Nameless: Payment

[Day 3 of Blaugust 2015!]
[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

The village of Tea Kettle was little more than a cluster of mud brick huts surrounded by a great stone wall in turn was surrounded by mountains but because of the great well which never seemed to run dry it had quickly become one of the largest settlements of free folk in the desert. The chieftain, Chahl, a short bald man who happened to also be built like a brick wall watched as numerous wagons full of weapons and armor rolled into his town. Beside him stood the leader of the caravan train, a slender and sly looking man with sharp eyes.

"That's the last of them," the merchant said proudly as he nodded to himself with his hands on his hips. "Now great chieftain, you might stand a chance against the army of the Wizard King! Compliments from my master, Drisana, of course."

Chahl's steely gaze didn't move. "Chance bigger with more people. Your master to send warriors also?"

"Sorry," shrugged the trader. "That wasn't part of the deal. Speaking of warriors Where are our pretty gladiators anyway?"

The stocky man turned slowly to him and ever so slightly cocked his head in a vague direction with a grunt. The merchant knew better than to ask for specifics as Chahl was renowned both for his combat mastery and for a temper as short as his stature. The wry merchant simply bowed and made his own way from hut to hut. Eventually, after pulling open the curtain door on the eighth or so house he found the people he was looking for... in various states of undress.

After sharing a moment of being awkwardly shocked with each other Nessa managed to yell a few choice curses while Indas, fully nude bar for the bandages wrapped over her wounds grabbed the scrawny man by the neck and forced him back outside. She looked particularly menacing now that she was missing many more teeth. The other townsfolk stopped as they watched the naked giant effortly lift and slowly choke the scrawny merchant with one hand. Fortunately for the man, Nerith managed to get a long tunic on and calm her companion down enough to release him. With an angry grunt, Indas returned inside the hut while he coughed some air back into him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." began the heavily embarrassed merchant, who wisely remained down on his knees.

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Nessa from within the hut. She had opened the curtain just enough to show that she was armed.

"I am called Notaku and Drisana sent me here to deliver her thanks and the payment you earned for eliminating the wyvern bandits and Balkazar. She also wanted me to give you this amulet. It's of the magical variety and through simple touch and concentrating on Drisana's caravan can instantly warp the four of us right to the Sand Market."

The sisters shared a quick look between them before Nerith spoke "That won't be necessary."

"B...but there's a war coming! Having seen what you are capable of Drisana doesn't want you to throw your lives..."

"I said, that won't be necessary," repeated Nerith, more sure of herself this time as she leant down to help the man to his feet.

Flustered, Notaku looked at the sisters meekly. "Ok fine, but please just take the amulet anyway. I'll get into trouble if Drisana thinks I stole it from her."

With one eyebrow raised Nerith cautiously took the amulet from him and feeling no danger from it, decided to put it around her neck much to the chagrin of her sister. Having completed his task, Notaku gave an awkward bow and took his leave while the girls all relaxed back into their hut. It wasn't long before the curtain door opened again though and once more Indas, who was dressed this time, was the first on her feet but stopped suddenly when she saw the two blonde ladies at the door.

"Long time no see," smiled Jasmine of sorceress of Gedrin. Beside her was Chaya, the leader of the Sedrite village, also grinning from ear to ear.

"We heard there was a war coming and we want in."

Nameless: Sedrite

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

They were terrifying to behold, covered from head to toe in blood and leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake. The sight of even the leathery winged creatures being dismembered by the three she demons in the fiery darkness finally caused the bandits to flee - mounting what wyverns remained and taking to the star-lit sky.

"Get back here you cowards!" yelled Nessa as she saw them retreat.

It had taken them a few days travel from Gedrin before reaching here, the village of Sedrite. Jasmine's directions had proved accurate, as did Drisana's knowledge of the wyvern bandits who happened to be raiding the poor village just as they arrived. A figure moved in the corner of her eye, causing her to ready her weapon but the shadowy form put two hands up as a sign of peace and slowly advanced into the nearby firelight. It was a woman. One as well built as them.

"You sure picked a good time to arrive," she said. "It's always a pleasure to meet another ex-gladiatrix. I am Chaya, leader of what remains of this village."

"How did you escape from the arena?" asked Nessa with more than a little suspicion.

"I didn't," Chaya laughed. "I escaped from my previous owner's bedroom. Right after I slit his throat."

"Looks like you have a bandit problem," said Nerith absent mindedly as she looked around at the state of the village. Chaya shook her head.

"No, I have a wyvern problem. I can fight back the bandits just fine but I can't chase them up to their base on the mountain. You can't see it right now but when the sun comes up it's pretty easy to see the old castle. The cliffs are just too steep to climb and I didn't want to risk being away when they decided to run another raid. Bastards have taken almost everything now: our tools, weapons, supplies. They'll be taking lives next."

"They haven't killed anyone?" asked Nessa incredoulously.

"Not for lack of trying. Me and the boys have always managed to send them running before they can do any serious harm. At least serious enough that our healers can't fix it. Alas that also means we're spread pretty thin chasing them off and not actually managing to kill them either. If you are interested in getting rid of those wyvern riders just let me know how I can help. Just remember, I'm not comfortable leaving my folk on their own."

"Do you know of any cave systems nearby?" asked Nerith, already searching for a way up the mountain. "There must be a path up there for people on foot, unless they built the whole thing while flying on wyverns..."

"There is one cave entrance I know of a bit West from here, but it is home to a nasty ravager so we always steered clear. Those beasts are not to be taken lightly. Have any of you ever fought a Ravager before?"

The sisters looked at each other and shook their heads. Indas, quietly towering at the back smiled and nodded.

Nameless: Gedrin

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

It didn't take long to reach Gedrin village, even with Jasmine's slight detour to collect and prepare a stone artifact to use against the sorcerer Wyrmias. For obvious reasons Jasmine opted to keep out of sight while the gladiatrices simply marched right in to the quaint and dusty town square, at the center of which stood a massive, four-armed but headless statue. Just as Jasmine had described, most of the men folk were out searching for what they already carried while the rest of the villagers seemed to walk around aimlessly in a trance, under a powerful spell of the evil sorcerer.

There were still a few armed soldiers, obviously Wyrmias' personal guard but they all just kept a watchful eye on the new comers from a distance. It was only when the trio stopped in front of the headless statue and unwrapped what Jasmine had given them that they started to spring to life. In mere seconds, a man in long robes, no doubt Wyrmias himself, appeared and walked quickly towards them.

"Do you really think this belongs up here?" asked Nerith loudly as she held up a grotesque statue head.

"Excuse me," said Wyrmias, staring at the statue head as if though it was the most precious thing in his life. "May I ask where you found this?"

"Oh, we just came upon it on the desert," lied Nessa. "Our tall friend suggested it might belong here."

"That it does!" exclaimed Wyrmias excitedly. "Now, if you would be so kind... please hand it over."

The girls feigned ignorance well as they hesitated.

"My apologies. I forgot to introduce myself," said the sorcerer. "I am Wyrmias, servant of King Tectuk. By law you must do anything I tell you to. Don't get any fancy ideas either. I've enslaved the minds of the women and children here and can kill all of them with but a thought before you can even draw your weapons. Now... give me the head."

As planned, Nerith silently handed it over while Nessa moved to block the view of the guards from what Indas was preparing to do.

"Finally! I have it!" Wyrmias laughed as magical energies flowed from his body to the statue head that he was re-attaching to the headless body. "I will be immortal!"

At the height of the energy transference, when the guards were most distracted by the light, is when Nerith and Indas struck: the first jamming a knife through Wyrmias' skull and the second smashing down on the weak spot of the statue head they had prepared with her hammer, causing the entire thing to crumble into a pile of dirt. With no vessel left to hold his essence, Wyrmias screamed as his energy particles were suddenly pulled in every direction until he was nothing. At that moment the spell he had cast on the entranced villagers was lifted.

The few guards that managed to react either found knives being thrown into them by Nessa or magical balls of fire by Jasmine who had been watching the events from hiding. Those that survived either fled or surrendered, the later being executed with a slow, burning death by the blonde mage they had abused and left to be eaten.

"Thank you again," said Jasmine as she watched the fire slowly die out on the blackened corpses. "If you ever need anything, of me or my people - please do not hesitate to ask."

Nameless: Punishment

[This is part of my Creative Writing Experiment.]

The three gladiatrices tried to keep under the shade of the nearby plateau as they continued their journey towards the first batch of bandits Drisana wanted them to silence. The caravan mistress had given them free choice of gear to bring but due to the heat they were wearing only light clothing with miscellaneous pieces of leather armor and carrying few weapons between them, opting instead to load up on a little food and a lot of precious water for the journey across the hot sands.

Indas, who was up front, suddenly spotted something in the distance and signaled the sisters to a halt.

Up ahead was an almost clear patch of desert, with one ominous looking black obelisk in the middle. Someone was chained to it.

"I don't suppose we are about to stop helping strangers now are we?" asked Nessa sarcastically as she took the lead, advancing quickly but cautiously with her companions in tow.

Finally reaching the imposing stone they found a blonde and brutalized, naked woman chained to it. She was still breathing. Not wasting any time the gladiatrices began to hack at the chains, causing the captive to rouse from her unconsciousness.

"Run... it's... coming..." was all she could mutter as Indas managed to break a chain on her side.

The ground suddenly shook violently and from a distance, Nerith could see something moving underneath the sand heading straight towards them. They worked quicker on the chains, hacking free all but one attached to the woman's left leg before giving up to instead face whatever was coming towards them. Only two seconds later did slimy grey tentacles burst forth from the sand, squirming quickly at each of them but none managed to get close as they were hacked and parried back.

A second set of tentacles then emerged grabbing the ankles of each woman and the legs of the captive. Having had enough of this beast Indas reached down and flexing all her muscles, not only freed its grasp from her leg but managed to yank the creature's bulbous, disgusting sack of a body partially out to the surface. Confused, the monster let all the girls go as it desperately tried to burrow into the sand once more but Indas dug her feet in and pulled even stronger, exposing more of it to the surface. Able to see their foe clearly now, the sisters quickly went to work on it with their blades, stabbing, hacking and chopping at it until finally it exploded, covering them and the entire area in it's white, sticky entrails.

"That was disgusting," was all Nerith could say as she spat out some of the vileness that entered her mouth.

With the captive finally free they retreated back to the shade and gave her some water, spare clothes and time to recover. Eventually she was strong enough to talk.

"Thank you for rescuing me," she began. "I am Jasmine of Gedrin."

"What did you do to be chained out here?" asked Nerith.

"You don't know?" Jasmine asked, truly surprised. "That is the punishment of any mage is caught refusing to work for the wizard king."

She suddenly began to cry. "Please, my people. My village. They need your help."

"Here we go again," muttered Nessa to herself as she rolled her eyes.

"Wyrmias, the man that... did this to me... he and his soldiers are still there," continued Jasmine. "He is a sorcerer of the king."