that very same day, and passed a
Resolution Regarding Care and Confinement Appertainint to Monsters. Subsection
5(c) of Schedule 9 of Annex 5 attached to the Resolution stated that:
Any organisation which does or can or may or might buy breed produce
summon forth unearth uncover tempt call attract or otherwise obtain any demon
fiend bog-crawler crocodile griffin dragon death-lizzard creature of the Swarms
or related being or any similar or unsimilar scarth jinn brute beat or monster
MUST protect the public security by obtaining the services of a suitably
qualified and experienced hero sword-master death-dealer dragon killer or
similar.
Aware that the
manifestation of the monster had excited a certain groundswell of public
disfavour, the Wordsmiths sought to comply. They offered Togura the job on a
temporary basis, while he decided whether he would quest for the index. He
accepted, fully aware that only one real monster had emerged from the odex in
more than three decades of operation.
The Wordsmiths then
announced that they had recruited the young monster-slaughterer Togura Poulaan,
who had proved himself by killing a monaster for them earlier in the day, in
full view of the public. This announcement was met with derision by the
citizenry, who were by now fully aware that the monster had been killed by
Barak the Battleman, assassin and swordfighter, previously a gladiator in the
murk pits of Chi'ash-lan.
"How many people in
Keep know your face?" asked Brother Troops.
"A couple of
dozen," said Togura.
"Two dozen people
can scarcely overturn the world's belief. From now on, till further notice,
you're Barak the Battleman."
"Agreed," said
Togura.
Armed with his new name,
he stood taller and felt stronger; he began to walk with something of a
swagger. The Wordsmiths equipped him with a sword, a stabbing knife and a
helmet, and made an announcement correcting the name of their resident hero.
Togura, remembering his
encounter earlier in the day with the swordmaster-assassin who had prior claim
to the name of Barak the Battleman, wondered with some trepidation what would
happen if that rough, burly swordsman of middle years heard that his name had
been usurped.
The swordsman did hear.
And he shrugged, for it
was nothing to him. He should have changed his name leagues ago in any case.
That evening, as he set off east, his business with King Skan Askander
completed, he decided that henceforth he would call himself Genu Vay Chanay. He
would identify himself as a free-lance executioner.
Genu Van Chanay gave no
further thought to Keep or to its people or to the theft of his last roadname;
he had plenty of things to worry about without troubling himself over
trivialities like the use and abuse of his former name.
That very same evening,
an invitation arrived at the Wordsmiths stronghold for the Governor and the new
monster-slaughterer to attend a Banquet of Celebration to be given by the
Family Suet that very night. This gave Togura an attack of stage fright.
As Brother Troop was
attempting to calm his nerves, the calm of the night was interrupted by a roar
from the odex, followed by the manifestation of a dragon's head. Unfortunately,
the head was very much alive. But, fortunately, it was not attached to any
body, and consequently was soon dead.
"It's yours,
boy," said Brother Troop. "Proof positive to all the world of your
ability."
"I can't claim
it," said Togura. "I cannot tell a lie."
That in itself was a
lie, or at least an exaggeration; he could easily tell a small lie, and often
had and did, but he was unable to tell a lie on such an exaggerated scale.
"You needn't say
anything about it at all," said Brother Troop. "We'll have it carried
to the Banquet of
Resolution Regarding Care and Confinement Appertainint to Monsters. Subsection
5(c) of Schedule 9 of Annex 5 attached to the Resolution stated that:
Any organisation which does or can or may or might buy breed produce
summon forth unearth uncover tempt call attract or otherwise obtain any demon
fiend bog-crawler crocodile griffin dragon death-lizzard creature of the Swarms
or related being or any similar or unsimilar scarth jinn brute beat or monster
MUST protect the public security by obtaining the services of a suitably
qualified and experienced hero sword-master death-dealer dragon killer or
similar.
Aware that the
manifestation of the monster had excited a certain groundswell of public
disfavour, the Wordsmiths sought to comply. They offered Togura the job on a
temporary basis, while he decided whether he would quest for the index. He
accepted, fully aware that only one real monster had emerged from the odex in
more than three decades of operation.
The Wordsmiths then
announced that they had recruited the young monster-slaughterer Togura Poulaan,
who had proved himself by killing a monaster for them earlier in the day, in
full view of the public. This announcement was met with derision by the
citizenry, who were by now fully aware that the monster had been killed by
Barak the Battleman, assassin and swordfighter, previously a gladiator in the
murk pits of Chi'ash-lan.
"How many people in
Keep know your face?" asked Brother Troops.
"A couple of
dozen," said Togura.
"Two dozen people
can scarcely overturn the world's belief. From now on, till further notice,
you're Barak the Battleman."
"Agreed," said
Togura.
Armed with his new name,
he stood taller and felt stronger; he began to walk with something of a
swagger. The Wordsmiths equipped him with a sword, a stabbing knife and a
helmet, and made an announcement correcting the name of their resident hero.
Togura, remembering his
encounter earlier in the day with the swordmaster-assassin who had prior claim
to the name of Barak the Battleman, wondered with some trepidation what would
happen if that rough, burly swordsman of middle years heard that his name had
been usurped.
The swordsman did hear.
And he shrugged, for it
was nothing to him. He should have changed his name leagues ago in any case.
That evening, as he set off east, his business with King Skan Askander
completed, he decided that henceforth he would call himself Genu Vay Chanay. He
would identify himself as a free-lance executioner.
Genu Van Chanay gave no
further thought to Keep or to its people or to the theft of his last roadname;
he had plenty of things to worry about without troubling himself over
trivialities like the use and abuse of his former name.
That very same evening,
an invitation arrived at the Wordsmiths stronghold for the Governor and the new
monster-slaughterer to attend a Banquet of Celebration to be given by the
Family Suet that very night. This gave Togura an attack of stage fright.
As Brother Troop was
attempting to calm his nerves, the calm of the night was interrupted by a roar
from the odex, followed by the manifestation of a dragon's head. Unfortunately,
the head was very much alive. But, fortunately, it was not attached to any
body, and consequently was soon dead.
"It's yours,
boy," said Brother Troop. "Proof positive to all the world of your
ability."
"I can't claim
it," said Togura. "I cannot tell a lie."
That in itself was a
lie, or at least an exaggeration; he could easily tell a small lie, and often
had and did, but he was unable to tell a lie on such an exaggerated scale.
"You needn't say
anything about it at all," said Brother Troop. "We'll have it carried
to the Banquet of
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