The Lord of Storms Ch 1

Chapter 1







         The sun shone down on the bustling crowd milling about through the eastern gate of Cal’Tudan, the capital of the kingdom of Tudan and seat of the Falcon King. Merchants, farmers, commoners, and other various persons moved slowly through the congestion caused by a large contingent of city guards stopping and inspecting each person who wished to pass in or out of the city.

         Medallion let out a long, overly-dramatic sigh and gave his prisoner a shove. “Don’t even think of trying anything in this crowd.” The moonman criminal shot a murderous glare over his shoulder as he got his feet back under him.          

Medallion saw that the crowd had begun to give him a wide berth and many were trying to hide looks of confusion and disbelief. “What’re you lot looking at?” he called to the folk around him. “You’ve never seen a murdering rapist before?” That got the crowd to pull back even farther and a few muted screams from women.

“They were ogling you, mister walking-armory,” said Veldun, the moonman criminal, with a voice full of scorn and loathing. “I’ll bet you wear that many weapons to make up for…”

He didn’t get any farther when Medallion snapped out a leg and struck the man behind the knee with the ball of his foot. Veldun grunted and started to fall as his legs gave out but Medallion grabbed a handful of greasy hair and held the prisoner upright.

“I’ll have you know that I can use every weapon I carry on my person, as well as the rest of my collection back home.” He leaned forward and put his mouth close to the moonman’s ear. “I could also kill you easily with any of the weapons I have or with just my bare hands; never forget that.”

Veldun’s dusky face twisted into a savage snarl and started a retort but was interrupted by a gruff cough. Medallion looked up to find two burly city guardsmen standing in front of him with hands resting lightly on the weapons at their belts.

“Here, now,” said the guard on the left, a tall human with broad shoulders and a long sword at his side. “You’d better explain yourself or we’ll have to take you to the dungeon for questioning.”

“Aye,” grunted the other guard, a dwarf with shoulders even more broad and a heavy axe handing from a loop in his belt. “We’re supposed to question anyone suspicious trying t’ get into the city.” He eyed Medallion carefully, “I’d say you’d be suspicious with all them weapons, boy.”

Medallion gave a bow to the guards to hide a grimace; he was starting to get annoyed at all the comments about the number of weapons he carried on his person, one could never be too prepared. “My good sirs, Venquellion Graldibarium, at your service.”

“By the gods, what a mouthful!” muttered the dwarf under his breath.

Medallion pretended not to notice, “My friends just call me Medallion. Anyway, I am a member of the Brotherhood of Flame and this is the wanted criminal, Veldun the Cruel, for whom your king personally posted the bounty. I am on my way right now to bring him before the Falcon King so that justice may be dealt swiftly and harshly.”

The dwarf ambled over and lifted the moonman’s face. “Yup, that’s him all right; I’d never forget the face of the scum who murdered two of my fellow guardsmen and raped their wives before slaughtering them.” He brought up a large glob of saliva from the back of his throat and spat it into the criminal’s face. “I’m going to enjoy watching the noose snap yer puny neck, you filthy sack o’ puss! I ought to wring yer neck right now! ” The dwarf’s eyes took on a maniacal glint and his beefy hands twitched towards the criminal’s neck.

“Guardsman!” The human guard stepped to his friend, moving to stop him. “Control yourself, Bjordal! Do you want to lose the promotion you just got? We can’t take the law into our own hands or we wouldn’t be any better than scum like him. Let the King’s justice do its job!” He gripped one of the stocky guardsman’s pauldrons and began to pull him back.

With an angry, beast-like bellow the dwarf spun and plucked his friend off his feet and tossed him almost five paces to land on his back on the cobbles. Then, with a face full of murderous intent twisted with rage, the dwarf, Bjordal, stalked towards the moonman with strong hands tightened into fists. Veldun was on his knees shaking with what appeared at first to be fear, but Medallion heard suppressed laughter coming from the murderer.

Venquellion knew at once what was happening. He drew upon the energy at the core of his being and felt the familiar rush of power. He sent energy into his brain, causing everything around to slow down significantly. I suppose it’s actually my brain speeding up; Father once explained how time manipulation is basically impossible, even if ten thousand mages chained their magic together… but I digress. Enhancing his eyes with his power he got a good look at the dwarf’s eyes and saw that the whites of the eyes had been filled with blood. The dwarf’s teeth were bared and foam was starting to creep out of the corners of the mouth. Looks like a simple bewitchment, easy enough to get rid of.

Medallion leaped forward and reached a hand towards the enraged guard and lightly pressed his index finger to the exact middle of the dwarf’s forehead. Moving power down his arm, Medallion sent to small burst of energy out of his fingertip and directly into the center of the dwarf’s brain. Venquellion’s father had taught him this trick, one that would clear out the brain of any foreign magic without harming the brain in any way; like how a cough clears the lungs. Bjordal stood still as a statue for a few moments then fell heavily on his backside with a blank look on his face.

From the criminal’s laughter, Medallion could only conclude that the moonman had put the spell on the dwarf; to what purpose Medallion could only guess. Gripping Veldun’s belt and the shoulder of his tunic, Medallion bodily lifted the moonman into the air then slammed him on the ground onto his back. The breath emptied from the criminal’s lungs in a loud whoosh and Medallion set to disabling Veldun’s magic, again.