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By Tim Turner
A Heart of Evil
"Nilak you've been ignoring your chores again", yelled an old looking Halfling.” Sorry father I'll get right on it", said the abnormally dark skinned elf lad while running to meet his fathers call. When he entered the room he had to duck for the structure was not made for one of his size. "You've got some nerve going out without asking me or at least doing your chores first". "I'm sorry father but I brought you a gift I picked it up at the bazaar", in his hand he held a beautifully carved necklace that was obviously worth a fortune, which the young elf obviously didn't have. "Who did you get it from?” asked the Halfling while cracking a smile. "Oh.....who'd I get it from.........well I don't really remember I think it was the old dwarf that's always making nice things". "Well that's interesting for the fact that the runes on this are obviously elven". "Now tell me the truth Nilak who'd you steal it from". "But father the first rule of a thief is he is not supposed to reveal the names his victim, that's how you keep from getting caught". "So you do pay attention to my lectures and all this time I thought you were a lazy fool", laughed the old man. "Yes father I always pay atten......” The old man jumped out at the young elf with a rapier that seemed to materialize in his hand. But he was not fast enough to hit the boy who just as quickly pulled out a long thin vicious looking blade. He parried the Halflings blow perfectly then rolled out of the house and into the street. The Halfling didn't miss a beat he was out of the house less than a second after the elf. Nilak was on his guard ready for a good fight but what he didn't expect was that the streets were too crowded with people to see his opponent. By the time he noticed where the Halfling was it was too late the old man was on top of him and too close for the elf to fight correctly. But it was perfect for his pint size opponent who didn't need much room to fight. Fortunately for the elf he wasn't new to fighting in close quarters, he summoned a globe of darkness that engulfed him and his opponent. The sudden appearance of the
Darkness sent the bystanders running and screaming not sure what was going on. The elf took advantage of the chaos to escape to a preferred battlefield. Unfortunately he didn't expect his father to stick as close as he did. He was forced to run as fast as he could to out run the Halfling. Luckily Tymora, the goddess of luck, was with him this day. He ran a good half mile before he dared look back, he didn't see anything but he knew it wasn't safe to assume anything for it could be his downfall. He found a spot he liked to finish the fight and he waited. It didn't take the Halfling long to find him for he knew the land better than any of the gods could. He had lived there his whole life. The second the Halfling came into view Nilak went into an odd guard position leaving his right flank wide open, when the Halfling came into range the elf flashed a little knife and threw it catching his mentor off guard, but the Halfling was still too fast, he flicked his blade up a little, easily deflecting the weapon. That's what the elf wanted. Three more knives went flying toward the Halfling. He easily deflected the first two, but when he went for the third it exploded into too many pieces to be blocked, his only chance was to take cover, so he dived behind a nearby log. When he looked up the elf was gone, he looked around with a confused look on his face. Then he felt an abnormal breeze from his right, he jumped and lashed his blade out and spoke a word to his blade and it burst into flames that didn't seem to bother the Halfling in the least. That signified that the battle was really just starting. Another word was spoken but this time it wasn't the Halflings voice a crackle of energy burst from the left and it was flying towards the Halfling at an incredible speed. For the next few moments there was only a flash of light and the sound of ringing steel. When the two came apart the elf fell and the Halfling was griping a fresh bloody wound. The elf had a large hilt shaped bruise on his right cheek. “Your getting better my son you almost had me that time”, laughed the Halfling. “Yes but I still lost yet you know one day I will defeat you father”, the elf said smiling. “That day will come sooner or later but for now let's tend to these wounds”. On their way back they got waylaid by some rough looking orc like things. Something was off about them though these orcs were not normal, not that any orc is, they had an aura of evil around them. The Halfling told his son to run and warn the city of the coming trouble. By the time Nilak was halfway back he heard the death cry of the orcs and he smiled but then he heard what sounded like a stampede. He turned back to see his father standing guard ready to take on what seemed to be a hoard, at that moment he knew he would never see his father again he ran back to the city as fast as he could and warned everyone of the coming hoard.
* * *
The Halfling stood his guard and fought his way through many of the demonic orcs killing a good two score before he was overwhelmed.
* * *
Nilak headed for his house to arm himself for the coming battle but he was too late. He had to hide.
* * *
He didn't know how long the battle lasted but he knew it was over when the yelling ceased and the crying started. He left his hiding place to find the rest of the house almost completely burned to the ground. The streets were littered with corpses of orc, human, and elf alike. He saw some young human boy no more than 15 years of age badly wounded, but even through the vicious wounds he could recognize the boy; it was his friend Tolaris. They had pulled off many escapades in earlier days. A smile came to Tolariss face when he saw his friend. “Thanks for warning us, friend; we won thanks to you”, Tolaris said weakly. “No it was thanks to my father”, Nilak said with tears streaming down his face. “My sword”, Tolaris said choking on his own blood. “Hurry I need a cleric before he passes”, yelled Nilak. “My sword”, Tolaris repeated. “Yes I've got it right here but please hold on; I'm not loosing you too”. Nilak knew his friend wouldn't survive now even with magic so he placed his friends' sword on his chest and crossed his arms as his friend passed. Nilak got up and wiped his face and went to see where he could help.
The content of The Talisman is the property and copyright of Tim Turner, and are not to be published or redistributed without permission.