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Old 02-02-2003, 12:45 AM   #1
chrisofthedale
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Join Date: September 9, 2002
Location: Canada
Age: 36
Posts: 534
The Hunt

It all started out in the town of Garinham. Two warriors came upon the town in their travels. When they arrived it was reaching sun down and the villagers seemed in a hurry to hide away before dark. The warriors thought maybe there was a storm on the way and as they came within the town the palisade gate closed behind them. They looked in search of an Inn but no one would shelter them. They went to the market to find a place to sit down after all they were travelling all day. They discussed what they thought of the place.
The younger warrior, Shane said, “Maybe they have a wolf problem, that seems to be a big thing out here.” The other venerable warrior agreed it must be that. Just then they heard a horrible scream and then howling.
They ran to the guards at the palisade. “What happened?” asked David the venerable warrior.
The guard said, “One of our scouting parties must have been ambushed.”
“By what?” asked Shane.
The guard stalled, he looked pale in the face. He managed to mumble out, “The beasts….”
“Well you’re just in luck then,” said Shane with a smirk on his face.
“Why would that be?” asked the guard.
“We are great travelling warriors, mercenaries so to say,” stated Shane. The guard looked them over.
“Well I guess we should use all the help we can get,” he said. He told them that they could stay the night at the barracks and to report to the town’s mayor at sun up. The next morning the guard came and woke them up. He said, “The Mayor is ready to speak with you.”
“Finally,” said the already awake David. The guard led them to a large old limestone building, brought them inside and up some stairs to a large door.
“In there,’ he said and went back to guard duty. When they entered the room there was a large table, the Mayor at one end and all his other great warriors sat down with him.
“Come, sit down,” bellowed one of the warriors. Shane and David sat down quietly.
“What were we called here to discuss?” asked David.
The Mayor looked at him seriously and said, “You have been called here to discuss how you can help us.”
“Help with what exactly?” asked Shane.
“Haven’t you heard the howling and screams in the night,warriors? We have been cursed with these beasts, half-man, half-wolf they say…,” responded the Mayor.
“Yes, we have heard these cries and we lend our swords to aid your people in their plight,” said David.
“What about all these warriors here, can’t they help us?” asked Shane.
“Well, no my lad”, said the Mayor, “They must stay here to command the guard and help the scouting parties.”
“Well we can’t bloody hell kill them ourselves,” said Shane angrily.
“Yes, the boy is right, we need more men,” agreed David.
“Well then, you can go to the barracks and pick up ten men and any others who wish to aid your cause, remember they are willing to follow you into hell itself, for these beasts have no fear but can strike into the hearts of my people,” said the Mayor.
“So we are in command of these men?” asked David.
“Yes, you shall have command of them,” replied the Mayor.
“Well, you better get organized before sun down then. For they come at night,” said one of the higher-ranking warriors.
“Well we shall leave thee be and get on with our plans then,” said David. The warriors found their way back to the barracks, again with a guard escorting them. They walked into the barracks and watched the men; they were cleaning their weapons, their armour and sleeping well.
“Who are you?” asked one of the soldiers.
“ I am David and the lad is Shane, we have been sent here by the Mayor,” replied David.
“What for?” asked another soldier.
“To pick up ten honest, courageous warriors to help us rid your people of these terrible beasts,” replied Shane. All the soldiers stopped in their tracks.
“It would be suicide,” retorted one of the soldiers, as he was shaking in his boots.
“We will need at least ten men,” said David.
“All the men that think they are brave enough to help us kill the beasts step forth,” shouted Shane. The soldiers looked at one another puzzled.
“Think of what they have been doing to the people here, they live their lives in fear, not even our worst of enemies deserve that fate,” exclaimed David. The men talked it over for a bit. Nine men stepped forward.
“Is that all of you then?” asked David. Just then three soldiers burst in through the barracks door.
“We have heard what you want to do for us, we wish to come with you,” one of the soldiers said.
“Fine, you are welcome to join us,” said David surprised at the men’s courage.
“We shall set out tomorrow, ready your gear and spirits and get your rest, I have a feeling you will need it,” said David. The warriors and their twelve man strong party spent the night in the barracks, they shared stories and all of the like, these were confident men thought David, they shall do fine.
They next day they awoke early, David and Shane taught them techniques to use when they were fighting in groups. They even asked the Mayors permission to go to the local armour and weapon smith to get fully equipped. All the men were to be outfitted with a long sword, spear and a bow. They were also to have chain mail armour, shields and some plate armour. They are starting to look professional thought David. David was only outfitted with a bow and sword and some chain mail armour, Shane on the other hand had a two-handed sword and chain mail. They will be ready by tomorrow thought David.
That night David spoke to the men, he told them that they would be fighting tomorrow night and reminded them that when they were out there to watch each others back. The next day came, they rested all day and spoke of strategies, they had to wait till nightfall. When nightfall finally arrived they could hear howling in the distance.
“Remember to keep your ears and eyes open while we are out there men”, spoke David. The palisade guards opened the gates and they began the hunt.
They were off down the dirt road leading into town; it was quiet, except the distant howling. Then all of a sudden one of the men said, “I think I hear something walking in the forest.”
“Ready yourselves!” spoke David. Then they heard rustling in the bushes. “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” screamed one of the men as he was taken into the forest by a fast moving dark figure. The man could hear his screams as he moved further and further into the bush, probably for the beasts meal. Just then another jumped out in front of the men.
“Fire!” yelled David. A barrage of arrows hit the beast and it collapsed unto the ground. Then more came and they were almost surrounded. Then the beast full of arrows began to move again.
“How the hell do you kill these things?” shouted Shane.
“I’m not sure but we have to get out of here, retreat!” yelled out David. They ran back to the town palisade with a circle of men with shields around them. The men inside scared off beasts with arrows. As they neared the gate the guards there started shooting fire arrows, the beasts ran back into the bush, for now. The guards let them into town quickly.
“What happened?” asked one guard.
“We were ambushed and largely outnumbered, we lost a man,” said David sadly.
“We couldn’t even make them stay dead,” said Shane. Then one of the men mentioned how he had heard a tale about beasts such as these, he thought it was a little ridiculous though.
“Speak up then,” said David.
“Well I have once heard of beast such as these. They come out on the full moon, at night and are half-man, half- beast, they are called werewolves,” replied the soldier.
“Any useful information in the legend soldier?” asked David.
“Well, I remember that they can only be killed with silver. That’s it, silver weapons must be our answer!” exclaimed the soldier.
“We must speak with the Mayor immediately,” said Shane to one to the guards.
“What’s this all about?” asked the Mayor when the group was finally able to speak with him.
“We need silver,” said David.
“For what?” asked the Mayor.
“To kill the beasts,” said one of the guards.
“Is this true?” asked the Mayor.
Everyone agreed that that was the only way.
“Then I shall permit you access to our treasury,” said the Mayor. The men made busy and found as much silver as possible, then went to the Weapons Smith and Fletcher. They requested that their swords, spears and arrows heads be coated in silver. That was all that had to be said, by the next morning with the help of the soldiers the work was done.
“What now?” asked one of the men.
“We continue the hunt,” replied David eyeing his new silver coated sword. They rested for the day till nightfall came. When they were ready they ventured into the forest this time following the tracks of the werewolves. This led them to a cave.
“Shhh! I hear something,” said one of the men. Then as they crept forward slowly they saw what must be the leader of the beasts, he was at least twice the size of the normal ones.
“It knows we are here,” said David.
“Yes, quite a good assumption human,” said the Great Wolf.
“I am the ruler of these beasts, even though it is because I am the only one that has retained my human mind, I never gave in to the savage minds that usually come with the transformation,” said the Great Wolf.
“What do you mean by transformation?” asked David.
“Hahahahaha! Don’t you get it foolish mortal, I am the beginner of this race, they were all once people but so was I, a misfortunate accident with a spell changed me into this,” replied the Great Wolf.
“Prepare to die then,” said David bravely.
“Hahahaha! Do you really think I would make it that simple? Reveal yourselves warriors,” said the Great Wolf. As he said this about a hundred beasts stepped forth from the shadows.
“I must kill you beast, it is my duty,” said David. After he said this he raised his bow and sent a silver arrow flying towards the beast it hit him square in the chest.
“Hahahaha! You can’t kill me with such simple weapons?” asked the Great Wolf. “Wait, why is it hurting me”, he looked down and saw that he was smoking where the arrow entered him.
“How? What kind of evil sorcery is this!” bellowed the Great Wolf.
“It’s not sorcery, it’s silver, your only weakness,” replied David. As David finished his speech the great wolf turned to dust and blew away on the night wind. The other wolves looked at each other for a moment as if thinking of running away, they decided to charge head on. As they started running arrows were shooting them down from the men, they were crumbling to dust before they could touch any one. Only about a dozen made it to them to fight, Shane was hacking through them while the men were using their spears to take them down from a distance. Then David heard a scream, he turned around. There was a beast leaning over one of his comrades. He must have thrown himself in the way while the beast was sneaking up on him thought David.
“For you sir,” said the wounded man. David stabbed the beast with his sword then it crumbled before him. All the other beasts were dead.
“Kill me,” said the wounded man.
“Why?” asked Shane.
“I am turning into one of them, I feel it within me,” said the wounded man.
“Everyone lets leave this man who saved my life to die a warriors death,” said David as he handed the wounded man his sword.
“Thank you David,” said the man smiling even though he knew his life had to end soon.
“We shall give you a warriors burial,” said David kindly. All the men and David turned around and let the man kill himself, for there is no cure for this transformation but death.
“We shall miss him,” they all said. They camped the night there, buried their comrade and waited for any surviving werewolves. They had rid the country of the evil but they were not done. These men continued on travelling all ten of them. They helped the needy and killed evil, for what is a warrior’s life without dying for a cause?
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Old 02-02-2003, 01:19 AM   #2
The Hierophant
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Join Date: May 10, 2002
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand.
Age: 41
Posts: 2,860
Not bad, not bad at all. The bitter-sweet ending was a nice touch [img]smile.gif[/img]
One question, what is LA exactly? Language Association? Los Angeles? I'm eager to know.
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Old 02-02-2003, 05:26 AM   #3
GokuZool
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Join Date: September 11, 2001
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 2,061
Congrats Chris [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

I saved your story, and will read it later. (I'm on 56k dial-up you see..)
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Old 02-02-2003, 03:33 PM   #4
chrisofthedale
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Join Date: September 9, 2002
Location: Canada
Age: 36
Posts: 534
language arts, im only in grade 9 [img]tongue.gif[/img]
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Old 02-02-2003, 06:55 PM   #5
The Hierophant
Thoth - Egyptian God of Wisdom
 

Join Date: May 10, 2002
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand.
Age: 41
Posts: 2,860
Quote:
Originally posted by chrisofthedale:
language arts, im only in grade 9 [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Well, that makes your story particularly impressive then. Keep up the good work [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]
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Old 02-02-2003, 06:58 PM   #6
arion windrider
Red Wizard of Thay
 

Join Date: May 26, 2001
Location: Vancouver,Wa.
Age: 55
Posts: 800
good job chris...
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