Shaog’s company of caravan guards
were a mixed bunch. Besides Shoag, there was another minotaur, three elves, a
dwarf, an ogre, an orc and four humans. Shaog knew them all well.
Murgan was his cousin. Their
fathers were brothers. Murgen was three hours younger than Shoag and they had
been lifelong friends. Where you found one, you found the other. Shoag was
closer to Murgen that he was to his siblings. But though close family, they
looked nothing alike. Shoag was tall and lean with reddish brown hair that grew
long and unkempt on his head. Murgen was even taller, but built solid, weighing
almost seventy pounds more than Shoag and had short fur was a charcoal grey
with small white spots.
The elf twins, Kolli and Kommi,
were an anomaly. Elves often had twins, but identical twins were so rare that
the two were the only ones known to be living. There was only two ways to tell
them apart. Kolli was an archer and carried a beautifully made horn and wood
longbow along with three quivers of arrows. His backup weapons were two short
swords. Kommi was an adequate archer, but was an artist with the elven
bladestaff. The bladestaff was a six foot staff with a three foot curved blade
on either end. When he danced the blades, he spun and leaped with astonishing
speed and agility.
Kestral was a distant cousin to
the twins. She was small and slight with the uncanny ability to disappear into
any surroundings. She was so silent that she could sneak up behind you and
never be heard. She had uncanny night vision, with large green, catlike eyes
that drank in moonlight as if it were daytime. And while she was not as good an
archer as Kolli, she could outshoot him at night.
Grofded Stonebeard was an odd
dwarf, odd to other dwarves that is. He fit in surprisingly well among the
upworlders (as the dwarves call surface dwellers). So well, that other dwarves
often thought him mad. When Shoag asked him why he stayed above ground, he
simply said he liked to feel the sun on his face. He was an excellent armorer
and blacksmith. Among upworlders, it is thought that all dwarves are a smith of
some type. But Grofded had explained to the group that this was simply not
true. The dwarves were well known for their metalworking, but it was impossible
for every dwarf to be a smith.
Someone had to do the other jobs all societies need. As children all the
dwarves are apprenticed for one year to a smith, to see if they have the gift.
If they do not, they are moved to some other apprenticeship.
Amuul Avdjern was the company’s
sole ogre warrior. Built like the minotaur, ogres had the horns of a ram. Their
facial features were similar to the large bighorn sheep that lived with them
among the high mountain peaks. Amuul was heavily armored and armed. Grofded had
made him custom set of armor with spiked and blades set in strategic areas.
Even without his huge ogre battlesword, Amuul was a force to be reckoned
with. For such a fearsome warrior, he
was surprisingly gentle and soft spoken with an uncanny rapport with horses and
other animals.
Of all the non-humans, Senji was
the most unique. Few female orcs ever left their villages and those that did
never stayed gone for long. Senji had left her village at a young age and
studied healing with the mystics at Draza’dur. The Drazi priests were known as
the best healers in the known world and accepted few among their order. Senji
was the first and only orc to ever be accepted by them. Once she completed her
training, she had gone home but was shunned and rejected by her village. Shamed
and angry, she had never gone back. She had found a home among Shoag’s team of misfit
fighters.
The four humans that rounded out
the company were Tag and his wife Teega, and Kouva and his brother Kipp.
Tag and Teega had met when Shoag
hired them. They had married three years later. Theirs was a tempestuous marriage,
full of fire and vinegar. The only thing they did with more passion than
fighting was making up. Tag had been a cavalry officer with the Sarmatheen
army. He knew fighting from horseback better than any man Shoag had ever met.
Teega had been a cutthroat thief on the run and had hidden in one of the wagons
they were guarding. She had managed to sneak past not just Shoag and Murgen but
the three elves. Where Kestral was a magician in the forests, Teega matched her
in a city. Shoag had recognized her skill and offered her sanctuary and
employment. He had not regretted it.
Kouva had joined a few years
back. He was a solid and fearless fighter, if not as outstanding as the rest of
the company. But he was honest and was a good fit with the others. That was
important to Shoag. His company survived and brought good prices because they
were such a tight knit team.
Kipp was several years younger
than his brother and was a recent addition to the troop. He was an archer, and
to be fair, was one of the best human archers Shaog had met. No human could
ever match an elf for accuracy but Kipp was good, really good. And the boy
could cook. As they travelled the wild lands, he scavenged and scrounged,
coming up with herbs, spices and other bounty that made dinner something to
enjoy. A good meal went a long, long way to keeping fighters happy.
Shoag counted all of them as
close friends, a family of sorts. Now he had brought another member into his
family. Talyssa had come out of her shell of grief and sorrow as the days had
rolled on. He wondered if it was normal for a youngster to deal with grief the
way she had. Maybe it is only as you grow older and you realize what you have
lost that makes grief such a burden.
They had taken a rest to avoid
the heat of the midday sun, finding a spot in the trees beside a strong
babbling brook. The droves were watering the horses while the guards watched
over them. Kolli had started to teach Talyssa the bow and had taken the break
to help instruct the girl. They had all taken to the child, which saddened him
a bit, for soon they would reach Marrover and then he would have to keep his
oath and take her to her uncle in Willow Falls.
But for now, he just watched over
his family as the girl sent arrow after arrow into the target the elf had set
up.
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