A barmaid approached the man in the corner. "What'll it be Sharpblade?" she asked in her most friendly voice. "Your usual?"
"Yes, thank you Gretchen." Veral Sharpblade responded.
"Of course." and with that Gretchen slipped into the back to get the drink.
Something just doesn't seem right here Veral thought to himself. Something's missing or out of place, I just can't figure out what... Veral sat for the next couple of minutes trying to figure out what exactly was wrong until finally his concentration was broken by Gretchen with his drink.
"Is everything all right Veral?" Gretchen asked. "You seem distant today, not at all like yourself."
"Yes everything is fine, although I do have a lot on my mind if you'd care to here it." Veral replied.
"I can't right now, I'm working. My boss would kill me if he caught having conversations with people! Maybe after my shift is over."
Veral smiled. "When might I ask is that?"
"Tonight at midnight, just two more hours to go!"
"I'll be wait---"
"Hey, Gretchen!! Where is my ale?!" A customer from the other side of the bar called out.
"It's coming sir!" she called back. "Wait here for me Veral."
"Sure." Veral whispered back.
About an hour went by. Veral sat looking at his half drank goblet of ale. He wasn't much in the mood for drinking. The feeling that something was missing was still bothering him. He closed his eyes and tried to think what it could be. He thought back to his childhood for some clue or trigger about what was bothering him. He smiled remembering his childhood growing up in this inn. His Father's inn. He looked around frantically for something, anything. Until there it was, the spot that the thing was missing from. The two sword mounts on the wall that held his father's blade were empty. "But... that's his favorite sword," he started to mutter while thinking out loud, "he loves showing it off, why would he take it down?" Realizing that he was speaking out loud, he stopped his mouth and started to think. I better go ask him about it.
As Veral stood up, the sheath of his sword swung down to hit the wooden chair. Not sure of the sound Veral looked down. Right then someone cried out a yell of pain for the other side of the room. Veral looked up to see the bartender clutching a crossbow bolt through his chest, falling to the ground. Immediately Veral's instincts had told him to through the table to it's side and take cover. Who was that!!! Some how I don't think they were here for the bartender. Veral looked around the table into what was an uproar of people running for the door. Their going to get themselves killed!! I've got to do something. But what? He saw a shadow of a man take out a sword and slash at a townsman's leg.
Without thinking Veral jumped out from behind the table and drew his broadsword. He lunged at the figure, slashing him through the shoulder, withdrawing his blade as the man fell. He noticed two others by the door. He didn't stop to react, he just went after them. But before he could get to either one of them, he felt a biting pain in his forearm. His sword fell out of his hand and to the floor as he clutched his arm with a crossbow bolt lodged into it. Losing consciousness, he collapsed onto the floor.
Veral awoke to find his arm bandaged up and his sword gone. The new damp air made him realize he was not in the inn anymore. He took a look around to find himself in a dungeon cell. He got up and tried to grab the bars of the door, but his left hand flinched back with pain from his previous injury. He again grabbed his forearm.
"Having trouble getting out through those bars Veral Sharpblade?" asked a dark ugly voice from around the corner. As the creature moved out into his view, he jumped backwards out of both fright and disgust. "What's the matter, you don't like our little home?"
Veral tried to figure out who or what this strange creature was. The creature was tall and well built muscular. He had two horns that pointed forward on top of his head. He had a long ugly snout with scars all over it and a mixture of yellowed and browned rotting teeth in it's mouth. Brown fur covered it's head, shoulders and arms all the way down to it's fingers. The rest of it's body looked human except for scars and discolorations all over it. It's got to be a minotaur. Nothing else could be that ugly. He figured. What was that my father used to tell me about minotaurs? It was a rhyme. That's right...
Minotaurs are very dangerous indeed, for this warning all should heed: out smart them in their own demented head, so you will not wind up dead. "Hey! Are you listening to me Veral Sharpblade?" the minotaur called out. Veral looked up at the minotaur. "I wish I had a reason to kill you right now, Sharpblade." Veral said nothing still. "What's the matter can't speak?"
"If... If you know my name then shouldn't I know yours?" Veral forced the words out.
The creature snarled at Veral. "My name is Sagtor, you pathetic piece of crap!"
"Well Sagtor, you look kind of weak for a minotaur." Veral spoke smoothly this time not letting anything get in the way of his sentence.
"What! I wish I could kill you right now!"
"I bet you couldn't even bend these bars right here. Don't try we don't want weakling minotaurs themselves now."
"Watch! Instead of bend them I'll break them!" The minotaur moved ten feet or so to get ready. He then put his head down and started to charge at the bars. Veral jumped to the back of the cell to get out of harms way. As the minotaur slammed into the bars, they started to bend heavily.
"Ha! You didn't break them! You worthless minotaur!"
Letting out a loud scream of rage the minotaur rushed back to try again. This time breaking right through the bars. As he went through the bars one scraped right down his chest making him lose his balance and fall right onto it. The weight of his heavy body pushed him further down the bar until he was completely impaled through the stomach.
Veral stood up slowly watching the lifeless minotaur's body hanging from the already blood covered bar which killed it. It was somehow unreal that a creature he had heard about so much, but never seen, was there dead in front of him. He lifted the minotaur's head. It was very cold for something that just died. He studied the head for a second, it was not even bruised after that whole scene.
Lifting the body off the bar was a hard task as for it was heavy and somehow caught on the bar. He slowly and carefully lifted him in order to not tear any more flesh. Who knew what other creatures were around that would be able to smell the blood. Veral finally dislodged the body and pushed it back through the bars onto the floor. He quickly lifted himself up and guided himself through the minotaur sized hole. He quickly dragged the body out of the way.
He looked around the corner where the minotaur came from. Down the dimly lit passageway there was a chair with a halberd leaning on the wall next to it. Veral quietly walked down the hall, listening for sounds and staying alert. When he reached the halberd he quickly grabbed it up. His eyes stared at it for a moment in disbelief. This halberd is of fine craftsmanship. Great sturdy wood and perfect weighting. Something a noble would have, not a minotaur. Then where did he get it? He has to be working for someone, but who? He looked for anything more that might tell him who he was a prisoner of, on the chair or the halberd, but there was nothing.
Up ahead the corridor ended their was a narrow staircase to the right. Should I venture up to see what all this is about? The stairs are narrow and not very suitable for halberd fighting. If I don't go what will I do just sit and rot down here? Guess there is no choice.
As Veral Started up the stairs he held out his halberd to stop any oncoming chargers. The light in the staircase grew thinner and thinner until it was pitch dark out. Veral soon started hearing soft whispers of voices from further up the stairs. Up to this point, though, he could not make out any of the words of what they were saying. As the voices grew closer he clutched his hands around the halberd tighter, remembrances of the pain of his forearm made him clench his teeth. The voices got very close. They were in some weird language Veral couldn't understand. He quickly and skillfully set himself into a position where if they charged at him they would be caught first by the halberd, and he wouldn't fall back down the stairs.
The voices turned the corner to where Veral could see them. They were two ugly goblins staring at him. The first one screamed and charged instantly, just as goblins were trained, not noticing the halberd in the dark stairwell. He suddenly stopped and became quiet.
Yes! It worked. Veral thought as the other goblin turned and ran. The goblin screamed in fright. Veral quickly grabbed the dead goblin's short sword and scrambled up the stairs after the other goblin. I can't let him notify anyone else of my presence or I be in big trouble. He, quite easily, caught the little goblin. He tried everything to stop him from screaming but he failed. Finally Veral took the hilt of the sword in his hand and hit the goblin over the head, knocking him out cold. He quietly laid the goblin down and finished his journey to the top of the stairs.
At the top of the stairs was a finely crafted stone door. Veral put his ear up to it to see if he could hear any noises. There were none. He opened the door a crack and tried to look out. The room was well lit. There was no one there.
Veral opened the door and walked out into the room. It was spectacularly decorated with five shields mounted on the walls. He marveled at the art work on one until he heard an explosion behind him. He turned around to see what had made the noise, and drew his short sword all at once. As the cloud of black smoke dissipated, a beautiful lady appeared. She had lustrous blonde hair, fascinating purple eyes. Her well fitted fancy clothing and beautiful shining jewelry seemed to accent her pretty completion. She carried a black staff and a sheathed sword.
"Hello young Sharpblade." She began in a warm, seductive voice. "Your father has told me much of you. My name is Atropos. I have brought you here to do a job for me. Right through that door is a one of the meanest creatures you will ever face. If you are strong you will life to face new days if you are weak, you will perish. Your reward shall be the greatest you can earn. Your life and your father returned to you. Will you except my challenge?"
"My father? What have you done to him?" Veral demanded. "I'll kill if you don't tell me where he is!"
"Calm yourself young Sharpblade. The only way to get him back now is to enter that door. Will you?"
"Y... Yes I will."
"Good. Then it's settled." And in one fluid motion she turned around pounded her staff on the floor and was gone. The sword she was holding fell to the floor. He lent over to pick it up. On the sheath of the sword there were markings, just like the ones his father's sword had. Veral read them out load. "To the Sharpblade's, that this sword will be a symbol of their courage and honor forever." Veral then drew the sword from the sheath and held it. He then grabbed a silver shield from the wall and went to the door opened it and went inside.
The room was huge, and as well lit as possible by torches lined along the walls. At the other side of the room was a giant gate at least three stories tall and just as wide. The gate was opened and into the light stepped a giant five headed monster, it was brown with a tan underbelly and quite ugly. What is that? What kind of weird creature has five heads? Of coarse, the hydra, Father told me of them when I was young. What did he say again?
Tax collectors and hydras are both the same creatures, you have to cut their heads off and burn 'em at the neck, Well, at least if you want them to stop coming back!
Veral looked about quickly. He saw the torches on the walls and ran for one. He dropped his shield and grabbed the torch. As the hydra approached him he got ready to go for one of the heads. The first head attacked him. He dodged out of the way and sliced right through the neck. He tried to burn the severed neck but another head attacked and he was forced to move out of the way. He sliced the second head off and seared the neck with the torch. The neck flew wildly up knocking Veral onto his back. Veral then notice that the hydra still had five heads. The first head he cut off grew back into two more heads.
Another head lunged at Veral. He slashed his sword across it's face. He jumped to his feet and as the next head went for him he jumped on top of it. It tried to shake Veral off but couldn't. He cut the a head off of the creature and burned the neck. The creature used it's other three heads to get him down but from up there Veral had the advantage. He slashed the three heads off the creature and quickly burned the necks. Then he cut the head he was on and fell to the floor. He slowly stood up and as the hydra was about to grow two more heads he burned the neck.
He could not believe what he just did. A creature at least five times his size laid dead there. "So where is he?!" He cried out. No answer was heard. "Where is my father?" Still no answer. He dropped to his knees, dropping the bloodied sword and cried.
The sword that he dropped started to float. It soon started to move in the direction on the giant gate. He looked up at it in amazement. He followed it. It started to gain speed until he could not keep up with it. It shot down the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was a door of solid wood. The sword sliced right through the door. He opened the door to see inside. The beautiful girl sat lifeless in her throne with the sword run through her stomach. And there was Veral's father on the floor tied up.
He quickly untied his father. "I'm so glad your safe Dad. I was truly worried about you." said Veral giving his father a big hug.
"Me too son, Me too."
"Dad, Why did you never tell me the sword was magical?"
"I don't know son, I just don't know."
