Sea'an: Oakhurst
#1 of Sea'an
The first chapter in the story of Sea'an Ahm'shigar. This story is related to my previously uploaded one only in the sense that it uses the same main character. Chronologically, they don't happen along the same time line/reality though. For the main chapters of the story (i.e. what really happens) sex doesn't come up for awhile, so don't get too excited yet.
Story based off of a D&D campaign between me and my boyfriend ( www.furaffinity.com/user/guxx ). Sea'an Ahm'shigar is a creation of Guxx and is owned by him. Brulder the Slaughterer, Oakhurst, the country of Liantu and the rest of the story are co-operative creations between the two of us. Hope everyone enjoys what I've written here. Question, comments and critiques welcome.
The bright full moon hung high in the late night sky over the town of Oakhurst. Tall stalks of corn waved lightly in the breeze of the farmlands at the town's edge, the dark green leaves made pale by the lunar candescence. The late Spring air was warm and thick, the heat of the day held fast by the mountainous wall to the north that always managed to preserve the town from heavier winds. A pair of young, human guards walked side by side through the town; employees of the local constable, set on patrolling the town to watch for dangerous creatures from the nearby woods or to give warning in case the bandits were to set upon the town from the mountain wastes to the north.
However, the duo would fail to notice a single dark shadow that drifted almost silently through the town. Ducking from building to building, a slim, black clad figure would eye the two of them closely, a pearly toothed grin forming on his lips as they passed him by without notice. Turning his back on them, one black fleshed, pointed ear swiveled back slightly toward them, listening for their movements as he crept toward the large two story house in the center of town; the home of constable Ialdabul Stinkrik. Red eyes surveying a window on the second floor, he lifted a hand to tuck a lock of white beneath the black bandana cap he'd worn to hide his hair.
Slinging the small, darkly painted backpack from his shoulder, he glanced back toward the guards to see their torch light dimming as they passed around a street corner. Sliding a small box from his bag, he would loop a small strap around his boots, the underside of it covered in tiny, hooked spines. Slipping on a pair of leather gloves with similar bards across the palms of his slender hands, he carefully placed the box back inside the bag and pulled the bag back on before turning to his target once more. Giving a soft grunt as he jumped upward and caught his hands on one of the wooden structure beams that accented the broad side of the house, he braced his feet against the rough textured, wooden wall and started to tug himself upward. Perching on the ledge he'd grab, he'd stand up once more, his short, gaunt body stretching out to reach for the edge of the second story window to pull himself up once more.
Once at the window, the shadow skinned rogue gave a quick look back to the street. The guards were looping back around the building they'd passed earlier, their route starting to pull them back toward the town center. Loosing a long, flat piece of metal from the pouch on his belt, he slipped it into the crack of the window and used it to lift the hook latch on the inside. Chuckling to himself, he pulled the window open and quietly slipped inside, shutting the window softly to try to keep the guards below from hearing his entry. Taking a peek back out the window to see if the guards noticed him, the reflection of his slim, angular face showed a pearly toothed grin.
"You really ought to invest in some real locks for these things, constable," he whispered to himself with a shake of his head. Slipping the spike strips off of his boots and the barbed gloves from his hands, he briefly surveyed the room he was in.
Finding himself in a storage room, the thief slowly crept over to a shelf against the far wall. His eyes providing him with perfectly acute, albeit colorless, vision in the dark room, he took a quick look over the contents there and started to grab up a few things; a stained glass lantern; a glass dagger; a tiny wooden fiddle. Not particularly of any monetary value, he knew for certain that constable Stinkrik would be irked to discover his gifts from the townsfolk stolen away from him.
"Tch, if only those people knew how much they gave him credit for was done by me," the rogue sneered with a shake of his head as he took a long look over the glass dagger before slipping it into a suede pouch hanging on his belt, carefully cinching it shut. Chuckling a bit as he thought back to the constable coming to ask him to find the living place of the bears that had been attacking the farmers' sheep flocks, he opened up the door of the store room and started to sneak down the hallway connecting the stair way and the two bed rooms upstairs. "Maybe I ought to go pay the good constable a visit. Let him know that I still know he needs me to find that bandit camp, even if he really doesn't want to ask me."
As he slipped by the secondary bed room door on his way to the master bedroom, the dark skinned elf would stop short, his whole body freezing up. A light flickered rather brightly under the door to the constable's room. Hardly thinking, and more out of reaction than anything else, he pulled open the other bedroom door and slipped inside, closing it most of the way as he saw a torch light fill the hallway when the master bed room's door swung open.
"Huh, guess that takes care of that," came a grunting voice from the constable's room. As the dark elf's eyes adjusted to the bright light of the torch, he squinted to see through the haze. A rather tall, burly man stood in the door way, his face covered with scruffy stubble and long, tangled hair hanging about his shoulders. His body was covered over in a thin, rough hide, a chipped axe hanging from his belt.
Behind him, another, more scraggly, man walked up, dusting gloved hands together, holding only a candle in one hand and a rusty dagger steeped in blood in the other. "Hehe, yeah... Tol'cha that poison'd act fast."
Walking toward the stairwell, the burlier man threw the torch down the stairs, the flames sparking through the air as it clattered down the stairs. "Right... Let's go finish the young'uns."
"Pity we gotta kill 'em in they's sleep," snickered the smaller one as they approached the door. "I wanna hear 'em scream and beg."
"Yeah, but the boss says we gotta do it subtle like," the other said, stopping outside the door and starting to pull up the axe from his belt. "Y'know... So the shit sacks in this town'll blame it on tha' drow what lives at the edge of the woods."
With a light nod, the other lifted a piece of loose cloth from his belt, starting to wipe off his blade with a sneer. "Yup... and while they's goin' after him, an' wi' no constable to lead 'em, we just sweep in and finally sack this hole."
"Huh, maybe then Brulder will let us move onto something b-..." the larger one started to say as he pushed the door to the bed room open, only to stop short as he was met with blood red eyes staring back at him, a fierce snarl crossing the drow's lips.
"Bloody hell?!" the scrawnier one shouted, bringing up his knife in a flash. "I-it's Sea'an! He wa'n s'posed to be here!"
Drawing up a dagger from his boot, Sea'an leaned back a bit and lifted one of his legs, striking his foot out and booting the larger thug in the chest and sending him stumbling back, his flailing arms catching the other man across the chest and knocking him to the ground. Slamming the door shut, he held the door tight in the frame with his shoulder and stabbed his dagger deep into the wood of the door jam.
Behind him, Sea'an would hear the ruffle of cloth as a young looking girl, in her mid-teens if he recalled right, sit up in the bed, rubbing her eyes. "Nnn... W-what's going on? Anne? I smell smoke..." she mumbled sleepily.
Sitting up in the other bed, another girl, a few years older, looked about quickly, blinking her eyes in the dim light of the moon barely shining in through the window between the two beds. Squinting a bit, she eyed the drow at the door curiously. "S-Sea'an? What are y-..?" she started to mumble a bit before she sniffed at the air. "Wh-... Fire?!"
Sea'an wasn't really surprised that she knew his name. Likely everyone in town did. He'd lived at the farm on the edge of the town almost since it was founded. With a firm grimace, he looked to her, struggling to remember her name. He'd never really known many of the younger townsfolk, so he shook his head and decided not to bother. "Bandits have set fire to the house. We have to get out of here."
"Wh-what?!" the younger girl shrieked, "What about our parents? Where's my dad?"
Closing his eyes a moment, Sea'an decided it best not to tell them that he'd heard the parents were dead. "I... I don't know..." he said under his breath. Opening his eyes and looking to the two girls who were now nervously getting out of their beds, he steeled himself and spoke quietly, "But, right now what's important is getting you both out of here."
All three of them jumped in surprise as the door shook, slammed on the outside by the raiders. "Bloody elf! I'm gonna have your guts for garters!"
Looking toward the door only momentarily, Sea'an spun back to the girls and spoke more firmly. "We have to go! That dagger won't hold and those men mean to kill you!"
"O-okay," the older girl spoke quietly, slowly approaching Sea'an, "B-but, how?"
Looking to the window, Sea'an moved toward it, lifting his leg and kicking out at it hard. The glass shattered loudly, showering bits of glass down onto the grassy yard below. Looking down, he judged the distance briefly and looked back over his shoulder. Another hard slam rocked the door, making the younger girl yelp in surprise. Shaking his head, Sea'an made no waste of time to explain. Moving between the two girls, he looped an arm about each of their waists, grunting as he hefted them up and step up to the window.
"Aah! Wh-what are you doing?!" the younger girl shrieked, tears welling up in her eyes as she struggled against the drow.
"Saving you," he said as he hoisted himself up over the edge of the broken window with the two girls, the older one closing her eyes tight and clinging to him. Spinning about as he jumped out, he fell with his back toward the ground, pulling the two girls tightly together in front of him and bracing for the impact.
Down below, a few dozen townsfolk had come from their homes, alerted by the guards to the growing flames and smoke coming from the constable's house. Already, flames engulfed the lower floor and were quickly spreading to the second. However, most of their attention was suddenly drawn to the drow as he hit the ground, loud cracking sounds resounding in his ears when he hit the grass, knocking the wind out of him.
Starting to sob openly, the younger girl started to stand up, scared and shaken. The elder girl slowly got to her feet, looking down and saying something to Sea'an. He couldn't hear a word of it though because of the pain coursing through his back. Suddenly, half a dozen guards were pushing their way through the crowd, shouting back citizens and drawing their swords as they moved toward the wounded drow.
Groaning as he stood up slowly, Sea'an held a hand to his aching ribs, pain pulsing in his head. Eyes blurry, Sea'an saw one of the guards approaching him as the older of the two girls he'd just saved moved to stand in his way. Yelling loudly and trying to get him to stop. Slowly lurching forward, Sea'an stopped just behind her, closing his eyes tightly to concentrate as he put a hand on her shoulder and leaned down close. Whispering softly, "Thank you," he gave her a hard shove forward, making her stumble forward into the guard, stopping him up as Sea'an turned on his heel and ran past the burning house. He knew the streets well enough that he could practically navigate them with his eyes closed.
"Stop that man!" one of the guards yelled, drawing his sword. Before he could do anything, however, another clapped a gloved hand down hard on his shoulder. "You idiot, we know where he's going! Hurry up and help put a stop to this fire before the whole town catches!"
Hours later, Sea'an lay on the bed in his room, still holding onto his cracked ribs. Sitting up painfully, he groaned a bit, moving to finish putting a few things into his backpack and make sure the pair of water skins hanging off of it were full. "Nnn... Townsfolk are gonna be mighty upset for a bit..." he mumbled to himself. "Too upset to listen to those girls who'll hopefully set 'em straight."
Hoisting his backpack on, he made his way down the stairs of the house, making his way out the back door of the house in a hurry. Peaking back over his shoulder toward the path leading from his home to the town of Oakhurst, he saw the light of torches flickering in the early morning darkness and nodded his head. "Yep... Seems it'll be best if I lay low for a few weeks..." he murmured to himself before glancing back to the mob again. "Hmm... Maybe months. At worst, I might have to stay gone for a year."
Pausing briefly as he trudged through the thick, tall grass behind the farm house, he glanced back at the building for a moment. "Don't worry mom and dad, I'll be back before you know it," he'd whisper to himself before moving onward, slowly starting to slink lower in the grass as the angrily muttering crowd of people got to the front door of his house. Ducking into the tree line, Sea'an ducked low behind the grass and bushes there as he heard what was likely a guard, at the fore of the mob, pounding on the front door of the house. He could hear the person shouting something loudly, as if to be heard by the house's occupants, but at this distance, Sea'an couldn't hear it clearly.
Sea'an started to lay down on his back, ready to just lay low and wait for them to leave before heading off into the woods to wait out their anger. However, one of his ears perked up when he heard angry shouting from one of the rabble, accented by an array of other upset villagers. Soon, the sound was escalating and Sea'an could clearly hear the guard shouting to be heard over them.
"All of you return to your homes!" he shouted, the sound of steel sliding from its sheath ringing loudly. "This is an issue for the town's guard to deal with and, with the demise of Constable Stinkrik, that duty falls to me!"
Before the guard could say another word though, Sea'an heard more of the rabble's shouts from the townsfolk and the sound of breaking glass. Within a few moments, smoke started to rise from the house. Several shouts punctuated the still dawn air as the guard tried to calm the ground and flickering light burned inside the house.
"Oh, no..." Sea'an murmured to himself, getting to his feet as he saw the light within the house spreading and the smoke billowing out faster. "No. No! NO!"
Starting to step out from the woods, Sea'an's eyes caught rising columns of smoke coming up over the tree line in the direction of Oakhurst. Momentarily distracted from the dilemma at hand, he thought to himself that these black plumes couldn't possibly be from the early morning fires of the townsfolk's hearths.
With a crash of brush and the sound of boots slamming on gravel and dirt, a young man came running down the path from Oakhurst, flailing his arms wildly. "Bandits!" he shouted as loudly as his panting breath would allow. "Brulder's raiders are attacking the t-UGHK!" he stopped short, falling to his knees as a red spray issued from his neck, anarrow sticking straight through the back and out his windpipe.
As he knelt there, gurgling wordlessly with bubbles making the blood spilling from his wound spit and pop, the panicked mob of townsfolk scattered from Sea'an's farm house and started to head for the town. Torches and pitchforks held high as they started to run back, not really prepared at all for an attack, but running to the defense of their town nonetheless.
With eyes wide, Sea'an turned to the forest and started to tear through the scrub and underbrush. Even if the townsfolk weren't in their right minds, he couldn't just let them all die. He knew better than that.
Within minutes, he'd break the tree line behind the western most row of houses in Oakhurst, greeted by the sight of burning buildings, plumes of smoke and blood covered streets. His jaw going slack as he surveyed the slaughter, he was almost caught unawares as a bandit came upon him, swinging a hand axe for the drow's head. Ducking out of the way, he rolled to his side and kicked one of his legs outward, catching the man in the side and sending him sprawling into the bushes.
Not sure exactly what he meant to do, Sea'an ran toward the center of town, eyes bleary with tears from choking on the thick smell of the smoke that surrounded him. His feet pounding the cobblestone streets, he'd stop near the fountain in the center of town, in front of the now burned out husk of Constable Stinkrik's home. Hearing the tortured, panic filled screams of the town's people as the bandits cut them down or started to haul them away, he looked about frantically, dread filling his mind.
Shaking his head to try to clear his mind, Sea'an's sight fell upon a man standing down the street from him. All of six feet and four inches in height, with thick muscles that seemed to bulge the seams of his fur covered hide armor, a savage faced man with a thick, long mane of black hair swung an enormous great sword, decapitating a pair of the town's guards in one fell swoop. Cackling madly, he'd pause in his march to point out buildings that weren't on fire, shouting for the other bandits to "light 'em up!"
"Brulder," Sea'an muttered to himself quietly, gritting his teeth as his hand dropped to his belt, hand tightening on the leathered grip of his short sword. Swinging the blade outward, Sea'an cried out his fury as he tore down the street, blade low to the ground and ready to swing up at the barbarian.
Turning toward Sea'an as he ran at him, Brulder smirk, the tiny white scars of countless battles twisting slightly as he observed the drow. "Ah, the scapegoat returns," he chuckled sharply, swinging his own sword back a moment and then, gripping the handle tightly in both hands, grunted with effort as he brought it into a high arching over-head swing.
Eyes on the blade as Brulder swung down at him, Sea'an wasn't quite expecting his foe to be able to lug that huge weapon around so swiftly. Pulling his sword back toward himself, kicking off of one foot to push himself to the side as the sword came down and struck the ground, sparks flying off of the cobble stones and leaving a deep gash where the rocks and dirt were forced to the side. Trying to turn about on his heel so that he could swing his own blade out at his opponent, Sea'an start to step back, his swingcoming up short and scathing up along the side of Brulder's armor, leaving only a white streak of a shallow cut in the hide.
Sneering to Sea'an as he was still off balance, the brute of a man pushed himself forward, lifting one heavily leathered boot and striking it out hard. With the difference in height, it wasn't all that strange that Brulder's high lifted foot would kick into Sea'an's left shoulder, making his roll back across the ground from the power of the blow. Rolling across the ground, Sea'an would come to a stop on his knees and growl sharply from the pain that just rocked the bones in his shoulder and upper chest. Looking up to the man ahead of him as he slowly sauntered over toward him, Sea'an's free hand moved to grip the dagger in his boot, the other still holding onto his short sword.
Shrugging up his shoulders a moment, the villain grunted softly. "Thought for sure you'd be dead 'r run off by now," he chuckled a bit. Giving a hard grunt as he hefted his sword up onto one shoulder. "Figure it's time to put you down... The stray dog of Oakhurst."
"You're a monster, Brulder," Sea'an grunted under his breath, looking up at the towering man as he tightened up his grip on the dagger.
Letting out a laugh, Brulder pulled his sword up once more. "I've been called worse, by better men than you, pup!" With a strong swing, the blade of his great sword came down at the drow.
Jumping just a foot to the side, Sea'an barely managed to edge himself away from the weapon. Seeing the opening in Brulder starting to recoil, he lunged upward, the sword in his right arm swinging in tight low to jab into Brulder's arm, making him shout out loud as the steel pierced part of his armor. Driving the hand holding the dagger upward, he went straight for the barbarian's eye. Arching his back as Sea'an's dagger approached his face, Brulder let out a surprised growl, closing his eyes tight as the edge of the dagger glanced close to the corner of his eye, tearing the flesh just to the side of it.
Letting his hand release the grip on his sword, the raid leader's arm swung out and broadsided Sea'an's ribcage with his forearm. With the pain in his ribs re-awakened from his earlier fall, Sea'an rolled across the ground, crying out in pain and losing his grip on his weapons. Holding his arms to his sides, he lay on the ground, eyes tearing up as Brulder picked his sword back up, stomping across the ground toward the drow.
Without a word, except a gasp of pain as he realized his foe was coming toward him once more. Rolling onto his side, he reached out and grabbed up his sword, painfully rising to his feet. Not thinking of any real direction, he started to run, painfully, as best he could.
"Come back here, ya little coward!" Brulder roared, starting to pick up his pace as he hurried after Sea'an. "I'm going to drink your blood, ya damned dandy lion eater!"
Hand still clasped to his cracked ribs, Sea'an tore down an alley between two burning buildings, bit of flaming wood and roofing falling down around him. As he started to reach the end of the narrow path, he heard a loud groan from the timbers of the buildings around him. With Brulder almost upon him, he let out a startled cry when he felt the very tip of the brute's sword brushing his shoulders, leaving a shallow gash through the his leather armor on his left shoulder. Crying out, he leapt forward to get away as the groaning of wood turned into a thunderous crash. Sparks and bits of fire showering out of the alley, the two buildings had collapsed, their walls bursting outward toward one another into the alley where Brulder had almost been caught up to Sea'an.
Behind him, Sea'an could hear the barbarian's anguished cries of pain as the building's material no doubt burned his flesh. Keeping his eyes forward, Sea'an kept his legs pumping, feet pounding the ground painfully as he ran for the hill to the south of the village and kept on running on into the rising light of the sun.