Story

Wtf? Lol

Looks interesting. Veeeeeery interesting.

[color=darkblue]I love it, I had a feeling that the captain was going to be Striker.

Keep it coming it is really good, I can't wait until the next chapter....if there is one that is.[/color]

[quote]Shifting about slowly, making measured movements with his arms, Captain Striker managed to loose the small knife hidden in the cuff of his muddy sleeves. Manipulating the blade proved to be quite a challenge, thanks to both the mud and his pounding headache.

After what seemed like an eternity, one of the ropes binding his wrist gave way, and he freed his hands. Rubbing his sore wrists, he looked around him, noting all but one of his men slain. He also noticed his severely dented helmet, and smiled a bittersweet smile. [i]Damn hunk of metal. I guess I should thank it for being alive. Then again, looks like I’m the captain of a one-man squad now... The head will be really pleased with me for that, I’m sure.[/i] He sighed as he looked to the ropes around his legs. [i]Especially without that damned thief. They’ll just as soon hang me if I were to return him![/i]

Taking the knife in hand again, he sliced away the ropes around his legs. As he stood up, he shook his head and walked to his last living man, still unconscious from the fight. [i]Sergeant Windby... Why the fuck'd he have to be my last man? The bastard would give his life to the Tux. If I let him live, he'd just go running back, telling them that I'd deserted.[/i] Looking down, he kneeled in the mud and placed his left hand over the man’s closed eyes. [b]“Sorry”[/b] is all that left Striker’s mouth as he made a quick movement across the man’s neck.

Dropping the bloodied knife, the once-Captain Striker picked up his sword and sheath, belting it silently. Unable to look at the man... His own man!... He slowly proceeded to walk deeper into the swamp as night started to fall in search of the 'criminal', someone no longer quite unlike himself.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

[b]“Pssst...”[/b] signaled the rotund barkeep to the patron sitting near him. Getting the man's attention, he continued in a hushed voice. [b]“Have ya 'erd?”[/b]

[b]“Uh, mmm... No, I 'aven’t.”[/b] replied the thin-faced patron mockingly. He looked intently at the man behind the counter, confused as to why his voice was so low, as he was the only other one in the establishment. [b]“What have you heard, Geurodo?”[/b] The man absently laid a hand on the rapier at his side, a sort of nervous habit he’d picked up from one too many barroom encounters.

[b]“The assassin, ‘Dark’, has apparently been on kill 'round 'ere lately. Two people were a'found dead in the alleyway o' Saervens Way. 'Ad their eyes cut out an' int'r their hands an’ ever'a tin! Juss' like Dark’s callin' sign...”[/b] Geurodo shuddered. As he pointed a grubby finger at his patron, he faked a smile. [b]“I only 'ope ye haven’t been in any trouble lately, Mel… ‘Else I’d best be prepared ta lose 'nother of me best customers. T'is drop in business is gonna kill me some day...”[/b] He frowned.

The duelist shrugged, taking his hand off his weapon. [b]“I don’t put any stock into mythical four-armed assassins, Geur. Besides, I’ve done nothing wrong lately to incur the wrath of some fairy tale. Nothing.”[/b] He put his right hand over his heart, as though he were a knight swearing his oath. Smiling slyly, he motioned to Geur for another ale.

[b]“I best hope ye’re right... I’d 'ate ta be on the wrong side of tha' guy.”[/b] Geurodo mumbled softly, filling another flagon for the thin rogue. The front doors to the tavern swung open as Geurodo dropped the half-full flagon, clutching at two shurikens newly lodged in his throat.

Mel leaped from his chair, rapier instantly drawn. The huge, many-armed figure in the doorway laughed in a deep and rough voice as the bartender slumped to the ground with a thud. [b]"Looks like this fairy tale is about to become more real than you'd ever have imagined, Melubb. Let me show you how it ends."[/b][/quote]

EDITED 2/16/08: Fixed grammer. Slightly modified wording. Added flavor here and there. Made Geurodo's dialect more distinct. Fuckin' A.

Quite interesting...
you could probly write stuff like this for money, Saber, your very good

i hope i play more of a part later on in the story, lol.

[quote][b]“Oh my god...!”[/b] Croaked Mel as he dove beneath a nearby table, narrowly dodging the business end of a katana. He quickly overturned the table and kicked it with both of his legs towards his freakish attacker. [b]"If I didn't know better, I'd say you're trying to kill me!"[/b]

With one of his spare hands, Dark brushed away the oncoming oak table as if it were little more than a leaf. He watched as Melubb scrambled to his feet and rolled over the bar. [i]This gnat’s time has come. No more playing around.[/i] thought the assassin, as he leaped up onto the counter. [i]Awww, how cute. He’s checking to see if the fat bartender is okay.[/i]

[b]“Don’t worry, he felt little pain. Give up now, and you will too!”[/b] Dark shouted as he jumped down from the bar, his twin katana arching for Melubb’s back.

[i]Overgrown ape…[/i] smiled Mel, as he brought up his rapier just in time to deflect one of the oncoming katana, rolling just out of the way of the other. The other sliced deep into the dead bartender’s arm, spraying blood and bone. Deftly blocking another swing of the katana, the seasoned duelist rolled backwards, recovering from his prone position.

[b]“Who sent you, anyways?”[/b] Mel growled as the assassin crashed into him, body checking him into the tavern wall. [b]“Was it The Tux? I know you worked for them at one point…”[/b] he said, kicking the creature in the stomach, with little obvious effect.

Dark grinned a sadistic smile as he punched forward, connecting with Melubb’s pretty-boy jaw. His other free hand grabbed Mel's left wrist and slammed it against the wall, but Mel's grip on his rapier held firm. [b]“Nope. Why would they be concerned with a mere scoundrel such as yourself?”[/b] As he watched Mel sprawl onto the floor in pain, he could have swore he saw something flash in Mel’s hand. [b]“No, I do not work for The Tux.”[/b]

Barely pulling himself up in time to avoid a large booted foot to the chest, Melubb tried to regain his bearings. [b]“Who, then?!”[/b] he shouted, weakly parrying one of two katana swings, the other slicing him neatly along his side. He definitely wasn’t winning this fight, and he knew it. [b]“At least grant me that before you rip me limb from limb…”[/b] He said as he grabbed a nearby stool and used it as a shield, blocking another fierce katana slash.

[b]“He never gave me his name…”[/b] Dark reflected, as he almost lazily continued to assault the waning duelist. [b]“Wore a dark grey cloak, had dull, red eyes, and wore a fake brown moustache; definitely seemed to have something to hide.”[/b]

[b]“Right…”[/b] Mel said, his breathing labored as he made a desperate lunge for the four-armed beast and just barely nicked the underside of one of Dark's arms, to little effect. As he tumbled to the floor, his rapier rolled out from his weakened left hand. Blood oozed from his nose and trickled from a cut in his lip, his whole body ached from the body check, blood from his right-side gash was soaking his loose-fitting clothing, and he just wished that the damned monster would get it over with already… It looked as though he was about to get his wish.

Dark loomed over his defeated foe, both katana pointing down, ready to finish his kill. [b]“He paid quite a large sum of money to kill you… Not sure why, though. You were hardly a challenge.”[/b] the assassin mused, never even noticing Mel’s right arm move quickly. [b]“It’s time we finished this, don’t you think?”[/b]

Groaning, Mel said, almost laughingly. [b]“Sure do!”[/b] The forceful reply almost shocked the assassin as much as the pain of his two shuriken sinking into his chin. Seeing this as his only chance to escape, Mel hurled himself through the door, and ran into a nearby alley.

Temporarily blinded by pain and rage, Dark threw his katana across the room. Angrily, he ripped the shuriken from his jaw and pocketed them. [i]Dirty son of a bitch… He’s crafty. Definitely won’t be so lucky next time.[/i] Wiping some of the blood off of his chin, he recollected his katana, and casually walked behind the bar. Using his bare hands, Dark extracted Geurodo’s eyeballs and placed them into the bartender’s lifeless hands.

Grabbing an ale-stained rag, he held it to his chin as he walked over to the duelist's rapier. He picked it up and snapped it like a small twig, then proceeded to quietly exit through the rear of the tavern. [b]“Best watch your back, Mel. I’ll be following you.”[/b] The assassin said, grinning slightly as he walked down the empty back lane.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~[/quote]

EDITED 2/16/08: Fixed grammer. Slightly modified wording. Added explanation to a number of Mel's wounds that are revealed later on in the story.

[color=red]*sitting on the edge of her seat, awaiting to read how this tale will end*[/color]

" 'Oh my god…' croaked Mel, diving beneath a nearby table, narrowly dodging the business end of a katana. He quickly overturned the table and kicked it with both of his legs towards his freakish attacker. 'If I didn't know better, I'd say you're trying to kill me!' "

Haha! I kick ass... Just not as much as Dark.

Wow, cool story so far. I'm just waiting to see if I'm one of the lucky few included.

[color=darkred]Thanks everyone for the praise. I can only hope to continue to meet everyone's expectations.

I wonder if there's a character limit to the size of posts...[/color]

[quote]As he looked around the cave, watching the shadows of his companions dance along the walls, Saber winced in pain as Park looked to the deep gash in his right leg.

Poking at the wound slightly with a small stick, Park shook his head. [b]“How in the hell did you do this? It’s all infected thanks to the marsh water...”[/b] He ripped off part of Saber’s pant leg and started to wash it with clean water as best he could.

[b]“Razor wire.”[/b] Saber frowned. He felt so stupid after running into the trap... Considering he was the one that set it up. Far be it from him to let anyone know that part, though.

After getting the strip of cloth somewhat clean, Park spread it out on the cave floor and began crushing herbs in a small bowl. After adding water, the crushed herbs eventually came to a light green paste, which he applied to the cloth. Finally, he looked to Saber again. [b]“Want me to knock you out? This is, uhhh, about to hurt.”[/b] he said, as he pulled out a small knife.

[b]“No, just hurry up.”[/b]

Shrugging, Park started to cut out the infection in Saber’s leg. Saber growled in pain, twitching every so often when Park cut away infected flesh. Then, after obtaining a disgusting pile of diseased skin and puss, Park applied the cloth bandage to Saber’s leg. The pain of the knife meant nothing compared the burn of the herbal salve.

Trying not to watch Saber gasp and squirm in pain as he finished applying the bandage, Park slowly brought to memory a minor orison of healing to ease the pain and, hopefully, quicken the healing process. Mumbling low words of magic, Park’s hand briefly glowed a pale blue hue as he applied pressure to Saber’s wound.

Standing up slowly, putting away his materials, he nodded once to Saber. [b]“You won’t lose the leg, but it’ll take a few days to heal. I’d try to avoid using it as much as you can.”[/b] Park explained, as he returned to his other friends, leaving Saber in the rear of the cave.

Uninterested in idle chatter, Saber stayed where he was. Curling up, he rested his head on a somewhat smooth rock nearby. He fell asleep quickly, the nasty pile of infection sitting nearby.

[b]“You really think that’s what we were to get...?”[/b] Aswan asked, eyeing the object in Ryder’s hands. It looked like a fat, tiny rolling pin; the ‘handles’ were made of a dark, polished metal, and the ‘roller’ seemed to be an incredibly clear purple crystal.

Nodding absently, Ryder turned the peculiar item over in his hands with care. [b]“I sure hope so. Cost us the lives of Alice and old Crow.”[/b] Ryder sighed; he and Alice were lovers, after all. He would have died with her, if it weren’t for Crow holding him back.

Shaking his head, looking down at his heavy boots, Aswan tried to expel the image of Crow getting cut down. [i]Crow was getting too old to be along on these missions! I told him he should have stayed back…[/i] Aswan frowned. [i]Like he’d have any of that, though. Valiant to the end, that one.[/i]

Aswan felt a choking lump form in his throat as Crow’s final moments flashed before his eyes.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The man, easily in his early 50s, had attained knighthood at a young age. He met up with the youths while he was defending a small village from bandits. Aswan, Ryder, Karlth, and Alice. They all became traveling partners after that fateful meeting. Eventually, Saber became apprenticed to him as a squire, and along with Saber came Park, Saber’s friend since childhood.

The seven of them became entangled with the merchant guild known as The Tux, a politically-active group steadily gaining sway over many local nations; a group willing to do any number of unspeakable acts for wealth and power. The small, rag-tag band eventually joined up with an underground organization called Mace and Flail, a scattered number of individuals, groups, and small-time guilds that were actively opposed to The Tux.

It was discovered by Mace and Flail that The Tux had acquired the schematics to an artifact of considerable power. Crow decided to volunteer his allies to prevent The Tux from completing this artifact. He and his small band managed to learn of one of the first pieces of the artifact, and they decided to obtain it for Mace & Flail.

The piece was already in Tux hands. It was rumored that it was held somewhere in their main guildhall, which was built not unlike a small fortress. The group decided to split up. Saber was to infiltrate the building and try to obtain as much information as possible, eventually taking the piece of the artifact himself. Alice, Ryder, and Karlth were to carefully weaken the guildhall’s defenses, by poisoning, bribing, or otherwise eliminating numbers of their guard personnel.

Crow, Aswan, and Park were tasked with creating the main diversion to give Saber the time he needed. All was going according to plan; Saber obtained reasonably reliable information as to the exact whereabouts of the artifact piece, and thanks to Alice, Ryder, and Karlth, a significant number of the guildhall’s guard force was either on their side or on their way to being terribly sick.

Crow’s small group entered the guildhall proper and immediately started to attack guards inside. Surgically moving throughout the building, making as much noise as possible, they worked towards pulling guards away from where Saber was working. Ryder and Alice attacked from one of the side entrances, adding to the chaos. Unfortunately, they were betrayed.

While the other two had been poisoning and bribing the guards, Karlth had managed to get himself captured. While so captured, a powerful, shadowy figure within Tux had offered Karlth to join them. All Karlth had to do was to spill all he knew about the operation. Karlth, under the threat of death, agreed. He gathered a small unit of loyal Tux men and laid a trap for Ryder and Alice. Before Ryder even was aware he was under attack, Alice’s life was taken, Karlth’s own sword ran through her chest.

Ryder was furious. Completely ignoring his spells, he attacked Karlth’s men. After breaking one man’s face with his staff, Ryder turned to the source of his rage. Karlth, now drunk with power, laughed and began withdrawing deeper into the guildhall. Ryder went to charge after him, but Crow managed to stop him.

[b]“He’s trying to draw you in alone! Let us not fight him on his terms.”[/b] Urged Crow, as he kneeled beside the slain Alice. He carefully dipped his fingers in her blood and spread it across his breastplate. He silently mouthed a brief phrase as he stood back up, and moved to proceed with the original plan of attack.

His head slightly cleared of his rage, Ryder realized Crow was right, and followed him on their attack, leaving Karlth to his retreat. He, however, silently vowed to one day avenge his lost love.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~[/quote]

EDITED 2/16/08: Fixed grammer. Slightly modified wording. Damn near rewrote the entire flashback... Now it actually makes sense!

This is great stuff. The power-hungry, corrupt Tux (hah!), Karlth a shadowy figure in the organization, Darklook as a huge four-armed freak of nature assassin, me as a badass, and Muddy with two shurikens stuck into his neck. :lol:

More! I can't wait to see how you work Clay into this thing. :twisted:

[quote="Keanya"][color=darkblue]I love it, I had a feeling that the captain was going to be Striker.

Keep it coming it is really good, I can't wait until the next chapter....if there is one that is.[/color][/quote]

I did too, as soon as I read the part about yelling at his pathetic subordinates. Which, as Saber well knows, is exactly what I do in games. :D

this is actually fantastic. i'm sure this could be published.

i too was wondering how you were going to work clay into it. there's one other person i'm going to be interested to see if s/he makes the cut.

lol, why the cleric?

[quote]Park’s return to the fire brought Aswan out of his day dream, and back to reality. As he looked around the cave, Aswan noted Saber falling asleep in the back of the cave, and Ryder standing near the cave mouth. Not exactly wanting to remember what occurred at The Tux guildhall anyway, he stood up as Park moved to warm himself by the fire.

[b]“What’s up, man?”[/b] Aswan asked Ryder as he approached the cave’s exit. Ryder was obviously looking for something out in the marsh beyond.

Shaking his head, never blinking, Ryder continued to stare out into the ever-darkening swamp. [b]“Not sure. Heard a lupine howl, and then what I thought was a brief combat.”[/b] He frowned as he continued to squint his eyes.

Aswan’s face mimicked his frown. [b]“Nur-Hounds, do you think? I thought we took that patrol out…”[/b]

[b]“Not Nur. Something… Else.”[/b]

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Striker’s sword clashed with another's, sending powerful reverberations down the blade, jarring him to the bone. [i]What in the gods’ names is this thing?![/i] He worried as he made a sweeping arc for the beast, only to watch it dodge skillfully out of the way for the twentieth time.

The creature, now almost human, wore the tattered remnants of what must have been quite regal clothing. Its shirt was little more than rags, and its pants barely covered its groin. The rest of its body, including most of its face, was covered in a thin coat of silvery white fur.

Striker had watched the creature charge at him in a form not unlike a feral wolf, nearly toppling him over with its charge. After it had missed with its charge, it had turned into… This. As it changed form, it stood upright, weilding a long sword made of a brilliant, silver metal. The creature’s transformation had frightened Striker almost as much as the beast’s skill with its blade.

Taking a step back and gaining a better footing, Striker called out to the wolf-like thing as it rushed him again, its yellowed teeth barred. [b]“What the hell are you?! And why do you fight me? I’ve done nothing wrong!”[/b] The two swords clashed again, and the fight turned into a battle of strength as the combatants stared each other down.

In a thick accent, the creature spoke, much to ex-captain’s surprise. [b]“This is my land, and you are trespassing. I am Silverwolf, and I have sentenced you to death.”[/b] The creature’s tone wasn’t of malice; it spoke very matter-of-fact, as though it was explaining something to a small child.

[i]His land…? He can keep it.[/i] Striker mused, his muscles straining as Silverwolf’s strength bore down upon him. Glancing to his weapon, Striker noticed his blade bending at the hilt under the weight of Silverwolf’s attack. Barely rolling out of the way as his longsword snapped at the hilt, Striker quickly grabbed for his pair of short swords. Drawing them in one fluid motion, he made no secret that they were his preferred weapons.

Still thinking he had the advantage, Silverwolf swung his larger sword down onto Striker, whose crossed swords parried the creature’s blow with ease. Quickly moving his opponent’s weapon to the side, Striker blocked the creature’s incoming slash with his right sword, stabbing forward with his left.

Silverwolf, caught by surprise by this human’s speed, howled as the small sword managed to pierce his side, instantly drawing blood. For the first time in a very long time, he was actually afraid for his life. Clutching his side with his left hand, he swung wildly at Striker who deflected or dodged each poorly structured swing.

Seeing an opening in the crazed assault, Striker slashed up at the underside of the creature’s right arm as he ducked underneath the wide arc. Seeing the blood pour from Silverwolf’s arm, Striker circled around behind him and swung to the wolf-beast’s back with his left sword, again creating a small river of blood.

Quickly changing form, Silverwolf leapt forward and darted away on all four legs as the blood rapidly dried and clung to his thick fur. Turning as he skidded to a halt, he rapidly charged for Striker once again, this time leaping for the human’s throat.

Much to the wolfman's surprise, Striker stood his ground, not interested in drawing out the fight any longer. Seeing the wolf leap into the air, he thrust his twin blades forward and drove them deep into the animal’s chest. As the creature landed on top of him, it clamped down onto his shoulder and shook its head from side to side, ripping and tearing much of the skin from Striker’s shoulder. In its frenzy, Silverwolf clawed at Striker’s chest and legs as it felt the blood pouring from its mortal wound.

Struggling to survive, Striker attempted to wrest the creature off of him, but it was simply too heavy for the bleeding warrior. As panic started to set in, Striker began punching the wolf in the head with his still usable arm, as his swords were still stuck in the wolf’s underbelly.

Silverwolf lost his grip on Striker’s shoulder after the third mailed fist to the muzzle, and passed out from bloodloss shortly thereafter. As Striker lay there bleeding, he rolled over to extract his swords from the creature’s chest. Not even caring to wipe any of the blood from the weapons, he returned them to their sheaths at his sides.

After surveying the multitude of slashes and gouges dealt to him by the supernatural wolf in his last ditch attack, Striker forced himself to stand, his soldier training the only thing pushing him forward now. [i]Gotta find those... Bandits... Plead for... Help.[/i]

As he stumbled on, Striker’s mind went numb from the overwhelming pain, his body starting to shut down as the darkness of night overtook the swamp.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~[/quote]

EDITED 2/16/08: Fixed grammer. Slightly modified wording. I didn't change this section much, as, imo, it was probably the best (ie, most 'well-written') passage of this story I wrote.

[quote="Melubb"]Haha! I kick ass... Just not as much as Dark.[/quote]

After the latest installment, I officially kick more ass than you.

Of course, you're not half-dead, so I guess that's the tradeoff. :D

Rockin... ^_^

Pfft, you weren't up against someone with two more arms then you. Mayhap we shall fight later and decide this once and for all. :twisted:

man, that's awesome :D

[quote="Melubb"]Pfft, you weren't up against someone with two more arms then you. Mayhap we shall fight later and decide this once and for all. :twisted:[/quote]

Indeed, we shall. (actually, we probably won't, but oh well)

Im lost. First hes in the cave asleep, then hes fighting this lycanthrope. wtf?

[quote="Yurith"]Im lost. First hes in the cave asleep, then hes fighting this lycanthrope. wtf?[/quote]

You're getting Striker and Saber confused. Striker (me) is the captain in the beginning who lost his troops. The merry band of the Mace and Flail tied him up, but he cut himself free and went off into the swamp. Whereupon he ran into Silverwolf. I just have the best luck. :D

EDIT: Saber, you wouldn't happen to be looking for any guest writers at some point, would you? 8)

[color=darkred]Not gonna quote the previous parts of the story in my posts anymore; it was simply getting too large. From now on, the new chunks of story will be in quotes.

Regarding a guest writer... Perhaps. Catch me on AIM sometime and we'll work something out. It would have to pass my approval, of course, as regardless of the name's I'm using, I've got a story to tell.

Need to make it all flow together, you know. : )

And lastly, sorry about the size of this section; got home late tonight, and this was all I could do that I felt was worth submitting.[/color]

[quote]She watched him stumble through the alleyway, holding one hand to his jaw and the other to his right side. She watched him stumble, and watched him fall. She watched the freak assassin exit the far lane, and she watched it kill a guard that was on her way to investigate the disturbance at the tavern. Finally, she watched the monster proceed on its path away from her location, as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

Satisfied that the assassin wasn’t coming her way, she turned back to the wounded man struggling to get up off his knees. Frowning slightly as she came to his side, she offered him her hand. [b]“Mel… Mel, are you okay?”[/b] She asked as he weakly laid his hand in hers, marring her soft skin with his blood.

[b]“Attacked... By monster...”[/b] He barely managed to sputter, blood flecking his lips. He knew that several of his ribs were broken, and he wasn’t entirely sure just how deep the gash in his side was.

Closing his eyes, she helped him onto his feet. She slung his right arm over her shoulder, and kissed him on the forehead. Shutting her own eyes, she began speaking the familiar words of magic; words she’d spoke fluently even before she knew what they meant. Magic coursed through her veins and it intoxicated her. As she felt the world start to spin around her, she barely made out Mel’s nearly inaudible final words before he slipped into unconsciousness.

[b]“Thank you… Nory.”[/b]

A brilliant flash of light later, the alleyway was once again empty, the two now far away from the bustle of the city.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~[/quote]

EDITED 2/16/08: But very little editing took place.

[color=darkblue]This keeps getting better and better.

I think that somewhere down the line Melubb and Striker should have it out and see who the better is. lol

[/color]

Impressive story. I like the reference to Crow. Pure genius.

quite good saber, i'm looking forward to the next installment. by the way, you're doing a wonderful job with the portrayment thing, just wanted to let you know that.

Thanks everyone for the compliments.

I know I've not posted anything on this for a few days; been terribly busy. I'm gonna post something up later tonight. Right now, I need to get some sleep.

Once again, thanks for the support.

It's been over a year, lol. So much for posting "that night".

Any chance you'll churn out more?

Prehaps he was talking in poetic terms. Here is to hoping Saber will continue this someday!

gotta love rehashing age old topic threads

[color=darkred]2 years, 8 months, and 18 days. That's how long it's been since I posted to this story. I'm not sure why, but I thought about it again recently. So, I decided to read over what I had typed so long ago. I spot a number of grammer errors, some misspelled words, and a continuity error or two.

So, continuing the recent theme of thread necromancy, I went back and fixed them. (I changed a fair bit of the previous story posts, so I'd recommend re-reading them to make sure you've got everything straight.) Then, I wrote this continuation. Enjoy.

(Note: I make no guarantees that I'll continue this story. However, as inspiration hits [I'm currently stuck on something], I do hope to continue what I've done thus far.)[/color]

[quote]As the rest of the band lay around the cavern sleeping, Saber sat guard just inside the cave's mouth, looking out into the night-covered swamp. [i]Not even insects are out here at night... I can't believe I suggested this way as our escape route.[/i] The dark calm of the night, coupled with the abnormal heat flowing from the swamp, brought sleep once again to Saber's heavy eyes.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Stepping forward, the aging knight brought his magicked blade down upon the shoulders of the poorly-trained guard. [b]"'Tis but a shame you were not a more worthy foe. A challenge would have been nice on this day!"[/b] Crow boasted as he stepped over the young man's crumpled form and proceeded into a large meeting room within the guildhall. With his shield raised, he blocked the approaching attacker, and entered a heated melee with the three men inside.

Aswan, Ryder, and Park helped by keeping the knight's flanks clear. Ryder weaved magic into everyone's weapons to ensure they striked true, and used his more flashy incantations to maximum effect against the unfortunate Tux guardsmen and soldiers. Park and Aswan worked as a team to take down the better-trained of the flankers, always keeping an eye out for the traitor Karlth.

As a heavily-armored guard surged past Park, trying to get to the archer, Park turned and quickly spit out some magic of his own, holding the attacker firmly in his tracks. The young healer closed with the guard and brought his mace down upon the warrior's back. The force of the attack, combined with the warrior's paralysis, sent the armored foe spawling, his spine broken. Park looked up just in time to see Aswan's bow with an arrow knocked pointing straight at his head. [b]"Aswan... Not you too..."[/b] He uttered as his eyes widened.

Aswan released his bowstring, and the arrow sailed just past Park's ear, its tailfeathers brushing against Park's shoulder. The woman behind Park, with her axe raised above her head and ready to strike, was caught offguard by the archer, and the last thing to go through her mind was the shaft of his arrow.

[b]"Damn you, Aswan! You could have at least told me to get down!"[/b] Shouted Park, regaining his composure. He turned his back to the archer, giving him the finger as he waited for Crow to finish his business in the meeting room.

[b]"It wouldn't have been as much fun if she would have seen it coming..."[/b] Aswan retorted, as he pulled another arrow from his quiver.

As Crow downed the last warrior, he turned to his companions. [b]"Friends, let us advance this way. Hopefully Samuel is near to completing his mission..."[/b] He motioned for them to follow as he walked through an open doorway at the far end of the meeting room. Park and Aswan hurried into the room, with Ryder following suit as soon as he was sure their backside was clear.[/quote]

Man, it's funny that you wrote another installment, I was re-reading this story myself a few months ago. This thing was the shit back in the day. :)

[size=7]Needs more Striker.[/size]