Wizard's Servant - Chapter 1-1 - A New Dawn

  • The sun was rising over the plains of Whiterun, coloring the dawn sky in vivid orange colors. Gentle and almost magical Luna Moths were starting to hide, and chirring of cicadas was being replaced with twittering of little birds – surprisingly plentiful in the harsh climate of Skyrim. Deer, rabbits and other wildlife were just waking up from the night's sleep, but Drelas’ cottage was already booming with activity. While the owner of the cottage was still asleep, his servant – an Orc, tall as all the members of his race but unnaturally skinny, with slim but strong arms and small bald head which were giving away his connection to goblins – was already preparing everything for his master's awakening. The chickens were fed and the small field of potatoes, gourds and cabbages was tended to. The alchemy lab was cleaned and the breakfast – a loaf of braided bread with butter and honey, supplemented with a tea from lavender so abundant in the nearby grasslands – was being prepared.

    “Scrag! Get over here you useless goblin!” came from the second storey of the cottage.

    The voice eased the mind of the servant a little – his master was in a good mood – and he hurried upstairs carrying a tray with the breakfast.

    “Yes, Master! Did you call me?”

    “Of course, you idiot! Give this to me!” he barked, taking the tray from the servant and getting comfortable in his bed.

    “Are the chickens fed and the field tended?”

    “Yes, Master.”

    “Fine. What is the state of our ingredient and food supplies?” Drelas barely looked at him, too busy savoring his tea.

    “We have plenty of ingredients, Master, but our meat supplies are low…” Scrag shifted from one foot to the other and tensed his muscles, preparing for an anger outburst from the mage – which usually came with some sort of elemental magic.

    But Drelas was certainly in a good mood that day!

    “Serves me right for not dealing with those hunters myself… Well, what are you waiting for? Go and get some! I want venison chop for today's dinner!”

    “Yes, Master!” Scrag hurried downstairs, carrying the now empty tray with him. Dealing with hunters was his favorite activity – he loved listening to their tales about war and distant lands. They were the only source of information on what was going on outside of the cottage. He usually traded some potions in exchange for food with them, and always tried to buy small amounts of meat to come back as soon as possible; Drelas loved meat.

    He exited the cottage and headed along a well-memorized path down the hill towards Greenspring Hollow, humming a tune and enjoying a cool morning breeze and the pleasant warmness of the sun. He stopped occasionally to pick up bunches of tundra cotton and lavender flowers. One thing he discovered when preparing tea for Drelas was that combining them with simple garlic produced a mixture that helped to withstand the experiments the mage sometimes conducted on him.

    “Bjorn? Salja? Krognar?” he called, descending the hill towards the natural hollow that hunters used as their campsite.

    “Anyone here? It’s Scrag. I came to…”

    Blood! It was everywhere; on the bedrolls, on the pelts that hunters had gathered to sell, and, most importantly, on the bodies of the hunters themselves – mauled and scattered all over the camp by the strikes of some very powerful beast. The only people besides Drelas that he ever knew were floating in the pools of their own blood right in front of him.

    “Run…,” came from under his feet. One of the hunters, Krognar, grabbed Scrag's shin with his weakening fingers. His chest was crushed. Blood was pouring from multiple gaping wounds and his left hand was twisted unnaturally, indicating the broken state of its bones.

    “Run!” Krognar exhaled with his last breath, releasing Scrag's foot and falling face-down in the filthy mix of dirt and blood that covered the ground of a once idyllic location.

    Scrag ran as fast as he can without even thinking about direction; he just wanted to be as far from that place as possible. What beast could've done that? Was it still around? The questions still ran through his mind when he got close to the road, running near Dustman's Cairn. That was when he heard growling and closing footsteps of a heavy animal coming from behind. With his heart palpitating heavily against his chest like it was going to jump out of it, he gathered all his remaining strength to outrun the predator. In his panic, Scrag didn't notice a small snag traitorously sticking out of the ground. He stumbled and fell on the ground, just managing to twist and face his attacker. He saw the huge paw of a saber cat hitting him in the face, and the world went dark…

Comments

19 Comments
  • Vazgen
    Vazgen   ·  February 28, 2014
    LOL, Scrag and Droopy... Never would've made the connection, though thinking of it, it's quite close  I took the pics deliberately. A combination of animation mods and many failed tries 
  • Katie Urban
    Katie Urban   ·  February 28, 2014
    Also and maybe a little weird, when I hear Scrag talk in my head he sounds like Droopy for some reason....
  • Katie Urban
    Katie Urban   ·  February 28, 2014
    How did you get the pictures to match the story exactly? That's fantastic!  I do like the sabre cat high five 
  • Vazgen
    Vazgen   ·  December 8, 2013
    LOL, yeah, pretty much  High five in your face style 
  • N-cr-ph0bia
    N-cr-ph0bia   ·  December 8, 2013
    Sabre cat high five
  • Vazgen
    Vazgen   ·  September 11, 2013
    Thanks man! Glad you like it! 
  • Raid
    Raid   ·  September 10, 2013
    Vaz, I had no idea you'd written a story! It's awesome! You have an amazing writing style, humorous and hooking and fun to read. Now, onto part 2...
  • Vazgen
    Vazgen   ·  August 15, 2013
    Haha, thanks AFG! You can see Drelas' bad mood in the game - a Fireball to the face when you enter his cottage! :)
  • Laurie Bear
    Laurie Bear   ·  August 12, 2013
    I really like this, I can feel for Scrag, I have a personal interest in him I like it alot
  • Vazgen
    Vazgen   ·  August 8, 2013
    Thanks Lex! Will do