| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Gremlin |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 00:06:45
Prelude: A Stalking Shadow
A dark silhouette shifted slightly and strafed to the side to blend into the other shadows. The hazy figure moved again and dropped behind one of the many pillars standing upright in a column.
Onrilius the Guildmaster did not seem to notice, though, just bent low over a scrap of parchment and scribbled something onto it.
The figure moved in, advancing slowly. The shadow stepped out into the moonlight that reflected through the domed ceiling. His features were pale and strained, too wrinkled for his nigh thirty years. His nose was sharp and pointed, his eyes shadowed and bags drooped out from under them. The mouth was a slight line across his gaunt face. His hair was pure black, a mop of obsidian set haphazardly atop his head. He was clad in a black cloak, the cowl pulled back from his head. From the dark depths inside his cloak, he produced a dagger, gleaming in the surreal moonlight.
The shine reflected off the marble desk that Onrilius was leaning upon. Out of the corner of his eye, the guildmaster caught the flash and whirled around. When the word “Guards” was just reaching the tip of his tongue, he found the silent stalker was pushing him against the desk, hand cupped over his mouth and dagger at his throat. Onrilius muffled something incoherent from underneath the man’s hand. The mysterious man lowered the hand from Onrilius’s mouth and added a little more weight onto the dagger that was bared at the guildmaster’s neck.
“Move more than a breath should allow you, I shall let the dagger cut all the way through,” whispered the man maliciously as blood trickled out of a small cut the knife had wrought on the guildmaster’s throat. The obese Onrilius quivered and his face paled at least a shade.
“Who—” Onrilius started.
“Where is the staff, Guildmaster?” shot the man with a malevolent glare.
“An assassin,” whispered Onrilius with growing fear as realization dawned on him.
“It doesn’t matter what I might be. Where is the staff, Guildmaster?”
“Staff?” chuckled the guildmaster, and then realizing his mistake, said, “What staff?”
“You know what staff, Guildmaster Onrilius,” he said, giving the other man a hint that he was relishing this moment. “My patron’s staff.”
“Your patron…” Onrilius tried to put a hand to his chin, but the assassin slapped it back down and cut deeper into his neck.
“Tell me!” ordered the assassin. “I will make you pay. I’ll torture you and cut out your tongue so the guards cannot hear your cries of pain. Tell me where the staff is and I’ll let you go.”
“I still do not know of—”
“You know exactly what I am talking about,” hissed the assassin and removed the dagger from Onrilius’s neck to bash the guildmaster over the head with the hilt. “The staff that brought the downfall of Janlaria. The staff that was used to weave the magic of the Elven Court in the Isles of Iliimnonua. The very staff that vanquished the Lord of Shadowkin.”
Onrilius sobbed and crimson mixed with his tears as blood trickled out of his new wound. “Oh yes, that staff,” he said as stoically as he could through his sobs. “I must have misplaced it, because I don’t—”
Another bash over the head. Onrilius tried to cry out, but the assassin’s hand was too quick and his shriek was reduced to a muffled whimper. “I remember now,” he sobbed. “I remember. I stored it away secretly.”
“Where?” persisted the assassin. “Where did you store it?”
“In the pillar.” The guildmaster lifted his finger and the assassin allowed him to proceed. “I put it there. In the pillar.”
The assassin followed his uplifted finger and turned to see that the pillar that he had emerged behind did indeed have a difference in shade and contour. It was a rectangular shape, a more ivory color than the stark white of the all the other pillars and the one it was embedded in.
The assassin allowed himself to produce a brief, extremely brief, smile, enjoying his accomplishment. “Take me to it,” he whispered venomously. “I will not leave your side.”
The assassin heaved the beleaguered man forward and cupped a hand over his mouth, shoved the point of the knife into his back, causing the smallest of cuts and drawing blood. Onrilius squealed, but the assassin only pressed further and the guildmaster of the Nel’Thelasi Thieves’ Guild was forced to move forward. They shuffled awkwardly towards the pillar. When they reached it, Onrilius tried as hard as he could to peer over his shoulder to meet with the assassin’s gaze. “May I have my hand?” he asked. “I need the key.”
The assassin let the guildmaster have control of his hand—for he had shoved his knee into the man’s palm—and Onrilius produced a small, crude key from inside his expensive robes. The cloaked assassin silently laughed at the guildmaster. Any person of such high regard and with so many enemies would always lock away anything of any worth with magical means.
Onrilius stuck the key into a small, barely noticeable nook in the pillar. He turned it and the slab of ivory mortar shot back, Onrilius withdrawing his hand quickly. The guildmaster looked inside. The silent assassin peered over the bulky man’s shoulder to find…nothing. There was nothing. There was a small, square compartment inside the interior of the pillar and it was completely blank.
“I…I,” stuttered the guildmaster.
“You deceived me,” hissed the assassin, death lingering on the tip of his tongue as he uttered every word.
He plunged the dagger into the guildmaster’s back.
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| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Valondil the Ranger |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 20:41:15
(I'm Gremlin, on a different user. I'll be using this user more than Gremlin--I'll probably not use Gremlin ever again!--just because I like this guy more).
Also, Arazn Blair, I won't be posting anymore on the assassin, because it's part of a book I'm writing and I don't want to let out too much stuff. I will be posting other stuff, though. |
| AraznBlair |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 14:45:07
A fabulous piece of writting Gremlin. I am intrigued and can not wait to see more of this assasin. |
| Tethtoril |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 02:29:56
Welcome To the Hallowed Halls Gremlin!
I am pleased to see you finally made it past the Doorkeeper. I know I will look forward to the short pieces you present to tantalize the scribes and I hope you get the feedback you are looking for. *cough* Come on scribes, I know you all have it in you!
Again, Welcome! |
| Gremlin |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 00:12:00
Also, I don't know if there's rules or anything, but I write short pieces in FR and in my own world or just located in some random place I thought up at the top of my head on an imaginetary whim. Hehe. I don't know if that's allowed or not, I just wanted to get that known. |
| Gremlin |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 00:09:45
That's about all I'll post for the novel I'm writing. I don't wanna give away too much. I just wanted people to get a feel of my writing style and let me know about it.
Please note that I will continually post short stories on these forums. Maybe about one a week. I must admit that I'm much better writing short pieces than long novels. I'm not exactly sure why... |
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