The rain was a monotonous drip on Kashya's shoulders as she left the warmth of the barracks and climbed the stairs to the battlements. The stairs were slick and very slippery, but she managed to hold her footing with well-practised ease. Several of the rogues saluted her as she walked across the stone paving, nodding to them slightly she made her way to Captain Bloodraven, who was sure to give her an accurate report before she retired for the night.
"All is well?" She asked, her fiery red hair coming lose from its headband and sticking to her forehead.
"Quiet as a tomb," Bloodraven answered. "We'll see less of danger as time goes by with Diablo being slain in Tristram."
"Don't chide yourself for not being there," Kashya reminded her. "At least he is gone and we can get on with our lives."
"But what if-"
Bloodraven's remark was interrupted by the rogues suddenly standing at attention and drawing into an attack-ready position. Kashya immediately caught on and walked forward so she could peer down to the grassy lands below.
In the shadows, though almost completely visible, stood a tall dark figure in a long black cloak with a deep hood. Kashya couldn't see his face, though a bright flash of lightning illuminated the landscape, bringing the stranger's feature into focus. Or what could be seen. She saw the face of a man who had seen much hardship and trials, on his brow was a large red mark as if he had a wound there that had not completely healed.
The flash of light also lit up the metal of the sword he carried. Yet he seemed to hold it with little or no strength. Instead of a readied position, it dragged behind him in the clumsiest way.
There was something about him that neither Kashya, nor Bloodraven for that matter, could completely fathom. But whatever it was, it was not desirable.
"Halt, and state your business!" Kashya ordered, and the figure paused.
A dry, rough voice that chilled Kashya to the bone responded: "I am travelling east and seek shelter for the night," then the figure turned and walked towards the gates.
"Should we admit him?" Bloodraven asked in a lower tone. "We violate hospitality if we do not. He comes at our mercy, and it is heartless to turn him out on a night such as this."
"Let him in the gate, but let him go no further," Kashya answered. "I'll talk to Akara about this. There's something about him that don't like."
Bloodraven nodded and gave orders to Sheyla to stay watch and she followed Kashya down the stairs. Neither of them spoke of the matter, its gravity was obvious. It was a welcome relief to enter the shelter of the barracks. Kashya when on to the Inner Cloister, Bloodraven went in the opposite direction to the gates.
She heard him knocking at the door as she approached it and several rogues looked at her as if for a command.
"There's someone there," Xentha said.
"I know," Bloodraven answered. "Kashya's looking into it; she says to let him in but let him go no further than the gates."
The large, heavy, metal, double doors opened slowly but without a sound. In a few moments their eyes adjusted to the light and they saw the stranger, his face turned away for a brief moment. The sword clanged noisily along the paving stones, catching with one and then another as he dragged it along the ground. Then he faced them and all the torches in the corridor burned as bright as they could, filling the room with brilliant orange light. Just as suddenly the flames subsided and returned to what they once were.
"The Order of the Sightless Eye welcomes you traveller," Bloodraven said after a small silence. "If you could wait here, Commander Kashya is confirming your arrival with the head of the order."
He did not respond but looked carefully at Bloodraven, which made her uneasy. She felt compelled to look in the other direction, to see if Kashya was coming with orders that he could stay but something held her gaze. She would rather he be turned away, even on such a night, there was something about him, and something about the wound on his forehead.
"Where are you from?" She asked trying to be sociable. "Have you come a long way, traveller?"
"I've come from the south," he answered, in the same dry rough voice. "From Tristram."
"Tristram?" Bloodraven couldn't resist going further. "I have heard news of the death of Diablo, have you seen at all that hero who did what I tried to do?"
He started to respond but at the mention of the Lord of Terror's name his face changed and twisted and distorted in agony. A flash of green passed over it with an unforgettable sound. All of them gaped; there was something more about this person than any of them had realised.
"There's something about him I don't like," Kashya confessed to Akara. "Yet it wouldn't be desirable to turn him out on such a night."
In the antechamber in the cathedral, Akara sat before a table with a red cloth cover, studying an ancient text that she had dismissed for the moment when Kashya walked in. Kashya's words hung in the air and Akara knew that she needed an answer. It was at this moment that Galena chose to enter, pausing in the doorway when she noticed the interview.
"And you think so?" Akara nodded to her daughter, indicating at was all right to proceed.
"Not only I, but Bloodraven as well," Kashya answered. "You must decide what is best for the Order."
"It requires us to be hospitable to travellers," Akara reminded her. "Whether our first impressions are desirable or not. Let the traveller in, there's room in the barracks I believe as the Guest House is still being repaired."
Kashya nodded and turned to leave but Galena called her back. She had always admired Akara's daughter, and though she considered Akara to be almost her mother, she knew that there were intimacies between them that consisted more of blood ties.
Galena had chosen the path of magic to serve the Sightless Eye while Kashya had chosen the differing one of war. Though they crossed at sometimes, they went in parallel, but different directions.
"There's something amiss in the catacombs beneath the cathedral, Kashya," Galena said walking forward, her long black hair, so like Akara's, framing her face creating a tragic picture. "Charsi was telling me something that she heard from Redbane, but she didn't exactly say what it was."
"I'll ask her when this business is over," Kashya promised, though a peal of thunder in the distance made her change her mind. "In fact, I'll ask her after I help Bloodraven with the traveller, as much as I trust her, I don't like any of my rogues with him for long."
Akara watched silently as Kashya strode proudly from the room, her flaming red hair moving as if it had a will of its own. She is so like her mother, Akara thought as she returned to the text, poor Ayshea, a great shame she never could see her daughter grow.
The conversation abruptly aborted and Bloodraven noticed that the man had drawn into himself, apparently not wanting to talk. His shaking hands held the hilt tightly, as if he was to let go at any moment making another embarrassing noise.
It was a broad sword, Bloodraven recognised the type when Charsi the blacksmith had shown her weapons from the barbarian tribes and the like, the hilt was silver and studded with several tear-shaped rubies as its round head. The weapon was obviously well-used as its edges looked as if they had been re-forged several times, and the blade curved slightly in several places before straightening out.
"The Sisterhood welcomes you traveller," Kashya walked from behind the double doors with a smile on her face, even if it was a little stiff and starched, Bloodraven wanted to express the relief of her burden, instead she said nothing. "The guesthouse isn't desirable, so we're putting you up in the barracks for the night. You'll have your own room of course." Kashya added quickly.
He nodded, or appeared to as Kashya walked off in the lead, beckoning Bloodraven to follow behind. He still gave her that same, uneasy feeling she had since the first encounter. It was extremely hard to shrug off.
He walked slowly and painstakingly slightly in front of her, so slow that she had to check herself a few times so to keep herself behind him. If he was travelling through, chances were that he would leave at first light the next morning, and that would be the last she ever saw of him.
There were several glances from others as they entered the barracks, but Kashya led them towards a far corner of the place that was little used, except for sickrooms in time of battle. Onlookers became few and far between.
"Kashya!" A young rogue named Silverdart called from the other end of the corridor which led to the forge, Kashya looked back as the matter was clearly important. "Charsi said she's finished shafting your bow, but she wants you to test the strength."
"I have to go see to this," Kashya said, half to herself and half to Bloodraven. She nodded to Silverdart indicating she would be along presently. "Just one of the small rooms in the far corner," Kashya explained as she walked away and then turned back to the stranger. "I probably won't see you again after this, I wish you well on your journey."
And once again Bloodraven was left alone with him. She smiled courteously and walked slightly ahead, grabbing a lantern from the wall and holding it in front of her. It created a small halo of light that radiated and flickered. When at last she came to the room Kashya had specified, turning the key in the lock the door swung open with a resounding creak. He followed her inside as she placed the lamp on a table usually used for dressing wounds, but she needn't tell him that.
His motion was slow and deliberate, and very weak she added in thought, but she had no more time to think on this as he sat down on the cot-bed, his sword falling to the floor with an obvious clatter. He looked to her silently, indicating he wanted privacy and she stole out of the room without a word, relieved to be no longer in his presence.
She caught up with Kashya at the forges, she was talking animatedly to Charsi, while carefully stringing the yew limb with its silver shafted ends. Charsi wiped her hands, black with soot and grime, on her leather apron and looked up and smiled when she entered.
"Well you look as if you had to confront something you'd rather not," Charsi said with a smile. "I was going to say the same thing to Kashya, but she hid it better in her face."
"I didn't hide anything," Kashya replied, plucking the bowstring with practiced ease. "But it's that traveller who called at the door half an hour ago, there's something about him.... I don't know." Kashya shook her head and unstrung the bow. "How much do I owe you?"
"A favour," Charsi smiled. "Payable at any time in the near future."
"Done," agreed Kashya, taking the bow underneath her arm and walking off with Bloodraven.
"If you don't need me," Bloodraven said as the neared the stairs to the battlements. "I'll go back on duty until it's my time. I don't think we'll get anymore unexpected guests tonight."
"I'll see you in the morning then," Kashya answered. "I'll return this with my other battle gear and then I have to go to speak with Redbane about something she saw in the catacombs."
"You have a busy night," Bloodraven observed.
"Is any other night different?" Kashya said with a smile.
The two friends exchanged a glance which lasted a brief moment before parting. The younger by a few years, Bloodraven had grown under Kashya's tutelage to be trusted at many levels of the Order. She was a fine leader and a worthy warrior, one of the best of the Sisterhood, outclassed only a by a few, one of whom was Kashya herself.
Yet Bloodraven bettered Kashya on a few points of character, she was patient where Kashya often was not, she was cautious where Kashya was sometimes brash, and she was empathetic where Kashya rarely trusted anyone outside the Order, especially outlanders.
It was nearing midnight when Kashya found Redbane in the cathedral and went down to the catacombs with her. What she had discovered was on the fourth level, the lowest part of the Monastery, and, oddly enough, the warmest.
"I hadn't seen this before," Redbane confessed as they walked through the doorway and into the centre of the room. "I swear by the Eye that it wasn't there yesterday, it seemed to have happened in the last few hours."
In the centre of the large room was a hole in the paving, small enough not to be a danger but obvious enough to catch some attention. Kashya stared at it for a few minutes, and was about to dismiss it when she saw how deep it went into the stonework, and the glowing red light to where it led.
"It smells like brimstone," Kashya observed, wrinkling her nose. "Let's peel this away; there could be a secret chamber we never discovered."
The stone came away easily, to their surprise, they soon a hole large enough to see clearly what was down there. There wasn't much to see, only a rough, rock-hewn floor that reflected some of the red light, this came from a source somewhere in the distance. Kashya was well and truly stumped by this.
"Have you talked to Akara?" Kashya asked.
"First thing I did," Redbane replied. "She's looking at it now in the ancient texts, but she said you might know something."
"Galena said you heard this from Charsi," Kashya said reproachfully.
"Word gets around," Redbane said with a shrug.
"I'd like to pursue this tunnel to the end," Kashya confessed. "But in daylight, we'll look into this in the morning."
Several hours later, when the Monastery was silent, the door in the barracks opened and the dark cloaked figure strode out and walked in a direction with a clear purpose in mind. Unseen, he walked through the cathedral and down the stairs to the catacombs.
All this time there was a battle within himself that had been going without pause for a while. With all his strength of will, he pushed the evil that inhabited his body into an unbidden corner, that kept it there for a while, but it kept coming back, and much stronger. Sometimes his mind dwindled on the thoughts of giving in, knowing it was useless to resist. But those thoughts never went for long as they knew they were not his own.
His sword scraped against the stone steps as he descended into the odious warmth of the lowest level. As he neared the hole in the centre the red light seemed to grow brighter, until it flooded the room with a brilliant but repulsive glow. Then the paving seemed to give way, he took several steps back and poison green clouds gathered from the large, gaping hole. An inhumane sound echoed through out the Monastery. He smiled.
The noise woke Kashya from a deep sleep, hearing it again she was convinced and sprung out of bed, grabbing for her bow and a quiver of arrows. Securing her mail corselet, she ran down to the catacombs, half suspecting what she would find.
Nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to face. Before her, with a flame of tangled red hair, rakish claws and a ferocious cry stood a demoness. This had to be the Andariel she had heard about in old Horadric myths, ones she had dismissed as old tales, now the Maiden of Anguish stood before her in the flesh, and approached her with great speed.
Quickly, she shot an arrow in the direction of her bare chest, but this was only slashed in half with a wave of Andariel's claws. She advanced quickly, forcing Kashya to give up her attacking position. Again and again she fired most of the arrows falling short of the mark yet some landed in her arms and legs, which only added to her fury.
When she came back to the stairs, and had now no where to go but up, she was reluctant to give ground. But Andariel suddenly forced to make that decision by swiping at her with such speed that her death would have been written on those claws if she had not moved in time.
Standing at the top of the stairs, quickly considering her options, she heard footsteps behind her. Someone else was in the passage, or rather, more than someone, a group of people moved towards her from around the corner. In the darkness she could only make out the tops of their heads, but as they moved closer she could make out there faces, and names.
In the lead were Bloodraven and Redbane, looking straight forward though their eyes not focusing on anything. Behind them were many, many rogues, all with the same blank look on their faces.
"Bloodraven!" Kashya called. "Thank the Great Eye you heard! We must destroy Andariel together before something happens!"
But Bloodraven either could not, or would not, listen to her. She passed her by without a second glance, walking down the stairs in silent motion. Redbane was the same, as were the many others who followed them that seemed to have no end.
"What is this?" she asked to no one in particular. "Come back!" She called to them but she might as well have talked to the wind.
She managed to push her way through the crowd and up the stairs to the cathedral. But the crowd did not thin; all had the same blank, almost zombie, like stare.
"Kashya!" A voice echoed across the silent cathedral, it was Charsi. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"It's Andariel!" Kashya replied, coming across the cathedral and even jumping from pew to pew as this was the fastest route. "The demoness is in the catacombs and she's corrupted most of our sisters."
"By the Eye, Akara, Galena!" Charsi ran back towards the antechamber frantically.
"Charsi!" Kashya was on her heels. "Don't go in if it's too late! You'll be taken too!"
But Charsi didn't listen, throwing open the door she rushed in with Kashya close behind her. It was then that they both stopped.
"You are just in time," Galena stepped out of the shadows.
She was a ghastly picture, her face was as white as salt, white as chalk which contrasted harshly with her dark hair. She wore her usual white robe, but this was stained at the breast with blood. But her eyes, Kashya could hardly bring herself to look at them, were an evil red. Behind her was Akara, tied to a tall stone pillar almost cruelly. Galena held a long dagger to her mother's throat which seemed to show her purpose.
"You are too weak to contest against Andariel," Galena said in a voice not of her own. "Throw down your weapons or I'll kill this transgressor."
"She's not a-"
"Just do it!" Galena barked sending Charsi into silence.
Charsi threw down the short sword she had grabbed in haste and waited for Kashya to throw down her bow, she didn't. The dagger crept closer to Akara's throat and Charsi looked impatiently at Kashya, waiting for her to lower her weapon.
"You're not going to kill her," Kashya said, her eyes smarting and meeting with Galena's.
"Do you take me for a fool?" Galena said.
"No," Kashya said, and Galena's venomous look subsided. "I take you as a tortured, corrupted soul without a glimmer of compassion."
"Fine then," Galena said and raising the dagger.
But Kashya was too quick for her. There was a sharp 'twang' and Kashya's arrow flew with the speed of an angry hornet to its mark. Right on target, it hit the dagger making it fall noisily to the floor and stinging Galena on the hand. She winced and then turned to Kashya with almost demonic ferocity. But again, Kashya was too quick, land one arrow in her leg, another in her shoulder.
As she drew back the arrow to make the killing blow she closed her eyes and prayed that Galena's tortured soul would be saved, if not else condemned so it could not haunt the world. The arrow landed deep in her throat, she stumbled and screamed and fell before she was even close.
"I wish I never had to do it," Kashya said in a soft voice as Galena's spirit left her body in a green apparition. "But what is done is done, I hope you can forgive me."
Akara put a comforting hand to her shoulder and they shared a silent moment before Kashya turned away and they all went out the door.
Several rogues, a few dozen had not been corrupted followed them out of the Monastery. Silverdart led them until she surrendered to Kashya. As they ran through the Outer Cloister and towards the gates other beasts of demonic qualities appeared, several times they had to stop to kill them so they could pass through.
But when the doors were opened and they went out into the fresh hours of the morning Akara turned back, looking up at the tall spires of their abandoned Monastery.
"It pains me to think we are leaving our ancestral home," she said in a sad whisper.
"We'll get it back," Kashya promised. "You have my word."
Kashya's word was as true and genuine as gold.
Far away from the Monastery, atop a ridge the one who had done all this watched his handiwork, admiring and regretting it at the same time. He then hardened his heart and proceeded through the mountains with a slow and weak gait, dragging his sword behind him in an undesirable way. His quest lay east, and was one he fought against all the time.
"What is this?" Warriv, a merchant on the way to Lut Gholein had noticed the remnants of the order in a make-shift camp far from their Monastery. He was brought before Akara. "I was planning on seeing you this evening before I went through the pass."
"Well circumstances have brought our meeting earlier," Akara replied. "But I am afraid that you cannot progress east with your companion. Our Monastery has been corrupted by demonic forces; the pass can no longer be accessed."
"I've sent rogues to the Monastery," Kashya announced, putting in her opinions. "But I have not seen them since. I would rather not dwell on their fate."
"This evil has a tighter stranglehold than anyone could have imagined," Akara said.
"Then we'll just have to wait," Warriv said optimistically.
"Wait?" Kashya couldn't believe the notions of this outlander, did he have any sense? "For Heaven's sake, what for?"
"Word is bound to get out of this," Warriv replied. "Just wait, sooner or later someone is going to come."