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† Koshei the Deathless †

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Elitemage14

Elitemage14

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The Fremmenik did just that. He charged, and their two swords rang together. Skrae backed up a step. Koshei tried a sideways slash towards his head, but the dragonkin ducked under the blade, and he cut only air. Skrae circled around, stepped in, and slashed at Koshei's exposed side. Before Koshei could ready his sword, Skrae lept back out of his range.
Koshei continued to press the attack, with Skrae parrying and deflecting each blow. The Fremmenik swung in a savage overhead arc, but Skrae spun to the right and nimbly dodged. His red dragonite sword left a shallow wound in his shoulder, and then he was back outside the range of Koshei's broadsword.
He hacked at the Dragonkin again, but Skrae ducked under his arm, this time cutting into the back of his hamstring. Koshei spun his sword around, but again missed and only sliced the air. His sword had the greater reach and his swings had more force behind them given the Dragonkin could only fight with his one good arm, but his strength and reach meant nothing if he couldn't even hit his opponent.
Losing patience, Koshei rocked his elbows back and drove off his back foot with an attempted stab. Skrae slammed it aside, jumped inward, and cut Koshei's side from shoulder to hip.
Skrae pressed the attack now, his blade moving like a red blur. Koshei blocked as many of the strikes as he could, but several made it through his defenses, nicking his arms and torso.
None of the Dragonkin's strikes had been very deep as he quickly attacked and then danced away before Koshei could counter. But the damage was building. Blood trickled from the countless wounds, and the warrior could feel himself growing lightheaded from the bloodloss.
'If I don't kill him soon, I really will die,' Koshei thought.

13-Aug-2010 05:31:02 - Last edited on 13-Aug-2010 05:46:17 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

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With Skrae charging in, Koshei hefted up his sword to defend. Sparks flew as their swords touched. Even though it was successful, the block Koshei used had been a bad one, putting himself out of position to counter and exposing his entire torso. The Dragonkin saw this opening and seized it.
His red blade punctured through the man's chest, cutting through ribs and emerging through his back in a fountain of blood.
'I win," Skrae thought. 'I finally win!" Then while the blade was still inside of the man, he felt Koshei's gauntlet seize him around his hand and hilt of his blade. Horror dawned on Skrae's face as he realized what was happening. He tried to pull himself and his sword free, but Koshei had captured him in his deathgrip.
"I didn't think you'd be able to resist hurting me with such a large opening," Koshei spoke clearly with pain in every word. "I was right." With his free arm he circled his blade behind his back and started up a massive swing with all his strength. With his hand trapped, this was one attack that Skrae could not dodge.
The sword came down across the collarbone, and even the Dragonkin's thick armored scales and bones like iron were not enough to stop it. Skrae screamed as he was cut in half from shoulder to sternum. Then his knees buckled and he was on the ground, his upper body barely holding together.
Koshei withdrew his blade and prepared to take off his head with his final killing blow. Before he could, he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye before he was caught in an explosion of burning energy.

"Sakirth," Skrae whispered. Koshei, newly burned and wounded but still on his feet, turned to face his new enemy, and his heart sank at the appearance of the second Dragonkin.
Sakirth looked like Skrae, only he was at least a head taller and his left arm was not crippled like Skrae's.
Koshei readied himself for an attack, but Sakirth didn't even seem to be paying attention to him.

13-Aug-2010 05:31:12 - Last edited on 16-Aug-2010 04:54:43 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

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"You fool!" he shouted at Skrae. "You and I both know what's happening in the north. The Syzygy ritual could be any day now, and you dare to waste everything for revenge?" He backhanded Skrae hard across the mouth. The injured Dragonkin lowered his eyes in disgrace. "What if you were killed? And now look at you. You're in no condition to fight the Faceless Ones. Oh, your kin are not going to be happy to see you," Sakirth said, grabbing him sharply by the throat and hauling him to his feet.
A large red portal materialized in the air behind the two. "But I'm so close! Koshei is right there!" Skrae cried out. His voice was barely more than a whisper, and he started coughing, his lungs filling up with blood.
Sakirth turned to face the Fremmenik warrior. "We don't have any time or energy to waste on the likes of him now," he hissed. "But don't worry. You'll have plenty of time to eat him after the Syzygy is over and the Stone is ours."
With that, he and Skrae dissapeared into the portal.

End of Chapter 1

13-Aug-2010 05:31:21 - Last edited on 13-Aug-2010 05:46:38 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

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Chapter 2

Chieftain Brundt made his way through the crowd of angry villagers. With the fires put out and the wounded being attended to, they had gathered around Thorvald's shop, yelling and throwing rocks at Koshei's residence.
"It's your fault all this happened!" one woman yelled, and that seemed to be the opinion shared by everyone in Relleka.
Inside, Brundt found Yrsa, the town's healer.
"How's Koshei holding up?" Brundt asked.
"I don't know," she replied, sounding very tired. "He was impaled completely through twice by the dragon's horn and that monster's sword. One of them partially cut through his lung, but he is somehow breathing okay. He has several broken ribs and numerous stress fractures throughout his body. There are also countless cuts and other shallow wounds covering his body, as well as burns, most of them third degree, although luckily none of these seem to be infected. I've managed to cauterize or bandage most of his injuries, but his blood loss was enormous. By all accounts there shouldn't even be enough oxygen running through his veins to keep him alive, but he seems perfectly fine. I would imagine he's in great pain, but with Koshei it's impossible to tell seeing how he keeps everything to himself. Several times I offered him a sedative, but each time he's turned me down. He's down in the basement if you'd like to talk to him."
Downstairs it was dark with only a few candles casting their dim light. Brundt had never actually seen Koshei's room before. He had expected it to be like his, with the walls covered in weapons, armor, and trophies from all the creatures he killed, but instead all the walls were completely bare. There was a bed, a table, and several cases lined were hundreds of books and scrolls, as well as a globe and other sciencey instruments. It looked like the room of a scholar, not a warrior.

15-Aug-2010 02:43:05 - Last edited on 15-Aug-2010 02:44:21 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

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At the center of the room, Koshei was sitting crosslegged on a small rug.
"Hey there, Koshei," Brundt said, a slight touch of unease in his voice. "Mind if I come in." After Koshei didn't reply, Brundt just walked in and sat at the nearby table anyway. "You wouldn't have anything to drink, wouldya? No? That's okay, I brought my own," he said, pulling out a cask of beer and downing half of it right there.
"What do you want?" asked Koshei, noting how red Brundt's eyes were and how tired he looked.
"There we go. I haven't heard you talk in so long I forgot you knew how," he laughed nervously and then exhaled deeply. "Look, I'm really not good with this touchy-feely kind of stuff, but my wife told me to come down here anyway. Damn that woman," Brundt said, taking another long swig of beer. He no longer looked like the brave warrior that had rescued Koshei from the icy ocean. The past few years had taken their toll on him. The chieftain had gained quite a bit of weight, and the touches of grey in his beard were becoming more and more noticeable.
"I should have been out there with you," Brundt said eventually. "Of course the old lady was about to lose her mind when I started to don my armor. Said I'd be better off helping to evacuate the town. Guess she was right, but still. I sent some men to go and help you, but they all turned coward and ran. And they call themselves Fremmeniks. I hated to see you fight that *thing* alone, but I think I was the only one brave enough to actually help you, and just look at me," he spat, slapping his large belly. "Damn you, Koshei, talking to you is like talking to a wall. Say something already."
"Those people out there," Koshei eventually said, gesturing towards the stairs. "They hate me now, don't they?"

15-Aug-2010 02:43:06 - Last edited on 15-Aug-2010 02:44:53 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

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"Ah, forget about them," Brundt said, taking another long drink. "You sure you don't want a sip? No? I swear Koshei, one of these days I'll get you to open up. I can't even imagine what you'd be like with a few beers in ya! You, drunk, wouldn't that be a sight to see!" Brundt roared with laughter, banging his hand of the table.
"Anyway, don't worry about those people out there. Cowards, all of them, and they don't understand how important you've been to this town. Just look at our beautiful mountain town. We've got an ocean and streams packed with fish, mines filled with ore, and forests teeming with lumber and wildlife. You think these kings and lords don't want all this land for themselves? Well they do!
"The few times I've travelled south, I did not like what I saw. I swear the world's getting too small. The cities down there are made of stone. Not wood, but stone! And they're crowded, really crowded. I'm gonna be honest with you, Koshei: I may have used you a bit. These lords and their castles started threatening us and our land, and I may have told them that they were welcome to try and take it, but that I had a warrior as strong as a thousand men that could take out their entire army all by himself. I'm afraid that it was me and my big mouth that was the reason that monster found out about you," Brundt admitted.
"Now all those people out there, all those cowards, are looking for me to fix it all. Damnit, I'm just the chief, what can I do if that monster attacks us again? Any of my men I sent at it would just be wiped out instantly. I tell you, I just about died when I saw that second one show up. Gods only know how many of them are out there!"

15-Aug-2010 02:43:20 - Last edited on 15-Aug-2010 02:45:20 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

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"And it's not like I don't have my own worries to think about, you know?" Brundt continued. "My daughter was out playing in the woods, and she still hasn't come back yet. One of my scouts said they found some bones in the woods, all the meat nibbled off of them. Couldn't be my little girl, though. She's a warrior that one, just like her dad. She wouldn't die on me. I know I'm right. Tell me I'm right!"
"You're right..." Koshei said hesitantly.
"You're damn right I'm right!" Brundt roared, and then broke down crying. He kept it up for a good five minutes before finally getting ahold of himself.
"Look, Koshei, I don't know what those monsters were, but whatever's going on I'm gonna need you. I don't know what else to do. I hate myself for doing it, but I summoned Baba Yaga to come to Relleka."

15-Aug-2010 02:43:20 - Last edited on 15-Aug-2010 02:48:22 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

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Guess I'll just take it myself.
I need to finish up this part with Baba Yaga, then back to writing about Skrae. For some reason, it's interesting to write from the perspective of a character that's so evil, although you guys will quickly learn that he isn't completely evil and there's more to Skrae than meets the eye.
And something really, really awesome is about to happen to him in a few chapters. As much as I want to write that part, that's still a little ways off :(

17-Aug-2010 06:54:41 - Last edited on 17-Aug-2010 08:15:53 by Elitemage14

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