Day 2 continued: 10th of Malachite, 200
After his brave theft from Bronze King Murime, the oral tradition of the kobolds would forever name him as "Deebus Katdireser", or Deebus Glimmerglittered, for the glittering treasure he brought for the enjoyment of his people.
At the time, however, the glory of Deebus's exploits were somewhat hampered by a concerning matter. His left little finger still hurt from the unfortunate encounter with the horse, with the nail still smashed and the flesh underneath raw. What was worse, though, was that the skin around the wound had begun to turn green. There was a throbbing pain coming from the finger, and it had been feeling sore for a while now. Though it hampered him only slightly now, Deebus could only wonder and worry if it could get worse.
Still, his spirits could only be dampened by that for so long. In good cheer he soon set forth again, heading northeast as he judged by the sun. Along the way, he was accosted by terrible vermin.
Deebus had attempted to sneak past the rabbits, and possibly bag one of them to restock on meat, but the rabbit he was dealing with had sharper senses than most. And bigger muscles, too. For instead of running at the approach of danger, it laughed. Taking Deebus quite by surprise and nearly banishing his adventuring enthusiasm, the rabbit buck buck-kicked him square in the chest, knocking him over. Deebus countered with a glancing blow to it's head. The rabbit only kept coming, not caring about mere torn fat.
Recovering from being stunned, however, Deebus soon ended the fight. No matter how valiant, a rabbit is no match for a silver spear. With it's guts now spilled on the grass, Deebus took a moment to honor his worthy opponent. Then off he crept again, for there isn't much on a rabbit for eating.
After a few hours of creeping through the hills, Deebus came to a stream. He had stopped a few times earlier to swim in a muddy pond, but he now realized that the water from those made him smell bad. Swimming in those had been alright, though they were disgusting, but now he wondered about crossing this. Unlike the ponds, this water ran, and Deebus had never swam in running water before. It seemed a bit dangerous to try. Perhaps he should follow the bank until he found a way around, and journey in another direction?
Then again, he had just stolen from a powerful creature. Though Murime seemed like he might not notice much, it seemed like a good idea to put as much distance from Oilnail as he could and stay away for a while. Deebus then saw that a flock of kea were resting near by. These horrible grey parrots had wicked hooked beaks and were nearly his size. That settled it; he needed to get further away from the river without going closer to the shrine.
Surprisingly, Deebus found that the current was gentle and managed to cross without incident. The going was tough, though, and he wondered if he could stand up to a stronger current, or what to do if the next one was full of animals.
At noon, Deebus came to The Spattered Forest. Soon, under the eaves of the trees, Deebus became lost and though he was sure it was still just after noon, he decided to make camp and wait for tomorrow. He was tired, and wanted to have a good look at his finger. Following tradition, he set a ring of fires about him to ward off evil spirits. In the morning, he woke up to the dying fires and found that his finger had not gotten any better.
Day 3
After leaving the forest, Deebus was no longer lost and determined that he was now west of the direction he had been heading. Furthermore, he had found himself back in a frozen place.
This one was different than the one before though. The whole seemed to be a deep bowl-like basin or valley, sloping gently downward. It stretched to the horizon, same as before, but this time there were no trees. The view was not unbroken, as there were tall cliffs of what looked like pure ice, but under the snow there was no grass or soil; just ice.
Deebus strolled wonderingly down into the bowl. A land of only ice? Who could have imagined such a thing! And yet, here it was, and here he was. Deebus was warm in his cloak, and it seemed a relief to crunch through the snow in his boots, no longer barefoot. Perhaps nothing can live in such a place? he thought, reflecting on the lack of any kind of vegetation. Maybe here he could stop creeping, and perhaps walk without fear for a while. So he did, and set out on a much faster, carefree pace.
In just a few happy, carefree steps, the bear was brought into Deebus's view. It was huge, huger by far than any other animal Deebus had seen. It was not the incomprehensible vastness of the Bronze King, but it was still a barely-comprehensible hugeness of white fur and thick, shaggy limbs. The whole thing seemed like a great beast made of fluffy snow. It had two tiny, glistening black eyes amid a huge muzzle that gave off every impression of hiding a fearsome set of teeth. What was not hidden were the long, black claws on its huge paws.
Deebus saw the bear. The bear saw Deebus. They remained frozen, looking at each other for a few moments.
The bear barreled towards Deebus. Mind blanking, Deebus picked up a chunk of ice and hurled it at the bear, to his surprise striking it directly in the front of the chest and eliciting a gasp. Having some of the wind knocked out of it only seemed to slow its charge, and before Deebus knew it the bear was upon him.
It swatted him in the chest with it's huge paw, but due to the cloak and thick bone chestplate, all the force of the blow merely sent him flying backwards instead of caving in his ribs. When it came upon him again, he stabbed it full in the chest, piercing the right lung. It recoiled from him and then slumped a few paces away.
Seeing his enemy flee, Deebus went on the offensive. This proved quite foolhardy though, as the bear was by no means subdued yet. It swatted him to the ground once more, and turned around to disembowel the kobold. Deebus caught her teeth with his iron shield, however, and stabbed it in the front leg. The bear lashed at him in pain, but this too was blocked. This time, Deebus was the one to try the disembowling. He lunged forward, sinking the spear into the bear's belly and tearing her guts. The bear vomited and staggered, charging at Deebus in her rage.
She barreled into him and sent them both tumbling. She got up first and tried to scramble away from this crazy little creature, but Deebus yelled and leaped upon her with the spear. This caught her full in the left front leg, biting into the bone and sending her painfully crashing down. Now Deebus stood over the bear, and raised up his spear to strike at the chest. His spear caught her paw, however, and shattered the bone. The bear rolled around, convulsing in pain and nausea. It was nearly helpless now, and Deebus closed in to strike again.
Quickly he bashed her in the head, then brought the point around and stuck her in the belly again. He twisted the spear deep into the abdomen then lept back before one of the bear's increasingly weakened swipes could hit him. He rolled around to the side of her and stabbed her back paw, slowing her down more.
Still she kept lunging toward him with her remaining mobility, scattering the snow each time. But at last she passed out from pain, and Deebus drove the spear deep into her throat. She bleed out, forming a great patch of red snow.
Deebus removed his weapon from the bear's throat and wiped off the blood in the snow. He was covered in vomit and blood, and a great beast lay dead at his feet.
And the day had barely begun.
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Topic: The journey of Deebus, a kobold story. (Read 192959 times)