The Gilded Plains

6 - Cardinal - A Long-Awaited Return

The early morning sunlight shone brightly through the many front windows of Juniper's bar, inside sat an older man, and a young girl, his name was Reilek, hers was Lilith.

The man appeared no younger than fifty, he bore upon his face a short dark beard, his face was as pretty as a man could be while still being able to entice fear straight to one's soul. His hair was very dark almost that of the night sky, and grew to almost his ears, the back and side were trimmed neatly with precision and care. He wore a lavish and elegant coat over top of ragged old, torn, and stained t-shirts, for some reason he wore two.

Lilith the young girl of almost eight years in age, dressed in nothing more than a white shirt and a pair of rough blue pants, wore no shoes on her feet, no hat on her head, and no coat. It was cold outside, but Lilith wasn't cold.

The two, sat at the rough wooden seats of the bar, accompanied by nearly the whole town, people sat inside and out leaving the doors open as to hear upon the great tale. They talked a wild storm of a story, of how the town fabled, retired hero, rescued a new prisoner from the circle city in the northwest. No longer was the town engaged in the person and tales of Nova, no, now was time for Reilek to shine. And so, in his best charming, lady-winning voice their tale began.

"It was nearly the span of three red moon showings ago, when I first heard a call, a voice, just a general yell, from the wall. It wasn't directed at me, yet still in search of adventure, and to cure my boredom of fighting demons for another three moons before, I followed it to the circle city. It was then a short time of half a month ago, when and where I discovered the new work spot, on the wall.

The scream I had heard was a laugh most likely, as, through my binoculars, they all appeared to be smiling, one even crying from pure joy. Whether it was over a joke, or an enemy of theirs had finally died in a foolish way, their redundant cries and yelps led me straight to them.

I, however, wisely choose to wait till the next morning to engage, I needed them prepared for plans, not drunk and nearly on verge of having a heatstroke from the midday sun. I set up camp only a few lengths away, just far enough to see them and hear them if it was dead quiet and I truly wanted to listen. I slept in the trees, making shifting a hammock-like platform, out of hides I had previously collected, using the wind to hold it in place.

Now in the long while I've spent out here, I have learned very well to never let down my guard, and keep my soul and mind, safe in steel. I had learned this well enough to keep a simple spell active even while I slept, however, something went array that night, and just as the blue moon was soon to set, I fell. The fall was nothing, it makes more than that to stop a teller, but the exact reason I slept in the trees, was awaiting my arrival at the bottom. Demons."

Reilek waited a few seconds hopeful for a gasp or increase in silence in the already quiet room. there was to his disliking, no more than a few people at tables across the bar who stopped talking to listen. But still, yet, he had the audience's attention, that what he wanted, it's what he needed to, he spent time and days of practice for a performance like this, he had to do it right.

"As my eyes grew heavy and my mind dimmed into a slumber, I let loose on my spell I had placed on the wind. Tree branches cracked and creaked, I had sunk deep into my platform, surrounded by fabric, string, and sticks. The canopy above shrunk as it distanced itself from me, hurling me at the ground. I stuck the dry grass and tree roots with enough force to dull my senses for a while, but not for too long.

It was quiet, eerily quiet, around me the starlight reflected white, snowy, light back into my eyes, and illuminated a small area of my surroundings. I groaned and stretched out my back, shaking my head to wake myself, readying myself for battle. The grass moved in three places around me, emerging from the slowly parting grass were pairs of black eyes, black in a way that absorbed the little light I had, making them stand out against the dim stars and almost black grass. Each one bore a set of fangs as long my middle finger here, and three sets of legs of which were as long as my arm at least. Altogether they each stood around a third of a man's height, but as one they could kill me if they wish.