On the fringes of Eastern Brisshal, the wilderness came undone by civilization. Grass and pine stopped, with stone and ordinary wood taking its place. The dirt tracks gave way to paved slabs. At the center of it all was a perfectly maintained circle of interconnecting roads, surrounding a marble statue of a winged goddess. The light from lanterns nearby danced around it, glimmering in the water's reflection.
Just within earshot, echoing dimly in the early night, two sets of footsteps clattered to a stop.
"We have the girl," said one man, wearing a hooded cloak fashioned from a red wolf's hide and lined with dead men's skin. He rode a white tiger the size of a horse, its stripes and mane thick and its horns ten inches long and pock-marked from years of frontier living. "The price is two thousand credits."
"Two thousand? There must be some mistake." said the goliath of the duo, a hairy brute whose eyes were covered by a sash that was just thin enough to see lights blazing beneath it. He nodded, "Eastern Brisshal is where the weaklings are. There is no way a girl could be worth that much."
"Mostly true, but for one fact," said the plucky and downright unlikely human riding beside him. "This one has a gift. A remarkable gift." He shifted a bit atop the thickly furred ram he rode "Two thousand is a price well worth paying for this. Trust me."
"We'll see," said the cloaked rider. "Winding and weaving, the roads here are unpredictable. Our meeting will go unchronicled, and I will meet you at camp tomorrow."
The goliath turned, and stuck a finger under his blindfold and lifted it just so. Head cocked to one side, and there was the terrible expectation of the whole world changing from just a few words...
...but nothing profound happened. The giant blinked and lowered the sash, then spoke, "Until tomorrow."
You'd never think something that big could move so quickly, corner so tightly or vanish so abruptly, but the giant did. Dirt puffed up in his wake as he hit the dirt road out of town, and he was gone in seconds; maybe into the forests, and maybe somewhere else all together. No-one could keep an eye on him long enough to say one way or any other.
"Old proverb," the tiger mounted man began to himself, "Ask no questions of giants, for the answers you get will be three: All of them true, all of them terrible."
The tiger growled, and the rider made haste from the town. Across from the statue, hidden just enough around a wall, the eyes of an onlooker followed the magnificent beast from the town. Canen Osiris had been following the rider for a few hours now, from the northernmost road where the woods stayed green. A girl had gone missing, the daughter of a prominent lord and someone of unique talent. It hadn't taken him long to come to a decision on whether he was going to help; the rewards for bringing her back were too tempting.
As the man turned and walked back towards the Silver Cup Inn, he started to wonder whether he'd really be able to pull this off, and what kind of gift such a girl had for such ridiculous money.
Just within earshot, echoing dimly in the early night, two sets of footsteps clattered to a stop.
"We have the girl," said one man, wearing a hooded cloak fashioned from a red wolf's hide and lined with dead men's skin. He rode a white tiger the size of a horse, its stripes and mane thick and its horns ten inches long and pock-marked from years of frontier living. "The price is two thousand credits."
"Two thousand? There must be some mistake." said the goliath of the duo, a hairy brute whose eyes were covered by a sash that was just thin enough to see lights blazing beneath it. He nodded, "Eastern Brisshal is where the weaklings are. There is no way a girl could be worth that much."
"Mostly true, but for one fact," said the plucky and downright unlikely human riding beside him. "This one has a gift. A remarkable gift." He shifted a bit atop the thickly furred ram he rode "Two thousand is a price well worth paying for this. Trust me."
"We'll see," said the cloaked rider. "Winding and weaving, the roads here are unpredictable. Our meeting will go unchronicled, and I will meet you at camp tomorrow."
The goliath turned, and stuck a finger under his blindfold and lifted it just so. Head cocked to one side, and there was the terrible expectation of the whole world changing from just a few words...
...but nothing profound happened. The giant blinked and lowered the sash, then spoke, "Until tomorrow."
You'd never think something that big could move so quickly, corner so tightly or vanish so abruptly, but the giant did. Dirt puffed up in his wake as he hit the dirt road out of town, and he was gone in seconds; maybe into the forests, and maybe somewhere else all together. No-one could keep an eye on him long enough to say one way or any other.
"Old proverb," the tiger mounted man began to himself, "Ask no questions of giants, for the answers you get will be three: All of them true, all of them terrible."
The tiger growled, and the rider made haste from the town. Across from the statue, hidden just enough around a wall, the eyes of an onlooker followed the magnificent beast from the town. Canen Osiris had been following the rider for a few hours now, from the northernmost road where the woods stayed green. A girl had gone missing, the daughter of a prominent lord and someone of unique talent. It hadn't taken him long to come to a decision on whether he was going to help; the rewards for bringing her back were too tempting.
As the man turned and walked back towards the Silver Cup Inn, he started to wonder whether he'd really be able to pull this off, and what kind of gift such a girl had for such ridiculous money.
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