Author's note:
Thank you, my whole two reviewers! I have figured out a way now to make it more exciting (I hope) and retain the same kind of story line.
***
I am sorry, Emperor, if my details have not been all that great, but that has been over 700 years ago! I know, how can a human live so long, and how does he retain his good looks...but it will all be explained shortly.
After reaching Garkor, the castle where the trade caravan was headed, I immediately headed to Kargor, the dwarven Lord of the estate. After I told him of the news, he outfitted me in his best mithral chainmail, along with an elvish compound bow made by his personal bow maker.
Kargor then told me the secret of his clan. He said the only way we could defeat this evil was to get through to the old underground mines of his clan, and retrieve his cousin's ring of wishing, which had been hidden in a safe. He gave me a map and a steed and sent me on my way.
The cave was a good week's hard ride, though it was through relatively safe areas. The only trouble I ran into was during my fourth day...
A small group of gnolls had attacked a town, howling like they always do.
At this moment, the Emperor asked what a gnoll was because he had never heard of it before. The savage responded by saying that they were brutal beasts, a cross between an orc and a hyena. They are about seven and a half feet tall, and feed only on intelligent creatures because they scream more.
I pulled out my bow and took aim on the closest one. I fired at him and hit him the shoulder. The gnoll fell down and got back up, barked out a few words, and rushed at me, with three behind him.
I quickly shot another arrow, which clipped the lead one in the leg, and then I directed the horse in the opposite direction.
One gnoll pulled out a shortbow and attempted to shoot me while running. He missed horribly and then shot another gnoll in the back of the neck. It fell and the others ran over it. I stopped the horse to fire another shot, and hit the target in the chest. It fell face-first into the ground. I pulled out a longsword and got off the horse, in preparation for the last two.
The injured one got to me first. He swung with his battleaxe, but I was able to shrug it off. I replied with a thrust at his chest, but instead hit his neck. The sword got stuck, and I couldn't get it out before the last one reached me.
The last one had eyes that were burning with rage. He had his battleaxe out and was swinging at me in frenzy. I dodged and got close up and attempted to grapple it, however he was much larger and stronger and was able to pin me.
The gnoll was about to bite my head off when an arrow hit him in the left shoulder. He jumped off me to see a townsman holding the same bow the gnoll used. Another arrow was fired at him, but the gnolls armor succeeded this time and the gnoll rushed the townsman. The man screamed as he was chewed to bits, but I was able to reach my bow and fire the fatal shot to the back of its head.
I searched the bodies for anything of value, but didn't find much. I wanted to travel light, so I left their weapons, however I did manage to find a few unbroken arrows. Most important though, I found a ring on the last one I killed. As soon as I touched it, I knew it was magical. I picked it up and wore it.
I started again on my journey to the mine. I didn't encounter anything more on the way that needed to be taken care of.
When I reached the mine, I saw a few broken arrows sticking out of the ground. I knew there was trouble recently. I tied the horse to a tree, lit a torch, and grabbed my sword. I entered the place. The tunnels were quite small, a squeeze for me to fit in. A few tunnels that were too small for me to fit in ran off from the main one. I eventually came into a large open hall, with the smell of death imminent.
As far as my torchlight permitted, I saw bodies. Dozens of dwarven bodies were scattered on the ground. They had on bits and pieces of mithral chain, and most had picks in their hands. Blood was everywhere, and most of it wasn't completely dry. I remember wondering if the same fate came to these dwarves that came to my father's castle. Then it showed itself.
It was a spider. It came crawling off the roof and hissed at me. It must have been half my size, and totally black. I didn't know how this one fiend had killed all these dwarves. Then I realized it, that wasn't blood, it was webbing.
Red webbing flew at me from the spider's front legs. I threw my torch at it and the webbing exploded into flame. I ran towards the tunnel that led out, not worried about walls at that point. The spider was occupied at the moment, with burning legs. Eventually, I saw the exit and escaped, where two more spiders were waiting. They had already drained my horse of its blood.
Author's note:
Ok, so I didn't get to the explaining yet, but I hope that action is pretty good. I promise that the next installment will have the explanation. Yea, it's a cliffhanger...so what?