Post by L.E. Ott on Oct 14, 2006 12:42:22 GMT -5
The great hunt which had for many months been planned at the court of Lord Galleis of Gadarn was finally to be held on that day. All of the great leaders and heros from the lands of Sciri were there, or just arriving.
Lord Horth Defrin, leader of the free tribes of Gasmei, rode into the yard of the hall at the side of Parita of Irisandri, with Ysala of the Zari nomads urging on a brown albaca just after them. A delegation of Hoi Na's Blood Riders arrived shortly thereafter.
"I believe the assemblage is complete," Horth muttered in that way he had.
"Shall we be off now?"
Galleis merely shook his head. This was no sport hunt to be undertaken lightly. Someone or something had been raiding villages near the Breach, a deep icy canyon just past the western forest. The point of the expedition was to track the latest devastation.
A chill gust blew through the yard then, and the gates swung open anew, admitting a cloaked and helmeted rider on a swift grey horse. A slower black horse followed after, and both pulled to a halt before the earlier arrivals.
"At last," Galleis said with a wry grin.
"You know, for the daughter of a god of winds, you are not as swift to arrive as I had hoped."
"I go where the wind takes me," the helmeted figure said jokingly, at the same time raising her visor.
Talia, great heroine of the northern lands, smiled and removed her helmet fully, letting her thick golden braids tumble down her back. Behind on the black horse, her squire, Retys, merely smiled at the proceedings. Being deaf, he had heard nothing that was said, and he had not seen Talia's lips to read them.
"We'll be riding out immediately. I want to get this over with as quickly as we can."
Galleis said this in his usual determined tone, but something in his voice betrayed him. He was afraid.
As the party rode out of the gate, Talia looked left and noticed another group joining them.
"Retys," she said, dropping back and catching her squire's attention, "Derwenics."
The boy looked in the direction that his mistress had indicated and saw the robed figures joining the procession. So, these were the famous nature wizards he had read about. Would they help the hunters, or where they merely sending the group on with some sort of blessings?
Lord Horth Defrin, leader of the free tribes of Gasmei, rode into the yard of the hall at the side of Parita of Irisandri, with Ysala of the Zari nomads urging on a brown albaca just after them. A delegation of Hoi Na's Blood Riders arrived shortly thereafter.
"I believe the assemblage is complete," Horth muttered in that way he had.
"Shall we be off now?"
Galleis merely shook his head. This was no sport hunt to be undertaken lightly. Someone or something had been raiding villages near the Breach, a deep icy canyon just past the western forest. The point of the expedition was to track the latest devastation.
A chill gust blew through the yard then, and the gates swung open anew, admitting a cloaked and helmeted rider on a swift grey horse. A slower black horse followed after, and both pulled to a halt before the earlier arrivals.
"At last," Galleis said with a wry grin.
"You know, for the daughter of a god of winds, you are not as swift to arrive as I had hoped."
"I go where the wind takes me," the helmeted figure said jokingly, at the same time raising her visor.
Talia, great heroine of the northern lands, smiled and removed her helmet fully, letting her thick golden braids tumble down her back. Behind on the black horse, her squire, Retys, merely smiled at the proceedings. Being deaf, he had heard nothing that was said, and he had not seen Talia's lips to read them.
"We'll be riding out immediately. I want to get this over with as quickly as we can."
Galleis said this in his usual determined tone, but something in his voice betrayed him. He was afraid.
As the party rode out of the gate, Talia looked left and noticed another group joining them.
"Retys," she said, dropping back and catching her squire's attention, "Derwenics."
The boy looked in the direction that his mistress had indicated and saw the robed figures joining the procession. So, these were the famous nature wizards he had read about. Would they help the hunters, or where they merely sending the group on with some sort of blessings?