The Beast in Man's Flesh
Many tales can be found upon occasion originating from beyond the shores of Kymlun. Many were those lands destroyed during the wars against the undead and this is a tale from one such place. Although the tale remains the same it has been re-written for clarity and improvement.
The cold northern wind crept through the reeds where we all hid; the half moon was high in the sky above us, occasionally peaking out from between the dark clouds, as if the moon goddess Isharra too hid with us upon the banks of the River Praig. It had been six nights since the travellers had arrived at the sign of the Black Cat. Six nights and five children had gone missing, we, the men of the village had tracked them down to this spot. I was only young then, having only just seen eighteen harvests, but I do not think it unmanly of me to admit that, there hiding in those reeds watching what went on before me I was scared, we all where. Even brave Fallagro, then the Thane, was wiping the sweat from his brow.
We all had heard about the evils of witchcraft from brother Dainotto, the wise priest of Thandos, our great lord, but we had never thought that we would have to face the demon worshippers ourselves. But, they had come and our faith was strong. So there we waited in the reeds for the signal of our Lord Thane.
Brother Dainotto held the holy symbol of Thandos close to his chest. I remember the silver and gold rings linked together upon an old chain jingled slightly as he prayed; prayed for our souls, the souls of our young ones who they had snatched and also prayed for our victory. I could hear it in his voice and see in how he held the symbol close that even he, in his incorruptible faith, was scared.
Before us an ominous, yet ordinary, mist had slowly rolled lazily inwards, concealing much of what was taking place from our eyes; I griped my woodcutting axe in both hands and tried to steady my breathing. Before us, about twenty-five feet away worked the Demon Worshipers, lighting a circle of candles marked with blasphemous runes and sigils, the wind blowing their black robes and cowls about as they worked. Two of the six cultists did nothing, one dressed like all the others, but from how she walked we could guess she was the female of the group. Many of the men around me had mentioned of her beauty when the travellers had first arrived in our village. The second we knew to be their leader for he wore no cowl and his lank, greasy hair and gaunt face with its’ haunted eyes stood there for all to see.
“Oh great lord Thandos, protect us from evil…â€
Last edited by Illy-Dan on Feb 26th, '08, 20:46, edited 5 times in total.
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