(no subject)
So... I write really slowly. I told myself I was going to write a page a day, and that didn't happen. I've got the first part of chapter one, and I've got a bit of the prologue done. I thought I'd share some of what I have, but I don't want to post any of chapter one until it's finished. So here's what I have of the prologue so far:
Had I not moved I would have died right then and there.
But luckily (or perhaps it was more than luck) I sensed it behind me in time. I dove to my left and rolled into the thick undergrowth, and it struck the dirt where my right heel had been. It reared back, howling in rage, frustration, and readied another attack. By then I was scrambling through the brush, flat on my belly, following some sort of small animal track deeper into the forest. I squeezed through an opening in a veritable net of faxen vine, hoping it would trip up my pursuer. My leaving the path might have prompted it to abandon its lupine steed, but I couldn’t be sure. When I heard something crashing through the foliage behind me I quickened my pace, but I had precious seconds before I was caught. If that happened...
No. I would not fail. I could not accept that.
The track suddenly opened, and I could stand again. The yakonisa warrior was hacking through the vines, cursing in that strange, buzzing tongue of theirs. There was time enough for one small evocation.
My strength was ebbing. I had lost a lot of blood already, my shirt and robes stained through with crimson, but I would have to manage. I was never very good at healing, and Chelsea, our team’s healer, was dead. Everyone was dead, even my beloved Anna. Everyone but me. And I didn’t have much longer.
I ripped open my shirt, enlarging what the warrior had already done, and felt for the wound in my side. Something was poking out, but I tried not to pay attention to it. I soaked my fingers in my own blood and began painting runes on my chest. It would be hard without Anna, my familiar, but I had to try.
Already I could feel the warmth of the runes. Good. I finished the last one, placed on my forehead, and concentrated.
The faxen vines were tough, but how long would they hold?
Once the yakonisa warrior was through, how quickly would it get to me?
I would never again see the way Chelsea looked when we made love.
These thoughts and more I pushed aside.
Concentrate. Concentrate!
The runes got warmer, began to glow, but still nothing happened. I just didn’t have enough magical power left to fuel the spell. If I wanted to live long enough to complete my mission I had only one option.
So I did what no mage is ever supposed to do.
I tapped into my own Life Force.
It was just a little, maybe a year’s worth or so, but it was more than enough to finish the spell. I vanished an instant before the yakonisa would have swept my head from my shoulders.
I reappeared a bit dazed and more than a little woozy, but I had enough sense to make sure the Staff was still safely at my side. I felt its reassuring weight against my thigh, and I allowed myself a moment to collapse on the ground and rest. I took in my surroundings as best I could from where I lay. I appeared to be on a mountainside, as evidenced by the scrub and rocky, sloped terrain. I remembered it as one I had seen in the distance from the road just before the ambush. So I hadn’t been able to teleport far in my weakened state, but I hoped it would be enough to throw the yakonisa off my trail. I laughed a bit from the sheer adrenaline rush, but it turned into a hiss from the pain. I wasn’t going to last long in the state I was in. I was losing a lot of blood, I was exhausted, and I’d just sapped some of my own life away. Granted I wasn’t going to need it pretty soon anyway, but it still takes a bit out of you.
I forced myself up, grunting and straining, and tried to take better stock of where I was and what to do next. I couldn’t just lie down and die, not yet. I still had a mission to complete.
There was no way I was going to make it to the rendezvous point. It was still a day’s ride away, at least, and I was on foot and had hours left at best. Without Anna I could make use of only the most basic of spells without using up more of my Life Force, and if I got too greedy with that I’d just hasten my inevitable end. Surely the yakonisa warrior was already putting his wolfsteed to work sniffing me out, so that put even more strain on the time I had to work with.
There was only one thing left to do; I had to destroy the Staff before the yakonisa could find me again. Better it be destroyed and of use to no one than in the hands of the enemy. The only problem was, I had no idea how to set about it. The Staff had various enchantments laid upon it to prevent its destruction, so I couldn’t just snap it over my knee and have done with it. It would take a great deal of energy to destroy the Staff, and energy I did not have.
I spared a moment to look around, and a fortuitous glance up the mountainside showed me the answer. A faint wisp of smoke was issuing from the peak of the mountain, which meant that this was no ordinary mountain. It was a volcano.
I did not remember hearing of a volcano in this area, which meant that it had to have been dormant until recently. A plan began to formulate in my mind, and I began to climb, with grim determination, towards what was at once my salvation and certain doom.
To be continued...
Had I not moved I would have died right then and there.
But luckily (or perhaps it was more than luck) I sensed it behind me in time. I dove to my left and rolled into the thick undergrowth, and it struck the dirt where my right heel had been. It reared back, howling in rage, frustration, and readied another attack. By then I was scrambling through the brush, flat on my belly, following some sort of small animal track deeper into the forest. I squeezed through an opening in a veritable net of faxen vine, hoping it would trip up my pursuer. My leaving the path might have prompted it to abandon its lupine steed, but I couldn’t be sure. When I heard something crashing through the foliage behind me I quickened my pace, but I had precious seconds before I was caught. If that happened...
No. I would not fail. I could not accept that.
The track suddenly opened, and I could stand again. The yakonisa warrior was hacking through the vines, cursing in that strange, buzzing tongue of theirs. There was time enough for one small evocation.
My strength was ebbing. I had lost a lot of blood already, my shirt and robes stained through with crimson, but I would have to manage. I was never very good at healing, and Chelsea, our team’s healer, was dead. Everyone was dead, even my beloved Anna. Everyone but me. And I didn’t have much longer.
I ripped open my shirt, enlarging what the warrior had already done, and felt for the wound in my side. Something was poking out, but I tried not to pay attention to it. I soaked my fingers in my own blood and began painting runes on my chest. It would be hard without Anna, my familiar, but I had to try.
Already I could feel the warmth of the runes. Good. I finished the last one, placed on my forehead, and concentrated.
The faxen vines were tough, but how long would they hold?
Once the yakonisa warrior was through, how quickly would it get to me?
I would never again see the way Chelsea looked when we made love.
These thoughts and more I pushed aside.
Concentrate. Concentrate!
The runes got warmer, began to glow, but still nothing happened. I just didn’t have enough magical power left to fuel the spell. If I wanted to live long enough to complete my mission I had only one option.
So I did what no mage is ever supposed to do.
I tapped into my own Life Force.
It was just a little, maybe a year’s worth or so, but it was more than enough to finish the spell. I vanished an instant before the yakonisa would have swept my head from my shoulders.
I reappeared a bit dazed and more than a little woozy, but I had enough sense to make sure the Staff was still safely at my side. I felt its reassuring weight against my thigh, and I allowed myself a moment to collapse on the ground and rest. I took in my surroundings as best I could from where I lay. I appeared to be on a mountainside, as evidenced by the scrub and rocky, sloped terrain. I remembered it as one I had seen in the distance from the road just before the ambush. So I hadn’t been able to teleport far in my weakened state, but I hoped it would be enough to throw the yakonisa off my trail. I laughed a bit from the sheer adrenaline rush, but it turned into a hiss from the pain. I wasn’t going to last long in the state I was in. I was losing a lot of blood, I was exhausted, and I’d just sapped some of my own life away. Granted I wasn’t going to need it pretty soon anyway, but it still takes a bit out of you.
I forced myself up, grunting and straining, and tried to take better stock of where I was and what to do next. I couldn’t just lie down and die, not yet. I still had a mission to complete.
There was no way I was going to make it to the rendezvous point. It was still a day’s ride away, at least, and I was on foot and had hours left at best. Without Anna I could make use of only the most basic of spells without using up more of my Life Force, and if I got too greedy with that I’d just hasten my inevitable end. Surely the yakonisa warrior was already putting his wolfsteed to work sniffing me out, so that put even more strain on the time I had to work with.
There was only one thing left to do; I had to destroy the Staff before the yakonisa could find me again. Better it be destroyed and of use to no one than in the hands of the enemy. The only problem was, I had no idea how to set about it. The Staff had various enchantments laid upon it to prevent its destruction, so I couldn’t just snap it over my knee and have done with it. It would take a great deal of energy to destroy the Staff, and energy I did not have.
I spared a moment to look around, and a fortuitous glance up the mountainside showed me the answer. A faint wisp of smoke was issuing from the peak of the mountain, which meant that this was no ordinary mountain. It was a volcano.
I did not remember hearing of a volcano in this area, which meant that it had to have been dormant until recently. A plan began to formulate in my mind, and I began to climb, with grim determination, towards what was at once my salvation and certain doom.
To be continued...