Finder Cloudburst Chapter 4, Part 1
Fleagrass stood before me
not yet knowing my plight
I ran past people
calling for help.
They followed me to the
center of the village
to hear what was wrong.
I stopped, panting.
The crowd gathered around
to hear what news I brought,
alarmed at my fright,
their shouts urgent.
Pebble Birdeye set down
the wares he was hawking
and called for quiet
to let me speak.
“A dead man is coming
after me to Fleagrass.
He is casting spells
of fire and death.”
“Gather up your weapons,
prepare to fight this foe.
We must be ready
for his magic.”
My neighbors laughed at me,
shaking their heads at dumb,
lazy Grub Cloudburst:
Fool of Fleagrass.
They went back to their work.
Pebble asked, “What were you
doing, getting those
folks all riled up?”
Before I could answer,
we heard screams and saw smoke.
The dead man was here
causing mayhem.
An aghast Pebble met
my eyes as I sternly
said, “I told the truth.
Now he is here.”
Pebble turned away and
shouted, “Wren! Wren Icemud!
Your help is needed!
There is danger!”
Wren burst through her front door
a magical weapon
in each hand: a wand
and a dagger.
Wren Icemud looked east to
where smoke was rising and
people were falling
to the dead man.
She ran to the tumult
of fire, chaos and death.
I followed closely
behind the woman.
We looked upon a row
of houses ablaze, with
roofs caved in and smoke
choking the road.
Motionless dead rested
where they fell, murdered with
conjured fire that cast
their ghosts away.
The dead man that chased me
stood in my home village
over the bodies
of my neighbors.