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Author's Note
: This story, Terrible Company, is sprawling sword-and-sorcery fantasy satire with a diverse cast of characters. Over its many chapters, those characters will have interactions (both with each other and others) that cross many of the lines that exist between Lit genres. I have come to believe that breaking the story into those different categories, as best I can, is the best way to expose the most readers to parts of the story they might dig, and that they might then be encouraged to read on.
Each chapter is written as a self-contained episode, and although there are running gags that continue through the series that enrich the experience, they shouldn't prevent one from starting anywhere in the series (including the final chapter) and enjoying it for what it is.
This chapter features:
Val, the female Orc Warrior/Fighter
Katsa, the female Human Arcanist
Mathilda, the female Dwarf Healer
Ayen, the male Half-Elf Thief
Ivy, the female Human Bard
Enjoy!//
"We have to escape," Ayen moaned softly. His eyes were bloodshot, frantic, as he paced back and forth. "We have to escape." Their neighboring cells, beneath the castle-estate of the Baron of Hayeston, did not offer much in the way of square footage. "We have to—"
"Shut it!" Mathilda roared. Ayen jumped in shock and nodded, but it was only seconds before he began pacing again. "We know!"
"This is a real turning point for his character," Ivy whispered, from her cell at the end.
" 'is
what
now?"
"I've been recording our escapades," she said, without looking up from her yellow pad of paper. "At first, I was thinking of turning it into an epic poem or some kind of serialized novels, but now I'm envisioning a kind of game where people could pretend to be us,
or heroes like us
, and..."
"Lass."
"...running around, either literally
or
metaphorically, playing the role of adventurers whose lives are more interesting than..."
"
Lass.
