I can't remember exactly how we decided to head into the gloomy mountains in search of the lost gold of an old, abandoned dwarf fortress, but I remember that, like many important resolutions from that period of my life, it was one we made in a tavern under the influence of huge amounts of alcohol. I also remember an old, toothless dwarf repeatedly babbling the word gold, and I have vivid memory of the insane gleam that appeared in my companion's eyes as he listened to the tale.
Perhaps it was typical of the Dark Hero to be willing to risk his life and limb in the wildest, most barren territory he could imagine, no matter how tenuous the provocation. Or maybe it was the characteristic 'gold rush' effect that the vast majority of people tend to suffer when they find a way to get money quickly. As I was to discover later, the lure of that shiny metal has a tremendous and terrifying power over the minds of all relatively civilized beings.
In any case, the decision to leave behind the southernmost borders of the Kingdom of Lothal was fateful and led to encounters and adventures whose dire consequences haunt me still...
Elysia, 'The Adventures of the Dark Hero', vol. 1.
Printed in Riverheim, Arcadia
♦ ♦ ♦
"Honestly, gentlemen, I do not want problems of any kind." Elysia declared truthfully, as she held out her hands open before her. "I just want you to leave the girl alone. It's all I ask."
The drunken hunters let out wicked laughs.
"I just want you to leave the girl alone." one of them imitated her in a high, lisping voice.
Elysia looked around for support. A few stocky fellows, clad in the thick furs of highlanders, looked at her with drink-clouded eyes. The owner of the establishment, a tall, stooped man with straight hair, turned and began to arrange jars of jam on the rustic wooden shelves. There were no other customers.
One of the hunters, a huge man, approached her.
Elysia could see the particles of fat clinging to his beard, and when she opened her mouth to speak, it gave off a stench of cheap rum that overpowered even the smell of rancid bear grease that hunters smeared on to ward off cold. Elysia made a face.
"Hey, Hef, I think we have a city girl here." said the hunter. "She speaks very well."
The one called Hef looked up from the table against which he was pinning the girl.
"Yes, Lars, I think she speaks well, that hair black as night makes me fall in love, too bad she is a repulsive Feral, although it is easy to see that she is a very pretty girl."
"When I come down from the mountains, anything looks good. I'll tell you what we'll do: you stay with the girl, and I'll settle for this animal. I don't care if she's a Feral or a beast girl."
Elysia felt her face flush. She was starting to get angry, but she hid her anger behind a smile because she didn't want to get into trouble, at least if she could avoid it.
"Come on, gentlemen, there is no need for all this. Allow me to buy you a drink."
Lars turned to look at Hef, and the third Highlander guffawed.
"And on top of that he has money... It's my lucky night!"
Lars smirked, and Elysia looked behind her desperately as the man advanced on her. Where was Frey? Why was the musclehead never near her when she needed him? She turned to face Lars.
"Okay, I'm sorry I intruded. I leave you to go about your business, gentlemen."
She saw Lars relax a bit and let his guard down, though she continued to move forward. She allowed him to get closer to her as she watched him open his arms as if he was about to embrace her; suddenly he kneed her in the crotch. With a blast like a blacksmith's bellows, all the air rushed out of the big man's body, and he doubled over with a groan. After her Elysia grabbed the man's beard and pulled her down to hit him with a knee.
She then heard a crunch of snapping teeth, and the hunter's head bounced back and she was thrown backwards. Lars fell to the ground, gasping for air and clutching his crotch.
"Son of a bitch!" Hef exclaimed, throwing a punch at Elysia whose force sent her stumbling across the room and crashing into a table where she knocked over a mug of beer.
"I am sorry". Elysia apologized to the startled beer owner, and she struggled to grab the table by weight and throw it at her attacker. She strained until she thought the muscles in her back would tear.
The drunk looked at her and gave her a wicked grin.
"You can't lift it. She is pinned to the ground in case fights break out."
"Thank you for telling me". Elysia replied as she felt someone grab her by her hair and smash her head against the table.
A frightening pain ran through her skull, and little black dots began to dance before her eyes; then, she felt the wet face. "I'm bleeding." She thought to herself, but she immediately realized that it was just beer. She banged her head against the table once more, and from far away she heard footsteps approaching her.
"Hold her tight, Kell. Let's have some fun for what he did to Lars." Elysia recognized Hef's voice.
Desperate, he threw an elbow back and hit the hard musculature of Kell's stomach. The grip on his hair loosened slightly, and Elysia managed to wriggle free, turning to face her attackers. With her right hand she groped frantically for the ale tankard, and through a haze she saw the two gigantic hunters closing in on her. The girl had disappeared; Elysia saw the door close behind her and heard her begin to scream for help. Hef was drawing a knife from his belt just as Elysia's fingers closed on the handle of the pitcher; he then he threw it, and the blow landed square on Kell's face. The hunter snapped his head around, spitting blood, and turned back to Elysia with a foolish smile on his lips.
Muscled fingers like steel bands gripped Elysia's wrist, her pressure forcing her to drop the jug. Despite her frantic resistance, her superior Kell strength managed to drive his arm behind her back and pull him inexorably up. The stench of bear grease and body odor from her was almost overwhelming. Elysia grunted and tried to wriggle free, but her struggle was useless.
She then felt something sharp prick her throat, and looking down she saw Hef holding a long-bladed knife against her neck. She smelled the well-oiled steel of the weapon, saw her own blood run down the depression in her throat, and froze, because all Hef had to do was press forward, and she would enter the realm of death. the dead.
"That was very aggressive, girl." Heff commented. "Old Lars was just showing you how much he cared for you, and you go and knock his teeth out. Tell me, what do you think we should do about it, since we are his friends?"
"Kill that insolent one." Lars gasped.
Elysia felt Kell push her arm up, to the point that she was afraid she'd snap it, and she groaned in pain.
"I think we'll do just that." Hef decided.
"You can't." wailed the merchant behind the bar. "That would be murder."
"Shut up, Pike! Who asked you? Also, remember, this pretty girl is not human, we can do whatever we want with her."
Elysia realized that they were determined to kill her. The violence fueled by alcohol set them up for murder, and she had given them the excuse they needed.
"It's been a long time since I killed a pretty girl like you." Hef commented as he pushed the knife back just a few millimeters. Elysia winced. "Are you going to beg for mercy, cat boy? Are you going to beg for your life?"
"Go to hell". Elijah replied. She would have liked to spit in her face, but her throat was dry and her knees were weak. She shivered and closed her eyes.
"You're not so polite anymore. Certain?" Elysia heard a thick laugh rumble in Kell's throat.
"What a place to die." It was the incongruous thought she had. "A repulsive tavern lost in the Shadowy Mountains."
There was a sudden rush of icy air and the sound of the door opening.
"The first one who hurts the cat girl, he will die instantly." said a deep voice that scraped like one stone smashed against another. "With the second I will take more time before killing him and torture the third all night to enjoy his pain."
Elysia opened her eyes, and over Hef's shoulders, she could see Frey, the dark hero. Frey's silhouette filled the entrance, as his robust and muscular body filled the entire door. He was as tall as the door and had the build of two burly men. Torchlight illuminated the black plate armor that covered his body, and the helmet on his head turned his eye sockets into shadowy caverns, from which his pupils flashed blue with an intimidating brilliance.
Hef laughed, then spoke without turning around.
"Get lost, stranger, or we'll settle accounts with you when we've finished with your friend."
Then Elysia felt the grip on her arm loosen, and Kell's hand pointed over her shoulder toward the entrance.
"Really?" asked Frey, who stomped into the room while shaking his head to remove the snow from the top of his helmet which was shaped like a castle tower, making the hinged plates on the helmet rattle. in your neck section. "By the time I'm done with you, you'll be singing as loud as an operatic castrati."
Hef laughed again as she turned to look at him, but suddenly the laughter died to a slurping cough as the color drained from her face until it was white as a corpse. Frey gave him a wide, sinister smile and ran a thumb over the blade of the huge two-handed sword he held in a fist as big as a ham. Sparks began to rise from the friction between the edge of the weapon and the metal of Frey's gauntlet, he just smiled wider, and the knife fell from Hef's hand and clattered to the ground.
"We don't want any trouble." Hef assured him. "Least of all with an honorable gentleman such as yourself."
Elysia couldn't blame him. No man in his right mind would cross arms with someone who could possibly crush your head with one hand.
Frey glared at them, and then gently tapped the ground with the tip of his sword. While Kell was distracted, Elysia took the opportunity to put some distance between herself and the Highlander. Hef looked panicked.
"Look, we don't want any trouble. We were just having fun."
"I like your idea of fun." Frey replied after an evil laugh. "I think I'm going to have fun too."
The Dark Hero advanced on Hef, and Elysia saw that Lars had managed to get up and was crawling toward the door, hoping to sneak past Frey while he was distracted. Frey put a foot on Lars's hand; The creak that was heard caused Elysia to wince. "Clearly this is not Lars' night." She thought.
"Where do you think you're going? You'd better stick with your friends, as two against one doesn't offer very good odds."
"Don't kill us." Hef implored, already completely broken.
Kell moved until he was close to Elysia again. Frey, who had positioned himself right in front of Hef, kept the blade of his sword at the man's throat. Elysia could see the ancient runes gleaming red in the torchlight. Slowly, Frey shook his head.
"What's going on? You are three. You thought you had a good chance against the cat girl. Have you run out of guts and balls?"
Hef nodded awkwardly; he seemed about to burst into tears and in his eyes you could see the superstitious terror that the dark hero inspired in him. She was already on the verge of fainting when Frey pointed at the door.
"Get out of here mangy dogs!" he roared. "I will not dirty my weapon with cowards like you."
The hunters rushed towards the entrance; Lars limped a lot. The girl stepped aside to let them pass, and then she closed the door. Then, Frey gave Elysia a fierce look.
"Can't I even stop for a call from the wild without you getting in trouble?"