Legends of Belariath

Kitty

Before The Beginning

The young, black furred cat man re-sheathed his blood soaked katana in it's scabbard. The orange robed fire mage lay dead at his feet, missing her head. Talisson Silvermyst had gone too far this time, after making his decision to leave the Kobushi clan he had gone on a rampage, mercilessly killing any unsuspecting person he met along his way through the village. He was better than them all, at magic and at physical combat, now he was showing them, one by one. But no matter how good he was, no matter how many he proved it to, he would never become leader of this clan. Leadership of the Kobushi came through birth, if you were the eldest daughter of the current leader or Shakaku as they were called in the clan, when she died, then you would become the next one, that was the one and only way to obtain power in this clan. Talisson flicked his head back, moving the long black hair from his deep, blood red eyes before stalking off through the village, the snow crunching under his leather boots, his dark black cloak swirling in the wind behind him. He killed a further two of his former clan members before reaching the edge of the village where he turned and threw a rain of fire bolts back towards the wooden huts, smirking as he watched the houses burn down to the ground. When he was satisfied his magic had done sufficient damage he turned and made his way down the steep and rocky mountainside.

For days he traveled through the dark forest that surrounded the Kobushi mountain, burning down trees to provide himself with warmth and killing defenseless woodland creatures for his meals. Nearly a week after leaving the Kobushi village Talisson emerged from the forest and out onto the vast grassy plains. After another day and night of walking he came to a large city of humans. The cat man received some strange looks as he walked through the city gates and down the streets. Strange smells and odd sounds filled his senses as he went among the men, women and children. Two men were brawling in the street before him, knocking each other senseless with kicks and punches. Talisson considered destroying them both just to show off his superiority but instead chose to enter the building the fight had spilled out of, The Black Horse Inn. As he stepped inside he was greeted by a pretty serving maid who asked if he wished any food, drink or other services. Talisson slipped an arm around the girl's waist and guided her over to a table with a smirk. He pulled a chair and lowered himself into, patting the girl's bottom with his hand before grabbing a handful of skirts and tearing them away from her body. As he turned his head to look for something to restrain the serving maid, he noticed a group of three men gathered around a table, a large amount of coins piled up in front of them. He gave the girl a shove, causing her to fall backwards onto her behind as he rose up and stalked towards the men. He could see they were playing dice, and gambling with a rather large amount of coin. He settled down beside them and started talking; soon he was playing with them for gold. He noticed a pouch missing from inside his tunic, one of the men told him it was likely taken by thieves, the city was full of them. Talisson made a mental note to kill five thieves before leaving the city and carried on with the game. Before long the stakes had risen dramatically, coins, jewellery and even weapons been gambled on the outcome of the dice, Talisson's luck held and he finished up with at least three times as much money as he started with, a rather wicked looking dagger and a bag full of rings, bracelets, and necklaces. By that time it was late, so he used a small part of his newfound wealth to rent a room at the inn for the night along with the serving girl who had greeted him earlier.

Talisson lay naked on the bed, twirling a ring from his bag of winnings as he watched the worn out serving girl drift off to sleep beside him. The ring was a nice piece of craftsmanship, a solid gold band with inscriptions along it that Talisson could not translate but recognized from his books on necromancer magic. The girl opened one eye to look at him as his mumbles were keeping her awake. Talisson slipped the ring onto his index finger and was almost reward with the loss of his hearing as the girl screamed out into his ear. With a growl he lashed out with a hard backhand across her face, "What the hell is wrong with you, girl?!". The girl's head snapped back from the blow, her eyes widening with what seemed like fear, "Sir? What's happening, sir?". "What are you talking about? Why are you screaming out like that at this hour?". The girl rubbed her eyes, slowly crawling backwards off the bed, away from Talisson, "Sir, where are you? You're scaring me". Talisson furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side, "I'm right here girl, are you blind?". With that he waved his hand right in front of her face, the girl did not flinch as the hand that had hit just moments before came so close again. His face lit up with an evil grin as it dawned on him what was happening. "You can't see me, girl?". The terrified serving maid shook her head and whimpered. "What about now?". With that Talisson pulled the ring from his finger and suddenly reappeared in bed beside the girl, causing her to jump back with a shriek and fall off the bed. The cat man chuckled to himself and nodded his head, "Now this could be very useful indeed". He reached over to the bed side table and with one swift movement picked up a knife and sent it flying through the air into the girl's chest, sending her sprawling onto her back and screaming in pain, writhing about for several movements before she died in a pool of blood. Talisson quickly got dressed into his black leather pants and tunic before pulling on his thick leather boots, followed by his long black cloak. He threw all of his things into a bag except the ring, he slipped that back onto his finger as he slung the bag over his shoulder, his form flickered in and out of sight but he did not completely disappear. With a growl a kicked the door open and stormed off into the hall way and down the stairs, just before he stepped out into the now empty common room he vanished from sight completely. Silently the inn door swung open and footprints started to appear in the snow leading away from the inn, but no sounds of crunching snow accompanied them.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

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