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Back to Empire on the HPe3000
... and ...
This is a first draft of a story set in the world of Greyhawk.
It is based on a home campaign so some of the people, places and things
may be different. Any helpful comments or suggestions are very welcome.
Thanks
Jason Zavoda
She knelt before the Saint but she could not see him. There
were stones beneath her, she could feel them, cold and smooth. All
around her there was a golden light, a glow at the edge of her vision.
Before her, where the Saint stood, a much brighter radiance of gold that
Gytha could not face.
Tears streamed down her checks, they tasted of salt as they
passed her lips and fell from her chin. There was a wondrous joy within
Gytha which she could not contain, and there was an infinite sadness,
a sense of loss that she had not felt since her parents had been slain.
Her eyes clouded by the tears, Gytha raised her head and looked
into the golden radiance...
* * *
Boss was gone and Talberth was all alone. The orc's screams
had faded so that Talberth could only hear them when he closed his eyes.
The mage shook with fear, for a moment only the stone rings which bound
his arms were all that kept him on his feet, but then he calmed.
The fear fell from him as if it had never been. Trapped, his
hands and feet bound tight within enchanted rings of stone, Talberth
felt free. He was not scared anymore, and even if worse things were to
come he did not think that he would be afraid to face them.
With his mind calm he took stock of his situation. It did not
look good to him.
"At least I am still alive." he said to himself. "Why am I alive?"
Talberth's brain flickered into action, he cleared away cobwebs that his
fear had created within the corners of his mind. As best he could he
went over every moment since he had stepped beyond the long corridor.
"What did that skeleton say?" he asked himself.
The words it had spoken seemed familiar, "Suel, yes Suel, they
are part of this place. What were the words, Z, something, something."
Talberth moved his head slowly back and forth then up and down trying
to shake free a memory.
* * *
"Don't touch the bars." warned Harold.
"I wasn't going to." the ranger replied.
"So this is where Talberth was caught." said Ivo. The gnome
reached into a pocket in his vest and felt for a small metal box. As his
fingers touched it a better thought came to mind. "No need to see if
there is magic here."
"There is a powerful spell on those bars at least." said Harold.
"Stand away." Ivo waved the others back.
"What are you going to try?" asked the ranger.
The large man had not moved back as far as Ivo would have
liked. He walked toward the ranger and shooed him further up the hallway.
"I'm going to see if the magic can be cast aside."
"Is it dangerous?" Harold asked , the halfling took quick steps
backwards to avoid the retreating man.
"Of course it's dangerous." Ivo chuckled at the question. "But
less so than walking blindly down these halls."
"Hey!" Harold objected. "It was Talberth, he wouldn't listen."
"We will see what he says about that when we find him." Ivo
told him.
"I hope you are right." said Harold.
"So do I." muttered the old gnome. "Now stay back and keep
quiet while I cast this spell." Ivo said in a louder voice.
* * *
(To Be Continued...)