Bloodsword: War of the Leaf

Jump Gate

A glance up yielded a clear, star- filled night sky. Quickly the pirate was able to pick out a couple of familiar constellations. 'Hmmm. There's the Archer. And that's the Fisherman. By their positions and this sticky heat, I'd say I'm somewhere in the far South, in the tropics. Maker, that was some jump!' He thought blithely.

Then the sounds of the drums, slightly louder now that he stood in the open air, drew him back to his predicament. Peering into the darkness, he thought he could make out some sort of glow in the distance. 'Campfires?' He wondered silently. With a loud grumble, his stomach decided it was a good time to remind its master that it had been empty for some time and, with all the repair work that needed to be done, Tev needed to refuel!!

"At least they don't seem to be getting closer." He husked out loud, putting a hand to his rumbling stomach as he took a slow scan of what was beyond the ruined complex.

"I think it's time to go forth for a bit of an explore."

Carefully Tev slipped out of the doorway and into the complex itself, slowly making his way through the ruined buildings until all he had in front of him was thick, verdant bush. Now all he had to be careful of was wildlife. And perhaps hostile natives around that campfire somewhere in the bush in front of him!

At that thought, he knew he had to be as invisible as possible. Taking the tattered remains of his shirt, Tev quickly and as quietly as possible, tore it into strips. Taking the strips, he carefully began to wrap them around the dusty, but still gleaming sword blade, making sure to avoid the razor sharp edge. Once that was done, he took the remainder of the strips and knotted them into some sort of sling and tied the sword up and slung it over his back.

With the sword out of the way, Tev knelt and jammed his stiff and aching hands into the moist soil at his feet. It was just as he hoped; typical tropical soil, nice and wet, almost mud. Taking two handfuls, he began to smear the wet stuff over his body and didn't stop until he had covered his face and upper body with the dark, sticky mud. It would serve not only to cover his pale skin, but also to mask the odor of his unwashed body. Which, as Tev had begun to smear himself, had become noticeable as a sour, salty scent, almost like the rotting seaweed that washed up onto the beach after a storm at sea.

Now camouflaged as best as he could be, Tev stood and slipped into the thick foliage directly in front of him, almost instantly swallowed up into it. Careful not to break any branches with his hands or feet as he made his way forward, Tev was concentrating so hard on not making any noise he almost didn't notice when the trees around him suddenly vanished!

"What happened to my forest?" He snorted softly as he looked about for the missing trees. Only to come shock still as his eyes caught sight of what was making the glow in the sky.

It was a city! Somehow the church and the surrounding complex had been built on a hill and as soon as Tev stepped out of the thick foliage that hid the complex, he found himself on the brow of that hill, with a clear view of the surrounding countryside. And the vision that the city presented was indeed out of the most fanciful fantasy, a collection of lights in the colors of the rainbow, dancing in a setting of black velvet, the reflected light shining into the sky.

The city lay about 10 leagues away, too far to make out buildings, walls or streets, but it's beauty made Tev's breath catch. And, like some giant had stood over the city and cast all about himself with a handful of sparkling gems, there were several smaller lights that radiated randomly out from the city shining brightly against the black of the surrounding landscape.

Then, like a moth drawn to the light of the leaping flames, Tev found his eyes tracking closer to the hill itself to several cleared areas where gigantic bonfires roared, throwing their fiery crowns a full ten paces into the night sky, their spark trails rising out of sight. There were at least five of the massive fires, and it was from them that the drums sounded.