelled of smoke, and finally into blasted wastes.
The first gust of air that met me carried the scent of unbridled death– of burn, of flesh rotten, of blood and gore, and the unmistakable, overpowering scent of brim. Demons roamed in the barren and charred lands before me, and for the first time in my life, I felt fear. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: assistance, blood and gore, brimstone, camp, campsite, dark skin, demon, demons, elf, fantasy, generosity, help, hooves, horizon, kindness, long ears, marriage, mate, mated, mating, pale shade, primeval forest, stiff tail, tall grass, travel, trek, wasteland
They called it ‘physical therapy’. Ask called it stupid. Korenila came into his room every day and oversaw him walking around the room. She made him bend his body in weird ways that made the flesh on his back feel strange. Under her instruction, he moved his arms, squatted, and moved side to side. His cheeks burned each time, but she never gave him a day’s respite from those hour periods of ‘therapy’ unless the pain was too strong for him, which it was only rarely of late.
His back did stop hurting so much when he moved around or tried his secret exercises to try to lose his additional weight he’d picked up during his long period of bedrest. He felt fat, like a human. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: agony, alive, anger, animals, assassin, attempted murder, bath, blood, body image, calloused hands, CBT, claws, conscious, consciousness, crime, death, defense, delicious soup, description, elf, emotion, emotional, emotions, execution, fat, fear, feeding, flog, flogging, food, geld, gelding, goblin, goblins, hair, health, help, horse, human, innkeeper, innkeeper's wife, kill, killed, killing, magic, man, martyrs, meat, medicine, mental-health, monster, murder, murderer, neuter, neutering, nursing, orphan, pain, patriot, patriotic, patriotism, pride, protection, proud, punishment, race, racist, rage, rape, rapist, recooperation, recovery, red eyes, refreshment, rest, roof, sand flea, second voice, self-defense, sexist, slitted eyes, snarl, soft voice, soup, sponge bath, survival, survive, survived, survives, tantrum, torture, tufted tail, unconscious, unconsciousness, waking, war, warrior, whip, whipping, whore, woman, yellow eyes, youth
Continued from The Sand Flea (Part V).
The weeks passed by as Ask slowly recovered. His blackouts happened less frequently, replaced instead by restful sleep, and his mind recovered quickly. He spent much of his time either in bed, or restlessly wandering while his body refused to let him go far. Horse often escaped her stall to spend time with him– typically with uncanny timing.
Ask tossed and turned during one night as he had one of his uncommon nightmares. He tossed onto his side as he watched a fire. His next shift brought him across his belly, and onto his other side as he tried to flee from the images of that monochrome, heat-less fire that plagued his mind. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: agony, alive, anger, assassin, attempted murder, blood, body image, calloused hands, CBT, claws, conscious, consciousness, crime, death, defense, delicious soup, description, elf, emotion, emotional, emotions, execution, fat, fear, feeding, flog, flogging, food, geld, gelding, goblin, goblins, help, horse, human, innkeeper, innkeeper's wife, kill, killed, killing, magic, man, martyrs, meat, mental-health, monster, murder, murderer, neuter, neutering, nursing, orphan, pain, patriot, patriotic, patriotism, pride, protection, proud, punishment, race, racist, rage, rape, rapist, recooperation, recovery, red eyes, refreshment, rest, roof, sand flea, second voice, self-defense, sexist, slitted eyes, snarl, soft voice, soup, survival, survive, survived, survives, tantrum, torture, tufted tail, unconscious, unconsciousness, waking, war, warrior, whip, whipping, whore, woman, yellow eyes, youth
My Name Applies 