\u201cWell, we noticed, so it\u2019s time you get to talking.\u00a0 What fool idea would make you want to come and try to take a legendary metal from people who worship it so?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFine, I\u2019ll tell you.\u00a0 Far to the northeast, across hills and plains and mountains, my aerie is threatened by a giant.\u00a0 Made of frost and ice and cobalt, the beast incites a horde of naga to do its bidding.\u00a0 In years past, the slitherfolk have all but ignored us.\u00a0 But when the giant appeared, they began attacking hunting parties, laying traps, and shooting us from the sky.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe attempted to fell the giant ourselves,\u201d Keota continued.\u00a0 \u201cWe came down upon the naga as one flock when he thundered across the valley.\u00a0 Our greatest warriors broke from battle with the slitherfolk and focused instead on the giant.\u00a0 Spears and halberds and swords were brought to bear against the huge beast, but his ice is impenetrable.\u00a0 He waved off our attacks like we were flies, and he\u2026 he killed one of our greatest warriors.\u00a0 Taleo, son of Maku, was to become legend among our people.\u00a0 His flame burned out too young.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur people fled to the aerie, the one place we would be safe, where we could mourn our losses.\u00a0 Some of our brave managed to collect Taleo\u2019s body from the battlefield, and we held a funeral for him.\u00a0 It seemed that our time had come to an end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat night, though, a whisper came on the wind.\u00a0 It was a call for mythril, the only thing that could pierce through the giant\u2019s icy armor, and shatter its heart.\u00a0 That was weeks ago, and I\u2019ve been searching for it ever since.\u00a0 There\u2019s no telling what\u2019s happened to my people while I\u2019ve been gone.\u00a0 If you\u2019re saying that there is no mythril here, my quest has already failed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mumbles and whispers rose up in the crowd as Keota finished his tale.\u00a0 Like a buzzing hornet\u2019s nest, the clan spoke of the fate that had befallen his people.\u00a0 Words like giant, naga and harpy were uttered from every pair of lips in that crowd.<\/p>\n
Dorn looked to the birdman then, and tapped him on his wing.\u00a0 \u201cYou can\u2019t stay here.\u00a0 All that talk about plucking your feathers?\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t an exaggeration.\u00a0 They think just by you being here that we\u2019ve made an enemy of the giant that\u2019s come after you and your people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keota swallowed away his tension, the downy prominence in his throat lowering as he did.\u00a0 \u201cI never meant to cause any trouble.\u00a0 I\u2019ll leave straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he spread his wings to take flight, he felt Dorn\u2019s hand on his waist.\u00a0 \u201cNot that way,\u201d the dwarf said.\u00a0 \u201cCome on lad,\u201d he grabbed his son.\u00a0 Together, the pair hopped from the pedestal, landing just far enough away from the mob to avoid being pulled into the ruckus.\u00a0 Keota fluttered down beside them, falling into step with the dwarf and his human son as they crossed the rope bridge.<\/p>\n
With the buzzing dwarves behind them, the short trek to the cottage grew quiet.\u00a0 \u201cGiants were a mere fairytale to these folk before you arrived,\u201d Dorn said.\u00a0 \u201cWe told stories about them to keep our children from wandering too far from home, or disobeying their elders too boisterously.\u00a0 But now you\u2019ve taken those quiet little tales and made them real. \u00a0And with the naga\u2026\u201d\u00a0 He sighed, composing himself as he reached the cottage.\u00a0 \u201cWe already have too great an enemy in the harpies.\u00a0 One day, they will come back, and when they do, we mustn\u2019t be weakened by the\u2014what did you call your people again?\u201d<\/p>\n
Keota warbled something indiscernible in reply.\u00a0 Met by curious glances and arched eyebrows, he shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cAnytime we met with the human traders, they addressed us as avarians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWell, we noticed, so it\u2019s time you get to talking.\u00a0 What fool idea would make you want to come and try to take a legendary metal from people who worship it so?\u201d \u201cFine, I\u2019ll tell you.\u00a0 Far to the northeast, across hills and plains and mountains, my aerie is threatened by a giant.\u00a0 Made of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Lord-of-Thunder-3-1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1UVey-14z","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127"}],"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=4127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4128,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127\/revisions\/4128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}