By Amarad Nightsbane
Again, dawn broke like thunder, spilling it's light upon the land. Every man, woman, and beast were bathed in it's crisp, stabbingly warm glow. He stood there, staring into the horizon, into the new day that had come upon him, and all the possibilities it could bring. He looked down upon his prey, a small brush deer he'd managed to ambush. Lots of meat on it though, the tides of luck had been good to him. "Thank ya for relinguishin yer mortal husk to me so that I may continue ta live on, may yer soul find it's way."
After he had eaten, he made sure he left no trace of his presence there and quickly vanished back into the forest around him. A distance away, from his perch in an old oak tree, he could see quite a ways around him. He gazed about, eventually spotting a clearing that caught his attention. Several men, most likely bandits, sitting about a fire in a loose circle. He could hear thier ecstatic speach and merry laughter through the calm of the forest. He couldn't help but grin.
Then he heard something else....
Something was coming... no! Moving towards them.... The light scrape and metalic grind of bronze. He had a pretty good guess of what would happen. Bursting into the clearing with the brovado that only pompous morons could posess, the townies charged at the startled men with weapons drawn, the gleam of thier armor seering his eyes as he stared into it. "Typical town rats.", he grumbled. He slid from his perch in the tree and moved toward the unnerving crash of battle.
Cries of battle tore through the manotinous clash of metal and the screaming. He stepped into the clearing and looked about at what had been created by greed and lust for skill. Blood stained the ground mildly, the grass was torn up in the places the townies had stepped with thier heavy treaded boots. He saw what he had hoped he would see, another townie dropped to the dirt of the forest, kicking up a small cloud of dust as he fell. Though several of them had died, the tide had turned in thier favor and this battle was thiers.
"Help us! Please", one called out to him.
"Ya brought dis on yerself pal, they didn't start this one.", he grunted. He stepped back from the clearing like a lingering shadow, not sure if he wanted to leave, but knowing his honor had bound him to. The others only wondered what he was thinking, but dismissed his presence as he faded from sight into the thick underbrush.....
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The inn was filled with loud music, laughter, and the pleasant stench of wine and ale. The sharp fragrances stung his nose, and he stood with a sneer as the bartender set before him his bottle of water. A man leaned on his spear, obviously drunk beyond a clear head. They conversed for a moment, but he was not in the general mood for socializing. Suddenly the man asked, "Haven't I seen you before? You look like that guy that left us 'gainst those damn bandits.... I was the only one that got away... *hic* Ya bastard!"
The drunkard took a swipe at him, he easily ducked underneath it and siezed him by the scruff of his cape.
"Perhapts ya should look at both sides of tha story 'fore ya go n' say yer side is tha RIGHT one."
He released him and stepped away quickly, lingering for a moment, then dissappeared out the doorway.....