Imp

-Ere, Chief, I,ve found me a red gnome in a suit!-  Imp shut his eyes, waiting for the green man to stick his spear into his gut.  Oddly enough, this never happened.  He opened one eye, and was confronted with a terrible sight.  Several ugly green faces were leering down at him.  Imp said the only thing that came to his mind.  -Gah!-  The green men laughed at him, and one said -Wot,r you?  ,N why are you this close to the Heart of Corruption?-  Imp glanced at the heart that he had landed on. -Erm… is that what it is?  I thought it was just a big heart.-  The flag bearer snickered.  -That, my friend, is the greatest threat to all living beings in Illyriad.-

Imp felt a jolt of disappointment.  This was obviously not the world he was supposed to be in.  He wondered what Illyriad was and why that heart was such a threat.  And most of all he wondered how he was going to complete his mission.  Squinting up at the flag bearer, Imp decided it was best to pretend he knew what Illyriad was.  -Ah.  Yes.  Illyriad.  You say that that heart is a threat?  Then how come it hasn,t killed us?-  Imp immediately regretted the last question.  He was afraid he didn,t want to know the answer. 

-That heart will poison anyone that comes near it with a deadly venom.  The only reason we,re alive right now is ,cause of that.-  The flag bearer gestured to the water monster.  -It,s pure water elemental, which is the only thing powerful enough to hurt the heart.  It could squash you like a fly.- Imp gulped.  He was definitely between a rock and a hard place now.  His only hope was to gain the trust of these green men.  Extending his hand nearly vertically, he said, -I,m an imp.  My name,s Imp- The green men chuckled at this, but the flag bearer shook Imp,s hand.  -Yer mother must,a been pretty unimaginative.  I,m Kurfist.  An orc, an, leader of this band.-

Imp sighed with relief.  He was now in less danger of dying, and he knew more about the green men.  -Orcs- they called themselves, what an odd name.  Oh well, he,d just have to stick with them.  In the background, he heard Kurfist giving orders.  It seemed that he was satisfied, and that his band was leaving.  -Wait up!- he shouted.  No one heard, except the water elemental.  It scooped him up with one hand, effortlessly, and placed him on its shoulder.  The feeling was pleasantly squishy, like sitting on a waterbed, but Imp could sense the immense power that dwelt beneath.

As they traveled through the countryside, the squad of Orcs chatted amicably, with the exception of the water elemental.  Imp had yet to hear it speak.  He found that he had no control over where it went, and so he wasn,t able to question Kurfist about where they were going.  Kurfist seemed slightly worried, and was in a deep discussion with one of his men.  Imp strained to hear what they were saying.  -Can,t be that harmful, only half a foot tall.-  The other orc was saying. With a chill, Imp realized they were talking about him.  -You can,t judge something by its size.- Kurfist whispered back. -It,s a good thing we got the elemental with us to look after it.  Vile will be happy we found it.-  Imp wondered who Vile was.  Was he another orc?

Imp,s thoughts were interrupted by commotion ahead.  When he looked over the elemental,s shoulder, he saw a gruesome sight.  The tangled vines that littered the region were growing, and one of the members of the party was frantically trying to hack off some that had grown onto his leg.  Slashing the remainder of the vines off the unfortunate orc,s leg, Kurfist threw back his head and yelled, -Run!-  The other orcs didn,t need any other order, and tore through the vines as fast as they could, hacking and slashing as they went.  The water elemental sprang forward with huge strides, scattering vines as it went.  Imp was jostled and had to cling as tight as he could to it to avoid being thrown off.  Even so, he felt his grip loosen, and the next thing he knew, he was sprawling in the dirt, surrounded by vines, and with little hope of escape.

Imp frantically tried to bite through one of the vines.  He immediately regretted it.  They tasted like rotting, dead things, and had the texture of bone.  Slowly, the vines drew closer, and Imp knew that the closer they got, the closer his life would come to ending.  He tried every trick he knew, including vanishing into a puff of smoke, which merely made a depressing popping sound, and offering pretty girl vines to them, which seemed to make them move toward him faster.  Nothing worked.  He,d have to see if the underworld actually did have a corrective course entitled -how not to die-.   

As he lay back, giving up hope, he heard a sound that sounded oddly like a trumpet blowing.  He wondered if it was heralding death.  Then he heard it again, accompanied by many footsteps.  He watched in amazement as a company of orcs mounted on huge bears charged through the vines, tearing them to shreds.  At their head was kurfist, with the water elemental close behind.  They had come back for him!  Then he realized that he was wrong.  None of the orcs were looking in his direction.  Instead, they charged over him, and soon were a distant sound of snapping vines.  Odd, thought Imp.  Seizing the opportunity, he ran through the path of vines cleared by the orcs, into sunlight. 

After he had a moment to regain his senses, Imp looked around.  He was on the edge of a lake, no, a sea.  Behind him, the tangle of vines stretched in either direction.  To the sides, the beach he was standing on continued on a slight curve around the water.  He saw the many footprints of the bears and their riders scattered across the sand, and decided to follow them.  Vaguely, he wondered what Kurfist was doing, and how he had arrived with all of those bear riders.  Maybe the group of spearmen had just been an advance party.  Whatever they were, I,m on my own now.  He though.  And with that, he plunged into the forest.