Chapter One
Garm could not believe it. This armor wearing stranger had somehow managed to decimate his scouting party. And now the stranger had Garm by the throat, demanding that he tell him where the prize they had raided from the town earlier was. Garm knew that the Chieftain would be furious if he told the stranger, and that fear was the only thing keeping his mouth shut as the stranger dangled him by the throat over the chasm. The stranger squeezed tighter and Garm let out a yelp.
"Where is she!" the man demanded, "Tell me where she is now and your death shall be swift!"
Garm looked down into the chasm and saw the countless beady eyes of the spiders that had gathered under his flailing body, hoping for a feast. The thought of being devoured alive by the spiders forced him into telling the man what he wanted to know. As the man threw Garm into the pit he watched the spiders gathering around his flailing body. He left the spiders to their meal and continued on with his job.
1 day later….
Aidan sat down next to the crumbling pillar and took off his helmet. He had been traveling for days tracking a group of gnolls that had recently attacked a nearby village and taken away the daughter of the mayor. Being a mercenary captain of the Red Sword, he had been summoned to find the mayor's daughter and bring her back safely. As he finished making his campfire and boiled some water for stew, his mind wandered back to the mayor's house.
The mayor had shown him a painting of his daughter, named Terra. She had been wearing an elegant yellow dress, and the one thing he noticed most of all was her green eyes. He had been told the details of how she had been taken but he could not stop staring at the portrait. From what he knew he was getting close to the group of gnolls that had taken Terra.
As Aidan began to eat a much needed meal of stew, bread, and a meager amount of clean water, he surveyed his surroundings. Amongst the ruins of crumbled stones and broken pottery, he noticed that there was a light in the distance of the ruins. As he stuffed a small piece of bread in his mouth he put down his stew and gulped down the last of his water. He took up one of his swords and sneaked towards the light, ducking and weaving between fallen pillars, upturned ancient pots, and gnarled roots. Once he got to within a few yards of the light he noticed that it was a gnoll encampment.
"I found you at last you little bastards." he whispered to himself. If his information he had gotten from other mercenaries was correct, when they took prisoners they were kept on the outskirts of the camp. As he snaked his way towards the nearest tent, he slit a small hole just large enough for him to see through. He managed to make out a large, red mass of fur in the corner of the tent. This was clearly the Chieftain of this group of gnolls. As he moved towards another tent he noticed that this one was guarded by a sentry of 2 gnolls, one at the front and one at the back. The one at the back was clearly asleep, but needed to be taken care of before he could see what was in the tent. As he crept closer he shot out one hand, grasping the gnoll's jaw together and burying his sword in the gnoll's throat. As he slit another small hole in the fabric, he glimpsed a small form, huddled in the corner. He had managed to find the tent the gnolls kept their captives in.
Once he had opened up a hole large enough to get his entire body inside, he silently made his way towards the girl and placed a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming and alerting the remaining sentry. He whispered in her ear, "Is your name Terra?" She nodded once. "My name is Aidan and your father sent me to get you. Follow me outside." As he let his hand drop off her mouth he cut off the ropes that bound her wrists and feet together and he helped her through the hole he had made earlier.
As Terra tried to stand up, her legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground. Aidan noticed that she looked like she hadn't eaten in a while. He placed her hands around his neck and put her body on his back and proceeded to carry her past the Chieftain's tent. As he passed it she buried her head into his back and squeezed his neck tighter. He realized that she had probably been abused by the gnolls when she refused to go with them quietly. It made his anger rise but he could do nothing until the girl was safe back in his camp.
Back at Aidan's Camp….
Aidan laid Terra down on his sleeping bag and covered her body. After managing to feed her a small amount of his leftover stew, she had quickly fallen asleep from exhaustion. As he watched her sleep he realized that her face was bruised and had a small gash on her forehead. He knew that it was foolish but he had to leave her there or the sentry he had left alive would notice that the prisoner was missing sooner or later. As he picked up his remaining sword and donned his helmet he made his way back towards the gnoll encampment as dawn broke over the ruins.
End of Chapter One
