Welcome back, gang. I have not thought of a voice for Balor but I'm up for suggestions. Oh, and for Asaji I ended up mentally casting Mae Whitman. Enjoy.
The Tale of Leir
Autolycus looked at Terag. He was playing a game of natej against himself. Autolycus starred in disbelief. That was just sad but it was also distracting.
"Have you lost your mind?" Terag moved a piece and then looked back at Autolycus. "You're suppose to be on guard duty and you're playing a game?" Terag sighed. Every time!
"Relax, Auto!" Terag moved another piece. Autolycus hated being called 'Auto' but Terag didn't know that. "Iago will be relieving me of my duty any moment now!"
"Can't you for once take your job seriously?" Terag moved another piece.
"Well forgive me for finding my job boring without anyone to talk to." Terag moved yet another piece. Autolycus sighed.
"I was told you wanted to see me." Terag nodded, finally beating himself at natej. Autolycus found this amusing and wondered if Terag had a split personality.
"Yes, Lion-O and Pumyra were here asking questions."
"Who?"
"The lion and the puma."
"Who?"
"The cat with the red hair and the cat with the brown hair." Autolycus nodded understanding who Terag was talking about. "They were asking about the tombs." Autolycus scratched his chin.
"Were they now?" Terag nodded in response. "Are they-"
"No, they aren't in the tomb of Leir." Terag started to reset the board as a younger evabon, gold in color and with skin covering where the right eye should be, arrived. "Your turn Iago! Just remember to keep your eye open." Iago laughed. The humor when it came to eyes was hilarious since both Terag and Iago had only one but Autolycus could not understand what was so funny since he lacked a sense of humor. Terag then turned back to Autolycus. "I think they might be talking with Asaji." Autolycus raised an eyebrow.
"Why would anyone want to talk to her?" Terag sighed and shook his head.
"I know you wanted a son, Auto, but try and show some respect to your daughter." Terag picked up his sword and put it in his sheath. He then grabbed a fruit from a nearby tree. He looked at Autolycus. "You hungry?" Autolycus shook his head. "Good." Terag took a bite out of the fruit. "Asaji is the keeper of the records so obviously someone would want to talk to her." Autolycus wasn't paying attention to anything Terag said. He was paying attention to the fact Terag was talking with his mouth full. That was why Terag wasn't married. No one wanted to talk to him when he was eating. No one wanted to be around him when he was eating. Terag was just too talkative, one of his many quirks but not one of the ones he was aware of.
"Thanks for telling me and don't forget your natej set" Autolycus walked away. Leaving the talkative fruit muncher to himself as he started to talk Iago's ear off.
The records were kept in a large hall, made around the time Marcius' was buried to keep the records of those buried in the Valley. Asaji, Autolycus' daughter, had become the record keeper after the previous keeper had been killed a few years ago when the valley had been attacked by dogs trying to ransack the tombs in order to make buildings in their city. No dogs ever returned to their city but still the guardians of the tombs stood vigilant to protect just the tombs from not only be stolen from but also from being ransacked to be used for building supplies.
Asaji was thirty years old and was born when her father Autolycus was fifty-two and her mother was thirty-nine. Her mother had since passed on but Autolycus was still there, still unhappy about not having a son to pass on his warrior skills to. With light blue skin, reddish brown eyes and black hair, Asaji had softer features than her father. The reason for this was that evabon women could fight but would only fight to protect their home and family thus resulting in Asaji only having a small scar on his right thumb. Evabon men, being full of scars had harder features and as such didn't look as gentle as the women or even the children who were forbidden from fighting until they reached adulthood. Asaji's garb was a sort of dress or robe that was red in color that once again had to do with gender. Evabon men dressed in only from the waist down, so everyone would be able to see the scars they obtained while the women wore clothing that covered nearly their entire body except for their hands, faces and feet.
It was perhaps this stark contrast between man and woman that caught Lion-O and Pumyra off guard. Having seen more men than women, Asaji was far more deceptive than her father. With Autolycus they could tell he was a force to be reckoned with since he looked liked he had survived being impaled on a spear and having his head repeatedly smashed by a door. With Asaji on the other hand the only visible scar was a small one on her right thumb but they did not doubt her skill when it came to protecting herself.
"So you two came here to learn about Leir?" Asaji stood in front of both Lion-O and Pumyra. She starred at both of them. She was surprised that as talkative as Terag was he didn't tell them anything about Leir. "Well, I should start by asking you two if you know who Antaeus is." Pumyra shook her head. Lion-O on the other hand nodded.
"Gard mentioned him a few times, even claiming that he is the reincarnation of Antaeus."
"Given how much he resembles the statue in the center of the valley I think that claim is true."
"You met him?" Gard had never mentioned having been in the Valley of the Tombs. Given how it well it was protected it was obvious Gard wouldn't have mentioned.
"Once, when he passed through here on his way to Mount Supmylo." Lion-O knew how long ago it was. It was when Gard had gone to confront his brother. Lion-O had believed Procyon to be a monster but as Gard had told them the next time they met, Procyon had been cursed with a bloodlust that only he had managed to overcome by sacrificing himself. "Leir lived about ten centuries before the birth of Anateus so naturally none of the evabon you've met over the age of one hundred will be mentioned." Asaji handed Lion-O a book with strange writing on it. Lion-O and Pumyra flipped through it. They couldn't read any of the writing in it. They both looked at Asaji with curious looks. "You can't read our writing can you?" They both shook their heads. "I see I'm going to have to read this to you." Asaji took the book and started to read from it.
Leir had descended into madness after foolishly splitting his estate between his three sons based on their flattery. His two elder sons Bladud and Corineus had showed much love towards their father, while the youngest son Locrinus only loved his father as a son should. In anger, Leir banished Locrinus and split his inheritance among his elder brothers. Almost instantly Bladud and Corineus cast out their father. Chaos ensued between the elder sons and by the end of it all father and sons had died. This was a tale of madness and betrayal one that could happen to races other an evabon.
After hearing the tale, Lion-O placed a hand on his forehead. Pumyra on the other hand shed a few tears. This valley was a place where the sad were buried. How could such a place exist?