I chose not to do the ten-page option, but one of the little bits that I had to do instead was to type up one of the scenes. So here's one. YAY!
King Shakkan, like all over-confident kings, had long believed that the only creatures that could penetrate his hideaway were the ones that lived and worked there, and, like his fellow over-confident kings, had not bothered to listen to the warnings that the guards had been trying to give him and had chosen to throw a one-man party instead.
These choices being what they were, the group of travelers that strode into King Shakkan’s large, torch-lit throne room found the leader of the goblins in a state of complete and utter drunkenness, having raided the very last of King Acherna’s wine stores to supplement his one-man celebration of his stupidity.
Since the Goblin King had decided upon this course of action rather than one of alert defense, he was utterly surprised to see that there were five very large creatures in the throne room, and they looked too big to be goblins. In fact, that one creature on the end looked like a human with WINGS, but that couldn’t be right, could it?
“I… I am… I am… King Shakkan!” The king babbled in his drunkenness, swaying as he attempted to rise to his feet, a large bottle of wine in his hand. “What are you doin’ here?” Although he was the king of the goblins, Shakkan appeared to be just a really short human – no taller than around five feet.
“Um… you are the king of the goblins, right?” Nemesis asked uncertainly. It was kind of unnerving to see Shakkan swaying on his feet so much, so obviously out of line that it was almost pathetic to watch.
“Um… am I?” Shakkan mumbled, stumbling as he tried to stand up straight. “Oh… yeah, I s’pose I am. What can I do for you?” He took another drink from the container in his hand.
Nemesis hesitated. She wasn’t entirely sure how to say, “Well, you can start by dying, if you don’t mind. And, if it isn’t too much trouble, please sit back and relax while we do it for you,” in a polite enough that still get through to the drunk king’s brain and stay in there.
“We’re here to kill you, sorry,” Kaibom said, before Nemesis had figured out how to say it to him nicely.
“That’s one way of putting it,” Nem corrected.
“Wait, there’s another way of putting it?” Kaibom asked in surprise.
Before Nem could reply, the drunken king wondered, “Kill me? Why’d’ya wanna kill me?”
“Well, there’s the fact that –” Nemesis began, but the king cut her off.
“I DON’T WANNA DIE!” he wailed. “I’m not ready to – I’m too young to die!”
“You’ve been around for three thousand years, Shakkan,” Nemesis said.
“I have no sons!” Shakkan wailed. “No heirs! Who will watch this place when I die! NOBODY! That’s who! Why must you do this to me?”
“Shakkan, you’re drunk,” Nemesis told him sadly. However, Shakkan was too busy wailing about how he couldn’t die just yet to listen, going onto his knees in desperation.
Finally, Zazan was the one who decided that enough was enough. Striding forward, he gave Shakkan a hard backhand slap on the face, adding to it a little malicious electric shock that nevertheless brought Shakkan to his senses a bit more. Shakkan stopped wailing and clutched the hand-shaped burn on his face.
“For your information, Shakkan,” Nemesis said, striding forward, her mind made up, “There are more than a few people who have been monitoring your behavior for the last three thousand years, and they think it’s time that your power was removed.” She drew Fenn, her Aerian blade.
Something ticked in Shakkan’s head. Aerian blade.. girl... prophecy... stars...
Before Shakkan had entirely put the pieces together in his mind, his life had been snuffed out in a stab right through the heart.
It was the first time that Nemesis had ever killed anything in cold blood, the first time she had spoken to one of her foes in such a calm manner before taking their life.
She wasn’t sure she liked it, but she gathered herself and looked at the two guards standing on either side of the throne. “Stay here and die, or take the knowledge of this death to your grave and leave at once,” she told them, her face pale and deadpan.
The goblins, terrified at what had just occurred, chose to run, though they were not entirely sure that they would not have preferred to die immediately more.
