| Ambrose felt his light travelling bag bounce loosely over his shoulder, the contents of which, at one time, weighed significantly more than they did now. He offered a small sigh as he remembered the weight it once contained. All manner of tools and items he would use in service of his god. With his free hand, he brushed back the strands of brown hair that danced in front of his eyes. A petty annoyance at times, but the hair seemed to work well, for what he used it for, he thought to himself, bringing a small semblence of a smile back to his features.
His clothing was hardly those normal for a traveller. His once pristine, ivory white robes were dulled with the dust of the road, and the crimson red trim and embroidary seemed to be turning a deeper hue, from a lack of maintainence. That would change, though, as soon as he could find a place to stop. A place with a warm hearth, good drink, and a good serving woman. That thought tugged on the corners of his lips even more, turning the slight smile, in a toothy grin.
With his spirits lifted slightly, and the thought of his travelling pack being slightly less heavy moving further behind him, Ambrose' pace picked up, an extra little jump to his step. He soon found himself whistling a catchy little tune to himself. He would have blissfully continued, but as he rounded a small bend on the path, something ahead of him took his attention away. Just up the road, a slender figured woman was sitting. Bright, honey blonde hair streamed over her shoulders, and her clothing was ragged, and torn in places, just barely covering the full-figured form.
"Must've done something good in the past couple days... She gave me a present..."
Ambrose smiled, and cleared the distance between him and the woman in no time. Standing behind her, he knelt down. The distance did no justice to the woman, he thought, as his eyes longingly worked over the woman's body. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"My dear. What exactly could put a woman of such unearthly appearance in such a sad state of affairs?" Ambrose felt the woman shift slightly, and give, what to him, sounded like a quiet sniffle. He put on his best smile, one that showed off as many of his teeth as possible, and waited for the woman to respond.
After a moment, the woman shifted, and turned to face Ambrose, her honey blonde hair swaying loosely with the movement.He looked at the woman's face. The strong jaw bone, rigid facial features, deep inset brown eyes. Day's worth of facial hair lining the chin. "Facial hair?" thought Ambrose, scratching his own chin with his free hand. "Women don't grow facial hair... Well, dwarf ones do, but...". Ambrose's smile turned into a look of fear as fast as it had become the smile. Like a bolt of lightning, Ambrose was back on his feet, and stumbling backwards. The woman stood up, and reached into one of the tears covering her chest, and pulled out what looked like a large orange, and took a bite of it, skin and all.
"You... You're... You're a man!" A shudder shot through Ambrose' body at the realization.
"Right-o mate!" He grinned a toothy grin of his own, gaps appearing where many teeth should've been. "And looks to me like I'm about to become a man that's a tad richer..." He eyed the travelling pack of Ambrose greedily.
Ambrose got the idea, and looked at his pack in the corner of his eye. "L-look. There isn't anything in there you'd want... Trust me!" He was snivvelling, begging, whining even. Ambrose knew it. He wasn't a fighter, he just wanted to serve his god with as much ferver as possible.
"Oh? And what making you think that?" The 'woman' edged closer, drawing a thin blade from the folds of the torn dress.
Ambrose' mind swam, looking for some idea to save himself. In his tremoring, jerky movements, his free hand dropped, and starting patting down the trim of his robes. When his hand moved over something hard and lumpy, a sudden smile found it's way onto his face. "Be-because my money pouch is right here!" He said with sudden triumph, and tore the small wallet from his robes, and tossed it to the 'woman'.
As the 'woman' bent over to pick up the wallet, Ambrose took his chance to action: Running in the opposite direction! His mugger turned the wallet over, and a couple silver coins fell into his hand. His eye twitched.
*****
How long had he run? Ten minutes? Twenty? He couldn't remember. All that was on Ambrose' mind was getting away from that woman... Or was it a man? Or... both? He shook his head fiercely, forcing the image out of his head. He felt his legs getting heavy, and his lungs beginning to gasp for air. He slowly came to a stop, breathing heavily. He hadn't excerted himself since he met those twins in Amn. He smiled again.
He was left with a problem, now, though. He was in the middle of nowhere, no money, and days from the nearest city. Not only that, but night was falling, and unless he wanted to sleep on the ground (which couldn't help his duties to his god), he didn't know what to do. He slowly began walking, thinking. As he walked, quite aimlessly, he turned another bend in the road. He would have continued to walk in such a way, if something hadn't stopped him. Something large... And wooden... Ambrose had walked face first into a building!
"Oww... Damnit... Who put this here?" He looked up, and to the sign swinging over the entrance. "Hmm. The Moon and Sword, eh... Well, maybe someone here could help me out..."  |