August Teaser: New Moon Rising

Ellesbeth finished building the campfire and stood up, dusting her hands. She glanced over at the smaller of her companions, who was hunched over on the ground, apparently occupied with something in front of him. She stepped around to get a better look, and saw that he was pulling a very large beetle from its hiding place underneath a rock. She averted her eyes, but she could still hear the crunch when the Drudge bit down on his evening meal.

"Gurgur, it is time for me to go," she said as she shouldered her pack. The Drudge stuffed the rest of the beetle in his mouth with a wet smack and looked up at her, squinting his eyes against the waning light of dusk, one large ear twisting backwards with the motion of his head.

"You gone three days, yes, Ellesbeth?" He stumbled a little over her name, but he was definitely getting better at pronouncing it.

"Right. I'll be in Cragstone for three days, but I will meet you at sundown in Linvak Tukal on the third day. Where is Shonossar?"

Gurgur waved his hand vaguely. "Shonossar go talk to self again. Gone a while. Must have lots to say to self today."

Ellesbeth laughed. "I think Shonossar calls it 'meditation.' It is simply a technique popular among his people to focus their strength and energy."

"Bah. He talk to self. No one else to listen. Maybe he say to himself, 'Focus strength and energy now.'"

"I am sure, at the end, that's what it amounts to."

The third member of the group, the Empyrean named Shonossar, approached from the rocky outcropping upon which he had observed his evening meditation.

"So, Ellesbeth. Enjoy your sojourn to Cragstone, and we will see you in the Lugian city three days hence. May the Light shine on your travels." The hieromancer bowed deeply.

Ellesbeth picked up her bow and bowed back. "Thank you for the well wishes, Shonossar." She looked between the two of them, trying to hide her amusement at their incongruity. Shonossar was three times the height of Gurgur. "You two...Well, I'm sure the two of you will have an interesting time together." She shook her head.

Gurgur's eyes narrowed. "What that supposed to mean? Big smart Empyreeman too good to get along with little Drudge when Human not around? Gurgur not wear all the fancy clothes or carry shiny ball for magic, but Gurgur hit you hard enough to turn your eyes backward!" Gurgur shook his weapon for emphasis, a truly fearsome-looking board with nail that looked like it weighed half as much as its wielder. The nail still carried a tuft of fur and gore from their last kill, a Vorous Shreth that had taken issue with their choice of resting spot. At the very least, if the impact from Gurgur's weapon didn't kill you, the ensuing infections would.

Ellesbeth raised her hands, laughing, as Shonossar sighed. "Gurgur, allow me to be the first to say that I am very very glad that the New Drudge Republic has made peace with us. I remember some harrowing encounters against your, ah, cousins in the Drudge Citadel, and I am grateful to have you as an ally instead of an enemy."

Gurgur still looked suspicious, but he shrugged. "Good to know. I not all that eager to have burning arrow buried in my backside. Not second time, anyway."

With that, Ellesbeth saluted her companions and began a brisk run toward the nearest portal. After her departure, Shonossar and Gurgur regarded each other. This would, indeed, be their first time together as a patrol group without their Human cohort.

Shonossar broke the silence first. "We should take this time to get to know a little about each other, Gurgur."

"What you want to know?" Gurgur asked, suspiciously.

"Well, what made you want to serve as a Warder?" The Empyrean folded his long limbs and sat down before the campfire.

Gurgur shrugged. "Since days of being little, Gurgur always good fight. Gurgur's brother named Toothless Durgur because of Gurgur. When we fight for freedom, start New Drudge Republic, shaman say it good idea for fighters to join Warders. We show them we not enemies, we help fight enemies."

"So it was a sense of duty that compelled you."

Gurgur nodded. "Duty, and bash heads. Bash heads for duty." He burrowed into his pack for a strip of dried meat and bit off a hunk. "Now, my question time. What it for when you med-it-tate?"

Shonossar took a deep breath. "My people have been away from this world for a very, very long time. So much has changed. So much has been lost. So some of us take some time at moonrise to sit and think deeply, and try to remember things we used to know."

Gurgur looked up at the moon, growing brighter in the darkening sky. "You notice moon brighter now than before? Moon has lights on it. When Gurgur younger, moon have no lights like that."

Shonossar smiled. "I cannot say I have noticed a change in the moon. The moon looks as it has looked since my people came back into this world, just a short time ago. But I can tell you that I look at the moon, with its lights, and feel...comforted."

"Look like someone up there," Gurgur observed.

"Yes it does, Gurgur," Shonossar said. "Yes it does."

Gurgur pointed at the moon. "See that? Shadow on the moon. Hard to see, but it there. Looks like wings. What that thing that fly against moon?"

Shonossar sighed happily. "Gurgur, allow me to tell you a story. You see, long long ago, thousands of years ago, in fact, there were great, magical creatures..."