Chapter 1
Eldor
By MooseChangerPat
December 1st 2009
This is a story I've wanted to write for a really long time and just now finally got around to writing. This story does contain adult themes and later on in the story will contain explicit NC-17 stuff and weird ass fetishes like vore. So if that's not your thing, I'll be giving warnings each chapter... and this chapter doesn't have anything too bad.
Chapter 1
The Bounty Hunter and the Bard
Aiden the court bard of the royal family De'Vuche (the leading royal family) and easily the finest bard in the capital city of Rydel, was busily writing a new piece for Christmas, when a loud rap sounded at the door. The sudden surprise of somebody at the door made his pen slip down the page ruining some of his notes. “Ack! My ink! Well whoever you are, it had better be good at this hour!” Aiden grumbled as he got up to check who was at the door. A tall thin man in a butler's uniform was at the door with an envelope in his hands. “I'm terribly sorry my Lord, but there is this... woman at the gate who insists that she see you and that I was to deliver this to you so you would know whom it was. She had one hell of a temper sir and I almost decided to call the guards on her. But with your history with strange violent woman I thought I should check with you first.”
Now Aiden was flushing a bit out of embarrassment and a bit out of anger but took the envelope out of the butler's hands. It wasn't his fault that the only women who seemed to be interested in him had violent streaks, he was always the perfect gentlemen and yet he always ended up with the psychos. He reached into the envelop to pull out a letter that simply said 6 words.
It's me you Red Haired Bastard.
The message itself didn't really say much but the insignia below it, mixed with those words, meant it could only be one person in the entire world. After he could finally get his eyes from bulging so much he stuffed the letter in his pocket and said to the butler, “You better let her see me.” The butler simply raised one eyebrow but left towards the grand stairway.
Meanwhile down the hall, down the grand stairway, and outside the great doors of the palace, a woman bundled up tightly in her cloak shivered from the falling snow. She adjusted the great scythe she was carrying over he shoulder again impatient at being left out in the cold. If her 'good' old friend Aiden was having any trouble getting her message she was going to tear down these gates and drag him out of his fluffy little bed to see her. As her good winter boots were starting to get soaked from the half melted snow, the door finally opened again with the butler behind it. “He has instructed me to let you see him.” The butler said distastefully while looking up at the eerily glowing scythe.
“Well it's about bloody time!” she said shaking her foot trying to get some of the wetness out but giving up and simply stepping inside. “You can leave now, I know where his room is.” she said waving her hand at him.
“I'm sure you do madame.” The butler said as he walked towards the servant's quarters. She wasn't sure if she terribly liked what the butler was insinuating, but she was a little too cold and wet to care at this particular moment. She quickly dashed up the stairs trying her best not to leave too many muddy foot prints behind and simply waltzed into the court bard's quarters down the hall. The room looked almost the exact same it had last time she had been in there, various little inventions in one corner, instruments and swords covering the walls, a great oak desk where the master bard would take notes, and bookshelves brimming full of musical sheets and stories of old. The only slightly different thing about the room was the second bed where Aiden slept was gone, she guessed that Aiden's old master Balthazar must have passed away a while back.
“Well if it isn't my good friend Elarial. The last time I saw you, you had promised to go on a date with me on Friday. Now of course I didn't exactly specify which Friday, my gorgeous blond haired friend, but even you should agree that 8 years is kind of a while to keep me waiting no?” Aiden said with a hint of a smile from the queen sized bed where he was tuning his lute. Elarial rolled her eyes which was her response when anybody tried to flirt with her and answered with a smirk saying, “Your wrong about two things there you cocky red haired... bard. First off I said Saturday because that's when I could get away from my tutors, and secondly...” For the second part she flashed her teeth in a smile and whipped off her hood and cloak revealing her electric blue hair. “I'm not a blond anymore.” Whatever satisfaction she had gained from the jaw drop and wide eyes, left when he said, “I think I'm in love with you all over again.”
She threw one of her soggy boots at the bard saying, “Do you ever change?!” Aiden who quickly dodged the boot so that it made a wet thud into the wall replied with, “You're one to talk, these boots are completely filthy. Have you ever changed out of them in the last month or so? Aww man now you've gotten some mud on my lute!” The bard quickly started to wipe it clean with a handkerchief. As he began to wipe of more dirt Elarial took off her other soaked boot and went to retrieve the second one.
“So Elarial, what's with the scythe?” Aiden asked looking warily at the weapon she was still holding over her shoulder. As Elarail removed a sack from the belt at her waist, she paused to look up at the glowing black scythe. “Oh, this old thing? When I was searching for some answers to a question that's been bothering me I thought I'd go see what the disciples of death might know. When I entered the monastery there was this scythe floating above an alter and a plaque below it that said only he who is worthy may join our order. Well I didn't see any of the monks around, so I thought the best way to get their attention was to 'prove my worth' so I grabbed the scythe. Next thing I know my whole body feels like it's burning and then it gets really cold and then all of a sudden it just stopped and the scythe was in my hands. A whole bunch of monks came pouring through the doors shocked since apparently everyone else who tried couldn't even hold it without their hands smoldering. I tried putting it back, but whenever I put it back above the alter it popped back into my hands. So the monks all started bowing down, saying I have been chosen by death to be his most powerful disciple or something. Now when I die I'm supposed to bring this scythe with me to give back to death and thank him or some weird thing like that. All I know, is this scythe hasn't let me down in a fight yet, which definitely helps as a bounty hunter. Aren't you glad you asked?” She finished feeling annoyed about trying to explain why she had a glowing black scythe again.
“Well that's... certainly... something?” Aiden said still feeling slightly uncomfortable with the scythe so close to some of his instruments. “Can't you put it in a corner or something for now? I don't exactly feel so comfortable with a scythe wielding ex-girlfriend in my bedroom. Maybe just the boot wielding ex-girlfriend.”
She smiled feeling satisfied that she at least had an edge on him with the big scary scythe of doom, as she liked to call it. “I'm not your ex-girlfriend since I never was your girlfriend in the first place, but I'll put it away for now.” She tossed the scythe letting it deftly land in a corner and just barely missing Aiden's Harp. She finally opened her sack and tossed her soaking boots inside which for some reason Aiden couldn't understand, worked just fine despite the boots being bigger than the sack. “What... the... heck?”
“Harvard's Handy Happy Sack, one heck of a magical sack, good for all your adventuring storage needs.” Elarial said quoting the slogan of the sack she had. “So I'm betting your wondering why I'm here?” She asked as she pulled out what seemed to be a trunk from her sack.
“I'm not even going to ask how you managed to get a trunk in that bag, but sure, why not tell me why you came back after all these years. I know you had a bit of a falling out with your father so has that changed?” Aiden asked watching her curiously as she rummaged through her trunk next.
“Aha! There it is!” The blue haired girl exclaimed as she reached towards the bottom of her trunk. Unfortunately what she was looking for was at the bottom of said trunk and she lost her balance tumbling into it. “Darn blast it! Will somebody help me out of this thing?” came the muffled cries from the half open trunk, and so her friend with the lute came over to lift her out of there. “Oh Elarial, you're such a clutz sometimes. How on earth do you even survive as a bounty hunter?” The red haired man asked her dusting her off as she finally got out of the trunk with what she was looking for.
“I'm not a clutz! And I didn't need your help Aiden you red haired bastard!” Elarial said in a grumbling and angry huff being highly insulted at being called a clutz.
“But I'm the only one here?” Aiden said with an arched eyebrow which just made her face flush more angrily. “It was a rhetorical question! Look, you being a bastard aside, I found it! The highest bounty in all of Dethrowl, Eldor the Silver Dragon.” The bounty was rather faded but Eldor could be seen breathing flames all around him and words in black below the picture said 'Eldor wanted dead or alive, for betraying the ancient ones, and mass murder. Reward: 1 wish.
The bard shook his head sadly as he looked down on the piece of paper now on the desk in his private quarters. He heaved a sigh as he leaped backwards into his chair rocking it back and forth and felt slightly hopeless. He tried to convince his bounty hunting friend to not take this bounty, playing a somber funeral march on his lute. “You'll have to excuse me if this is a bit much for me to chew over all at once. First you actually return to the royal palace in secret just to see me. Then you tell me you have been chosen to be one of the 'chosen of death' which is weird enough. Now you're telling me you want to take on one of the oldest bounties out there?” Aiden asked looking at the extremely faded piece of paper. “You do realize this was made before the empire was even born right? I kind of doubt this bounty reward of 1 wish is even valid anymore... if it ever WAS valid.”
“Hah!” Elarial said in defiance packing her trunk into her magical bag as she glared at her child hood friend. “You obviously haven't seen as much of the world as you claimed to have had in your songs. I've been to Shadowdale Aiden, and I've met one of the old ones who made this bounty so long ago. This bounty is still active and that promised wish is real.”
“SHADOWDALE!?” Aiden cried out as his rocking chair rocked so far back he fell over, his lute barely caught between his two legs.
“Keep your voice down you blockhead! Nobody is supposed to know I came here! It was bad enough that the Butler even heard my voice under my cloak!” Elarial said in an intense whisper.
“I'm sorry Elarial.” Aiden said as he straightened his chair out. “But that place is full of the worst of the worst kind of... things! You can't possibly trust anything or anyone in all of Shadowdale! How can you think that any being of power enough to grant you a wish would actually come through when it comes time to pay up?”
“Well I know that the wish will come true because he gave me a sample of my wish showing that it was well within his power to grant it. He also gave me a geas that works that if he doesn't pay up after I fulfill the conditions of the bounty, it would kill him. He's a very powerful person... well at least I think he's a person, I couldn't exactly see him under that hood of his.”
“And just what is your wish hmm?” Aiden asked staring at her in admiration of her womanly figure that had become so much more womanly since she last left. Elarial simply rolled her eyes at her old friend again, thinking his flirtatious nature would end up getting the better of him yet again. Since she figured it was the easiest way to get what she wanted from him she decided to play along... for now.
“Why it was you of course~ When I was given a sample of my wish, he summoned you while you were asleep to dance naked for me. You actually look exactly as I thought you would look naked. You're not such a bad sleep dancer either you know.” The young bounty hunter said with a wink as she started to put her boots on ever so slowly knowing her legs was her bardic friend's weakness. Aiden to her surprise turned as red as a beet before he made several strangled sounds and finally said while trying to cover his blushing face. “I thought that was just a dream!”
Elarial just couldn't contain her mirth as she giggled a little at his embarrassment, then the giggle turned into a bit of a laugh, and then finally as she slapped her knees in a great fit of laughter saying, “You certainly have some strange dreams about me Aiden.”
Aiden at this point slapped his palm into his face feeling rather stupid. Of course she was teasing him, she always was when they were kids. “Look Elarial, I won't ask you what your wish is but most importantly of all, Eldor is a hero! He helped forge the empire with your great great... great grandfather! How on earth could you betray him to some Shadowdale fiend?” Aiden asked having to think about how many greats ago it would have to have been, trying his best to remember what they were talking about before her legs were in the air with her leather boots softly, slowly, going over her feet.
She could tell his defenses were slowly going down one by one since he was now relying on old myths and legends to keep himself focused. “Come on Aiden, you don't know if any of that is even true. For all you know Eldor died of old age given how many centuries it's been and his skull could just be lying there waiting for me to claim the bounty on him. If he is alive, I just want to talk to him, maybe convince him to come to some sort of arrangement with my friend in Shadowdale? Please tell me where I can find his lair Aiden, pleeease? For old times sake?” As if to accentuate her point she gave him a great big hug making sure her breasts were pressed against his chest and one leg wrapped around his in all the right places.
Now this simply wasn't fair, Aiden remembered the old times, but they never were anything quite like this, and when had her boobs become this large, and fluffy, and plushie? His mind started to ask as she continued to playfully squish his rational thinking out of him. One by one his reasons for keeping her away from the lair were slowly slipping away. For all he knew Eldor was a myth, or dead and Elarial was one of his oldest friends, all she wanted to do was talk to him if he was even alive, and if he wasn't where was the harm? “You only want to talk right?” Aiden asked hugging her back with the last hint of restraint in his voice.
“Hey, have I ever lied to you?” She asked staring him straight in the eyes with a grin. “I promise, I don't want to cause him any harm and won't.” unless I have to... She thought inwardly sighing. Before Aiden could think she might have been thinking anything different, she hopped gently up from the chair she was sharing with him picking up her cloak and asked. “So where is Eldor, Aiden? As the court bard of Rydel, I know you know.”
Aiden sighed wishing his azure haired friend would have stayed on the chair with him forever. “I know that you'll find out either through me, or through your connections with your family, so it might as well come from me, since your still at odds with them.” Then to Elarial's surprise he started to sing and a map appeared in the air before her.
“The path you must go is fraught with snow,
from the highest top to the lowest low,
but know it can all be skipped,
if you don't want to take such a trip,
All you must do is go the right way,
Even if it's in circles that you feel you stray,
The path that is right,
You must go at night,
Just remember to go the right way,
On the path of the crescent moon.”
Elarial saw as a path was clearly shown on the map in silver. It spiraled down through the castle's halls, deep into it's dungeons, until it finally reached into the crescent mountains looming over the castle. It then started to spiral upwards towards almost the top of the mountain peaks until it reached a winged form on the map that could only be... “Eldor.” Elarial said aloud. She paused chuckling slightly before she went to pick her scythe up from the corner of the room. “You know, that song didn't exactly rhyme on that last verse, and why the heck does this thing spiral so much? Just so you can say you're going the 'right' way? That seems kind of stupid.”
“Always a critic.” Aiden said shaking his head sadly. “For what it's worth, it's not like I wrote the song or made the path. You can take it up with Eldor if you meet him since it was him and his friends that made it.” Somewhere in his mind there was something screaming at him to stop her at all costs to tackle her and make sure she didn't go, but something much stronger was telling him to let her go. Aiden shook his head trying to get a clear read between both feelings but nothing happened.
“Well, wish my luck! I'm off to find Eldor!” Elarial said running out the door with a smile. Aiden prayed that wouldn't be the last time he ever saw his old friend, Elarial De'Vuche, the woman who would have been queen.