The Quest Continued

[Núrutyáve]

North of the River Narog, in the plains of Talath Dirnen, there lay a sleepy town of Elves - a frontier village of proud Nargothrond. It was mainly a place of farmers and smiths, who supplied their lord with weapons and foodstuffs. Little of note ever passed there, until a fateful evening, when the wind took a southerly direction, and blew with it two horses with baleful riders. Folk passing through the village was quite common to the peasants who dwelt there, and they took little enough notice of the two Elves who entered their town.

Nurutyave and Chi'Gandir had sat perched upon their steeds for many and many an hour. It was drawing nigh unto the second evening of their adventure to the north, and this was the first town to cross their path. They had camped the first night 'neath the stars, and now they had a mind to partake of the ... local fare. Every town, large or small, had an inn in those days, and this was no exception to the rule. The inn sat upon the main road in the center of the town, and as yeomen and the like dwelt far afield for many miles round, nearly every night this inn was bustling. This only made the proud innkeeper the prouder, and he held forth that his ale was the finest between Neldoreth and Narog (an easy boast, as his inn was the only inn between Neldoreth and Narog).

It was to this fine place which our two travelers came in the late afternoon. Their sights were still upon the Isle of Werewolves, but naught had ever been gained in a venture such as this without patience, and both of our sojourners, bred in the wild, had plenty of that. So they could afford to spend a night in a bed and have their fill of meat and drink. There would be a price to be paid by the townsfolk, of course, for two such as these were ever restless, and their hearts were as flippant as they were lawless. My! how much more simple and pleasant were those days!

Giving their steeds to the stablehand, the two entered the common room, and, finding a table, Nurutyave motioned for the good host to send a lad over.


{Sorry, Tony - deleted your email with your post by mistake. }

[Chi'Gandir]

(No problem. Yours is better.)

Chi'Gandir leaned back in his chair, staring foward. "Shall we have some fun tonight?" He laughed gently, a smirk ever growing on the face of death. He noticed a couple of inn patrons staring at him, on the account of his disfigured hands.

"I'll ignore them for now," He decided, "But later they shall find themselves in immense pain." He lifted one of the aforementioned hands to move a strand of his hair.

[Envin]

"Why, indeed yes we shall!" Nurutyave replied with a smile. "I feel that a little sport might be in order - how if we find us a few likely lads and put weapons in their hands, and force them to fight us. We shall toy with them as cats with so much mice. Sound fair to you? Sounds perfectly fair to me, at least - why, given that we choose enough of them, they might ... defeat us," he added, dripping with sarcasm.

The boy came over, and Nurutyave requested their strongest spirits, with cold apples. The boy shuddered at the look of cold existence upon the drow's face, and when he turned for Chi'Gandir's order, he nearly gagged at the elf's misshapen appearance.

{Dammit, wrong account. Oh well.}

[Chi'Gandir]

Chi'Gandir laughed, a sort of sick, hollow laugh. "If there's enough of them, being how many? A couple....thousand?" He grinned. "Yet I doubt we will find that many willing to fight us unless we burn the village to the ground."

"I'll have the same as him," Chi'Gandir said nonchalantly, "Ignore my appearance. You'll be the better man for it....I wouldn't like to keep you up at night," He smirked.

[Núrutyáve]

The boy took their order and returned to the counter shaking. In his fright, and also to perhaps appease the two toward him for staring at the horrid elf, when their food was prepared, he ran outside under the pretense of milking the cows, and so the young barmaid daughter of the innkeeper brought over their order. She was glad in a simple gown, and was not overly pretty, but had compensated for this by wearing a dress that was cut extremely low, so that her ample bosom nearly fell from her corset. Nurutyave broke into an enormous grin as she walked toward the table, and made no effort to disguise his leering. She shuddered when she saw his gaze, but dutifully set down their drinks and fruit, and must needs lean far past the drow to place Chi'Gandir's food before him, and of course this only pleased Nurutyave the more. He licked his lips noisily, and she hurried away, feeling his cold, hungry stare follow her.

"Now, what did you say? Forgive me, my attention was ... disturbed. Ah yes, perhaps a couple score of villagers might prove some good sport. We shall have our fun with them tonight, and be on our way upon the morrow, though ere we leave, I think that I must have my fun with that little thing that just left us. Judge me if you will, but away from civilization in the wild for so long, and being in the company of animals has left me ... lacking in satisfaction. But what of you? Will simple apples appease you? Or will you prefer something else red, but more of a liquid nature?"

He grinned and drank from his tumbler, his eyes glancing over the top of the glass at the poor barmaid.

[Chi'Gandir]

Chi'Gandir slowly nodded, "Yes, blood is of the essence. I can prey upon wandering animals all I want, but their blood is different from men and elves. There's something within those who walk on two legs that make their blood more...sustaining."

He smirked at Núrutyáve's mention of the barmaid, "Bats are a close knit type of creature, but they are almost devoid of lust. We do not possess the same carnal nature as wolves. While I do admit, the pleasures of the flesh can be quite fruitful, blood is much more of a thrill for myself." His voice drifted off as he listened to the noise of the inn cutting through the air like so many knives. Without fail, the blind bat picked up an apple as he listened, waiting for Núrutyáve's voice.

[Envin]

Núrutyáve nodded in reply.

"My brethen oft would hunt with bats when I was merely a cub. The bats would help to sense the large prey, my family would bring it down, and then the bats would have their share. So we parallel nature, then, it would seem." He sighed. "The night is young yet, and my wits are still just slightly too keen - more of this swill is in order, and something to pass our time. What say you to riddles? Surely you would have little objection to a good contest of wills."

He smiled thoughtfully, drained his glass again, and signaled the barmaid for another. The innboy had wisely remained out of doors, so of course she must see to the gentleman's needs. She brought him a glass upon a tray, with the bottle as well, to save herself further trips toward his cruel eyes. But as she walked up, Núrutyáve slyly tipped his empty tumbler onto the floor, and as she bent down to scrape up the pieces of glass, he made no attempt to disguise his open ogling down her blouse as it lay open before him. As she finished, he licked his lips again, and waved her away with a flick of his finger. Ignoring the tumbler, he ripped the cork lightly from the bottle with his sharp teeth, and drank right from it. He settle an eye upon Chi'Gandir, and with no introduction asked,

"The beginning of eternity
The end of time and space
The beginning of every end,
And the end of every place."

[Chi'Gandir]

Chi'Gandir nodded slowly, falling slightly into thought as he pondered the answer. It was not too far off, however, for within a matter of minutes his voice came from his mouth, "The letter E." He leaned back in his chair, wondering what riddle to ask Núrutyáve. He was silent for a moment before he spoke again fluidly.

"I'm considered to be 'late'
I rid the world of many
Many fear my arrival,
But others welcome me. What am I?" Chi'Gandir smiled, "Simple, yes, but I might as well warm you up before stomping you down."

[Envin]

Nurutyave appeared affronted, but smiled just the same. "Why, good bat-friend, methinks you mock me. This cannot stand, sir. I had heard that those of thy race were less than substantial in comprehension, so of course I must needs test thy limits. I would not wish to hurt thy feelings with a riddle beyond thy league. You see? Thine is Death, easy enough. Taste this one, then, if you can:

I view the world in little space,
Am always changing place;
No food I eat, but, by my power,
Procure what millions do devour."

[Chi'Gandir]

"Of my race? Oh, Núrutyáve, you slay me," Chi'Gandir let out a laugh, "While bats may not be the smartest on the chain, atleast the temptations of the flesh do not take us at every chance so much so that sometimes we are so far gone that we indulge in the flesh of our own gender unknowingly," His hands played upon the table idly.

"Yet, I also find it upsetting that you think I may be such an imbecile so as not to know simple riddles. You think you can talk of that which was a common enemy to my family all of my life and I would not know of what you speak? For the answer to your riddle is the Sun, of course." From that he went straight on without a moment's pause, going into his riddle.

"I fly to any foreign parts,
Assisted by my spreading wings;
My body holds a hundred hearts,
Nay, I will tell you stranger things;
When I am not in haste I ride,
And then I mend my pace anon;
I issue fire from my side;
You witty youths, this riddle con."