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The Paladins of Karkos
an illustrated tale
page 2


    Garalt awoke to find himself lying face down on the ground.  A sharp pain throbbing on the back of his neck, another poking him in the side.
    "W...what happened...?"  Garalt groaned to himself as he slowly got to his feet.
    "Looks to me like you were blessed by lady luck," a voice said.  Garalt jumped, searching for his weapon quickly.
    "Relax," a deep voice said to him.  Garalt looked up to see a man and two women standing before him, all three dressed in heavy armor.  He looked around, finding himself right were he was when the paladins had knocked him out.  The village was burned completely to the ground.  Garalt winced as he felt the pain in the back of his neck attack his senses.
    "Blessed?"  Garalt groaned, "feels more like I was cursed."
    "You're lucky, few men stand up to Jerren and live,"  the blonde haired woman said.  Garalt looked at her, the two women were dressed almost the same.  The blonde haired woman wore a figured suit of armor, built to hug her feminine body shape, a centurion helm crowned her head.  In her hands was a large glowing blue pike, steam seemed to lightly rise off it.  The other woman was clad in the same style of figured suit of armor, but her helm was much like his own, a heavily armored, visored type.  Her hair was red as a sunset, and seemed to fall around her eyes slightly.  In her hands she carried two broadswords, all in all she looked very imposing.  Then his eyes fell upon the man.  He was dressed identically to the paladins, all except his helm, which instead of being shining, it was flat black.
    Garalt jumped again, this time finding his axe and readying himself to fight the man.
    "Relax already," the man said, "I'm not with the Order of Huldrain, so just sit down and relax."
    "But your armor... your shield!  It's the same as the paladins," Garalt said, pointing at the man's shield.  It was dull and battle scarred, but the Order of Huldrain's bull head insignia still shown.
    "That's because I was once a member of the Order, but I left."
    "Actually they think he's dead," the blonde haired woman spoke softly.
    "If you're not with them," Garalt said slowly, rubbing his neck, "then who are you and why are you here?"
    "Forgive me," the man said, taking a step toward the young knight.  "I am Garn.  This is Rikio," pointing to the blonde haired woman, and motioned to the red haired woman, "and this is Ceness."  Garalt looked Garn over.  The man looked very rugged, scared by countless fights.  He was unshaven, but it seemed he kept himself up rather well, probably because of the company he kept.
    "I am Garalt..."
    "Yes, we know, we overheard you speaking to Jerren," Ceness said softly, cleaning her swords.
    "You were there?" Garalt questioned them, startled.
    "Yes, we hid in the woods and watched from afar."  Rikio chimed in.  She seemed to be the most jovial, if you could call it that, of the three.  All of them seemed, for the most part, rather cold and withdrawn.
    "Why would you do that?" Garalt looked at them.
    "You see," Garn began to wipe off dirt from his shield, "we have been following Jerren for some time.  All three of us have been..."  Garn paused.  "We've all been 'touched' by Jerren's hand.  Each of our lives has in some way been affected by the Order of Huldrain.  I was fed up with his brutality towards those he deemed sinners.  But since no one can leave the Order, I had to fake my own death."
    "I was orphaned by one of Jerren's 'purifications'" Rikio said softly, lowering her head slowly.
    "Jerren has warped my older sister's mind," Ceness said, gripping her swords tightly, "I'm trying to get her back."
    "The Lieutenant," Garalt said, "I see the resemblance now.  I can understand your reason for following them, Ceness, but what about you two?  Why follow them?"
    "Jerren's methods are questionable," Garn spoke slowly, "though, in the grand scheme of things, he's only been doing beneficial things.  However, we don't think it's just to do what he does."
    "Beneficial things?!" Garalt began to become flustered, "You call burning six people alive beneficial??"

 
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