Aranée 15: First Meeting by NetWorthy
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Description
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Aranée had a few special talents. She attributed some to her excellent woodsman's training - the rest could only be from her Elvish heritage. Today she decided to use a talent she knew to be disconcerting to humans: the unnatural ability to move, for only a few seconds, extremely quickly and silently so that she seemed to materialize out of thin air. While unusually valuable to a hunter and woodsman, she also believed it could get someone's complete attention. She wasn't disappointed.
Galen walked his horse into a clearing and swept his eyes across the small open area. He looked past the bare rock in the middle of the clearing to the far trees, then back again - only to see her and a lion cub calmly seated on the same rock as if they had been there for hours. His horse snorted in surprise and they both took an involuntary step backwards. Taking a deep breath, he calmed the horse and willed his own rapidly beating heart to return to normal. "That was quite an entrance." He said it in a far calmer voice than he felt.
She regarded him with alert crystalline green eyes, and in a cool clear voice offered, "Not as impressive as your entrance at Melius."
Eyes crinkling, he laughed at that, and standing upright, offered his hand to her. She stood and approached him, and took the proffered hand while lowering her hood.
"You're an Elf!" he said in obvious surprise.
"How very observant," she replied dryly. Then realizing how harsh it might have sounded, she added, "Half-Elf actually - my mother was human." She watched him closely as she said it, but his expression never showed anything more than a deep interest in her. His frankness was both refreshing and unusual. He circled around her, inspecting her from head to toe in an appraising manner, which was both unsettling and - pleasant? She felt an unusual flutter deep inside her, and struggled to get her thoughts back under control. With a small ghost of a smile he tousled Kuila's fuzzy head and the cub responded with bright eyes and an obvious cat-smile. She was finally able to manage a cool, "What sort of man knowingly takes on four Greeners on his own?"
"Actually there were only three of them at the moment." She raised an eyebrow and he continued, "I watched them for nearly two hours and chose a time and place when only three of them were present. I could tell by how they moved that they were typical Greeners - eager to fight, but without much skill." He looked at her intently, and the butterflies lurched inside her again. "I was hoping the bowman would stay out of it a bit longer than he did," he smiled with an odd twinkle in his eyes, "but it so happened that was not a problem after all."
Another unaccustomed feeling, she felt warmth radiating from her cheeks.
In a day of unusual firsts, Galen had yet another surprise for her: Bowing deeply at the waist, he said in a voice that offered little doubt of his sincerity, "Aranée D'Mere, I thank you for my life." Rising, he looked into her eyes as if looking into her soul. "From this day forward, you have my arm and my sword, you have naught but to ask."
--- TO BE CONTINUED!
View the series in numbered sequence to get the entire story.
PLEASE leave a comment, it means SO much to me!
Image and story © 2008 Larry Hodge
Comments (39)
flaviok
Fantástica, historia excelente obra magnifica, aplausos (5)
ragouc
Cool work.
jandunne
A triumph!
brewgirlca
Bravo Larry, your story is told with excellence and the scene captures a critical moment in the story.
magnus073
Larry you really are great at these series images and slowly building the story up and introducing the characters so well. Wonderful work my friend
IDonn0
Nicely done Larry. The story is progressing and the image is perfect :) Don
PhilW
Beautiful image and I love your words just as much! Great story!
efron_241
sweet !! great Art
Kyronimos
Great story and visualization! Excellent composition!
Minda
great image and story larry the words are great..excellent
sylki
I love this tale of daring-do!! Your introduction of the characters is excellent and leaves the reader wanting more!!
Cimaira
Wonderful story! Excellent scene. I agree with svlki, I can't wait to hear more of this tale.
neelzonline
A very nice image.
densa
wonderful story and scene
PSDuck
Verily, an entrancing story and characters! Superbly done. As susual.
Heathcroft
I love a good mix of story and image. Where they both collide happily and you have achieved it here. Very well done. Larry!
LBJ2
Fine work, Larry. Nice render and composition. And a good story, too. I remember from an earlier render, that Aranée had to kill the lion mother, since she was attacked. Nice to see the cub still with Aranée.+5
johnny_damnit
Nice story Larry. cool image! Well done!
leezace
Absolutely brilliant :) i just love the involvment of a story, fabulous. Your an inspiration ! 5+++++++++
renecyberdoc
Very well done,especially the shadows details.And a nice story as well.
dianas..creations
Wow excellent image and story..!!
marcopolinski
cool render and story!!
adrie
Great render excellent light and shadow work, and a great story to. Well done.
giovanino
wow very nice
skynyrd57
Nice work!!
emmecielle
Excellent work and fantastic story! :)
FS
Great story,render and composition,Larry!!!!Amazing work!!!
clam73
beautiful story and scene here....excellent render result...and....Merry Christmas to you and yours!! :-)
amirapsp
Amazing Art Again...Hugs
Darkwish
Great pic! I like this one!