Prologue: Shade of a Sneer

The shade waited quietly in the shade. His skin as pale as newborn maggots and hair as red as blood, he sneered in annoyance, at many things; the dark forest around him, the putrid stench of the furred bodies huddling beside him, and most of all at the limits of his patience. They had been waiting in ambush now for hours, the wind brought him tantalizing smells of horse flesh, which he had then used as cause to order his small band to hide, but it had been several hours since then and neither horses nor riders had shown themselves. He heard a soft grunt of discomfort from his left as one of the beast men in his service, a Burgal, could not stand squatting for much longer. He released a silent hiss to silence the brute, then released a more vocal hiss so the Burgal would actually hear him and be silenced.

The creatures, standing well over six feet and covered in grey skin and wire brush straight black hair, were not use to following his orders, nor where they use to crouching for so long without prey. They were unaccustomed to the suffering of the shades silent hunt, and thus, grew restless for bloodshed and the feast of warm flesh. But they would have to learn tolerance or face his wraith wrath.

Another hour into his stealthy ambush and finally the clop of hooves resounded in the dark forest, slow horse hooves. The shade sneered at his Burgals and ducked behind a tree, his action readying their violence-greedy hearts once more. A half hour seemed to pass again as the hooves inexorably marched forward, the shades grew further furious the farther the sounds and smells seem to come, he would enjoy unleashing all of his frustration upon the riders and their horses. The hooves continued to clomp slowly forward, audibly closer, as if each step took several minutes. The shade had just about lost all patience and decided to scream charge when the riders finally came into view.

The horses were strong and refined animals of varying colors, the riders each wore voluminous cloaks that hid their features, aside from two large points jutting up from the sides of each of their heads, poking up through the cloth almost like rabbit ears.

They were elves.

The riders lulled in the saddles, humming to themselves drunkenly while rolling their heads around in circles as if trying desperately to stay awake. The horses each took a single step forward each time the riders spurned then on, mumbling, "yeaha, ha…" and such. The shade was so excited that his ambush was going to work he bit his tongue and had to slam his hands against his face to stop the sudden pain and furious yelp. The elves didn't seem to notice however as the shade stomped his foot to conceal the pain and noise, it hurt so bad he kicked the tree eliciting another suppressed yelp and hopping on one leg. Breathless the shade ran back to the tree and peeked, still the riders lulled forward, "hominaa, hup hup…" they incoherently blathered eliciting another step from the horses.

The Shade grew anxious for them to get closer between his party and tried to urge them on, biting his finger in anticipation. Still the clopping hooves only took a few more steps, and a few more, "nemonalin, giddy yup…" a few more steps, the shade bit the tree and gnashed it with his teeth in anticipation; "murrabeell high ho away…" a few more steps, by now the shade was literally peeing himself with excitement, crossing his legs and batting at the growing stain to calm the noise and himself. "Wargablurr kissy noise..." a few more steps. Finally when the shade could take it no more he screamed in a shrill whisper which barely passed from his lips, like a pinched balloon,

"Now!" he whispered. This elicited no response whatsoever from the Burgals hiding in ambush, so the Shade tried again, "Nooooooooww!" came the hushed harsh hoarse sound from his lips.

Still the elves paid no mind coming even closer. "must beee the wiinndd hup hup…" they rolled their heads.

"nnneeeeeeoooooooowww!" The shade spat from behind his tree, hugging it furiously with arms and legs as if to climb it so they could hear. Still the Burgals did not respond, instead still holding their positions. Finally the shade could take no more and pointed vigorously, leaped out in front of the rides shouting "gggeeeEEEeeeeEEeEETT THEEEM!" The elves froze in their tracks, as did the shade, and the Burgals promptly fell forward onto their faces from their hiding spots, limbs locked and cramped from the hours long wait. The shade looked at the elves, the elves looked at the shade, the shade paused a moment then shouted. "HA!" like a great surprise, this galvanized the elves.

"BURGALS IN THE BUSHES!" said the first;.

"FLEE!" squealed the second.

"Did that guy pee himself?" noted the third. As one they turned and fled, except for two of the riders who went about trying to unsheathe their swords while their horse danced in circles, a difficult task as their voluptuous coats hindered their progress.

Enraged beyond all further reason the Shade drew his own sword so furiously he threw it out of his own hand and off into the trees. "Confound it!" he snarled.

A Burgal from the ground moaned. "Con not found it yet..." at which the shade kicked him soundly, with a sound much like a thump. The elves meanwhile had abandoned their sword gathering and instead began reaching for their bows, drawing out deadly arrows which they drew the draw string back from to fire into the open bodies of the bungling Burgals and shade. The bows bent from the strain and they released their swift arrows, all of which hit a large target painted on a nearby tree dead center.

The shade smiled, "Ha! I knew you wouldn't be able to best my dark magics!"

"Did you paint a red circle within a red ring, within a larger red ring on that tree?"

"Yessssss!" sneered the snarling shade.

"FIEND!" They said in unison. Finally the Burgals began to bounce back, rising from the dust and dirt and rubbing their stiff limbs. (No not those stiff limbs.) The elves quickly drew further arrows, aiming at the stirring Burgals, again they loosed and again each arrow hit the dead center of the red circle on the tree. "Drat!" again in unison.

The shade did a sort of stammering point, balancing on his front foot as he was trying to grab a cracker off a passing waiters tray in a crowded room, "fffffffffire ball!" An impressive ball of flame leaped from his hand smacking the first elf in the chest and smoteing him too.

"Blareaaargh!" cried the elf, falling over dead.

"You've killed him!" said the first elf.

"And now you too shall join him in dieing of being killed!" shouted the sneering snarling shade, again he threw his hand forward, "ffffffffffffIRE ball!" and threw a equally impressive ball of flame which easily smote and killed him, much like the last.

"GACK!" he screamed, falling over dead.

The shade looked mightily pleased with himself, dusting his hands off, then he noticed that the third elf had nearly escaped him and was several feet away hopping up and down on her horse who marched slowly in the other direction. "sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssTOP-THEM!" He shouted pointing furiously once again. Slowly the Burgals rose to their feet and ran after the horse, surrounding it and it's rider. The Horse, not wanting to be Burgaled, decided to run, thus it slowly walked by the first Burgal as they watched it in silence, and then began to run away. In shock the Burgals watched it go and the shade in stunned silence watched them watch it go, until a Burgal came out of the nearby bushes holding the shade's sword.

"Con found it!" he said triumphantly. The shade whipped the sword from his hands and slew the Burgal with a single swipe. "Not niiiiccccee." He toppled over.

The other Burgals realized their mistake and soon took off, in the other direction from the shade and luckily toward the fleeing horse. The shade stamped his foot, and hissed between his teeth. "Gooooooo after theeeeem!" but realized the Burgals were already gone and instead climbed the highest rock he could find.

He strained his muscles, his whole body moving to push him to the top. From this height he could see his house and the forest for miles around, "FIRE ccccccircle THING!" he waved both hands. A gout of flame gouted from his hands creating a burning ring of fire which burned, burned, burned, in a circle for leagues around. He then scanned before him and saw the elf, now on foot, running where the Burgals were not. The shade spat and leapt from his lofty height flowing gracefully down and landing with a dead whump on his face like a falling rock before her feet. The final elf, for it was a she, gasped and did an illegal 'u' turn, but was met by Burgals who quickly surrounded her. By this time the shade had risen from the hole his size in the ground and pointed at her. "Bbeethahappthpthuth!" he said, spitting out a mouth full of dirt, the elf girl looked at him curiously, again he pointed. "Give it to me and I shall let you die a slow and painful death!"

The elf girl shook her head, "Nuh uh…" and backed away.

The shade snapped his fingers. "I meant go- I'll let you go, WHY do I always get the two wrong?" He shook his head.

Suddenly the elf girl threw the object she carried in the air shouting sudden words of magic! "GETAWAYYOU!" For which the object swiftly came back down hitting her atop the head before vanishing into a pulse of green energy.

"nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnO!" The shade screamed at her, he sighed heavily then, and walked over to her unconscious form. The Burgals slowly came out from the trees, surrounding her unconscious body, looking around to see if they would get the blame. The shade put his hands on his hips, shaking his head and said, "Crap."