Master of the Deck


Master of the Deck

 

Sha'ik Reborn:'The face is obscured, yet hints-...The figure is slightly above average in height. There is the crimson streak of a scar - or blood perhaps - down one side of the face - a wounding, yes? He - yes, I am certain it is a man...he stands on a bridge. Of stone, shot through with cracks. The horizon is filled with flames. It seems he and the bridge are surrounded, as if by followers, or servants...Guardians. Yes, a good possibility. They have the look of soldiers, do they not?'

 

Heboric: 'On what...do these guardians stand?...'

 

Sha'ik Reborn: 'Bones - there is much fine detail there...Not human. Very large. Part of a skull is visible, long-snouted, terribly fanged. It bears the remnant of a helmet of some sort - '

 

Heboric: 'A helmet? On the skull?'

 

Sha'ik Reborn: 'Yes...The Master...he stands strangely. Arms held out, bent at the elbows so that the hands depend, away from the body - it is the strangest posture -'

 

Heboric: 'Are his feet together?'

 

Sha'ik Reborn: 'Almost impossibly so.'

 

As if forming a point...

 

Heboric: 'And what does he wear?'

 

Sha'ik Reborn: 'Tight silks, from the way they shimmer. Black...There is a chain. It cuts across his torso, left shoulder down to right hip. It is a robust chain, black wrought iron. There are wooden discs on his shoulders - like epaulets, but large, a hand's span each - '

 

Heboric: 'How many in all?'

 

Sha'ik Reborn: 'Four...'

 

Febryl: 'Why does this Master stand so?'

 

Heboric: 'Because...he is a sword.'

 

(HoC, UK MMPB, p.465-6)

 

One of the Unaligned in The Deck of Dragons