Over Root and Under Loam
Mud, Blood, Whimsy and Rodents
It was raining. The forest smelt of green shoots and brown leaf mulch, of growing things and dying things, but more than anything it smelt of rich, dark earth, and dampness.
A little fire spluttered against the dark and the wet in a small hollow between the roots of an oak tree.
Here is our hero-of-sorts, though he certainly wouldn’t like being named as such. Wanderer, he will accept, and it is as this he introduces himself, when he has to. He is a rat, hunched over the fire for warmth, glancing furtively to the small entrance of this night’s hideaway. A nail sat at his waist, a wooden buckler and helm hanging off the pack resting against the rooted earthen wall. He had not removed the lacquered spruce of his breastplate.
He muffled a sneeze, grimaced, and leant against the wall, trying to sleep. Outside an owl hooted and he tensed. Sleep would come hard tonight.
His name is Orpek. Orpek of the Sore Feet, if he’d give himself a title. He is travelling west. He does not plan on ever stopping.
These are the tales of his journey.
The Journey
The travels of Orpek, in the general order in which they happen.
Dyemonger, by Snapdragon133
Orpek waits out a cold spell at a vibrant, but troubled, fort.
Three-and-a-Half Stories About Rodent Fishing, by Vishardsh
Our wanderer learns about fish, and the rodents who catch them.
No Fear of the Owl, by Vishardsh
On a stormy night a stranger arrives in Hilldown burrow, carrying the body of a newly-married forager. He begs shelter, the nail at his waist glinting in the torchlight.
The mice do not trust rats but the corpse bears wounds he could not possibly have dealt. He is granted a place to sleep.
Something killed that mouse, out there in the fog, in the long grass.
The wanderer intends to deal with it, one way or another.
But the days are growing cold and strange. The stores are shallow and the winter storms are already beginning. This is no age for heroics.
Part I: A Stranger at the Burrow Gates
Part II: A Song for Efishti
Part III: Soup and Stories
Part IV: The Hurt the Reed Feels
Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
Red Earth and a Song, by Vishardsh
In which Orpek hears a song, and meets a blacksmith.
Coiled Tales, by Din-Bidor
While trudging through a charred forest Orpek joins a wary gathering and, around the campfire, partakes in a familiar tradition.
Tales From By the Waysides
The stories of little creatures elsewhere, on matters other than our rat's wanderings.
Groundwater, by NotAnOligarch
A grandiose predator hatches an unspeakable plot, but his hubris will be his undoing.