prologue for a longer piece, |
A Lone Man Walks A Dark Road Prologue: Duggan tossed some worm eaten wood upon the blaze. It roared upward. Sending showers of hot embers into the chill night. They flared erratically on the wind giving them the illusion of brief life. The men's hands reached hungrily for the blazes' warmth. Duggan narrowly eyed the stranger among them, standing silently, unmoving, his black cloak flowing restlessly with the wind. The stranger's sharp weathered features were shrouded, almost guarded by the encroaching shadows. His unnatural stillness made Duggan uneasy. "Give us a tale stranger, something to keep our minds from this damnable night air and you may share our feast." Duggan Said "A fine feast it shall be… but speak not lightly of night airs gentleman. For I venture, many here among your company have felt the wraith of night airs. Beware gentleman! Have you not felt the eyes of darkness upon you while walking in the wild wood?" Said the dark stranger. The rugged band of hunters looked cautiously about nodding their heads in silent agreement. The dark stranger began again, "Within this very glade, amidst these ancient standing stones, your ancestors worshipped at the feet of the Elder Gods. Unnaturally malignant forces wretched from the black belly of sulfurous chaos herself. Beings ancient before the creation of our world that enviously watched as men rose from the mud of the living earth." "Hear ye now ancestors of the first men, your progenitors tried heroically to fend off these Elder Gods, desperate to end the torment unleashed by their fiendish depravity. But all their efforts were as naught, until in the end they were forced to make an unholy pact. This pact gentleman is now null and void. Beware some still lurk unbound, searching the world for victims to quench their ravenous thirst for innocent life-blood. Preying upon unsuspecting travelers feeding their insatiable hunger for tender human flesh." "Enough! Pagan mummery" Duggan said "Come now! Give us a tale." "Very well," The stranger said with a eerie tone that made even the hulking Duggan shudder. “ I have Just the Tale for you Lads, Its called ‘A Lone Man Walks a Dark Road.’” |