Chapter
Six
“Heaven’s Willing”
Timeline:
The churning, savage, and wrathful storm is gone and the Serenity Home company returns to camp just to see a most unusual sight and their trek takes them far and beyond their expectations..
This story starts right after
The Storms of a Broken Heart.
Master Aager? Are you alright?”, the huge man asked as he picked up the broken bits of the tree. “You seem peevish.”
“Peevish?”, rasped the sinister-looking man in the dark leathers from under a whole pile of thick branches and a large, splintered tree trunk. “Just how many years did you wait to use that on me, young Udoorin?”
“Many.”, smirked the big man and with a mighty heave, he lifted the trunk, giving enough room for the Master Aager to slip out and grunted as he slowly let the splintered bark back down.
“We have a visitor.”, he half-shouted and he was speaking with exaggerated tones.
“I am concussed, Udoorin. Not deaf.. Report!”, the man in dark leathers said as he slowly and carefully sat down.
Aager felt his head spinning and he had a hard time trying to remember the last few minutes before he’d blacked out.
He recalled he was running for cover in the raging storm when some lightning had struck a tree just next to him. The whole tree had split right down the middle and toppled on him! He remembered trying to avoid being crushed then something heavy and quite stiff had hit him on the head and.. that’s it. The next thing he knew, the big, burly young man, Udoorin, was standing over him and calling his name..
At least, he thought, he had escaped the worst of it. The whole tree could have fallen on him and that would have been that..
His stomach churned and he felt sick. He also felt the promise of a jarring headache coming his way.
“Bree, Laila, and the midget are back. Still waiting for Lady. I expect she will either get control of that big warhorse and turn it around, or hold on to it until she reaches Durkahan, or decide she’s had just about enough and throw herself off the horse and limp all the way back here and make us all suffer for it. As for Lady Moira, I don’t know. She is just sitting there.. well, kneeling actually, with her hands in the air and.. that’s it! She isn’t moving or responding. She’s in a.. I dunno.. ‘catatonic’ state, I suppose, you could say.”, replied the Udoorin guy, pointing somewhere in the night.
“Who is the merry visitor? I suspect he’s responsible for this mess?”, the dark man asked, touching a tender spot on the back of his head.
“She..”, corrected Udoorin.
“What?”
“He is a she.. A pretty one too.. With funny hair.. Are you alright, by the way?”
“Like we didn’t already have an overabundance of women in this group..”, Aager grunted as he slowly rose from the ground.
“And they all are pretty..”, smiled the big one. Then he lowered his voice. “Please don’t tell Bree, I said that. I still carry her bite mark!”
“Guess I’ll just have to save it until I need a favor.”, replied Aager without so much as a smile.
“That’s not funny.”, frowned Udoorin.
“What’s the ‘visitor’ doing? Who is watching her?”, asked Aager, totally ignoring the big man’s plea.
The spinning hadn’t quite stopped yet, but just then, the jarring headache had arrived.
“No one, really. She seems as catatonic as Lady Moira. She has prostrated herself at Moira’s feet and begging her to burn her!”
“What?”
“I know, right? We have all the prettiest girls and all of them are off in the head.”
“And now you owe me two favors.”, said Aager, and this time, he did smile, though it was lost behind his half-mask.
Udoorin scowled at him.
“Why’s your armor off?”, Aager asked him as they walked towards the paladin and the newcomer.
“Figured, lightning and chainmail.. You know.. Bad combination.. A bit too late though.. Got singed pretty good.. It’ll leave a mark.. I hope it doesn’t leave a mark..”, said the big man with a worried expression.
“I am sure all the marks you have already, along with the ones you will get won’t add to your beauty.”
“That was not nice, Master Aager. I know I am not pretty, but you didn’t really have to hit me in the face with it.”, grumbled Udoorin.
“You never cease to amaze me, young Udoorin.. Your priorities are truly mind-staggering.”, replied Aager staring at the big man.
Udoorin’s face darkened.
Aager gave a perfunctory check on everyone in the group. Bremorel, the young ranger girl, seemed a tad wild-eyed. She had rekindled the fire and was now holding her big bow in her hand. The bow was cocked and almost half-drawn and she stood with her back to a tree, facing the newcomer. She also entertained an ugly shiner on her left upper cheek.
Gnine, the troublesome little gnome was whispering something while gesticulating rapidly at the half-elf girl, Bremorel’s cousin, Ranger Laila, who was standing next to him. She was also holding her bow in one hand with an arrow ready on the string.
“Well.. At least two people here are paying attention.”, scowled Aager.
Then he called to the half-elf girl.
“Ranger Laila. Go and track down Lady Moira’s horse, and bring the Temple Guardian back, if you will, please.”
“Why me?”, Laila asked.
Aager did not reply. He just stared at her.
Laila also scowled at him, then took off into the night.
It seemed like Master Aager wanted to make sure everyone around him was somehow scowling at him. Or at least a few of them should be, at any given time.
He silently approached the paladin girl, Lady Moira, who stood unmoving on her knees and with her hands in the air, just as Udoorin had described.
And then he saw the ‘visitor’. The person responsible for very nearly dismantling the whole lot of them, in under a few short moments.
To be honest about it, she could have, had she not stopped, and that made the man in the dark clothes wonder.. They certainly hadn’t been able to do anything to her, let alone see her. She had, quite literally, played with them much like a cat would game with a mouse.
Why had she attacked them in the first place and then stopped her assault when she was almost winning? And who was she? Where had she come from? What was she even doing out here, in the middle of a forest, and alone? Was she alone?
All pertinent questions.
But the girl.. Aager couldn’t really make out if she was pretty or not, as young Udoorin had claimed.. Not that it mattered, nor that he cared. She did have ‘funny’ hair though. Tightly wrapped and braided on both sides of her head like some kind of cones.. Aager did not question the demented mentality in that. Girls did all sorts of strange things with their hair.. among other things.. He just nodded, when the occasion demanded it, and moved along.. or away..
Preferably away!
The girl had knelt with her face in the dirt, covering and moaning in unmitigated terror;
“Burn me..”
“Please burn me..”
“Free me of my demons..”
“Please burn me..
Aager wasn’t one for emotions, let alone for the subtler ones like ‘sympathy’ or ‘compassion’.. If someone asked him what they were, he’d probably just stare at them blankly.
But something about this girl nudged at him.
Without knowing why he took a few steps back.
“Udoorin.”, he called.
“What?”, replied the big man.
“Put your armor back on.”
“Why?”, asked Udoorin.
“Because I said so?”, growled Aager.
Udoorin grumbled some, looked up at the night sky as if checking for signs of new lightnings, then put his armor back on and buckled its straps to his satisfaction.
“Now what?”, he said as he approached Aager.
“Now go and pick the girl up.”
“What? Why?”
“We need to question her and we can’t do that while she is doing.. whatever it is she is doing now.”, replied Aager.
“I am not touching her.”, said Udoorin hastily.
Aager stared at him.
“You know what she did, man. Not to mention, you don’t just go and touch a girl. That is just rude.. and not right..”, Udoorin defended himself.
“When did I ever give you the impression I cared for any of that, young Udoorin?”, fumed the dark man. “You can either do what needs to be done, or go back to town and explain yourself to your father.”
“That’s way out of line, Master Aager.”, growled Udoorin.
“We are not out here for a polite stroll, young man. We are here to do the ‘dirty work’, so the rest of the people can sleep without a care. You volunteered to come. You wanted to come.. This is the part of the job that needs to be done; we interrogate prisoners and that is exactly what she is now. She is Lady Moira’s prisoner. And since she is otherwise busy —or incapacitated, that duty falls on us!”, replied Aager and he seemed to bite each word before he spat them out.
Young Udoorin’s back stiffened as he still gave Aager a very nasty stare.
Then slowly, he came at the girl still prostrating before Moira.
“Umm.. ‘cuse me.. lady.. But we need to ask you some questions. Are you unwell? Perhaps you need some help. You really should get off the ground. It’s wet, cold, and probably dirty..”, he stammered, then reached down and tried to pick her up.
“Don’t touch me!”, hissed the girl and bit his hand!
And with unexpected haste, she skipped once, twice, and was very nearly a dozen feet away, crouched on the ground, showing all her teeth at the big man.
“Crap!”, swore the big man. “Why do girls keep biting me, dammit.. I can’t be that tasty!”
Then he turned and slowly approached her again with his hands open while making soothing sounds.
The girl hissed at him again..
“I think that will do, young man. You should be ashamed of yourself, for touching a girl without her permission. You have shamed your father..”, snarled a voice in the dark, and heavy footsteps were heard. Then, a rather angry she-dwarf appeared, and there no mistaking about the scowl she had on her face.
“Lady Magella..”, stammered Udoorin. “I.. was merely..”
“You were merely what, Udoorin Shieldheart? Abusing an already traumatized little girl? Look at her. It’s clear she’s had some rough time.”, she admonished him.
“I.. You got me all wrong.. I was just..”, spluttered the big man, trying to explain himself.
“Go, Udoorin. Just go.. Cut some wood, boil some water, peel some potatoes.. Just go and make yourself scarce but useful!”
Udoorin stormed away, fuming..
“This is all your fault, Master Aager.”, he very nearly spat, as he walked past the dark man.
“No. It is yours.. Learn to ‘own’ your follies, young man. But I got what I needed to, anyway.. For the time being..”, replied Aager calmly.
“You. Girl!”, ordered Lady Magella. “What is your name and what are you doing here?”
The girl hissed at her as well.
“I am the Temple Guardian of Serenity Home and you will NOT hiss at me like some wild beast.”, spoke Lady and there was a distinct no-nonsense quality to her voice.
And the girl lost all her ferocity.
“You.. you are.. a Temple Guardian?”, she asked with her eyes wide open.
“Yes, I am. And I have some twenty-odd years under my belt to prove it!”, Lady replied sternly.
“Have.. have you come to burn me?”, the girl asked.
“Burn you? Now why would you ask such a silly question?”, replied Lady in disgust and with a very much offended tone.
“Burn me.. Please..”, the girl said and suddenly prostrated herself, once again..
..and wept!
“Burn me.. Burn me and free this world off me!..”
Udoorin, Bremorel, Gnine, and Laila stared at the wretched sight before them.
Lady Magella’s eyes teared, for her first assessment of the girl had been correct. Too correct. The girl was unbelievably traumatized.
Aager only looked at the girl with an unfathomable and barely-contained expression.
He remembered Drashan and his own childhood, not that he’d had much of it. He remembered his mother, whose name he couldn’t even place anymore. Having remembered her, he inevitably recalled his sister. The sister that had been entrusted to him and then taken away from him, sold to some brothel, and burned alive in a horrible, unquenchable fire. He remembered all the vile people he’d cut there. Every single one of them. And he remembered the beatings and the whippings.. and the guillotine..
..and how he came to Serenity Home; secretly broken, hiding in his own traumas, untrusting, very nearly and murderously hateful.
Serenity Home had helped, somewhat.
Enough to have suppressed his base hatred for everything that had to do with life at least. It hadn’t been enough that all these kids, sans perhaps the she-dwarf, had been entrusted to him, and now this? He was never one to truly believe the greatness of the Heavens, but this? This had been a step gone too far. He felt like someone was having a great time punning him from the high above! Then he looked down at the girl. She seemed young and small, but her form, although battered, looked quite mature with ‘pleasant to look at’ sized breasts, a slim waist, ‘could use a pound or two more’ body, very dark, ‘funny’ hair (who would bun up their hair like that, anyway?) and a diminutive face, printed with slightly sharp and angular features..
Young Udoorin had been right on one point though; the girl was, indeed, quite pretty.. More so, Aager suspected, if she’d not been in the condition that she was now.
Many questions inevitably crossed his mind. Who was this girl? Again, why had she attacked them and why had she stopped? Why was she hissing and spitting at them like some pissed-off, feral cat? And why the bloody hell did she beg to be burned? Then it dawned on him as to why he had so unexpectedly felt some semblance of empathy for the girl..
For he had, unwittingly perhaps, found the one person who was far worse than he was.
How are they?”, the man in dark leathers growled as he approached the Temple Guardian who was hovering over the two figures, one tall, well built with long, strong arms and legs and with reddish-brown hair, and in plate armor crusted with mud, the other, a slight form with strange, dark, and conical hair braided around the sides of her head, with breasts just this side of buxom, a small, strawberry mouth in muddy and shredded clothes and they both were out.
While the tall paladin girl lay, quite rigid, where she slept, the other had curled into a little ball under the blankets Lady had spread over her and neither steered in their fitful sleep.
“There are resting. The little one is merely exhausted. Very, very exhausted. As for Lady Moira, I can’t say. I don’t know what she did to get herself comatose like this, the silly girl. I didn’t even dare to move her enough to take her armor off, not that I can. She is a paladin and unless she gives her express consent, no one may legally touch a paladin’s sword, shield, or armor.”, the Temple Guardian, Lady Magella replied with a frown.
She paused for a moment, stared up at the man in dark leathers with baleful eyes, and spoke like she would burn him with her words.
“If you tell me to get them ‘up and running’, you and I are going to have a problem, Drashan..”, she threatened. “Because I do not know what is wrong with the silly paladin, and there is nothing I can do about the exhaustion the other foolish girl is suffering.”
“As a matter of fact, I was merely going to ask you to have a look at the bump on my head since my vision will not stop spinning..”, growled Aager. “..but it would seem I shall have to forgo that, seeing as I would be putting myself in your tender wrath. No sane Drashan would willingly put themselves in such a foolish predicament.”
Lady Magella glared at him as the lean and somewhat ‘gaunt’ man in dark leathers turned around and walked away. She fumed and mumbled something about disrespectful, overly smart delinquent children, then frowned a bit and thought perhaps she ought to amend that because as far as she knew, the boy had never been disrespectful, outright or otherwise, to her or anyone else for that matter. Harsh, certainly, and brutal, but never disrespectful. One could even say, the boy displayed respect with mechanical accuracy! Then she fumed some more and thought she ought to amend the part where he was a delinquent too, for the boy had never been accused of any unlawful behavior, and then she was left with nothing in her hands to fume about other than the fact that he was from Drashan, which was not a fault, but fate, and he just didn’t like to make friends, which, in all candor, wasn’t a fault either, even if it was, perhaps, a flaw in character.. if that..
“Kindness, leniency, forgiveness, and compassion, Demos always said.”, she fumed to herself.
“Come, boy.”, she called after the man in dark leathers with a slightly subdued voice.
Aager Fogstep stopped in his tracks and slowly he turned around.
“Sit.”, the Temple Guardian ordered, pointing right in front of her.
The man ghosted over and slowly, and carefully, he lowered himself to the ground.
“The mask and the hood. Off with them.”, she said gruffly.
Aager stared at her.
“The mask stays.”, he growled.
“You want my help, you will remove your mask, and your hood, boy. I can not know the extent of your injury without checking the whole of your head. Now, take off your mask. But if you think you have something to hide, you should know, young man, we already know your face.”, she scowled at him.
“We?”, Aager asked.
Lady Magella’s face turned a bit red but she did not elaborate.
“Ahh.. I wasn’t aware the good temple and the people that worked there kept tabs and spied on the citizens of Serenity Home.”, the man in dark leathers said, then, slowly, he removed his hood, then undid the leather thongs holding his half-mask, and removed that as well to reveal a face, scarred but asymmetrically handsome. He had short hair, wet and plastered to his scalp due to long hours under his leather hood, and once removed, he displayed a tight, moderated grin under his half-mask. A grin that certainly didn’t do any justice to what a grin should have entailed. His nose was straight and prominent, though it gave the impression that it had been broken at least twice and ‘fixed’ by the boy himself.
Lady Magella’s face darkened.
“We do not spy on people, young man.”, she very nearly snarled. “But we do keep tabs on those who have the potential for greatness.. or great evil.. Such is our responsibility.”
“I.. see..”, Aager said, his grin turning into something ‘evil’.
“And to think I was thus casual with the lives of the people around me. Perhaps I should have attended to your temple a lot more frequently just to get the know-how on convolution if nothing else.”
Lady Magella’s face went even darker.
“Don’t be coy.”, she said harshly at him, as she reached out and tenderly touched the large lump on the back of his head. “And don’t try to act innocent. We know all about you and your past.”
“Huh.”, Aager grunted.
“Tell me. Would you have offered information about yourself had we asked?”, she scowled and she noted the many scars on the young man’s scalp, hidden under his short, wet hair.
“Your question seems a bit moot, don’t you think, Temple Guardian? Since you have already scried and divined my past.”, he replied quietly.
“How would you know about scrying or divining? Or that we would use such methods?”, she scowled at the back of his head.
“I doubt you could have found a single man alive that would have told you anything conclusive about me, or my past, Lady, for I left none alive. That would leave you with few options, which would be scrying or divining.. or both. Seeing as how it is against the King’s Citizens Rights and Privacies Act which clearly says ‘Everyone is allowed to their own privacy and non may be spied nor scried upon without a magistrate’s express permission and with legally acceptable and plausible cause.’, and seeing as how your Serenity Home does not have any magistrates, I suppose that would put us both on equal grounds where delinquency is concerned, wouldn’t you agree?”, the man in dark leathers said with his grating voice, but his grin was gone now.
Lady Magella’s face turned truly ugly now. And she breathed down the young man’s neck. Not only was the boy smart, but he had also done his homework and had actually learned the King’s Laws. Not even the town guards knew about King’s Citizens Rights and Privacies Act, let alone the ones pertaining to scrying or divining! And he was as cunning and ruthless as a Ritual Lynx in his application of said law.
“You still haven’t answered the question as to how you would even know about scrying, or divining?”, she scowled.
“Didn’t see that in your crystal ball? Perhaps you did not ask the right questions to the Great Heavens. Or you did, but they thought you had crossed the line and refused to comply. Or maybe they thought bothering them for such acts of delinquency was unacceptable?”, Aager replied, and his evil grin had returned.
“We don’t do crystal balls!”, Lady spluttered, then flared. “And you have a minor fracture on your head. I will heal this and you will never talk of scrying or divination to anyone. Are we clear, young man?”
“Are you trying to bribe a representative of the law, Temple Guardian? If you are, I feel the need to remind you that it is against the law to bribe any member of the law enforcement no matter his origins. I would also like to inform you that your offer of bribe is a tad low. The loss of a Drashan convict due to blunt-force trauma on the head is a small loss in the eyes of the Great Heavens, I am sure.”, the man in dark leathers growled amusedly. “But I suppose I shall have to settle with the underhanded compliment that you would think me as ‘potential for greatness.. or great evil.’ I, on the other hand, would not have described myself as someone with potential, great or otherwise.”
“And you would describe yourself, how?”, the she-dwarf scowled as she walked around the man, held his face between her hands, and started murmuring some prayers.
“I am a simple man, Temple Guardian. There is nothing special about me. I am, at best, a troubleshooter and the only thing notable about what I do is, I do it with accuracy. Anyone who would bother to show such tenacity could do what I do.”, Aager growled, then frowned a bit for he felt something wash over him; a wave of cool relief, perhaps? He wasn’t quite sure how to describe it. But he felt his dizziness fade and his mind clear as his throbbing headache subsided.
‘So, the Temple Guardian knows her job.’, he mused. True, she had accompanied them when they had gone on a punitive mission against the ogres at Oger’s Foot and seen her heal several injured guards there. And again, he had watched her heal the ranger girls, Laila and Morel when they had been ambushed by the orc-like creature, but he, himself, had never been ‘healed’ by her before.
Yes. He would have to make sure she was always ‘up and running’, if he wanted this company to return back to Serenity Home, ‘alive and functional.’
“I do not believe you are as simple as you claim, young man. And you certainly have tenacity and accuracy in the plenty, and in everything you do. Which is the point.”, the she-dwarf said, still holding his face in her hands.
“There is a point, then.”, growled Aager.
“No one can be tenacious and accurate in everything they do.”, she said with a frown.
“The sheriff shows similar attributes, Lady. So do the ranger masters, and given enough time, so will rangers Laila and Morel, if they could overcome their personal issues.”, he grated dismissively.
“The good sheriff is tenacious and careful, but he lacks the conviction to kill. The ranger masters only care about the dangers without but not the dangers within. And even if they did care, they do not have the right kind of perspective, nor do they have the correct frame of mind to deal with the details of the civilized crime. As for the young ranger girls, yes, given enough time, they might achieve the tenacity and the careful accuracy that you possess, should they get over their personal issues, which is the point. Again.”, Lady Magella said.
“So there is a further point.”, Aager said bemusedly.
“You have the conviction to kill, the right perspective, the correct frame of mind, and the ability to figure that our young ranger girls have personal issues by only having read their files. You have the singular skill to deduce, and the will to take action, and should it be necessary, to kill.”, she replied, still frowning at the scarred face.
“Huh.”, the man in dark leathers grunted. “That is an odd assessment coming from a Temple Guardian of Life, Lady..”
“I revere life, Master Aager. I do not worship it. People believe death is the end. Yes, it is an end, but it is not the end. Life and death are not so extricated from one another. Neither has meaning without the other, and either needs the other to give meaning to themselves, for life is more when you know it will, one day, end.”
“Huh.”, Aager grunted again. “You are staring into my eyes. Perhaps you expect to find some human emotions or some semblance of compassion in there?”
“One can not have compassion, let alone any human emotions, if one stubbornly denies them of themselves, young man.”, the she-dwarf sniffed disdainfully, then, with a ‘belligerent’ smile, she added, “I am staring into your eyes because you have dark, intense, and pretty eyes, Master Aager. You shouldn’t hide them behind a mask and a stinking hood.”
“Huh.”, Aager grunted for the third time. “I am sure there are easier, if not believable, ways to tell me I need a bath, Temple Guardian.”
“I am sure you are going to burn some young woman’s heart with those eyes someday.”, she smiled again, and this time, she wasn’t frowning.
“I doubt, Temple Guardian. I have no wish to further burden myself, nor do I need any such foolish distractions. Are we done here?”, he grated and suddenly, a dark and ugly expression settled on his face.
Lady Magella’s frown reappeared and she sighed.
“We are done here.”, she said and dropped her hands, and soon enough, there was only the sinister-looking man with his hood and half-mask standing before her. “You should get some sleep while you can, Master Aager. We will be staying here until both the girls are ‘up and running.’”
“I will want to question the girl the moment she wakes up.”, Aager growled, turning to stare at the strange, curled-up girl.
“I would rather you didn’t, young man. It is clear she is severely traumatized. Not to mention, she has some serious magical powers.”, the she-dwarf objected.
Aager fumed. It would seem they were getting one delay after another at every turn and constantly falling behind.
“You saw what she did last night, boy.”, Lady Magella reminded him. “She literally dismantled our whole company and I doubt we would have all survived had she not stopped.”
“Perhaps you can question her. She seemed to trust you.”, he grated.
“I certainly will not interrogate a little girl!”, the she-dwarf flared in disgust.
“She seems like a fully grown woman, Lady. I am sure she will survive.”, Aager growled.
“I do not believe she is as old as she seems, Master Aager. It is possible she is an early bloomer. Or perhaps a late one. She is not human. Perhaps a half-elf. I can’t be sure and I refuse to pry.”, Lady Magella said frowning down at the sleeping girl. “And she is terrified. I do not know of what, but what you witnessed last night was not a moment’s panic. It was an accumulated reaction.”
Now it was time for the man in dark leathers to frown. He, too, stared down at the young woman. Indeed, she seemed to have all the earmarks of youth despite her tattered clothes, her funny, conical, matted hair, and her mud-covered face and arms. Aager noted the mud on her feet as well.
They were tiny feet.
“Where are her shoes?”, he growled.
“She didn’t have any.”, the Temple Guardian replied.
“So we know nothing about her.”, Aager said flatly. “Who she is, where she is from, why she attacked us, or why she even stopped..”
“We do know, for some reason, she thinks she is a demon, or that she has one inside of her.”, she said with a worried tone.
“Is that even possible?”, the man in dark leathers growled.
“It is. Though I have never seen nor witnessed such a case. I do not, however, think she is.. A demon, I mean. Nor do I believe she is possessed by one.”, Lady Magella said.
“Why?”, Aager growled.
“Her aura..”, she replied simply.
“What of it?”
“It is there. I can feel it. But it is neither bright nor dark. And there is the known fact that demons, or someone possessed by one, can not, so arbitrarily approach a paladin. Yet she did. She came and threw herself, prostrated, really, right before Lady Moira. Yes, she is, for the lack of a better word, ‘odd’. But that could be due to many reasons and none of them need to be demonic in nature.”, the Temple Guardian explained.
“Do we have the time to figure that out? We are not exactly out on a stroll, Lady. And our query is already three days ahead of us now. If he manages to find his way out of this forest and get his hands on a horse, it is over.”, Aager said in his low, gravelly voice.
“Have faith, I would say, but you have lost yours a long time ago, Master Aager. That is a problem.”, she told him sternly.
“Perhaps. I would suggest you compensate for the lack of my faith by adding more to yours.”, he replied, slowly got up, gave both the girls a long, hard look, then growled, “Rangers Laila and Morel..”
The two ranger girls approached the man in dark leathers, giving the unconscious paladin concerned looks, and their ‘odd visitor’ a wide berth.
“I would like both of you to scout this area, two hundred yards, and set up a safety perimeter. Take young Udoorin with you. And Master Gnine as well.”, he grated at them.
Laila and Morel looked at one another.
“We could do the scouting and the safety perimeter better without civilian involvement.”, Laila objected, paused, then added, “Sir!”
“There are no longer any civilians here, Ranger Laila. As of now, everyone is a combatant and I want all of them to be able to protect themselves while defending the camp where we have a Temple Guardian busy with two people who are otherwise unable to defend themselves, let alone defend others, and one of which is an unknown, and dangerous entity. Learning how to survive outside the safety of his town is something I can not teach young Udoorin when there are two rangers who can do it better. And I believe it is time Master Gnine learned to carry more than his own weight and be of some use.”, Aager growled.
“That is harsh.”, Morel scowled at him. “Gnine did help when that creature attacked us.”
“If shooting tiny, flint-sparks at a creature that can knock down two, well-trained rangers and still be able to go toe to toe against young Udoorin on sheer brute strength, is the best Master Gnine can do, perhaps he does need some training, wouldn’t you agree, Ranger Morel? Or perhaps you would rather cuddle him and then watch him get slaughtered when we face more of the same, or worse. Either way, I care little about his peril. If you truly care for your friend, you should teach him how to survive what he might face, just like your ranger master did to you, and I can’t imagine Moorat having cuddled you.”, he replied in a low, grilling tone.
“Why do you hate him so much?”, she asked as she glared at him.
Laila put one hand on her cousin’s shoulder but she shrugged it off.
“No, cuzz. If there is some ongoing grudge or animosity here, we ought to know.”, she said stubbornly.
“‘Grudge’ and ‘animosity’ are things you are much better versed than anyone else here, Ranger Morel. When I say, ‘I care little’, I mean exactly that. But I would rather he return back to his uncle, safe, intact, and functional. As for hate. No, Ranger Morel, I do not hate Master Gnine. You must care enough about someone to truly hate them. I do not. I will, however, not tolerate any idleness, distraction, or uselessness on his part either. Everyone in this company was selected for a reason and a purpose. He was not. He came on his own persistence and his own volition. I decided to turn a blind eye to this because I respect his uncle, but not enough to tolerate the foolishness of his niece. If Master Gnine can not offer anything unique for this mission, he is two things I am not willing to tolerate; a burden and a distraction.”, the man in dark leathers almost snarled.
Laila frowned at him. Although what the man had said was true, in a very, very practical sense, the way he’d delivered it had also been very brutal. Bremorel’s face just darkened. It seemed like she wanted to say some things but other than some incomprehensible splutters, nothing really came out.
“Yes, Sir.”, Laila snapped to attention as she grabbed her cousin by the arm and dragged her away before she said something stupid.
“I so hate that man.”, Bremorel seethed when they were out of earshot.
“No, you don’t, cuzz. You are only very, very, very, very pissed off at him, that’s all.”, Laila said with an amused tone.
“So, very, very, very, very, does not constitute as hate, now?”, her cousin spat irritably.
“No, Bree. It does not. I know you. You are always angry at something, or someone, but you never really hate them. And you are only angry with Master Aager because he keeps slapping you down.”, Laila said placatingly.
“Whose side are you anyway?”, Bremorel asked ‘angrily’, and glared at her cousin.
“I am always on your side, cousin. Always. But if you’d stop going ballistic on him all the time, he wouldn’t slap you down the way he does. He does the same thing to everyone who shows him their teeth. Even to Lady Magella.. just.. you know.. politely.”, Laila replied calmly.
Bremorel was just about to go into a long, hot tirade about that when her cousin cut in.
“Look. Assume he is a sling rubber, alright? That’s what I do. The more you pull and stretch it, the harder it snaps back!”, she said with an amused tone.
Bremorel stood where she was with this weird expression on her face for a moment, then burst out laughing.
“Girl, you are wicked.”, she said finally.
“A bit, yes. But I’d like to see it as being practical. Less of a hassle that way. Next time, don’t bark at him or try to bite him. Not that you are going to win at barking or biting against a Drashan. Do your objections calmly and see how that goes. Try it. I am sure you will see I am right. I mean, you have already tried your way and it clearly isn’t working. And since you don’t like being slapped down, at least this way, you won’t.”, Laila advised coolly.
“I refuse to kiss his arse!”, her cousin said hotly.
“Bree, if you are implying that I am kissing his.. ‘whatever’.. you and I are going to have a serious spat.”, she said with exasperation.
“I am not going to fight with you over that man.”, Bremorel growled angrily.
“Smart of you not to. Considering neither of us wants to date him.”, Laila said with an amused expression.
Bremorel snorted.
“Yeah, like anyone would want to date that guy.”, she scoffed.
“C’mon, girl.. Let’s go get Udoorin and Gnine and teach them some rudimentary survival skills, shall we?”, Laila said.
“Why does this feel like a chore?”, her cousin asked sourly.
“Hey, don’t be like that. What we teach those two might very well end up saving their lives.”, Laila said with a serious tone.
“I know. And as sad as it sounds, Udoorin will actually learn some things. At least he will give it his best. But I can’t imagine Gnine not turning this into a joke.”, Bremorel replied with a pinched face.
“Well, you can always threaten to stuff him into your pocket if he does.”, Laila smiled.
“Eww, girl. I am not putting him anywhere near my pockets. Can you imagine the kind of pranks he might pull in there?”, her cousin said with a horrified tone.
I understand the part where I need to be careful where I put my step so as not to destroy existing prints, but I don’t understand the difference, or rather, I don’t see the difference between your footprint and Bremorel’s.”, Udoorin was saying as he stared down at the two, ‘same’ imprints in the dirt.
Laila sighed.
Teaching Udoorin how to look for prints, and differentiate them had turned out to be a lot harder than she’d thought it would be. Then she remembered how patient her ranger master, Davien, had been with her during her initiation period and she sighed again.
“Those two imprints are nothing alike. Laila’s feet are smaller than Bremorel’s.”, Gnine piped from the side, then hastily added, “Not that your feet are big, Bree, it’s just elf feet are generally smaller than human feet and they are narrower.”
“And you would know this, how?”, Bremorel asked him, giving him a level gaze.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that, OK? I notice things.”, the little gnome said.
“You.. notice things..”, she said flatly.
“Yes, I do. For example, your hips are narrower than Laila’s. But then, you are much younger than she is.”, Gnine continued, not knowing he was suddenly preparing his own grave!
“That so?”, Laila asked, and now, she was also giving the little gnome a similar, level gaze.
“Hey, it isn’t my fault you got wider hips, girl. But then, Bremorel usually skipped meals when she was young because she was too busy picking fights with boys. You didn’t. So that might have something to do with it.” Gnine trampled on.
“Gnine.”, Udoorin rumbled.
“What?”, Gnine said irritably.
“For a smart gnome, you really are not.”, the young man said.
Gnine stared at him.
“So the whole idea of footprints is about the size of the imprint?”, the big, burly man asked, pressing on.
“Yes, and no. True that the size of the footprint matters, but it isn’t limited to it.”, Laila replied. “Many different factors come into play.”
“Such as?”, asked Udoorin.
“Such as the length, the width, the depth, the kind of boots the person you are tracking is wearing, which affects the length, the width, and the depth of the imprint, along with the type of ground the print is on. For example, on a stone floor, you will get prints only if there is some dust. On gravel, you might end up not getting any prints, but only dislocated stones or pebbles, much like you will get different results on dirt if it is dry versus the same dirt if it were damp, more so if it is muddy. The same foot will leave different depth and width, and sort of a ‘drag’ if they are running as opposed to walking. The impressions left behind will change if they are carrying extra weight, or you will end up with a different set of prints from the same person if he were, say, limping, and so on..”, she tried to explain.
“Wow. When you dish out all these details, what you are doing becomes much more awesome. And makes you look a lot cooler.”, the young man said with a ‘very much impressed’ tone. “No wonder Master Aager was so persistent in wanting the two of you rather than any of the other rangers.”
“Did he, now?”, Bremorel asked with a cynical pinch.
“Yes. I was there when he, my father, and the ranger masters, Davien and Moorat were arguing about it. The ranger masters didn’t want to send you two, but Master Aager insisted. Said, ‘I want them, or you can go and track down those assassins on your own and leave Serenity Home vulnerable to more attacks.’”, Udoorin said.
Both Laila and Bremorel stared at him in silent astonishment.
“That didn’t settle well with Ranger Master Moorat, though. He said, if the town guards had done their job, they wouldn’t be in this mess, to begin with, and Master Aager told him, had the ranger masters done their job, the miscreants wouldn’t have been able to come anywhere near the town, let alone enter it, seeing as they were carrying a bloody heavy object with them and through their forest!
“I thought Moorat was going to draw blade on him, then and there. He was so angry. As if that wasn’t enough, Master Aager told them, ‘I want them because I need a new set of eyes, seeing as the old ones have failed Serenity Home thus thoroughly!’”
And now, both the ranger girls were staring at him quite and quietly petrified.
“How is it that Master Aager is still alive?”, Bremorel blurted.
“Well, my father intervened at that point and told my uncle to give in gracefully and to give Master Aager the ranger novices and make less of an embarrassment of himself. But let me tell you, I have never seen Uncle Moorat that angry before. Even Ranger Master Davien got angry once it clicked on him as to what was going on and he said, ‘That was not nice, Master Aager. We work day and night to keep Serenity Home and its surrounding fields and lands safe.’, but Master Aager cut in and said, ‘I am fully aware of your tenacity, seeing as I receive your reports on this matter, which I have no doubt are accurate and current but are sorely deficient and are glaringly inconclusive. Perhaps you believe holding back on information pertaining to the safety of your town gives you some entitlements I am not aware of. It does not. And last night’s attack was the proof of that misconception and we all suffered its consequences. That aside, I doubt the events of last night were some small-time payback, but something much more convoluted, yet elusive, and will likely take us far beyond the limits of your jurisdiction. Neither of you can leave for such an extended time, much like neither of you will take orders from SIS because neither of you believes its importance, bringing us back to my reason for asking for the esteemed ranger novices, Laila and Morel, whom I have had the privilege to work before. I need a fresh set of eyes that are not, as yet, petrified in their ways, and are more likely to have an open mind than either of you.’”, Udoorin said with a broad grin.
Laila and Bremorel were now, utterly stupefied.
And just when they had thought they had figured the man in dark leathers. They were so confounded, that they didn’t know whether to feel mortified that he had, indeed, chosen them specifically and that he felt ‘privileged’ for it or to feel anger at his level of ruthlessness.
“I am sorry, guys.”, Udoorin said. “But you can not judge, nor try to comprehend Master Aager. Neither of you has the reliable reference points to truly understand him. I mean, I have been under his tutorage for like, five years now, and I still don’t get him. I am not sure if all Drashans are like him or not, but something tells me he would stand out even among those cutthroats and pirates. Being a murderer is not all that difficult, even if you are very good at it. Him? He has lived at the very edge of ‘I have survived today. Must have a new plan for tomorrow.’, every single day of his life. That is the kind of life he lived until father brought him here and still, as ruthless and ‘dead-inside’ as he may be, he isn’t some maniac. True, that he might feel little remorse for ending up killing someone, but he never kills without reason, and he never does it for the fun of it. He owes my father a debt of honor, and it’s all about fulfilling that debt, which is to say, keeping ‘our’ town safe, and that is all he lives for. Anything else is chalked off as a ‘distraction’ for him. That being said, about these tracks..”
The ranger girls stared at him, then at one another.
Gnine was sort of chewing on his digits and he had a distinctly pinched expression on his face.
“Check out my footprint. What does that tell you?”, he said smartly as he stomped on the soft dirt, to sort of change the subject.
“It’ll likely tell me there is a no-good gnome around?”, Bremorel said with an amused expression. Then she frowned. Slowly, she knelt down and inspected the small impression in the moist dirt.
“Come look at this, cousin.”, she said, as her frown deepened.
Curious, Laila also knelt down and stared at the print.
“What?”, Gnine asked. “What do you see?”
“Hmm..”, Laila mused, also frowning now.
“What?”, the little gnome repeated. “What do you see, dammit?”
“What happened?”, Udoorin asked, also curious. “What’s happening, Laila?”
“This is odd.”, Laila frowned. “What do you think, cuzz?”
“What, dammit?”, Gnine fumed in frustration.
“I am thinking, what you are thinking.”, Bremorel replied, then turned to face the little gnome. “Where did you say you came from, Gnine? I mean, before you and your uncle came to Serenity Home.”
“A small village at Tinker Hills, why?”, Gnine asked, a bit irked.
“No.”, Laila said.
“No? No, what?”, he said, a frown of his own appearing on his face.
“You are not from Tinker Hills, Gnine. I know what a Tinker Hill gnome’s footprint looks like, and this is not the imprint of a hill or a forest gnome.”, she said, staring at him and the impression in the dirt.
“What does that mean?”, Udoorin asked.
“What are you saying?”, Gnine piped, and there was a tint of sudden panic in his tenoric voice now.
“She is saying exactly what she is saying..”, Bremorel replied. “You are not from Tinker Hills because all the gnomes there are either hill, or rarely, forest gnomes, and both of us have been there enough many times to have seen their footprints.”
“What! You think we lied to everyone?”, Gnine said angrily. “I am telling you, girl, I mean, my uncle used to travel a lot, but I was born and raised there. I still would have been there, had it not been for the firedamp accident that took out our whole village. I was stuck under the dirt and debris for days!”
“I am sorry, Gnine.”, Laila said kindly. “I didn’t mean to bring up old wounds.”
“Yeah, what she said.”, Bremorel added. “We are just telling you as we see it and these prints do not belong to a hill or forest gnome. I have never seen gnome prints like these before in my life.”
“I don’t understand, Bree? Gnine isn’t a gnome?”, Udoorin asked incredulously.
“No, dammit, of course, he is a gnome. Just not a hill or forest gnome.”, she replied irritably.
Laila was giving Gnine an appraising look.
Gnine on the other hand had a harassed and freaked-out expression on his otherwise mischievous face.
To her surprise, she also saw ‘fear’ in his eyes.
Laila had no idea why her little gnome friend was suddenly afraid, or what it was that he was afraid of, but there it was..
“He might belong to some sub-race of a hill or forest gnomes we are not aware of, Bree. Just because we don’t think he is either, might easily mean nothing. Tracking isn’t an exact science, after all.”, she said.
Bremorel gave her a, ‘What are you talking about, girl!’, sort of look to see her cousin shake her head, very slightly.
“Right.”, she said, picking up on her gesture and added.. lamely.. “What she said. I mean, we are kinda new rangers after all.. barely out of novicing!”
“Novicing?”, Udoorin asked. “Is that a real word?”
“I suppose it is.”, Bremorel replied glibly, her face going slightly pink. Then she coughed and continued. “Reading tracks is more of an art. Time, careful attention to detail, and repetition will fine-tune and hone your skills, just like it is with everything else.”
“Smooth twist.”, Laila smirked quietly at her. “Now then, we are not going to go into too many details and the finer points of tracking at this moment. We will just show you what to look for, then call us to do the reading.”
And the two ranger girls showed young Udoorin and a very much ‘silent’ little gnome where to look for tracks, how to avoid disrupting current tracks, and how to leave minimal tracks of their own for the next several hours..
By the time the sun had set, Laila had shot several rabbits and not a few quail. Udoorin was building up the bonfire with the logs he had chopped from the fallen tree, and he was carefully feeding it into the merrily crackling fire.
Bremorel, along with her cousin, and Lady had cleaned up the hunt and stuck them on iron skewers, and were now placing them next to the fire.
Aager sat a few yards off to one side, somewhat hidden in the shadows of a tree and some bushes, carefully watching the forest while keeping an eye on their new ‘guest’.
Gnine was nowhere to be seen, though Laila and Bremorel knew he was, not quite hiding, but had isolated himself behind another tree on the other side of the camp, silently, and possibly, seethingly contemplating his past.
The ranger girls hadn’t pushed their ‘very unexpected’ finding, and after so many years of being friends with the little gnome. They hadn’t had the time to talk over it, but suddenly, nothing around them seemed as they should, or the way they thought they were, and none of them seemed to be carved into stone anymore and that bothered them. Irked them, even.
Quite a bit.
Had this been why ‘that Aager-guy’ had wanted them for? ‘A need for a fresh set of eyes that are not, as yet, petrified in their ways, and are more likely to have an open mind..’, he’d said.. apparently.. And you never quite knew someone until you did one of several things with them; traveled with them, fought with them, or.. fought against them! Perhaps the latter was why he was aggravating everyone around him the way he did. Or more likely, he was aggravating without trying but using it to his advantage anyway..
Yes, Laila thought. That seemed more like ‘that Aager-guy’.
Then there was the footprint issue. Gnine’s footprint, to be more precise. True, the little gnome had been her friend since she was twelve or so and Bremorel’s friend since her cousin was no older than four.. Soon after her father had been informed that she had been brought and placed at the Serenity Home orphanage. To be totally honest about it though, there had always been something about their little friend. Him and his uncle, Nimbletyne Tinkerdome. Rumors had it, they had arrived at Serenity Home one day, and after a quick exchange of coin and deed, his uncle had literally bought off the bit of land, along with the shop, and the house above it, that they had settled in —much to everyone’s surprise because Serenity Home was not a cheap town.
Then Master Nimbletyne had brought in workers from as far away as Arashkan and had the shop and the house above it torn down, and in no more than a month or so, had them build a whole new workshop three stories high with living quarters and all! True to its perspective, Serenity Home had held on to its ideals; ‘Anyone who came in peace would find peace’, hence, no one had bothered nor interrogated the ‘inventor’, as he’d declared himself to be.
People, be it humans, elves, dwarves, or, naturally, gnomes, however, were sentiently curious beings, hence they talked.. about ‘that gnome and his niece!’ Master Nimbletyne had been a pleasantly charming gnome with the air of a well-educated and well-preserved personality. He had gotten along very well with his neighbors and Serenity Home in general. He’d gotten along with the sheriff and the mayor as well. So much so that he had even become a member of the town’s councilmen. He was smart, intelligent, polite, too polite with the ladies in particular, and other than two specific incidents, he never got on the wrong side of the law; the first had been with another councilman, Haradin Franderson, which no one had taken seriously because, to put it politely, everyone with an ounce of sense would end up, one way or another, on the councilman’s wrong side.
Haradin Franderson was that kind of irritating man.
The other person to have had a beef with the very civilized and cultured gnome had been no other than Moorat Maelstrom when the disreputable ranger master had stuck Nimbletyne’s niece, Gnine, into a sack and dumped him on his doorstep and had told him to keep ‘the little midget’ out from under their feet or they wouldn’t be responsible if they stepped on him!
The ‘incident report’ on the matter filled out by Sheriff Standorin, who was Moorat’s brother-in-law, had been a bit vague since neither the ranger master nor the fuming gnome had pressed any charges, and neither had they been all that forthcoming but rather, and quite lamely, explained it off as ‘a mere small misunderstanding between two civilized people’ —a statement the sheriff would have, maybe, found plausible had only Master Nimbletyne and some other random townsman had been involved.
Moorat, however, was not a civilized man no matter how one stretched the word!
Eyewitness testimonies in the incident report said, and quote; ‘He went ballistic on the ranger master! And clubbed him down into the ground, hissing and spitting something about never laying hands on his niece again!’
No matter how cordial either party had been afterward, the sheriff had not taken the idea of people publicly clubbing one another very well. Not in his town. But since neither party would say anything on the matter, the dispute had inevitably been dropped, but not quite forgotten..
..not by the sheriff, and not by Moorat.
And in all likeliness, not by the otherwise very calm, very civilized, and ‘pleasantly charming’ gnome, though he had never made mention of it afterward, and neither had he held any grudge against the ranger master.
Known to only Sheriff Standorin was the little confession Moorat had given him late one evening when he had come to visit his brother-in-law, in confidence, and off the record;
“Dammit, Stan.. I saw murder in his eyes.. Like, real murder!”
It had likely been one of the only two times the sinister-looking ranger master had been so freaked out in his entire life. The first had been when his sister, Limnia Karya, Sheriff Standorin’s wife, and young Udoorin’s mother had died.
For Laila, however, most of that was hearsay at best or mere rumors. The young half-elf ranger never really turned a blind eye to gossip. But she had always been a bit on the stoic side about it as well. Laila preferred facts. Solid, tangible facts. Which was probably why she seldom lost her ‘cool’ —as in, emotions scrambled with her good sensibilities and better judgment! And said facts told her; that her little friend was not a hill or forest gnome. What he might be, she couldn’t say, but ‘to her knowledge’ of the gnome also explained great many of his peculiarities. Gnomes in general were an industrious lot. They were curious about everything.. to a fault.. Their reputation for causing trouble, or always having the potential for it was not because they had some innate delinquent tendencies but due to their unquenchable sense of curiosity —mostly!
Gnine? Gnine’s understanding of curiosity was unlike anything she had ever seen before. He was proactive, mischievous, and ever pranking —to the point of turning something that would have otherwise resulted in mild irritation.. to open wrath! He was very loyal to his friends, true, but he always seemed to push things to the point of self-destruction. And he always seemed to watch and observe others and, well, for the lack of a better word, impersonate them, not in character, but in essence.. as if he was looking, or even seeking something others had that he thought he lacked, and he did it with some deep-seated, inner desperation or urge.
Apparently, whatever it was he was seeking, the little gnome hadn’t found it yet..
Laila had no intentions of pestering her friend on the matter of his odd origins, but it certainly irked her to no end. She would have to warn her cousin not to pester him either. As much as the little gnome liked to laugh, something told her that when provoked, he would show similar ‘murder in his eyes’ attitude, much like his uncle had.
Don’t touch me!”, hissed the young woman and glared at Lady Magella, going so far as to try to bite her hand!
“You will stop this nonsense now, girl, or by the Great Heavens, I will turn you over and spank you until you cry ‘uncle!’”, the she-dwarf said sternly.
It was mid-morning the next day when the young woman had awoken. She had risen from her curled-up position with bleary eyes and a groggy expression on her face. She stared around as if trying to remember something until she’d spotted Lady Moira sleeping right next to her. She had ogled at the young woman, still in her plate armor, for a dull moment of confusion, then, and as if pinched or even jabbed by a needle, she had yelped to her feet, stumbled, and promptly fallen on her butt. It was then Lady Magella had knelt down beside her to kindly lend a hand and help her up, but the girl had hissed at her with a vicious, “Don’t touch me!”, and had tried to bite her!
And now the young woman was half-hidden under the blankets the Temple Guardian had used to cover her the night before and was staring at her through feral, suspicious, and scared eyes.
“What is ‘uncle?’”, she asked, her face still full of the same feral expression, but also confused, as one of her slender hands slipped out of the blanket and she touched her conical hair as if wanting to make sure they were still there or that it hadn’t been messed up. Apparently, she was a woman who cared about her appearance despite her tattered clothes.
Lady frowned, for it wasn’t precisely what the girl had said that had sent a shiver down her spine, as odd a question as it had been. It had been her voice; there was absolutely no sentience whatsoever in her small, scared, and totally confused voice!
“You don’t know what an uncle is?”, she asked carefully.
“I do not.”, she replied, and her tone was cold and flat now. “Is it a stick?”
Nope!
The girl truly had no idea what an ‘uncle’ was.
But.. why had she thought it was a ‘stick’, of all things?
“An uncle is either your father’s or your mother’s brother.”, she told her.
The young woman gave her a skeptical look.
“I don’t think so.”, she replied declaratively and bitterly. “My Father had no brother. And my mother was killed. If she had a brother, he is equally guilty as those that killed her because he never came to help save her, so why would I cry ‘uncle?’ Perhaps you have an uncle that hits you with a stick!”
“If any of my uncles hit me with a stick, I am thinking that would be the last thing they did in life. That’s if they survive my mother.”, Lady said with a bemused expression on her face.
The girl stared at her for a long moment with mistrust, incomprehension, and confusion clearly etched on her face.
“Are you going to burn me?”, she asked suddenly!
“Now why would I burn you, girl?”, the she-dwarf asked, both appalled and irritated.
“I am demon. You should burn me!”, the girl said.
“We do not burn demons, we exorcise them back to Hell. But I doubt you are a demon. If you were, you wouldn’t be able to sit, let alone sleep, next to a paladin.”, Lady replied, trying to curb her irritation. Whoever this girl was, she wasn’t just odd, she was direly traumatized and the Temple Guardian suddenly wanted to get her hands on the people who’d done this to her. Some of what she felt must have shown on her face because the young woman leaned back and pulled her blanket all the way up to her nose.
“Are you going to stone me, then? It hurts but I do not mind the stoning. But if you whip me, I will run away.”, she said, and her feral expression returned.
“What? What are you talking about, girl? I do not stone or whip people. I am a Temple Guardian of Life. I have not hit anyone for the last twenty years and more.”, Lady said, trying to sound calm.
“Did you hit before that?”, the young woman asked, her voice slightly muffled behind the blankets.
“Yes. I wasn’t a Temple Guardian then. The last person I hit was my younger brother.”, the she-dwarf replied.
“Why did you hit your brother? Brother is blood.”, the girl said, staring intently at her.
“He wasn’t much of a brother.”, Lady replied, frowning slightly. “Now tell me, who stoned you?”
“Men. Many men. But not now. When I was small.”, the young woman replied harshly.
“Men? What men? When did they do this?”, Lady asked, now struggling to keep her calm.
“They are not here. They are far to the north and west of here.”, she replied flatly. “Where are.. the others? I saw two.. girls.. Last night. And a big man.. and a small man.. and a dark man..”
“What men? Who stoned you, girl?”, the she-dwarf repeated herself..
..but the young woman did not reply. She just stared at her, waiting..
Lady sighed. The girl was not just odd. She was also a bit off.
“The two girls you saw last night are rangers from Serenity Home. Their names are Laila Wolvesbane and Bremorel Songsteel. The big man you saw was young Udoorin Shieldheart. He is the son of Serenity Home town’s sheriff, Standorin Shieldheart. The small one is a gnome. His name is Gnine Tinkerdome. They are all out in the forest making sure we are safe. I am a Temple Guardian from the same town and my name is Lady Magella. The paladin you saw last night and who is still sleeping is Lady Moire. She comes from Durkahan, a city far, far away from here. And the dark one you saw is Master Aager Fogstep. He is the right hand of the sheriff and he is a lawman. Some days ago, our town was attacked and some people burned some of our homes. The ranger girls found their tracks and we were sent to find these men. We found most of them, but they had already been killed by some things. We suspect one of these men escaped and we were trying to catch him when you.. found us last night.”
The young woman continued to stare at her, and Lady got the impression she was trying to understand, or perhaps, digest the things she’d just heard. And no. She wasn’t mulling over them, she just didn’t understand some of the things she’d just been told.
“I do not know what a lawman is, but the dark one is afool.”, she said finally.
Lady pursed her lips.
“Uhhmm.. A fool? I.. don’t know what to say to that.”, she replied, as a merry glint appeared in her eyes.
To be fair, Lady Magella hadn’t snorted once since she’d arrived at Serenity Home from Scowling Hills to become a Temple Guardian and her scowling stance was very nearly ruined at that moment. It was only her knowledge of the man in dark leathers that told her something wasn’t quite right about what the young woman had just said. After all, Master Aager was many things, to be sure. Being a fool just wasn’t one of his hallmarks..
“How do you mean?”, she asked carefully.
“He is always hidden. Even when not. He is far and he is near. Silent but not sneaking. He smells of sweat, iron, and death. He is like ghost, only deader!”, the girl said with a petrified expression.
Lady’s eyebrows shot up.
‘Wow’, she thought. ‘That was the most comprehensive description of Master Aager I have ever heard and she said it without even thinking!’
Then it dawned on her.
“Ow. You mean ‘aloof’..”, she said.
And to her surprise, the young woman’s face went pink, then turned to a beautiful, blooming red!
“Yes, that.. Afool..”, she repeated herself. “I can smell him. He is watching me. He must know.”
“Know? Know what?”, Lady asked. Conversing with this girl was truly tasking her.
“That he is not a good person. Perhaps he can kill me and free me of my demons.”
Lady sighed. They were back to square one, and back to the demons again.
“No one in this company will kill you, young lady. And if anyone so much as touches you, they shall have to answer to me first.”, she said trying very hard not to growl.
“Why?”, the girl asked, not with surprise or even with any form of curiosity.
She just.. asked!
“Because we belong to our own, girl. And only those that we allow may touch us. And we do not hurt people unless they try to hurt us.”, the she-dwarf replied and this time, she did growl.
“You tried to touch me. The big man tried to touch me. I tried to hurt you. I do not understand your rules.”, she said with a confused tone.
“I was trying to help you get up. The big man was trying to get you off the mud. And, I do not know why you tried to hurt us, but in the end, you stopped and no one got hurt.”, Lady tried to explain.
The young woman stared at her blankly.
“What is your name?”, Lady tried to change the subject. “Where do you live? Where did you come from? Who are your people? And.. why did you attack us, even though we meant you no harm.”
The girl pulled up her blanket a bit higher and hid her face. For a long time, she didn’t say anything. Then her small voice was heard.
“My name is Inshala ‘la fey’ Frostmane. I live.. I lived somewhere near where the wood elves used to live. But I can not go back there anymore. I.. I have no people. I only had my Father but he died. I.. I didn’t want to attack you, but I was angry because I thought you were the bad men who killed my Father. Are you going to hit me? I will hurt if you hit me but I won’t mind it. If you whip me I will hurt more but I will run away if you do.”, she mumbled.
Lady very nearly bit her tongue with rage upon hearing her small voice and how she so easily submitted to being beaten, stoned, or even being whipped. Just who had done that to the girl?
“Girl.. I mean, Inshala..”, she fumed, then paused. “You have a beautiful name.”
“I.. I do?”, the girl’s voice was heard.
“Yes. It means, ‘Heaven’s Willing’. What a dear, dear name you have. It is a blessed name.”
Nothing responded to that, but Lady got the impression that the young woman hiding behind the blanket was either blushing furiously, flustered, or petrified.
“And, we do not beat, stone, or whip people. Do you understand me?”
“I understand your words. But Mortals say one thing, do another.”, her small voice came from the blanket.
“Well..”, Lady said angrily. “..this dwarf does what she says.”
The girl drew her blanket down a little and her eyes and her nose were visible again.
“I do not understand. When will you hit me, then?”, she asked, quite baffled. “The men that hit me always told me they would hit me.”
Lady very nearly tore her hair out!
“Who was your father?”, she asked in total frustration.
“My father was Cathber Gwet’chen Bolgrig.”, she said quietly and her eyes shimmered. Then, large drops of tears came running down what was visible on her face and disappeared into the blanket.
Lady stumbled.
“What? What did you say, child?”, she rasped.
“My father was Cathber Gwet’chen Bolgrig and bad men came to our home and they killed him.”, she said with a morose expression as more tears came running down.
Lady felt incensed.
True, she had never met Master Cathber, but her grandfather, Argail Smitefast, and her mother, Margaret Madish, along with any number of her relatives certainly had, and he had been a major figure in Ritual Forest. Some even said the forest was his. Others, like her own master, Senior Temple Guardian Demos Lightshand had told her, in confidence, that Master Cathber was the Ritual Guardian, though he had not gone into the details of what that might entail exactly. Lady, however, had gotten the impression that it entailed something big, as in, monumental.. and not only did this young woman claim to be his daughter, she was also saying he was dead —killed!
And then, something else clicked in her mind.
The girl had said, ‘I lived somewhere near where the wood elves used to live.’
“You said where the wood elves ‘used to live’. They do not live there anymore? Has something happened to them?”, she asked in near panic.
“Some few days ago, men with dark hearts and ill intents came sneaking out of the night. They killed my father while he was asleep. I was not there. I did not see it happen. Then they ran back into the night. The same night, some big, orc-like creatures appeared. Many of them. And they attacked the wood elf village and destroyed it. Some of them escaped, but it was much less than half of them..” the young woman said in the same, morose tone, and the she-dwarf just stared at her.
“..Once they had their fill for elf blood, they also ran and hid in the night.”, the girl continued. “I went after them and the dark men with the dark hearts. I traveled hard and found the men, but they had also been killed by these creatures before I could avenge my Father. So I went after the orc-like creatures, for they do not belong to my Father’s forest. And the other night, I finally found them. They thought they were smart when they ambushed sleepy elves. They thought they were cunning when they ambushed blind men with blind hearts in the night. But I showed them smart and cunning for I am demon and I am not blind in the night and I sleep awake, hence I ambushed them and I destroyed them all.”
Lady ogled at her. And more than a bit freaked out!
“I.. well.. that is good.. I suppose..”, she stuttered.
“No.”, the girl replied her eyes suddenly ablaze and there was a feral fire burning in them.
“It was terrible, and it was balance!”
Where did she go?”, Aager growled.
“I don’t know. We were talking and she became agitated towards the end and she just jumped up and ran off!”, Lady Magella said, her face a bit red.
“You let her get away.”, the man in dark leathers said. It wasn’t a question nor was it an accusation, but merely an observation.
The she-dwarf squinted at him as her face went darker.
“How was I supposed to know she would just take off? What did you expect me to do, put her in irons, perhaps?”, she flared.
“I trusted you to keep her here, upon your insistence and against my better judgment, Lady.”, he grated.
“That girl has suffered Hell in the hands of men. Under no circumstance was I going to bind her.”, Lady flared at him.
“Temple Guardian..”, Aager said lowering his voice. “..what took four of us to kill one creature, she destroyed single-handedly and according to you, not one or two, but a whole horde of them. Do you understand what that means? That girl has the potential to dismantle this company on a whim and we have just lost her. She could be anywhere. She could be watching us and debating whether she should finish what she started last night.”
“I am fully aware of just how dangerous she is. Or what kind of a danger she might pose. But I am not an interrogator nor am I a jailor. I spoke to her in hopes of putting her at ease. I told them who we were. I identified everyone here. It is possible she might not trust us but I do not think she will come after us again.”, Lady replied, glaring up at him.
“Well, that’s a relief. It is bloody hard trying to shake out of a chainmail while dodging lightnings.”, rumbled Udoorin.
“Good to know your priorities are in order!”, the she-dwarf snapped at him.
“You are aware, that you have given her everything she needed to know about us and single us out at her leisure..”, Aager said through gritted teeth.
“I told her we had two rangers and I told her of their names. I do not think she will go after them. If she is the daughter of Master Cathber as she claimed to be, she will have respect for them because Master Cathber certainly had. And if I recall, it was him, who gave Laila and little Morel their titles, Wolvesbane and Songsteel.”, she replied harshly.
“She is right.”, Laila said with a drawn face. “I.. I can’t believe Master Cathber is dead.”
Bremorel didn’t say anything. She wasn’t there. She was some fifty yards away crying.
No one had truly known the old hermit of Ritual Forest on a personal level. Possibly because no one really did. But he had been the most, singularly renowned person in the vast stretches of these forests. There had been many rumors about the old man. One of them had been, that he had actually fought in the first Themalsar War, some eight hundred years ago which had occurred nearly three hundred years before Serenity Home was even founded. The other one was, he would appear, without warning, and at any time to protect his forest.
For the ranger girls, however, Master Cathber had been something of a legend.
For Bremorel, he had been a bit more.
Known to no one left alive but the young woman in mourning was the fact that she had known Master Cathber very nearly on a personal level, even if it had been when she’d been only two at the time. So had her mother and father.
“I doubt she will come after me, not that I am worried about myself. She seemed to have some respect for Temple Guardians. She certainly will not attack Lady Moira. She fears her to her very core and sees her as something akin to Holy. She showed little to no interest in young Udoorin, here, and as long as Master Gnine does not do anything foolish such as to try and prank her, he should be fine as well.”, Lady Magella said.
Aager waited.
“I can not, however, promise she will show similar indifference to you, Master Aager. Your general appearance as someone in dark leathers is much the same as the men who killed her father. If that will not do, your ignominy surely will.”, she added with a vindictive smile.
“I was not aware Temple Guardians found satisfaction in the ignominy of others, Lady. I stand corrected.”, the man in dark leathers growled.
Lady scowled at him.
“Is Lady Moira going to be up anytime soon?”, he asked, changing the subject.
“I wouldn’t know.”, she replied. “I do not know what is wrong with her.”
“I am up..”, came a very tired voice from behind them. “..and will be running soon enough.”
They all turned to see Lady Moira trying to rise from under her blankets.
The paladin girl’s face was pale, drawn, and seemed somewhat swollen. There were dark circles around her sunken eyes, though there was a merry glint in them and although her lips seemed to have lost their color, she still gave them a wan and crooked smile.
“My..”, she slurred. “..I really must look horrible to have garnered such astonished stares.”
“You!”, Lady spluttered angrily. “What did you do, girl?”
“I am sorry, Lady.”, she replied honestly. “Help me up first?”
The Temple Guardian stomped over to her and gave her a strong hand but Moira wavered and stumbled back on her butt and just sat there quite exhausted..
“Or perhaps not.”, she said happily!
“You..”, Lady spluttered some more. “All of you! You will be the end of me!”
“Please don’t say that, my Lady Magella. You will live long, and you will prosper, I am sure of it.”, Moira said earnestly. “If I could but plead a bowl of some of your delicious stew, I should bounce right back.”
Lady mumbled something about young women and having no sense whatsoever as she dumped generous spoons of thick, steaming stew from the portable cauldron boiling over the bonfire and into a bowl, then brought it over to her.
“Careful, it is hot.”, she said as she hovered over the girl.
“Best thing about the burdens of being a paladin is you never have to worry about hot bowls, Lady.”, she said with another smile and took the steaming bowl in her gauntlets. Then, and with little need for false courtesy, she spooned the stew down and slurped the remaining juice, pulled out a lace hanky, and wiped it off her mouth and cheeks with a slightly pinked grin.
“I believe you have some explaining to do, girl.”, Lady said sternly. Apparently, the smiles and the grins had bounced right off the she-dwarf.
“You are so like Granma, back home, Lady.”, Moira said cheerily.
“Well, excuse me!”, Lady Magella said, taken aback.
“Oh, I apologize, Temple Guardian.”, Moira smiled. “I did not mean to offend you. Granma —that’s Lady Grana Maarva, who is a grand and a dear woman, who is also known to have destroyed the occasional knight or paladin with her glare.”
Lady Magella tried very hard to upkeep her glare but failed. The paladin girl was just too honestly nice. Inadvertently, she smiled.
“I have heard of Lady Grana Maarva.”, she said.
“She is the mother of the First Lady of Durkahan.”, Moira said happily as she rose. Carefully, and with a bit of creaking, she moved her strong arms, broad shoulders, then legs and smiled again. “Everything seems to be in order. Your stew is a miracle at work, Lady Magella. I just must have the recipe for it.”
“My dear girl, you should rest a bit before you start running off.”, the she-dwarf said with concern. “You must be in pain.”
“A bit of pain is good for the soul, Lady. Reminds us of our mortality, hence it learns us humility.”, Moira replied with a slightly pinched face. “I believe I gave a bit too much of myself back there.”
“What happened to you? What did you do?”, Lady asked.
“When the storm hit, it wasn’t acting normally. Particularly when I saw the lightnings chasing our dear companions around. Master Aager, however, had ordered me to get you to safety, hence I did. I sent you with my dear and trusted steed, Ayla. After that, I tried to sense our tormentor but failed, which I thought was both interesting and a revelation all on its own, for you see, I may sense, with certain success, when evil lurks nearby. Try as I might, however, I sensed absolutely nothing. That meant, either our assailant and aggressor was too far, which would have made it quite impossible for him to have struck us with such surgical accuracy, or he was not evil but merely misguided. Hence I identified myself and our intent but further failed to persuade our tormentor. That, I am afraid, left me with beggared choices but to prove my identity by deed. I believe I gave a tad too much of myself to the task. But in all candor, I was in a hurry and I was in plate armor with lightnings tearing down upon us, also.”, the paladin girl explained and finished with a merry, and bright grin.
“Young lady..”, the she-dwarf fumed. “As much as I admire your use of cool logic, quick thinking, and tenacity, particularly under duress, it was foolish of you to have done what you did. You could have died. You had me worried sick.”
“I am sorry, Lady Magella. I truly am. But I guess when it comes to faith, there just aren’t half-ways. Dying for what you believe, and saving dear friends along the way, isn’t really a bad way to go, now is it?”, Moira said and her grin became even brighter.
The Temple Guardian just stared at her.
“Yes.”, she said with a deflated exasperation. “You foolish girls will be the end of me..”
A pair of storm-gray eyes hiding behind a thick clump of bushes watched the two ranger girls with envious fascination.
One was an elf. Or not. The pair of eyes wasn’t quite sure. Perhaps she was a half-elf.. a bit like herself; half-human and half.. something else.. She had a slender figure that walked the earth one careful step at a time as if she were in a pit full of snakes or some big, nasty insects. The half-elf girl had pretty, brown hair with a tint of red in them, apparent only when the sun shown at the correct angle. She had pretty blue eyes too. Eyes that stared at the world around her from the fletch-end of a yard-arrow. Her nose was bold and daring, and the lines around her mouth said she was a girl who liked to laugh, just not in public. Only when she was with rare few friends.
The pair of storm-gray eyes frowned a little because the half-elf was wearing her hair and clothes wrong!
Irksomely so..
What bothered, more than irked, her at the same time was the flustered sensation of guilt she was feeling just then; the storm-gray eyes did not like snooping, as much as that particular word made her want to giggle, deep down she very well knew what that word entailed and it was ‘not nice’.
Interestingly, she felt no shame nor guilt, whatsoever, when she was hunting or pouncing in her other.. well.. suffice to say, at that very moment, she felt what she was doing was somehow wrong, and ‘not nice.’ But of the many things her Father had taught her was the simple fact that observing was always better than barging into things like a stupid goat.. or an angry Mox, both of which she had done these past few days. Perhaps it was time to heed her Father. After all, ever-present kindness and his words of advice were the only things left to the pair of storming eyes.
With the happy conclusion that they were ‘observing’, as opposed to snooping, the storm-gray eyes.. well.. observed! To that end, the eyes drifted off to the other ranger girl. She had a lithe figure, not quite filled out yet and she walked with the surety of someone who had gone into many fights and come out of the other end as the victor. She had coarse black, distinctly uncombed but not quite disheveled hair, daringly beautiful green eyes, a surprisingly soft face, a pouting mouth, and fair brows, though all of it was somewhat ruined by the scowl that marred her overall beauty just then. She had a very big sword strapped across her back at a comfortable angle and the storm-gray eyes felt a tiny bit of disturbance around the girl skulking among the trees for she felt death and anger emanating from her.
The eyes shivered with consternation. Then she pouted, for this one was also wearing her clothes wrong and her hair was a skunky mess!
When the two ranger girls were gone, she waited for some, as the bushes crashed and parted in the distance and the eyes stared with sour distaste at the big man with lots and lots of heavy and sharp iron.
The thing that had her confused about him the most was how he had lived to be so big when he made so much noise. She was sure there was no game to be found five miles in any direction after the kind of clamor he was making. And he was so messy! There just wasn’t anything salvageable where he was concerned to the point, whether he wore everything he had ‘wrong’ was a moot point!
With him came the red-headed girl with the iron clothes and the brilliant, heavenly light, and the storming-gray eyes watched her with fear and with hate. After all these years, she had finally found someone who would burn her and cleanse the world from the foul demon that she was, and the red-haired girl had not done it and the owner of the storm-gray eyes thought that had been both ‘not nice’, and just mean!
Then the red-headed girl stumbled and very nearly fell and the storm-eyes did a quick intake of breath as she noted the girl seemed dead tired for some reason and the eyes hiding behind the bushes stood in limbo, not sure if she should go and help her against very much wanting to go and help her. As much as she feared and hated the girl in all the iron clothes for not burning her, she was pretty and she had an awesome smile. And she laughed a lot and shared that laughter with those around her. And she always walked with her back straight, proud, but not with pride..
..as odd as that sounded!
Then the big man with all the sharp irons came running to the faltering girl and helped her up.
“Don’t touch her!”, hissed the storming eyes but when she saw the paladin girl smile up at the big burly man and thanked him with a very generous smile, she fell silent and felt.. confused.. and confounded.. and very much vexed and perplexed..
The big man’s face went red, mumbled some things, then returned back to where he had been and started making his clumsy, and very noisy trek. The storm-eyes unconsciously noted down somewhere in her endless repertoire of observations that should the red-haired girl ever decide to actually want to do her job and decide to burn her, she would make a final bequest of her to ‘do her pretty red hair’, before she burned and banished her!
Well..
Apparently, someone had issues..
The storm-gray eyes watched them go and waited, silently and still, as the little ‘gnome’ boy came into view and for whatever reason, the eyes dismissed him, then and there, the moment she saw his eyes. Eyes that held mischief and far too much ‘trouble’.
The lonely soul hiding in the bush did not like mischief. And certainly never sought trouble. For her, mischief was folly and silly, and trouble meant being beaten or stoned or whipped.
Behind him came that angry and always-scowling she-dwarf and the storm-eyes took a few involuntary steps back. She felt fear for the tall, red-headed girl, but that was sort of.. she wasn’t sure.. Her Father would have known the right word. Eclictantable? Epliplaptable? Exispensipal? Or maybe it was.. existential?
Yes. That it. Existential!
The storm-gray eyes felt ‘existential’ fear for her.
For the she-dwarf, however, she felt healthy and tangible fear. The kind of fear you feel when you were dreaming a bad dream you couldn’t escape versus when you were face to face with an angry bear or a feral Ritual Lynx.. only more detrimental!
Then she saw a dark smudge on the far side of the angry and always-scowling she-dwarf; the man in dark leathers, hood, and half-mask, and the storm in the gray eyes started to churn again, just like it had when she had found out her Father had just been slain and a low, unmoderated growl escaped from behind the bushes..
Carefully, the owner of the storm-gray eyes withdrew and far into the woods. The man and his darkness would have to wait. She would deal with him later. On her own terms..
She would make his life miserable!
At a safe distance, she undid the slim, hand-woven vine belt that held several pouches from around her slender waist and put it on the ground. Then she pulled off her tattered and dirty dress, and standing naked in her quite buxom figure, she did an odd gesture and clear water came pouring down into her hands from thin air.
From one of her pouches, she took out a hefty block of lavender soap and started scrubbing and washing her dress.. quite vigorously! Once she was done, she took a whiff from the thread-bare dress, pinched her nose, then called more water and washed it again with equal vigor..
..then again.
And again..
..to her odd and obsessive satisfaction, whipped it a few times to get the wrinkles out, and hung it on a nearby low branch.
She undid her conical braids, and with more water, she washed her very long, very dark hair, and herself over and over and over until her tender, baby pink skin was shriveled and rashed with ugly red blotches..
With tears in her storm-gray eyes, and with a pinched sniff from her cute, perky little nose, she pulled out a very tightly rolled towel from another pouch and dried her very dark, and very long hair, then her slender neck, her buxom breasts, her slim waist, her shapely butt, and finally her strong legs, all the way down to her small, narrow feet, and hung the towel next to her dress.
She made another gesture and a hot zephyr brushed her hair, the dress, and the towel. She repeated this until her hair, her dress, and her towel were dry, though she left her hair just this side of moist.
The storm-eyes disliked brushing her hair when it was dry and brittle..
She took her towel, whipped it a few times, but this time to make sure there were no ants or bugs or any leaves or twigs on it, folded it many times, then rolled it into a very tight bundle, and stuffed it back into its corresponding pouch. Then she took her dress, carefully inspected it, noted the wear and tears, made a third gesture, and started ‘mending’ the rips and tears, and in under a few minutes, the dress was not new, but it certainly didn’t have a single hole or shred on it, nor was it smudged with dirt or mud.
The storming-eyes had only this dress and she’d had it for a very long time, hence she took its maintenance quite seriously!
As magic went, these were quite minor spells, or more like cantrips, really.
For someone who had a thing for an understated obsession with personal hygiene, cleanliness, grooming, and being neat and tidy, however, they were absolutely a ‘must have’.
Once she was done, and only after she was, not acceptably, but justifiably satisfied, she slipped into her dress and pulled it all the way down to her small, narrow feet, very much clean and refreshed. Now it was time for her very dark, and very long hair.
The storm-eyes did not sigh nor did she show any expression of resignation. With meticulous rigor and fastidious attention that surpassed obsession, but certainly bordered the fringes of madness, she started braiding her hair. By the time she was done, her slender fingers hurt, her arms hurt, and her back and her neck also hurt. But she was not quite done yet. She wrapped them all into two, symmetrical cones and bunned them on each side of her, now all clean, rather pretty, and slightly angular face, then slumped down for a long breather as she waited for strength to return back to her arms as she contemplated on the last few days that had turned her life upside down, then totally destroyed it.
Inshala ‘la fey’ Frostmane felt more alone and abandoned than she had ever been before.
You are not a good person.”, hissed a voice from behind the bushes that evening.
The company had traveled north, then angled east. They had started slow and carefully picked up their pace as Lady Moira’s ebbed strength returned. After a diligent search, the ranger girls had, once more, found tracks of their missing sneak thief, many miles away, not quite by chance, but by trained and attained tenacity of the ranger girls, Laila and Bremorel, and the unrelenting urges from Master Aager, and by the use of deduction, guesstimation, and logic, they had found where he had ‘holed up’ during the savage storm with the green lightnings..
..to the dismay of everyone, for he had, by pure, dumb luck, stumbled on another ‘hidey-holes’ left behind by no other than the deceased Master Cathber.
The smarmy sneak thief was extraordinarily lucky, which had merely added to the insult already felt by the very much infuriated ranger girls. Aager only fumed, though he did it with his usual silence hidden behind his half-mask. In the end, he knew, everyone’s luck would run out. Practical logic was there to stay and he would take that any day over some fool’s unreliable luck.
It was when they had settled in for the night around a carefully dug-out campfire. Lady Magella was sleeping and upon her scowling insistence, so was Lady Moira. Gnine, the little gnome had made himself scarce once more like he did ever since the ‘footprint event’ and was nowhere to be seen. Ranger Bremorel was snoozing off to one side until the time for her shift with no other than Master Aager would arrive, to her disgusted dismay. Young Udoorin was sitting, his back to the dying campfire, staring intently into the darkness, his great battleaxe resting on his lap and Ranger Laila was out there somewhere, carefully scouting the area.
It was then Aager woke up to the hot, vindictive air, breathing into his ear;
“You are not a good person.”
At that moment, the man in dark leathers, hood, and half-mask considered a lot of options in his suddenly awake mind. He thought of launching himself at the young woman and capturing her. He thought of debating her rather blatantly obvious perspective of him. He thought of ignoring her. He even thought of turning around and smiling at her, sort of to put her at ease, though this one he had chalked off and killed immediately. Aager knew he had many skills where murder was concerned, but nothing in his repertoire had ‘smile’ or ‘at ease’ in it. In the end, he decided to go for something he never did. Something he certainly had, but never gave to another..
Assurance.
“I see you are back.”, he growled barely turning his head. “Good. Lady will be pleased.”
There was a long, incredulous, or perhaps, ‘speechless’ sort of silence, then, as quietly as they had come, the storming eyes were gone.