Gordon S. McLeod's Blog, page 4
January 30, 2013
The Diffident Hero - Chapter 14, pt. 2
<>
“Hold up,” Rich said, a puzzled note in his voice calling Brandon and Lena up short. “Something’s wrong with this trail.”
That was nothing new to Brandon, but he inspected the area anyway. There were tracks all over the place this close to the city.
“What’s the problem?”
The other man stared at the ground with a faint frown creasing his features. “He’s hiding his trail. I can’t tell which way he’s gone anymore.”
“This is a city, it was bound to get harder with the population this place has,” Le...
January 27, 2013
The Diffident Hero - Chapter 14, pt. 1
Sorcha moved like the wind, freed of the constraints of a more human walking speed when she left the others behind. She danced with the breeze as she went, but it was a dance with direction and deadly purpose.
For all that she could move more naturally, she still couldn’t move as fast as she’d have liked; she had to track carefully if she wanted any hope of catching signs of Myra’s passing. Those signs were few and far between, and she spent the first several hours after the separation locatin...
January 26, 2013
The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 7
“Alright, it’s settled then,” Brandon said. A sense of calm settled over him at the words. “Rich, you’ll track him and lead us to where he’s holed up and resting. What do we do with him once we have him?”
“Don’t try to kill him,” Sorcha said, which eliminated a faint anxiety he hadn’t been aware he’d felt. “It might not work. It certainly didn’t when Myra attempted it, and we don’t know what other tricks he has up his sleeve.”
“And just because he’s exhausted doesn’t mean he hasn’t set up conti...
January 24, 2013
The Diffident Hero, Chapter 13, pt. 6
Plans were quickly hashed out. Sorcha wasted little time, putting Brandon in charge of the Necromancer team, as she called them. Rich accepted the leader assignment without hesitation, almost as if it was a given. Brandon found himself surprised, and if he were honest, a bit apprehensive.
He set that part of his mind aside and concentrated on what needed to be done. They couldn’t hope to take on a powerful necromancer head-on; they’d have to catch him off guard. How do you catch a wizard off g...
January 23, 2013
The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 5
“We have to get down there,” Rich exclaimed. “He’s gotten too far ahead of us.”
“We can’t just charge in blindly! That’s what Myra tried, and things haven’t gone so well for her,” broke in Lena.
“We don’t even know what’s happened to her!”
“We need a plan if want to do any good against this guy.”
“Hang on, both of you,” Brandon said. “Lena’s right, we do need to have a plan. But Rich is also right. We can’t spend too much time on it. It sounds like if this guy was well-respected enough to be stud...
January 22, 2013
The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 4
What kind of well-respected wizard would want to study necromancy, and why cause all of this trouble? Brandon tried to keep focused on keeping up, but the questions gnawed at him.
“He stopped here,” Rich said abruptly. He was kneeling in the grass. “Stayed a good fifteen to twenty minutes I’d say, then moved on that way.”
“He knows how far ahead he’s gotten,” Sorcha said, flatly.
“Or he doesn’t care, yeah.”
The spot was a good one for observing the city. It was close enough to see the lay of the...
January 20, 2013
The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 3
He didn’t make it that easy for them, of course. When they arrived, the signs of his passage were clear, even to Brandon and Lena.
“Damn,” Rich whispered as they inspected the area. “We’re actually falling behind! He’s hours ahead of us now.”
“He’s alone,” Brandon mused, “and we’re only moving as fast as the slowest of us.” By which he meant himself, but nobody pointed that out. At least he was getting faster; it frustrated him to see how quickly and easily Sorcha could slip through the trees,...
January 18, 2013
The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 2
They wasted as little time as possible getting themselves back on track; they weren’t far behind the Necromancer, and didn’t want to sacrifice that advantage. “He’s going to need time to operate. One thing in our favor is that he lost his zombie minions back there,” Sorcha said as they tried to make up lost ground, “and he’ll have to replace them soon.”
It quickly became apparent that he was making a bee-line for the city they’d been headed towards before, but he was making no effort to reach...
January 16, 2013
The Diffident Hero - Chapter 13, pt. 1
They picked themselves up and checked themselves over; nobody had taken any permanent damage, thankfully. At least not physically. Sorcha was as shocked as the rest, and then was taken by a foul mood marked by a dangerous glint in the eye. Even having never seen it before, Brandon tread lightly around her.
Once they’d removed themselves from the dead clearing and confirmed that the Necromancer had fled the scene, they gathered around Sorcha some distance away.
“That was a trap, and one I should...
January 13, 2013
The Price of Entanglement - Chapter 13, pt. 2
Her head was still in a fog when she left the clinic. Part of her wanted to be back in there tearing down the walls looking for him. Most of her knew that’d be useless, and a small part, the part that resented his leaving them, wanted nothing more to do with him or that place.
Toure had been reluctant to discuss the particulars of Philip’s—Cable’s—involvement with the lab, but she gathered that he wasn’t an employee, more of a test subject, a concept she found both disturbing and oddly appropr...
