Thralls of a Dread Lord (1.53T)
Welcome to my weekly serial. This is a rough draft that I am working on, for your reading pleasure.
It is a fairly grim tale, so be warned.
Here is the first post from this series.
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“They say that Karniloth’s hate twists the vegetation, even the soil itself,” Albyursia’s voice pulled Retaak back from his examinations of the roots of a tree that were slowly trying to reach him with what looked to be stingers. The tree itself appeared to be a conifer, but was so twisted and scaled that it was hard to compare to its regal cousins that crowned the mountains.
“What is she?” asked Retaak. “Do you know?”
“Many of my people blame her on the first Dread Lord,” said Albyursia. “But they blame the cause of their current troubles for everything. This valley was once home to a prosperous kingdom of Dwarves and Humans. When one of their enemies attacked and they were on the brink of defeat, the Queen made a pact with a dark power and Karniloth was born. She defeated the enemy but the kingdom soon fell victim to her predations. The people who lived here were trapped here until she and her spawn consumed them all.”
“How much of this is myth?” asked Retaak. The Fellspawn only knew Karniloth as a demon an the Desolation as a place not worth conquering.
“I cannot say,” said Albyursia, leaning back against a moss-eaten stone wall. “I have heard different stories about her identity. In some tales she is the Queen, twisted by the power she wields or cursed by those she used it against after the danger was passed. in others Karniloth is what was summoned, a weapon from beyond the world that went out of control. The former is certainly more poetic.”
“Let us hope we never find out,” whispered Uyaashie, gazing down the approach to their little hiding spot and up to the trees above as if they might come alive at any moment and attack.
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After scouting ahead Uyage and Kuzat returned, leading them down a narrow passage. The ground crunched under Retaak’s feet with every step even as he tried to move stealthily. After a moment he realized that he was walking on broken cobbles and bones.
“Keep moving,” whispered Kuzat. “This part is dangerous.”
Uyage’s arm snapped up. The whole band froze, save for Albyursia who bumped into Retaak.
Up ahead at the end of the passage, Retaak could see movement. A thick-limbed spider the size of a horse slowly wandered past. It stopped and looked at them. Retaak’s hands found his falchion and he pulled it from the sheath without a whisper of sound. He could see that this was no normal spider, the mouth twisted around the mandibles and the face below the eight eyes was disconcertingly like that of a human woman.
The spider made a clicking sound. Uyage drew back her bow. The hackles on the back of his neck stood up as they often did when he was about to be ambushed.
“There are more,” whispered Kuzat, looking at the overgrown ruins to their right. There, carefully concealed, Retaak spotted another spider.
Uyage’s bowstring twanged. The large spider began to barrel down the passge toward them while overgrown ruins seemed to erupt with smaller spiders that scurried toward them.
“On me!” bellowed Retaak, setting himself in front of the large spider as the battle was joined.
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