Yolsan the 3rd 447, Third
Imperial Reckoning (12 years earlier)
The tomb was found by a lamb. The
shepherd's son wept as Grijolhd lifted the animal's corpse from the
cleft, the dwarf using his levitation magic. The lamb had fallen in,
breaking three legs, the boy heard its bleating cries and went to get
his father. Eventually, word got out to the village hall, where, in
turn, the 'adjutant marshals' received the summons.
Tamith was one of the fortunate
villages that could afford adjutant marshals. The concept had taken
root in Anfekor's wilder, outlying provinces. Some villages needed
extra manpower and muscle to keep the peace. Such assistance proved
difficult to find until an enterprising adventurer's guild offered to
hire out their members. Since then, over a dozen guilds have
provided such services to three of the Bright Empire's provinces.
Tamith assigned tours to their
adjutants, the tour usually lasting no longer than a month. Tours
were entirely dependent on how much of the village coffers were
willing to be given out for maintaining order. The guild informed
Grijolhd and Nefydd Foulkes that if they wished to extend their tour,
some hobnobbing with the mayor and the village council would be
necessary. Knowing the overall disposition of himself and his
partner, Grijolhd surmised that they would be employed for two weeks.
Nefydd watched as the dwarf deftly
grabbed the lamb and quietly slid the corpse into the boy's waiting
arms. The father, a man named Udy, stood a few paces from his son,
leaning wearily on his staff. Nefydd gazed into the cleft. It
dropped forty armspans before it gave way to rock and mud. The mud
was fresh in places, recently upturned. The cleft itself was about 8
paces long and only 4 wide. At its northern edge, some old masonry
could be seen rising from the bottom, grey and archaic. Nefydd placed
his eyepiece over his ears, the bridge of the device finally coming
to rest on his nose. Taking a glance at the cleft, he turned and
walked to the boy, who was now on his knees, still holding the lamb.
“Ah, if only all of Anfekor's
sheperds were like you and your da.” Nefydd gently ruffled the
boy's hair. “May your ewes have more lambs with spunk that gifts
your family in smiles. Listen, I want you and your da to go home and
see that the lamb gets buried proper yeah?”
The boy smiled through his sobs. Nefydd
helped him up and tenderly nudged him toward Udy.
“Udy, make sure you keep your family
and herds well away from this drop until Grijolhd and I can... ah,
fence this off.” Nefydd flicked a silverfish to the shepherd, who
grabbed the coin, nodded and led his son towards their home.
Nefydd and Grijolhd watched Udy and his
son until they were out of earshot. Even then, they spoke only in
whispers.
“Bloody, bloody hammer of Ganim!”
Grijolhd spat at the ground.
“I think Aeremas is pissing on us
right now,” Nefydd grimaced and removed his eyepiece. “Wish it
was a damned tremor that did this.”
“A bloody gods damned bulette!”
Grijolhd spat again.
“I wonder what brought it up this far
Grij? And why in the infernal hells didn't it take that lamb?”
“Aye, weird. Only a week out on the
Trim, and we've already got more excitement than a few lads in a
brothel for their first plucking.”
“Speak for yourself Grij.”
Both man and dwarf laughed, breaking
their whispered nervousness.
“We'll go back to the village and
come up with a gods damned plan.”
“Yeah Grij. I'll have to send a
pigeon to Anthin. We need help with this one.”
“Help? More like a gods damned divine
intervention.”
“Lets not bring the gods and
damnation into this.”
“Damnation!? We may already be there
lad, bathed in the acid of five stomachs!”
“Six Grij, the bastards have six.”
Glossary-
Aeremas- god of travel and luck, and
sometimes... protection
Bulette- a horrid monstrosity that
burrows through the earth, having a beak shaped head and strong jaws,
four strong legs with claws, specimens can grow up to 20 feet long,
standing 12 feet tall
A pubby on Bulettes can be found here (pubby- publication)
armspan- a length of measure,
approximately 2 feet
Trim- term for the outlying provinces
of Anfekor, also known as The Fringe
Ganim- a god of the dwarves
silverfish- one of the currencies of
Anfekor, a silver coin
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