Tycho
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10/9/11; Chronological chapter list follows. Differnt parts of story marked in brackets, such as [C&E] for Cambridge and Epsilon
[ZF]Part 1
[ZF]Part 2
[ZF]Part 3
[ZF]Part 4
[ZF]Part 5
[ZF]Epilogue
[H]Humphrey the Crow
[T&L]Deep Roads
[C&E]Operator 444
[J]Part 1
[J]Trials of Joshua
[C&E]Interrogation and the Takedown
[C&E]Arson
[HA]Age of Settle. Part 1
[C&E]Fire
[C&E]Run, Don't Walk
[HA]Age of Settle. Part 2
[AMK]Ultimatum
[AMK]Exodus
[Misc.]Caparin, Part 1
[C&E]Recon
[AMK]Joining the Flock
[C&E]Sniper
[C&E]Just for Fun
[HA]Fifty Bells/Journal Part 1
[AMK]Descent
[C&E]Mobilization
[C&E]The Dive
[Misc.]Heart of the Beast
[C&E]Snowbell
[C&E]Snowbell II
[AMK]A Murder of Crows
[C&E]All of Cambridge's Hate
[AMK]All Men Must Die
[C&E]Last Man Standing
[Misc.]Caparin, Dark Discoveries
[Misc.]Caparin, Price of Soul & a Dream
[AMK]The Burials and the Meeting on the Highmount
[Misc.]Caparin, Part V
[AMK]Meetings and Questions
[C&E]Snowbound Trains
[C&E]Bootstrap Hangtime
[Misc.]Caparin, Part VI
[Misc.]Caparin, Part VII
What Must Be Done
Red Dawn, Black Day, Night of Flames Part I
[Misc.]Caparin, Part VIII
Red Dawn, Black Day, Night of Flames Part II
[C&E]Bid the Agents Adieu
[AMK]An old Friend Returns for Business
[AMK]The Price of Salvation
[VTB]Discussions and Deliberations
[C&E]Harvard's Rescue Mission
[LC]Escape from Washington
[MT]The Curtain Falls on Act 1
[C&E]Bloody November
[LC]Icy Maw of the World
[LC]Tours, Offers, and Waffles
[C&E]Files, Gunshots, and Bloodstained Christmas
[VTB]Charting a new Course
[MT]Act 2 Begins With A Small Hitch
10/2/2011; chapter list added to keep the story orderly so people don't have to randomly click and hope for a specific chapter.
Zach:
Zach the Founder, Part 1 (1'st page)
Zach the Founder, Part 2 (1'st page)
Zach the Founder, Part 3 (1'st page)
Zach the Founder, Part 4 (2'nd page)
Zach the Founder, Part 5 (2'nd page)
Zach the Founder, Epilogue (2'nd page)
Humphrey:
Humphrey the Crow (3'rd page)
Tales and Legends:
Legends and Tales of America (3'rd page)
Cambridge and Epsilon:
Operator 444, (3'rd page)
Interrogation and the Hit, (4'th page)
Arson, Murder, and Pancakes, (4'th page)
Fire, Ice, and Explosives, (5'th page)
Run, don't Walk (5'th page)
Recon, (6'th page)
Sniper on the Grassy Knoll, (7'th page)
Just for Fun, (7'th page)
Mobilization, (8'th page)
The Dive and the Storm, (8'th page)
Snowbell, or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Start Screaming on the Floor, (8'th page)
Snowbell's Vicious Streak, (8'th page)
All of Cambridge's Hate, (9'th page)
Last Man Standing, (10'th page)
Snowbound Trains
Bootstrap Hangtime
Bid the Agents Adieu
Harvard's Rescue Operation
Bloody November
Files, Gunshots, and Bloodstained Christmas
Joshua:
Dutchmen, (3'rd page)
The Trials of Joshua, (4'th page)
Historia Amerika:
Beginning of the Age of Settlement Part I, (4'th page)
Beginning of the Age of Settlement Part II, (5'th page)
The Fifty Bells of Kain the Prophet and the Journal, (7'th page)
The Journal, part 2 (7'th page)
A Mad King/Nathanial's Tale:
Ultimatum (6'th page)
Exodus (6'th page)
Joining the Flock, (6'th page)
Descent into Darkness, (7'th page)
A Murder of Crows, (9'th page)
All Men Must Die, (9'th page)
The Burials and the Meeting on the High Mount
Meetings and Questions
An Old Friend Returns for Business
Homecoming and the Payment for Salvation
Sorou, the Angel of Death:
What Must Be Done
Red Dawn, Black Day, and the Night of Flames, Part 1
Red Dawn, Black Day, and the Night of Flames, Part 2
Vera, the Brave
Discussions and Deliberations
Charting a New Course
Li Chang, the Revolutionary
Escape from Washington
Icy Maw of the World
Tours, Offers, and Waffles
Ming Tian, the Assassin
The Curtain Falls on Act 1
Act 2 Begins With A Small Hitch
Miscellaneous:
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part I; Journeyman (6'th page)
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part II; Heart of the Beast
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part III; Dark Discoveries in the Deep Roads, (10'th page)
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part IV; The Price of a Soul and a Dream
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part V: Strange Things All About
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part VI: Council With Strangers
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part VII: The Truth Behind the Quest
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part VIII: Sacrifices
Hello Civ Fanatics, I've been lurking for little more than a year now around the forums and only recently decided to sign up and join the forum goers. Stories and Tales is one of my favorite places to read, as the community creates a lot of great narratives. Haven't really written much myself, outside of school and little stories that I give too friends, but I hope that this one can help give me writing practice and feedback for future things.
I hope all of you enjoy.
Hammer and Steel
Zach the Founder: Part I
The camp that they had established had been quiet for three days now, the people still grieving silently for their leader. As their customs had dictated, they had been silent, not caring for anything else and drinking very little. Every night they had looked into the stars and sought a star that marked their leaders ascension into the afterlife.
Terry only smiled at that. The fools honestly believed that the leader that they had all worshipped and followed for close to thirty years now had fallen to his death fighting off a pack of lions that had threatened to attack the huts and tents of the wandering tribe. They all believed it and not a question was asked, not even from the tribesmen who were not a part of his select few. After all, two thirds of the warriors that protected the people of the tribe followed him and him only, as their loyalty had been easy to acquire.
A cup of fermented grape juice that they had collected as they had passed the wild plants two years ago was grasped in his hand as he watched the people of the village go about their business quietly, without a word spoken between them as they went about and did their odd chores and work to improve the area that they had settled for the time being. Children were even silent, and the toys that they usually played or competed with each other were nowhere to be seen. Not only were they in mourning, they were in fear. One man had questioned how Zacharias had died while Terry lived. Smiling, Terrey had walked out of the village with the man, and the next day his lifeless corpse that had been mauled and ripped to pieces washed up onto the shore, the crystalline waters lapping around his gouged out eye sockets. Not a word was raised when the body was brought to the village and a bonfire raised.
A young boy with black hair slipped from one hut to another, his head down and his legs moving as fast as he could, no doubt not wanting to be seen. What he didn't know that he had Terry's eyes watching him carefully as he slipped into the dwelling that held the nature priestesses Thelma and Victoria. Both of them disliked Terry to the point that their conversations were filled with more acid than words, but he could not dispose of them without the entire village turning against him. Forty warriors wielding clubs made out of fallen logs were no match to several hundred determined townsfolk who would hold scythes and shears and hammers.
As of the boy... Zachiarias' son was a tricky situation. By all rights, once his father died, he should have become leader if he was a man. But only fourteen season cycles had passed since his birth date, and he was four short of the amount that he needed. He did have support though; the priestesses and most of the tribesfolk, but he didn't have weapons on his side all that much, and if they made the move first, even if they overwhelmed the warriors and Terry himself, they would lose half of their collective strength and not only that but lose the protection from rabid animals that would stalk them as they moved and wandered to a new location.
Tossing the cup aside, Terry stood up and walked out into the middle of the camp smiling as he did so. He was over six and a half feet tall, well muscled, and had a cunning look on his face that spoke of intelligence and insidiousness rolled into one package. All in all, he was a man to be feared, not a man to be loved and cherished.
Planting his feet firmly into the earth, he allowed the bodyguards that always followed him to catch up to him. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted out a gathering call to the people, a sound between a bird call and a bellow.
Shadows appeared in hut doorways and tent openings as people shouldered their way through and gathered around the central circle of stones and the firepit. Many of them had a sulking look on their faces as they looked at Terry with fury for interrupting them with their work. As far as he was concerned, they could stuff it.
Wearing a wolfish grin, Terry began to speak. "We have mourned long and enough for our fallen leader, the great Zacharias, and it is time for us to move on, to start a new dawn as it must. We must start anew in the ashes of the old and have what we once had, a strong leader."
Jeers broke out from some people, only because they were camaflouged and cloaked by the mass of people surrounding Terry. At this point he had a grin so large that any larger would have split his face apart from the muscles being overextended. They would never try to pull anything against him or face being killed.
"Which is why," he continued unabated, "we must have a new leader. One to lead us to new lands and oppurtunity, a leader to protect and make sure that all of us stay alive and flourish forever more. I shall be that leader to take us forward, out of the rut that we have dug for ourselves, and bring prosperity to our tribe." His smile dissapeared as he looked every one over with dark eyes that dared them to challenge him. "Does anyone have any objections to that?"
"As of matter of fact," a voice called out from beyond the rabble of people, "I do."
Turning around and looking at the man who spoke against him, the only emotion and feeling that Terry had at the moment was utter shock. "Zacharias....how did you.. but you should have... how?"
Striding forward, Zacharias approached the usurper. Every man and woman and child in the village looked upon him with awe; the leader returned from the dead, long scars covering his body. His face was a mess of old wounds and lines that traced and crisscrossed and intersected everywhere they could. An especially long gash slashed upwards across his mouth, over the bridge of his nose, and over the left eye which gazed out with a milky paleness. Black hair covered the dome of his skull and fell to his ears, and his fingers grasped a staff of ashwood. A giant robe made of sheepskin covered his frame, dyed red with blood of slashes that he had taken from wild animals.
"You should have done better than that." Zacharias spoke icily. "If you are going to do something or try to fool me, at least try to finish what you started." The staff made a thudding sound on the ground as the tribes people parted way for him to walk up to Terry. "You didn't though did you, and now you will pay the price."
Zacharias stopped before Terry, at least half a head shorter than the six and a half foot man. His eyes, blue and cold, commanded utter respect even from the man who despised him. "Now," said Zacharias, "are you going to peacefully leave in exile, or do I have to toss you into the river?"
In answer, Terry drew out the knife that had been made out of the black and sharp dragonstone. "Not very likely," he spit out. "If I kill you, I still win, and you can't beat me Zach."
The sheepskin robe fell from Zach's shoulders, revealing a brown tunic and breeches, but no weapon. "It is a duel then." he said simply.
And with that Terry hurled himself at the man.
Tribes people screamed and scattered, and a few held their ground and watched with round eyes as the knife descended forward to Zach's contempt filled face. Moving fluidly, he dodged the stabbing motion and as Terry turned around to strike again, Zach delivered a kick to his groin so fierce that he thought he had dislocated his ankle and snapped a tendon.
Terry barely gave it a second thought though, and slashed in a bloody fury, desperate to smite down the former leader that threatened his rule. Forwards and sideways, diagonal and upwards, none of his blows landed. Zach on the other hand, was on the defensive and going backwards up a hill. Terry allowed himself a small smile; this hill top was covered in treacherous pieces of rock, ledges, half cliffs, and a large chunk of rock that hovered above the water.
Laughing with glee, he lunged forward and grabbed Zach by the throat and picked him up. "Now is the time you die, eh old friend?" Maniacal screaming echoed down the hill into the village at the base of it. "This time, I will make sure that you will bathe once in blood, once in water, and once in fire. And when I remove your head, let's see you get up after that." The knife arced upwards from Terry's waistline and smashed into the right side of the ribcage. Zach was surprised yes, but yet he still struggled as blood began to flow from the wound and pool on the ground before flowing down the slope. Another kick, this time to the throat sent Terry sprawling backwards and Zach falling to the ground. Coughing from the lack of air, he picked up the dragonstone knife and turned around just in time to see Terry.
The rock in his hands was larger than hog, and thicker as well, but all Terry could see through a film of red that obscured the world was Zach, who just would not die. Screaming in fury, the rock descended down to Zach, who just barely managed to roll away, bits of sharp stone digging into his back. Looking back, Terry was upon him again, picking him up and throwing him thirty feet up the hill before he realized what had transpired.
"Give it up Zach!" Terry called to out to him. "I will let you live if you surrender and swear fealty to me! You don't have to sacrifice your life over a petty position! We can work together for the betterment of the tribe!"
"When have you ever been interested in making sure the tribe was well and healthy?"
Terry's response was simply charging up the hill like a wild boar, grabbing Zach by the head and repeatedly headbutting him until Zach could taste blood and watch multicolored stars spinning around in front of him.
Terry turned around and spotted a rabble of people that had followed them to the crest of the hill. "Well?!" He shouted to them. "Would you rather follow me or him? The strong or the weak, the effective versus the inefficient, what would all of you pick-!"
A knife plunged down into his shoulder blade, scraping along the bone before it was removed violently in a spray of crimson. Laughing now, Terry turned around to see Zach with his eyes raised up in a comical fashion and holding the knife stupidly.
"Zach how many times have I told you now, you can't beat me? I haven't been counting, so you'll have to tell me if this is the first or second, or fourth time since I've said it." He arched his head back up to sky and cackled, the sound so creepy that it was indescribable.
Until the knife plunged into his chest that is. Terry stopped laughing and started to shout at Zach as he was stabbed over and over again. Zach didn't even know what he was doing at this point, all he knew was that this man had to pay, he had to die so that they could be rid of a possible tyrant that would not rest, he would try again and again to sieze power until he succeeded.
The knife continued to slam upwards into the abdoment and chest area, blood spraying out in copious amounts, covering both men. Terry fought back, but he had already lost so much blood that his reflexes had slowed down. He toppled to the ground,bleeding and cursing.
Zach had finally stopped, and looked down at Terry, drencehd in blood with the bright sun framed behind him, looking like the angel of death out of their legends. "Any last words?" Zach spit out. Terry said some choicer ones that described Zach's mother and father's creation of him, and how his internal organs would one day be nailed to a tree.
The knife fell once more.
Terry's throat bubbled as the life poured out of him.
Hauling the body out to the edge of the cliff, Zach paused to look at the very same waters that he had plunged into only two days ago. He did not know how he survived, all he knew is that he had.
Terry's body dropped away, and was swept up by the foaming waters.
___________________________________________________________
Writer's Note: How did you like the first chapter? People thrive on feedback so please, comment if you want.
[ZF]Part 1
[ZF]Part 2
[ZF]Part 3
[ZF]Part 4
[ZF]Part 5
[ZF]Epilogue
[H]Humphrey the Crow
[T&L]Deep Roads
[C&E]Operator 444
[J]Part 1
[J]Trials of Joshua
[C&E]Interrogation and the Takedown
[C&E]Arson
[HA]Age of Settle. Part 1
[C&E]Fire
[C&E]Run, Don't Walk
[HA]Age of Settle. Part 2
[AMK]Ultimatum
[AMK]Exodus
[Misc.]Caparin, Part 1
[C&E]Recon
[AMK]Joining the Flock
[C&E]Sniper
[C&E]Just for Fun
[HA]Fifty Bells/Journal Part 1
[AMK]Descent
[C&E]Mobilization
[C&E]The Dive
[Misc.]Heart of the Beast
[C&E]Snowbell
[C&E]Snowbell II
[AMK]A Murder of Crows
[C&E]All of Cambridge's Hate
[AMK]All Men Must Die
[C&E]Last Man Standing
[Misc.]Caparin, Dark Discoveries
[Misc.]Caparin, Price of Soul & a Dream
[AMK]The Burials and the Meeting on the Highmount
[Misc.]Caparin, Part V
[AMK]Meetings and Questions
[C&E]Snowbound Trains
[C&E]Bootstrap Hangtime
[Misc.]Caparin, Part VI
[Misc.]Caparin, Part VII
[Misc.]Caparin, Part VIII
[C&E]Bid the Agents Adieu
[AMK]An old Friend Returns for Business
[AMK]The Price of Salvation
[VTB]Discussions and Deliberations
[C&E]Harvard's Rescue Mission
[LC]Escape from Washington
[MT]The Curtain Falls on Act 1
[C&E]Bloody November
[LC]Icy Maw of the World
[LC]Tours, Offers, and Waffles
[C&E]Files, Gunshots, and Bloodstained Christmas
[VTB]Charting a new Course
[MT]Act 2 Begins With A Small Hitch
10/2/2011; chapter list added to keep the story orderly so people don't have to randomly click and hope for a specific chapter.
Zach:
Zach the Founder, Part 1 (1'st page)
Zach the Founder, Part 2 (1'st page)
Zach the Founder, Part 3 (1'st page)
Zach the Founder, Part 4 (2'nd page)
Zach the Founder, Part 5 (2'nd page)
Zach the Founder, Epilogue (2'nd page)
Humphrey:
Humphrey the Crow (3'rd page)
Tales and Legends:
Legends and Tales of America (3'rd page)
Cambridge and Epsilon:
Operator 444, (3'rd page)
Interrogation and the Hit, (4'th page)
Arson, Murder, and Pancakes, (4'th page)
Fire, Ice, and Explosives, (5'th page)
Run, don't Walk (5'th page)
Recon, (6'th page)
Sniper on the Grassy Knoll, (7'th page)
Just for Fun, (7'th page)
Mobilization, (8'th page)
The Dive and the Storm, (8'th page)
Snowbell, or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Start Screaming on the Floor, (8'th page)
Snowbell's Vicious Streak, (8'th page)
All of Cambridge's Hate, (9'th page)
Last Man Standing, (10'th page)
Snowbound Trains
Bootstrap Hangtime
Bid the Agents Adieu
Harvard's Rescue Operation
Bloody November
Files, Gunshots, and Bloodstained Christmas
Joshua:
Dutchmen, (3'rd page)
The Trials of Joshua, (4'th page)
Historia Amerika:
Beginning of the Age of Settlement Part I, (4'th page)
Beginning of the Age of Settlement Part II, (5'th page)
The Fifty Bells of Kain the Prophet and the Journal, (7'th page)
The Journal, part 2 (7'th page)
A Mad King/Nathanial's Tale:
Ultimatum (6'th page)
Exodus (6'th page)
Joining the Flock, (6'th page)
Descent into Darkness, (7'th page)
A Murder of Crows, (9'th page)
All Men Must Die, (9'th page)
The Burials and the Meeting on the High Mount
Meetings and Questions
An Old Friend Returns for Business
Homecoming and the Payment for Salvation
Sorou, the Angel of Death:
What Must Be Done
Red Dawn, Black Day, and the Night of Flames, Part 1
Red Dawn, Black Day, and the Night of Flames, Part 2
Vera, the Brave
Discussions and Deliberations
Charting a New Course
Li Chang, the Revolutionary
Escape from Washington
Icy Maw of the World
Tours, Offers, and Waffles
Ming Tian, the Assassin
The Curtain Falls on Act 1
Act 2 Begins With A Small Hitch
Miscellaneous:
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part I; Journeyman (6'th page)
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part II; Heart of the Beast
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part III; Dark Discoveries in the Deep Roads, (10'th page)
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part IV; The Price of a Soul and a Dream
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part V: Strange Things All About
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part VI: Council With Strangers
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part VII: The Truth Behind the Quest
Caparin's Tale in the Deep Roads Part VIII: Sacrifices
Hello Civ Fanatics, I've been lurking for little more than a year now around the forums and only recently decided to sign up and join the forum goers. Stories and Tales is one of my favorite places to read, as the community creates a lot of great narratives. Haven't really written much myself, outside of school and little stories that I give too friends, but I hope that this one can help give me writing practice and feedback for future things.
I hope all of you enjoy.
Hammer and Steel
Zach the Founder: Part I
The camp that they had established had been quiet for three days now, the people still grieving silently for their leader. As their customs had dictated, they had been silent, not caring for anything else and drinking very little. Every night they had looked into the stars and sought a star that marked their leaders ascension into the afterlife.
Terry only smiled at that. The fools honestly believed that the leader that they had all worshipped and followed for close to thirty years now had fallen to his death fighting off a pack of lions that had threatened to attack the huts and tents of the wandering tribe. They all believed it and not a question was asked, not even from the tribesmen who were not a part of his select few. After all, two thirds of the warriors that protected the people of the tribe followed him and him only, as their loyalty had been easy to acquire.
A cup of fermented grape juice that they had collected as they had passed the wild plants two years ago was grasped in his hand as he watched the people of the village go about their business quietly, without a word spoken between them as they went about and did their odd chores and work to improve the area that they had settled for the time being. Children were even silent, and the toys that they usually played or competed with each other were nowhere to be seen. Not only were they in mourning, they were in fear. One man had questioned how Zacharias had died while Terry lived. Smiling, Terrey had walked out of the village with the man, and the next day his lifeless corpse that had been mauled and ripped to pieces washed up onto the shore, the crystalline waters lapping around his gouged out eye sockets. Not a word was raised when the body was brought to the village and a bonfire raised.
A young boy with black hair slipped from one hut to another, his head down and his legs moving as fast as he could, no doubt not wanting to be seen. What he didn't know that he had Terry's eyes watching him carefully as he slipped into the dwelling that held the nature priestesses Thelma and Victoria. Both of them disliked Terry to the point that their conversations were filled with more acid than words, but he could not dispose of them without the entire village turning against him. Forty warriors wielding clubs made out of fallen logs were no match to several hundred determined townsfolk who would hold scythes and shears and hammers.
As of the boy... Zachiarias' son was a tricky situation. By all rights, once his father died, he should have become leader if he was a man. But only fourteen season cycles had passed since his birth date, and he was four short of the amount that he needed. He did have support though; the priestesses and most of the tribesfolk, but he didn't have weapons on his side all that much, and if they made the move first, even if they overwhelmed the warriors and Terry himself, they would lose half of their collective strength and not only that but lose the protection from rabid animals that would stalk them as they moved and wandered to a new location.
Tossing the cup aside, Terry stood up and walked out into the middle of the camp smiling as he did so. He was over six and a half feet tall, well muscled, and had a cunning look on his face that spoke of intelligence and insidiousness rolled into one package. All in all, he was a man to be feared, not a man to be loved and cherished.
Planting his feet firmly into the earth, he allowed the bodyguards that always followed him to catch up to him. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted out a gathering call to the people, a sound between a bird call and a bellow.
Shadows appeared in hut doorways and tent openings as people shouldered their way through and gathered around the central circle of stones and the firepit. Many of them had a sulking look on their faces as they looked at Terry with fury for interrupting them with their work. As far as he was concerned, they could stuff it.
Wearing a wolfish grin, Terry began to speak. "We have mourned long and enough for our fallen leader, the great Zacharias, and it is time for us to move on, to start a new dawn as it must. We must start anew in the ashes of the old and have what we once had, a strong leader."
Jeers broke out from some people, only because they were camaflouged and cloaked by the mass of people surrounding Terry. At this point he had a grin so large that any larger would have split his face apart from the muscles being overextended. They would never try to pull anything against him or face being killed.
"Which is why," he continued unabated, "we must have a new leader. One to lead us to new lands and oppurtunity, a leader to protect and make sure that all of us stay alive and flourish forever more. I shall be that leader to take us forward, out of the rut that we have dug for ourselves, and bring prosperity to our tribe." His smile dissapeared as he looked every one over with dark eyes that dared them to challenge him. "Does anyone have any objections to that?"
"As of matter of fact," a voice called out from beyond the rabble of people, "I do."
Turning around and looking at the man who spoke against him, the only emotion and feeling that Terry had at the moment was utter shock. "Zacharias....how did you.. but you should have... how?"
Striding forward, Zacharias approached the usurper. Every man and woman and child in the village looked upon him with awe; the leader returned from the dead, long scars covering his body. His face was a mess of old wounds and lines that traced and crisscrossed and intersected everywhere they could. An especially long gash slashed upwards across his mouth, over the bridge of his nose, and over the left eye which gazed out with a milky paleness. Black hair covered the dome of his skull and fell to his ears, and his fingers grasped a staff of ashwood. A giant robe made of sheepskin covered his frame, dyed red with blood of slashes that he had taken from wild animals.
"You should have done better than that." Zacharias spoke icily. "If you are going to do something or try to fool me, at least try to finish what you started." The staff made a thudding sound on the ground as the tribes people parted way for him to walk up to Terry. "You didn't though did you, and now you will pay the price."
Zacharias stopped before Terry, at least half a head shorter than the six and a half foot man. His eyes, blue and cold, commanded utter respect even from the man who despised him. "Now," said Zacharias, "are you going to peacefully leave in exile, or do I have to toss you into the river?"
In answer, Terry drew out the knife that had been made out of the black and sharp dragonstone. "Not very likely," he spit out. "If I kill you, I still win, and you can't beat me Zach."
The sheepskin robe fell from Zach's shoulders, revealing a brown tunic and breeches, but no weapon. "It is a duel then." he said simply.
And with that Terry hurled himself at the man.
Tribes people screamed and scattered, and a few held their ground and watched with round eyes as the knife descended forward to Zach's contempt filled face. Moving fluidly, he dodged the stabbing motion and as Terry turned around to strike again, Zach delivered a kick to his groin so fierce that he thought he had dislocated his ankle and snapped a tendon.
Terry barely gave it a second thought though, and slashed in a bloody fury, desperate to smite down the former leader that threatened his rule. Forwards and sideways, diagonal and upwards, none of his blows landed. Zach on the other hand, was on the defensive and going backwards up a hill. Terry allowed himself a small smile; this hill top was covered in treacherous pieces of rock, ledges, half cliffs, and a large chunk of rock that hovered above the water.
Laughing with glee, he lunged forward and grabbed Zach by the throat and picked him up. "Now is the time you die, eh old friend?" Maniacal screaming echoed down the hill into the village at the base of it. "This time, I will make sure that you will bathe once in blood, once in water, and once in fire. And when I remove your head, let's see you get up after that." The knife arced upwards from Terry's waistline and smashed into the right side of the ribcage. Zach was surprised yes, but yet he still struggled as blood began to flow from the wound and pool on the ground before flowing down the slope. Another kick, this time to the throat sent Terry sprawling backwards and Zach falling to the ground. Coughing from the lack of air, he picked up the dragonstone knife and turned around just in time to see Terry.
The rock in his hands was larger than hog, and thicker as well, but all Terry could see through a film of red that obscured the world was Zach, who just would not die. Screaming in fury, the rock descended down to Zach, who just barely managed to roll away, bits of sharp stone digging into his back. Looking back, Terry was upon him again, picking him up and throwing him thirty feet up the hill before he realized what had transpired.
"Give it up Zach!" Terry called to out to him. "I will let you live if you surrender and swear fealty to me! You don't have to sacrifice your life over a petty position! We can work together for the betterment of the tribe!"
"When have you ever been interested in making sure the tribe was well and healthy?"
Terry's response was simply charging up the hill like a wild boar, grabbing Zach by the head and repeatedly headbutting him until Zach could taste blood and watch multicolored stars spinning around in front of him.
Terry turned around and spotted a rabble of people that had followed them to the crest of the hill. "Well?!" He shouted to them. "Would you rather follow me or him? The strong or the weak, the effective versus the inefficient, what would all of you pick-!"
A knife plunged down into his shoulder blade, scraping along the bone before it was removed violently in a spray of crimson. Laughing now, Terry turned around to see Zach with his eyes raised up in a comical fashion and holding the knife stupidly.
"Zach how many times have I told you now, you can't beat me? I haven't been counting, so you'll have to tell me if this is the first or second, or fourth time since I've said it." He arched his head back up to sky and cackled, the sound so creepy that it was indescribable.
Until the knife plunged into his chest that is. Terry stopped laughing and started to shout at Zach as he was stabbed over and over again. Zach didn't even know what he was doing at this point, all he knew was that this man had to pay, he had to die so that they could be rid of a possible tyrant that would not rest, he would try again and again to sieze power until he succeeded.
The knife continued to slam upwards into the abdoment and chest area, blood spraying out in copious amounts, covering both men. Terry fought back, but he had already lost so much blood that his reflexes had slowed down. He toppled to the ground,bleeding and cursing.
Zach had finally stopped, and looked down at Terry, drencehd in blood with the bright sun framed behind him, looking like the angel of death out of their legends. "Any last words?" Zach spit out. Terry said some choicer ones that described Zach's mother and father's creation of him, and how his internal organs would one day be nailed to a tree.
The knife fell once more.
Terry's throat bubbled as the life poured out of him.
Hauling the body out to the edge of the cliff, Zach paused to look at the very same waters that he had plunged into only two days ago. He did not know how he survived, all he knew is that he had.
Terry's body dropped away, and was swept up by the foaming waters.
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Writer's Note: How did you like the first chapter? People thrive on feedback so please, comment if you want.