Chapter 1
Breathing hard, for he was moving rather quickly down the trail, Vekao slowed to a stop. He wasn’t feeling very well, his back ached, his head hurt and yet he knew that he still had to keep pushing forward. It was another long day to the coast, and he’d been on the road for over a week now in his desperate attempt to reach his friend in the port city of Koth.
His friend Lizzy, her real name was Lissidrinne Moonglade, was in deep trouble and she was counting on him to come and bail her out, again! So he found himself trudging along this trail, heading towards Koth, what lay before him, was yet to be determined, what trouble she was in, was yet to be known.
The port city of Koth was part of the Lijissa Empire. It was a rather large city and an old city, having been founded hundreds of years ago, before the Great Cataclysm. It was a busy port, which attracted a lot of merchant ships, full of exotic cargos from distant lands, cargos such as spices and ivory, or perhaps in some cases even slaves! Trade was very brisk, but at times risky, with a lot of competition between rival merchants and of course the occasional pirate.
Vekao continued along the trail now, but at a slightly slower pace, for he wasn’t as young as he used to be. Vekao was a minotaur from the island of Minopis, off the coast of Lijissa. His full name was Vekao Untter, he had left the island a long time ago to strike out on his own, but that was another story. It has been a very long time now since he has seen his homeland and he was beginning to wonder if he ever would again. Physically Vekao stood over seven feet tall and was massively built, as most of his kind, and one of his horns had been broken in half during his youth. His body was covered in scars that he had earned from his many travels and adventures over the past few years, yet for a minotaur he was considered good looking. He was strong, stronger than most of his kind really, and he knew how to use the battleaxe strapped to his broad back, he knew how to use it very well, which most of his adversaries had discovered the hard way. He was a merchant by trade, but hadn’t practiced his profession in over a dozen years. In the past couple of years he had been on a quest, a mission so to speak, to discover why his old friend Davkas had disappeared.
You see Davkas was Lizzy’s father and had been missing now for a good long time, longer than was normal anyway, since he was constantly sent on scouting missions for his King. He wasn’t sure when and he wasn’t sure how, but he was determined to find him, whether he was dead or alive, Davkas that is. So he continued to push himself, continued to look for clues wherever they might lead him, all he knew for now was that he had disappeared somewhere in the Skag mountains.. But for now Lizzy was in trouble and had sent him a message to come and come quickly. So he struck out from the town he called his home to find Lizzy and see what he could do to help her out of the jam she had gotten herself in.
Lizzy was a thief, something that Vekao didn’t really approve of, but this was her trade so to speak and she normally worked alone because she didn’t really trust other people. She was young though and always getting involved in areas that were too dangerous, even for one as skilled as she was. This time was one of those! She had apparently stolen something very valuable from a wealthy merchant in Koth and now she had agents of this merchant, Zhuerelm, who were hot on her trail. She had sent a message for Vekao to come quickly and he had responded by dropping everything to come. He felt as if Lizzy was like his own and felt responsible for her well-being now that Davkas had turned up missing.
He paused along the trail he had been traveling when he didn’t hear the usual forest sounds any longer, for it had become quiet, too quiet. “Strange” he thought, so he pulled his battleaxe off of his back and started paying closer attention as he crept cautiously down the trail. Soon he thought that he heard something over to his right, so he paused and listened…
“Well, well, well what do we have here? A minotaur and a big one at that? Have you lost your way cow-head?” said a strange gruff voice just off the trail.
Vekao turned his full attention towards the voice and that’s when he heard the grunt from behind him and twisted to the side, just in time, before the spear that had been thrown at his back impaled itself into the tree next to him. Instantly Vekao rose to his full height and charged straight towards the voice, with his battleaxe leading the way! He wasn’t going to let them box him in without a fight, so he pushed his way through the brush and came face-to-face with a squat, ugly man, with tattoo’s on his face and neck . He was holding a sword out in front of him, but seemed to be surprised that Vekao was there in front of him, and he gave a little yelp, and jumped back a couple of feet.
“Hold minotaur! Surrender while you still draw breath!” said the ugly man to him and waved his sword around, trying to appear threatening, but failed miserably to impress Vekao.
Vekao stopped and stared at him for a second, noticed that the sword was somewhat rusty, and decided that he was being attacked by some common highwaymen. “I will neither surrender, nor hold stranger! You need to explain to me why your friend back there tried to skewer me with that spear!” Vekao snarled at him and gestured behind his left shoulder, for that was where he began to see and hear movement in the bushes behind him along the trail.
Vekao knew that he didn’t have the luxury of time, so not waiting for a reply he faked a rush at the man in front of him, causing him to stumble back a step or two, and then whirled around, with quickness uncommon to one his size, and rushed straight at the second man that had emerged from the bushes. The man was big, not as big as Vekao of course, but big none the less. He must have stood well over six feet, with huge muscular arms and a massive, barrel of a chest. His face was scarred, and he had a patch over his left eye, his remaining eye was fixed on Vekao in hatred!
Vekao raised his battleaxe and began his dance, at least he liked to think of it as a dance, yet in reality it was very serious work, and he had trained hard all his life to learn it. He parried a quick slash by the man as he brought a long sword to bear on Vekao and he countered with a backwards chop with his battleaxe. The robber jumped back and stumbled over some roots on the ground, Vekao didn’t hesitate as he ended the thief’s life there in the forest, next to the tree where the spear still hung embedded in its trunk.
Pulling his battleaxe free, Vekao quickly turned around to get his bearings on the first man and didn’t see him anywhere. Being the cowardly bandit that he was, the first man had run off when he saw that the battle wasn’t going to go their way. So Vekao took the time to clean the blood off of his battleaxe and repositioned it again on his back, watching the surrounding woods all the while, then again began his long journey towards the daughter of his friend.
“Well I hope I can avoid any more distractions.” He thought to himself as he ran down the trail. “All this fighting has wasted too much of my time.”
He soon came to a stream and decided to fill his water skins and rest for a moment beside the stream. He didn’t want to stay there long though, since he knew that the robbers could have friends nearby and could be coming back at any moment. So after a few minutes just to refresh himself he got up and continued his trek towards the coast.
Shortly Vekao came to a fork in the trail, one leading towards the mountains along the coast, while the other branched downwards to the shore. So he took the one leading to the shore, since that was where Koth was located and so he was off again. He was intrigued by the variety of plant life as he trudged along the trail, and knew most their uses. He studied it with interest, not having seen some of the different species. There were all kinds, as well as some varieties that he recognized from his travels during the war. Some of the ones he saw he knew were good for healing; some were used to make you sleep, while another had more serious properties.
Time passed, as he quickened his pace, trying to make up for lost time spent battling the robbers. He needed to find a place to make camp for the night, before it got too dark, so he began scanning the countryside around him for a suitable place. One that would provide the kind of shelter he needed and so he continued along the trail, with his long strides causing the miles to be eaten up swiftly.
He soon found something to his liking and steered himself over to the spot, just about hundred yards or so ff the trail, in a thicket of trees. He didn’t take long to gather some firewood and setup a camp site. Soon he had a roaring fire going and he had his bedroll out and was getting ready to eat some hardtack and cheese. Of course he was wishing that he had something better, but that was all that was left and soon he would be forced to hunt for his meals, yet tonight he had no time for that.
After his brief meal which he washed down with some fresh water from the stream, he began to stoke up the fire a bit as he was getting ready to lie down for the night. That’s when he saw them…they were huge silhouettes in the night sky, barely discernable in the light of the three moons. What they were he didn’t really know, but they were flying straight towards his camp fire it seemed! Quickly he doused the fire, kicking dirt, and dumping some of his water on it. He then dived over to the side and took cover behind some trees off to his right.
He soon could hear the flapping of their massive wings. Two…no three of the flying beasts! He was cautious as he peered around the tree he was crouching behind, and yet he still could not determine what they were. But, soon his worse fears were realized as they seemed to pivot in the air towards his little camp!
The fur on his arms and the nape of his neck stood up on end. Time seemed to stand still and the air seemed thicker, if that was possible. Closer they came, closer, and then…they were gone! Just like that, they flew right over where he was crouched down, and continued on towards the coastline ahead. Vekao blew out the air in his lungs, for he was embarrassed to realize he had been holding his breathe. He slowly stood up and looked out over the horizon in the light of the three moons to see if he could spot the things circling back, but no, they were gone. He could no longer hear the flapping of their wings.
After a few minutes he began to relax a little and stopped pacing around the camp, he started a smaller fire and rolled himself up in his blanket, determined to get some sleep this night! He lay fidgeting in his bedroll, trying to figure out what he had seen, in all his travels he just couldn’t place the things! It wasn’t that long before he found himself fast asleep…
Waking, feeling refreshed in the morning, Vekao was happy to see his fire still held a spark. He quickly surveyed his surroundings, and determined there was no one or no thing else in the vicinity; so he got his fire blazing again. Soon he had his tin cup out and was heating some water in it to make some tea. Vekao loved his tea in the morning hours, for he had packed a few of the roots from his home for the trip and this morning was no exception. After drinking some tea and eating a little more of the rations he had packed for himself, he was up putting the fire out. He grabbed his belongings, slung them on his broad back and was off down the trail again heading for his rendezvous with Lizzy in Koth.
Vekao found that he was humming an old seafaring tune and was in a pretty good mood, all things considered for him. He quickly made his way down the trail as it led closer and closer to Koth. He thought back to the mysterious flying creatures from last night and was mulling over in his head just exactly what he thought they were.
“Couldn’t be dragons” he thought. “They just didn’t seem big enough. But they were big enough to make me dive behind that tree and cower like a child!” Vekao thought angrily to himself. “What could they be then?”
He continued to ponder this question, over and over in his mind, as he traveled down the trail, but he really couldn’t put his finger on what he had seen in the night. Soon he was beginning to see other people walking along the trail ahead of him, some in small carts coming in his direction, others with bows hanging across their backs apparently out early to get some hunting in. Soon the trail couldn’t be called a trail any longer, but was a full fledged road, a road leading straight to the walled city of Koth.
The farmers and others that were passing by him along the road were staring at him. He tried not to stare back, for he knew that it wasn’t everyday that they saw a minotaur, especially a minotaur of his stature. His people came from across the Great Sea of the East, from a land many miles from where he walked today. Yet many minotaurs had been used as mercenaries in the recent war, it was just that the majority of them had returned home, Vekao wasn’t one of them, he had decided to stay and make this land his home, of course it was times like these that he regretted his decision.
As he walked he reflected on his friendship with Davkas. Imagine an elf and a minotaur becoming good friends! But it had happened during the war; both Davkas and he were on the side of King Lonthonis Brightwater during the War of the King, almost ten years ago now. They had joined up separately and yet ended up fighting in the same battle. Davkas was a scout, employed by the King to go before his troops and scout out enemy positions, a very dangerous, yet exciting profession. During this time he became good friends with the King and spent some time at the court of the King.
Vekao was hired as a mercenary soldier at the time, and he was soon placed in charge of a squadron of minotaurs who had joined around the same time. Vekao fought in many different battles during the war and it was during one of these battles that he met Davkas and Davkas’s daughter Lissidrinne or Lizzy as they now called her. Vekao had saved Davkas’s life when the goblins had burst through their line and were forcing a retreat. Davkas had fallen when an arrow pierced his leg, and the goblins were running up the gorge just when Vekao had spotted him and scooped him up with one hand and thrown him over his shoulder. They had been good friends ever since Davkas had taken him back with him; to the city of Castitrona, and it was during this time that Davkas introduced him to his family, including his daughter Lizzy. And now Davkas’s daughter was in trouble, with Davkas still missing and Vekao the only one able to offer aid.
Soon Vekao found himself at the gate to the city. It was open now being that it was early morning. The activity around the gate was very busy it seemed to him, merchants were coming and going hawking their wares, while farmers came to sell their crops, beggars where there also, also it seemed that there were all kinds of races from humans and elves, why even an occasional dwarf and now of course a minotaur. There were guards posted who kept an eye on Vekao as he strode within the walls of the city. Vekao grunted at them as he passed and nodded, there was a young guard who was staring a little too much and for him Vekao gave a big wink. The guard closed his mouth and turned away, being a little embarrassed.
“Always wise to be on their good side” he thought.
He soon found himself heading up one of the main streets, looking for an inn that Lizzy had indicated on the note that was delivered to him. He was to met her at an inn named the ‘Rusty Wheel’ he was sure about the name of the place, but wasn’t sure about the location, so he asked for directions and was soon on his way there, and his meeting with Lizzy, he hoped!