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A Tale From The Deep Woods, Chapter III

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Chapter III:

The Black Sun camp bustled with activity as workers and slaves did their daily tasks. A wooden stockade surrounded the huts made of mud and wattle as warriors squatted within and tended their bleeding wounds from the past battle, all the while keeping their bone weapons close to hand.

Die'tra' keen eyes searched the open stockade from the slight vantage point provided to her by a cluster of trees. A variety of severed heads, both goblin and elf, were stuck upon the shafts of spears ringing the center of the camp. It was looking grim for the well-being of the captured trader so far. Normally the Black Sun tried to take hostages in order to gain money or much needed goods.

By the center of the camp, however, stood a series of wooden stakes. A long-haired Mimian female in torn green garments was lashed to one; it seemed likely that she was the missing fur trader. Her posture against the stake indicated that she was barely conscious. Getting her out of the camp may prove to be difficult.

The Highland Raider caught a glimpse of an unusual sight. There was an assortment of markings and tattoos on the different Black Sun, showing that not all present were of the same tribe. If there really was a tribal alliance after all then the colonies could be in greater danger than previously thought. There was a large longhouse right at the center of the camp, next to the open circle ringed by spears, decorated with skulls hanging from the door. Through the main door strode a female who could only be the chieftain of the Black Sun tribes there.

She was a lean, medium sized figure, dressed in rough fabrics along with a curious harness of bone, iron, and chitin where numerous gems and feathers were set within. Her malevolent features betrayed a cryptic menace. A hulking dark elf male of high station, judging from his attire, followed her from the long house along with an entourage of warriors. The two ferocious Black Sun spoke a few more words to each other; apparently there had been some sort of strategy meeting taking place between the two chieftains. With a bow of farewell, the large male mounted up with his bodyguards and set off to their own camp, the female leader returning to her long house.

Die'tra quickly made her way back to the ground where Tur'geis and Vana'sadra were waiting for her report. “They're regrouping and healing from our raid, and I saw the prisoner we want, as well as their leader. I say we wait until most of the warriors leave before we make our move,” said Die'tra.

“Yeah, anything else you see up there?” asked Tur'geis.

“While you were checking out my butt, I saw someone who had to be the Black Sun chieftain,” quipped Die'tra with a mischievous smile. “Maybe we can kill her too, if we move quiet.”

“Hah! Don't act like you wouldn't be doing the same if I was up there. Let's move...even in these woods the sun will soon shine down on us,” replied Tur'geis, nodding to Vana'sadra that it was time to depart. “Taking her head would be quite the feat. Their warriors are out so we may have a chance.”

“That's if they haven't raised the alarm yet about us getting away,” commented Vana'sadra.

Die'tra reached down and gripped Tur'geis' buttocks firmly as she closed with him. “Your big ass could cover the moons!”

Tur'geis responded with a swat on Die'tra's shapely rear, causing Vana'sadra to shake her head. If they didn't keep their hands off each other they could all be in big trouble.

---

Loma'khadva blinked and squinted her eyes against the dull rays of the rising sun, just cresting over the trees' leaves. She dimly recalled that she was currently bound to a stake, but right now her attention was fixated on the trio of Black Sun warriors facing her. They murmured to each other in their unintelligible tongue for a brief moment, and the Nal'sarkoth fur trader knew at that moment it was a good thing she didn't know their language.

One of them drew a bone axe and advanced towards Loma'khadva, his free hand reaching out for her. Suddenly three figures slammed into the Black Sun, driving great steel blades into their bodies. Loma'khadva kept quiet, shocked at what happened but knowing enough that this was her timely rescue.

“Who sent you? My cousin?” she whispered to the three, two Highland Raiders and a Nal'sarkoth Explorer by the sight of them. An odd combination, to be sure, but she couldn't complain about a rescue.

“I hope you're the right one. She offered to pay us big time to get you out!” replied the Sarghress female. “The name's Die'tra.”

“I'm Tur'geis, and your clans mate there is Vana'sadra. We'll get you out before you can say 'Sharess save me,” said the male as Vana'sadra cut through the ropes holding Loma'khadva to the stake.

Die'tra looked over her shoulder, catching sight of a bunch of Black Sun down at the other side of the circle drawing their weapons, having noticed the intruders.

“You sure she didn't do anything to piss the goddesses off?” commented Die'tra flatly.

Tur'geis did a double take and swore while Vana'sadra shielded Loma'khadva with her sword and armored body, edging back towards the flattened palisade, courtesy of Vana'sadra's earth sorcery, whence the three had came.

“Maybe Sharess was out having a crap and missed that,” grunted Tur'geis.

“Next time use one of our deities, okay?” muttered Die'tra as she raised her sword and charged in.

The five Black Sun guards met the three partway. Die'tra ducked under one's swing, gutting him with a low slash to his side. Tur'geis smashed down another's guard before cleaving her in two.

“They'll listen, with all this blood being spilt!” Tur'geis snarled, a wild grin on his blood-splattered face as he turned to engage the remaining savages.

“You guys are insane, you know that?” cried out Vana'sadra as she narrowly blocked a wild swing. Loma'khadva inched back towards the hole in the wall made by Vana'sadra earlier, eager to take the opportunity to escape.

Vana'sadra drove her sword into the Black Sun brave's chest before grabbing Loma'khadva and making her way out. “Time to leave!”

Tur'geis and Die'tra faced off against the two remaining Black Sun warriors as they backed up towards the two Nal'sarkoth to make their exit. Without warning, a large shape bounded out of the pathway between Black Sun huts, causing the two Black Sun to dive away from the new arrival.

The creature that crouched before the two Am'saag was something they were utterly unprepared to see. Its dexterity and general appearance was unmistakably feline, but was almost as massive as a bear. The speed and stealth by which it arrived was like no living being, and its dark, glowing eyes and flesh gave it a hellish appearance. But the beast's sharp, knife-like fangs and snarling visage made it clear that this was no apparition, but a monster bred for destruction, a brutal end-point of carnivorous development. It was a summon of a sabretooth tiger; such a beast had not been seen in this region for a very long time.

From behind the summon stepped the Black Sun chieftain. Now Die'tra understood the purpose of the gems embedded in her attire; she was a traditional summoner, rare among the Black Sun tribes. It was no suprise how she could have made her way through their hierarchy so quickly, especially with being able to control a summon of that age and power.

Vana'sadra turned back, witnessing the beast and the chieftain confront Tur'geis and Die'tra. They could still escape, and they needed her help. She gave an oath as she turned back to aid the two, noticing then that the summoned sabertooth tiger was too large to fit through the hole in the palisade.

“Tur'geis! Die'tra! Over here!” she called, raising her sword.

The two Black Sun fighters stepped back, allowing the tiger summon to charge in and engage the two Highland Raiders. It was only a few paces back for the two Am'saag, but with a creature as blindingly fast as the sabertooth tiger escape seemed a remote possibility. Die'tra was first to meet the tiger in combat. The tiger's claw struck out at her in a blur of fur and sinew. The female Am'saag warrior barely managed to back out of the way, the very tip of the claw brushing her left arm's plate. Die'tra struck back with her sword, cutting into the monster's ghostly arm. Blood gushed from the wound as the sabertooth tiger snarled in pain, but it did not sever the limb much less stop the summoned animal. The beast had been formed from the earth and shadows of the forest, making it resistant to any weapon of this world.

“By Krom'krukaakh!” swore Die'tra. Thinking fast, she ducked back out of the palisade, quickly followed by Tur'geis. Tur'geis barely made it out before the gnashing maw of the giant feline smashed partially through the hole in the heavy wooden fence, the beast furious with savage bloodlust. Seeing that it was halted for now, the four drow bolted for it, sprinting to relative safety of the jungle.

Vana'sadra took another look back. She and the others could clearly hear the summon's angry growling and the cries of the enraged Black Sun, but there was not yet any sign of the sabertooth tiger.

“You think it's going around?” asked Loma'khadva, still frightened by the close brush with death.

“More like going over...let's move!” Tur'geis shot back before he and Die'tra ran off deeper into the jungle. The two Nal'sarkoth made a run for it after the two Highland Raiders once Vana'sadra saw the sabertooth tiger effortlessly bound over the palisade as if it was a mere log in a forest path. Loma'khadva shot a quick glance behind her, immediately regretting that she'd done so. The sabertooth tiger was practically right on her heels, its terrible strength being nearly enough to cross the entire clearing in one bound. Loma'khadva forgot all her injuries and fatigue in an instant as she burst off in a sprint after Vana'sadra.

Fear gripped Vana'sadra as she ran. They had little chance of outrunning such a beast, and their weapons appeared to have little effect on the monster. Vana'sadra gave brief prayers for safety to any deity who might be listening as she ran through the forest. Suddenly, Tur'geis and Die'tra ran off the path, taking up positions between trees on opposite sides. Vana'sadra knew then what they had planned, and she prayed even more at that moment.

“Keep running!” Vana'sadra said to Loma'khadva, before stopping and turning around to take stock. The blood-mad sabertooth tiger wasn't far behing her, now was the time to strike! She raised her hands,  mana sparking around them as the earth before her cracked and rose from the ground just in time to trip up the sabertooth tiger. The great beast tumbled to the ground, the roots of the trees ripping themselves from the ground and entangling its limbs. A briefly puzzled Vana'sadra looked behind herself, witnessing Loma'khadva gesturing as she used her plant sorcery to aid them in their fight. But the creature was too strong, easily tearing through the vines and roots as if they were light paper.

At that moment Die'tra leapt out from behind the underbrush in a leap reminiscent of the great tiger's, delivering a score of fierce blows to the beast's torso. A fearsome baritus rung out from the other side of the trail, heralding Tur'geis' brutal attack. As the sabertoothed summon barrelled towards Tur'geis, he plunged between its wide arms and swung his naginata with all his force at the tiger's bull neck.

For one dizzy moment it was unclear if the animal was still alive. Then the summon crashed to the ground, a score of sword wounds to its chest and back and a deep gash laying its neck and torso open. As if in a dream, the summoned sabertooth tiger's corpse shifted and changed to mere earth and stone, its aura flying away back to its master.

"Now that's putting the cat out," grunted Tur'geis as he got back up to a standing position.

“Everyone alright?” asked Vana'sadra, checking herself and Loma'khadva for injuries.

“We're fine,” growled Die'tra. “We shouldn't stick around...” Already she and Tur'geis could hear the Black Sun charging out after them.

“How did you get here? I say we head to Kacara'jana. It's the closest river camp the Nal'sarkoth have and they need to be warned.”

“Going back to the boats is out of the question. They'll have guards there waiting for us, if they have any sense at all,” Tur'geis told Loma'khadva. “But we can easily reach Kacara'jana if we head to the west before heading south to the river.” He shot a look back at Die'tra. They'd get to their children later than expected but the two Raiders were still alive. Tur'geis knew their children would be fine.

Loma'khadva nodded. “Let's go, there's no time to spare!”
Here's chapter II of the novella! Let me know what y'all think. The author would like to recognize a great debt to Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, H.P. Lovecraft, Karl Edward Wagner, and Fritz Leiber. I'd also like to note that this is a late birthday present to Lunareth! Happy Birthday!

Chapter I can be read here: imperatoralric.deviantart.com/…

Chapter II: imperatoralric.deviantart.com/…

Die'tra property of :iconlunareth:

Drowtales setting property of :icondrowtales:

Argrim property of :iconn008ith:

All other characters are of my creation.
© 2014 - 2024 ImperatorAlric
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Lunareth's avatar
Why didnt i commented here so far?? D:

I LOVE IT!!
And thank you for writing!
Cant wait for moar!! :iconlovelyhugplz:

Our characters are the best 8D