Three purple hooded figures emerged from atop the stairs, the light washing above them from the pit of darkness below. Hundreds of lit candles lined the stone walls and pillars, casting their shadows long behind them. One in the front while the other two trailed behind him, their pace impatient. Aloth could scarcely make out scowls beneath the blackness of their hoods; he surmised they were just exposed to bad news.
"Master, the fall of Caed Nua is all the proof they need –," one acolyte muttered, his voice shaking in between breathes.
Aloth felt a line of white hot electricity shoot up from his toes, through his lengthy spine, and pool up to the top of his head. Did he hear correctly? In an instant, his mind's eye illuminated with memories of the Watcher. Iselmyr desperately clung to his consciousness, begging him not to give away their hiding spot.
"Fye, pay attentin ya twat! Yer gonna miss what tey say!"
Wide blue eyes shone with panic, never wavering from the trio whose boot steps echoed within the chamber. Like a knocked arrow trailing a hunter's prey, Aloth waited patiently for them to halt in front of an Eothas statue at the end of the hall. Hundreds of tiny lit candles scattered at the base of the statue's feet, the shadows perfectly shaped the jawline and high cheek bones, casting an illusion of consciousness within.
"My fears begin with the people. I … I don't think they are ready for the truth. When they discover that the Gods … that Eothas is not a God, but a creation of mankind …" The leader bowed his head, the words coming out as soft, low grumbles. The man turned to face his disciples, who look up at him with a matching grimace. "Humans will turn into thoughtless beasts without the God's influence, as Thaos had predicted."
The leader's broad back turned to Aloth, whose heart was hammering against his ribcage. Aloth had not planned on revealing his scouting position, but his hand itched towards his wand that was belted to his back. To think that he would hear of Caed Nua's fall from listening in on the Leaden Key. It had been five years since he had been any contact with any of his old friends, only because of his own selfish wish to be left alone. The Watcher must've desperately needed his help during his time away. Aloth felt the familiar feeling of shame begin to wash over his body. He would do anything for the idiots below him to drive their attention back. What of the Watcher, of his dear friend?
Before Iselmyr had a chance to egg Aloth on, three knuckled knocks echoed from the other end of the chapel hall. All four heads snapped to the sudden intrusion, eyes wide with shock.
"Excuse me." A friendly, familiar voice called out.
"Who goes there! Show yourself immediately!" One of the acolytes cautiously spoke.
The Watcher had stepped out from behind the furthest pillar in the back, hesitant and unusually guarded. Aloth bit down on his lower lip to stop his gasp of absolute horror. They were deep underground in a Leaden Key hideout, what in hell is she doing here alone?
'Well, looki ther! Ya worrin 'bout nuthin, ya stiff rod.' Iselmyr elbowed him from the back of their consciousnesses. 'She'ssa alive an' well, she is!'
Aloth drunk in her appearance immediately, looking over her from head to toe. She was as beautiful as ever. He was surprised to see she was still wearing that old grey cowl.
'It protects me from wandering eyes and hides my daggers,' he remembered her saying with a small smile.
His eyes pulled him to the white wrapped backpack-looking thing that webbed around her slim figure. It was most definitely a burden she was carrying; it looked very heavy as it pulls her weight slightly back. Knowing his old friend, it's probably nothing good. It never is.
"What are those idiot guards doing …" The leader muttered beneath his breath. "How the hell did you get it here, girl?"
Aloth watched with growing concern as the Watcher subtly bounced from foot to foot, a habit he had learned of her from their travels. 'She's not feeling confident,' Aloth begrudgingly understands.
The Watcher gathered her courage with a deep sigh. "I need information about where Eothas had ran off to."
'Eothas?' Aloth's gaze hardens.
"W-what are you going on about?" The old man sputtered.
"I know without a doubt that the Leaden Key are working with the God, Eothas. He destroyed my home and killed almost everyone in Caed Nua." With each word she began to find more of her voice, "I need to know where he is."
'Still as honest as ever,' Aloth thinks to Iselmyr.
A few beats of silence limped by before the leader of the trio spoke up again. "You … You are the Watcher of Caed Nua, aren't you? The one who murdered Lord Thaos."
The Watcher answered with silence, her bouncing had stilled. She glared at them, unwilling to blink.
The acolytes hesitantly took a step back, mortified of the position they were trapped in. However, without hesitation, the leader straightened his back and bravely charged at the small elven woman. Pushing his apprentices aside, he unsheathed his sword. "For Lord Thaos!" He screamed.
"Watcher!" Aloth lips whispered out. His body involuntarily sprang into action, hastily opening his grimoire to his fire spells.
The elven woman briefly grimaced; she had never been good at resolutions between people. She had hoped they could exchange information that would benefit each other, but clearly, she had said something wrong. In one long stride the Watcher unhooked her twin daggers from beneath her cowl, ducked under the heavy swing of his sword, and thrusted her blade upwards. Blood spurted from his gasp and flecks splattered the Watcher's porcelain face. With a grunt, she shoved his limp body off her shoulder. He landed with a dull, echoed thump.
A gargled moan echoed off the chapel's walls. Red, sticky blood was beginning to pool around his body.
"Master!" The acolytes screamed for their leader.
The body twitched. "You … are part of the Leaden Key … Do not be scared to die for your belief. Do not forget your alliance – your vows!" The Watcher whipped her head to the Leaden Key follower at her feet. With one last ditch effort, the leader gripped his hands tightly around the handle of his sword and shoved it upwards, aiming true to the Watcher's backside.
"Shit!" The Watcher spun on her heel, her dexterity saving her once again. However, the huge mass that rode on her back weighed down on her. She wasn't fast enough. Just barely the tip of the sword's edge grazed her ribs. She wanted to scream, but instead dove on the man's chest and stabbing him in his throat, finally finishing him off.
"For the Leaden Key!" Renewed with grief and blind faith, the acolytes pull out axes and tomes.
The Watcher continued to bleed from her side, but instead of putting pressure on her cut, she felt around in the mass of white blankets on her back. Satisfied poking at it for a second, she turned her attention back to her attackers. However, before she had time to raise her daggers, they both erupted in pure red fire. Her hand went to shield her face from the heat.
"Are you alright, my dear?"
The Watcher lowered her hand and was greeted with Aloth standing but a few inches away from her. She gaped up at him, unable to think of any words in her surprise.
Slowly, held her hands out towards him, up to his face, and held them between her fingers. He is real. "My old friend," she finally said, smiling softly, her eyes shimmering and warm.
Aloth's right hand gripped her wrist firmly and lowered it. "You are bleeding. Please, let us treat your wound before our happy reunion." His heart squirmed from beneath his flesh as her smile continued to grow as she look up at him. To see one of her rare smiles be given to him, even under this awful circumstance, made it hard to keep a serious face. He smiled back.
From the bottom of his satchel he dug out a glass red vial. He handed it to her and she gratefully accepted it, downing the thick liquid in a few gulps. The wound at her side began to fizzle and thin into but a mere scar.
"Here, let me wipe off that grunt's blood off your face. It isn't a good look for you." Hastily, he shredded a piece of his own shirt and began to wipe the Watcher's cheeks. He held her chin in his left while the right gently brushed against her lightly freckled face.
"Thank you, Aloth. I'm relieved to see you." The Watcher's face looks down, suddenly feeling a little bit too shy, unable to get herself to make eye contact. Being honest and truthful were codes that the Watcher lived by, but when it came to her personal feelings it was a bit hard to grind the words out.
Aloth laughed at the woman before him, overwhelmed nostalgia. She really hadn't changed at all. "Yes, I am relieved to see you as well." He lowered his hands reluctantly and positioned them behind his back. "I had tracked the Leaden Key to this outpost. It took a long time to find these bastards – I am beyond surprised to find you here." His eyes shot towards her, eager to hear her explanation.
"Yes." The Watcher's smile slowly fell as memories of the massacre filled her vision. "Do you remember the giant marble statue from beneath Caed Nua?"
"Of course. We went all the way to the bottom of that horrid place and freed a dragon. How could that ever slip my mind?"
The Watcher ignored his sarcasm and continued on, "that statue was actually Eothas, sleeping. A few weeks ago, it awoke and came to life. It climbed its way out of the ground and destroyed everything, killed everyone. I figured the only people who could understand what was going on was the Leaden Key."
Aloth's gaze fell to the burnt and bloodied bodies that decorated the floor. "Terribly sorry. I believe I had killed any leads you might have had."
"Fye! Nev'r tink twice fer savin' ya lass, tey was 'bout ta skin 'er alive, tey was." Iselmyr broke through, waving her hands out at them in emphasis.
"Iselmyr," the Watcher merely blink at the drastic personality change. "Why, it's good to see you as well. I hope you and Aloth are still on good terms?"
"Aye, but don' let ta lad fool, ya. He'ssa commandin' as ever, he is."
With a heavy jolt backwards, the Watcher stumbled to the side. Aloth's hand reached for hers without thinking, pulling her back upright. Suddenly, the white blankets wrapped around the Watcher's back began to shift and moan. A small hurry foot popped out from the lower side of the backpack and from the top, an equally furry claw round its way around the Watcher's eyes. Aloth's eyebrows shot to the ceiling, confusion evident across his face.
The Watcher ignored him, merely pulling the small hand off her eyes. "You awake kiddo?"
"Yeah," a child voice mumbled from behind her, filled with the dreariness of sleep.
From within the white sack out popped a small head of an Orlan child. The Orlan's ears were long and pointed while the face was small and round. She had beautiful shimmering, brown fur with black spots dotting her chubby features. When she yawned, Aloth could make out several sharp fangs that certainly looked they belonged to a dire wolf. Her eyes were unfocused, but they soon pinned him down immediately, the green iris slits that belonged to a mountain lion.
"You … you are the Orlan baby," Aloth's confused gaze shifted to the Watcher's who was already studying him with humble amusement. "You were acting weird earlier; uncertain and hesitant. It was because of her," he stated.
"Yes," she replied honestly. "It is just her and I traveling in the Dyrwood. I did not trust anyone to take care of her as I do."
"So, you bring her into the Leaden Key while you massacre some of their followers?"
"I cannot leave her to someone else. I believe she is safer with me in here than with some stranger," the Watcher stood firmly on this. Her hand wound its way to the Orlan's face, scratching her cheek in reassurance. The Orlan leaned into her hand.
Aloth's hand found its way smacked across his face, shaking his head in disbelief. This woman. "I will show you where I am staying for the night. We can all catch up properly there. I shall help you track the Leaden Key, this is only one of their strongholds."