The Adventures of Dagus and Tarlynn: Vol. 1; The Captain

Chapter Three: A Promise Made

"By the five!" Dagus exclaims, pulling on Tarlynn's arm he quickly pushes her into the saddle and mounts behind her. "Hold tight!" he says urgently, kicking Samuel into motion. The horse lurches into a run and jumps over a log. The calls continue behind them, keeping pace. Bursting into a clearing, Dagus saws on the reins. "The Fourths Tits!" he curses, the slouched form of a Mata visible, clutching her staff.

Extending upwards to full height, the Mata raises her staff high, and slams its haft into the ground. A brilliant flare of light accompanied by a thunderclap, louder than those above, flashes from the end. A dazed Dagus holds a hand against the glare. At the same time, Samuel rears to lash a kick at a gorl closing in. The weight of Tarlynn pushes Dagus out of the saddle and he falls from the horses back. He hits the ground hard on his back and grunts out a breath. Tarlynn manages to hold onto the saddle and is carried away. Gorls rush in on Dagus and gauntleted hands grab at his pants and shirt. Turning his head he sees Tarlynn being pulled out of the saddle. Twisting, he kicks one of his assailants in the face, breaking teeth and knocking its helmet off.

"No!" he screams as Tarlynn comes into view again, "Tarlynn!" he calls. Her lifeless body being handled by a pair of gorls, their lanky arms and knuckle-dragging shuffle well suited for the task of dragging a body. Struggling to draw his sword he abandons it and pulls a dagger instead, slashing a gorl to his immediate right. The thing recoils, howling as it clutches its arm where a red ribbon appears. Dagus grunts as a gauntleted foot steps on his wrist, the pressure causing him to drop the dagger. The owner of the foot stares at him in the eyes, scowling behind a painted mask of a horizontal red stripe across the eye. Six yellow lines cross the red, the mark of a captain. Coming within inches of Dagus' face, the captain stares with his too-human eyes.

"Keep humans alive." he says, in a guttural tongue, like rocks grating in a leather sack. "Master's order." Kicking the dagger away, He makes a motion and the gorls holding Dagus roughly pick him up, wrench his arms around and lash his hands tightly.

"Master? What master!?" Dagus yells, struggling against his bonds, "Where are you taking us?!"

With a quick glance back, the captain gestures with his hand. A goon behind Dagus lifts his arm, and quickly brings a weighted leather sack down, knocking him out. The strength of his captors evident as they easily drag his limp body between them.

~~~

With a groan, Dagus wakes. "Ugh, my head." He mumbles. He struggles futilely before he realizes his hands are tied behind a tree. Quickly scanning his surroundings, directly ahead he sees gorl matron, the Mata, ringed by her officers in a small clearing. The soldiers near him were lazing about, grunting to one another and making hand gestures, some even appeared to be gambling. Off to his left, Tarlynn is similarly lashed to a tree. Dagus lets out a sigh of relief as he sees her chest rising and falling. Returning his attention to the Mata, he sees her inspecting his sword. Drawing it, she holds its green blade high. It seems to gather in what little light there is, glowing faintly in the murk. She hands it to the officer behind her, his six stripes familiar. She turns her attention to something smaller, a dagger perhaps, with a blood-red blade. After lifting it high and peering at it closely, she hands it to the captain. Into a chest at her feet, she discards their other weapons, an impressive array of knives and daggers. Fike, I don't recognize any of those blades. Who is this woman? Dagus thinks to himself. Hearing a sound, he turns just in time to see a descending club.

~~~

Tarlynn awakes with a start, her hands being untied roughly. She looks around frantically. Gorls everywhere, but she sees Dagus slumped over, tied to a tree. She rubs her wrists once they are free. She's rewarded with hands grabbing them again tying them in front of her to a long lead.