Through Hell (standard:fantasy, 998 words)
Author: Vincent Collevera	Added: May 09 2007	Views/Reads: 3211/2153	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Gayan Padrianus is a mercenary colonal returning home to his pregnant wife. What he finds when he arrives is something he never expected. Will he find his child? Will he overcome what he sets out to destroy, or will his life be snuffed out like so many

Through Hell 

The wind blew cold and sharp through the mountain pass.  It touseled his
hair as a parent would fondly do a child.  His cloak was open and 
billowed back across his horse's flanks.  The steady plodding of hooves 
over thin soil or stone was accompanied by the creak of leather and 
jingle of buckles and clasps.  The crisp smell of the mountain air 
over-rode to senses long accustomed to horse and leather. 

Snow lay thick on the peaks above and to either side.  Within a few days
it would start to fall in the pass and wouldn't stop until the narrow 
opening in the otherwise impenetrable ring of mountains was well and 
truly blocked.  Snow tunnels would be dug and the pass would again be 
useful days later.  Industrious were his people.  It was to be 
expected; they were the Valerri. 

Soon, he topped the pass and was met by the anticipated blast of warm
air that flushed his cheeks after so long in the cold.  He stopped his 
mount, Fireflash, at the crest and looked down on the massive valley 
that was the home of his tribe and most of the Valerri. 

The valley was nearly a dozen miles across and stretched for over a
hundred before the Shelf.  After the Shelf was another fifty miles to 
the mountains at the other end.  The valley floor was covered with 
forests of oak, birch, maple, hemlock, pine, cedar, and the occasional 
ironwood and perhaps a handful of the gargantuan Vallenwood trees.  
Over centuries of use, the roads and trails had been leveled and paved 
with either large slabs of granite from the mountains, or thick ceramic 
tiles from nearby villages. 

The first Stead he would come to was his home and there awaited his
reason for coming back from the campaign early.  His wife was with 
child and would give birth within the next few days. 

He thought back to his departure from his military unit.  His commander
had called him into the command tent one evening for a briefing.  
"Colonel Padrianus, please have a seat.  Would you like some mulled 
wine?"  He'd been bidden then asked.  Declining the drink, he took the 
indicated camp stool and waited patiently for General Kikomen to begin 
the briefing. 

"You are one of my best officers." 

He accepted it as fact and nodded. 

"You have been awarded with numerous medals for bravery, honor, and the
ability to preserve your men's lives and still accomplish your 
assignments." 

Another statement, another nod. 

"You declined an offer to lead a detachment of the Knights of Valor. 
The cited reason was that your wife will soon give birth and you wish 
to be there." 

The Colonel nodded again, beginning to grow anxious.  If the General
ordered him to stay, he would have no choice but to do so. 

"I understand she will be birthing the child less than a month from
now." 

He clenched his jaw and nodded again. 

"Do you have all the supplies you need to make it home on time or must
you visit the commissary before you leave?" 

The question caught him so off-guard his eyebrows raised slightly, which
on any other man would be the same as him falling over backwards out of 
his chair in shock.  Kikomen smiled.  "I've been trying to get some 
reaction out of you for three years, friend.  I hope the child is 
healthy and God bless you on your journey."  Colonel Padrianus smiled, 
which set the General rocking back on his heels in astonishment. 

That had been three weeks ago.  He came out of his reverie and entered
the valley.  The silence of the first mile through the forest had 


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