|
'twould be a day as none before. Xena knew that
the moment she awoke. The past few weeks she had worked very hard
to put together a complete set of leather armour. Taking orders
from travelers in need of clothes or leather armour, sowing
until her fingers bled or dyeing robes for those who feel the
need to dress like their fellow guild members. She practically
lived in the tailor shop. Whenever she could she asked travelers
for the hides of deer or goats. Some travelers felt
compassionate and gave her 1 or 2 hides, others dared to ask 10
gold pieces per hide. 10 gold pieces, she would have to work for
more than an hour to earn that amount of money.
Finally she managed to raise a small fortune, she
had more than 300 gold pieces in the bank. As usual she started
the day at the tanner. Hoping he would have 1 or 2 hides for
sale. 'Hail shopkeeper, hast thou some hides I can buy' she
asked. To her surprise he had 91 hides in stock. Quickly she
rushed to the bank to make a withdrawal. Running back to the
tanner her thoughts were with the leather armour that was so
close now. Luckily the tanner still possessed the hides. She
bought them all. She tried to walk away, but the load of the
hides was far too heavy for her to carry. She must have weighed
over 1000 stones. So she sat down on the floor, took out her
tailor kit and started sowing.
Hours later she put away the needle and thread
and she looked at the armour she created. Different female
armors, gloves, gorgets, arm pieces, leg pieces and of course the
thigh highs she loved to wear. All the tailoring she had done
before using cloth made her very dexterous, she was able to use
almost every single hide. Only a few were lost in the process.
She put on a full set of leather armour and proceeded back to the
bank to store all the armour she could not wear. She donned her
sword and a shield and off she went, into the wilderness.
The hours of training at the dummies seemed to
pay off. Wild cats and dogs were no match for her, even pigs and
boars soon went to the ghostly world. Finally she noticed the
tracks of a deer. She followed the tracks and soon found the
animal. What a beauty. She hesitated a moment, uncertain of her
strength, but decided to try to slay the beast. 'twas a long
battle, but at the end it was Xena who was still standing. She
knew her future was safe. Now that she was able to kill deer
herself she could finally start making some real money.
She traveled onward, heading north. She passed
Minoc and soon found herself on a big grassy plain. Further north
she passed a big mountain. On the other side there was a small
area with some grass and bits of forest. Some adventurers were
battling with bears, wolves and cougars. She did not hesitate a
moment and asked if anyone needed help. She was invited to join
the fight. What a glorious moment, to be engaged in battle with
other warriors, killing wild animals. With every blow of her
sword she could feel her skill in yielding a sword improving.
Many beasts were slain that day. When she killed an evil snake
and rat she felt a bit noble. That feeling got stronger when she
and her new made friends managed to kill a giant spider and a
giant scorpion. This was how she wanted her life to be. After a
few hours she felt the need to rest a bit so she bade her friends
farewell, took as many hides as she could carry and went back to
Vesper.
She hoped the next day could be as glorious as
the one before. She got out of bed, put on her leather again and
headed north again. Soon she arrived at the spot beyond the
mountains. What was that ? A body of an adventurer lying on the
floor. She quickly examined the remains and saw all his
belongings being still there. That was odd. If he would have been
killed by villains certainly they would have looted his body.
Suddenly she saw what misfortune had lead to this adventurers
death. A foul orc came walking toward her. She felt strong (and
dexterous enough for a quick retreat) and attacked the orc.
Bang! Lightning struck her. This was no normal orc, he knew the
arcane art of magic. She started running away. Oh no! A ball of
fire was following her. She turned the corner of a small house,
and another. Somehow she could feel she was able to resist the
magic of the fireball. But then the orc hurled another one in her
direction. This time she was not fast enough and the world went
black. As she floated above her own body she could see the orc
rummaging through her remains and taking her precious leather
armour. With her head bowed down a little she headed back to
town, hoping a healer could bring back her spirit to life.
She quickly went to the bank and took out her
spare equipment. She ran back to the spot she had been slain,
hoping she could retrieve some of her possessions. After a long
run through forests and plains she arrived there. More bodies
were lying on the floor. 'The orc mage must still be around' she
thought. She saw a group of 4 adventurers and quickly she walked
toward them and asked if they needed any help. She was about to
tell what had happened to her when suddenly one of the
adventurers slashed her with his sword. What was happening ? Oh
no! Murderers! She ran away, but the other adventurers were in
her way. She tried to run the other way but found herself trapped
in a dead-end street. Soon the villains caught her and without
speaking a word she was killed for the second time that day. Her
ghost was able to see who these 4 adventurers were. They all
appeared to be Dread Lords. She had been warned so many times by
adventurers who barely managed to flee back into town that Dread
Lords are extremely dangerous. Xena lost her life to the fact
that she did not check who she was talking to. If she had only
seen sooner that these 4 were foul villains. She certainly
learned her lesson that day.
After rejoining with her body once again she made
another withdrawal and went to the mages shop to purchase a spell
book, some scrolls and some reagents. She would start to learn
magic hoping she would be able to get revenge one day. She knew
she would have to train hard and practice a lot, but that it
would be worth the effort. Those Dread Lords had not seen the
last of Xena.
|