The Story thus far: Millraven Finn Izzle; a beautiful sword-slinging elven wizard and her partner Brand Anlace; a plucky Halfling scout, are working to retrieve a powerful magical talisman from a group of human supremacist cultists. Having escaped capture at the cultist’s hands the two are preparing to use the confusion resulting from their escape to make one last desperate grab for the artifact.
Knights rushed by them too concerned with finding the prisoners quickly to look for them well. Millraven had to shake her head, the Knights of the Hill acted as if they were a trained, disciplined army. They were not; they were simply pathetic men and women with weapons and a mad on for their situation in life. They were a group dedicated to hate and because of that their eyes were blind.
“Oh well” Millraven thought to herself “Works out for me.”
She and Brand were moving ever closer to their goal: the ramshackle hut that was the only new construction in the ruin, the current resting place of The Blue Streak of Commodore Cramden.
They at least did not leave the hut unguarded, two sharp eyed men and a small patrol of about ten zombies stood between them and their goal.
“Easy”, thought Millraven to herself, “Too damn easy.”
She did not have time to think more on the subject however, the final goal lay ahead of her and her window of opportunity was rapidly closing. She steeled herself and whispered a throw-away prayer to whatever gods of light were listening, and with a gulp and a breath she shot forward past the guards and the zombies, or so she thought. The second her foot touched the threshold of the hut she heard the grunts and moans of more and more creatures of unlife. She felt the ground beneath her shake and tremble as she was suddenly thrown off onto her backside. Ten zombies had become fifty, they’d been buried in shallow graves and waiting for their signal to arise.
The human guards came rushing at her along with the Zombie hordes. She parried the strike of the first, her arm ringing as the fortes of their blades met with a crash and sparks flew in the air. The two combatants were locked together, each refusing to give as they tried to overpower one another. Brand fought at her back, wielding the mace Sir Bruno had been carrying and using it to bludgeon his taller opponents' knees into soup before ending their lives with a smash to the head.
Millraven began to sweat as she continued to test the strength of the guard she was facing off against. She had been doing well at first, but the human had the advantage, both in height and overall physical strength. Slowly but surely Millraven's blade was being forced back. She knew she could not keep this up much longer, so she stopped. She leaped backwards removing her resistance from the contest and causing the guard to pitch forward and stumble trying to make up for the sudden change in the center of gravity. Taking advantage of the split second needed for the guard to right himself Millraven snatched the dagger out of the belt of Brand’s fallen attacker and winged it forward, striking her target directly between the eyes.
She did not notice yet that the Halfling was nowhere to be seen, nor did she have time to care. The zombies in their slow, implacable way were pressing in on her now stepping over the corpses of the guards to get at her beautiful, succulent flesh.
Millraven took one zombie out, then another, stabbing them between the eyes as they approached. She’d not be able to keep it up however. Not only did they outnumber her, but they were crowding her and not giving her any room in which to swing her sword.
“Brand!” she called out, “I need you to open up some space for me!”
There was no answer. She spared a quick glance behind her, the Halfling was gone! Had he been captured again? Or killed? She did not have time to consider those questions, but she did know the cold, sinking feeling that told her these moments of life would be her last. Just as the zombies closed over her in a huddle all she could think was “Why” as she anticipated the pain of her flesh being rent from her bones by nasty, filthy teeth.
Only, there was no flesh rending pain at least not for Millraven. Suddenly there was a cacophony of pained, fearful shouting and the sounds of small, soft explosions. The zombies around her crumbled to dust!
“Miss me?” Brand asked, suddenly stepping out of his own pile of zombie dust.
Before him he held a necklace with a golden charm featuring a hexagon with a golden apple at the center; the holy symbol of the Halfling goddess. Millraven simply nodded and taking note of the zombies that were stumbling forward to take the places of their fallen brethren asked,
“Can you do it again?”
Brand shook his head, “Twice is pushing it for me. I can hold them back though."
He held up the symbols and the zombies backed away, snarling and snapping. “That’ll work!” Millraven said and dashed for the blue streak.
The rest happened relatively quickly. She grabbed the box that the streak was contained in and with a glance to check the contents grabbed Brand by the back of the collar and booked it. There were a few Knights who’d been ordered to stay at their posts, but they easily fell to her blade leaving the way out of the camp wide open. After that they ran and ran, and ran not stopping until they had reached an old cabin in the middle of a copse of thick trees. It was well hidden, and dry if not terribly comfortable. It was a safe house Millraven had used before.
After they rested a while and ate Millraven sat down with Brand to talk a bit,
“How were you able to destroy and hold off those zombies?” she asked “I thought you were a scout and thief. No offense intended.”
Brand nodded and smiled, “None Taken. Scouts are clerics as far as Halflings are concerned. It’s kind of like fighters who use spells are all Elves to humans, or used to be.”
Millraven nodded sagely.
“Lady Discord is not too picky about where the tithes come from.” Brand continued, “As long as they are gotten by our own hand and cleverness.”
Millraven then put the box containing the streak on the table,
“So? Shall we have a look?” she asked,
“Of course” Brand said with a laugh.
The box lid was opened with appropriate seriousness and aplomb. The two peeked inside and were struck with awe at the contents,
“It-it’s beautiful.” Millraven whispered.
Lying before them, studded in sapphire and diamond was a line of malediction and cursing so well crafted, so perfectly built to humiliate, belittle, and entertain that it just had to be immortalized, the blue streak of an experienced and intelligent sailor. They shut the lid and exploded into giggles.
A short time later once the heat was off they returned to Commodore’s crossing and gave the blue streak over to the Council of Five. To be more accurate it was now the Council of Four, Brand left their services in accordance to his inborn love of wandering and finding new adventures. As they left the meeting place he turned to Millraven and spoke.
“Hey, I know this is kind of sudden and all, but you seem to run into some pretty interesting stuff. Mind if I travel with you for a time?”
Millraven considered this for a second and then nodded, he was useful in a fight, a good companion to talk to, and as a bonus he was kind of cute despite his lack of stature.
“You are more than welcome to join me.” She said.
With that the two journeyed away from the town, looking for more trouble to get into.
EPILOGUE
General Mercer sat behind the chair of her office and glowered. It had only been her years of successful service to the Hanged God that saved her from demotion and even expulsion. As it was she got a serious dressing down. She banged her fists against her desk. She would find that disgusting Elf and that upstart Halfling if the search took her a thousand years, and when she did she would make them wish they’d never crossed swords with her or the Knights. She rose and looked at the captured armor of her enemy and with a motion faster than the eye could follow she drew her sword and sliced it and the armor rack it was hanging on in half. She watched as the bisected armor clattered to the floor. She then threw her head back and laughed. The two had not seen the last of her, in fact this was just the beginning!
Millraven Finn Izzle and Brand Anlace will be back for further adventures, coming soon.
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