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“Shhh! Quiet now!” Lynair hissed at Gamal and motioned him with his hand to get down behind the cover of the bushes. The two scouts soundlessly crawled up to a fallen tree trunk. It was a bright night and you never knew who else might be wandering in these woods so close to the border lands. Sure, the Human Commander had declared this part of the valley safe and under Human protection, but it was clearly better to be careful, especially if you suddenly heard a woman’s voice softly singing in the middle of the night. After all it might be a vampire or an evil spirit.
Gamal glanced over the trunk. Across from them about 50 metres away there was a small fire burning in a clearing. The singing became louder and clearer. Gamal now recognized it to be in the cursed Magmar tongue. Lynair drew level with him and nodded towards their left: “It’s coming from over that way.” He whispered. Both of the scouts drew their blades, then they quietly and quickly advanced. Another 15 meters closer to the clearing they sought cover behind a hazel thicket. From here they had a clear view of the whole area: A beautiful Magmar woman was preparing food of some kind while softly singing to herself. Gamal sighed: “Wow! Have you ever seen a Magmar wench this sweet?” Lynair was all eyes, hardly cautious anymore and greedily watching the movement of the woman’s bare shoulders. “Have you ever had a Magmar slave?” the old soldier whispered with a grin glinting in the moonlight “I hear they provide some sport, once you have subdued them.” Gamal pulled him back into the shadow of the bushes. “You know we couldn’t keep her to ourselves! Any captive will have to be brought to the captain!” – “Who said anything about taking her in?” Lynair snapped as he shrugged off Gamal’s Hand. “I’d catch her and take her just close enough to the camp, you know, put her up in the old shack at the mine shaft. No one goes there these days, and we could enjoy some fun in our hours of duty. What say you?” Gamal nodded. He too had heard the stories about the hot blooded females of the Magmars.
The two scouts crept nearer still. Five, then ten meters they covered crawling through the undergrowth. In this fashion the circled the clearing until they were just a few yards from the singing beauty. Lynair began pulling a rope from his satchel, while Gamal was watching the woman. “It sure sounds nice, what she’s singing.” he whispered not taking his eyes off her. “Do you know what she is singing about?” Lynair paused for a moment. “I can only make out a fair bit of it, mind.” He answered. “I think it’s a fairy tale of some sort. Going on and on about this one Magmar born from the true lava or something.” He sat down straining his ears and listening some more. “Hm. This character, he’s a true Magmar, she’s singing. Got power and courage in no short supply. Burning eyes and burning hatred of us.” He grinned. Turning his head, he nodded in time with the woman’s tune. “This Mag, he learned to fight in all styles since birth. Became a mighty commander, she says. His foes fear him and his friends love and respect him and that sort of stuff.” He gathered some more of the rope from his pack in silence. “I cannot make out much more, seems she’s going on about his mighty deeds or something.” Gamal nodded. It seemed fitting that such a wonderful creature should be singing praises for a mighty warrior. In his mind she was already singing about himself. “Who is this Mag, she’s singing of?” He asked, his eyes glued to the clearing. Lynair shrugged. “There is a word she keeps repeating that doesn’t make sense to me. And there’s a chorus of some sort ...” he listened for another minute. A gust of wind moved through the trees bending the branches, rattling the leaves. Then Lynair shook his head slightly: “I think I’ve got it. He wields a blade, no, an axe sharper than Striagorn’s talons. He moves swiftly and kills without a word and that’s why the call him...” – A sudden rush of air, a sound like silk being torn, and a low pleasant foreign sounding voice saying “Logus”.
Gamal whipped around only to be faced by a huge axe being held right in front of him blade towards his throat. A huge Magmar warrior was standing over him. “He must have moved with the wind, so we would not hear him. What stealth!” thought Gamal, seeing that Lynair was sitting calmly to his left with a fixed expression on his features. The Magmar followed his gaze, grinned and kicked Lynair on the shin. In slow-motion the body toppled over and Lynair’s head came away from his shoulders rolling to Gamal’s feet who was frozen in shock. “You are in luck, Human.” Said the Magmar. “I was beginning to dread your lot would not give any fight at all and here I find the two of you right at my camp. So tonight I will let you live to carry a message for me: Go to your people and tell them you found the Logus, the slayer, in your woods, your own backyard. Go home and take your friend with you, his stench is already making my pet nervous.” On cue Gamal heard a growl right by his ear. Slowly he turned his head only to be faced with an even more distressing sight than before: A dragon! A damned dragon was sitting right behind him! He hadn’t heard this one either. Cursed be those Magmar devils! Gamal looked back up at Logus, and said with all the defiance he could muster: “I’ll come back for you, you Monster! I’ll come back and avenge Lynair’s death, so Erifarius help me!” – “You do that.” Logus mused. “But be sure to bring some company.” With this he grabbed Gamal with his free hand and shoved him stumbling to his feet, picking up Lynair’s head and throwing it after him added “And don’t you forget your buddy’s body! HaHaHa!” Gamal picked up Lynair and slung him over his shoulder. He spat on the ground in front of the Magmar turned and vanished in the bushes and trees in the next minute.
Logus sighed, shrugged, shouldered his axe and went back to the clearing. He walked over to where he had placed his amour only minutes ago, made himself comfortable and called the woman. She came over carrying his dinner. “I hate it when you use me as bait!” she told him, slapping him lightly on the shoulder but smiling. “Did it work?” –“Yes, dear, I think so.” Logus grinned at her. “You should sharpen your sword, love. My guess is we’ll have plenty of visitors before dawn comes.” She nodded and went over to their packs. Logus took a bite of the meat she had prepared for him, noticed his pet dragon hungrily staring at it and tossed it to him. The dragon fried it extra crispy with a short spell of flaming breath before it even hit the ground. Logus laughed. Life, he decided, sure was good. |
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