Disclaimer: I do not own WHEEL OF TIME or any of it's characters. All
original characters are my own, although some are close to the wheel of
time characters.
2
CATCHING UP
Slowly they crept out of the barn, weapons ready to fend off whatever lay concealed out side of the ruined barn door. As they slid silently past the door all they had was they soft rustle of a leaf being crushed under soft boots, but they all herd it and they all spun.
Luckily, it was only Taim who swung his weapon for he was off balance and the swing that was aimed for the intruder's chest was now directed more toward his head. The only thing that saved the young man standing before them from the undoubtedly painful experience of having his head cleaved in half was that as they turned, he stumbled and tripped over a rock, dropping his head a hand's length lower, making the sword take only a tuft of his hair.
This lack of a chopped head made the young man very happy. Taim was also quite happy about this particular occurrence, for this was not just some cutpurse trying to slit his throat and take his money. No, this young man didn't need to slit anything to take Taim's, or even Will's money. They were the only ones still foolish enough to gamble with Mat.
Mathewin Therin, or Mat, was another young man of Brie. He was about the same height as Will but he was still a hand shorter than Taim. Mat and Will were both tall compared to most, but Taim still towered over them. He had never seen anyone taller than himself, man or woman.
Mat had unusually good luck with anything that involved pure chance, so he excelled at gambling. Many thought he cheated and hid cards up his sleeves, or something paranoid like that. But they could never prove it. So, they just didn't gamble against him anymore. The pots were not high, but for the people of Brie, a few coppers were a fortune, and Mat always won. Cards, dice, it didn't matter, he almost never lost. The people were sick of losing their hard earned few copper coins to a nineteen-year-old boy. All three of them were nineteen. Mat was the youngest by a week and a half, and Will was the oldest by a week.
Taim liked to watch the men of Brie lose their coppers for a last futile attempt to win against Mat. Mat's amazing luck was always better if he or will was there, and even more so if they were both there. Mat thought of them as a kind of good luck charm, and when he won big he would even give them some of his winnings just for being there.
After almost killing Mat and then just standing there like a brain dead hic, Taim finally asked, "What are you doing up here? Didn't you see the wolves?"
"Of course I saw the wolves, that's why I came." Mat said. "I saw Will lumbering through the woods like the Dark One himself was chasing him. Then I saw about. thirty wolves following through the trees, growling and barking like you took their favorite bone. I just grabbed my bow and joined the chase."
They comprehended this for a while and then Thom said, "Quick everyone to a horse. Mat, I'm sure you have your own, yes? Good. Taim you can ride Wind, her saddle is still broken so you'll have to ride her bare back. Now, mount!"
They rode through the thicket in silence, except for the sound of hooves and the occasional whicker, trying not to attract the attention of the wolves they were attempting to pass.
Through the journey they only had one incident in which Mat's steed, Chance, found a well placed root which sent both horse and rider toppling to a heap on the cold, wet, forest floor. Miraculously, neither was hurt.
Once they were back to the chase, moral was low, and Mat's joke about him having the Dark One's own luck got only a stern "Shhh!" from Thom and lower moral.
About half way to Brie, they still had not passed the wolves, but of their 'quarry they could see only two. 'Scouts', Taim thought, 'Nowonder they were going so fast.' "We've past the main group." He said as he maneuvered closer to Thom' s horse.
"I know." Thom replied "I didn't want you to be intimidated by having a pack of thirty or so wolves behind us." He moved closer to Mat and said, "You've got your bow, do you think you could take out the scouts before they can give warning? Good. Remember, two shots each. One won't kill.
Taking this to heart Mat sent two of his broad head arrows into the first wolf catching it first in the side, then through the neck. After that it went down with a quite, curdled yelp as blood filled its trachea, if he could hit the other one like that, they would have no problem. But of course Mat's luck could be good or bad depending on the situation. This time his luck tried to trip his horse, so right as mat firedhis shots at the last wolf, his horse triped in a well-placed rut making Mat's shots be worse than missing. The first of this set of broad head arrows hit a tree thirty yards off, but the second hit the wolf in the hindquarters. It let out quite a screech but kept going. It stumbled around squealing with the arrow still in it's butt.
"Well, if we didn't alert the rest of the wolves we sure warned the town." As if to prove his point, the wounded wolf ran into the next tree. It let out a final yelp and fell into a crumpled heap on the mossy, forest floor.
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Please review. I'm yet to get any reviews but I'm posting this anyway. Plus, I'm getting worried that no one's reading my story, and that is why I put it on fanfic. So review
2
CATCHING UP
Slowly they crept out of the barn, weapons ready to fend off whatever lay concealed out side of the ruined barn door. As they slid silently past the door all they had was they soft rustle of a leaf being crushed under soft boots, but they all herd it and they all spun.
Luckily, it was only Taim who swung his weapon for he was off balance and the swing that was aimed for the intruder's chest was now directed more toward his head. The only thing that saved the young man standing before them from the undoubtedly painful experience of having his head cleaved in half was that as they turned, he stumbled and tripped over a rock, dropping his head a hand's length lower, making the sword take only a tuft of his hair.
This lack of a chopped head made the young man very happy. Taim was also quite happy about this particular occurrence, for this was not just some cutpurse trying to slit his throat and take his money. No, this young man didn't need to slit anything to take Taim's, or even Will's money. They were the only ones still foolish enough to gamble with Mat.
Mathewin Therin, or Mat, was another young man of Brie. He was about the same height as Will but he was still a hand shorter than Taim. Mat and Will were both tall compared to most, but Taim still towered over them. He had never seen anyone taller than himself, man or woman.
Mat had unusually good luck with anything that involved pure chance, so he excelled at gambling. Many thought he cheated and hid cards up his sleeves, or something paranoid like that. But they could never prove it. So, they just didn't gamble against him anymore. The pots were not high, but for the people of Brie, a few coppers were a fortune, and Mat always won. Cards, dice, it didn't matter, he almost never lost. The people were sick of losing their hard earned few copper coins to a nineteen-year-old boy. All three of them were nineteen. Mat was the youngest by a week and a half, and Will was the oldest by a week.
Taim liked to watch the men of Brie lose their coppers for a last futile attempt to win against Mat. Mat's amazing luck was always better if he or will was there, and even more so if they were both there. Mat thought of them as a kind of good luck charm, and when he won big he would even give them some of his winnings just for being there.
After almost killing Mat and then just standing there like a brain dead hic, Taim finally asked, "What are you doing up here? Didn't you see the wolves?"
"Of course I saw the wolves, that's why I came." Mat said. "I saw Will lumbering through the woods like the Dark One himself was chasing him. Then I saw about. thirty wolves following through the trees, growling and barking like you took their favorite bone. I just grabbed my bow and joined the chase."
They comprehended this for a while and then Thom said, "Quick everyone to a horse. Mat, I'm sure you have your own, yes? Good. Taim you can ride Wind, her saddle is still broken so you'll have to ride her bare back. Now, mount!"
They rode through the thicket in silence, except for the sound of hooves and the occasional whicker, trying not to attract the attention of the wolves they were attempting to pass.
Through the journey they only had one incident in which Mat's steed, Chance, found a well placed root which sent both horse and rider toppling to a heap on the cold, wet, forest floor. Miraculously, neither was hurt.
Once they were back to the chase, moral was low, and Mat's joke about him having the Dark One's own luck got only a stern "Shhh!" from Thom and lower moral.
About half way to Brie, they still had not passed the wolves, but of their 'quarry they could see only two. 'Scouts', Taim thought, 'Nowonder they were going so fast.' "We've past the main group." He said as he maneuvered closer to Thom' s horse.
"I know." Thom replied "I didn't want you to be intimidated by having a pack of thirty or so wolves behind us." He moved closer to Mat and said, "You've got your bow, do you think you could take out the scouts before they can give warning? Good. Remember, two shots each. One won't kill.
Taking this to heart Mat sent two of his broad head arrows into the first wolf catching it first in the side, then through the neck. After that it went down with a quite, curdled yelp as blood filled its trachea, if he could hit the other one like that, they would have no problem. But of course Mat's luck could be good or bad depending on the situation. This time his luck tried to trip his horse, so right as mat firedhis shots at the last wolf, his horse triped in a well-placed rut making Mat's shots be worse than missing. The first of this set of broad head arrows hit a tree thirty yards off, but the second hit the wolf in the hindquarters. It let out quite a screech but kept going. It stumbled around squealing with the arrow still in it's butt.
"Well, if we didn't alert the rest of the wolves we sure warned the town." As if to prove his point, the wounded wolf ran into the next tree. It let out a final yelp and fell into a crumpled heap on the mossy, forest floor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please review. I'm yet to get any reviews but I'm posting this anyway. Plus, I'm getting worried that no one's reading my story, and that is why I put it on fanfic. So review