Guest Lord Cullyn Posted July 9, 2002 Report Posted July 9, 2002 As my application, I submit the prologue to the story I talked about earlier in post "Question". I hope you enjoy. Prologue to Legend We are three, fighting as one, Fighting forever under the sun. Silently, Swiftly, Cleanly, Deftly. Ladies fighting, side by side, Taking anything in stride. Yelling, Calling, Fencing, Brawling. The enemies fall before us in shame, Fall to women, in the King’s name. Defending, Protecting, Healing, Resurrecting. ‘Till our deaths, we shall serve, Fighting evil, the light to preserve. Thrusting, Firing, Never tiring. We are three, under the sun, Finally stopping- the battle is won. -Sun Guardians’ Hymn “Dahlia, daughter of the late Lord Rayne and his wife Elyzibeth, Do you solemnly swear to attempt to maintain peace in the realm of Toron, defend it’s people, and protect and serve their King as a Sun Guardian?” “I do, Your Holiness.” “I now declare you a Sun Guardian. May you serve the people with dignity and reverence for the Gods and Goddesses. May the fates be with you,” the High Priest said, concluding the ceremony. The three new Sun Guardians rose, turned on their heels, and fell in step beside each other. The previous three had grown too old for battle, and thus had been forced to resign. Never were they killed, of course… the last record of a Sun Goddess dying was over three hundred years ago, where the three of them had fought and defeated seventy-eight men with only the three of them—the remaining two had killed themselves after the last man fell. Dahlia, Leisha, and Kalindra strode out of the High Temple of the Der, Goddess of the Sun, and into the city of Toron. People all around them bowed to them, and they realized just how important they were. Finally, there was one final ritual to complete. The strode to the center of the city, stepping in time, to where there was a large tile mural depicting the sun on the ground. Each of them entered the circular expanse, and stood facing outward in a triangle, shoulder to shoulder. In a moment, music began in the ceremonial and sacred hymn of the Sun Guardians. The three young girls all turned to their right, and began walking in a circle and singing. Gradually they moved outward, until they were standing on the edge of the ten-foot diameter imitation sun. When the rite was completed, the crowd gathered around cheered and applauded, happy to have Sun Guardians again. When the three exited the ceremonial circle, the crowd parted easily to let them by, and felt safe again at last. *~* OLD ROAD, OUTSIDE RUTTON *~* Corbyn was in trouble… the bandits were telling him to hand over the sheep, as well as all the money he and his sister had with them—that wasn’t much coin, mind, but it was all they had. He and his sister stared defiantly at them. When they stepped closer to her, making jests about doing unspeakable things to Lyssa, he’d had enough. He sized up their odds… there were seven bandits. He had his staff in his left hand and a loaded sling in his right. His sister he could hold back, he thought, but if she broke loose he knew she could defend herself—though all she carried was the harversack with their food in it. “Give us the damned sheep, boy! And the coin!” yelled one of the bandits, stepping closer to him, with his twin daggers drawn. Recklessly, he hurled himself at the bandit, the point of his staff aimed at his opponent’s chest. Caught by surprise, the thug fell to the ground and lost his wind. His sister stepped in quickly, and swung the sack by its strap, catching the bandit on the side of the head and bowling him over. Another thief stepped in and thrust at her, but she jumped back and kicked one of his blades away from him. With the hook end of his staff, Corbyn caught his sister’s attacker by the neck, and yanked, pulling the thug towards him. As he did, he swung his loaded sling, hitting the bandit’s skull with a sickening crack. Lyssa now had her hands full again, but she swung their pack valiantly, attempting to fend off three of the remaining bandits, while two attacked Corbyn. Suddenly, they heard a battle cry. The farmer’s children as well as the bandits stopped in surprise, to see three women streaking toward them. One, the tallest, wielded in her hand two large ring shaped weapons, about a foot in diameter. There were rawhide handles just big enough to accommodate her hands, and the rest was a very sharp, and menacing blade. Another, a bit prettier than the first though shorter, carried a bullwhip in her right hand and a dagger in her left. As they ran towards the fray, she occasionally cracked it in the air to scare the opponents, and continually was yelling something unintelligible. The third, the shortest of the group and silent the entire time with her jaw set obviously specialized in range weapons. In her hands, she carried a crossbow that was loaded, and had a quiver of arrows on her back, while along her legs there were straps containing throwing daggers and stars, as well as wrist sheathes. It took only a moment for the bandits to respond to this new onslaught: they turned tail, left their unconscious companions, and ran. The three ladies skidded to a halt next to Corbyn and Lyssa and the two unconscious thieves. “Let them go, Dahlia!” called the tallest woman to the one with the crossbow, who was taking aim. She did as she was ordered, and lowered the weapon. “Good Morrow, shepherds,” said the woman with the whip, “I am Leisha.” “I’m Kalindra, and that’s Dahlia, as you know,” continued the lady armed with the discs. “We are the Sun Guardians from Toron,” explained Kalindra, who appeared to be the leader of the group. “Well, wherever you’re from, thank you,” replied Corbyn, nursing a deep gash on his forearm. “Oh, they’re hurt! Help me, Dahlia,” said Leisha, “You’re the best healer.” The two stepped forward, and held hands. Dahlia laid her spare hand on Corbyn’s forearm, and started chanting in a strange language, while Leisha did the same to a wound in Lyssa’s shoulder. Within a few minutes, they were healed, and Kalindra spoke, “Sorry, but I’m not very good with magic. Dahlia is our healer, while Leisha is our offensive spellmaster.” “Thank you again… is there anything we can do to repay you? We don’t have much, but we could pay you a little, I suppose,” said Lyssa sheepishly… they truly couldn’t spare the coin, and both of them secretly wished that the Sun Guardians would refuse payment, which they did. “No thanks necessary. We’re just glad we got here in time. Well, we’ve got to be on our way. Fare thee well, shepherds!” “And you as well, Guardians,” replied Corbyn, and the two groups continued on their way. Dahlia was worried… there had never, ever been bandits in this part of the country before… why were they showing up now? Shortly, Leisha voiced the same concern. “Well,” Kalindra said slowly, thinking hard, “I suppose it’s just a rising crime rate… the city’s getting better security, so the bandits have to take their foul trade elsewhere.” “Kalindra, you know damn well that Renault’s security is faltering. With the King so ill, the thieves are having a feast on the city’s wealth! There’s no way that could be right,” replied Leisha. Dahlia felt the same way… there was something odd afoot here, and they needed to find out what. Of course, that was why they’d been sent from the High King to this country, but it was more dire than the king could have predicted. If there were bandits here, in this remote part of the country, then think of what would be happening on the King’s Highway… yes, they needed to find out, and fast. Edited to get the EzCodes right, and fill in blank spaces Edited by: Lord Cullyn at: 7/8/02 11:25:44 pm
Wyvern Posted July 10, 2002 Report Posted July 10, 2002 Lord Cullyn grins proudly as he puts the finishing touchs on his application, carefully dipping the feather quill he holds into an adjacent inkwell and relaxing in the tranquility of the Pen's Library... He holds the document he had just finished in front of him and smiles with satisfaction, only to have his jaw drop open in shock as an orangutan hanging onto a velvet rope flies by him and quickly snatches the piece he had just written in the process! "Hey!" cries Lord Cullyn and several other visitors studying in the Library as their precious documents are stolen one by one "Stop that primate!!!" Several of those who had their pieces of writing stolen rush to stop the orangutan, but are suddenly blinded as the main velvet curtains of the library are abruptly pulled open and the Sun unexpectedly glares in their eyes. Silly the 8th Pen Elder Dwarf, a clever orangutan by nature, had taken the rope used for operating the library shades as his means of transportation. The momentary blindness caused by the Sun acts as his diversion, and by the time the scholars in the Library have adjusted their eyes to the light, Silly relaxes with all the pretty new pieces of writing he had found on top of the highest and most unreachable area of the largest shelf in the Library... "Get down from there immediately!!!" call out several aggravated scholars while others franticly run off in search of a ladder of some sort. "You're surrounded, there's no way you'll be able to escape!!!" "Oooo Oooo Ah!" Silly exclaims before quickly taking out a pair of scissors and glue and cutting up several of the documents he has. At the sight of their precious writings being cut up, many of the more emotional scholars immediatly faint... A scientist in the audience is about to curse the orangutan with all his might for cutting up his scientific hypothesis, when suddenly Silly throws him a piece of paper made through his cutting and pasting which the scientist catches in his right hand. Looking at the paper in disgust for a moment, the scientist's face suddenly brightens as he notices that on it has been artistically pasted the answers to all of the scientific questions he had been searching for... A carpenter catches a piece thrown to him only to find the greatest blueprint he had ever seen... And one by one, the faces of the scholars in the Library revert from anger to gleefull fascination... Lord Cullyn catches a piece of paper on which there is written his application story with the word 'ACCEPTED' pasted in the bottom right-hand corner. OOC: A good beginning to a story, Cullyn, I definitely look forward to reading the continuation. This is an ACCEPTED application, welcome to the Pen. Be sure to post an e-mail address where I can contact you so I can send you the passwords and stuff. [image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image] ------------------------------ Almost a Dragon... "My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense" Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze. Edited by: Wyvern00 at: 7/10/02 2:00:30 am
Guest Lord Cullyn Posted July 11, 2002 Report Posted July 11, 2002 cullyn@excite.com Thank you very much, Wyvern.
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