Return of the Lords of Norwold!
by Jeff DalyBrimstone watched Helskir bob into
and out of sight with each new wave. In 2 weeks, approximately,
they would be in Dunadale and that much closer to their
destination.
Glancing at the aft end of the ship, he saw Master Terari yawning
lazily. Good for nothing wasn't even seen when the heroes had been
attacked by those yellow-tattooed assassins. Ah well, it bore some
think--
Brimstone stared in shock as the man took out something from his
robes and seemed to unfold it. He watched in disgust as the
pantomiming of a chair was done, and then in extreme irritation as
Terari actually sat upon this invisible seat!
To make matters worse, the mage took a long, invisible, object out
of another pocket and then seemed to be fishing with it.
The Glantrian pyromancer took a deep breath. It wouldn't do to show
jealousy around the Alphatian. He approached the aft of the ship
casually, almost wanderingly. He thought for one moment of
whistling, but then discarded that tact swiftly.
Terari looked up, "Ah?"
Brimstone nodded, "...So, do you have an extra pole?"
The old mage smiled, his pale white face wrinkling into a mass of
spidery lines, "Certainly my good, Brimstone, right?"
Brimstone nodded again and took the offered pole.
"You are holding the wrong end."
He scowled and flipped it around quickly, almost dropping it
overboard in the process.
Terari smiled again, "Yes, never know what you might catch."
The two fished for a while. Aligorum, the rakasta, and Fiona, the
elf came on deck and watched for a bit. Fiona shook her head after
a while and went back below from boredom. Aligorum, on the other
paw, watched with intent disinterest and edged ever closer.
"So," Terari began casually, "You are Glantrian?" Terari seemed to
study the other man's skin for a moment, "Fire magic I
presume?"
"Yes," Brimstone replied in an attempted tone of sophistication,
"There is a lot you can do with flame spells."
"Like...blow things up?" Terari asked with a smile, "Of course! I
don't doubt you find yourself rising quite swiftly through the
Glantrian ranks, eh? Have you ever noticed how swiftly you pick
things up compared with others?"
Brimstone scowled for a bit in thought, "Well yes, I suppose. I
don't like saying it, makes me feel a bit immodest, but--"
"Yes yes," Terari said with slight impatience, "But I wonder, do
you know why things are so easy for you? Do you know the history of
your people? I mean yours in particular, not Glantri as a
whole."
"I--" This was not at all the conversation he had expected, "I
don't know. I suppose I've never been taught it really. I wasn't
even really aware I had 'a people'"
"Ah," Terari answered cryptically.
"Why, do you know something?"
"Only a little."
"Well?"
Terari shrugged, "I really don't get out of Alphatia much, so I
don't really know much about Glantri at all. In fact, I often get
it mixed up with other barbarian nations. Sorry."
He seemed quite sincere in his apology, despite the barbarian
term.
Suddenly Brimstone had a bite. He reeled fast on the invisible
pulley mechanism as Terari tried to splutter a warning.
"A snake!"
The snake flopped onto the deck from the end of the line. It
slithered right up to Brimstone who cast a hasty spell. The heat of
action often causes one to perform better than expected, and mages
are no exception. The jet of flame that erupted from Brimstone's
finger tips sent him stumbling backwards.
"Oh excellent," said Terari, "Now the deck is on fire." With an
impatient twiddling of his fingers he caused the flame to
extinguish.
Aligorum sighed with resignation. Mages! One could never expect a
decent, honest, floppy fish from them. Twas why she left their
blasted city in the first place.