In this installment, Our heroes have entered a cave to get out of the weather, once in the cave, they stumble across and get drug into a fight with a creature.
Enjoy!
Frik and Frack eased down the passage and came up short when they saw a human staring at a HUGE wolf looking thing.
Frak looked at the man ‘his sheath is upside down’ he said a bit surprised. How does he keep his sword in there?’
‘Look’ said Frick ‘I am not sure that we should… hey what is that?’ pointing at the stone in the middle of the room.
’I dunno’ said Frack
There was a roar as the Human ran up to the beast and hit him with his sword. Frick and Frack winced as the deego knocked the man across the cave. ‘Hey I want to get a look at that rock.’ Frick said.
‘The human is keeping the thing busy’ Frack said as he drew his swords. And smacked them together ‘you go see and I will cover.’ The man ran past and jumped over a jet of flame that the deego spit at him. Frack ducked behind a rock as the flames licked at his cloak. The creature roared in pain and Frick looked as the creature bounced the man off the floor and then knocked him across the cavern. ‘That guy didn’t seem to smart’ Frack said as he smacked his swords together. That got the beasts attention and it turned its head toward the kinder. Frick let loose with a stone from his staff that bounced harmlessly off the creatures hide.
"So two more fools have come to join the first," it tilted it's head, "aren't you two a little young to be fighting?"
‘I'll show you little!’ Frack said running toward the hound leaping and striking with both blades producing twin gashes in the arm of the beast. He smiled and bounced back and forth between legs with both swords held loosely, ‘Who's the small fry now?’
The Deego roared in pain and tried again and again to smash the kinder. Frick Ran up behind the creature and thrust the sharp end of his staffing to the creatures back, then caught the things arm with his sling and was thrown clear. Frick flipped in the air and came down on his feet sliding toward the cavern entrance. He bounded up and ran back into the fray seeing his brother leap and bury his swords in to the fleshy part of the thing’s backside.
‘That’s one way to be a pain in the ass’ thought Frick as he loaded his sling for another toss. From the corner of his eye the kinder saw the human trot toward the pedestal with the stone on it. The deego grabbed a rock and threw it at the human which made him stop. The creature took a breath as Frick let the rock go, the stone sailed true and hit the thing in its eye which made it turn again toward the pint sized antagonists.
‘I don't know what you plan to do,’ Frick said spinning the sling, ‘but you best do it now.’
The human nodded and ran and grabbed the stone and time slowed down. There was a flash of red light and the body of the human was suspended above where the pedestal had been the stone in his left hand. His hair floating around his head like a sweat soaked halo and both arms spread wide as if waiting to embrace a long lost son. The beast howled and looked toward the human. Frick grabbed Frack and pulled him toward the cavern entrance but neither could look away. The silence in the cavern was deafening. Even the bats dared not make a sound. Then the humans arms came down to his side and fiery wings seemed to grow from his back. He drew his sword which was also wreathed in flame.
The brothers looked at each other wide eyed.
"People need me," The human replied in a calm voice, "and they need the power I wield." He raised his sword and pointed at the Dego, "I cannot let you take it from me, now move aside."
There was a moment of silence and the man said ‘then I am truly sorry’ The wings flexed and in a moment the head of the beast lay next to its body. The man landed a bit beyond the remains of the beast then sank to his knees and passed out.
‘you see that?’ Frack asked
‘NO’ said Frick sharply ‘I was just standing right here. Hang on’
Frick ran toward the place where the pedestal had been and looked around for a moment. He reached down and picked up an item that had survived the destruction of the pedestal. ‘Hey!’ He said as he looked over at Frack ‘what are you doing?!’
Frack was looking at and, more to the point, messing with the scabbard on the back of the human.
‘I was just looking to see how he did this.’ Frack said quickly. He strained to pick up the sword and carefully put it back in the scabbard watching how it went in seeing the latch almost immediately. ‘There’ he said as though he had just figured out how to create a pick proof lock. it latches on there.’
The kinder strained for a moment to turn the human over. He winced with pain as he rolled across his injured left side. Frick started looking through the many pockets of his cloak and the myriad of pouches attached to his belt.
‘Do you still have that potion that we found in the alchemist shop last week?’ Frick asked as he continued that search.
‘No I didn’t handle it’ Frack replied taking off his swords and trying to fashion a rig similar to the humans. ‘we need to get a fire going’
‘we have one going at the mouth of the cave remember?’ Frick reminded him. ‘Aha! Here it is.’ He announced as he took the stopper out of a small vial.
‘You know what that does?’ Frack asked
‘No but it cannot be much worse than how he is now’ Frick said with a grin.
‘Unless you kill him with it’ Frack pointed out.
Frick hesitated, torn between the desire to see what the potion did and the unwillingness to kill a human. ‘If Shendali made nothing but poisons he would not be a good alchemist now would he?’ Frick asked pouring the potion into the human’s mouth. The effect was almost immediate there were several cracks and pops as ribs righted them selves and popped back into place the man’s arm straightened and he opened his eyes and screamed as the badly broken arm was set and began to heal. The human thrashed around a bit and then was still. His breathing was ragged but evening out. Soon the man had a serene look on his face as though he was asleep.
‘See you killed him!’ Frack said backing toward the mouth of the cavern.
‘No I Did NOT!’ retorted Frick ‘Look he is breathing… and turning blue…’
As the watched the man the pallor of his skin went from a healthy tan to a nice shade of blue.
‘Hope that not permanent’ Frick and Frack said at the same time.
The brothers watched the man for a moment and decided they needed to make sure the man was awake before they took their leave. While Frack once again built a bed for a fire Frick went to the mouth of the cave and retrieved a burning stick and the skillet with their meal in it. Once they had a good fire going and had eaten their meal the both drifted off to sleep.
