Dunsage Diaries

They walked and walked, forever on their guard. It was still dark and they had no shelter or hiding place and the creatures that attacked the village be near or attack them at any time.

“You froze. The great Falmore Dunsage froze in the face of danger,” said Honnar. His tone indicated annoyance.

Falmore stared at the ground, ashamed and embarrassed. “I was scared. I didn’t know what to do.”

“The Falmore I knew wasn’t scared of anything. He would never do that when he faced danger. The Falmore I knew made danger afraid of him, not the other way around.”

“I’m sorry. I may have been that person once, but I do not remember. I dare not remember, for the pain of this collar would be too much to bear,” Falmore explained.

Honnar laughed. “If you dared remember, I am pretty sure you could remove that collar from around your neck. The great Falmore Dunsage didn’t suffer for anyone.”

Falmore wished he was like this person Honnar continuously referred to. His old self. He sounded powerful, and he felt like he was powerless with this collar. The pain scared him. It sent chills down his body every time he thought about how much pain it could cause him.

He could feel the coolness of the metal around his neck. He fingered it softly, in case it did anything to him. He would give anything to have the collar removed. He felt less like a man and more like a dog.

Honnar stopped abruptly. Falmore and his horse nearly walked into the back of him.

“I need you to remember where you left the amulet, Mr. Dunsage,” Honnar said.

“Where I left the amulet?” Falmore didn’t understand.
“Yes. You were the one who hid it from the Grand Master. You and him were enemies once. Now you work for him. And what better person to go find his most sought after item than the person who hid it from him in the first place.”

“I don’t remember anything of my past life! Even if I could, this collar will cause me great pain and probably send me to my grave.”

A grin crossed Honnar’s face. “Quite possibly. But we need you to remember where you left it so we can retrieve it. It would displease the Grand Master severely if you returned empty handed. Use your powers to escape the power of the collar.”
“My power? I don’t know how,” explained Falmore.

“Yes you do. You just need to get angry.” Honnar approached Falmore and before he knew what was going on, Falmore was on the ground with a mouth full of blood.

“Why did you hit me?!” exclaimed Falmore.

“I’m getting you angry so you can use your powers and remember Falmore!” Honnar began chanting and two fireballs appeared in his fists. He threw one at Falmore’s chest. When he dodged that he threw the other at his face. It was all Falmore could do to drop to the hard earth before the fireball came into contact with his face.

“Stop that!” Falmore shouted as two more darted in his direction.
One especially big one landed two foot in front of Falmore. Just as he was feeling glad that Honnar missed so badly, it broke up into a dozen smaller fireballs and headed towards him. He ducked and dived and rolled around trying to get out of the way of all of them. One caught him on his shoulder as he was rolling.
Falmore patted frantically at his clothes to put out the flame. The heat was excruciating.

As he was distracted with the fire, he heard Honnar change into another chant. This time instead of fireballs coming towards him, bolts of lightning protruded from Honnar’s fingers, cracking the air as they hurtled towards his body.

They just barely missed Falmore. “Stop this farce!” he shouted to no answer only more bolts of lightning. He could feel the familiar feeling of anger bubbling up from deep inside him.
“I said STOP!” Falmore shouted.

The energy blast came from him before he knew what was going on. He tried focusing it towards Honnar, but it just continued to spurt out in all directions. Falmore made a fist and punched the air between him and his target. The energy wave took Honnar off his feet and sent him flying 10 feet in the air. Falmore didn’t know what he just did but it felt good. He punched the air again and again, each wave of energy hitting his target and sending him further and further away.

He suddenly remembered the collar around his neck and decided to aim all his power at that. He concentrated hard and he could feel the energy build up within him.

“I will never feel pain like this ever again!” he screamed as he released the energy from his body. He heard a loud cracking sound and a clunk on the ground. He was so drained of strength, he fell to his knees.

He looked to the ground and saw a lump of twisted metal lying in front of him. He raised his hands to his neck to touch the collar around it but it was gone.

He did it. He actually got rid it.

Realising what he had just done to his travelling partner, Falmore rose on shaky legs that felt more like jelly and made his way over to Honnar. His eyes were open, staring up to the sky as he was lying on his back.

“That’s the old Falmore I used to know,” said Honnar with a smile on his face.

Falmore put out his hand to help him up off the ground.

As he was rubbing the dirt of his clothes he said, “I’m not lying when I say that hurt. You have lost your collar I see. The Grand Master will not like that.”

“The Grand Master doesn’t have to like it,” Falmore said as he felt his neck again. “All he needs is this amulet. And I know where to find it.”