Date: Thu, 17 Mar 1994 23:03:57 PST Reply-To: papayd@gtewd.mtv.gtegsc.com Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Dave Papay M/S 2G23 x2791 Subject: Requital: Part 1 of 5 "Requital" is a fantasy piece that mixes Highlander-style immortals with some elements of Dungeons and Dragons. Don't expect to see Duncan, Conner, or The Kurgan, though; the characters in the story are original. Be patient, since there is no blatant mention of immortals until close to the end of the story. However, if you pay close attention to detail, you will notice several subtle hints at immortals and their abilities. Also, the attributes of the immortals and rules of The Game used in this story are truer to the movie (the first movie, of course!) than the series. In particular, I make use of the Quickening as it was described in the movie (in the series they call it "the buzz"). A note about spelling: The name of the city, Arete, is a French word, and should have a circumflex ('^') over the first 'e'. I substituted this with a plain 'e' since some terminals may not be able to display multi-national character sets. A note about style: this piece contains a number of scene jumps and more than one plot line. Thus, the style is more characteristic of a novel than a short story. Eventually I plan to expand this into a more respectable size novel, but it can be considered a complete work as it is. Finally, some of the America Online subscribers to this list may have seen this story before. It was critiqued in the Fantasy Writer's group (aka FWA) in early February. David Papay papay@acm.org (preferred) dpapay@aol.com (alternate) ************************************************************* Requital Copyright 1994 by David Papay Part 1 of 5 It was the morning of Midsummer's Eve. The sun had risen nearly two hours ago, but it offered little warmth to this glaciated land. Even at this time of the year, when the days were longest and the sun's rays most direct, the daytime temperature rarely exceeded thirty-five degrees - in the sun. Yet tonight the people of this frozen land would celebrate the coming of summer. Many would travel for days from remote villages to reach the Free City of Arete, the only city for 300 miles in any direction, and the largest of all the cities on the eastern edge of the Great Ice Sheet. Arete was built on a prominence of rock that rose nearly 100 feet above the otherwise flat surface of the ice. In actuality, it was the peak of a towering mountain, the remainder of which was hidden deep below the glacier. A score of miles to the east, the ice yielded to the jagged Dragon's Spine Mountains. They rose sharply from the Sheet and towered some 6,000 feet above the ice, their peaks constantly shrouded in a veil of clouds. It was to this range that the mountain upon which Arete stood belonged, but for some reason known only to nature, this peak was isolated from its siblings. Except for two much smaller peaks to the east of Arete - each of which barely stood ten feet above the Sheet - the city stood alone on the great sea of ice. This had worked to Arete's advantage. Isolated as it was, it was highly defensible. Ever since its walls had been built nearly 750 years ago, Arete had never been conquered, and had retained its status as a free city. Other settlements had been built on the edge of the Dragon's Spine Mountains, but it was very difficult to defend most of them against the constants raids of the malevolent species indigenous to these mountains. While some of these settlements had managed to survive and even prosper, Arete alone had thrived in this wild, untamed frontier. To the west of Arete, the Great Sheet stretched for nearly 400 miles until another range of mountains managed to pierce it. Many trade routes crossed the flat, featureless expanse, connecting Arete with the realms of the west and the numerous isolated towns, villages, and oases that dotted the otherwise barren Sheet. It was on the Great Sheet, no more than three hour's travel from Arete, that the musher brought his dog sled to a stop. He had been traveling since before sunrise, having bivouacked on the open Sheet last night. This in itself was not uncommon - there was no way one could traverse the Great Sheet without spending at least a few nights on the open ice. The fact that this musher traveled alone was uncommon. Although the Sheet appeared desolate and quiet, its clime and fauna gave rise to many hidden dangers that were always present. Fortunately for the musher, the weather was not really a problem at this time of year. If would remain fairly constant - cloudless days and slightly overcast nights, with no precipitation - until the coming of winter. The ice conditions also posed no hazard on the eastern part of the Sheet, which was known for its stability. Few crevasses or pressure ridges had ever been seen in this area. The real dangers in this part of the Sheet were animal in nature. As in most other parts of this land, packs of arctic wolves were always a threat, as were polar bear and mammoth. Fortunately, the most feared monster, the giant polar worm, was extremely rare, particularly this close to the edge of the Sheet. While being this close to the Dragon's Spine Mountains alleviated the threat of polar worm, it did introduce several dangers not found in other parts of the Sheet: orcs, goblins, and ogres, to name only a few. These creatures lived in caverns within the Dragon's Spine Mountains and usually never ventured more than a few miles onto the Sheet. This had changed recently, as the increased traffic on the trade routes made the opportunities for raids too great for these creatures to ignore. However, the greatest animal danger to any traveler on the Sheet was man. Desert raiders plied the trade routes in search of under protected caravans or small, inexperienced groups. For such a gang of outlaws, a lone traveler, such as this musher, would provide an easy target, but probably not a very profitable one. Nevertheless, the musher had been waylaid by a gang of six raiders last night. He had no choice but to kill one of them; he had left the rest staked out on the ice. He knew that a large caravan was a mere half day behind him, and had no doubt that they would "escort" the raiders to Arete - and to justice. The musher had not been concerned about these risks when he had set out for Arete days earlier. He was an experienced fighter and a very knowledgeable glacierman. In fact, he had at one time been a ranger - more commonly known as a "guide" to the general populace. Although he had not been active in a ranger band for quite some time, one never really forgot the skills learned while a ranger. He once lead great caravans across some of these trade routes. He had even established some of these routes himself. But that had been a long, long time ago, in what seemed to him as though it was a different life. The musher pushed his hood back as he stepped off the sled's runners, exposing his long, dark blond hair. He removed his mittens and pulled a small sack out of the covered portion of the sled. It contained several slices of meat, which he tossed to the dogs. 'This climate has at least one advantage', the musher thought. 'Meat keeps fresh for days and doesn't have be heavily salted or dried, like it did in -'. He laughed inwardly and allowed a wan smile to cross his face. He was reminiscing again. That had been long ago, and in a place far away from here. He doubted anyone in this land would even believe such stories: lands free from ice and snow, where it was so warm you could wear a light tunic and pants all year-round. Reaching inside his parka, the musher removed a strip of jerky from an inner pocket. He pulled the scarf down from around his face and bit off a piece of the dried meat. Several day's growth of beard covered the musher's usually clean-shaven face. Small patches of an oily black substance had been smudged high on his cheekbones, directly beneath each eye. The skin around his eyes - the only part of his face not covered by his scarf and hood - was well-tanned, but despite many year's exposure to the elements, it retained a very youthful appearance. The musher regarded the horizon as he finished his meager repast. Arete was plainly visible, its high walls and squat towers standing out in stark contrast to the glare of the ice and the light blue sky. Only a few more hours and he would be inside those walls, sitting beside a warm fire, eating and drinking with old friends, celebrating Midsummer. It had been a number of years since he had last been to Arete, and even though there were many things he looked forward to, there were also bitter memories. These would have to be put to rest before he left the city again. The musher returned the empty sack to the sled and withdrew a wineskin. He took a long draught of sweet red wine, and then replaced the wineskin as well. Wearily, he walked to the back of the sled and placed both of his feet upon the runners. Normally he would have pushed the sled with at least one foot to help the dogs get started, but he had been traveling for days and had grown tired. The musher rested for a moment, as if the short walk had been a considerable drain. Absently, he put his mittens back on and pulled his hood back onto his head. He took a deep breath of the cold morning air and gathered his strength for the final leg of his journey. He concentrated on the lead dog and reached out to it with his mind. With a mental suggestion from the musher, the lead dog stood up and faced toward Arete. The rest of the team followed the leader's example. There was nothing magical about the musher's powers. He had, after all, been a ranger, and rangers were known to have a certain empathy toward animals. Still, the musher had always been particularly adept at this skill. Run, the musher thought, and the sled team was under way on the smooth ice of the Great Sheet. Now it would only be a short time until Tanner, former ranger, sometime adventurer, and world-weary traveler, would once again set foot inside the walls of Arete. (End of part 1) =========================================================================