{"id":3276,"date":"2016-03-15T00:01:16","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T04:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tellest.com\/?p=3276"},"modified":"2016-03-31T07:55:38","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T11:55:38","slug":"hunt-in-the-valley-of-mist-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/hunt-in-the-valley-of-mist-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunt in the Valley of Mist, Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hunt in the Valley of Mist
\n<\/strong>A Story by Aaron Canton
\n-Part One-<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kelten was kneeling to examine faint bloodstains on the forest floor when he heard a cry behind him.<\/p>\n

The mercenary whipped around and drew his broadsword before running back around a bend in the path to see the rest of his party. Tark, the porter, was holding his shoulder and crying as a trickle of blood flowed from it, but Kelten\u2019s partners Malcolm and Sarassa were laughing at him instead of moving to help. Only Chrysanthemum \u2018Chrys\u2019 Valmour, the newest member of Kelten\u2019s team, had gone to his side. \u201cAre you all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn it!\u201d whimpered Tark. He lifted a shaking hand and pointed it at a tree that stood next to the narrow path taking them through the Valley of Mist. The fog that gave the region its name made it hard to see, but Kelten could make out a thin blade jammed hilt-first into the bark. Tark had undoubtedly walked too close to it and been stabbed. \u201cDamn harpy!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we said to stay in the middle of the path,\u201d taunted Malcolm as he smirked at Tark. He was a big, broad-shouldered man with a thick beard and a massive battle axe on his back. \u201cYou know. The part Kelten cleared. What, didn\u2019t you listen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tark groaned and said nothing. Chrys helped wipe his wound clean, then swept her blond hair out of her eyes and gave the others an uneasy look. \u201cThat knife could be poisoned. Maybe we should go back to Caledos.\u201d She dropped one hand to the repeating crossbow on her belt as if worried about an ambush. \u201cJust in case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the harpy gets away,\u201d snapped Sarassa, a bulky and muscular woman who carried a long pike in her left hand. \u201cAnd the ten thousand gold coins we\u2019re being paid for this job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can find another harpy. The merchant said he wants one, but he didn\u2019t say it had to be a specific\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelten cut her off with a shake of his head. \u201cHarpies are rare in these parts. We were lucky to see one so soon, and even luckier I brought her down with one shot.\u201d He tapped the longbow on his back. \u201cShe\u2019s clearly hurt too badly to fly away, or she\u2019d have done it already. We just have to get past these makeshift traps she\u2019s made, find her, and bag her. We\u2019re too close to give up now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chrys looked hesitant, but Malcolm slung a big arm over her shoulder. \u201cHey. We\u2019ve been doing this for years. Anyone who wants a monster for their mantle, we bring one back for \u2018em. We know what we\u2019re doing.\u201d Sarassa flashed a grin in Chrys\u2019 direction as Malcolm went on. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken down minotaurs, elves, even rhinotaurs in full armor. Ain\u2019t no harpy that can stand up to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBesides,\u201d added Sarassa, \u201cDaragal\u2019s one of the most prominent merchants in Western Raleigh. We close a deal with him, we could get some major contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chrys\u2019 worried expression faded slightly, but Tark snapped, \u201cDon\u2019t I get a say? I\u2019m hurt! We should go back! We\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou aren\u2019t part of this group,\u201d said Kelten in a tired voice, wishing he was dealing with the harpy\u2019s traps instead of the whining man in front of him. \u201cWe hired you to carry our supplies through the valley. But seeing as how you\u2019ve complained, wasted time, and been generally useless\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not useless!\u201d roared Tark. \u201cI\u2019m as good as any of you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen prove it,\u201d said Sarassa. Kelten paused, seeing a smirk on his partner\u2019s face, which he knew meant she was up to something. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you take the lead for the next hour? If you\u2019re really that good, you should be able to track a dying harpy and dodge a few traps, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tark hesitated. For a moment, Kelten wondered if the porter considered running away and abandoning his twenty percent of the ten thousand gold coins the group would be paid for bringing Daragal a pair of genuine harpy wings. But Tark jerked his head in a fast nod. \u201cFine!\u201d he shouted, storming down the path. \u201cYou\u2019ll see you need me!\u201d<\/p>\n

The mercenaries watched him go before Chrys asked hesitantly, \u201cIs he good at finding traps?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably not,\u201d said Sarassa.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Another scream echoed through the woods, and when the group rushed ahead, they saw Tark lying on the ground with his throat cut. Next to the path was a tree with a long branch that had a knife tied to its end. Kelten could see at a glance how the branch had been pulled back and secured with a tripwire and how Tark had blundered through the tripwire, released the branch, and been practically decapitated by the knife.<\/p>\n

Chrys gasped, but Kelten only looked at the body dispassionately. Though he\u2019d been choked up by such things a long time ago, now that his face was lined and his hair had gone grey with age, he\u2019d seen too many partners die to particularly care about one he barely knew. \u201cWe\u2019ll leave the supplies,\u201d he said. \u201cGet them on the way back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds good.\u201d Malcolm tested the edge of his axe on his hand. \u201cCan\u2019t be long now, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Chrys still looked anguished, so Sarassa moved to her side and said, \u201cAny ideas how you\u2019ll spend your extra five hundred gold?\u201d She winked. \u201cClothes? Wine? A nice horse?\u201d<\/p>\n

The rookie mercenary was silent for a few seconds but slowly relaxed as a smile crept over her face. \u201cYou know, I have<\/em> wanted a good horse for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere we go.\u201d Sarassa looked at Kelten. \u201cTark was useless anyways. Ready to move on?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelten\u2019s only response was to wave them forwards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hunt in the Valley of Mist A Story by Aaron Canton -Part One-   Kelten was kneeling to examine faint bloodstains on the forest floor when he heard a cry behind him. The mercenary whipped around and drew his broadsword before running back around a bend in the path to see the rest of his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[349,145,146],"tags":[273,1235,149,1234],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Short-Story-Panel.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1UVey-QQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3277,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions\/3277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}