“What is your name?” Avreel asked in elven though she doubted any of them spoke it. She was not moving to retreat or even stand, she crouched low to the ground trying not to look menacing to the helpless girl.
Rose pondered that statement for a moment before answering. She was unsure if she wanted to reveal her only upper hand to this elf. She did indeed speak the elven language though the dialect the strange woman was using was a bit outlandish to her ears. After a moment of pondering she decided to play as if she did not comprehend. She started speaking in common. “I don’t understand.”
Avreel sighed at the language barrier and turned to Yarus, nodding her head at the door. “Go get some water for this prisoner. I’d like to try and look unassuming so I can continue to study her.”
“Are you sure you can trust her to be alone?” He replied with an arched brow.
“Are you questioning my orders?” Avreel hissed back, turning around to fix him with a glare.
“No my lady.” He replied with a bow and ascended the steps quickly in search of some fresh water.
Once she was alone Avreel sat back against the bars across from the odd woman and sighed, shaking her head. Her hopes had been high but a language barrier almost spelled the naarabian’s demise. In the back of her mind she had hoped for something more. “Well my dear I suppose that you have no idea what I’m saying but the fact that you can’t speak a language we understand almost spells your eventual death. That’s what I get for hoping I’d found a way out of here.”
Rose came forward a bit and decided the best way to gain this captor’s sympathy would be to give herself a name. She got the elf’s attention and put her hand on her chest. “Alethia Rose.”
“Well at least you’re reasonably intelligent I guess.” She echoed the gesture. “Avreel.”
“Well then Alethia I’m sorry to say I can’t save you.” Avreel stood up again.
“Rose.” She said softly, hoping Avreel would get the idea.
“Interesting, you go by your family name then? Not that it matters of course; you’re as good as meat once I’m done cataloging your abilities.” Avreel shrugged and turned to leave the cell.
“Wait.” Rose said in elven, drawing the woman’s gaze. “Don’t leave.”
“You can speak our language.” She said in amazement, walking back inside to regard Rose warily. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Why reveal all of your cards to your enemy at once?” Rose shrugged a bit and looked over at the kurenai who were watching the trade with interest.
“Then why reveal it to me now?” Avreel asked with genuine curiosity.
“I don’t feel as if you’re my enemy.” Rose replied, hoping she had not misjudged the elf woman’s demeanor. She was hopeful she could convince Avreel to help her in some way. Judging from the rest of them it seemed this was her only chance.
“To what end?”
“Help me.” Rose begged softly, looking toward the stairs. “I heard your words and if they’re sincere we can help each other.”
“As much as I would like to pretend I can escape my place is here.” Avreel said quietly as she heard her charge returning via the stairwell. “Did you bring the water?”
“Of course my lady.” He replied quickly, handing a fresh skin of water to her. He flinched when she tore it from his grasp.
“It took you long enough.” Avreel pitched the water skin at the naarabi woman who caught it and took a long pull then passed it to the kurenai in the cell next to her.
“Did you gain anything from her?” He asked after turning his gaze toward Rose.
“Nothing.” Avreel said after a moment of pondering. Standing at the mouth of the cell she left to head up the stairs. When he moved to follow she indicated the doorway and motioned with her head. “Stay and guard them until I get two units to replace you.”
“At your command my lady.” He bowed his head and leaned against the wall.
Rose looked over to the kurenai not far from her. Among them were Roath, Ruckus and a smattering of others that she recognized. When she didn’t see Roath’s son she looked into his eyes and spoke to him as best she could in his native language. “I’m sorry, all of you. I didn’t mean to drag you into this.”
“You didn’t know we would hit a patrol Rose so it’s not your fault; remember that we volunteered to help you. I’m sorry we couldn’t get you to the surface and to your friends.” Roath replied to her. “My son died fighting for a good cause, everyone did. We have no regrets.”
Rose was watching the large elf named Yarus out of the corner of her eye. She noticed that instead of berating her and ordering her to silence he was tilting his head to the side only slightly trying to pick up what she was saying. She frowned and turned to him, leaning against the bars behind her. “I know you understand us.”
“Observant girl.” He said in reply with a wolfish smile, drawing looks of surprise from the gathered kurenai in the cell. “Commoners often learn many languages to survive.”
“Fascinating.” Rose said with her voice dripping with a familiar venom called sarcasm.
Rose smiled at him and reverted to speaking common, Ruckus could understand that at least. She just hoped they could find a way to get out. After speaking to them she sat back in her cell trying to find her focus and meditate. Something was keeping her from drawing and storing magical energy. Frustrated she shook her head and eyed her guard from afar. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of her the entire time he had been down there. She gave up and continued in the kurenai tongue. “I don’t know if we can get out of this.”
“Have heart.” Roath said in reply to her, smiling from in between the bars.
He had sat down at some point during her failed meditations. She noted that even though they were captives in one of the worst situations possible he looked to be at peace. She did not know what kept him calm but at this moment she wished she had it.
Rose may have been able to drain the magic from her shackles but she didn’t want to do that without a plan. Rose dropped her chin down into her palm and closed her eyes until she heard a procession of people coming down the stairs toward them. Watching the entrance she winced when two guards walked in followed by a pair of elves decked out in fine clothing followed by another two soldiers bringing up the rear. The guards waited by the cells near the wall while the nobles strode directly up to her cage and looked at her curiously. Rose in turn studied the both of them and from the way they carried themselves she knew that she would not see any mercy.
“Yarus where are the two guards we had posted here?” Soriche asked imperiously while eyeing him. “Why are you here?”
“Mistress Avreel posted me here. They’re in the holding cell my lady.” Yarus replied while standing at attention and then snapping into a low bow. “They attempted to damage your prize my mistress.”
“So my youngest daughter isn’t worthless after all. Have the two prepared to be sacrificed to Shoon.” She said with a nod to two of the guards that had come in with her. “So this is it eh, the terrible naarabi witch? She honestly doesn’t seem like much does she? Yarus does it understand us?”
“No my lady, she apparently doesn’t know any refined languages. She knows the language of the stones and one other I do not recognize.” Yarus replied to her. “Shall I take my leave Lady Soriche?”
“No Yarus, she was right to post you here. A spellstealer guarding the prisoner is a better idea than the usual oafs. I would like you to choose the best of your number to guard her. She is valuable, for now.” She said with a snake-like smile on her face. “It is pretty don’t you think?”
“Quite.” Il’bariis replied as he ran his eyes across her body.
The infernis elf known as Lady Soriche ran a sculpted nail across her chin as she spoke. “Has Avreel begun studying the prisoner?”
Yarus inclined his head slightly and indicated Rose with a hand. “She took a sample of blood not long ago, I expect her to be back any time now.”
“Good then. I’m glad to see her working diligently at something other than her pursuit of physical pleasure.” She replied to him and returned her focus to Rose. “Her blood will be very valuable; I just hope that we can extract enough of it without killing her.”
Rose had to fight hard to keep her gaze impassive as she looked from her jailer to the matron of the house and back. Outwardly she was attempting to look confused but inwardly she was shaking like a loose branch in a heavy wind. Something about this woman made her nervous; the nonchalant way she dismissed and condemned the two guards that had apparently attempted to have their way with her gave her plenty of reason to feel ill at ease.
The entourage moved away from her and back up the stairs. She turned her gaze to the ground and fought the tears she knew were coming. They were going to bleed her slowly and eventually take her life. A part of her wished she had never learned the elven language. A few stray tears broke her troubled visage and she looked over to find Ruckus observing at her curiously. He didn’t know what they were saying and she didn’t want to tell him.
“Do you understand what they were saying?” He asked her in a quiet voice as if Yarus couldn’t hear them.
Rose shook her head and sighed. “No but whatever it was I know it wasn’t good.”
“She said that they’re going to bleed her dry and throw her body to the guards.” Yarus called out in their native language, grinning ear to ear as the riled up kurenai stood up and strained at the bars as if they could get to the dangerous elf. “Aw are your little stone shaping powers not working? Well you can stop trying, it will never work. We made sure of that. You’re all trapped here until you’re killed or you expire and to tell you the honest truth no one has ever expired in this dungeon. Nor has anyone ever escaped.”
“If you lay a finger on her I’ll kill you.” Ruckus promised the smug elf while gripping the bars so tight his hands went white. “I will pluck your eyes from their sockets.”
“What is this little fur-covered slut to you anyway? She’s not even of your race.” Yarus moved down near the captive kurenai and leaned against the cell across from them. “Do tell. This should be interesting.”
“I’ll tell you nothing!” Ruckus replied after hitting the nearest bar with his fist.
“Go ahead and tell him Ruckus.” Rose looked over at him and smiled at the captive kurenai. “It might help me forget this mess by remembering another.”
“If you wish it my lady then I shall comply. I was a captive of the demons inhabiting Abyssmar Cavern and I had been since I was a child. I shaped and built the caverns with my abilities and tended to their slumbering prisoners. Rose was brought in unconscious and placed under my care so the master could extract something from her mind; she woke up during the process and freed me. We fled together and I vowed to protect her with my life.” Ruckus shrugged at Yarus. “A fine job I’ve done so far.”
None of them knew that a few stairs up Avreel was pressed against the wall and listening to the story. Leaning against the barrier she took in the story word for word and wondered idly what this lone naarabi woman could possess that the demons of Abyssmar would want.
Part II: The Reckoning
Chapter 10: The City of Blood
Wind blew past her pointed ears hot and dry and grains of sand flew into her face. She brushed the offending sand off and tried to rub her eyes and cause them to tear up enough to clear them. In her nostrils she could smell the tang of the sand and heat all around her. Once her vision was clear she looked around at the unfamiliar territory and realized that everything was sand and sun. Her throat was dry as if she hadn’t had a drink in days. Avreel put one foot in front of the other in a few steps until a clattering sound drew her eyes back down. The sand under her feet cleared away in a gust of wind to reveal bleached, wind-swept bones. She had the urge to turn around and when she did a ruined city loomed over her like a massive black cloud in a clear sky.
“What happened here?” Her voice was muted under the wind but she understood her own words regardless of the fact that they were muddled almost beyond the point of recognition. In the periphery of her vision she caught movement and turned her head toward it in time to see a robed figure walk around the corner of a building. “Wait!”
Avreel gave chase and turned the corner to find the tall man in flowing garments staring right at her. He looked like a human with a bald head and a disheveled goatee. His eyes were pure white and his dark blue robes swayed and moved with the wind. “This is the price of hesitancy; you will pluck the flower from the soil soaked in blood. She is your charge now.”
Instantly she knew who it was standing before her; it was the Darkwatcher, the hooded lord. Her god was manifesting himself to her directly, giving her a decree in person. She fell to her knees and felt tears streaming down her cheeks as a feeling of warmth washed over her body. “I will do as you command my lord.”
He disappeared leaving her kneeling feeling naked and alone in the sand and wind. Everything around her was in ruins save for a large structure in the distance; it looked to be some sort of palace built in the shape of a pyramid. Fearing she had been left in the barren place to fend for herself she cried out for salvation.
Avreel sat up in an instant with sweat beading on her brow and her chest heaving. The wetness on her face was not all perspiration. The tears in her dream had been real and so had his declaration. Her goal was clear without a doubt and she would die trying to please the god who had pulled her out of the downward spiral of darkness that was her heritage.
Standing on wobbling legs she could feel the presence of her deity draining from her slowly leaving a hollow feeling within her chest. Sighing Avreel knelt down on the mat near her bed unclothed and attempted to set herself right. It took a while for her to stop shaking but it did happen and she stood up and let her mind flow across what she must do and what she knew about her prisoner and even her house.
She thought about the kurenai known as Ruckus and his tale. After listening to the story about Rose defeating demons Avreel had begun formulating a plan. Long ago she had attempted to flee the city unsuccessfully because she had been betrayed by the one person she had trusted, her own brother. With a sigh Avreel looked out of the window of her room and into the city. The vast cavern around them was illuminated by an artificial light for a good part of their days and it renewed itself after dimming down to almost nothing. She knew that the enchanted quartz gem hanging from the largest stalactite in the enormous open space was magical in nature but she did not know what it was supposed to represent and she doubted anyone in the city remembered either.
Every home and family compound was carved from the natural formations in the cave around them or created from rock pulled out of a nearby quarry. There was no doubt that the carved façade of the city was beautiful. Every building down to the lowliest hovel was a work of art in her eyes but deep beneath that seethed a darkness that seemed to penetrate the souls of a good portion of her kin. It had been a long time since she had decided that she’d had enough of that black streak on their heritage.
The problem wasn’t resolving herself to leave the city it was leaving the city itself. She had heard from many people that those who were born of the city were forever a part of it, as if they were organs in some great beast’s belly. Avreel put her hand on the glass of the window and looked down at the stones beneath her feet. She would find a way to leave and she was quite sure that Rose was her ticket out. A knock at her door caused her to snap herself back to reality. “Enter.”
When Yarus walked into the room and closed the door behind him she crossed her arms over her chest and eyed him. “What do you want?”
His grin was less than wholesome. “I was on my way back from the dungeon and merely came to make sure you were comfortable this night my lady.”
“I thought you were reassigned hours ago?” She asked incredulously.
“No, your mother has decreed that your decision was a good idea and requested that I place spe
llstealers down in the dungeon to replace the normal guard while your prisoner is still alive. Your mother is going to bleed her apparently.” He shrugged and approached her with his eyes hungry. Putting a hand on her cheek he moved closer to her and attempted to kiss her.
Standing there before him with no protection on reminded him that she was a woman on top of being a noble. The kiss rewarded him with a slap across the face. “I did not give you permission to touch me!”
She challenged him while trying to show no fear by glaring at him openly. He was more powerful than her that much was true but she was a noblewoman so her status ensured that he would listen to every word she said. “Out of my chambers this instant.”
“You wound me lady.” He placed a hand over his cheek in mock pain and then laughed at her as he headed toward the door. “You’ll come back to me eventually, they all do.”
Avreel had known her mistake not long after she had stumbled into it, their first encounter had been good to say the least but increasingly he was becoming more and more familiar with her. His daring attitude was going to be a problem. She didn’t like problems. The bigger problem was Rose; if her mother killed the naarabian sorceress she’d have no chance at escaping the city unmolested. “I need to buy some time.”
A plan began forming itself in her mind and she grinned wickedly. If there was one thing she had learned from her mother it was that correctly placed pawns could win a game regardless of your opponent’s pieces on the board. She’d have to visit Yarus this night.
~~~~
Avreel had to force herself not to smile as she ran through the halls of her family’s palatial home holding the front of her torn shirt. She could feel that she had a bruise on her neck and cheek because it was sore to the touch. As she walked toward her mother’s chambers she ran her fingers through her unbound hair and messed her clothing up a little before pounding on the door. She heard her mother cursing from behind the stone door until it swung open. Avreel stood for a moment and then burst into tears and made a show by falling to her knees before her mother in a complete breakdown.
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