Chapter 1: The people you can meet in a small town.
Let us take several steps back for a moment. Thane wasn’t always called a hero, nor did he ever think of himself as one. The first time I saw Thane was a few minutes after he was born, a red faced infant in his mothers arms. She asked if I wanted to hold him, and I couldn’t do anything but accept. This made me the second person to ever hold him, a fact that I reminded his father of as much as possible during my short visit.
Was this what the end of a journey was supposed to be like? A peaceful life with a happy family? I would have loved to have stayed, taken my role as the boy’s godmother, but my personal journey was far from over. I left soon after, and the next time I saw Thane he was a grown man on his own journey. Not being able to support the young boy during the tragedies in that small town is something I will regret forever.
I do know a little bit of what his life was like as he grew up. I knew he had friends. Those that followed his father on his journey had children of their own and they became inseparable. There was Kisha, a silver haired Tamlin who never met her mysterious Fey father, and the twins Mahs and Sarah, who never knew their mother who died in childbirth.
When the children were young, a plague struck the village. It was quickly contained but Thane’s and Kisha’s mothers were two of the first victims, and Thane's father was gone soon after. Castor, the father of the twins, and Maria, a close friend of Thane’s mother, were soon looking out for four children, and they raised them to the best of their ability.
Castor taught them to fight and taught them magic. He was well versed in all forms of combat and strategy and did his best to prepare them to handle anything the future could throw at them. Thane soon became a proficient hunter and was able to support himself and Kisha.
Maria taught them the ways of the world, mathematics, history, politics. She was well versed in scholarly matters as well as the ways of merchants and nobles and taught them everything she could.
The children didn’t think much of this education, and never questioned the background of the two who taught them. Any outsider, however, would find it extremely unusual. After all, what kind of small village could produce four children that were both highly trained in combat and highly educated?
It was a wonder that nobody discovered these gems in the rough for so long. It was only a matter of time before they would be dragged into the larger world.
Thane’s story would truly begin at that time.
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Outskirts of Omeric Village
Year 299 E.K.
?? Years before The End
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Thane
Take a deep breath, steady myself, now open my eyes and keep my weapon at the ready. After his usual preparation, Thane soundlessly draws back the bowstring and aims at the deer in front of him. He was very lucky this time, it took only around an hour to track and find his prey. Suddenly the deer’s head snaps up to the sound of scraping and digging. Thane follows the glance of the deer to the ground and sees a small bear-like creature frantically digging at the base of a tree. He takes a close look at the root bear, back at the deer, and back to the bear again.
A deer of this size doesn't come around often, it could keep us fed for weeks, but…a root bear pelt in good condition is worth a few gold coins...gold!
His thoughts shift between the two animals, firing at one will startle the other and cause it to flee deeper into the woods. Was it worth the risk of not having complete meals for a few days in order to get some extra money the next time the merchants pass through town? The internal debate couldn’t continue long and he let the arrow fly. It was a perfect shot under the neck of one of the animals, and just as predicted, the other one sprinted away in fear and soon couldn’t be seen through the trees.
“Let's hope the rabbit traps have something in them, root bear meat is foul”. While it was true that the pelt is abnormally soft and thick, the meat inside tastes like a chewy slug dipped in lard. Thane shuddered as two memories surfaced. The first of when he tried root bear meat for the first time, and the second was the embarrassing story of why he knows what a slug tastes like.
After verifying the animal is dead, he sets down his pack and begins to prepare for the trip home. A quartet of wooden poles are pulled free of the pack, and are placed in pairs end to end before Thane begins a short chant. Three quick syllables is all that it takes for a glowing aura to form around his wrists. He follows the three steps of casting magic: incorporation, absorption, emission. A simple first circle spell like this takes only a second to complete. The channeled magic sinks into the poles and they began to fuse into each other changing the 4 short poles into 2 longer ones. He can’t help but be pleased with himself and the results. This was a technique Thane invented shortly after learning mending magic. He realized if something was too big or awkward to carry with him on a hunt, all he had to do is break it in half and use mending magic to put it back together. It’s not the most efficient use of magical energy to be sure, but it’s not like I need to save it for anything else.
Thane takes out a square of leather with a few loops on the corners and runs the now long poles through the loops, assembling the travois. The prize gets placed on the leather square and he grabs the end of the poles opposite the bear and starts to drag it behind him. Time to check the traps and head home. The usual merchant caravan should stop by in a month and I will be able to make quite a bit of profit. After several minutes of dragging his prey, the village is almost in sight. He takes another look over his shoulder admiring the kill one more time. “Hehe, perfect shot to the throat, Mersine will be pleased to see this.”
His self appreciation was interrupted by a girl's voice “Oh? And why exactly are you seeking to please that salacious Elf?”
“Salacious? Are you picking up some new words to insult her with again, Kisha?” He looks over to the fallen tree where Kisha usually practices magic. She is there as usual, and it looks like she is finishing coating her wooden shield with...something? What the hell is that anyway? Some sort of ground bark mixed with dirt? “She gets under your skin a lot for someone you only see every few months.” Kisha stood up and brushed the dirt off of her clothes and flicked debris out of her hair, which is easily her most prominent trait. Not that it was excessively long or full it was actually a typical shoulder length cut.
It was just silver in color. Not grey like an elderly woman, but silver. Perhaps it wouldn’t be too abnormal for someone of advanced age, but Kisha would be having her 16th birthday soon.
It was accepted that it was a magical mutation. Her mother was a bit of a sorceress after all, and using magic while pregnant sometimes had odd effects on unborn children. Bleached or odd colored hair, strange eyes resembling that of an animal, Mersene even told them a story about an elf born with horns. Of course, “magical mutation” was sometimes used as a convenient lie when faced with someone who had a dark or embarrassing inhuman parent. This happened to be the truth for Kisha.
Thane had never met her father, nor had anyone else but her mother. She told us that the father of her child was some sort of Fae creature, but was never more specific than that. One time, after a particularly nasty argument, Sarah called her a boggart’s bastard. Sarah's brother and I had to pull them apart by force before someone got killed.
She ignored the quip and walked towards Thane, taking a look at what he was dragging behind him.
“You said you were getting meat, I’m not eating that.”
“This is for fur, I wouldn’t feed this to feral dogs. If you still want meat help me check the traps. Maybe we’ll get lucky and catch a rabbit or something.”
“Right, but we’re feeding four remember? It had better be a big rabbit or you’re the one going to buy the meat from Davik.”
“Do we really need meat?”
“No, but it is what you promised.”
Thane grumbled under his breath. Even if he would have caught that deer it would take a few days for the blood to drain and the muscles to relax for the meat to be prepared so today was the last chance. He almost regretted passing up that deer for the valuable pelt he was currently dragging behind him.
Almost.
The two start heading back to the town together, and pause when they hear the sound of someone walking, or rather stumbling, through the trees and underbrush. When they hear the cursing of the man heading their direction they immediately know who it is. The youth is almost a year older than Thane and is Sarah’s twin brother. Thane shook his head holding back a sigh, “That sounds like Mahs”.
“Yep.”
“You think he would know how to find the trails by now.”
Kisha laughed. “He’s doing his best, but that pretty boy lacks my ties to nature and your training as a hunter. ...Wait, what is he doing here? He wouldn’t do anything to dirty his clothes unless it was important.”
When Mahs came into view he seemed relieved, “Kisha, I found you, and thank The Three you’re here as well Thane. There is trouble. Armed men are in the town, over a dozen. They are demanding we hand over supplies and all the horses we have.”
“Thugs? Where is your father and teacher? I can’t imagine them being pushed around by a dozen bandits.”
“They left at dawn before you went hunting. It’s just us. My sister is keeping an eye on them.”
Kisha strapped her shield firmly on her arm, “Let's go then, if Castor isn’t there, we will have to handle it. He trained us for situations like this.” She smiled at Thane, “I was saving this new shield trick I set up as a surprise for our next sparring session, but I suppose I could use it on a few thugs.”
Thane drops the skid carrying the root bear and takes count of his weapons. One bow, half a dozen arrows, a hunting spear, a curved short sword and dagger for clearing brush and finishing a kill. Kisha was doing some sort of magic training and applying a weird substance to her shield but luckily she brought her sword with her as well. Mahs, well, Mahs was never much of a fighter, but his magic is useful and it looks like he grabbed his smallsword before he came.
Thane hesitates for a moment. “Are you really up for this? If we attack them it will be real combat, not training. It could be more than a bruise and a scolding if you mess up.” He can’t help but be concerned for them. I am confident in my skills, and Sarah can definitely take care of herself, but these two…
“Stop worrying, we can handle ourselves.” Kisha replied, but her tone made me think she was still treating this like some sort of game. “It's not like we have a choice in the matter however. If those bandits wind up taking the towns supplies and horses, we won't survive the coming winter.”
“You’re right, just when the fight starts, IF the fight starts, be careful.”
The three reach the edge of town, staying out of sight. Most of the bandits are gathered in the center of town. A few of the townspeople have capitulated and are leading in the few horses the town has and bringing in food. One of the bandits seems to be arguing with the town butcher.
Something is different with these bandits. They aren’t the unwashed thugs I was expecting. Rather than piecemeal or scavenged armor, most of them are wearing some sort of lamellar or scaled armor and seem to have decent weapons. Not that he has any real experience with bandits to compare them to, but from some of the stories he heard he was expecting a more ragtag, unwashed group.
Thane looks around until he finds Sara, she is crouched on the roof of one of the houses waiting for him to take notice. Once they make eye contact she makes a few quick hand gestures, a bit of code we were taught by Castor. “I’ll follow you” she signs, indicating that she will jump in once the first move is made. Thane hands his bow and arrows over to Mahs, trying to at least keep him out of danger and away from the middle of the fighting. “Once I run in, shoot until you are out of arrows, Kisha go around the building to the left and attack them once they turn towards me. I will-”
(Authors note: Oof, a character limit, I'm going to have to split up my chapters.)
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