Pride-Keepers & Howlers
All characters and environments within is © 2002-2010 by Eben Prentzler
In case you missed the introductions and other excerpts
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Kasi woke suddenly and sat up, bathed in a cold, cold sweat. He picked up the closest towel he could find and wiped his soft round face with it. After making sure that all the cold perspiration was dried off his dark brown pelt, he lied back down on the hard bed. He breathed deeply, trying to shake off the nightmares of the previous night. Since his brother's death he hadn't had a proper night's rest. The same dream always came to him...the faceless attacker...the dagger...the blood. God, what did he have to do to make these dreams go away? He was almost at a point where he was afraid to go to sleep. Just thinking of it made him depressed, so he tried to concentrate on getting up. It was still freezing in the room, so he quickly dressed himself with his last pair of clean clothes. As he put on his shirt, one of the long sleeves tore. "Oh how typical," Kasi sighed. Out of frustration he ripped off both his sleeves. "It's not like I can get any colder." He made a mental note to buy some new clothes when he went into the town that surrounded the castle. Kasi looked out the window and saw that the sun was already high up in the sky. Not wanting to pay the ridiculously high prices of the inn's food, he ate some the rations he packed for his trip. He took a quick look in the mirror and fixed his long black hair. Being of the Pride-Keepers species, he wanted look good before leaving. It seemed like an impossible task, because his green eyes were blood shot from the bad sleep he had. There was nothing he could do about his appearance and he left the inn wrapped tightly in his warm cloak.
Kasi followed the snow-covered path up the hill and when he reached the top; his breath was almost knocked from him when he saw the true beauty of Kube Peaks. The first thing that caught his attention was the huge frozen waterfall and the colours that shone from it when the sun hit it, was truly entrancing. When his gaze finally left the waterfall he laid his eyes on the enormous castle that was carved out of the mountain face. Never in his life had he seen such a magnificent castle. It was almost five times bigger than the one in the Valley of the Kings. A town surrounded the castle. Not just any town...the town of Kube. On his journey towards these lands, Reginald told Kasi about the wonders of this town and it didn't look as if he was boasting. It truly looked like a town out of some kind of fairy tale and Kasi couldn't wait to go there. His concentration was broken by a scream.
"Let go of me you brute!" a woman yelled from below. "Do you know who I am?!"
Kasi looked down the hill towards the entrance of the town and saw a Pride-Keeper woman fighting off a gang of four. Two of which were Howlers and the other Pride-Keepers. Kasi knew that the smart person would have stayed away and not get mixed up into something like this, but then again, he knew that he wasn't that smart. He cursed his good heart and ran down the hill as fast as he could. When he reached the bottom he quickly got rid of his bag and cloak. Kasi drew his sword and ran to the maiden's rescue. As he approached he quickly assessed the situation. The woman, who was wearing a beautiful blue silk dress, was being held by the throat and used as a shield by a big and ugly Pride-Keeper. His face was covered with multiple scars, most likely from the fights he had been in. What made him even uglier was the fact that his pitch black mane was almost completely cut off, only leaving tufts of blackness on top of his head. The filthy green clothes he was wearing were worn out and didn't go well with his dirt smudged light beige pelt. His chubby face and broken whiskers took the attention off his beady eyes. He was holding a knife to the woman's throat. Kasi could clearly see that he was the leader, because the other ruffians were terrorizing a poor beggar.
"Keep still you wench," the leader said.
"Let me go damnit," the woman yelled, "I'm Princess Lobomi and I order you to release me."
"I don't care if yer da queen of da ocean. We are gonna teach you a lesson to interfere in our business."
Kasi was busy freezing with only his sleeveless shirt covering upper body, but he didn't care. The adrenalin start to pump through his veins and he ignored the cold. "Release her," Kasi said in a firm tone.
"Tis ain't none of your business little man," the leader snarled, "keep on walking."
"I said release her."
"Ah ya want to be a hero den?" the leader grinned. "Boys, let's see if he is worthy of being a hero. Kill him!"
Kasi held his sword at the ready. The three thugs that approached him didn't look very smart, so trying to convince them not to attack would just lead to a dead end, but he tried anyway just to delay the inevitable. "I suggest you guys put down your weapons," Kasi said full of confidence, "I don't want to hurt you."
They all laughed out loud and got their weapons ready for the fight. One of them had a big broadsword, while the other two were armed with spiked clubs. They approached Kasi simultaneously and were fully prepared for this battle. One thing they didn't expect was Kasi's quick reactions. He quickly moved forward and kicked one of the Howlers on the kneecap. As he sunk down due to the sharp pain, Kasi quickly hit him over the head with the butt of his sword, rendering him unconscious.
Now Kasi only had to deal with two more thugs, but whom would he engage first in battle. The sword or the club? He didn't have much of a choice as the Pride-Keeper with the spiked club attacked. He lifted his club up high, attempting to crush Kasi's skull, but Kasi used his agility and did a back flip to dodge the blow. While the Pride-Keeper struggled to get his club out of the ground, the Howler with the big sword attacked. Kasi found it very easy to fight this Howler. His stance was sloppy and his swordplay was even worse. Kasi blocked a few blows and attacked fiercely. The Howler lost his footing while blocking one Kasi's shots and he let his guard down. Kasi took the opportunity and ran his fist across the Howler's face. He yelped out in pain and backed off a bit, only to be replaced by the Pride-Keeper thug. Once again he tried to crush Kasi's skull with his club and once again he missed with Kasi's quick reflexes. Only this time, Kasi swiped his sword through the wooden club, breaking it in two. Being without a weapon, the thug quickly turned his tail and ran away like a coward, with his tail firmly between his legs. The Howler returned once again with his sword raised high. He swung it aimlessly and missed as Kasi dodged huge blade.
"Don't force me to kill you," Kasi warned.
The leader of the thugs wasn't happy about how things were turning out for his group. How could such a weak little person beat almost all of them? "Stop playing around with him and kill him!" he growled.
Lobomi really had to get out of situation and so she did something, which she deemed extremely disgusting. She sunk her sharp teeth deep into the leader's fat arm. He screamed out in pain and dropped his knife. He also released his grip across Lobomi's throat, but he grabbed by the dress before she could escape. "You bitch!" he cursed out loud and slapped her hard in the face. She landed on the ground with a soft thud and didn't move. He pulled out his sword and headed towards the battle.
Kasi warned the Howler, but yet he didn't listen and didn't end very well for him. It was long before Kasi slashed his sharp sword swiftly across the Howler's chest and he screamed out in pain before collapsing into a pool of his own blood. Kasi knew that his toughest challenge lay ahead and that was to get that poor woman away from the leader. He turned around and to his complete surprise he saw the massive hulk of the leader in front of him. Kasi saw the sword coming straight at him and he knew there was no way he could block it, so he attempted to dodge. Unfortunately he wasn't quick enough and the sword went straight through Kasi's left shoulder. The pain was so excruciating that he couldn't even scream. He just sunk to his knees and dropped his sword on the ground. He didn't feel the cold snow under his legs...he didn't feel the sword been plucked from his shoulder...he just didn't feel anything. Kasi knew that death was coming to him now and he was yearning for it to come. All he wanted to do was to escape this world of pain and now was his chance.
After being smacked across the face, Lobomi recovered enough to lift herself up on her elbow. She didn't know how long she was out cold, but it couldn't have been long, because she saw the vicious leader standing over the young Pride-Keeper that came to her rescue. Lobomi gasped when she saw her saviour fall to his knees. She knew that her fate would be the same if he died. Without thinking, Lobomi got up to her feet and picked up the knife that the leader had dropped. She ran at full pace towards the towering hulk and jumped onto his back. Lobomi drove the knife deep into his back. He roared out in pain and tried to get the pest off him, but Lobomi dug her claws into his shoulder and held on tightly. She knew that she had to kill him quickly or he might just succeed. Lobomi pulled out the dagger and slit it over the leader's big throat. He gurgled for air, but couldn't breathe. Clasping his throat with both his hands he fell backwards. Lobomi jumped off before she was crushed under his weight. It was long before the leader lay dead on the ground. Lobomi ran towards Kasi and knelt down beside him.
"Are you alright?" Lobomi asked, concerned.
Kasi looked at her. "You have purple eyes. I have never seen such eyes before," he said and fell face first into the snow, drifting into unconsciousness.
Lobomi turned Kasi onto his back. She was delighted to see that he was still breathing. She started to examine this youth and saw the terrible wound in his shoulder. Lobomi immediately ripped the sleeves from her dress and tied it tightly over the wound, attempting to make the bleeding stop. She knew that he needed medical attention, but she couldn't stop looking at him. "He is so cute," Lobomi told herself. She noticed some other scars on Kasi's body, the half torn ear and felt sorry for him. "It seems that you have seen so much pain already," she said to him softly. "I'm going to make the pain go away."
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