Search for the Lost Messenger RPG

[Grimbold]

Handorth lay on the red earth. His hands grasped the arrow which had entered his chest. His own blood lay around him, and the blood of countless dead. He heard the elves coming. They were finishing their work, killing the wounded. The pain was overpowering, he could not think, but as an elven swordsman passed, he had the strength to lie still and endure the pain while the elf searched for those who still held on to life. Handorth would not be butchered after being speared by an archer.

The arrow was taking him into death quickly enough. The elf passed, and Handorth moved his eyes again. The sun streamed down on him where it passed through the leaves overhead. His own blood gleamed in the golden light. He didn't have the strength to take out the arrow--besides, it would rip him inside out to do it. He seized his sword, and grasped the hilt, holding on to the one thing which had helped him through so many battles, so much strife. His other hand he used to grasp his shield, which was battered and notched from many impacts and blows. His vision seemed to turn red as the blood seeped out of his tightly clenched teeth.

Handorth coughed and hacked which sent a new spasm of heart-rending pain through his torso. Blood spattered over his neck as he convulsed. The sound drew the attention of a female elven warrior who was scouring the wreckage. She carried a blade dripping with foul blood. She stopped in front of him and stared at him. He met her cruel gaze. She moved towards him, but he coughed again and turned his head to one side, and back again, in a terribly difficult shake of the head.

"No," he uttered. "Let me die." Finally, his eyes lost focus and his head fell back, and he stared thoughtlessly into the blazing sky. His hands dropped, and Handorth passed away, out of his body.