{"id":354,"date":"2010-11-06T17:47:39","date_gmt":"2010-11-06T21:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=354"},"modified":"2010-11-06T17:47:39","modified_gmt":"2010-11-06T21:47:39","slug":"the-end-of-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=354","title":{"rendered":"The End of Ice"},"content":{"rendered":"

This piece is an excerpt from what I wrote today for NaNo. Context is missing, so here\u2019s a brief run down: Tarranau has been transformed into an \u00c1\u00f0exe, and is journeying through \u00deracian to meet allied spies.<\/em><\/p>\n

\tLooking forward once more, Tarranau was just able to shout a warning as three \u00c1\u00f0exe stepped from behind a closed door, and into their path.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cGuess they want to bring us in earlier than expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe five \u00c1\u00f0exe all drew those strange wood and obsidian swords from underneath their cloaks. Racent\u00e9ah cursed his lack of weapons and crouched down, his teeth baring in an ugly grin.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cCover me.\u201d Tarranau began forming the ice into a heavy mace, more serviceable against the hides of their enemies.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWith what, you fool?\u201d<\/p>\n

\tTarranau ignored the response and spent a ball of ice whipping down from the ceiling at the two \u00c1\u00f0exe behind them. The first never saw it coming, and his head was stove in with the first blow. The second shouted and dodged aside from the lashing blow, tumbling to the ground. Racent\u00e9ah took that opportunity to dive at him, and they engaged in a crashing, tumbling wrestling match of gnashing teeth and rending claws.<\/p>\n

\tTurning his attention to the three in front, the watermage was forced to duck away as one of the obsidian swords whizzed past, but not before it clipped him on the shoulder, leaving a bright red gash. All three of the warriors charged him, and he could do little more than run before their assault. He flipped the ball of ice over his head at them, but they were able to dodge it easily, for he had not thrown it with much force. A strike lash it at Tarranau’s back, and he dove to the ground to get away from it.<\/p>\n

\tAn \u00c1\u00f0exe thudded down on top of him, his mouth open wide to bite out the human’s throat. Grasping him with all four arms, Tarranau was able to hold the creature back, long enough for the watermage to crush his foe’s skull with the mace of ice. Seeing their friend fall, the other two \u00c1\u00f0exe slash at Tarranau with their swords. Able to roll away from one, the other caught him in the thigh, leaving a deep gash that bled profusely.<\/p>\n

\tFlinging the ice mace at them, the watermage reached out with his talent and grabbed at the water within the \u00c1\u00f0exe, pulling it from them. Both staggered when they felt Tarranau’s attacked, and then they charged, for they could tell he was weakening them somehow. Another strike caught Tarranau on the upper arm, and it flopped uselessly to his side. He was able to keep his concentration as he tumbled, and the ball of ice launched into the ribs of one foe, cracking them and driving him back.<\/p>\n

\tRising to a knee, Tarranau stared down the last remaining \u00c1\u00f0exe foe, still pulling at the moisture inside of his enemy’s body. The watermage was in poor shape, with three deep cuts marking him, making him weak. He had to let go of his attack, and focus on slowing the bleeding, using his talents to keep his blood inside of his body. To keep it flowing in rhythm demanded almost all of Tarranau’s skill, and so when the swordsman came at him, weapon held low, he could do little more than spin away from the thrust, taking another nick along the ribs for his efforts.<\/p>\n

\tA stumble put Tarranau on his back, and with a grin the swordsman advanced, raising his weapon for a killing stroke. There was a thump, and the \u00c1\u00f0exe’s eyes glazed over and he fell, his weight crushing Tarranau beneath it. Cursing and crying out in pain, he looked up to see Racent\u00e9ah standing over him, holding a damp blade.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cCan you walk?\u201d The spy wobbled, his body covered with claw marks and the tell-tale wounds of teeth. It was apparent he was in a poor way, and one of his secondary arms was clearly broken.<\/p>\n

\tTarranau nodded, shoving the corpse off of him with his good arms, then rising to his feet to lean heavily on Racent\u00e9ah. Together, they cut up the cloth of their foes’ cloaks, using it to bind the wounds as best they could. That done, the two \u00c1\u00f0exe staggered onwards, sticking to the darkest corners of the tower complexes.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cYou know where we are?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI know a place that was safe last time I was in the city. I have to hope it still is, I wasn’t told about it in the brief.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tWounds caused them both to lapse into silence, and all that could be heard from them was grunting, as each step brought agony. Tarranau’s head began to throb, for building in the back was a thunderous headache, the warning that his body was drained from using his talent too much. He knew that soon he would collapse and faint, for he was weak from his wounds and from using his talent so strongly.<\/p>\n

\tThe watermage was able to stumble another block before he collapsed to the ground. Racent\u00e9ah was able to drag him some little way into the shadows before departing, too wounded to carry the burden of another \u00c1\u00f0exe. Blood began to seep into the cloth binding Tarranau’s wounds, as his talent no longer forced it to stay within his body. He stirred briefly, and then slipped away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This piece is an excerpt from what I wrote today for NaNo. Context is missing, so here\u2019s a brief run down: Tarranau has been transformed into an \u00c1\u00f0exe, and is journeying through \u00deracian to meet allied spies. Looking forward once more, Tarranau was just able to shout a warning as three \u00c1\u00f0exe stepped from behind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[12,34],"tags":[25,26],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pRIK4-5I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":383,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=383","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":0},"title":"The Taking of Baeran","date":"November 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A quite long excerpt from my NaNo novel, as the humans and their allies look to turn the tide of the war. The humans had been charged with slipping through B\u00e6ran and striking straight for the buildings that were thought to hold the officers of the \u00deracian army. They were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tarranau"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":361,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=361","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":1},"title":"Welcome to the Forest","date":"November 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Another day, another NaNo excerpt. Brief context: They have set an ambush for \u00deracian soldiers pursuing them. Nieithr is the spirit of a warrior many years dead. Ddifeddianedig is the spiritmage hosting his soul (it\u2019s a time share arrangement). A shout was all the warning that was to be had,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tarranau"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":638,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=638","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":2},"title":"Burning Down the Barn","date":"November 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As before, this is an excerpt from my NaNoWriMo novel, so there are some spoilers lurking. They arrived at the edge of the docks to find them strangely empty, although there was one small boat beginning to row out into the harbour, and it was stuffed full of \u00c1\u00f0exe. Tarranau\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tarranau"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":364,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=364","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":3},"title":"Under The Rain","date":"November 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Another NaNo excerpt. Brief context: They are fleeing past two \u00deracian forts, on the way to H\u00e1lsiend. The days passed in swift chain, and the barquentine drew closer to the forts. Behind them, two \u00deracian vessels had appeared, shadowing their movements but unable to catch the commandeered ship. The days\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tarranau"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":289,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=289","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":4},"title":"The \u00c1\u00f0exe","date":"September 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The \u00c1\u00f0exe are a clan oriented people. Even in the great cities that cover L\u00e6ccan, the \u00c1\u00f0exe huddle in family units, each living in a single dwelling made of many different houses merged together. Towns and cities are built up of clusters of these family units, with each family compound\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tarranau"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":284,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=284","url_meta":{"origin":354,"position":5},"title":"The L\u00e6ccan Continent","date":"September 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The continent of L\u00e6ccan is a wet, dismal place, overrun by swamps and rivers and mangrove nests in the south, and cold and eternally locked in the grip of snow and ice in the north. Foetid jungles and pestilent lands cover the northern slopes of the great mountain range that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tarranau"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}