The History of Louie I started my life as most minotaurs do, I was born
into a poor family that ran a farm for the local baron. His name I do
not know, I was told it was unimportant and to just call him Master. My
father told me that the baron was there at my birth, and that after I
was born he took my father aside and told him to work me hard to make me
strong and smart because I was to be one of his personal bodyguards.
Well, as the years went by my father worked me in the fields from sun up
to sun down, and before long I was getting stronger than any of the
other kids my age (and eventually some of the older ones too!). I always
thought that we were free, and that it was just the amount of work we
had to do that kept us close to the barons castle. That was until the
year that the drought left us with very little return on our crops. I
had been away from the house that day, mainly b/c my father sent me to a
friend of his to help fix a wagon wheel. But when I returned, things
just seemed a little out of place. As I returned to the house, I could
hear my mother crying, so I rushed in. There on his bed lay my father,
while my mother worked on tending to his wounds, she was crying. I asked
quietly what happend and she told me that because of the failed crops,
my father was beaten by the baron's men. A few days later my father
died, and it was not very long after that my mother also perished even
though I tried as hard as I could, she would not eat. I buried them both
side by side and went to look for my father's battleaxe. He had kept it
since he was young and had used it in the small battles for the baron,
all of this before I was born. I found it put away, but still without
spot of rust or any dents or nicks, (my father took good care of it),
and I decided to have my revenge on the baron for my family. In the dark
of night, I crept up to the castle not really thinking about how to get
in, just what I was going to do once I got in. At the gate I met the two
guards, they tried to stop me but by luck I killed both of them, after
that my luck kind of ran out. The noise that was made quickly brought
more guards than I could handle, and I was caught. I was carried to the
dungeon and that was the first time I ever saw the baron face to face.
After I was chained to the wall by both my hands, feet, and a collar
around my neck, he came to talk to me. He reminded me of what my father
told me about how I was to be one of his personal bodyguards and he also
told me he was dissapointed that I only killed the two guards at the
gate. He told me, "a minotaur as strong as you should have easily taken
out ten of my best men, did you father not teach you as I told him too.
Tsk tsk tsk......I will just have to do it myself then. Guards, begin
his training." And then he left the dungeon and the pain started. I was
beaten into submission until I gave my word not to harm anybody without
a command to do so. Then my training began. First they started me out
chopping down trees, and it seemed to me every day a few more were added
to the list I had to cut down. After they were sure of my word, and my
skill with the axe was deemed acceptable, they started on the fighting
aspect. To begin with, I was given nothing but a loin cloth as my armor
and my hands as a weapon against seven men with wooden swords. Needless
to say, I got beaten as bad as before for a long time, and every day it
was the same, chop wood all day until just about dark, and then defend
myself against these seven men. Finally one day I began to notice the
patterns of their attacks, and from that I came up with a way to defend
myself. The next day after chopping wood, I was brought to the training
grounds. Nothing seemed any different until they encircled me and then I
saw the baron standing on the steps watching. When the attack came, this
time I was prepared. I met my attacker half way and before I knew it I
had broken his neck with my bare hands and then had his pratice sword
for myself, but having only used an axe, it was a little awkward for me.
The attack of mine threw them all off a little but they soon realized
that today was going to be different. They swarmed at me and I took
several good hits but before I got done, all six of the remaining men
lay dead. When I looked at the baron a strange light came into his eyes
and I was knocked to my knees. He aproached me and I could do nothing
but look up to him and there he cast some spell on me that completely
calmed me down and I didn't want to cause him harm anymore. It was at
that point that I became one of his soldiers. It was also when I got the
ring through my nose, but to begin with it was brass. My training became
more intense then, no more chopping wood, I spent all day learning the
art of fighting with everything possible, and soon I became the weapons
master, and that was when my brass ring was replaced with a silver one.
It wasn't very long after after that when the trouble started. My Master
sent word for me to join him in his "office". There he told me of an
impending war with another local baron and that I should get all the
arms and armor ready. As I left his office, I detected a bad smell and
turned to see an assasin from the other baron about to slit my Master's
throat, but before I knew what happend, I sent one of my daggers flying
and it landed square in the middle of his forehead (here some question
if that is really an instantly mortal strike, then I remind them that my
daggers are almost a foot long). It was after this action that I got my
gold ring and became my Master's personal bodyguard. For the next few
days we all spent all our time getting ready for the war. Then the day
came that the enemy army was on he horizion. We all went out to the
battlefield to meet them. Standing there in the battle line, a strange
feeling came over me, like I was being watched and then it kinda seemed
as if I was being probed, not painfully, just like a light touch on my
mind. When the horn rang for us to attack, I lead the charge. I could
see the men, and a few other minotaurs in the enemy lines. When the
lines met, the battle was over pretty quickly, or so it seemed to me
because the enemy force seemed a bit smaller than we had told it was. At
this point, I noticed a trap about to pounce on my Master so I tried to
turn the battle lines to meet the wave decending upon him. The whole
line was at a mad run, but I quickly got out ahead of them. I was the
first to my Master's side and could see the enemy coming at a full
charge, that was when the light touch on my mind became a spike. All at
once I feel to my knees and I could feel the restraint on my mind
shatter and I no longer called him master. I rose to my feet and at once
he knew what had happend. From what I can figure out about magic, there
must have been another mage in the enemy army and he knew I was a slave
and could feel the bonds on my mind. He was the one that broke them and
at the most critical point in the battle, I turned on my master. I
already had my battleaxe in hand and raised it, that was when I was hit
with some kind of fireball that turned my horns completely black. I was
hurt but not bad enough to die right then, so I swung my axe with all my
might, everything slowed down it seems. I watched as my axe swung
through the air I saw him start an incantation, I knew I had to stop him
because I would not have another chance. It all came down to this might
swing, all the hatred I had for him, from the treatment of me to the
beating of my father that killed him, then to the indirect death of my
mother by starvation. Just as the axe blade touched his neck, everything
blurred away. His incantation was through. The next thing I knew I was
in this strange world, laying at the feet of a giant of a man, whom I
later found out was Hassan. He pointed the way to the healer and there
my burns and all my minor wounds treated. And since that day, I have
praticed my skills of war, and learned what I could of the area. Always
searching for the land from where I came. I have no name to offer
becuase I was always a slave and what did I need to know the name for? I
was never to leave the grounds. So I search to see if my blow did land
enough, becuase there was blood on my axe, I just wonder if it was
his........