Lord of Storm

Interludes

Decimus

Decimus burned through the crowd of monsters with the Sword of Light. They surrounded a rock where the former scribe was standing. The monsters looked like pale goblins, crouched on the ground with long lop ears. Even hunched to the limit of their spines, they were taller than an adult male (and Decimus was shorter than an adult male). The Sword was the only source of light in the darkness, constantly illuminating different parts of the storming mass of enemies.

Despite the fact that the pale goblins wore rags for clothing and used sticks with stones or fragments of the jaws of some large alms stuck on the ends, they were not very intelligent: when the first row of climbing monsters was burned out by the ray of light, a next row would squeeze out new suiciders. And fortunately for the former scribe, their development process hadn't yet reached long-range weapons.

There were so many enemies that Decimus couldn't count them (which is a little embarrassing for someone who has spent most of his life counting). His remaining grey curls swayed in the wind, and his glasses were fogged with sweat. He was no longer young for situations like this.

But at least he now understood how his sword worked. The stream of light appeared when an innocent person was in mortal danger nearby. But perhaps Decimus was jumping to conclusions about innocence too quickly.

"Deci, come on!" a female voice of support sounded from behind. "Come on, Deci! Burn them!"

The girl threw daggers at the goblin monsters at first, but they quickly ran out, and she switched to words of encouragement.

Decimus tried not to look at her. The fact that she was wearing it made him feel stunned and a little panicked. Panic stun. A metal bra, metal armbands, metal boots and (most indecently) a metal loincloth. The rest of the girl's appearance was a gift from nature. This is not how a young lady should dress! In fact, no lady should!

"Young lady, as soon as I've finished this nasty business, I'll buy you some proper clothes!" the Sword Wielder burned a dozen more monsters with a flick of his hand.

"Ah, Deci, you're so innocent. This armour is the source of my power. I committed the Covering of Valkali's heroine, and now I'm a heroine too," the indecent girl explained to him.

"Covering, lady? Do you mean you are covered now? And before that... Oh, I'm afraid I don't quite understand the new youth words."

"Never change, Deci. It means I've portrayed someone enough for the world to believe. This is how they created false gods before the Break. A client of mine told me about it when he was drunk."

"So you're an actress, lady?"

"You could say that. Acting, roleplaying. Theatre, brothel. The essence is the same. So don't call me lady."

"No, you deserve even more of my respect. You are a strong lady. You've been through so much hardship and yet you remain so cheerful."

The lady watched for a few seconds as the little man worked diligently to burn the monsters. The back rows were already visible in the flickering light of the Sword.

"Shall I lie down and hug your leg? Men like that, don't they?" she finally suggested.

"Lady..." Decimus adjusted his glasses in embarrassment.

Snip-Snip

Snip-Snip ran into the smoke-filled den and shouted happily:

"Great news, everyone! The big war is coming soon!"

Everyone looked at him dumbfounded. Lubber took advantage of the situation and switched some playing cards.

"What good is that, fool? The last war tore the world apart. And how do you know that?" Marquis asked in a short break from the neck of the bottle.