A/N: I have the strangest ideas sometimes. Hopefully this story isn't one of them, hahaha.


The Feldûnost hooves rung clear against the uneven, stony terrain of the Beor Mountains. It was the only sound Yustar could hear in the empty valley he was in. His two guards were silent, staring ahead with solemn gazes. He had asked them to come along for his little hunting trip, in case there were excess animals to be hauled back, though had been unsuccessful so far. There were few beasts to be found in the Southern Beors, as the vegetation here was sparse and the soil dry. Why had he even bothered to come here?

"Sir, should we return to Dalgon soon? For the sun is setting and the Urzhad will be emerging," the guard on his left, Elgrod, asked in Dwarvish.

"Aye. Let us make one more circuit of this valley, then we can make our way home," Yustar replied. He would try one last time to find a creature and bring it back to the table. It would be shameful if he returned empty-handed.

Most outsiders did not know this, but in the Southern Beors was a range of extinct volcanoes. The soil around it was still fertile from all the ash that had landed there from previous eruptions. Until now the volcanic land was still left untapped, for it was too far away from any of the dwarven cities. This was where Yustar was headed now. He knew that animals often visited the area to graze, since the grass there was the greenest in the Beors. There was a chance that he would be able to capture something.

So further south the trio went. The volcanoes were near the edge of the mountain range, along the boundaries of dwarven territory. Beyond that were stony flatlands, buffeted by harsh winds that made them uninhabitable. No dwarf had ventured into the flatlands before, which they called the Ashen Opens. Yustar would make sure to keep away from them. He spurred his Feldûnost on, the huge goat leaping over a narrow gorge. The volcano was just ahead. Already he could hear the bleating of several mountain sheep.

"Hened, patrol the perimeter and make sure there are no Urzhad or Shrrg nearing. I don't want anything to disturb me while I'm hunting," Yustar instructed. The guard nodded and rode off to the side, looking left and right, scanning his surroundings for any possible danger.

Yustar nocked an arrow to his bow. It was a horn-bow he had made from the horns of a mature male Feldûnost . He had bred the goat specifically for this purpose, so it would grow the biggest, hardest horns. The bow had served him well for seven years now, shooting with deadly accuracy and power. It never scratched.

He released the bowstring, sending the arrow flying in a wide arc towards the nearest sheep, a sizeable ram. It pierced its neck, and the woolly animal fell to the ground, bleating in pain, its legs kicking the air as life seeped out from its veins. The sheep stopped twitching a minute later. Satisfied, Yustar and Elgrod rode forward, the guard already preparing his knife to cut the sheep up into smaller, more portable chunks of meat. Yustar brought out a sack.

"That was a good kill, sir," Elgrod remarked. "The sheep was quite a distance away from us."

Yustar laughed. "I've had a good mentor." Elgrod's mouth curved up into a smile, for he was the one who had taught the young dwarf archery.

"Well, if I didn't do a good job teaching you, your father would've had my throat!"

The two dwarves chuckled. Yustar was the heir to their clan Durgrimst Feldûnost. His father was the clan chief. Two years ago his father decided that he was to learn how to hunt, and ordered Elgrod to teach him. Yustar wished that his father had taught him himself, but the position of Grimsborith was a busy one. His father simply did not have the time. Elgrod was both a skilled archer and a patient teacher, and Yustar quickly became one of the clan's best archers under his tutelage.

The Feldûnost stopped before the bloody corpse of the mountain sheep, allowing their two riders to hop off safely. Elgrod first beheaded the sheep (the dwarves did not consider its brain a delicacy), then proceeded to deftly chop up the body, removing any other unneeded organs. Yustar rinsed each chunk of meat with a quick stream of water from his water skin, placing them into the sack.

When the sun was about close to the horizon, and the sky was showing the first stains of red, the last piece of the sheep was placed into the sack. Elgrod wiped the moisture off his brow with one rough hand. Yustar tied the sack up with a piece of rope and swung it over the back of his Feldûnost.

"We'd best get going then. Where is Hen—"

Yustar's other guard suddenly came riding towards them at full speed just as Yustar began to ask Elgrod of his whereabouts. Hened had a fear look to him, his face pale and his hands gripping tight onto the Feldûnost's reins.

"Sirs! Come quick! There is a dying man here!" he yelled.

The two dwarves scrambled onto their respective goats, Yustar making sure that the sack of meat was secured. Hened dug the heel of his boots into the Feldûnost's flanks, and it turned around, dashing back to where they came from. Yustar and Elgrod raced closely behind it.

A dying man? Yustar wondered. A human? What could a human be doing this far south in the Beors?

It seemed that Elgrod was having the same thoughts as he was, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It did not seem possible for a human to have travelled all the way here without dwarven aid. The tall race were not used to the rocky, semi-arid environment of the Beors. Previous human-only expeditions into the mountains all resulted in most of the members' deaths. Perhaps the humans had stupidly sent another one of their own kind here.

Hened led them to the Beorean Frontier, the narrow strip of earth separating the southern most limit of Alagaësia from the Ashen Opens. Yustar thought he spotted shadowy figures moving about in the gale-swept Opens, though they were probably just shrubs swaying in the wind. His beard was blown back and his eyes watered as they approached.

Lying on the ground in a pool of crimson was a tan, skinny human, his head bald save for a single lock of neatly braided hair. He was continuously coughing up blood, adding to the circle of it around him, and his skin had a purplish tinge. Yustar guessed that he had been poisoned.

The three dwarves got off their Feldûnost, crouching next to the dying man. Upon closer inspection Yustar realised this was no ordinary human from the kingdoms to the north. His attire was different, the man wearing a long tunic with mosaic patterns dyed into the cloth. Around his waist was a loincloth, and strapped to his lower legs were bands of bronze. And he wore the strangest headdress, a leather circlet with striking feathers sewn into the material. It was very much the queerest clothing Yustar had ever seen.

"Elgrod, Hened, help me lift this man up. We must see to… whatever damage he is afflicted with."

However, as soon as Hened had touched the man, he bolted upright, screaming. The three dwarves jumped. Yustar's heart stopped when the man grabbed the collar of his tunic. He had gained an insane appearance, for Yustar now noticed he had two red eyes.

"Beware, dwarf!" The man hissed, spraying spit and blood into Yustar's face. "For this land has wronged us, and the Shadow shall take back what is rightfully ours!" He gasped and coughed out more blood. "He has returned! He who was thought Hell-bound! Our Dread Lord! Our Feared Saviour! Our—"

The man did not finish his rant, for Yustar had slashed his head off with one swift swing of his axe. The beheaded stranger loosened his grip on Yustar, dropping back limply like a rag doll. His separated head still retained his psychotic grin. The young heir was shivering, wielding his axe tightly in both hands, ready to attack if the man sprung up again. His two guards stood horrified at the scene that had just unfolded before their eyes.

"What should we do, sir?" Hened asked.

Yustar swallowed, trying to calm himself. He needed to think this through clearly. The warning the man gave… was it even true? Was there really some evil threatening Alagaësia? That frightened Yustar greatly.

"I feel that we should bring the body back."

"What for?" Hened wondered.

"The warning this human gave… we cannot ignore it. It seems he was telling us of a new evil," he straightened up and gave the veteran guard a hard look. "We have the responsibility of informing the rest of Alagaësia. The dwarves must be protected."

"And how does this relate to bringing the body along with us?"

"He needs investigation, perhaps an autopsy. He is the strangest being I have ever encountered. Where did he come from? What is he doing here? How did he get here? These are things we must know, Hened."

Elgrod nodded. "We should inform the Argetlam at Tronjheim as well."

The three of them stuffed the man into another sack, piling it onto Elgrod's Feldûnost. "We must hurry! The news must get to the others quickly!" Yustar said.

The dwarves flashed forward on their Feldûnost, rushing back to Dalgon, Yustar hoping his father would take the news well.


A/N: Reviews will help me improve! Have a nice day :D