For those that are unaware, there is currently a rift centered in the village of Daris. It is drawing the Plane of Shadows into our realm.That is the premise for this short snippet. It might or might not be continued, based on comments.
And although Stormknife no longer plays, I know he probably visits the boards occasionally - and Haxley belongs to him. He's welcome to add, if he wishes to.
Everyone else is mine.- - -
"No."
"But grandma--"
"No, and that's my final word on the subject. We are not investigating that rift."
The snow crunched against my feet, and I inwardly suppressed a sigh. My cousin, Vana, was determined to draw my grandmother into a confrontation. That was never a good idea, not even at the best of times. Vana was the daughter of Ish, who had been half-named for one of my grandfather's favorite dieties. Both mother and daughter took after their grandmother, headstrong, stubborn, sanity slightly questioned, and powerful. Sorcerers.
Thank Ki that I took after grandfather and not those nit-wits. I actually thought things through. Which is why I started to move away as Vana continued to pester my grandmother about that rift that appeared just the other day.
My grandfather and I exchanged a look. As we passed one another, he palmed a dagger into my hands. I hid.
As expected, my grandmother lashed out, delivering a mild but painful spell to my cousin. Shockwaves of electricity sent my cousin flailing to the ground comedically. She appeared as if she was swimming in the snow.
I hid a giggle and a grin, the latter only once my grandfather glared at me.
"Anyone else questioning my better judgment?" My grandmother asked.
"Sure," my grandfather replied.
My grandmother's eyes narrowed. I could see her contemplating. She knew she could never permanently hurt her husband, even though from what I understood, the other way around wasn't as promising. My grandfather could, would, and had hurt her permanently on more than one occasion. Well, okay, he had never killed her or anything like that - there was always a cleric nearby to assist if he did - but throttling her had been tempting on more than one occasion. And although I loved my grandmother, I understood my grandfather's aggravation. She was a real pain sometimes.
It wasn't his decision to be trapped on the Plane of Shadows to begin with. That was my grandmother's fault. She kept too many secrets, and it nearly got the both of them sent to Nergal. They became unwilling planar adventurers instead, after filling up a book that my grandmother kept hidden. To her credit, she didn't exactly know at first that the book was cursed. By the time she figured it out, it was almost full and she had done several, unmentionable things to the authorities in Daris. She tried to kill the Redboot Captain, and did kill another Redboot. Someone named Dante.
Grandfather had been extremely upset about that when he heard, or so my father, Ash, told me. Not as upset as when he heard about the invasion of Daris by the Varanians, but pretty close.
My grandfather moved around to my grandmother's other side. She couldn't see him without magical help. Even then, she could just barely detect him. He had two daggers out. Her eyes looked wild again. I inwardly sighed. That wasn't a good sign. She was slipping into the past again. As she aged, the psychosis increased. Daddy called it dementia. But she had her fits. They came and went. She would think my grandfather was someone named "Kell". That usually sent him into a rage of his own, which was always quietly controlled. The quieter my grandfather was, the angrier.
"Haxley..." my grandmother warned.
My grandfather stopped and appeared, nearby, leaning against a pile of snow. "Yes?"
"Don't make me hurt you."
"You're welcome to try."
Try was the correct word. Grandfather, despite his age, was pretty fast with those daggers of his. He had started to teach me, but I wasn't nearly as talented. Not yet, I promised silently, not yet.
The two squared off against one another, and as the power started to gather in my grandmother's hands, my grandfather disappeared. My grandmother screamed in frustration. I had to put a hand over my mouth.
This time, I did giggle.
My thoughts exactly. Hehe.