Happiness & Tragedy

[Lance Thunnigan]

-|OPEN RP|-
Arthael sat atop the stair that led from his
home's doorway. He gazed at the passing inhabitants, and to the sky.
With a small sigh, he rose from his seated position and called out,
"Shreene, you have the ham smoked already yea?"

Shreene, a vibrant woman. Short in height and small in stature, but
extraordinarily gorgeous. In her small voice she cried, "Yes, it's done.
We may eat now."

Arthael grinned to himself.

He'd met Shreene by chance, and ever since then, they'd been together.
Arthael oftentimes referred to her as his, 'Better half.' To which she only
smiled toothily and nodded. He loved Shreene, and offered her his heart.
She accepted his, and in return, blessed Arthael with hers.

"Are you coming?" Shreene called through the window to Arthael.
"Yes, yes I'm on my way!" He called back.

He turned on a heel and started up the stairs.

He entered into a small room. A threadbare rug lay upon the floor
and atop it sat two chairs, and a single table.

Today the table was not bare, upon it was a variety of foods. Smoked ham,
apples, berries of all kinds, a pie, and even a cheese slice.

Arthael smiled widely, "What a FINE meal you've prepared on this eve.
Is there a special occasion for such a feast?"
Shreene turned pink in the ears, "Arthael, my love. You are to be a father!"
He sat, stunned a moment, but once her words finally kicked in, he laughed and hugged her tightly.
"That's wonderful!" He exclaimed.

Shreene chuckled, and after Arthael let go, sat in her seat softly.
"I hope the child grows to be as handsome, and powerful as his father."
Shreene grinned. Arthael couldn't help but do the same.

That evening, the couple enjoyed their meal, and ate as royalty.

__________

A couple weeks later Arthael had already slipped out of bed and had
began his late-eve trip to the city barracks. He served the city as an
enforcer and protector.

Shreene awoke to a thud in the next room. She sat up and listened
quietly.
"Damnit you moron, you keep hitting stuff, we's gonna be CAUGHT!"
rasped a hoarse voice.
"Shhh.. I think someone's in the other room.." another voice added.

Shreene panicked, and quickly slid beneath the bed.

Two brutish men wandered into the room.
One was a large, dimwitted looking man. His face was stony, and his body was big.
But she would've been even more terrified,
had it not been for the trickle of snot that seemed to continuously flow from his oversized nostrils.

The other man was scrawny. He had a lengthy, pointed nose and dark colored,
Squinty eyes that seemed to shift about to their leisure. This one
was obviously the more superior to the other, in wits anyway.

The two men proceeded through the door, and began tearing the
room apart. "I know's you's in here! I heard ya rattle!" yelled the snotty man.
"Oh elderberry warts!" Yelled one, "She be hiding under the damned bed!" And the snotty man proceeded to turn the bed over, as if it
weighed nothing.

Shreene was exposed. And frightened.

The two men wasted no time, as she sat there defenseless, they struck
her down with a single slice to her neck.

__________

Arthael had returned home for noontime feasting, as he'd always done.
When he entered his home, he was dumbfounded. Everything was in
shambles, and from the doorway, he could see a puddle.
And only once he got to the entrance to the other room, did he figure
out it was Shreene's blood. Her lifeless body still lying within it.

Arthael's knees buckled and he fell to the ground. Tears began to
well up in his eyes, and soon began to cascade down his cheeks in
little uniform rows and fall upon the stained, wooden floor.

__________

Months passed, Arthael buried his wife, and went on working for the city.
He seemed different after Shreene died though. You could tell.

He was still kind, and full of spirit. But it seemed he was.. dead.
His eyes bore the signs of fear and loneliness daily, and he seemed
to be in a constant slump.

During rounds in the city, Arthael threw down upon the ground his
Guardsman's helm and walked off. He took nothing with him, and those
who saw him go, say he never took a single look back.

__________

Last those saw of Arthael he was seen arriving at the docks to the south.
He knew the name of the isle as Gobaith, as he'd seen on many maps.
And here, is where he decided to stay.

So he continued northward, following the signs to a place called,
"Troll'sbane."