Chapter 2: A rough start
Kelix turned over fitfully in his sleep. He was dreaming about being fifteen again. More a nightmare than a dream. Ten years ago, he was so skilled that a local clan had given him a last name. Last names got you a lot in Dunthmoor, a city named after some forgotten, snooty clan that had been overthrown centuries ago. Nevertheless, the 5 years it took to go from a notable 10 year old to a one armed delinquent felt long to Kel (as the locals called him). His mind drifted back to the day things went awry. He distinctly recalled the last motion he performed with his right hand. His mission was simple: find the head of the nearby goblins and report back with it's location. A normal coming of age test for adolescents did to help quell the disgustingly fast rate that goblin hills seemed to crop up every year. Just sneak around a bit and come back.
As well as it had started, midway through the night a halted scream alerted Kel that clan Cobnari had lost an unlucky potentate. shortly after, half a dozen teens dressed in the same black and green mottled outfits rushed towards him, making much more noise than they should have been.
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Calico Jack looked at the board in disbelief. Shrax revealed a Favor he hadn't seen in the hundreds of games he had played. Shrax held up the card and read "Double Blind. If all of your army belongs to one race, gain a number of additional units belonging to another race equal to the number of resource points spent on the first army." As Shrax's already immense army doubled, they both watched a number of tiles on the opposite side of the board come to rest, a higher tier army shifting into view on the frozen tundra.
"I was trying to let you save face by offering an early end to this game. Now, you will lose everything."
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Kelix looked behind the sprinting group to see hundreds, maybe a thousand, goblins chasing after them. "something caught Braxton" a female potentate told Kel as he started running just ahead of them. He recognized her as Tonia, from the clan house a few away from his. He picked up his speed a little, outpacing the group by a few yards for good measure.
He pulled out a kunai and tied a small, almost invisible wire to it. looking back, he could see the trees moving roughly one hundred yards behind them. "keep going, all the way back to the clan!"
Kel wasn't a hero. He just wasn't heartless. Thinking back, he would still have it all if he had just left them behind.
Kel saw a suitable tree approaching and sped up to it, stabbing his kunai into it roughly 6 inches off the ground. as he began to run sideways, the other potentates passed him, each giving a grateful nod. he sprinted for 50 feet, then wrapped the other end of the wire around another tree and tied it off. He could see the Goblins eyes and faces now. Waiting to see if it would work wasn't an option. He ran towards the city, hoping they hadn't shut the gate.
As he reached the edge of the city, he saw that the potentates had left the gate a little ajar, a boy around his age looked at him and then turned his head and said "guess he didn't make it. Close it up!" Kel sprinted for all he was worth, getting most of his body in as the gate came closing on his right shoulder, cleanly severing his dominant arm even as the horde of goblins collided with the outer wall.
Kelix remembered how the boy apologized, in a way that made it apparent that it was a formality. Just enough to appease the clan. The next few years were all downhill. In only a handful of months, Kel was once again clan-less and struggling to survive.
As he woke up, he lifted his left hand to block the square of light shining on his patch of hay in the unused stable. He looked at his near empty wallet. "Looks like the clan's remuneration is almost gone. Well, at least I still have you." He patted the dagger slung to his left waist lovingly. "Time to hire myself out."
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