An Unexpected Meeting

[Uloim]

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Timeline
Chapter I: All was silent...
Chapter II: Remembering the Past
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Chapter III: An Unexpected Meeting
-Prologue-

A green hood pulled over his head, the orange-brown haired dwarf entered the tavern, making not a noise.  Surely if one has been paying any attention, one knows his name by now.  Uloim Oakenshade, it is of course.

Finding a nice, cozy place to rest, the dwarf took a seat near the fireplace.  A spark flickered as it jumped toward the dwarf, and died on the mantle.  Staring into the fire, the dwarf\'s mind was filled with thoughts of recent and not-so-recent happenings.  In a daze he was caught, gazing into the yellow-red flames, blinking not once.

And then something interrupted the stare.

Bonk, bonk.

Two mugs hit the table, spilling drops of ale.  One mug was passed to Uloim, and the other to the man that had set the mugs down.  Human he was (Ylian of course), and very familiar looking.  Uloim examined the man, and looked at the bandage on his forehead curiously.

\"Name\'s Moden.  And yours?\" the man stared at the hooded dwarf.
Under the green fabric came a slightly muffled reply, \"Oakenshade.  Uloim Oakenshade.\"  An eye stared at the man from the shadows cast by the large hood, as if the human was a good friend who wasn\'t seen for ages by the same eye.

The Ylian looked at the hood, blinking once, and began to speak, \"My brother died earlier this morning.\"
\"Oh?\" replied the hood.
The Ylian sighed, \"Aye.  A b*stard tried to murder myself, and my brother fought him off.  The son of a goat killed him and threw him off the northern tower.  I loved my brother dearly, and I\'ll have my vengeance...\"

Uloim\'s eyes widened, but he dared not even twitch.  The dwarf just sat there, and calmly answered, \"I\'m sure yeh will have it when th\'time is right.\"
\"Aye, I\'ll cut his fingers off one by one, tie a rope \'round his neck, and hang him from the very tower he pushed my brother off.\"

Uloim began to grow pale, and wished very much to escape the place.  He knew he would have to do this all ever so calmly and casually, either that or get the Ylian drunk.  So the dwarf sat there, and thought nervously, not making a sound or movement except when he took a sip of his ale.

\"You must have been there at the scene!  You had to have been there...  When I awoke, the whole town was around me and my brother\'s desecrated body.\"

\"Well....\" Uloim began to speak.

[Uloim]

Part I: The Shard

\"Well, what?\" the Ylian leaned a bit closer to the dwarf.
\"I was not there, actually.  Was... doin\' business away from town.\" the dwarf spoke, already at work on the next words which would escape his lips, the lie of course..  \"Tell meh, why aren\'t ye with yer brother righ\' now, preparin\' fer his funeral and burial?\"
\"Pains me too much to think about such things, I\'d rather sit here and drink.\" the Ylian sighed.  \"So, what do you do for a living?  Surely that robe of yours wasn\'t cheap.\"
Uloim lifted the hood from his head, and smiled, \"Call me... a businessman.\"
\"A businessman.\" the Ylian smirked slightly, \"Then perhaps you\'ll help me hunt down the murderer who took my brother\'s life!\"
The dwarf cocked his head, and replied, \"I \'on\'t do that type o\' business, sir.\"
\"Well, what type of business do you do then?  \'Businessman\' just doesn\'t say much to me.\"
\"Well,\" the dwarf smiled weakly, \"I do a bit o\' this, and a bit o\' that.  Haven\'t planted me feet on anythin\' at the moment.  Whatever keeps meat in one hand and ale in the other.\"
The human laughed, and held up his mug, \"Let us drink to that, then!\"

The two mugs hit, and the Ylian engulfed the ale as fast as possible, as the dwarf silently watched.

The human set his empty mug on the table and stood.  \"Stay here, I\'ll get us some more ale.\"

As the Ylian walked away, Uloim swiftly packed his things away in a bag.  The human returned awfully quickly with two new mugs, and looked at the dwarf.  \"Leaving so soon?\"

Two things caught the human\'s eye, and he bent down to get a better look.
\"Your blades, they are a bit... worn.\"
\"Aye, th-\" the dwarf began to reply, but stopped as the human took something out of his pocket.  

A shard of metal.

The human took one of Uloim\'s falchions in one hand and held the shard of metal in his other hand.
\"These... fit together.\" he said, as he fit the shard of metal to the falchion like two puzzle pieces.  He glared into Uloim\'s eyes, \"You were at the northern tower after all.\"

[Uloim]

Part II: Relief

\"Well, err... I...\" Uloim began to panic as he tried to think of an explanation.
\"You did it, didn\'t you.\" the man came to his feet, setting the falchion on the table.  \"You left those marks on the tower!\"
Uloim closed his eyes, as if expecting death to come soon.
The human did not look angry though.  He smiled, \"You must be very strong and agile!  You\'re an acrobat, no?  I myself am an acrobat, and I would love to see you climb the tower again!\"
Uloim took in a deep breath, and nodded. \"Perhaps y\'will.\"  The foolish human did not even put the two together!  It may be easy to get away from him afterall.

\"Sit, please.  Let us finish our drinks first.\" the human gestured to the table, and took his seat.  Uloim did the same, and put his falchion back in his bag, setting the bag close to himself just in case.

\"I am supposed to keep this a secret, but you look like a perfecet candidate to join us!\" Moden (don\'t forget his name!) smiled widely as he spoke.
\"Us?\" Uloim asked curiously.
\"Aye, we are.... well, we do many things.  I suppose a good name for us would be, well... businessmen, like you called yourself.  But before I tell you more, can I trust you?\"
Uloim looked around at the empty place, and nodded.  \"Indeed y\'can.\"
\"Well then...\" Moden grinned, leaning toward the dwarf.

[Uloim]

Part III: The Guildmate

The human spoke to the dwarf in almost a whisper, \"Thieves, brigands, assassins.  We do all the things that others may call \'dirty work\'.\"
Uloim raised a brow, \"And y\'think I would be good at this?\"
\"Indeed.  You see, the man who died was not an actual brother of mine.  He was a good friend, a guildmate.  I came here, waiting for the heat to die down.  I saw you, and you seem to be in perfect physical condition for such a job.  But not only because of that...\"

The human gestured to the green robe wrapped around the dwarf.

\"Your robe... did you kill someone for it, or was it a gift?\"
\"Well, \'twas among me father\'s posessions.\" Uloim replied.  \"He died a while ago, and I took it t\'remember him by.  Why?  Is there somethin\' wrong with a cloak like this?\"
\"Your father... was his name Udan?\" the human\'s eyes widened in an excited manner.
\"Yes!\" Uloim blurted out, and then wished he hadn\'t said that.
\"Udan.... Oakenshade!  So that was his last name.   I didn\'t recognize it because we have a first name only policy....  Uloim, your father was one of us.  One of the sneakiest assassins ever, his skills were many and his style very unique.\"
\"Really... Well, I\'ve got some questions for yeh, then!\"
\"Uloim.\" the human interrupted, \"Did you kill your own father?!\"
\"What?  No, no!  That is why I have questions fer yeh...\" Uloim began speaking.  And then something seemed to shout in his ear.  His eyes widened.

This man was going to kill him.  If he knew of Uloim\'s father\'s death, then he would probably want vengeance.  Afterall, Uloim\'s father was going to kill Uloim himself in the first place.

Uloim grabbed his things, and stood there, his mug still in his hand.

\"So the rumors are true!  Uloim, you are a wanted dwarf.  Your head alone is worth quite a lot of tria.\" The Ylian jumped from his seat, and unsheathed a shortsword.

Uloim gripped the mug tightly.  \"A lot of tria that ye\'ll never see.\"

The mug went hurling at the head of the Ylian.  He ducked, but too late.  The mug exploded as it hit him, and he fell backwards, dangerously close to the fireplace.  The human got up clumsily, and looked around angrilly.

The dwarf was gone.

[Uloim]

Part IV: Flight

Dashing into the alley.  Jumping from a ledge onto a roof.  From roof to roof went the dwarf, not stopping for a thing.

Leaping from one roof to another, the dwarf saw something glimmering in the red-orange light emitted by the azure sun.  A sword!  The same b*stard sword from the Ylian who slipped off the northern tower sitting on a red roof.  Uloim ran by, reached over, and picked it up without slowing down.  The dwarf put the large sword in his bag and continued running.

To the northern part of town headed he, and behind the dwarf came far away shouts.  Why was he heading north?  It was the only place on his mind.  Up the stairs and up the ramp he ran.  Around the tight corner.  \'Round the wall, in the doorway, down the stairs, and into the darkness he went.  Into the dungeon...

The dwarf finally stopped in a dark cavern of the dungeon.  Breathing heavilly, the dwarf leaned against one of the walls, regaining strength.

And then the yelling was heard!

The Ylian chasing Uloim entered the dungeon via the Temple entrance and was catching up!  A very skilled tracker he must have been, to hunt a dwarf in the dungeon halls.

Uloim fled the area, going the only way he knew, toward to northern tower!  Up the ladder he climbed so swiftly, and on the cold, stone stairs went the dwarf running.

The yelling grew louder and louder, and then suddenly stopped!

Up, up, up and up; the dwarf did not cease!  He reached the final ladder and saw the cloak of night above.

The dwarf was halfway up the last ladder before he felt something!

A hand on his ankle.

[Uloim]

Part V: The Struggle

Uloim held on with all his might, but the Ylian was ever stronger.  The dwarf slowly slid down the ladder, one rung at a time, until a sudden burst of energy ripped him from it completely.  Uloim landed on a ledge of stone and wood, on top of Moden.
\"Die!\" whispered the human, pushing Uloim over, toward the end of the ledge, quite a long distance above the ground.

Uloim grabbed the Ylian\'s arms, and thrusted his head forward, headbutting the human.  In a loud \"Oomph!\", the human\'s grip loostened and Uloim escaped, running towards the ladder.  But this time, the dwarf stopped, and turned.  Grabbing something from his bag, the dwarf took a step towards the rising Moden.  Uloim thrusted the b*stard sword forward, but the human dodged it.  Swinging his shortsword so precisely and quickly, Moden slashed Uloim\'s chest, weakly cutting the top layer of the dwarf\'s skin.

\"Gah!!\"

Uloim lifted the large sword with both hands, and realized it was too large.  In one hand he held the hilt, the other was wrapped around the blade.  The two swords clashed, and Uloim leaned forward in attempt to push the human off the ledge, but to no avail!  The large sword was dropped, and from his belt the dwarf unsheathed his two falchions.  The weapons clashed again, the shortsword stuck in a niche in one of the falcions.  With a loud \"AAAAH!!!\", Uloim used all his strength to remove the weapon from his rival\'s hands with his own weapons.  The shortsword fell, bouncing off walls and stairs, down the pit to the bottom of the dungeon tower\'s floors.

The human bent down, grabbing for the b*stard sword!

Shhhink, shhhhink!

\"Ug.....hhhh.....\" the human let out the only air left in his lungs, which were now pierced by the falchions.  Uloim tried to pull the blades out of the body, but both blades broke in half.  Uloim bent down, picking up the b*stard sword, and took something from the ground sitting just next to the dying human.  A paper with an odd symbol printed at the top of it, and writings, a code, below.  Uloim could not understand the code, but he pocketed the paper anyway.  He lifted the sword above the man\'s head, and brought it down after saying, \"I release yeh from yer pain!\".  The head of the human tumbled down the dark pits, never to be seen again by the dwarf.

So Uloim sat there, thinking what had just happened.

[Uloim]

Epilogue

Answers, why did the dwarf not ask for answers before stabbing the man?  But, if he did not attack, would he himself be slain?  He\'d never know.

Looking over the coded paper, the dwarf examined the printed symbol.  It must have been the guild symbol, this guild of.... \"businessmen\".  Uloim killed the only two he knew would have answers for his many questions.  But this would attract more...

Someday soon, more would come, searching for the two Ylians.  And once the news of the deaths would be upon their ears, the \"businessmen\" would be upon Uloim.  And he would be waiting.

And so the dwarf returned to the tavern, to finish the quiet drink he began to have before he was interrupted by this all.

Indeed, he would be waiting.  Indeed.

[Uloim]

Well, I\'m done for now.  I\'ll give people a chance to catch up as I come up with ideas for the rest of the story.

I REALLY need to plan my posts better, I lost quite a bit of my style as I rushed it along...

Sorry about that, but hope you liked it anyways.

[Under the moon]

Yes, it is turning out quite well. Though you are right about the style (as I pointed out). I await to see what missfortunes happless Uloim will face next. (Don\'t rush though!)

[Uloim]

The story continues:

Chapter IV: Conversion

[Karyuu]

You know, I really think it would be better if you stick to one thread, instead of making another for each different chapter... :)