he decided it best to retreat. The warrior growled at his
hesitation, his seeming challenge, and slapped a backhand
across Wank’s face that sent him reeling to the ground.
Peals of laughter from his broodmates echoed through his
ringing head.
An agonizing bead of electricity crawled between
his brain and his skull as bolts of blue light shivered across
the cavern. The pool glowed, clear water shot through to
resemble the sky upside down as albino trout, like small
white clouds in a high wind, were chased around the island
to disappear once again into the dark.
Wank saw clearly this time, a shadowy figure, all
shape and no substance, standing alone on the rock
formation, its eyeless regard apparent only from its
attentive stance.
Then the half-orc sagged to the ground,
cognizance once again fled.
Consciousness slowly seeped back into his aching
head, various points of pain dully lighting up inside his
skull as memories opened up like gnarled weedlings on the
barren landscape of his parched mind. He lay still, silent
for long moments as his self-control re-exerted itself, as
the points of vivid pain in his brain gave way to the ache
and stiffness of his limbs and back.
Almost, he rolled over from his current fetal coil,
hip and shoulder wailing indignation at their treatment.
Leery of what awaited, he stayed still, silent, musing on
escape from the raw coruscation of emotions that was
being bled from his unwilling mind.
69