The Queen, the clearing, the interrogation
Chapter 1 - Part 3 Voyage of the Dawn Breaker
Previously, Allanagh, the Queen of the Forest Ciad-Ghin, was visiting a small village between three rivers when a sky galleon set down in the river and disgorged two hundred black-clad mercenaries. These mercenaries, engaged in a six hour battle with the Orcan Warband. Queen Allanagh and her daughter visited the clearing where they saw:
Allanagh turned upon hearing Sloan gasp and found him shaking his head as if trying to clear his mind. The other three soldiers, however, were staring at the woman with barely hidden desire in their eyes.
Allanagh's eyes widened slightly as she took another look at the woman. Her unearthly beauty marked her as Sealgair Aisling, and once again, Allanagh wondered if she had doomed her people by consorting with them. She tried to stave off the panic rising in her soul.
“Be at peace, daughter of the forest,” a voice whispered behind her. “Nobody here will harm you or your people.”
“You are where you should be,” a second voice affirmed.
When she felt two different hands rest on her shoulders and the peace of the gods flowed through her, stilling her racing heart, she slowly turned to find two women watching her.
The one to her right was wearing a green tunic with intricate brown and red spirals that adorned the loose collar and continued down the long sleeves. One large silver and gold spiral curled around her stomach and under her breasts. The knee-length teal skirt was wrapped loosely around her hips, and her brown moccasins were made of the finest elk hide, or so Allanagh gathered. Her light brown hair framed her face in soft ringlets.
The one to her left was wearing a red silk tunic that fell to rest just above her knees. Her auburn hair flowed over her shoulders and pooled down the center of her back while curling around to caress the underside of her generous bosom. She was adorned with a silver choker around her throat, silver bracelets on her wrists, and silver anklets that drew attention to her bare feet.
Allanagh breathed deeply and whispered, “Lady Lilly, Sister Analise.” A cold chill inched its way down her spine. “Why are you here?”
“This is a portentous moment,” the brown-haired woman whispered. “A few of us came to watch.”
Allanagh almost fell to her knees as something flickered in the corner of her eye, and she glanced over to see two men standing directly opposite the horned hulks.
The first, almost six and a half feet tall, was well-muscled, with fiery red hair and green eyes that watched the battle of wills before them. The chain mail he wore over his gambeson caught the light as he listened to his companion.
His companion was shorter by a head and not nearly as muscular. His black hair barely crept out from under the wide-brimmed hat that he wore. Unlike his armored friend, he wore a white long-sleeved shirt, brown pants, and brown boots under a leather duster. His single golden tinged eye was fixed on the scene before him.
“Is that?”
“Aodh and Rennar, yes,” Analise whispered.
Allanagh took a deep breath, “How close did we come to losing it all?”
“Shh,” Lilly made a calming sound, drawing attention to her shirt's intricate spirals. “The moment approaches.”
As the bone-numbing hum reached a crescendo, every eye turned to the two males in the center of the clearing. Up close, tree limbs and vines held the giant beast in place. It was at least nine feet tall, heavily muscled, and heavily furred, with huge tusks draping over a jaw that looked like it could grind bones to dust.
“What, in Mathair’s name, is that?” She whimpered. She would gladly take her daughter if she could disappear into thin air.
“It's called an Ogren,” Lilly whispered, almost as if she had read Allanagh's mind.
Her attention was pulled away from the monster when a calm voice rose above the hum.
“Why are you here?” The man who spoke stood facing the Ogren. What little she could make out looked like he was a head taller than her, at around five feet ten. A flat-brimmed black hat rested atop the head of white hair that fell about his shoulders. From the neck down, he wore a black leather duster that almost hid the tops of his black leather boots.
“Am following my nature,” the Ogren replied. “The strong prey on the weak. Was going to destroy this place and take the Ciad-Ghin Bhanrigh and her people as slaves.”
Lilly and Analise led Allanagh to where she could see the man's face. For a moment, all she could do was stare. His well-kept beard and mustache were as white as his hair, and his face was careworn and ageless, and she wondered how that could be so. But it was his eyes that caught her attention. hazel flecked with gold.
He stared at the Ogren and said, “That didn't work as planned, did it?”
The Ogren grunted, “You were acting on your nature, the strong protecting the weak. There is no dishonor in failing.”
Those hazel eyes pierced into the Ogren, “Who sent you?”
“Not telling you.” The Ogren growled as it strained to pull its arms down.
The man watched the Ogren's muscles knot. His right eyebrow arched slightly. Without looking away from the beast, his left hand moved from the middle of the black wooden mage-staff to a spot eight inches higher, where he traced his fingers across a silver rune carved into the wood. “Can not or will not?” He inquired as he reached into the right pocket of the duster and withdrew a gray seed, which he flicked onto the ground beneath the Ogren.
The original version of this scene overlaps two other scenes in the original edit:
and
I added some to the story to give it some pacing. I hope it’s better.
There’ll be more of this story coming up next week.
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