Chapter One - A Lesson Learned
By Peeling

Reprinted with permission.
Added 07/19/2002.

"Are we nearly there yet?" said Tolum petulantly, jogging to keep up with the massive grey form striding beside him.

"Your patience is remarkable." replied Choth in his bass rumble of a voice, face impassive as always as he scanned the moonlit landscape.

"I'm sorry master" lied Tolum, "I'm simply eager to learn." Choth merely grunted. Tolum pulled a face and angrily kicked a stone out of his way. It clacked off a larger boulder, the sound echoing down the valley ahead of them. Tolum cringed as Choth paused in mid-stride, but the warrior's attention was not on him; rather it was riveted on something ahead, something Tolum, try as he might, could not make out in the gloom.

"What is it?" he whispered, or tried to. Scarcely had the first breath left his mouth than Choth's massive hand clamped gently but firmly over his mouth.

"What we came here to find." rumbled the great Lugian. Leather creaked in relief as the weight of Choth's sword was lifted from it and held, low and to the side, moonlight shining softly from the battleworn blade.

"Mmmmph?" said Tolum, his eyes like saucers. Tonight's adventure had seemed so exciting at first, then a little frustrating when Choth insisted on skirting the Drudge camps they encountered rather than - as on previous nights - charging in, sword whirling. Tonight was something different, and all of a sudden Tolum wasn't so sure of himself. Choth was different too, silent and wary, not at all the avalanche of living rock that had kept the main hordes of the Drudges at bay while Tolum made his first clumsy swings.

A minute passed, and then, abruptly, so did the tension. Choth removed his hand from Tolum's face and grounded his sword, leaning upon it casually.

"There is only one of them, and young at that. While paying homage to your life-stone would perhaps have been a useful lesson for you, I have no intention of enduring your whining for another hour returning to this spot."

Tolum straightened up and tried to appear nonchalant, bristling at the implication. Young indeed! And alone! Why, he'd killed nearly half the Drudges Choth himself had slain only the night before. He hauled his own sword free from its straps and brandished it before him.

"Still so eager? Well, no doubt you will do as well as I have come to expect. Please, continue." Choth gestured ahead, head tilted ironically. Tolum fumed, but held his tongue. He strode forward, sword hilt high and close to his chest in the classic style. He still couldn't see anything. What was he supposed to be fighting? Banderlings? He knew Choth hated them above all else; was that his prey?

"A lone banderling? A YOUNG one? What does he take me for, a baby?" Tolum hissed. He reached a large, smooth boulder and peered around it, ready to cleave an unsuspecting Banderling head from its shoulders. Nothing. He glared around in exasperation, then turned back to his insufferably calm master.

"There's nothing here! You must have imagined it." Choth did not move or respond in any way.

Something crashed into Tolum's back and knocked him sprawling and breathless. Somehow he kept hold of his sword - Choth would have my guts for strapping if I dropped that, he thought dazedly - and scrambled to his feet, spinning around to face whatever he had failed to see behind the boulder. There was nothing behind the boulder. There didn't need to be, because the boulder itself was up, up on six bony jointed legs and charging at him. He had a moment of panic, and then his training took over. He swung with all his might; a massive overhead chop that had every pound of his weight behind it. The blade struck true - and rebounded with a jolt that shook Tolum to his boots. The 'boulder' never even slowed.

Tolum found himself abruptly airborne. The moon spun giddily around him for whole seconds before the ground reasserted its presence - on his face.

"An interesting strategy" remarked a deep bass voice from right above him. "Perhaps I will employ it myself someday. Until then, pay attention, for I do not intend to demonstrate this twice."

Tolum shuddered as Choth's healing magic bloomed within him. He rolled over and sat up, determined not to miss Choth getting his comeuppance. The warrior strode confidently towards the bizarre creature, which scuttled around to face him, shrieking a bloodcurdling challenge. It charged. Choth simply stood, arms folded. Only when it was almost upon him did he move.

The instant before the boulder-beast could lower its head he struck - but with the pommel of his sword, not the blade. He crouched as he struck, and threw all his weight behind the blow, aiming upwards and forwards to meet the charge. The sound was like the biggest egg in the world falling onto an anvil. Choth's feet were driven back several inches by the impact, but he had braced himself well. The boulder-beast was thrown up and off balance, teetering back and scrabbling with only two legs on the ground. They were not enough to support its weight alone, and it began to fall. It did not reach the ground alive. Continuing to rise, Choth simultaneously spun the sword in his hands, changing his grip and bringing the great weight of the blade slashing down in an arc that looked like it might end the world. The underbelly of the boulder-beast ruptured, and when it hit the earth it was nothing more than a tangle of lifeless limbs and steaming innards. Choth held the last pose for a moment, then straightened. He walked back to Tolum, wiping his blade and returning it to its sheath.

"Not all enemies can be beaten with force alone, Tolum. We, our race, are the greatest of warriors, but to imagine that we may therefore choose at will how to dispatch our enemies is foolishness. Our greatness is in seeing where our enemy offers its life to us, and having the courage to accept."

Tolum had never heard a speech so long from his master. He got to his feet and bowed hurriedly.

"Now, we shall try that again, and you will use the knowledge I have given you." Tolum gulped and nodded. "And this time, should you do anything so foolish as turn your back on a foe I have given to you, you shall be tending your own wounds." Choth's face was in shadow, his expression unreadable. "HOWEVER severe they may be."

With that he turned and strode away, never even glancing at the cooling carcass. Tolum looked around nervously. Suddenly there seemed to be rocks everywhere. He ran after his master.