Solo Warrior 12: Memories and Missing Pieces

[Bungleau]

Back to Chapter 11 - - - Back to the Beginning

As Missy Hissy headed out from the depths of the mines, she reflected on her father, gone these three years now. While he hadn't been the king's equal, he had done his best to do right by her, and to teach her the things he'd learned, and the things he'd wished he'd learned. 'Twas her father who placed the first sword in her hand, and 'twas he who showed her how to wield it.

Alas, he'd never finished his lessons; that rat Scanthril had shown up, claiming her father owed him a pendant he'd acquired. Missy knew that pendant had been her mother's, and her grandmother's before her; she was sure Scanthril had simply seized on the pendant as a plausible reason for shakedown. He'd threatened her father, and promised to come back that night to collect. She'd urged her father to run, but he would have none of it. "Run once," he said, "and you run for life. They'll never stop, no matter who they are." Instead, he'd prepared her with the family's few possessions and himself with a strong dagger he'd purchased in the orcish lands.

She had been heading into the kitchen when Scanthril and his thugs burst into the house. She'd barely had time to hide in a cupboard before a pack of rats came in, throwing things around and herding her father like a cow headed for the slaughter.

"So where is it?" sneered Scanthril as he pushed her father into a chair in the kitchen. "My client wants that pendant, or your life. And your brat's life, too."

She could see her father glaring at Scanthril through the chinks in the wooden cupboard. "Gone and buried with my wife," he mustered, "gone these many years. And the child's gone, too -- far away from the likes of you."

"Gone, is she? Well, we'll just have to hunt her down too, then. I'll spit her on my sword like a worgur for the barbecue."

Her father could take no more. He stamped his foot on the floor, hitting a loose floorboard that caused a bunch of powder to fly up into the air in the kitchen.

"My eyes!" screamed one of the thugs. "I can't see!"

As the rats swirled around, her father crouched away from the chair and slid the orcish dagger into his hand. As he prepared to backstab Scanthril, the wily rat whirled, his eyes shut tight, and threw five shuriken in a high-low spread pattern. Two of them hit her father, and as he sank to the floor, he caught Missy's eyes through the crack in the cabinet. "Go," he mouthed to her as his knees grew weak. Tears in her eyes, Missy drank the one special potion her father had acquired many years ago, the potion that gave invisibility. Slipping out of the cupboard, she slid behind the rats, hidden in the shadows.

Scanthril looked down at her father through watery eyes, recovering from the powder's blinding effect. "So you want to play smart, eh? Well, you've got to be better than that to outsmart me! Now," he said, flicking aside her father's dagger and tearing one of the shuriken out of his body, "about that pendant..."

On her way out to the stable was when Missy Hissy made her first kill, one of Scanthril's rogues. Half an hour later, when she was safely out of sight and mind, she stopped to throw up at the thought of the rat she had killed, and to weep at the passing of her father. "I swear, Scanthril, by Kerah and all that's holy, I will see you pay. And I swear by Cet and all that's unholy that it will not be quick..."

As Missy rode up the last elevator to where Freyedies was, she realized that though she enjoyed the life of the samurai, there was something missing that left a hole in her heart. Perhaps the warrior guildmaster might have a thought for her of a study or action she could take...

She collected the armor from Freyedies, giving him as well the second piece of dragon ore she'd collected. He turned and began hammering again, not noticing the shield in her pack that stuck out, the one she'd retrieved from his vault.

She made her leave and headed back to Ishad N'ha-ha-ha. She almost stopped to see Scanthril along the way, but decided against it. She sold the items she'd found (gold was so much lighter to carry), and stopped in at each guild for suggestions on new techniques.

The warrior guildmaster suggested she try the life of a ninja; when the dojo master gave her the quest, she almost grinned again. She'd opened the gates to Shurugeon Castle already, and when she mentioned it, she was promoted to ninja on the spot. She spent several hours working on the skills of the ninja, learning something in the dojo and then running into the woods just outside Ishad N'ha to practice. In short order, she'd made a high level in the arts of darkness, earning the admiration of the dojo master. She also earned his ire, for he kept insisting she find out about Grunaxe. She promised yet again to find him, and headed out from Ishad N'ha to see about taking care of the bronze beast that Barrenhawk was so worried about, and perhaps to take care of Scanthril, too...

On to Chapter 13

[ 02-26-2003, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: Bungleau ]

[WillowIX]

[img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] Bungleau! I see you actually have managed to tear yourself away from DD and give your loyal fans plenty of treats. Keep´em coming please [img]smile.gif[/img]

[macoati]

...and another tantilizing installment of the life and times of our favorite heroine! Keep'em coming [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Wyvern]

YAY!!!!!!!

We want

More
More
MOre
MOre
MORe
MORe
MORE
MORE!!!

Wyv

[Olli Kalma]

Can only amaze your creative story telling!

WOW !

[chi master]

More please!
Its great!

[kev]

I can't wait to see Scanthril get his just deserts. I may even go back & kill him in my game, the dirty rat.

[Bungleau]

Latest update available this evening. Stay tuned for more updates...

[LiOnHe@rT]

haha! GO for it bungleau [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] !!! oh and btw, chi master, that's a very nice pic of a dragon u haf there, i havent seen one like dat for very long now......