The Half-Knots

by T. F. Mordekai

Please review :) The story of three unlikely heroes: a hobgoblin, a half-ogre and a kobold. The three companions team up and sail through a sea of thousands of islands in pursuit of one man, the Kingwitch: a powerful magi capable of changing fate itself. Will they find the path to the Kingwitch, or will they lose their path along the way? Reviews and criticisms please! :D

1. Prologue

Prologue

The town burned. The lives and loves of a thousand people burned. The friends and family that had existed unspoiled for eleven generations burned. Everything burned, but the stranger. There he stood in the collapsed ruins of a once beautiful fountain, the center of town. Long had he searched for the Keystone, that which may let his power truly flow unchecked. "A pity," he said to himself, "I loved the wine they made here. Why can't people just cooperate?" Walking across the fire-lit fountain square he idly stepped over the burning, mangled corpses of the town residents.

The stranger's echoing booted steps finally came to rest at the steps to the meager cathedral. His intense green eyes gazed pityingly down at the battered form of the stunningly beautiful elf garbed in a bloodstained white gown. "Did I not tell you that this town should have been built of stone and iron, and that wood could only lead to fires? But then again Sacera, you never listened to my sage advice. You know I have the power to undo all of this, to set right this small hamlet which you love so much."

Even in the night, he could see her familiar features clearly. Silent rage and pain burned behind the eyes of the elf mage, tears running down her ash stained face. "You will never find the Keystone, monster. I have broken it, scattered the pieces across this mortal plane. Even should you discover their locations, I will be there to protect it." He could see that clearly she was forcing the words through her broken jaw, a small twinge of admiration stirred somewhere deep within him. "Just know Sacera, you force my hand. Someday I will undo all of this pain and we will be together once more," the stranger said with a sigh of regret. His palms began to glow with an unearthly green light and as he clenched his fists it grew to a blinding light. He reached down and slammed both fists into the stomach of the elf. He felt the burning, the hollow that filled her stomach and as he looked into her azure eyes they faded to grey and he knew it was done. He looked off into the distance; the sun was rising over the destruction he had wrought. He set off towards that sun, taking it as an omen of things to pass. There was much work to be done and none would stand in the way of the Kingwitch.