The trip started out well enough. He'd picked up a horse in Hevat, and restocked all of his supplies. The dwarves had thought him silly to want to climb the mountain, but they had given him the equipment needed as well. One kind smith even sharpened the even sharpened the traveler's sword, saying no one should appear before dragons (if they existed) with a dull blade. The smith said that the traveler would most definitely need the blade anyway, and how right the smith was. Mountain climbing turned out to be far harder than expected. Thing was that he was used to live only in shore areas, and thus mountains were almost a new and amazing thing in his eyes. And yet soon enough he was climbing the mountains as easily as you please. Already the forest was thinning out a bit. If this pace kept up he'd be atop the mountain and meeting dragons in no time. Of course, no plan that is not thought out like a plan should be ever seems to succeed. This plan was no different from those others. Upon his third day on the mountain the traveler decided to end his hike leisurely, taking advantage of his last chance to hunt as the forest was ending. If he brought in something, anything, it would supplement his current diet and give him more time to get up without having to worry about food. So the man left his pack and sword by the camp fire he'd prepared and then taken off with the bow and quiver he had been by a man in Nilusk. The hunt had gone rather poorly, for he hadn't seen a single thing, much less fired a single shaft. Yet the reason became apparent as he grew closer to his camp site. While they were stubble, there were some signs that things were not going well. His fire, previously smoldering, had leapt to new life with the presence of a new log in it. His sword and pack were both missing, and there were breaks in some of the vegetation around the site. The traveler swore lightly under his breath. He had either been taken by bandits, or someone was following him. Really, returning to the site now seemed a foolish idea, so the male went around it the long way and moved towards the bare rocks to begin climbing. While he would soon be spotted, he had no doubt that if he got just enough lead his followers would lose him and he'd be home free. Except, obviously, that was not how it went. The male got halfway up a cliff face before he heard familiar shouts behind them. It was no language that any human could understand, one that he doubted even elves knew, and it was enough to put fear in his heart. But soon the male stopped worrying. Their bodies were so bulky that they were hardly able to scale rock faces like this right? And they didn't seem to be the type for bows or other stuff like that, so he was really home free... So he believed until the first arrow struck some ways away from his hand. Okay, so that wasn't a reason for him to worry either, as soon he'd be far out of range, right? That thought backfired too, as the male suddenly found himself caught by the strap of his bow. With another curse the man quickly undid the thing with his one free hand and let quiver and bow drop ten, twenty, thirty feet to the ground. And still the male found no reason to worry. When he reached a ledge he gladly hauled himself up to get a look down upon his pursuers. Sure enough they were there, large black things that he always found it better not to describe in the slightest. Worst thing was that they were halfway up the cliff and moving far faster than he was capable of without equipment. With yet another curse, this time to the gods for letting this happen, he returned to his climbing. If he could just make it to a flat area he'd have a chance. He knew that he ran faster than they did in almost any condition, he'd had to outrun them before. But joining them in battle without a weapon would be death to him. The first snowflake fell without his notice, and so did the second. Yet the third landed squarely upon his nose. For the condemnation that would come from that snow, it might has well have been a brick to steal him from the embrace of consciousness forever. Part 9 Back to Main Page