A Foul Taste

[KaiserKold]

"You're a damned liar, Jon" came the voice of Kaleb echoing through the darkness. The three men, sitting around the small fire in the middle of the small, dark forest clearing, were gaining ire quickly.

Jon, a mountain of a man, stood up and stalked up to the already upright Kaleb. To his credit, Kaleb did not back down a hair though Jon was a foot and a half taller and a hundred pounds heavier. "Who you calling a liar, Kaleb!"

"He's right, Jon," Rhevon interjected, drawing a poisonous glare his way. He would have normally known better than to get in the middle of things, but a couple of empty wine bottles made quite sure Rhevon was not thinking clearly. "You ain't ever seen one 'afore."

Jon gritted his teeth and crossed his burly arms in front of him, "And how do you know?"

Kaleb didn't let Rhevon answer, but instead said, "Prove it."

Rhevon expected Jon to pounce on Kaleb then and there, but to his surprise, the big man smiled. Reaching into his pack, Jon pulled out a large blue orb. It glowed with a visible energy, though the potency could be felt regardless.

"Slap me silly..." Rhevon mumbled, dumfounded. "That's a crystal ball, that is. Like the wizards use to look at stuff."

"No," Jon shook his head. "This is something different. My father's father lived at the Midgan Tower with all the wizards and stuff. When I was a wee thing, my father took me inside to meet him. I saw crystal balls being used by wizards."

He stared into the red orb for a long moment. Kaleb thought he saw the big man's eyes gloss over and his vein's grow lighter. Then, quick as it happened, Jon stuffed the thing back into his pack and looked at the other two sternly. "This is not one of those scrying tools."

They were silent for a moment before Rhevon asked the obvious. "Where'd you get it?"

Jon winced slightly as he recollected, as though the memory wasn't happy. "I already told you. From the beast people." He pointed north.

The calming peace was gone in an instant as Kaleb mumbled his previous accusation, "No way."

"Dammit, Kaleb!" Jon roared. "They exist!"

Kaleb didn't back down, "Even if they do - and they don't! - they're said to be up further north than you've ever been! Close to the Crown!"

Jon threw his hands up in exasperation. "No, I wasn't up by the Crown, but that don't mean they can't go south never!"

"To the hells with your stories, Jon!"

The large man's hands shook with frustration.

Rhevon, showing more judgment this time, intervened before an actual brawl broke out. "Kaleb, we really can't prove he didn't." He looked at the smaller companion. "He does have the orb thing, afterall."

Jon calmed slightly and nodded his thanks to Rhevon. Kaleb rolled his eyes.

Rhevon, in a calm voice, asked, "Can we see it again? May I hold it?"

Jon looked at him curiously, but then slowly fished the glowing sphere back out and into the night air.

Rhevon held out his hand and Jon carefully handed it over. Rhevon looked intently at it for a good minute, but as the time went by he seemed to be looking through it. Only the sounds of crickets could be heard for length of time.

"Alright," Kaleb snapped, "Let me see it too." But Rhevon didn't seem to hear him and Kaleb snatched it himself.

The look of sheer fury etched into the normally placid Rhevon made Kaleb blanch and edge back a step, but the mans features quickly changed to one of confusion. "I'm sorry..." he muttered sheepishly.

Kaleb thought to inquire about it, but as he glanced at the orb in his hands, he quickly forgot about it.

[KaiserKold]

As Kaleb looked into the sky-blue orb, he too seemed to become snared in deep thought.

"My gods," Jon whispered to himself, as he saw his companion's veins glow a brilliant blue.

"Kaleb, give it back to me," he held out his hand. "Please."

Kaleb didn't acknowledge him, and Rhevon (who hadn't yet noticed Kaleb's glowing abnormality) tapped him sharply on the temple. "You oka- " he started to ask, but then he stepped back as he too noticed the veins.

Kaleb still seemed to ignore them. Jon lunged suddenly and grabbed the orb from Kaleb's clasping grip.

"NO!" the smaller man screamed. Kaleb whipped a dagger from his boot and slashed wildly at Jon, but the big man had already leaped back.

"It's mine!" The deranged man bellowed. He stalked forward towards Jon and the globe before being tackled roughly by Rhevon.

"Snap out of it," Rhevon growled as he held the dagger arm down, but he began to lose his grip as the psychotic companioned thrashed beneath him.

Before he could comprehend it, Rhevon's lost his grip and a six inch blade became lodged into his throat.

Kaleb, staring into his dying companion's eyes, finally seemed to get a hold on himself, but it was two late. The light left Rhevon's eyes as wetness welled up in Kaleb's.

Suddenly, Rhevon lifted up off of Kaleb and went rolling to the side. In his place, Kaleb saw Jon - the bulging veins in the large man's temples were glowing very blue as he held the glassy orb.

"Jon," he whimpered, "No! Get rid of the cursed thing!"

Jon only looked down with a stern face upon Rhevon, and lifting a huge boot up stated, "I found this power. It is mine."

Kaleb, still on the ground, kicked up with all his strength at the stomach of his zombie-like compainion. He missed, but kicked the glowing artifact instead. The powerful device flew out of Jon's hands, out of the fires illuminating ring and into the dark wood beyond.

Jon's roar filled the night as he scrambled after it, into the blackness.

Kaleb ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

"Where is it! I want it! IT'S MINE!!" he crawled around, running his hands through the undergrowth until he saw a soft blue light. Jon smiled and reached for it, but stopped as a furry, clawed foot descended upon it, and rolled it further back. Jon looked up to the dark figure that stood before him; rage crossed his possessed features, but then glow in his veins began to subside and terror quaked through Jon's body.

"No," came a fluid and stern voice. "I believe it is mine."
The creature looked down at the eyes of the man, who remained kneeling at his feet. "You know who I am." It wasn't a question, but Jon nodded slowly.

"Arrogant human." He leaned down picked up the glowing blue orb, which flickered out at his touch, leaving the two in darkness. "You stole something from me."

Jon whimpered and started to apologize, and would have succeeded if his head had remained connected to his shoulders.

Frost helped the still standing corpse by nudging it with his free hand. It toppled down into a heap at his feet.

Now where did the last one wander to? Frost wondered, a scowl on his lips. He could let no one know he was here.

With a great leap, the lycanomorph grabbed hold of the above tree branch, still holding the dark orb in his other arm.

He flipped the rest of himself up and onto the branch before leaping to the next tree, and then the next, clinging to each trunk like a nightmarish spider.

The trail of the living human, running wildly through the night forest, was not hard to follow...


----------------

To be continued.

[KaiserKold]

Frost was gaining on the exhausted man, quickly and quietly. Kaleb new something was chasing him, he barely spotted something in the trees, but he had no idea if it was still chasing him. He didn't care to stop and find out.

By the time Kaleb stopped to catch his breath, he had ran nearly 5 straight miles, and a small village was only a couple hundred feet away. The 2 minute breather he took, however, allowed Frost to close the distance and actually get ahead of him.

Frost clung upside down on the trunk of one thick pine and waited for his prey. He had to do this silently, or he would alert the village. And so he waited for Kaleb to recuperate, shifting his chameleonic hair so that it matched the dark value of the bark. For just a moment, he imagined that he had smelled a familiar scent...

He shook away the thought and watched as the heat signature of his foe rose up - it continued jogging at a brisk pace towards the town. Towards Frost.

[The Rogue King]

Havoc sat in a tree not far from Frost, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill the man, Frost."

Havoc had left Zac asleep at there camp several miles away. He had heard the poor mans cry's and decided to check it out, it wasn't till he had gotten closer that he had heard the almost undecipherable movement that could only have been Frost.

[KaiserKold]

Frost, hearing the familiar voice, let out a low roar. Only ten feet from Frost, Kaleb actually wet himself. He gave a pitiable whine and backed away from the tree.

"Human, you are lucky," he growled low, "Your life shall be spared this day, but pray I do not happen across you again!"

Kaleb was gone before Frost had finished his threat, but the words sank in even as he made a bee line to the town.

Frost turned to regard the newcomer, finding it baffling that he did not notice the man's heat signature, "And where in the nine hells did you come from?"

He was thoroughly angered by this intrusion, but he knew - as did Havoc - that he would not attack the man.

[The Rogue King]

Havoc began giggling, "well you see Frost when a man and a woman love each other, they like to show there love hahahahaha." He dropped to the ground laughing unable to keep the classic speech up.

"Sorry, I'm camped a little aways and when I heard the screams I decided to check it out, and i was in my tree just a little before you arrived I guess the meditation technique works. Too bad I can't hold it for very long, oh well maybe in a few more hundred years. "

[KaiserKold]

ooc: It says somewhere that he did leave him at the camp.

BIC: Frost just stared stoically at the very old man, finding him less than humorous.

"I'm going to regret not killing him," Frost reflected. "I hope you appreciate it, Havoc."

He hopped down from the tree the rest of the way and for the first to time since he retrieved it, Frost looked at the orb in his left claw. He reflexively put it behind his back, even though Havoc could not have seen it either way.

He could not afford to let Havoc know what he was doing; what had brought him from his realm in the far north.

"That man may prove very bad for..." he paused for a moment, contemplating the proper choice of word, "... Business."

Though still quite agitated, Frost let himself become calmer. He leaned comfortably against the tree trunk. "It's been a while, old friend."

[The Rogue King]

Havoc had a sour look on his face, "yes it has, tell me what brings you so far from your realm in the north? Nothing too sinister I hope."

[KaiserKold]

"Not at all, my friend," Frost affirmed, hoping that Havoc could not sense in any way the object he carried with him.

He figured out what Frost was up to, the tentative bond between them might be severed completely. He did not want to bring Havoc's wrath upon his people.

"I merely am exploring these vast woods, looking for a new post for trade." It wasn't entirely a lie.

[The Rogue King]

"Your full of shit. I don't know what your up to but even you know better than to kill people then try and trade with people that may be there family. I know you too well for you to pull a fast one on me like that. So I'm gonna ask again what are you doing here?"

[KaiserKold]

"These humans stole from me!" He proclaimed, furious that Havoc would dare insult him. Of course, only the one human had, but Frost didn't really know that.

"And I never said I was setting up a trade post right here," he motioned to the nearby area for emphasis, "Just in this more southern region."

"My dealings are my business, not Havoc's..." He took a couple of steps towards the blind man. "For years I have left all these people alone, as long as they left my kin alone. This was a special occasion, trust in that."

"And I assure you I am the only one of my kind down here," he added, "the rest are far north."

He was not lying, whether Havoc believe him or not, but there was so much that Frost was not telling him. Again he became conscious of the powerful artifact at his back. He felt a tickling in his head - always the same tickling!

He was watching.

"Listen to my voice, blind man. You know I speak truthfully." He could barely contain the plea in his voice.

[The Rogue King]

"I believe you." Havoc stated with all sincerity, "the last thing I want is to war with you and your kind. Can you blame me for being cautious?"

He was about to let the whole matter drop but then his face turned to one of suspicion. "What did they steal from you, by the way?"

[KaiserKold]

Frost rubbed his temples in exasperation.

"A magical trinket..." he explained gingerly. "It is very special to me."

He finally removed the item from behind his back. He mentally uttered the command word again, to make sure it was thoroughly inert. He held it out.

"Would you like to see it?" he inquired, hoping that Havoc would sense no magical energy from it.

[The Rogue King]

Havoc carefully grasped the orb and took it from Frost. "It's heavy." He hefted it a few times and ran his hands across its smooth surface. "OK I'll bite what is it? It's obviously magical otherwise I doubt you would risk coming after it. Be honest Frost, I would hate to have to find out what it does for myself."

[KaiserKold]

"It's just a simple scrying device," Frost half-bluffed. It was far from simple. "A good one, that is very dear to me."