Empire of Persia

Wonderful weather I'm having today. (A.K.A. Lightning)
Well, here is the update. Sorry about the wait


It was a few hour until Cyrus emerged from the hut. He allowed his group to amble around the village for some while. Obzoros talked with the local priest. Bagdates was trying to impress the locals. Oarses sampled their food. Arses and Mardonius talked with the local craftsman. Everyone was having a great time. Except Tiribazus. He just seemed to stand there, in the middle of the village. Meanwhile, Koruse came up to Cyrus, “What did you two talk about?” “This,” he said, holding up a small piece of papyrus, “A map.” “We talked about it, and he told me about a peoples some of his explorers have met during their travels. They call themselves the Madai.”


It was a few hour until Cyrus emerged from the hut. He allowed his group to amble around the village for some while. Obzoros talked with the local priest. Bagdates was trying to impress the locals. Oarses sampled their food. Arses and Mardonius talked with the local craftsman. Everyone was having a great time. Except Tiribazus. He just seemed to stand there, in the middle of the village. Meanwhile, Koruse came up to Cyrus, “What did you two talk about?” “This,” he said, holding up a small piece of papyrus, “A map.” “We talked about it, and he told me about a peoples some of his explorers have met during their travels. They call themselves the Madai.”

“And Cyrus,” Koruse added, “There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you about.” “Yes?” Cyrus asked. “About your daughter,” he said, “She is almost 18 years old. Why have you not chosen her suitor?” Cyrus waited for a few seconds, “I see where you are going, Koruse. She is just a very independent woman,” he said, looking over toward Artazostra, who was talking with the craftsman. “She will fight me every step of the way.”

After several days, the party of scouts would have to leave. However, Cyrus had managed to convince seven Assyrians to come with them. They trekked for some time, until they reached a particularly large river. They were walking beside the river when they spotted something. Standing on a large boulder overlooking the river on the other bank, was a majestic, fierce, lion. The group kept their distance, but not much, due to the fact the lion was on the other side of the river. But they got too close. The lion jumped, and in one swift motion, bounded over the stream.

Everyone was shocked and frozen in fear. The lion attacked. It first went after Cyrus, slashed him with its claws, and he fell unconscious.

Hours later, Cyrus was awoken by Artazostra. “He’s up,” she announced to the group- or what was left of it. Three Assyrians had been killed, including Shalmaneser, one of the more important ones. Oarses had fled into the forest, but hadn’t been found. Bagdates had been the first killed. Gobryas had killed Mardonius when his spear missed the lion and hit him. Tiribazus had died fighting the lion and Arses had finished the job. Cyrus had lost 8 people to the lion, and now had a group of 9. After burying their dead, the group trekked on, but to where? They were completely lost.

Dun dun Daa!!!

Subbed

Subbing.

I'm working on the newest update. It has treachery, peril, and romance!

(Wow, I haven't subbed this yet?)
Subbed!

BTW, does anyone know how to get a table of contents to link to a post?

You see that little number in the top right corner of every post? Click on that, then make the link to that page.

Got it. Thnx. Table o' contents on the first page.

And now, the big surprise!

We leave off with our courageous crowd demoralized and demanned.

9 nights had gone by, and the group had stuck to navigating along the river. They were somewhat hungry, but they had taken up to spear fishing to get food. On the ninth night, the group arrived at an intersection of two rivers. “Head left,” Cyrus decreed, “We stay on this bank.” The next day, Cyrus was walking when he saw a hill. This hill seemed oddly familiar. He looked back, as he and Koruse were scouting ahead of the group, and saw that he was far ahead of them. They were almost out of view. He only saw their makeshift camp. So Cyrus started jogging toward the hill when he was hit on the head and passed out.

Cyrus woke up in a grove of cedar trees. He tried to move his arms and legs, but he couldn’t. He regained full vision and saw a figure standing near. It was almost night, and he couldn’t make out who it was. The mysterious figure turned around. It was Koruse.

“Hello, old friend,” the treacherous lieutenant said to Cyrus. “I was the last person you would expect to do this,” said Koruse. He was right. “Do you wonder why I did this?” he asked. “Come on, tell me. Oh, sorry, you can’t,” Koruse laughed. To add insult to injury, Cyrus was gagged. “The truth is, is that I am ruler of the tribe after you die. I fib some story of you getting poisoned, and telling me to marry your daughter, and I am your heir. It’s simple. I just needed to find the right time.”

Cyrus was astounded at his stupidity. He wondered how he could let a man like that grow so close to him. He could hear his group, searching for him, and he tried to tell them he was nearby, to no avail. But Cyrus realized that some of his bindings were loose. He could escape, but to what would he do? It was pitch black outside. He would get lost in the forest. So Cyrus waited until daytime, and then he would escape.

Sorry for the long hiatus, guys. I haven't given up on this. There just has not been enough time to work on it. Spending too much time at this infernal Summer Camp I was forcibly assigned to. But what better time to make an update than on Independence Day, the date of the end of American dependency of Great Britain?
The end of our first storyline, coming later today.

Edited

Nice going, baseballpie. Don't give up!

I don't give up. I procrastinate.

Same here

We leave off with our hero Cyrus in Koruse's captivity


The sun rose on the next day. Cyrus got right to work. He furiously tried to untie the ropes holding him in place. It was tough work. For every time he would untie one knot, two more would get tangled. It seemed to take eternity to wrangle himself free. But, Cyrus was able to release himself from the ropes. He found his dagger laying around, and set off to find his expedition.

As Cyrus was walking through the forest, he noticed something rather peculiar. His dagger was just laying on the ground. Cyrus had found his food hanging from a tree branch. And where was Koruse? That, he did not know.

In time, Cyrus was able to reach a river, presumably the same one he had been following for most of the expedition. He looked right. No sign of life. Cyrus then looked left, and was met by a fist in his cheek. “A little rusty, old chap?” his assailant, Koruse, tauntingly asked. As Cyrus stumbled backwards, he fell, and was greeted by a sword pointed at his nose. Cyrus quickly looked at his options, then kicked Koruse’s sword toward the river. He knew that Koruse was younger, and stronger, but also headstrong. So Cyrus’s only hope was to outsmart his enemy. Cyrus stood opposite his assailant. Every second was immersed in tension. He could hear blood running through his veins. It seemed like they remained there for hours. Suddenly, Koruse charged. His strike caught Cyrus off guard, but he recovered and fought his strike off with a well- placed parry. Cyrus tried to take advantage of Koruse’s failed attack with an attack of his own. It was almost perfectly placed, but Koruse was much faster than Cyrus. He dodged Cyrus’s strike and hit him with his sword’s hilt. Cyrus stumbled backwards towards the river, but as Koruse started to mock him and brandish his sword, Cyrus, struck by a burst of rejuvenated energy, began to fight Koruse like he had never fought anyone before. Cyrus had a very unique strategy. He wanted, not to kill Koruse quickly, but to wear him down with small, irritable strikes.

The duel had lasted for a while, and the strategy was working. Was. Even with Cyrus’s genius tactics, Koruse, of only about 25 years of age, had youthful stamina that Cyrus couldn’t match. As Cyrus scraped Koruse’s arm, Koruse retaliated with a strike that plunged into his side, nearly missing his vital organs. He was dazed, and stumbled back. Cyrus could hear voices in the distance, but he couldn’t make out their speaker. Koruse curled his lip into a grin. The young man raised his sword to deliver the killing blow as Cyrus fell to the ground. Koruse was about to bring his sword down at Cyrus, but he stopped. Both men looked in awe at the sword running through the middle of Koruse’s chest. Limply, he fell dead, revealing Artazostra and Arses behind him.

Artazostra rushed to Cyrus’s side, while Arses took care of Koruse’s body. Father and daughter looked at each other, and both realized this would be the last time they would ever look at each other. Cyrus was losing too much blood. And as Cyrus lay there, dying, he told his daughter, “Right here, on this spot, build a city for our people.” With that statement, the first leader of Persia died, on the site of the future Capitol of the Persian Empire.

Yikes! Pretty violent. But now it's being updated!

YES! I missed this!

Well, IT'S BACK! For the moment