Airhead Moment... and Old Markup!

Man, I thought I had posted already today... no wonder the page views were so low! *slaps self lightly*

Well, happily for all of us, I did some digging and came up with some excellent old material... so for those of you who wanted to see old versions (the kind of things adoring fans 40 years from now will be dying to see... in my dreams) this is your day! Today I will post the old version of events in the city of Okthin... and tomorrow release at least part of the new version. Hope you like it!

After three weeks of traveling the four came to another town, Okthin, and here something was astir. The people refused to open the gate in the city wall to the four, until Reiyen “convinced” the guard to open up by causing one of the crenellations to fall off the wall without lifting a finger. As the four passed through the gate they saw why the gate wasn’t being opened. There was a battle in the city. One group had taken possession of the walls and granaries; the other had fortified themselves in warehouses, houses, barns and the city barracks. The city militia was with the minority group in the barracks.

     The fight was over whether to join Nastar in the war he was waging, to put up there greatest resistance, or to flee. Those in the center of the city, the minority, were for fighting against Nastar. Those on the walls were for joining him. Reiyen did not immediately disclose his side in the argument to the rest of the town, but the other three knew it full well.

     It was the custom of the four to bed down in some local inn for the night soon upon entering a city. Usually Reiyen knew the innkeeper, wizards travel a great lot, and so they usually stayed on free. This time Reiyen seemed to forget that Terin, Drune and Achpollo were with him. His pace became a strong stride towards the center of town. When he reached the barricades set up around the town square and the barracks it was quite evident he was very angry. He ignored the fact that he was crossing a war zone and walked to the large platform that stood in the center of town. No one opposed him. Terin and Achpollo followed him. Terin only showed a twinge of fear or questioning while following Reiyen. Drune refused to cross the war zone.

     Drune had good reason for his fear. Normally it was death to even show one’s head over the bunker, unless he could survive an arrow in the head. For some unknown reason neither side fired on them. Likely it was Reiyen using his wizard abilities to let them cross. Perhaps it was no one knew what they were doing. For whatever reason the three crossed safely and went to the platform in the center of town and Reiyen mounted it alone.

     “People of Okthin, hear me. Do you not know the face of Nastar? Have you never felt the pain of a whip? Have you never felt tired from sleepless nights? Have you not felt the heat of the fire, or the tip of the sword? Know this day that you have been cursed to live in ignorance. Does not the baby who knows not the heat of the flame crawl toward it? You would welcome Nastar with open doors, and he well enter and then burn you to ashes. Those he does not kill he will enslave, and you who are enslaved shall wish to die. Those here in the center of town will be gone by tomorrow’s dawning. Those who remain will soon be enlightened.” Reiyen said this then added to the two men below him, “I fear, as you might have guessed, that Drune shall be one of the ignorant, ‘til his time comes for action, and even then, I do not know his will.”

     Achpollo looked across at Drune, still behind the barricades. “That poor fool,” He said in a pitying tone.

     “Amazing,” Terin thought, “that Drune might manage to not trust Reiyen enough to cross those barricades. On the other hand, hadn’t I also felt fear? Yes, but I had overcome it. I had crossed with little worry.” He continued musing on this until something struck him. “Reiyen had said that the people in the center would soon have left the city, but how was that possible? They were walled in on all sides, just the four, or perhaps three,” for he wasn’t sure if Drune would follow them any further, “might have been able to sneak out or have Reiyen translocal them out. But all these numbers of people? Were they to fight their way out?” That last thought sent a rush of energy into Terin, that lust for battle, for a good hard fight. “Would the enemy have any wizards; would the enemy wizards be as great as Reiyen?” Terin thought. He had never seen a wizard battle. He wondered if it was like how they were fought in the Green World, which is a complicated affair, to be told of elsewhere than these pages.

Terin inquired that evening, as the four, Drune had been translocalled to the center by Reiyen, sat in the barracks, “How is it that you intend for us to escape this town, seeing as we are trapped in the center?”

     “Is it is necessary that you know?” Reiyen counter-inquired.

“I guess not, but I would prefer to know,” said Terin.

“Well, you will be responsible for your own escape. I shall take our fellows in the center of town out. You’ll find a sword for you in the barracks.”

Terin asked, “Why should I use another sword, can't I use my own?” Having said this he reached for his belt and discovered to his horror that his sword was gone.

“A light-fingered thief stole it as you crossed the bunkers.” Reiyen said calmly.

“Show him to me and I’ll kill him with my bare hands.” Terin replied, growing red in the face and obviously angry.

“It would prove better to use the sword. I should like to help you retrieve it, but I must be off. When I am needed, I shall come, and where I am required, there shall I aid.” With this Reiyen got up and walked out of the barracks.

The three remaining men went to the slightly ajar door and peered through the crack between it and the door frame. They saw Reiyen gather the friendly townspeople about him and raise his staff. As Reiyen did so a small thin beam of light began to grow from the staff. It crawled along the ground towards the walls until it reached half-way there. When the light reached the half-way point, it broke from Reiyen’s staff and made a dash for the wall. Upon the light’s arrival at the wall the wall split and made a narrow opening. Next, the men from the center of town along with Reiyen made straight through the crack.

“Well, isn’t Reiyen wonderful? He goes and takes half the town out, but leaves us behind. Not only that, he has left us without a wizard!” said Drune exasperatedly.

“Well, he said we’ll be responsible for our own escapes, so let us be about it,” Achpollo said.

That is all I can bear to show you... please no laughing, hahaha. The rest just gets worse. Tomorrow I will give you some of the new version of events, hopefully early in the morning, since blogging is pretty much my first activity upon waking up.