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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with a great story from Boomer, entitled

Sebastian Comes of Age

Background music “Blackmoor Tides” and “Soliloquy”, by Matthew Pablo at www.matthewpablo.com

The only memory Sebastian had from his former life was of his mother desperately holding on to his dying father as the ship heeled over from the enormous wind. The decks ran red with the blood of slain seamen, while skeletal warriors raised gory swords in salute to the black-robed wizard commanding their actions. The ship’s wheel had been commandeered by a skeleton, festooned with the tatters of a rotting naval uniform. This monstrosity had put the wheel hard over, steering the doomed vessel onto the roiling surf of the reef. Its fleshless skull was arched back, jaws agape in a macabre imitation of joy. Sebastian’s mother’s magic was holding back the vaporous stream of life-sucking black that swirled between her and the wizard.

A moment of distraction had been enough to end the fight. Sebastian had slid across the deck towards the tumultuous sea. In a blink his mother had shifted her attention and saved his life by casting him onto the beach while the blackness had engulfed her.

Now ten years later, Sebastian celebrated this day as his birthday, the day he was found by some villagers from Kingsport. Most of the wording on the water and blood soaked documents found on him was illegible. “Sebastian _____, aged six, beware Grand _____ Quel___” were the only words that remained.

For most of these ten years the villagers had treated him well. None had adopted him. The evidence of magic with his origins had provoked too much fear. Innkeeper Abbot had, however, set up a small room at the Hearth Inn in exchange for cleaning chores and killing rats in the sewers. Alchemist Julia had encouraged his reading skills and Merchant Nache had generously bought all the cotton he could gather.

Lately, though, hordes of skeletal warriors were preventing him from making any excursions into the sewers. Out of town, the trails and woods he know so well were occupied by hostile elves. In the deep woods, centaurs ruled. In the mountains, giant spiders roamed. Now that Sebastian was 16, villagers were starting to believe that he was somehow instrumental in the arrival of these infestations. Many villagers were starting to treat him with disrespect, especially Mayor Hargrove and some of the guards. Joining Anton and the smugglers seemed all but inevitable.

But then he found out that elves carry gold.

(to be continued)