Redemption for Adanna- Excerpt

A burst of cackling laughter caught Adanna’s ears, pulling her eyes from the burning pyre. Beyond the Isat there were a few other women and men that served the Witch Priest, kingdoms and peoples who by coercion or choice had given their allegiance. But among his vast army they were but a small number. Most that called the Witch Priest master may have walked on two legs, but they were not men and women--they were something else.

She stared at the still laughing forms in the distance. Hyena men. Golden and spotted hair covered their human-like bodies, which were adorned with little more than ragged pelts that hung from their waists. Most held short crude swords and spears, jagged edged shields or other weapons. Red tongues lolled between sharp teeth fitted into long black muzzles on their bestial faces.

How Hyena men had come to be, none truly knew. Some said they were from the scorched northern plains, on the edges of the Desert Sea--the progeny of women seduced by sorcerers who could take the shape of hyenas. Others claimed they were once a beautiful people, struck down and cursed for their selfish vanity by the gods. Yet, still, some said the Hyena men were creations of the Witch Priest himself--willful men reduced to half-beasts by his power, now forever bound to his service.

Whatever the truth of it, Hyena men now swelled the ranks of the Witch Priest’s armies--mindless, vicious, perversions. Even now, as Adanna watched, a pack of them bickered amongst themselves. Growls and barking mingled between their maniacal laughter, as they seemed to fight over a bit of meat--that looked suspiciously human. As ill-fortune had it, the man-beasts now stood in her way.

Drawing up to full height, Adanna walked towards the pack. She set her face into a scowl, a hand resting casually on her fire knife. As she stopped before the Hyena men they ceased their bickering, looking up to her and emitting a series of low snarls, baring teeth in warning, their sharp ears laid flat. Adanna did not back down, instead fixing them with a look of her own, the flames in her eyes rising high to give them a fierce glow. The show of force was enough. As one the Hyena men broke apart, whimpering and moving off, but never taking their baleful gazes from her.

Walking past them, Adanna did not release the grip upon her knife. One had to be careful to show strength among these man-beasts. Cowards they may have been, but as a pack they would attack anything that looked weak--even one another. Keeping her stern demeanor she made her way carefully across the burned-out village. More than mere Hyena men marched beneath the Witch Priest’s banner, and not all were so easily cowed....

--Excerpt, Redemption for Adanna, a short prequel/character sketch

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