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Kaileen's Journey; New Friends, Part I
Groundhawg
She ran, as fast as she could. Faster than the cats that called this forest home. Faster than the Birds that flew overhead. And certainly faster than the angry mob chasing her. Her long brown hair    floating behind her. She looked back over her shoulder, she saw the distant glow of torchlight, but she could no longer see the heads of the villagers. She didn't care that she had outrun them already, she was too scared to stop. She turned off the road. After a brief while of running, she spotted a light, a campfire, she guessed. She skulked through the bushes around the fire, watching for any signs of movement. And soon she saw them, in the form of a dwarf. He was sitting by the campfire, terribly close to it in fact. He seemed to be eating a steak of some sort. He looked up from his meal, and looked around the bushes for what he had heard, his eyes switched to the infra-red spectrum. :: The dwarf stood, then shouted simply, :: "Hey! Human! What do ye want?" Kaileen blinked, how had he seen her? And well enough to tell her race! She stayed hidden, but responded with a shout, :: "I'm on the run from my people, have you alleigance to the humans, Dwarf?" :: "I've no alleigances but to me own kin, now come out from behind that bush, and have a seat by me fire." he waved her over, when she stood, she noticed that he had been staring at her exact location. She stood up and moved over to the fire, she and the dwarf sat together. :: "Why're ye runnin from yer kin, miss?" The dwarf asked, taking a bite from his steak. :: "I.... I commited a crime..." She hesitated. The dwarf looked up from his steak to realize that she was bruised quite badly on her face and arms. :: "It looks more like ye've had a crime commited on ye miss.." he stated blankly, returning his gaze to his meal. :: "Well... I suppose you're not going to harm me... My husband used to beat me after he had a bad day... Well, last night I reached my breaking point.." She hesitated, then continued. "When he came home from work, I was in the kitchen preparing the nights meal, he came at me, as though to beat me again.... But he never made it... I grabbed the pan full of pork grease, and broke his jaw with it..." She began to tear up, and was practically sobbing the rest of the story to the dwarf. "I then took the vegetable knife... And put in in his chest... While the pork grease burned him to death.. He screamed so much... Screams I wish to never hear again.. But they still haunt me." A shiver ran down her spine, and the dwarf seemed undisturbed.. :: "Sounds like a bad day ye had! I've had a bad day too.. I had to put my dinner fork into the skull of an elf... Now I've got to eat with me hands!" He motioned to over his shoulder,  and only then did Kaileen see, she had to stifle a scream as she noticed the elf corpse, blood spread around all over and guts cleanly laid out next to him. With a small silver handle protruding from the top of his skull. :: "Hungry?" The dwarf asked, she nearly screamed again, realizing that the dwarf was eating the elf meat! "Foods scarce in this forest miss, don't worry, he attacked me first, it was a legal and clean kill. The meat's too stringy for my likin' though.." :: :: Little did Kaileen know, her decision to stay with the dwarf, would take them to many strange and interesting places. :: For more Kaileen's Journey, seek Gorund, the dwarven bard. :: By the same Author: :: :: Gorund's Journey; Drumportal, I & II :: Law, vs Religion :: A Ballad of Chris :: :: And many more to come!