The Scout

Ch. 1: A Catch

Sunlight sparkled and danced on the creek's bed as it cascaded through the water. Small fish glided along, feeding at their leisure in the pleasant water. One spotted minnow approached the edge of the creek as it fed on fresh algae. It was content to feed on the creek's bed, until a ripple pulled its attention to the surface. A mosquito buzzed right above the surface. The minnow abandoned the algae as it floated toward the tasty morsel. With its slow ascent, its prey was unaware of the minnow drawing nearer. Now directly beneath it, the minnow prepared to strike. The moment before it thrust toward its food, a dark shape crashed into the water next to it. The minnow darted away, but not fast enough before a jaw of fangs snapped onto its tail.

The prey struggled as it thrashed, but its predator tightened its jaws and swam back to the shore. Once on dry land, the mink shook out its dark fur before pulling its lunch farther away from the water. Once it was far enough, it released its flapping meal as it stood on its hind-legs and peered around the forest for rival predators. Its head bowed and snapped from side to side as it remain alert. Something caught its attention to its right, but no matter how hard it stared in that direction, nothing revealed itself. Content it was free from competition, the black mink began eating in earnest.

Cute, little thing, Era'fel thought to herself as she admired the mink's coat. She thought she'd been seen when it turned its adorable face toward hers, but she had avoided discovery. Keeping very still and hidden within a bush, Era held her bow at the ready as she kept watch for game or worse. I wonder if it would make a good pet. I probably shouldn't though. Basil is still a handful. Maybe after that. Her violet-blue eyes glanced back toward where the clan's camp was. Tied to her aravel was her grey-furred wolf. Captured two months ago, Era'fel was making slow progress to turning him into her hunting partner.

Maybe I should turn him into a nice pair of gloves, she wondered as she turned her attention back to the mink. The furry rodent was finishing its meal, unaware of the arrow nocked in Era's bow. She debated a moment longer before she raised her bow. As she closed one eye to see better down the arrow's shaft, movement farther on grabbed both hers and the mink's attention. In the distance, a blond elf had broken from his cover as he ran through the forest. The mink immediately shot away to safety. Era'fel sighed before she abandoned her own hiding spot, careful not to get her obsidian hair stuck in a branch. "What's Tamlen so excited about?"

Her elven hunting partner had his bow ready to fire as he sprinted, so whatever it was, it presented a danger. Era took frequent pauses to scan the forest around her. Is it a wolf pack? A bear? Bandits? Tamlen dropped down into a draw ahead of her. She continued her cautious pace when she finally heard what Tamlen had noticed. In the draw with him, other voices shouted in surprise before she heard Tamlen's own accusing tone. He's found shemlen.

She readied her own bow before hopping down into the gully with him. Tamlen had found three humans, armed with a couple of rusting swords and one shield. Tamlen glimpsed at her through his bow, his blue eyes hard. "You're just in time. I found these humans," he sneered, "lurking in the bushes. Bandits, no doubt."

The shemlen sputtered out denials and pleas of innocence. All they earned was more of Tamlen's ire. "You shemlen are pathetic. It's hard to believe you ever drove us out of our home."

Will he ever treat them with anything less than disdain? Era'fel understood what had happened in the past between her people and the shemlen, the defeat, the degradation. But the shemlen in front of her looked so afraid and nervous. One man in the back of the group couldn't stop shivering. Thankfully, after one more round of insults, Tamlen asked, "What do you say, lethallin, what should we do with them?"

"Give them a warning. Killing them will only bring more trouble," Era immediately replied, happy to have a chance to reign in her clansman.

Tamlen threw a frown at her. "Letting them go might only bring more of them. You are too soft."

"L-look, we didn't come here to start any trouble," one shem explained eagerly. "We just found a cave."

A second shem with attractive red hair immediately added, "Yes, a cave, with ruins I've never seen. We thought there might be…"

"Treasure," Tamlen finished. "So, you're more akin to thieves than bandits.

Era's interest piqued. "If you've been there, you should have treasure to prove it."

The shem's spokesman fumbled with a bag on his belt. "I-I have proof! Here! We found this just inside the entrance." He offered a small, black stone.

Tamlen reluctantly lowered his weapon as he accepted the gift. "This stone has carvings," he said with awe. "Is this elvish? Written elvish?"

"There's more in the ruins!" The shem announced. "We didn't get very far in though."

"Why not?" Era'fel asked.

The shem's eyes doubled in size. "There was a demon! It was huge with black eyes! Thank the Maker we were able to outrun it."

Tamlen scoffed. "A demon. Where is this cave?"

"Just off to the west, I think," the shemlen jabbered. "There's a cave in the rock face, and a huge hole just inside."

Tamlen pocketed the rock and stared at the shemlens before turning to Era'fel. "Well, do you trust them? Should we let them go?"

Era'fel released the tension in her bow, relieved that bloodshed was avoided and her arm could rest. "You've frightened them enough. They won't bother us."

With a grunt, Tamlen lowered his bow. "Run along shems. And don't come back until we Dalish have moved on." With sputtering thanks, the shemlens scurried away. Once they were out of sight, the blond elf relaxed, his sneer morphing into a small smile as he regarded Era. "Well, shall we see if there is any truth to their story? These carvings make me curious."

As her companion returned to his usual self, she also relaxed. His haughtiness was off-putting despite their long friendship. Whenever his face grew hard, his vallaslin, the blood writing, on his face grew sinister. Two vines ebbed along his jawline, while a painted tree stood tall on his forehead, while branches curved outward. In his anger, the tattoo loomed and threatened. In good humor, the vallaslin was as welcoming as a beautiful tree. Era studied the spot where Tamlen had stored the stone. It felt like a fortuitous omen of a fun adventure. Unfortunately, her responsible side warned against that action. "Shouldn't we inform the Keeper?"

"She might be interested in these carvings," Tamlen agreed, "But let's see if there's anything more before we get excited. Besides, we're already here." He began walking deeper into the forest. "Now, they said it was to the west."

Her responsible side protested, but she buried it beneath happy curiosity as she followed Tamlen. She placed her arrow back in the quiver, but kept her bow at the ready. While Tamlen's vallaslin was a symbol of Elgar'nan, elven God of vengeance, her vallaslin, four vines holding a flower bud on her forehead, represented Andruil, Goddess of the hunt. The flower represented the hare's favorite food, an animal sacred to Andruil, and in the Sabrae clan, it was believed Anduril was the most beautiful of the goddesses. There was nothing more than Era'fel wanted to do than epitomize beauty.

While the forest was familiar to them, it wasn't accommodating to quick travel. Large holes, fallen trees, and slippery vines slowed them down as they made their way to the cave. To a stranger, the route was treacherous, but Era'fel had been a scout for the clan and spent much time navigating forests. To her, the obstructions were a mild annoyance. She divided her attention between watching out for danger, and keeping an eye out for berries and useful herbs for the Keeper.

A soft tearing noise caught their attention. The two hunters paused, nocked arrows, and advanced toward the noise. They carefully climbed onto a fallen tree's trunk. Below them, at the bottom of a hill, two wolves ripped the flesh off a dead halla. Blood stained the halla's white fur as the wolves feasted on the deer-like creature. Tamlen looked at her. She wore a mask of sullen anger. The halla was sacred to the elvhen, and Era had spent time taking care of their clan's halla in her journey to master animals. Without a word, she pulled back the arrow and released. The arrow lodged itself in the wolf's head. It died without a yelp. The second wolf snarled as it backed away only for Tamlen's arrow to end it.

The predators dead, the elvhen climbed down the hill and stopped at the halla's corpse. Era knelt down next to it, murmuring a prayer to Ghilan'nain, Goddess of halla. "It doesn't look like one of ours," Tamlen offered, a hand on her shoulder.

"No," Era agreed as she petted the halla's long nose. "Must have been lost its way back to its own clan." She patted it one more time before standing. I don't like feeling this bad. Unable to do more for the slain animal, they returned to their exploration.

"Look here," Tamlen said as he knelt down. He waved his hands over a layer of dirt. A set of vague indentations led down a draw into a path with high ground on either side. "This way." The path angled lower as the earthen walls lining it rose higher. Patches of elfroot were scattered along the way, but their helpful presence did little to weaken the unwelcoming atmosphere. After another turn in the path, they caught sight of the cave. Old, stone arches stood in a row up to the cave's entrance. The arches towered over them, standing higher than the earthen walls to their sides. Black vines twisted around the pillar's bases. Covered in thorns, the vines reached onto the path like fingers grasping for whatever they could grab.

"This must be the cave," Tamlen declared. "I don't recall seeing this before, do you?"

Era'fel shook her head, her curiosity still rising in defiance of the foreboding entrance. "No, I don't. Let's check it out!"

Tamlen grinned. "My thoughts exactly. With luck, we'll find something that will make us clan heroes!"

Era shared his grin even as she nocked another arrow. "After you."

"No, by all means, beauty before genius," Tamlen replied as he gave her a mock bow.

A familiar stab of anxiety struck her, but she brushed it off before her partner-in-crime could notice. "Oh, Tamlen, I'm so proud that you've come to grips with your limits. Don't worry, I'll have your back."

"Ouch, no mercy," Tamlen chuckled before he nodded. "Alright, alright, I'll go first, just so we're not out here arguing all day." As he marched down into the entrance, Era held back as her hand dropped to her midriff. Does he really think I'm beautiful or is he just saying that to make me feel good? He didn't say why he thought I was beautiful. She checked her braids, hoping they were still in place. A quick check revealed they were as they should be. Even that wasn't enough to assure herself, but Tamlen was getting too far ahead.

Inside of the cave's mouth, it doubled in size before narrowing to another entrance. Tree roots were exposed in this first part of the cave. There was no fear of them coming loose, but another ominous sign hung from the ceiling. Tamlen eyed the giant web cocoon above them. "A giant demon with black eyes? I think the shems found giant spiders."

"They shouldn't be too much trouble for us," Era answered. "Just aim for the eyes. With eight targets, even you can kill one."

"Ha! Just watch me. I'll kill eight before you kill one," he boasted. The floor past the coccoon morphed from natural rock to cut stone. Cracks expanded from breaks in the floor, but much of what remained was smooth. The floor gave way to a mound of dirt dropping down another level. "Looks like a cave-in happened here."

"How old do you think this place is?" she asked as they clambered down the dirt mound.

"It has to be ancient. I know of no Dalish who's even heard of this place," Tamlen paused as he reached the lower level. A chamber awaited them, made out of stone with pillars fighting against the ground above. Spirals and curved lines were carved into the pillars, staring in all directions. More tree trunks had broken through the walls and proved their strength against the ancient construction. Another cave-in in the room's center allowed daylight to shine from above.

Tamlen ran a hand down the ancient stone. "It's so smooth. What kind of rock is this?"

Before Era could guess, loud chittering mushroomed from above as two giant spiders dropped from the ceiling. "I got the one on the left!" She shouted as she pulled on her bowstring. The giant spider reared backs its front legs as it hissed at her. Her arrow struck one of its center eyes, and it squealed before collapsing. The other spider rushed forward at Tamlen, but his own arrow stole its momentum and its life.

"So easy, to think they scared off three shemlen without even wounding them," Tamlen grinned at Era. "Maybe that's all we have to do to gain back our lands. Unleash hordes of giant spiders on the shems."

Era ignored him as she took a look around the room. A large wooden door stood in front of them, promising more ruins to explore. Off to the left, a passageway trailed away, but was cut by another cave-in, caused by enormous tree roots stabbing through. Before that, she saw something have buried between stone squares and the raw dirt beneath. "There's a chest over there."

"Is there?" Tamlen replied as he skipped over roots to the spot. "Clan heroes, here we come!" He kneeled next to it and pulled at its latch. He grunted as the sturdy metal resisted him. "Bah, it's locked." He looked up to her with a smile. "It's all yours."

"With pleasure," she grinned as she took his spot. The lock guarding the chest was very simple. She reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a long, thin piece of metal. A year ago, she had caught another shem out in the wild, alone, busy fiddling with an old chest. She had watched him, trying to figure out what he was doing when her curiosity overwhelmed her. The moment she greeted him, the shem had leaped three feet into the air and ran away, leaving the metal and the chest.

That chest had denied her its secrets, but this lock was much simpler. With careful application of force, it yielded. Inside were a jewel, leather boots, an old poultice, and a small stone with strange writing covering it. She nabbed the garnet before picking up the stone. "What's this?"

Tamlen was seated as he tugged one of the boots on. He stopped to study the item. "I've seen one of those before. I think the dwarves make them. They're called runes. I think they make your weapons magical somehow if you put them on."

"Really?" Era flipped the rune around her fingers as she looked for some kind of magical thing to make it work. She looked at the bow, shrugged, and pushed the rune against wood.

Nothing happened. Tamlen stifled a chuckle before suggesting, "I think we need to take it to a dwarf first."

Era glared at the rune before pocketing. "Maybe we'll come across a random tradesman before winter sets in." A sharp wind bled in from the surface, eliciting a shudder for her. Her armor had been her mother's and it always provided a feeling of being connected to her. But it had issues. Although well-made, the hardened leather only covered half of her, leaving her midriff exposed to the elements. The leather skirt, the tight upper half covering her chest, back, and shoulders allowed great mobility, but it made it twice as hard to sneak through the forest. However, she found that an enjoyable challenge. The cold weather was not as enjoyable. "Come on, let's explore the rest of this place.