A lone rider in black raced across the rolling plains, between Ilarnek and Ib, upon a sleek black mare. The wind of the rider’s speed whipped his black robe about his gaunt frame, as he leaned hard forward, whispering encouragement in the horse’s ear. The last rays of moonlight glimmered on the mare’s glossy coat, as she gathered still greater speed. There was still one more deed to be done.
The squat grey ruins of Ib rose before horse and rider, when at last the horse slowed and reared, Katemperos-Tsa’s long fingers caressing her neck gently, to comfort the mare.
“Hold old girl, you have done well, you need carry me no further,” spoke the sable robed mage, in a voice that was soothing yet firm despite its raspiness. As the horse settled, he leapt from her back and tethered her as he had done before, and walked briskly towards the ruins on foot.
As Katemperos-Tsa mounted Ib’s Akurion his hand shot into his satchel drawing forth the Lesser Star-Stone. He pressed the stone into the depression into which it fitted, speaking the guttural Aklo spell to reactivate its sleeping power, knowing that with the Lesser Star-Stone in its rightful place, Bokrug would once again be locked in ages-long slumber.
The stone glowed faintly as he intoned the incantation, his hands making the proper gestures, like a conductor leading an unseen orchestra. A pall of silence seemed to fall over the world as a greenish aurora played over the languorous waters of Thune.
At last it was done. The black clad spectre quitted the Akurion and the fallen city of Ib, moving with purpose, but driven most by the long desire for long needed rest.
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The Two That Came To Ilarnek
FantasyA sword and sorcery story with inspiration drawn from Lovecraft's The Doom That Came To Sarnath.
