The Forgotten Duelist

[DoF Archive]

Date: 8/22/1999 11:19 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Dare Ltan

As the visitor's candle leapt alight it cast eerie shadows over the near walls of the Outback, and the characteristics that made the room so impressive in full lighting cast eerie stretched shadows away from the candle's one smoking flame. The man wasn't tall, and he was slenderly built, but he walked with a graceful confidence as he strode along the wall to gain access to the area behind the bar. He stopped there for a moment, admiring the portraits of the many Diamonds. Setting his candle on the bar, the man turned to admire the portrait of the fifth diamond for a long moment. "They did my nose all wrong." Chuckling wrly at his own joke, the visitor turns to leave before stopping, something faint below the the oil portrait catching his eye. A set of old, familiar carvings reside here, miraculously surviving through the rebuilding. Tracing his fingers over the lower phrase, finished and polished over until it is nearly invisible, the man grins with an impish impulse. Drawing his solid hunting knife, he begins to recarve the lower phrase, tracing overhis own proud work until the phrase is easily identifiable once more, and impossible to miss. "Dare Was Here" Grinning, and reflecting on the irony that his small act of vandalism from so long ago should be right beneath the portrait in his honor, the visitor chuckles wryly. Touching the still faint, and somewhat sloppy work work above it, a soft murmur escapes his lips, "You old cad." Again seized by the impulse, the tip of his hunting knife carefully traces and carves out the original script of the forgotten vandal, ignoring the rest and concentrating solely on the name. Stepping back to admire his work, the strange man grins wolfishly. "Let them wonder about that!" he laughs. Turning, the odd visitor retrieves his candle and strolls from the Outback and all the memories that reside there. Newly freed from years of polishing and reifnishing, two carvings, one atop the other, scream to be read beneath the portrait of Dareiyl L'tan, fifth diamond of the Duel of Fists. "Dare was here" sits lowest, newly recarved in his own fine characters. Above that, a bit sloppily, but newly underlined by a thick slash, the name "Marc" stands out, a tribute to the forgotten duelist.