Flashback The Mountain Cat and the Meadow

Niall comes close to death in this short adventure.

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The Kingdom of Sultros is made up of five cities; Sultros, Vizerian, Coglias, Terras and Pitrius along with their own Citadels. In addition, the Kingdom encompasses hundreds of square miles of mountainous, nearly inhospitable land. Trading posts, border posts and a number of unique, exotic and often dangerous sites exist both above ground and below.

The Mountain Cat and the Meadow

Postby Niall Hammerfist on October 22nd, 2013, 4:43 am


45th fall 507 av.

Niall felt his insides tumble over themselves as he flew through the air. The thought of just how quickly the ground was coming up to meet him, weighed heavily on his mind. The sudden rush when his body hit the snowy dirt of the Oathos Circle drove the wind out of him and for the briefest of moments he questioned why he said yes to sparring practice with Yalani. Oh yes, she was painfully beautiful he thought to himself in retrospect.

The mussed dirt of the fighting ring was cold, hard and unforgiving when he landed. His fall left him gasping and disoriented. He had not expected Yalani to throw him, let alone that she even had the ability to throw his weight. Granted she was about the same size as Niall, and he had overextended in his strike.

The young Isur grunted and heaved as he lifted his battered body up off the cold ground. “A-“ he gasped “- good toss.” He struggled to speak as he lifted himself to his feet. He brought his practice sword up in a classic stance of readiness even though he felt as though the last hit he had taken, had winded him badly. He took every moment he could manage to recover while he watched Yalani. He could see her assessing his stance for an opening, and he maneuvered to keep her disadvantaged.

She prowled around him, poised to strike, like a mountain cat. He could almost imagine her back arching like a spring of metal prepared to propel her forward into him. The thought of Yalani naked throwing herself at him brought a smile to his face, which was a bad move. Niall knew better, but he didn’t have time to regret his action. Yalani vaulted forward practice sword ready to strike, and his smile vanished.

With a swift motion, Niall brought his practice sword up and diverted Yalani’s strike out and away from his core, and used his shoulder as a break for her forward momentum. He had no idea how heavy she would be when she collided with him, bringing her full weight down. He had not thought to divert her momentum as well, which brought the pair of them crashing down together to the snow covered dirt. He scrambled to recover, but he was too slow to prevent Yalani from rolling on top of him.

Niall was not ready yet to admit defeat. Desperate to keep fighting he tried to bring up his sword for a strike. That was until Yalani brought her knee down on the wrist of his sword arm. Stubborn as always he refused to submit. The young Isur grit his teeth against the pain and forced his attention to his attacker. She had brought her sword up ready to finish him and Niall had moments only to bring his black arm up in defense. The loud clack of her sword hitting his arm echoed out of the combat circle and he lifted his knee ready to push the pair of them into a roll.

Yalani was unrelentingly aggressive in her attack. She was already about to bring her practice sword back down on the young Isur in another crippling strike, though Niall was ready for it. In a desperate tactic to stall her attack, he grabbed the wrist of her sword arm. It was then that he threw his own weight into a roll forcing Yalani to go with him. The pair struggled in their grappled state each trying to force the other off, or onto the ground.

The young Isur saw a strange distraction in Yalani’s eyes that betrayed a moment of weakness and Niall threw her off. He rolled away into a crouch, sword at the ready. He shook his head trying to figure out what that look had been, and why it felt so familiar. Though, his pondering would have to wait. He didn’t have long before the woman was after him again, her sword striking from the side. He watched her over extend and he knew that now was his chance. He brought his blade up easily and their swords clacked loudly before he gave her weapon a hard upward shove in an attempt to loosen it from her grip.

To Niall’s satisfaction the wooden blade was jostled from Yalani’s grip and the practice weapon flew wide of the ring. Battered and bloody Niall brought his practice blade to his opponent’s throat in a slow mock killing stroke. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off and Niall thought he might have bruised some ribs. The ache in his side was starting to make breathing difficult, but he had won.

“Yield.” He said, as he gasped for breath. Yalani smirked at him obviously frustrated, and nodded begrudgingly. “That’s great, because I think I might have to lie down and die now.” He said as he crumpled under his own weight. His chest was on fire! The young Isur coughed painfully into his hand. Oddly, his skin there was very wet. Morbidly curious, he opened his hand confused at what he could have coughed up that would leave his hand feeling wet. “Pech, that can’t be good.” He said looking at the red viscous fluid that could only be phlegm mixed with blood all over his hand.

Niall’s attention was so focused on his hand that he barely noticed Yalani’s swoop in. She caught him as he fell to his knees and propped up his weight easily. Typically Niall would have complained, though he was far more concerned about the lack of breath he had at his command. He gasped hard and found he couldn’t breathe, his fear was starting to make him panic. His eyes met with Yalani’s and panic washed over his face.

“Sulos! Hammer Sulos!” Yalani shouted out in desperation as she laid him down with his head resting on her lap. Niall looked up into her icy blue eyes and smiled. He couldn’t imagine a place he would rather be. The thing that frustrated him though was that he might die like this, and he wanted so much more time with her.

Niall’s father appeared as a silhouette behind Yalani’s beautiful face. He almost wanted him to go away, because just at that moment the young Isur could see the thing in Yalani’s eyes he had thought he’d seen earlier. Was it concern? The Mountain Cat, was concerned for him! He motioned for them to come close and he whispered through the gurgles of blood. “I can die now.” He grinned, his teeth stained with blood.

With that Sulos scooped him up in his arms and growled ferociously. “Don’t talk like that you little nipper. You are not going to die so easily. You better have a life of at least some suffering ahead of you.” Sulos said as he carried him out of the ring. Niall heard the casual and mirthful tone in his father’s words, but somehow it felt oddly enough like his father was challenging him to live, and Niall would not have that. The young Isur coughed up a large bloody mouthful of phlegm and spat it out over his shoulder onto the snowy ground.

“I can’t die yet. You haven’t told me about mom.” He whispered painfully. The moment the words left his mouth he wished he had taken them back. His father quickened his pace and his mirthful face had turned ashen. He watched his father briefly and Niall was struck by how stupid he was. He wished he could have taken it back, but it was too late. He looked at his father’s face and felt a great swell of sympathy. He had wronged him, and the last thing a father should hear from their dying son is something endearing and loving.

“Dad, I” Niall felt sleepiness wash over him as he felt his father’s pace quicken into a jog. He tried to talk over the jostling motion but it was difficult. He wasn’t sure what to say, he didn’t want to die but if he did, he wanted to die with honor. “Dad, you helped me win to-“ Niall’s voice gurgled into a whisper “-day” and with that final word, the young Isur blacked out.

~

Niall awoke in a mountain meadow. The sun was warm on his face and the sky was an endless blue. He seemed to been laid out on a bed of moss and wildflowers, which was odd as it was the nearly winter. It didn’t make sense. He rose slowly, and found that he felt no pain. So Strange. He looked about himself confused. Something was wrong, how did he get here? He was looking at a strangely familiar flower standing out above the rest in the short hardy grass. When he heard someone say his name. The voice sounded familiar but Niall couldn’t place it in his memory.

“Niall.” Her voice sounded sad, and tired. As he turned, he was not ready for what he saw. The Isurian woman stood barefoot in the grass. Her skin was white marble. Her silvery veins stood out darker against her skin. She wore a simple white dress of silk that billowed slowly in the breeze. Its movement was unnatural, and hypnotic. Though, Niall was more concerned with her face, as it held that strange familiarity he had felt. It was almost physically painful, as it tugged at his gut. Her arm was similar to his own jet black limb, with her silvery veins running throughout. Yet it was lacking the shade of green that his would reveal under intense light.
His lips parted as if he thought he might say something, though all that came was breath. His head listed to the side and he felt all he could do was stare at her.

“You are taller than I expected you would be.” She said, a sad smile forming on her lips. Her beauty was like first light after a dark night, yet something about her made Niall hold his feet where they were. “We don’t have much time, Niall. But I knew one day I might meet you here.” She seemed desperate, and Niall finally thought he knew why. Her white dress was beginning to become sullied by a wound in her abdomen. Her blood was staining the purity of her dress! Niall dropped all his concerns and ran to her side, helping her to the ground in a comfortable resting position.

He was looking at her wound confused at what he saw. It was not a wound in her abdomen, but lower. It dawned on him what it had to be and his concern turned to outright fear. That was when she touched his face. The gentle touch of her pale hand brought his scrubby face to look into her eyes and then he realized why she looked so familiar. Her eyes were his own.

Suddenly Niall’s ribs erupted in agonizing pain, and he looked down to see that his sparring wound was gushing blood. He tried to staunch the flow of blood with his hand and failed, each time his hand made contact it was too slippery to hold it in place.

“Niall we are out of time. I love you! I will see you again. Tell your father. Tell him I-“


Niall awoke with a start. He could feel the ache in his belly and knew he was alive. He tried to remember what he had seen, what he had heard in his dream, but it wisped away from him like smoke in the wind. He tried to stir, though his wound flared into an agonizing fire of pain. It was then that he felt a firm hand hold his shoulder down, pinning him firmly to the bed he was on.

“Don’t move son. Your ribs broke. One of them punctured your lung.” He felt the hand release some of its pressure and he could smell the fowl water of a healing brew under his nose. The Despised liquid reminded Niall of sickness, but he knew better than to refuse to drink it. He let the fowl fluid flow past his gums and down his gullet. Reflexively he stuck out his tongue. It warmed him to his core and he realized how cold he felt.

“I’m cold dad.” He said trying to shrink beneath the bear skin blankets of his bed. He felt the weight of another bear skin blanket fall upon him gently. It didn’t do much good. The cold felt as though it was in his bones. “How am I? What happened after?” He said as he struggled to find the strength to get comfortable.

“Dawkin had some healing ability he had left over from his days he spent in the Pitrius Reliquary. He apparently studied there briefly before he dropped out, and abandoned his work at the tower. I told him he was an idiot if he was mining instead of studying at the tower.” Sulos said, his voice sounded guarded, though Niall could hear the relief in his words.

“I’ll have to forge him a fresh pick.” Niall said in a growing whisper. The pair shared the silence for a moment, and for reasons Niall wasn’t sure, he spoke. “Father?” He hesitated, it felt odd saying it, but his mind didn’t feel like his own. “I love you.” He said, even though the words didn’t feel like he was speaking them. He heard the heavy footsteps of his father walking across the wooden floor of his room, and felt a strangely familiar touch on his forehead. He could feel his father’s warm hand against his cold head.

“I love you too Son.” He heard him whisper. With that final word Niall felt exhaustion wash over him, and he succumbed to the need for sleep.

~

Niall woke up in the early morning feeling warm, at last. Somewhere in his conscious mind he remembered that he had heated up some time in the middle of the night, he just wasn’t sure how. His bed felt cramped for some reason, as if it were half the size it had been when he could remember when he had laid down in it last. Perhaps the extra blanket was to blame.

Though, blankets didn’t breathe soft warm breaths on you. Niall had not been sure he had even felt it at first. That is until he timed it out in his head counting the ticks between the soft breezes against his neck. His eyes drifted sideways and his astonishment came out in a gasp. A gasp which Niall wished he had contained. The pale skin and Crimson hair of Yalani Stormcrown rested at his side. His gasp had woken her from her slumber beside him.

They stared at each other awkwardly a moment and he found that words escaped him. Why was it when the woman he had been chasing after for years was laid out beside him and he could do nothing but stare at her like she had sprouted a new head on her naked shoulder. Naked shoulder? Niall thought his boney brow lowering in thought. When it dawned on him his mouth opened in astonishment.

This reaction seemed to amuse The Mountain Cat who simply smiled at his awkwardness cruelly. He lay there in silence more confused than he could have ever imagined possible, until at last, awkwardly he spoke. “So.” He almost opened up with ‘come here often’ which he struck from his repertoire permanently. “Are you?“ He managed to say.

“Yup.” She grinned at him reveling in his awkwardness. He could feel her arm resting against his chest and how hot it was.

His cheeks grew to a russet red and another thought occurred to him. “Am I?” He stammered.

“Yup.” She said as she rested her head against his shoulder. Her sanguine locks tickled his neck which Niall couldn’t help but shiver at. The movement reminded him of the ache in his side. Oddly enough it didn’t feel so bad right now. His heart rate had risen steadily as their conversation had carried on in its disastrous awkwardness.

“Did we?” He said as he shut his eyes, his mind unclear as to whether he wanted to know the answer or not.

“No.” She said rolling away from him and out of his bed. “But would that have been so terrible?” He watched her in silence as she dressed herself in her furs, Gilles, and armor. Her leaving was almost more painful than the wound in his side, though he was desperate for this awkwardness to end.

“Yes.” He said without thinking through what it might be perceived at meaning. He watched Yalani pause and turn, a look of outrage on her face, and Niall scrambled to find the words. Fortune smiled on him this morning as a silver tongued response formulated in his head to save his hide. “After all,” he said turning his head to the side. He focused on the ceiling trying to appear confident in his words. “I would want to remember if we did.” The thought made him smile.

He heard The Mountain Cat’s breathy giggle and turned to see her holding her stomach in suppressed laughter. Her mood though did nothing to amuse Niall, whose face became more sour with frustration every passing moment. When her giggling died to a few placid sighs and she visibly wiped a tear from her eye. She smiled at him with an mirthful grin.

“Perhaps one day you’ll have your chance.” She said. With her lured tease delivered she darted from the room, her family sword and sheath in hand.

He watched the door frame of his room a moment, a feeling of inexplicable satisfaction in his soul. The door of the forge had slammed loudly behind her. Like some sort of stalking wolf, his father appeared there in his room’s doorframe staring after her. Niall watched as Sulos’ attention turned back to his son. They shared an awkward moment until at last Niall broke the Silence.

“What?!” He said in challenge to his father’s smirking face.

“Oh nothing.” His father said, and with all the spring in his step of a kid he watched his father leave his door empty yet again.

“What is wrong with everyone today?” Niall struggled to bring his arms up and his hands behind his head in support. “Or maybe it’s me.” He said a budding smile ever growing on his face.

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Niall Hammerfist
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The Mountain Cat and the Meadow

Postby Caelum on January 6th, 2014, 7:38 pm

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Niall



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Flirting +1
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Enduring A Punctured Lung




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Adorable. You know the drill. ;) Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
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