Tales Under a Burning Sun

The slave wagon rumbled onward, with none of the slaves in the shadowed bowels knowing which direction they were heading. According to the old ashik they had been travelling for less than a day, and because he was calm and collected the sibling herders believed him. The old ashik paused in his tale as the slavers brought water and meager rations, and he made sure that he did not make eye contact with their captors. As soon as the door was locked once more the old ashik continued his tale. As an unconscious Kank drops to the floor, Miloch and Balboa rush forwards. As Miloch steps over the big Mul and into the fight with one of the animated statues, Balboa grabs Kank by his armour straps and drags him backwards along the corridor and out of the battle. At the same time Scar is sliced with a powerful blow of the statues obsidian bastard sword across her leg, the wound is terrible and the warrior women's leg buckles beneath her and she falls to the floor. Miloch swings hard with his ba...

The old ashik tried his best to keep his voice level and calm, but it was proving difficult on the small rations of water that they were allowed by their captors. But he knew that he had to keep all of the new slaves calm and quiet, he knew from experience that if any of the captives caused trouble they would be quickly killed, and so he continued his tale in the hopes that it would distract all who listened. The big Mul Kank climbed slowly down the vertical shaft into the second level of the Weezer hive, at the bottom he found a tunnel running off into the darkness. Moving slowly forwards he finds that it meets three other Weezer tunnels at a crossroads, he looks behind him and sees that Scar is gesturing that he should head along the right hand tunnel. Kank creeps forwards until the tunnel forks, from there he hears a great deal of buzzing, but he cannot ascertain from which direction the noise is coming. Kank backs away and arrives back at the crossroads where he informs the others ...

The mekillot drawn slave wagon rocked from side to side on it’s rough bone spoked wheels. In the depths of the wagon, out of the gaze of the burning sun, were the slave pens. Packed with those snatched from the small village beside the muddy oasis, those that survived the attack. In one of those pens sat the old ashik, his calm demeanour permeated through the other slaves, and all sat silently listening to his tale. As soon as the Company of the Cloaked Inix are out of sight of the walls of Altaruk, Ferulah strips naked and hands her clothes to Kank. She then transforms into a giant mountain lioness, stretches out her long feline back, and bounds forwards with Kank jogging along beside her as they pull ahead of the others and scout forwards in the hope of avoiding being ambushed once again. The day passes uneventfully, but very wet as the unusual rains still fall from the sky, and by the end of the day Balboa finds a small cave in the rough terrain, big enough for the Company to use as...

In the darkness of the slave wagon’s hold the anguished cries of men, women, and children ring out. The only one who shows no sign of being unnerved by his current predicament is the old ashik, and he manages to calm those around him by continuing to tell his tale. Having accompanied the rest of The Company of the Cloaked Inix whilst they looked around the trade town of Altaruk, Kank makes the decision to head back to The Grave and ask about being entered for the fights that evening. He is told that there are two types of bouts, standard unarmoured or armoured and cestus. Kank enters himself for the unarmoured combat, paying the two gold piece entry fee. He heads off to find Balboa to heal his remaining wounds before he fights. When he gets back downstairs Scar tells him that she has read that he is fighting against a Dwarf by the name of Hurden. Scar also says that the odds against Kank winning are three to one against. The big Mul just smiles and says that he does not care about the ...