The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - A Ride to the Dark Side--RPG

Bêthberry · 02-03-2003, 09:29 PM

Ælfritha could not believe the terrible luck. The barge was slipping away, gliding out five feet, ten feet, fifteen feet from the river bank. By the time she reached the water's edge, her horse could not have made the jump. She sat there, stunned, for several minutes and could have sworn she heard derisive laughter from the strangely cloaked figure standing watching her. The arrival of Malienna at her side brought her out of her stupor. What happened next passed so quickly before Ælfritha's eyes that even after she could barely understand how events transpired.

"We must find another barge, quickly," spoke Ælfritha, turning Nithal around. She and Malienna rode back along the river bank, hoping to find another barge. Instead, they found Izrenna and Deorlin riding towards them. By the time the two groups of riders met, Deorlin fell from his horse. Both Izrenna and Malienna dismounted, running to him.

There was no hope. A crusted line of dark fluid, black and crimson even in the moonlight, soaked his leg, the horse, the sand of the river bank. His face shone with a ghostly pallor, colourless and waxy, and his eyes remained open, unblinking. Izrenna called out to him, holding him, her voice rising hysterically with each call. Malienna, trying desperately to quiet her, began speaking loudly also. The horses were panicking, stomping and snorting, creating even greater noise.

"What intruders to Gondor do we have here?" spoke a sly voice out of the dark. It was one of the Guards, indeed, the guard who had watched the river bank as the barge had pulled away. He approached the two women who knelt beside the dead man.

"We have come..." began Malienna, expecting help, but before she could rise to her feet the guard's sword crossed her throat, leaving a carmine trail behind, and the woman swayed and fell, silently, her mouth still essaying to speak, wordlessly. Izrenna's shrieks grew louder until they were stifled by a second thrust of the bloodied sword, into her heart, a moment before Ælfritha rode her horse into the guardsman and over him. One, perhaps two, hooves crashed into his skull, crushing it, leaving a twitching corpse with one staring eye amid the other three bodies.

Panting with the sickening excitement of terror, violence and horror, Ælfritha dropped from her horse, barely comprehending that both women were dead and that her reactions had been too slow for them. Her spine shivered and knotted and her entire body shook, her head reeling with an unbearable whelter of stunned disbelief and relief for her own survival. Then, across the water, there arose a sound which would have chilled the very saliva in her mouth had her throat not been parched by her heavy breathing. She dropped to her knees, looking out to the river.

[ February 05, 2003: Message edited by: Bethberry ]

02-03-2003, 09:29 PM	#84
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 5,977	Ælfritha could not believe the terrible luck. The barge was slipping away, gliding out five feet, ten feet, fifteen feet from the river bank. By the time she reached the water's edge, her horse could not have made the jump. She sat there, stunned, for several minutes and could have sworn she heard derisive laughter from the strangely cloaked figure standing watching her. The arrival of Malienna at her side brought her out of her stupor. What happened next passed so quickly before Ælfritha's eyes that even after she could barely understand how events transpired. "We must find another barge, quickly," spoke Ælfritha, turning Nithal around. She and Malienna rode back along the river bank, hoping to find another barge. Instead, they found Izrenna and Deorlin riding towards them. By the time the two groups of riders met, Deorlin fell from his horse. Both Izrenna and Malienna dismounted, running to him. There was no hope. A crusted line of dark fluid, black and crimson even in the moonlight, soaked his leg, the horse, the sand of the river bank. His face shone with a ghostly pallor, colourless and waxy, and his eyes remained open, unblinking. Izrenna called out to him, holding him, her voice rising hysterically with each call. Malienna, trying desperately to quiet her, began speaking loudly also. The horses were panicking, stomping and snorting, creating even greater noise. "What intruders to Gondor do we have here?" spoke a sly voice out of the dark. It was one of the Guards, indeed, the guard who had watched the river bank as the barge had pulled away. He approached the two women who knelt beside the dead man. "We have come..." began Malienna, expecting help, but before she could rise to her feet the guard's sword crossed her throat, leaving a carmine trail behind, and the woman swayed and fell, silently, her mouth still essaying to speak, wordlessly. Izrenna's shrieks grew louder until they were stifled by a second thrust of the bloodied sword, into her heart, a moment before Ælfritha rode her horse into the guardsman and over him. One, perhaps two, hooves crashed into his skull, crushing it, leaving a twitching corpse with one staring eye amid the other three bodies. Panting with the sickening excitement of terror, violence and horror, Ælfritha dropped from her horse, barely comprehending that both women were dead and that her reactions had been too slow for them. Her spine shivered and knotted and her entire body shook, her head reeling with an unbearable whelter of stunned disbelief and relief for her own survival. Then, across the water, there arose a sound which would have chilled the very saliva in her mouth had her throat not been parched by her heavy breathing. She dropped to her knees, looking out to the river. [ February 05, 2003: Message edited by: Bethberry ] __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.