The Dragon's Apprentice

by ely.cady.313

From faraway lands, a shadow descends upon Cormyr. But no shadow can exist in darkness, and some can choose to stand in the light. A priest of the crying god must weigh his conscience against his faith, as a young woman must choose between life or death. An unlikely alliance must fend off the encroaching darkness, as mortals toy with the workings of ancient gods.

The Dragon's

Apprentice

Shawn M. Cady

Also by Shawn Cady

The Vicelord Chronicles

-Book 1 The Jewel of the Sands (2015)

-Book 2 The Kingdom of the Sands (2015)

-Book 3 The Scepter of the Sands (2016)

-Book 4 The Throne of the Sands (TBA)

The Enchanter's Cycle

-Book 1 The Path in the Shadow (2014)

-Book 2 The Phoenix Fate (2015)

-Book 3 The Scythe and the Seer (2015)

-Book 4 The Will of the Conclave (TBA)

-Book 5 The All-One (TBA)

-Book 6 The End Time (TBA)

The Dreadborne Legacy

-Book 1 The Heart of Darkness (2012)

-Book 2 The Will of the Old Ones (TBA)

-Book 3 The Soul Forge and the Darkest Depths (TBA)

Standalones

The Blessed of Sune (2015)

The Faerûnian Calander

Every year on the world of Abeir-Toril is measured in three hundred and sixty five days, split up into twelve months of thirty days each. The months are given both formal names and common names, spoken depending on the nearness of a holiday or with special emphasis. Each week consists of ten days, called a tenday. Each year is commonly measured by the Dalereckoning scale, beginning in the Year of Sunrise, when the Standing Stone was raised by the Elves of Cormanthyr and the Human Dalesfolk.

Month: Formal Name, Common name

1: Hammer, Deepwinter

2: Alturiak, The Claw of Winter

3: Ches, The Claw of the Sunsets

4: Tarsakh, The Claw of the Storms

5: Mirtul, The Melting

6: Kythorn, The Time of Flowers

7: Flamerule, Summertide

8: Elesias, Highsun

9: Eleint, The Fading

10: Marpenoth, Leaffall

11: Uktar, The Rotting

12: Nightal, The Drawing Down

Prelude

487th layer of the Abyss (Unknown)

Sirahani, once Lady Sirahani Irithyl of Cormanthyr, gazed out the stained glass windows of her lord's endless manor, distracting herself in the hypnotic swirl of molten clouds consisting the atmosphere holding his tortured realm together. Like writhing currents, they formed intricate patterns that vaguely resembled screaming humanoid faces, backlit by flashes of ochre lightning.

Charming. Like everything in Kanchelsis' domain.

Thankfully, she was alone; others of her kind wandered lonely corridors and haunting chambers distant to her, for she was in an uncommonly occupied wing of the manor. The hall, lavishly decorated, was filled with mirrors and framed portraits, the former being somewhat incongruous, as none of the manor's denizens were possessed of reflections.

She turned to appraise one, looking away from the ghastly scene, studying the elegant silvery filigree before its smooth surface, and the reflection of the chair beneath her, seemingly unoccupied.

Sirahani wondered distantly...was she still beautiful? It had been well over a thousand years since she had seen her own face; her angular, imperial bearing, full lips that never knew a smile, her once blue eyes, now a deep maroon.

She ran a clawed hand through her dark hair, momentarily despondent; so much time had passed. Her adoptive clan, Irithyl, had risen and fallen in her time, as had her home, desecrated by demons and currently in a state of rebirth. Everyone she had ever known was dead, for not even fellow Tel'quessir could endure as she had.

She had survived. She had taken at that time new, uncertain avenues of magic most had deemed...unfit. She had bargained and forced her way to powers that her kin could never have dreamed of.

And they had come to fear her...

The rune of banishment still ached where it marred her left forearm. With it active, and no living Irithyl to revoke it, she could never again return to her homeland.

Sirahani scowled, and her melancholy degenerated into boiling rage. With a deft pass of her hand and a short passage of the dark speech, the mirror splintered apart, its silver frame melting into the marble tiles of the floor.

Her banishment, unlike her life, would not prove to be quite so eternal. She would fulfill her lord's task. And she would walk again among her people, if not in Cormanthyr, in the Seldarine itself! She would make her former king scream apologies...

Sirahani rose, collected herself. Many had died for her pleasure, hundreds, thousands perhaps. Thousands more would die. So be it.

"It is time to return to Toril..." She said calmly, "The twelfth hour is come, and there is work to be done."

Calling upon her psionic abilities, for she was skilled in both the visible and invisible arts, Sirahani manifested a dimensional door, and willed her body to compress into itself. There was no pain, and the smaller the matter that was pushed through, the less taxing it was on her. Cognizant only on a limited basis, she pushed through the breach, leaving the abyss and her patron behind, to set into motion the events that would bring about his downfall...

Chapter 1

Cormyr (10th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

This was the place. It had to be.

The worked stone littering the grounds, likely a husk of an adjacent farming village, was unremarkable, save for a small carved pillar inscribed with dwarven runes.

A signpost.

Ryuu hissed, excited, crouched in a field of long grass near the southeastern rim of the Stormhorn mountains, Selûne a mere crescent swimming in a sea of her tears. He checked and double-checked his map of the Cormyrean countryside, bought at a hefty price from the Sembian smuggling ring based along the southern edge of the country. The map proved well worth it; he was very, very near to the lost catacombs named, rather unimaginatively, the Haunted Halls. He might not have found them without the map.

The halls had been built by the Dwarves for the bandit lord Rivior over a century and a half prior. The poor bastard had later been slain by the Warrior-Queen Enchara and the Halls had been deserted for years. Eventually the Halls became home to a cult of necromancers, followed inevitably by adventurers, seeking coin and glory, who had added to the undead obstacles at least as much as they had cleared them away. The place had a grisly reputation, the more so unsettling being based in a land as heavily policed as this.

It would be a good place to start his tour of Cormyr.

There were said to be several hidden tunnels leading into the multi-leveled structure, dug up by adventurers of days long passed. Thanks to the map, Ryuu knew that he stood over one such tunnel, marked by the weathered signpost. Whatever might he find inside? Ancient undead, perhaps created by the original coven, to test himself against? A few necromancers to slaughter? A big, fat pile of research notes, spellbooks, and treasure?

He rolled up the map and stuffed it in his pack, and readied the other item he had procured from the smugglers. A simple scroll of unassuming vellum, it contained a powerful spell; a narrow but highly concentrated beam of intense heat that would puncture surfaces for almost two full bowshots. Intended for use on a battlefield; piercing through scores of armored soldiers one after another, it would allow an arrow formation to easily push through a fortified enemy line. He planned to use it more like a pickaxe...

Waving his hand through the arcane passes, Ryuu concentrated on the reagent tucked into a pouch in his belt, and intuited, more than felt, the ingredients dissolve in the bag, leaving only dust.

He closed his eyes, pressed the scroll against the ground, angling it diagonally, and paused as it discharged a single pulse. Shaking his hand as he dropped the expired parchment, hissing at the blisters dotting it, Ryuu studied the narrow shaft he had created. Lined with black glass, the shaft was roughly the width of his fist, useless to a casual infiltrator.

Good thing for him he was anything but casual.

Gasping, Ryuu activated his latent vampiric nature, and felt his body grow...lighter. The wind passed through him, sound deadened, and his darkvision attuned sight became cloudy, objects becoming indistinct. As a pocket of dense fog, he pressed himself into the shaft, contracting himself into a narrow coil and slithering down its length.

For about twenty seconds he descended, before emerging into a wide hallway and reforming. Landing on all fours, he scanned his surroundings. Pitch black, he could see clearly enough. Ahead was an intersection, behind, there was a closed metal door. To his right and down was the continuation of his improvised shaft, reaching ever deeper into the Haunted Halls. There were no odors in the air that made him presume there were others nearby, living or dead.

Ignoring the shaft for the present, Ryuu turned to face the door, and approached it, eyeing the ring on the index finger of his left hand; a simple band of bleached bone. A ring of spell storing, it contained a simple aura enchantment that indicated when he was in the presence of magical fields. It was not powerful enough to show him the exact nature of the energies, but in a place like this, he could safely assume it was not benevolent in nature.

Then again, benevolent spells were far more hazardous to him than anything its current occupants might conjure up. As a Vampire, Ryuu was highly resistant to illusions, extreme cold, or necromantic spells, but comparatively vulnerable to fire, the wizard's standard weapon, as well as any clerical spell harnessing the power of the divine. And with the hall's reputation as a common romping ground for adventurers, either could potentially be present, so he was better off stepping lightly.

Palming a small dagger, Ryuu covered his face with his cloak, enchanted to deflect some spells, and jabbed at the door. Nothing. Setting it aside, the Vampire pressed the tip of a fingernail against the door, and again, remaining unfazed by the inevitable magical backlash, he pressed the palm of his hand against its cold metal surface, applying more and more pressure in an attempt to push it open.

Not a contact trigger, definitely, or perhaps it was a specifically set condition. Magical traps to repel only certain beings were common in Faerun; a necromancer's wards would no doubt allow undead thralls to pass through their defenses. If that was the case, he was lucky for his curse, for it would likely allow him to bypass most necromantic wards.

Now relatively convinced he was not at risk of disintegration or being turned into a frog, Ryuu kicked the door open, tiring of all this skulking about. As a Vampire, he could briefly infuse himself with unholy might, striking with the sheer kinetic force of a battering ram. No immediate discernable effect was observed, so he eyed the other side of the door, studying the odd engraving etched near the knob.

It was no conventional trap; it probably had triggered something across the hall. He had a minute or two. Whatever the trap was, it stank of necromancy. A practitioner himself, though not entirely by his own choice, Ryuu could easily identify similar crafts to his own.

Still, a necromantic rune. Exotic, if apprentice quality. He mentally noted its shape for future reference, and studied the contents of the room.

There was nothing to illuminate it; no tapered candles or wall-mounted torches. Dust lay in fine sheets over every surface. There were signs of a struggle; scorch marks lined the ground, and some of the stone tiles were chipped or gouged, but these scars seemed old. Against both of the far walls there were bookshelves, most of their contents relatively preserved in the cold, dry air, save a few shelves that had collapsed, spilling their contents across the floor in untidy heaps. Nothing magical about them; nothing so provincial as a spell book. He might study them when he had cleared this section, but honestly, reading was not his hobby. He might well pass.

The desk opposite him, however, was something of interest. He could tell that it was enchanted without even checking his ring; not a speck of dust marred its rosewood surface. Running a hand along its length, Ryuu paused as he noticed that all but one of the drawers was missing. His ring flared brightly as he reached to touch it.

So, some adventurers had looted this room. They had recognized another warding spell, but had failed to penetrate it. Grinning, activating the ring on his other hand, a carved circle of adamantine adorned with intricate glyphs, he struck the lock with the back of his hand.

Definitely a contact trigger.

The desk exploded outward in a hail of splinters, most of which passed right through him.

"Piss and Hrast!" he swore, digging a few choice pieces out of his hand and shoulder as his protection faltered momentarily. Thankfully, none of the wooden splinters had pierced his heart, or he might have been reduced to dust. His ring of evasion had allowed most of the damage to be avoided, but it was not a certain enchantment. And he could only use the blasted thing one every now and then...

Shrugging, for the wounds, as well as those sustained by activating the scroll some time ago, were already healing, a fortunate byproduct of his condition. After Vampires reached a certain age, they became harder to kill. He was of that fortunate variety. His skin, and the coat of scales over it, reformed flawlessly, assuming its (relatively) healthy pale grey sheen.

He eyed the drawer, now hanging loosely, and claimed it, ripping it off its hinges with a grunt. Inside was a beautiful, ornate rod. It was smooth, delicate; a shaft of silvery metal, coiling about itself into a slender pair of hands, which held a dollop of rosy quartz. Its opposite tip, in contrast, terminated into a tapering point, very sharp.

He accidentally pricked his finger just trying to lift the thing.

It was the power from this item, and not the explosive trap, that the ring detected, for it still flared with enchanted light. "A focal rod." he noted, "Of fine craftsmanship. A powerful, and no doubt valuable, piece, and it will go for a fine price".

Why not?

He hadn't come to the Haunted Halls specifically for treasure, but it would do to claim a few trinkets to sell later. He attached it to his weapon belt, and finding nothing else of note, returned to the hallway, heedless of any trap he might had activated.

...

They had passed. Finally, they had passed.

"The One Who Endures preserve me..." Alexander Mallyth sighed, daring to open the door a crack. Peering from his chamber, a room no doubt meant for the necromancer he had cornered and slain, Alexander studied what he could of the corridor.

Nothing.

Turning back, eyeing the remains of the wizard, a plain-faced Sembian man of middling age, the Priest of Ilmater considered it ironic that the fellow looked more like a coin lender than a necromancer. He would have been perfectly at place among the denizens of his own native Westgate.

Alexander had not come here for a fight with the living, indeed, none of his party had known there would be anything in the Haunted Halls but basic undead, as there always tended to be with old abandoned keeps.

The adventuring permit had included this location, and the census officer had described it as a desecrated tomb, the rights to it bought at a hefty price and the promise that their goals were of a more scholarly inclination than most adventuring parties. Indeed, he, a Priest of Ilmater, Lamona, a Half-Elf novitiate studying Cormyrean history, and Zoran, an assassin once allied to the defunct Night Knives, had not come to the Haunted Halls for treasure.

Rholf and Olav, the two sellswords they had hired in Suzail, had been a different story, but to their credit, their immediate payment had been more than enough to prevent any petty looting. The undead on the first levels of the catacombs had been daunting, but manageable. His clerical spells had kept them at bay where sword and spell could not...until...

Until there had been a crash somewhere above, some sort of alarm spell being triggered, perhaps.

He shivered, remembering the thing that had approached them.

A husk, one unlike any he was familiar, had attacked with a wave of magical fear. Olav had crumpled under the attack, torn to pieces by the skeletons that followed it. Lamona, dearest Lamona, had perished by a trap spell in the next chamber, her tiny, almost childlike body rotted from the inside out by negative energy. He had managed to patch Zoran up enough to continue on, having pushed the fiend away with a hastily scrawled sealing circle, but a trap door had sent him down into the lower levels.

He had lost his torch in the blind tumble, and been forced to light his spare with the frantic strokes of a tindertwig. Its light extended about seven paces, no more. He'd lost his knitted red skullcap as well, a unique vestment of his faith.

He had hidden away from a trio of gauze-wrapped corpses, mummies, perhaps, when he had stumbled into the necromancer's room. A quick strike to the head had taken him before he could climb out of bed.

Safe as could be expected, Alexander dared to venture beyond the door, seeking a stairway that might return him to his friends, whether they lived or not. Circling around the intersecting corridors, mentally plotting the layout and hugging the wall lest he betray his position, the priest carefully noted each closed door. From the looks of things, the living denizens of the halls were not privy to his companion's advance into their territory.

Or perhaps they did not care, so used to adventurers that they were merely dismissed as a nuisance.

Rounding a corner into a wider hallway, the priest stopped before an unusual door. It had no knob, indeed, he had nearly mistaken it for a wall, were it not for the barely perceptible border linking it to the surrounding walls and floor.

Seeing the familiar markings on the door's lining, he sighed. He had unintentionally reached their shared goal; the resting place of Lord Rivior, bane of the free peoples of Cormyr, and found its sealed door to be nigh-impenetrable. That was good; it meant none of the undead of their masters had managed to breach it, and its contents would be safe. But without poor Lamona, he wouldn't be able to recover Rivior's sword or armor, a valuable historical find to donate to Suzail and posterity. His friends had died for nothing, perhaps were dying for nothing.

He swallowed his grief, focusing on the task of locating them, and continued on, brandishing his torch like a shield.

...

As Ryuu passed down the hallway, he grinned fiercely, for the trap had been far more formidable than that protecting the wand. Two skeletons shambled towards him, their limbs long and narrow, their skulls elongated and oddly small compared to the rest of their body.

"Trolls." Ryuu chuckled, "Skeletal Trolls. Why? They do not regenerate when they are nothing but bones!"

Behind them was another figure, much smaller, but also a much greater cause for concern. It flowed more than walked, keeping pace with the skeletons with ease. It looked almost as if a Human male had been skinned, and that skin had been animated into a semblance of life. Its empty eye sockets wept blood, as did the body-wide gash that opened it from the nose all the way down to the groin, parting its legs into ribbon-like strips.

It was a Bodak, a husk left behind when a soul was destroyed utterly by the touch of absolute evil. If that evil was still skulking around somewhere, it could be a genuine threat even to him.

"Flee..." The Bodak moaned, flitting forward like a drapery loosed by the wind, "Flee..."

Chuckling, albeit uneasily now, Ryuu drew his twin thinblades, Hyosho and Kaminari, light and eminently sharp sabers forged of fine elven mithril and enchanted to deal grievous damage to the undead, himself included, were he ever foolish enough to cut himself. Their handles were uniquely elongated and weighted at the pommels, the balance resting closer to the guard than normal, a special request on his part, because his unique style of martial arts involved spinning the thin, slightly curved blades in tune with his acrobatics to disorient and confuse his prey. Not unlike swashbuckling, it was extremely effective on the weak-minded, though it would do him little good now.

He cast a quick spell, consuming a pinch of sulfur and a slice of wax candle from one of his belt pouches, and with a few incantations and short, ambidextrous movements, Ryuu erupted into ghastly pale blue flames, a powerful necromantic ward fashioned by the legendary practitioner Azaer.

Striding forward, his aura making him highly resistant to both spells and attacks, the Vampire spun Hyosho and Kaminari in little circuits as he lunged between the skeletons, snapping his elbow up and striking the skeleton on his left in the jaw as it tried to bite him, while kicking out at the other, breaking its femur like a twig. Both skeletons wavered, then fell upon him, unmindful of the flames blackening their bones.

Laughing, Ryuu became as a swarm of bats, each one bearing the aura of blue flame, and passed through them without harm.

The Bodak shrieked, and Ryuu felt a fragment of the swarm of bats shrivel and die, drained by a burst of potent negative energy. Reforming several paces forward, bloodied, Ryuu began a new incantation, unwilling to close distance again until the Bodak was dealt with.

Normally, necromantic spells of such devastating potency as he was planning took time to cast, but having memorized his most powerful repertoire in advance, he was able to recall instantly all that was needed as he drew a slim vial from his belt. The vial, a rare potion he had recovered from an Alhoon's phylactery chamber, accelerated one's mental acuity for a short time, allowing rapid comprehension and casting of a single spell.

"Flee..." The Bodak cried, moaning as it drifted towards him. Ten minutes of delicate invocation were accomplished in seven seconds, just as the Bodak shrieked a second time and withered his left hand up to the wrist. Dropping Kaminari with a grunt, Ryuu bit into his other hand, speeding his latent regeneration by self-cannibalizing.

His spell began to warp the air about him; airborne particles such as dust and dirt broke down and reformed themselves into proteins, and water vapor still present around the fleshy Bodak congealed into plasma and lymph. He grinned, picking up Kaminari and motioning rudely to the advancing skeletons. The plasma and lymph began to cling to the airborne proteins and changed its composition, coalescing into small, stunted blood cells surrounded by pockets of lymph and being fed warmth and life through Ryuu's sheer willpower.

He brought his thinblades up just as the skeletons reached him, double-parrying their long arms and, moving back with the momentum rather than resisting it, the Vampire reverse-gripped his swords and pommel butted each of them in the forehead, more playful than aggressive.

He was dancing now, not fighting. He just wanted to occupy them for a time.

He then rolled past them, swatting a skeleton idly with his tail, placing himself between them and the Bodak, giggling.

As his spell progressed, Ryuu fed the airborne blood with surges of negative energy from his own being. Undeath gave one plenty of that to replace their life spark. The air began to actually grow cold as the blood sucked warmth from the immediate area. Hoarfrost, pink in color, lined the walls, and if he drew breath, Ryuu would not doubt it would have frosted.

The spell was meant for a large, open area. He'd never tried using it in a confined space. It would be fun to watch, certainly.

A dark red cloud formed in the chamber as he sliced the Bodak on the shoulder, his Ring of Evasion's reduced charge allowing him to suffer its shriek without withering, though it rattled him and sapped away some of his undead essence.

Moisture surged from the red cloud, boiling over the skeletons and the Bodak, the entire chamber, and, despite feeling no pain, each of them faltered. His cloud of metabolizing blood passed around him harmlessly; if anything, its touch felt energizing, akin to feeding, though actually consuming the blood in this stage would have grievously harmed him.

The Bodak sank to the ground, immobilized, its weight increased exponentially by the blood coating it. The skeletons corroded almost instantly, liquefying as the living cells of the blood consumed their bones to feed itself. Their long skulls drooped in grim parodies of a frown, before sinking back into their spines.

They impacted more than collapsed, into little mounds, bubbling from the heat of the blood cells as they reproduced thousands upon thousands of times, forming expanding pools around its food source. His blood cloud would leave nothing left. The walls melted, almost caved in. An uncomfortable shift occurred in the chamber...

The Bodak moaned, its hollow face sinking into the void of its chest. It melted more slowly than its comrades, but, unable to move, it could do nothing at all to prevent its fate.

It offered a final shriek, a fear spell that had no effect on him, then went silent.

"Consider it a mercy killing." Ryuu said with a shallow bow, watching in fascination as the husk began to display little rips in its material, like tattered cloth. It said nothing in its throes of second death, but the Vampire distantly though he felt a sense of relief, then nothingness.

When the cloud ran out of material to easily fed on, Ryuu halted the spell, preventing further expansion, but did not terminate it. Perhaps, when he was finished with the place, he would allow the artificial blood to consume further, weakening the support structure of this part of the Halls, collapsing it. It would not bury the Haunting Halls in its entirety, but it sure could make a mess.

He would have to be sure to destroy it after, though. If he was not careful, the blood might collect and become a carnivorous ooze. That might do some damage if it ever got out.

The threat erased, Ryuu considered matters as they were.

Necromancers could raise undead of such complexity if they were powerful enough, but few indeed could wield the touch of absolute evil, as was needed to create a Bodak.

He had to know if whatever had created the Bodak lingered, and exactly what it was. A Lich? Or worse?

More excited than fearful, completely beyond the disappointment in having to use his only acceleration potion, Ryuu became as a swarm of bats, and scattered them. Becoming many, he saw through many eyes, able to focus on each individually or as a whole. Thus, he could cover more ground in the halls, mapping out the demesne and, hopefully, locate more appetizing targets.

He was getting thirsty...

...

Alexander retreated back up a flight of stairs, increasingly confident of the layout of the catacombs. Despite the occasional bat (and how did the things roost down here?) he had encountered no threats, living or otherwise, and he took this time to renew his connection to Ilmater.

It was a gift he had developed in his time in the cloister; he could concentrate without pausing to meditate, and likewise not interfering with his perceptions of what was happening in the now. It was a useful skill, especially when times would not allow for a proper communion with his god.

Strength suffused him, the holy presence of Ilmater, bestowing powerful spells that burned themselves into his mind. He could rebuke the undead, as well as banish incorporeal spirits. He could ward himself against cold and life-draining spells, as well as those fed by dark magic or negative energy. If needed, he could cast a powerful healing spell, on himself, or, gods be praised, any of his party should he find them. For a short time, he could also channel the might of Ilmater, doubling his size and strength. He might need it to force his way free of this cursed place.

Renewed by his brief connection to the Crying God, Alexander returned fully to himself and the matters at hand, his torch leading the way.

...

Interesting... Ryuu saw the priest, poor fellow, and the hints of a room behind a wall. A vault, maybe. Some more trinkets to pluck away? Or maybe something bad? Something that might be fun to cut into tiny little pieces?

Either would work for him.

He would deal with the priest when the time came, but for now he would do some more exploring. Ryuu commanded himself, all of himself, save the lone bat that had been ground into paste by a flying blades spell cast by a mortal necromancer, to gather by his initial entry point. When all was ready, each of his bats evaporated, becoming fog, and formed into one coalesced body.

Thus whole again, if a little pained by the lost fragment, the Vampire delved further down the shaft and reformed in a large chamber, a crypt.

End of the line; his shaft penetrated about a hand's breadth through its far wall, but no more.

Not wanting anything to follow him down, Ryuu closed the shaft with a thick fleshy membrane summoned by a quick necromantic spell, then hardened it into a calcified sheet of cartilage. The crypt, possibly the final resting place of Lord Rivior himself, bore inspection, and he made out what details he could. Along three of the four walls, there were deep alcoves with curving arches and engravings in a language he could not read without taking a closer inspection, packed with stone sarcophagi. It was a dead end; the only door was a sheet of solid stone, intended to permanently inter its occupants without any means of ingress or egress.

That didn't seem to stop the chamber's other occupant from entering either. She rose from the ground itself, sliding through solid stone without resistance. She looked rather pretty for a mammal, even from behind, with a long, slender neck, shapely pointed ears from which hung many rings of white gold, smooth black hair that reached to the back of her waist, and robes that flattered her figure nicely. One of the fair maidens from his romance chapbooks, at first glance.

But he could also smell one of his own kind. That diminished beauty oftentimes more than enhanced it.

His tail flicked in agitation.

"Well hello, lass..." Ryuu purred, "Interesting trick, there."

The woman startled, turning to face him. Her skin was pale, even for a Moon Elf, and her maroon eyes burned with their own inner light. The exact shade reminded him of a nice full-bodied Sembian Red he'd enjoyed alone in a nobleman's parlor over a decade prior. A Vampire, younger than him, but well passed the point of ancient. An even fight, if she had his proficiency in the art.

"You should not be here." she replied coolly, her pouting lips pursed, her fangs poking through slightly. "Your point, milady?" Ryuu parried gently, oozing sensual magnetism into each word, "This seems to be a tomb, sealed that others may not pay their respects. I would say that you should not be here, pretty little thing that you are".

She stared blankly, unaffected by his flirtation, then, "It does not matter. What I seek is not here. But you are here, dark brother. You should accompany me".

"Oh? So soon? Okay, where to?"

"The Nightworld."

"Odd name for a bedroom. Where's that?"

"The Demonweb Pits."

"I thought you were a Moon Elf, not a Drow. What are you doing in Lloth's realm?"

She shrugged, "You know nothing, then. It would mean that he is not interested in you, nor are you interested in my work."

"Huh?"

She did not reply, and he grimaced as he saw something flash in her hands. White onyx.

"You want to play me, Elf?" he snapped, less than amused, and she slipped through the floor again, leaving the gems behind. They broke apart into dust, and the sarcophagi bled darkness in the outline of men. Five of them. Several more cracked and split open, and armored skeletons issued forth. He cared not for them. The shadows, however, were going to be a problem.

"Shit." he cursed, then indulged in more inventive expletives. Shadows were tricky; they needed to be attacked with sunlight, or clerical magic. And he was fresh out of any of that. He tried to cast a charm to command the Wraiths, but faltered instantly. Whoever that elf was, she had someone backing her. Someone at least quasi-divine.

"Off I go." Ryuu shrugged, softening his barrier of cartilage and slipping back up the way he came, trying to outpace the dim moans gravitating up from the shaft... If he made it, he could seal the exit with a ward. Maybe it would hold them...for a while...

He passed dozens of chambers, many of them sealed by heavy iron barricades. A few impacted with pounding fists from the other side, muted inhuman shrieks and less wholesome sounds echoing through. These chambers he did not spare a second glance; perhaps, with scores of faithful, the Haunted Halls could be purged, but not now. The best he could do was find his friends, or their bodies, burning them if it proved to be the latter.

At least then they would not be risen anew. He would see to it.

Alexander heard a crash in the catacombs above him, then cursed, stumbling right into a mass of undead. Humanlike in appearance, they gnashed yellowed teeth, and clawed hands reached out to seize him.

"The Crying Lord take you!" he bellowed, bringing to bear his holy symbol and rebuking them with Ilmater's light. Their flesh seared black in fist-sized patches, but they pressed him, smoking but unmindful of the damage his prayer was inflicting. They must have been empowered by a skilled necromancer; they resisted his clerical magic.

Calling upon the raw power of his god, Alexander felt that the room was shrinking for a brief moment. This spell was sometimes disorienting. His sanctified Morningstar in hand (it had grown proportionally to him), Alexander snarled, snapping his weapon forward, braining the first Zombie as it closed the distance. It pulped, its brain cavity impacting, but still it continued forward. With speed to match his new strength, Alexander dodged its attacks, backpedalled, and struck low, pulverizing its kneecap, while pinning what remained of its jaw with his torch. Its teeth raked his knuckles, but did not penetrate his gloves. Empowered by his god, he wouldn't be infected with the diseases such a bite would carry anyway.

The Zombie collapsed, but he was quickly pressed back by its allies. The priest struck them with a burst of holy light, then attacked the weakened areas with his Morningstar. Where a limb would have been crushed, its broke apart into ash; soon, many of his attackers hobbled or limped as he slowly retreated. He was hardly unscathed himself; the sleeves of his robe were sliced open and stained red from the deep cuts where the Zombies had clawed him. His knuckles were bruised and swollen. Sweat beaded his forehead, dripping into his eyes, forcing him to squint.

As the gruesome scene continued, and he counted his foes, Alexander cursed. At some point, six more had entered the fray, replacing those he had struck down. Dark shadows enveloped the room; man-shaped but lacking features.

"No..." Alexander moaned, seeing in them the faces of his friends and allies; Lamona, Zol, Rholf, and Olav. But wait! There was a fifth, who remained indistinct, and the priest of Ilmater sighed; his friends might be dead, but their death was a final one, for now. The Shadows were simply using his fears to imbalance him.

"The light take you!" he cursed, invoking his banishment spell. Three fled, moaning, parts of their incorporeal bodies flaking off. The rest lunged forward; two flew directly through him, and he gasped as part of his vital essence was drained away.

Alexander cast the banishment spell a second time, returning to normal size. The three he had rebuked earlier sank into the flesh of the advancing Zombies. The two orbiting Shadows, too far away to seek shelter, broke apart into streamers of smoke, dispersing harmlessly. Panting, drained by the Shadows and his spell casting, the priest cast a minor healing spell, refreshing his stamina and counteracting the essence stolen by his attackers.

As he charged in with his Morningstar, the Shadows reached out of their hosts, and he stumbled back, feeling more of his vital essence absorbed by their attacks. Having expended his directly damaging spells, he was forced to retreat.

He cursed them. It was a clever strategy, one that he could not counter; the Shadows, inside the corporeal undead, could not be affected by his banish spells, and likewise, he could not damage the Zombies because the Shadows protected their hosts. He would have to take another route, evading the undead while preventing himself from attracting more.

He cursed again, realizing he had taken the wrong turn, into a dead end, but he faced his death with dignity, twirling his Morningstar in preparation for another swing. The Zombies shambled towards him, slow but inexorable, hiding the real threat. Gulping, Alexander, the black sheep of Clan Mallyth of Tethyr, readied himself for his final charge and an eternity of service in the House of the Triad. What would be left in this mortal realm would be too little for the necromancers to make use of.

He would make sure of it.

A new Shadow reached across the chamber, larger than the others, much larger. The undead guardians paused, moaning, before they turned to appraise a rasping whisper.

A spell...

The Shadow became more tangible, and the Zombies tried to attack it, their claws passing through harmlessly. As the audible spell completed, they tensed, as if struck, and stared sightlessly at their fellows.

In a gruesome display, the Zombies suddenly attacked each other, their clumsy strikes raking dried blood and flesh in furrows. In mere moments, each of them collapsed into a gory pile, torn to writhing, moaning pieces. The Shadow laughed softly, becoming thicker, more tangible.

As this happened, the others, wailing in anger, emerged from their vessels. Calling upon Ilmater's light, Alexander struck with his final banishment. The large Shadow that had come to his aid wavered, hissing, but remained. The other three dissipated, their parting wails sorrowful.

He drew his Morningstar, though he knew it would do little good. The Shadow was a powerful undead, for it had to be undead, to be unfazed by his spells. The Shadow eyed him; though he saw no eyes, he felt the weight of its gaze.

In a flash of crimson light, a dark-garbed figure took its place, appraising him.

The creature, perhaps a Demon, stood opposite to him calmly. It walked on two legs, and was just a little over five and a half feet tall. It had a coat of pale grey scales and a roughly triangular, reptilian head. Its tail, long and thickly muscled, lashed from side to side. It was clothed in black; a layered sleeveless tunic and leggings, with leather sandals and ankle plates, bracers, and a torc about its neck that gleamed like polished steel. It had a pale white cloak and hood, lined with fur and clasped with a brooch that depicted a rose, almost like those worn by Lathander's faithful.

There was something lithe and graceful about this creature, serpentine, though its figure was thick and stocky, Human-like. Something in its poise, its posture. Refined and yet savage. Predatory. Its eyes, blood red, bored into him beneath a brow of small, horn-like protrusions, though they contained more mischievousness than malice. Its tail now darted to and fro lazily.

"Hey, easy friend. You look a little out of sorts. Maybe you should calm down a little..."

Alexander startled, then snarled, "What are you? Speak!"

"Ryuu."

"What?"

The Demon shrugged, nonchalant, "My name is Ryuu."

It crossed its arms, clearly unconcerned of the threat he posed. Judging by how easily it had neutralized the Zombies, it was no small stretch of imagination...

"And what are you?!"

"Lizardfolk, among other things."

He paused, dumbstruck, "Lizardfolk? Like those from the Vilhon?"

"Sort of."

"You are undead, as well. I can sense it."

It smiled, revealing its teeth, a pair of upper and lower canines more pronounced than the rest.

"Aye."

"Aye?" Alexander paused, incredulous, "What do you mean, aye?"

"I am a Vampire, Sunathaer." the creature replied simply, balancing on its ankles with a toothy grin.

"You are a Vampire."

"Aye."

"So, we must battle."

"Why?"

"Why?!"

Ryuu laughed, The "Yes, why? I stated no such intentions. By Kanchelsis, you are a thick one."

"And so you mean to enslave me to your will, instead? Ilmater will protect me from such charms, even here, even now."

"And why would I do that? I came here to hunt necromancers. A favorite pastime, might I add."

"You hunt necromancers?"

Ryuu grinned, "Certainly. It was a necromancer among other things that turned me. I repay her in kind by slaughtering her peers. If I have to feed, and I do, I prefer to feed on those whose being is saturated with magic, especially magic I can use. Hence, necromancers."

Vampires were creatures of deceit. Alexander struggled to recall what he had read of them from the cloister archives. What he did remember was not encouraging...

"And who else do you feed on?"

"Bandits, marauding monsters. What is available among the lowest of the filth. Preferably someone who would fight back. I prefer it that way."

"Innocents?"

Ryuu shook his head, "Certainly not."

"Why do you care on whom you feed?"

"I am no mindless undead, priest. I have my own tastes and eccentricities. I do what I do because I enjoy it; it is the reason I cling to this mortal coil. Life is too enjoyable for me, even now, to end it."

"You are an abomination. Allow me to end it for you."

The Vampire laughed again, still having refrained from drawing the twin short swords or the wand belted to his waist, "Such aggression, such ill-informed aggression. Tell you what, since you look like an interesting distraction; I plan to run a marathon all over this country, hunting down covens of necromancers and other sorts. Normally, I'd personally slaughter everything hostile in this half-abandoned little slice of the hells, but...things got a little weird for me. Not really sure exactly how. And I plan to depart once I have a bite to drink. Follow me if you must, and maybe by the end of it, I might be weakened enough for you to fight me on even terms. Until then, toodle-oo".

"Stop!" Alexander yelled, calling upon Ilmater's light, but the Vampire turned into fog and floated up through the cracks in the ceiling, his laugher trailing behind him like a miasma, "Your friends are dead. I spotted them earlier and was considerate enough to burn their remains. You need to leave. Two floors up, along the right-most chamber. You will find a tunnel to the surface there. Maybe you and your party used it to get here, maybe you did not. It is stable and unguarded all the same. Better hurry though...just because I'm leaving doesn't mean I won't leave behind something to finish my work for me. By dawn's light, there won't be anything left of this place to pose a threat to anyone."

...

Hours passed, and the black skies turned a deep, dark blue, a brightening line across the horizon promising the coming dawn. As the lonely corridors and empty rooms broke apart in the red cloud that consumed mortal and undead alike, as true silence descended upon the Haunted Halls of Cormyr, a swarm of bats carried away into the fading night, their high pitched cries echoing throughout the plains. A lone figure, robed in grey, stumbled out soon after, his face pained but his strides purposeful. In one hand, he held a Morningstar. In the other, he held a token of Ilmater. After him, rising from the rubble itself as the halls perished, was another figure, that lumbered into the wilds on fours...its skin blistering even in the pre-dawn twilight...

Chapter 2

Cormyr (11th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

Haidée Salom did what she usually did when things were a mess at home. She skipped rocks along the Starwater River, trying and failing to send each missile all the way across to the King's Forest. Dawn brightened its surface with a golden sheen, reflecting the rising sun. Maybe, she thought, just maybe, she might make a raft and paddle out to the forest to go exploring, leaving the dull, dreary plains behind for a while...

Not that she would stay forever! Forests were much prettier than rural farmland, but they also hid Goblins, Elves, and who knew what else. She, as well as the rest of her family, were better off living on this side of the river.

Nonetheless, the Starwater was lovely, travelling east to skirt Eveningstar, the city closest to her, and to the west, much father across, leading to Arabel, which she had not seen but heard was good to visit this time of year. Out there was a whole world; south of the King's Forest was the Stormhorns, a steep range of mountains leading down near Suzail and the Dragonmere, where you could travel almost anywhere by ferry, Daerlun along the northern edge of the lake, and Westgate along the southern edge.

After that...who knew; well beyond Cormyr, no doubt.

She might walk tomorrow, after her chores, but not tonight. Father had told her she was to marry soon.

That seemed to make sense; just reaching her sixteenth year, she was well of age, and Esmer from town was a fine choice; his family, a prominent clan of winemakers, were far better off than the two of them, who lived off of the vegetables they grew in the yard. Esmer was no noble, but he was from respectable merchant stock. He had been looking for a bride, and a place to settle outside of town to build a second, smaller, more private vineyard, and Father had given him the rights to their small cottage and the lands around it. He would build a nicer house, a two-story affair, and they would live in it as the vineyard grew around them.

It sounded fairy-tale to a peasant like her...he was a striking young man; hair like golden wheat, and soft, poetic eyes the color of a clear sky. But she wished Father had asked her first. Was she not entitled to choosing who she wanted to marry? She had only met Esmer once; today, when they had signed the marriage certificate. He seemed alright, if a little dull...but what if they did not like each other after living together? What if he became withdrawn, or cruel?

What if she came to hate it here?

Tomorrow, she would be engaged. In a week, she would likely marry. In the next months, Esmer would build their home while she likely made him a child. This sudden lack of choice felt suffocating...

What would Mother have said?

Haidée sighed, then chastised herself; Mother had passed years ago. She could not depend on her advice anymore. She just had to think like Mother had.

She threw another stone, angrily, and it did not skip, striking the river and sinking immediately with a dull thud.

Better now than never. What might Mother say she should do?

"I should just go back home. Maybe tomorrow things will look better than they do now."

...

It wailed as it burned.

Pain, pain, pain. But hunger. It was hungry first.

It had to feed.

Yes, down, down, yes; it smelled meat. Sweet, juicy, tender meat. Feed. Feed. Then it would learn why it hurt. It ran on fours, its nails digging into the ground.

Yes, feed. It found a scent, faint but there.

Yes, feed. A female. A Human.

Yes, feed. The prey knew it was coming.

Yes, feed. It walked more quickly, then it began to run.

Yes, feed. She smelled so sweet, her fear so enticing.

Yes, feed. It caught her by the river.

Yes, feed. She screamed, tried to fight back.

Yes, feed. It tasted her flesh.

Yes, feed. So sweet.

It screamed, as they plunged into the water. Pain, pain, pain.

It paddled away, back onto land, and ran. It was no so hungry anymore.

It had to rest.

Yes, rest.

...

Esmer Tharen waited in the Salom homestead for his bride-to-be, sitting with her father in the main room with two mugs of steaming hot cider. The floor was simple planking, probably material deemed unfit for ship-building and sold in bulk. Still, it insulated nicely, as did the stacked and mortared logs that made up the walls. The layered stone furnace and fireplace burned hot that day, banishing the first signs of Leaffall chill.

"Haidée did not seem excited to see me yesterday." he said bluntly, knowing Tolon Salom well enough to know he preferred directness to tact.

"She was just shocked." Tolon replied in her defense, "Things happened quickly, as they are wont to do in these parts."

That hardly summed up the problem. Esmer put up a good front, but he was nervous about the engagement. He wanted out of Eveningstar, away from the concerns of the family. He just wanted to live well, with a loving wife and a home by the river. He had been watching Haidée for some time, watching her grow into a fine young woman. Reaching the age of twenty himself, he was more than due to be wed, and he wanted this dark-haired, wild-eyed dreamer as his own.

But he had wanted to talk to her first, really talk to her, to find out what she was looking for.

But no. House Tharen of Cormyr, not yet risen to nobility but bearing serious ambitions to do so, had drafted up the certificate and personally propositioned the father the moment he had shown interest. They wanted a second vineyard off-site, and considered Tolon's land to be a fine property to purchase through marriage, without cost, might he add. His interest in Haidée had unintentionally been the first genuine service he had done for House Tharen.

He shrugged, sipping his cider; with some time, they could get to know each other. And he would not cut her father out of the deal, certainly. He would live well. And Esmer would make his daughter a fine manor, and she would in turn make him an heir, or two.

"What is that?" he asked, hearing something high-pitched outside. He heard something snap, maybe a small branch. Or it might have been his imagination.

"She must be back from her evening walk." Tolon said with a shrug, "Though it's a little early. I will greet her first; she doesn't like surprises, as you noticed."

Grinning uncomfortably, Esmer let him go, but the moment he opened the door, he drew in a sharp intake of breath.

"Gods! Get a rag and draw some water." Tolon said, "Now!"

...

She approached from the bank of the river, her clothes soaked through. She stumbled, her hair a tangled mess. She was covered in blood.

"Haidée!" he yelled, running as fast as he could with his shins. Esmer caught up quickly, and met her first.

"By the gods..." he gasped, forcing her down, "Be still, my dear. Tolon, her neck!"

He saw well enough; her roughspun dress was torn at the collar; the bridge of her neck and shoulder gushed blood, a deep, dark wound already festering with streaks of gangrene.

"I'll apply pressure to the wound." Esmer said, holding the cloth over it after soaking it with water. "Tolon, help me get her inside."

Together, they led her back into the house, and set her on the bed.

Gods, she was so pale...

"What did this?" he choked, crying as he did not when his wife had fallen ill.

Not her too... Not her too...

Haidée gulped, the rag stained red against her neck, "Goblin."

...

Ryuu waited out the daylight hours in a dusty corner of the Lonesome Tankard tavern and inn, nursing a mug of dry cider made from apples locally grown in Eveningstar's orchards and fermented somewhere nearby. Having walked the word, absorbing its varied customs, he had learned how to hide his condition well.

Unlike most of his kind, Ryuu was possessed of no crypt. He had a pinch of dust taken from his resting place in a pouch hanging from his neck, inside of his tunic, enchanted to serve as his "coffin". He could move anywhere with it, and likewise, needed not rest in a state akin to death as most of his kin did. He still slept every now and again; the body needed it not, but the mind was another matter.

But not today.

Today he was positively brimming with excitement. On his first night in Cormyr's darker side, he had seen an ancient Vampire, a Bodak, scores of lesser and moderate undead, and several juicy necromancers to feed on. He had stored the leftovers in a flask on his belt, a cousin to the bag of holding, and damn was he full from what he did drink!

He could not hide his grin as he took another long draught, more for appearances than anything else. He could barely taste its dry bitterness at all, though to a mortal, it likely would have been very potent.

"Vorel." he said smoothly, catching the attention of the serving maid, a young Human female, "What is your top shelf wine?"

She frowned at his appearance as much as his draconic honorific; Lizardfolk were exotic enough in this region, which was lucky, really, because their lack of knowledge on his race made it easier to pass as a mortal. He did not even have his hood up, and while he caught more than one puzzled stare, he gave them no cause for alarm.

"We have two wines grown by the Uskevran household in Stormweather Towers." she said finally, scratching her chin, "The first has a light and sweet taste with hints of wild berries. It is a lion piece for a glass, eight for the bottle. The second, a dry wine grown from white grapes, is three lions for a glass, a tricrown and a lion for the bottle. We also have a bubbly wine invented by the wizards of Longsaddle, one lion per glass of six per bottle, and a sparkling wine from Cormanthyr, but, between you and me, nobody buys it because it has no alcohol."

Lions were gold pieces, tricrowns were platinum. Top shelf indeed.

Ryuu considered for a moment, then, handing her a gold coin minted in Thay, "I will try a glass of that Uskevran red, I think. Sembians seem to know how to make wine properly, and I have had enough of wizard's brews from that Silvery Snail in Wheloon. Ugh; magic is not the way to a proper flavor!"

The lass eyed him, then the coin, frowning, "We can take foreign currency here, sir, but I would get all of that converted; outside of here, you will find we accept only Cormyrean currency".

Nodding, though he was hardly listening, Ryuu leaned back in his chair, downing the last of his mug, listening to the din of conversation. The Lonesome Tankard, as was any tavern in any Human city, was a great way to receive news of anything important, though, obviously, its sources could not always be trusted.

Waterdeep was still being plagued by droughts. Sad, but not really his specialty. A portal supposedly opened north of Damara, near the Great Glacier, reportedly spewing ice demons. That might be worth inspection. There were fires sprouting up in Shadowdale, maybe demons as well, but he'd be damned if he was going to travel within a hundred leagues of the old haunts of Mystra's chosen.

His drink arrived, and he tipped a pair of silvers, earning an uneasy smile. He took a sip, and finding it satisfactory, dared a longer draught.

"So you heard about Tolon's daughter?" one drunk said at his table, his voice a little shaky from the two mugs he had downed since Ryuu had wandered in, "Hear she is bedridden, and her betrothed says she got bitten by some mad Goblin or something. They don't know what she has, but it doesn't look good. Be a shame, it would, if she went like her mother".

He leaned forward, thinking. Eveningstar was pretty close to the Haunted Halls. Could he have missed something?

Curious, Ryuu stood up, and approached the table, earning a few rotten looks.

"Eh? What you want, scaly?" one of them snapped, and he let a more amiable smile grace his lips before replying, "My apologies, good sirs, but I was wondering; did they catch this "Goblin"? I have to leave the city in the evening, for other parts, you see."

The Human, a farmer by the rough garb and his unshaved face, shrugged, "No. Damned thing got away."

He eyed Ryuu's sword belt, "You look fit enough to handle some stray beast. Get you gone."

He turned, and started, "This Tolon fellow. Where does he live?"

The farmer was already back into his mug, and coughed, cider dribbling down his chin, "Still on about that? You know, for a scary looking fellow, you sure are a frightened li'l Halfling on the inside. Tolon's place is just out east, on the bank of the Starwater. So you know to stay away. Now leave us be. Just decent folk trying to enjoy a mug."

Bowing, Ryu set down his glass, and went up the stairs. He could find the place quickly, but he had to wait until late evening. He was not in the mood for a tan...

...

Another site. Another dead end.

Sirahani cursed her ill luck; it had taken centuries to isolate Cormyr as the only possible homeland for a very certain one of Tolenkov's underlings, and thus, the site of his necromantic research. But despite her efforts, she had not found even a trace of his works.

But she remained patient. Aurus had been a genius in manipulating negative energy, and small pockets of corruption would linger even now, manifesting as uniquely powerful undead. There were be a trace of his doings, most certainly.

And she would find it, the better to use his work to her own purposes.

Nightfall wasn't far now. She would travel further into Cormyr, drawn to areas saturated with unholy magic.

There were quite a few yet...

...

Alexander walked east out of Eveningstar in the fading light of dusk, his heavy heart weighing his steps at the loss of his friends.

But he could not wait and grieve. He had heard news of a woman in need of a healer...or...someone to give her the last rites. It was his duty, and he was in such a position that he could arrive within a day.

"I will return to that place." he decided, "I will recover the ashes of my friends, and I will inter them as they deserve."

"Sounds like a plan to me, Sunathaer." mused a voice to his side, and Alexander jumped, cursing.

He cursed again as he found Ryuu, his hood up, walking beside him, though he skirted the rays of dim orange sunlight that still shone through the canopy of the forest.

Alexander stopped, began to draw his Morningstar, but Ryuu waved dismissively, "Peace, Sunathaer. I could have pounced on you when you were sulking. I did not. A little confidence would be nice."

"You are a Vampire." he retorted, flummoxed.

Ryuu tut-tutted, scratching his chin, "This again? You become less interesting every time we talk."

"I find it hard to believe you are a friend to the living."

"If you must know, I've made many friends among the living." Ryuu parried, "My first was Vikrama, who so enjoyed riddles, although I must admit I owed the poor fellow much before he died. Not my fault, I assure you."

He shrugged.

"So, where are you heading?"

Alexander paused, then relaxed, resuming his walk, "None of your concern."

It would go away. Hopefully. He would not allow it to follow him to the child.

Ryuu eyed him oddly, keeping pace, before smiling, "Well, if I would guess...you are going to that poor girl to save the day. What a coincidence."

What? Had news spread so quickly? And what would Ryuu find of interest in this?

Alexander scowled, "You will stay well away from them."

He purposefully angled towards the thinnest concentrations of trees, onto the main road, forcing the Vampire to move more quickly and carefully to keep pace and avoid the setting sun. Aside from that infuriating grin, Ryuu gave no impression that he even noticed.

"You are probably thinking what I am; something might have gotten out of the halls. And if she is suddenly ill from a bite..."

"You did this?!"

"Certainly not. I was in the Lonesome Tankard all day, drinking. You can ask the bartender and the serving wench. I am very...ahem, memorable."

When this was over, Alexander knew he would do exactly that. Vampires were creatures of deceit.

"Vampires can get drunk?"

"Not really. It was just better than hiding in a crypt or something."

"Well then, what do you think happened?"

Ryuu paused, frowning, then, "Well, if I had to guess; the villagers said it was a Goblin that bit her, so it was not a true Vampire like myself. A feral, maybe, driven mad by experimentation, or maybe a Ghoul; a Vampire Familiar, that got loose and wandered off. Then again, it really might have been a Goblin, and she might have caught a mundane illness. I have seen odder things happen."

"That, I do not doubt."

The Vampire laughed, a deep belly chortle laced with a raspy hiss, "You have a sense of humor after all. Tell me, Sunathaer, from where do you hail?"

"Westgate." Alexander replied, not really meaning to. The path became more uneven and rocky. The forest thickened, and Ryuu was again uncomfortably close, "Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Calling you what?"

"Sunathaer."

"It is our word for one touched by the gods. A cleric, or some such, in your tongue." Ryuu replied, "So...a denizen from Westgate with a chip on your shoulder. I will guess you hail from noble stock."

"None of your business."

"Okay, definitely from noble stock. A family with poor reputation, but great wealth."

"What?"

"That or you are an outcast in your family, or perhaps both."

"I never-"

"This family did not originate in Westgate. It came from somewhere else."

"Alright, damn you!" Alexander snapped, "My name is Alexander Mallyth. My family came from Tethyr."

Ryuu scratched his chin, "Sounds familiar. Didn't they get stripped of their noble status for engaging in organized crime?"

"That was over four hundred years ago."

"I'm sure they cleaned up their act by now."

"They did not."

"And so you joined a cloister, seeking some grand purpose in your life, but failed to find it completely. You could account for yourself and your actions, but not your family's. Hence, the hostility at my line of questioning."

"I am hostile because you are a Vampire, and I do not like you."'

Ryuu chuckled, "Well said.", motioning to the path, "So what is the plan?"

"The plan is you leave."

"That isn't much of a plan."

"Why not?"

"Because I am a Vampire. Who better to consult on a potential Vampire bite?"

He eyed the creature, wanting desperately to attack it or chase it off but unable to deny its logic. It could have killed him twice now. It was not an immediate threat.

"Fine, just stay out of my way. I will not allow you to bring harm to anyone in there."

"Of course, my friend, of course."

...

Tolon heard a knock on the door, and sighed wearily, thanking the gods that someone had arrived in time. He rushed to it, rushing in his case as smooth a hobble as he could muster with his shins, and opened it, finding a welcome sight. A young man robed in grey stood there. He looked in his middling years, maybe a decade older than Esmer. His shaven face and short hair gave him a stark, almost militaristic bearing, but his dark eyes were nonetheless gentle and reserved. He looked like a man who smiled often, though presently he only looked concerned.

He wore a tabard, marked by the symbol of...Ilmater? It was a rack, a torture implement, like that used in a dungeon. That looked like Ilmater's symbol, as odd as it was.

"Hello, good sir." the man said in a soft voice, "My name is Alexander, and I am a servant of Ilmater. I have heard rumors of an injured woman in these parts."

"...and we came here to help." added a second voice in a smooth, sinuous voice, and he strained to see the man in the priest's shadow, unnoticed until now. A figure, cloaked in white. A scarf hid his face, but Tolon thought he saw a silver brooch in the shape of a rose. Lathander's symbol.

Good, another priest.

Tolon nodded, "Come inside, please. Both of you. I invite you into my home."

The man in the white cloak tensed at those last six words, but did as he bade. He didn't introduce himself, but Tolon didn't care, if he was here to help as well.

His daughter, his Haidée, lay in her bed, murmuring in her sleep.

She was so pale...

Her pupils were dilated, wide as saucers. She perspired heavily, though her skin was gooseflesh; the signs of a fever, though one worse than any he had ever seen. The deep wounds in her shoulder were wrapped; they had been made by serration, not punctures. The fiend that had marked her had twisted its head mid-bite, tearing flesh and grazing her bone. It had been a terrible wound, all the more with whatever infection it propagated.

He had no idea what to do. This was no common fever. What was happening to his child?

The priest in grey knelt at her bedside, taking her hand in his. She did not stir.

"The Crying God preserve us." he whispered, eyes closed, "Allow me to understand the suffering of this woman, your servant, that I might give aid and end her suffering."

For a time, nothing. The fires of the hearth crackled. Haidée moaned in her sleep, and Tolon shifted uneasily.

Then, something appeared on the back of Haidée's wrist. A marking in black. A symbol, like a wheel formed of arrows, but barbed and menacing. A lidless eye with a narrow slit."

"Shit." exclaimed the man in the white cloak, leaning over the bed. The priest in grey started, then eyed his fellow with barely concealed hostility. "What is it? I do not know this symbol."

"Kanchelsis..." he replied, "...a demigod reigning over the 487th layer of the Abyss. The first and master of Vampires."

Tolon blanched, and felt his heart break. He wept, horrified.

His girl...his little girl...

"So it is true, then." the priest replied sadly, "Something must have escaped the Haunted Halls, and attacked this woman. We are to blame."

"Aye, and the issue is twofold; the beast roams free. It has to be dealt with." the second priest, the one with the rose brooch, replied, throwing off his hood.

Tolon nearly grabbed the axe in the corner; it was a hideous monster covered in pale grey scales, which eyed him with visible amusement.

"Ease." it replied, lifting its hands in a gesture of surrender, "I just need a sample of its saliva. Did you clean the wound?"

Tolon nodded, dimly.

"Do you still have the rag?"

Again Tolon nodded.

"May I see it, please?"

Grimacing, he obliged, leaning over the wash basin and collecting the soiled rags he'd used before binding the wound in gauze. They were almost completely soaked through with her blood.

Before he could do anything, the creature took them, pressed them against his nose, and inhaled.

"I have it." the creature replied after a few moments, nodding, handing back the rags, though Tolon dropped them back into the bucket the moment they touched his hands.

What in the hells was this thing?

"You see what you can do for the girl." it said, "I will take care of the Feral."

"And how will you prove that to me?" the priest snapped, to which it smiled, "I can bring back its head, if you want. Unless it is a certain species, it will not disintegrate into ash upon death".

At the priest's consent, the creature walked out his door, and darted into the night.

...

Ryuu trotted out of eyeshot of the cabin, and became as a flight of bats, scattering himself to track down his prey.

It was not because he particularly cared if anyone else fell prey to it, but the Haunted Halls should have been over and done with. He did not like leaving business unfinished, and besides, if a Vampire spread its condition wide enough, it might alert all of Cormyr to be on the lookout. And he did not want to be bothered with such nonsense.

Sniffing the air with a hundred noses, the Vampire began to search for a trail.

...

Alexander healed the girl's wounds, as a start, channeling Ilmater's cleansing light. The grazed bone smoothened out, the muscle re-knit itself over it, and a fresh layer of skin grew to seal the wound. It might weaken the infection to deprive it of its initial point, so he needed to try before attacking the illness itself.

"Lord Ilmater, guide my hand." he prayed, her father beside him, hand in his, "That I may cleanse this poor soul of her suffering. Give me the strength to banish her inflictions."

Spells burned into his mind, gifted directly from the Crying God and precisely selected for his task; the power to banish illness, the power to shear through magical curses. The power to directly commune with Ilmater's realm, and, should he fail, transport her soul directly into the afterlife it provided.

He did not consider that last grim implication. Without preamble, he began to cast.

...

Pain, pain, pain.

But hunger.

It was hungry first. It had to feed.

Yes, down, down, yes; it smelled meat. Sweet, juicy, tender meat.

Yes, Feed. Feed.

Then it would learn why it hurt.

It ran on fours, its nails digging into the ground.

Yes, feed. It found a scent, faint but there.

Yes, feed. It was small, so small, but so sweet. It was somewhere; it could follow the food, but not catch it. Run, yes, run faster. Catch it. Eat it.

Yes, feed.

...

Ryuu baited his prey with a low flying bat, steering it into a wide clearing near the river. It had taken a few hours to find it; the Ghoul had wandered far indeed. Morning was now well under way.

A mindless beast, it acted as expected, lumbering after a source of food without cunning. With the Starwater, he would not need to worry about the thing escaping, not that it would anyway.

He perched himself, all of himself, on the lowest hanging branch of the trees on the opposite end of the river, in plain view of the beast.

Reforming and taking a close look, he knew it was a Ghoul, though, in retrospect, he might have easily mistaken it for a Goblin as well. Little more than an enthralled Zombie with a diluted strain of vampirism, the Ghoul inherited a Vampire's weaknesses, especially sunlight. It, utterly without self preservation, had walked in the light of the sun in its blind hunt for food, roasting its flesh in the process. It was slow, in no small part due to its injuries.

Still, it was impressive that the girl had managed to escape it.

Sitting cross-legged, Ryuu watched from the shade as the Ghoul ran into the water, and immediately tumbled sideways. As running water touched undead flesh, it dissolved, as if in acid.

Awed, he looked on, tail darting.

By the time the Ghoul rounded the bend in the river two bowshots down, there was little of it left save a pile of mush.

"Hrast!" he cursed, striking himself in the face, "I forgot Alexander wanted its head. Poor help I am!"

His task nonetheless complete, Ryu decided to take a leisurely stroll back. There was a beaver damn a small walk downstream. He would take his time.

Uncharacteristically somber, Ryu considered the girl, and sighed.

The priest would need this time to figure out that the blessing of Kanchelsis did not bend to the will of other gods...

...

Alexander heard Ryuu enter.

He was gloating; he could have entered silently if he wanted to. The Vampire stood beside him, eyeing the girl.

"There is nothing more I can do." he said flatly, "I can wake her for a time to...to offer her last rights, but little else."

He had failed. He had exhausted everything but the Crying God's final tribute. And he did not have the heart to cast it yet.

Ryuu nodded.

"You knew this already."

Again, Ryuu nodded.

"Then why did you say nothing?!" he snapped, eyeing the fiend.

"There is something we can do." Ryu replied coolly, ignoring his anger, eyeing the girl with something resembling embarrassment, "But I wanted you to try first, so you understood where we stood on things. So you could understand that there is no other way."

"What? Please, tell me?" Tolon snapped, sweat beading his brow, his eyes wide, "If you can help my Haidée, than do it! I beg you! Whatever you are, you must have a measure of sympathy in your heart."

Ryuu nodded, for once serious.

"I hesitate to speak it...but the lass deserves it; a Ghoul transmits its condition like a disease, similar but more basic than a Vampire might. Nonetheless, the rate of infection and nature of the ailment, part illness, part magical curse, it virtually identical. The bite of a Vampire, however, is more pure, more refined, more powerful. Becoming a Vampire changes the body far more than becoming a Ghoul might entail."

He paused, shrugging, "One can offset the other. She can avoid becoming a Ghoul, with the bite and the blood of a powerful Vampire."

He eyed Tolon, and now his expression was unreadable, "She needs my blood."

The man stood rigid, snarling.

He reached for the axe.

Alexander drew his Morningstar.

"Ease, fools." Ryu replied, holding up his hand, "It is not your decision to make, nor is it my own. Only she can speak for her sake. Alexander, you said you could wake her?"

He should not say it. He could not say it.

"Alexander..." Ryu chided, "I will be sure she knows what I am suggesting, but I will not let you two buffoons interfere. If I really wanted to, I could tear the lot of you to ribbons and you, Sunathaer, know this. Wake her up".

"You will not touch my daughter, you monster!" Tolon snarled, lifting his axe and lunging forward.

Ryuu caught his arm, as effortlessly as subduing a child, and locked eyes with him. He went rigid.

Alexander knew what was happening; a Vampire could charm its prey with a hypnotic gaze. It was generally how they fed. He tightened his grip on his weapon.

But Ryuu did not bite him. He set the man down, leaving him dazed and nonresponsive, and then turned to the girl.

His back was rigid. His tail was tightly curled to rest against his leg, pointing forward. He hissed, but it didn't sound aggressive.

"Alexander. Wake. Her. Up."

...

There was darkness all around her. She saw streaks of rot, rivulets of blood. She heard laughter, though it also sounded like enormous stones grating against each other.

But then Haidée stirred from sleep, her temples pounding in her head.

It was so hot...wait, no, it was cold. Was it? Someone rubbed her forehead with a damp cloth, and she heard someone moaning.

Oh. It was her...

"Can you hear me?" whispered a sibilant but gentle voice, "Say nothing. Just, squeeze my hand."

She felt someone's hand in hers, so she tried just that.

"Good. Now, try to open your eyes."

She managed; she was in Father's bed. And...

"Shhh..." the monster sitting over it whispered, "You are fine. My name is Ryuu. Look, your father is over there."

She strained to look around it, and did see her father, eyeing her dimly with an expression she had not seen since Ma had passed.

"I am here as well, Haidée." a man in grey said, maybe a friar, like the men at the chapel of Lathander in Eveningstar. It was odd, but she could not help but notice how cute he was; he had a lean face, clean and shaven, with a strong, imperial nose and chin, and the deepest, saddest eyes she had ever seen.

He was thin, but fit, a heavy spiked mace in his belt, alongside an amulet, maybe a talisman or charm.

His expression was somehow even more foreboding than her father's.

"What is it?" she asked, clearing her throat and smiling weakly, "What's wrong?"

Ryuu frowned, "I need you to listen to me very carefully, Haidée. Can you do that for me?"

Nervous, shivering, she nodded.

...

Alexander watched the emotions, genuine emotions, play across Ryuu's face.

He wasn't sure what to make of this, any of this.

Ryuu was a monster. Alexander should have killed it in the halls.

But now it showed compassion for this girl; it had nothing to gain. Ryuu did not strike him as the sort who would favor taking a minion.

"The creature that bit you was no Goblin. It was a Ghoul. There is no cure; unless we act now, you will become a Ghoul as well. You will hunt. You will kill. You will feed, on the flesh of mortals. There are only two ways we can help you. Do you understand?"

Now shaking for a reason beyond her fever, the girl nodded.

"One; you die. I will have my friend here perform your last rites, and...sanctify you, afterwards. This way, you will not rise in undeath. Your soul will find its way to whatever god you worship."

"But, I-"

"You have one chance to survive this, but I cannot say what will happen to you, in spirit. My condition, my curse, is something that changes people; they are not quite the same after, not ever. But you encountered a Feral. You, a simple farmhand, and you lived to tell the tale. You show promise. You might be strong enough to continue on."

He squeezed her hand, "I can take away your ailment by replacing it. I can make you a Vampire like me."

She squirmed in his grip, but she was weak from illness, and he was iron.

Yes, Ryuu was a monster. He might not always have been; from what he knew the Lizardfolk from the Vilhon Reach were hardly civilized, but they were not Orcs or Drow or Demons either.

But he was a monster now. He was a Vampire.

And he suggested turning this woman, this innocent woman, into a Vampire as well.

"You will not be able to return here; I will not have your father or anyone else harmed because you could not contain yourself. You will not see your father for many years, if at all."

Her eyes went wide as saucers.

"But you will live; aye, you will become strong, strong enough to weather this burden and this world. I will take you on as my apprentice. I will help you endure this curse, and make it your own. Hells, in time, you will think it a boon. If you are strong enough..."

"But I am going to live here. Father told me I-I am to marry Esmer in Eveningstar, that w-we were going to grow grapes for the winemakers right in the yard. I-I...-"

"I am sorry, Haidée. I wish there was more that I or my friend could do. But you have a choice to make. Dying is easy. People do it all the time. Can you take account for your choices? Can you get back on your feet? Are you strong enough to live with this?"

Alexander tightened his grip on his Morningstar. He had to do something. He had to stop this.

Ilmater, show him another way...

"You will feel not the bite of steel or iron. You will never tire. You will never age, never fall sick, though you will hunger. Always. It will try to break you, this hunger. It will seek to imbalance you, to make you abandon your ideals, the person you were before. In the uncountable ages of your life, you may even forget who you were completely. What is a few choice decades against centuries? Millennia?"

The girl eyed her father, whose eyes shone with tears. She whimpered, too weak for sobs.

"You will outlive anyone you have even known; even the Elves will fall and decay where you will not. You will find common ground only with your kind, Shades, Dragons, or the gods themselves, and at any point, you may count one or all as your allies, and they in turn will fear and respect you as such."

Ilmater, show him the way... What must he do?

"But I have lived with this, aye. It is something you can get used to, something you can learn to find peace with, and even enjoy. It is a life, even in undeath, Haidée. I would not describe it so unless I thought you had a chance."

"So what will it be? Do you choose death, or life? Are you willing to fight for a second chance? Or is the price of eternity too steep? I will not judge you, either way, though the world might."

It was her choice...

He could not intervene.

Alexander covered his face in his hands; if Ryuu had not killed him, had saved his life, had done all of these things with no ulterior motive save his own amusement, than perhaps his soul had remained relatively intact. Perhaps hers could as well. He did not approve, but his hands were tied.

Tolon, likewise, did nothing. He was still pale with shock and grief, sitting on the floor and watching numbly as his daughter, by the looks of things, his only remaining kin, decided her fate.

With nothing else that he could do, Alexander sat down beside him, and lay a hand on his shoulder.

"This is all I can do?" she asked, stricken, and Ryuu nodded.

"It's not fair."

Again, Ryuu nodded. His expression, while inhuman and difficult to read, softened visibly.

"It never is. I'm so sorry."

She looked away, to the wall behind her, opposite him. Alexander could no longer read her expression.

"Would it be such a bad thing...?" she asked, her voice breaking, "I would go to my mother. To Granfa. To all the rest of my family before me."

Ryuu said nothing.

She looked back, to face them. Her eyes, dark lidded against her pale skin and tinged with red, were nonetheless resolved.

"I want to live." Haidée finally replied, visibly terrified but determined, "I'm scared of being...something that isn't me, but I'm not ready! I'm not ready to die!"

Her hands still shook, but they gripped the blankets tightly, and her gaze did not waver as Ryuu nodded, "I understand. There is no guilt to that."

"Very well." the Vampire nodded, and, while his back was turned, Alexander watched him remove his torc, revealing odd markings starting at the bridge of his neck and shoulders, and then slip off his layered tunic.

Alexander gasped, his grip on Tolon tightening.

Ryuu's scales were deeply pitted in long but deep canyons all across the surface of his back, crisscrossing repeatedly in intricate overlapping layers.

Lash marks.

Some were nearly healed, little more than pale grey lines, and others were barely scabbed over, the scales surrounded them pressed up and revealing puffy, irritated skin. A few bled lightly. He could see the beginning lengths of several all along the small of the back, presumably ending somewhere in the upper thighs and buttocks. In certain regions along the lower back there were deeper, darker wounds, the scales...seared? Burning brands, perhaps?

Someone had mercilessly whipped him, over an extended period, all the while burning his flesh with hot iron and jabbing him with small edged implements. All of these wounds were improperly angled for self-inflictions. Their presence made no sense. On a Vampire, they should have regenerated with feeding.

Ryuu drew a small knife, and casually sliced open the muscle bridging his neck and clavicle. Against such injuries, such a thing must not have overly bothered him. His blood, oddly thick and dark, almost like tar, seeped from the wound. He held the incision open with the flat of two fingers.

"I am going to perform a rite of my own." Ryuu continued, either uncaring or unaware of Alexander's scrutiny, "A rite nearly as old as the world itself; a prayer of sorts to Kanchelsis. A rite that will burn away the Ghoul's pestilence. You must do as I say, and not resist. Are you ready?"

Looking to her father, Haidée nearly lost her composure, but nodded, biting her lip.

"Good. I want you to bite my neck, here." he said, lifting her partially out of bed in a parody of an embrace. "Bite hard; you need some of my blood. Try not to gag on it."

Gods, save them.

Minutes passed, as the girl lay there, too afraid to act but too afraid to push him away. Ryuu had to keep the wound peeled open, as Alexander could see it was already beginning to regenerate. He'd fed, very recently.

Eventually, she complied, and Alexander and her father alike grimaced at the wet impact of her teeth sinking into him. She whimpered, but he heard a wet lapping sound follow it.

Gods, forgive them.

"Drink some, but let the rest linger in your mouth." Ryu instructed, waiting a few moments, then letting her lean back with an outstretched arm, he drew up her hand, bearing her wrist.

Gods, forgive him.

He opened his mouth wide, revealing a full set of pointed teeth, but a pair were longer than the rest.

Fangs...

Ilmater, forgive him...

Ryuu sank his fangs into Haidée's wrist, and the faint suckling sound nearly drove Tolon into hysterics. Alexander had no choice but to restrain him, but, in his peripheral vision, he saw Ryuu embrace the girl one final time, and force her into a kiss, intermingling their blood.

He looked away after that, unable to bear more...

...

The girl was fast asleep.

Soon, her condition would deteriorate, and she would experience death, hardening with rigor mortis. Then, two days hence, she would rise.

Ryuu turned to the others, saw Alexander's expression, and grinned, slipping his tunic back on and wiping the blood from his mouth, and then Haidée's.

"Well then..." he said.

"Well, then..." Alexander replied shakily.

He eyed the father, who looked insensate.

"Take him to Eveningstar." Ryuu ordered, weary, handing over ten gold pieces, "Board him at either the House of the Morning chapel or the Lonesome Tankard for two weeks. He can have all the hard drink he wants tonight; he will need it. Stop him afterward, though. I want him out of the bottle by the time you return. On the morning of the fifteenth day hence, you can return him here; we will be gone by then. If he wants to settle inside the city, you will find fifteen platinum coins in a false panel under the shelf there. I'll pay for his permanent lodgings. Now get lost; ...I need to rest up a bit. That was harder than it looked."

Chapter 3

Cormyr (13th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

He started, waking in the dark. Careful not to also wake his mate, the he disentangled himself from her, and stood between her and the curtain that led outside. He sniffed the air.

He hissed, puzzled, detecting an unusual scent in the warm, stale air. Collecting his bow and a pair of arrows, usually reserved for hunting, Ryuu crept outside, taking in the dim starlight filtering down through the trees as he scanned for signs of intruders. Nothing; his village, a collection of straw thatch yurts, was as it always was. The village was not large; two columns of yurts, placed at the flattest, rockiest earth on the beach of the wide river oasis, a simple rope bridge connecting one side to the other. The communal fire-pit was on the other side, in a shallow bowl lined with large stones taken from the nearby desert. All was well. The scent was gone. He could not track it further...

Hissing a second time, but more in irritation at his interrupted sleep, the Lizardman slipped back into his yurt and considered laying back down. Oki, his mate, had not woken, and the bedroll they shared looked awfully tempting. Shrugging, Ryuu sat cross-legged against the wall, and watched her sleep, his eyes quickly adjusting to the low visibility. She was curled in a tight little ball, her long, narrow tail resting just under her chin. Her hooked claws were just out of range of the bedroll, so she did not tear it if she stirred. Her belly was swollen with eggs, though at this stage it was impossible to tell how many she might lay for her first clutch. She was nude; more because of the summer heat than anything they might have done beforehand, the better to reveal her gleaming slate-colored scales. Smiling, Ryuu relaxed, watching the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

After a time, she woke. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of gold-flecked amber, and they had always been her most distinguished attribute. Those eyes darted from side to side, confused. "Ryuu?" she asked, her tongue flickering as she tried to place him in the room. When she found him in the dark, she smiled, albeit dazedly, rubbing her eyes. She was attractive among their kin, with her wide birthing hips, slender neck, and shapely tail, enough so that she could have chosen any of the males of the village as a mate. But she had chosen him, even though he was in his middling years. He had never understood why, but he did not need to.

"Yes, sun on my scales." he replied, his voice a much softer, gentler pitch than was normal among their kin, "I could not sleep. I am sorry if I woke you as well".

Shrugging, Oki sat up, favoring her belly, "I felt a little flushed anyways".

"Morning sickness?" he asked, to which she nodded, "Just like every morning, and half of every cycle. I swear, they had better come out soon, because I have no idea how I keep them fed".

Chuckling, Ryuu nodded, "Aye, but fear not. It is only a few more tendays. After that, we can wait a while to make the next". "I had not even considered that." she groaned comically, "Laying really is a bother." to which he laughed, "Peace, sun on my scales. Your mind will change once they hatch ".

To that, she smiled, "Maybe. Mother talks about it all the time. If it is anything like that..."

"What do you think we should name them?" she asked suddenly, and Ryuu shrugged, "If there are females, strong names. If there are males...strong names all around. They will come to need them, I am sure".

"Like yours?" she asked, "Dragon Spirit seems like a strong name, fit for a warrior".

"A little excessive, I think." he shrugged, "I am no Dragon. I still do not know what my own mother was thinking."

"How are they doing?" she asked, "I know you just got back from visiting them in the evening, but I was too tired to ask".

He frowned, "Mother is ready to pass into the beyond, and Father might soon join her". Her smile died instantly, "Oh. I...I am sorry. I did not mean to-"

"No, do not fret." he interrupted, offering a tired, sad smile, "It is their time, perhaps. All find their journey in time. I will do what I can to keep them comfortable. The rest is up to them".

Nodding, Oki eyed him, before yawning, her mouth opening wide, her uniformly sharp, pointed teeth in stark profile, "I am about ready to go back to sleep. How about you?" to which he shrugged, "Perhaps. If not, I will end up sleeping tomorrow, and then where will I be?"

She smiled mischievously, "Probably receiving another admonishment from the patriarch for being lazy".

Oki lay down, curling up again, and Ryuu joined her, stretching out before pressing against her, "What need has a male for playing an instrument like the soft skins, when there is hunting to be done, he asks? He did not complain much about my professions when my herbs treated his dysentery!" to which Oki giggled, "That put a pep in his step, certainly. Fret not, Ryuu, he will accept you in time. He is just stubborn".

Ryuu felt Oki relax in his grip, sighing, and he followed her into slumber...

...

Haidée snapped awake just as she felt this Ryuu drift asleep, and found herself in her father's bed.

What was she doing-

And then the evens of the last day imposed upon her at once.

"Oh..." she moaned, lifting her hands to her face. They were cold, and she looked to them, dumbstruck.

They were pale, so pale. There were a pair of small puncture marks along her wrist, lined in red. Her nails had darkened. They were thicker too, much more firmly rooted to her fingertips, curving slightly near their pointed tips.

Claws.

The bandage over her shoulder was gone; she felt for the wound, and found only a thin scar. There was a bucket, in the corner, where Father had cleaned it.

She rose, and then fell out of bed, hitting the floor hard, but she barely felt it.

She had to know.

Haidée went to the bucket, and peered down...

Into a reflection of the walls and ceiling of the room. Nothing more.

It wasn't a dream. The bite. The kiss. Blood flowing down her throat, bubbling from her lips. The laughing god.

All of it.

She curled into a ball, and felt herself shake with the strength of her cries, though she buried them in herself, and made no sound.

Gods, gods help her!

Eventually, when she felt too drained to continue, she lifted her head, and looked around. She found the man, the Lizardman, from her dreams, sitting cross-legged on the bare table, eyeing her intently.

"Feeling better, I trust." he said, crossing his arms and grinning, "How is it?"

"What?"

"Undeath. Not what you were expecting, right?"

The desolation threatened, but Haidée held it at bay. Something about him seemed to steady her.

She wasn't sure what to think of that.

She paused, sitting up, "I guess. I feel...dry."

"Like old paper?"

"Kind of."

"I can fix that. Close your eyes."

She did, and as he stepped over to her, she smelled some heavenly aroma. It reminded her of carved beef, dripping with dark sauce...

Haidée bit down into something hard, but it was just as juicy, and she drank in. She started to ask what he had brought, but opened her eyes to find she was gnawing on his forearm.

As she gagged, sputtered an apology, Ryuu laughed, "Now, now. You weren't going to do that on your own. And you feel better now, yes?"

She nodded, scowling at him, "Ryuu-"

"You will not refer to me by name. I am your tutor, your mentor. I will accept nothing less than Master. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ...Master."

"Good. Now then, when you returned from death, I heard you murmuring something; a name, that you should not know. Oki. What did you dream about? Do you remember?"

Haidée had to ponder for a moment; soon, she began recalling details of her strange dream, and she gasped, "Oh. I...I dreamed I was you, Master."

He chuckled, though she saw something else in his expression that she couldn't identify, "That happens sometimes; when you are first turned, you get a few memories from your sire. Nothing too important. Anyway, now that you're awake it's time we had a chat."

"Was that real?"

Ryuu tilted his head, uncertain, "Huh?"

"With Oki. Did that really happen?"

"Whatever you saw? Yes, it did."

"Where did you come from? Where was this happening?"

Ryuu sighed, "Alright, you win; business can wait. My people came from the mountains south of Chondath. You call us Lizardfolk, and after a few centuries as slaves to the Humans of that region, we lost track of what we called ourselves or our tribe. Eventually, we were freed by one of our own, a Druid of Mielikki who had decades ago escaped to the north and trained with the Elves. After freeing us, she had created an oasis north of Hlondeth in the neighboring Turmish, a hidden place for us to live free and safe."

"You were and are well spoken for someone living in a secluded oasis."

"Hah, you mean for a Lizardfolk? Well, generations of slavery had given my tribe a good grip on the Human tongues, and we did trade every now and again with Hlondeth. We always bought books, never having enough time to figure out what they were; mostly, we sought forging manuals and spell tomes, but hardly wanted anyone to become privy to that. I ended up with all the blowsy romance novels, and took an instant liking to them. With fair ladies with gorgeous faces and plunging blouses, of knights in silvery plate and fearsome steeds, dragons in dark caves and evil wizards with braided beards and pointed hats. You know, that stuff. I tailored my speech to mimic them."

"What happened to you? To her?"

His expression soured, and closed over, "Maybe another time. For now, we have much to do. Now that you're a Vampire, you need a good idea of your new abilities, and your new limitations."

"Oh?"

Ryuu nodded.

"Oh? Yes; it is a mixed blessing, child. We can go over the abilities first, though. Since you haven't managed the rite of passage of the first feeding, most of your powers are not available to you. A little snack isn't going to cut it, you see. It is like learning to walk, when you can only crawl. First, you are much stronger now. You could easily overpower a male of your species...but I would give it some time before you go fist-a-cuffs with an Ogre or something similarly proportioned."

Haidée nodded.

"You are much faster too. You could outrun a practiced sprinter, and you do not become winded. Have you noticed that you aren't breathing?"

She gulped, waited, now focusing on it, and nodded, disturbed.

"Right then. Some idiots keep breathing, and get winded only because they would have been in life. Good that we don't need to bother. For the finesse side, we will train with fists, running, and with periods of lifting heavy things. I have a few stone slabs prepared for you."

"How did you do that already?" she asked, "It has only been hours..."

"It has been two days, child. Now Hush! Anyway, once we have that down, I will teach you blade work. I find it sharpens the intellect as much as the reflexes and intuition. When I feel like you can handle a sword without cutting off your hand, we can begin with sorcery."

"What?" Haidée stammered, "I am no wizard..."

Ryuu grinned, "Yes, you are. You are my child now, as much as you are Tolon's. Perhaps more so. You have inherited my ability to tap Mystra's weave. Also, your flesh resists the bite of steel and cold, and many magical effects. Necromancy, save that of a clerical nature, cannot effect you, because you are already dead."

A wizard... She would be a wizard? Like in the chapbooks?

On one hand, she was sickened; she was raised as a magic-fearing person. Better that people solved their problems with politics, honest trading, or, if that failed, steel. Something about one person being able to call down storms, obliterate whole armies, and otherwise violate the laws of nature, just seemed wrong.

On the other hand, she had been looking for something else in her life besides a marriage to-

"Oh gods..." she moaned, "Esmer..."

What would he think now? How could she ever face him as a... As a...

"Forget him."

"But he is to be my-"

"Forget him." Ryu said calmly but in a tone that brooked no argument, "As a fledgling Vampire, you cannot yet control your thirst. You do not love him...but you have the potential to. You need to fight that; desire triggers the thirst like nothing else. You do not want a slain lover on your conscience. Believe that."

His face closed over.

It silenced her protests.

"Which brings me to the downside of your new status. Take this."

He handed her a little pouch of cured leather, tied by a thick string. Curious, she opened it, and found a little scrap of cloth; quilted cloth.

"What is this?"

"A scrap of the blanket you died in. Items from your grave mean a great deal. Normally, you would have to return to the spot of your death every morning to sleep, but, since you have a much older strain than what is often floating around, you just need a pinch of something taken from that spot. You can sleep, in a state akin to death, anywhere you want...but you probably want to find a nice secluded spot. You don't want anyone stumbling upon your body, do you?"

He chuckled, as if remembering just such an occurrence, regaining his feet in a single lithe motion, poking at the fire burning in the hearth. While she registered its warmth in a dim, detached way, she couldn't actually feel it.

"You will burn in the light of the sun. You will burn in fire with the rapidity of a troll. You will dissolve in running water. Cross a river by using a bridge, or, if you are strong enough, tearing down a tree to serve as one. When you're older, you can fly right over, but not yet. You cannot enter a private place, such as a home, without first being invited by the occupant. Public places like an inn or a shop should be no problem, unless many people live there regularly. You can betray your presence near mirrors, because, as you noticed, you have no reflection. I would avoid garlic cloves and onions, and silver, and sharpened wood, and holy symbols. Speaking of which, avoid priests of all stripes; the good ones can kill you, and the bad ones can enthrall you, and then kill you."

"That is a great deal to remember, Master."

"Aye, and you will remember all of it if you want to live! I am investing a great deal of my time on you."

"And why are you doing it?"

He eyed her askance.

Haidée looked down, abashed. Whatever his reasons, he had saved her life.

"I'm sorry. I just want to know."

He grinned, "Is it so unusual that I would not be averse to feminine company for a time? Besides, I have never taken in offspring, nor have I made any in this way. You are my first, Haidée."

She was not sure what to say to that. He didn't seem to need a response.

"Now then, midnight approaches and we have much to do. Get up and get dressed. Because I like you does not mean I will go easy! I told the priest you would be ready and gone from this place in two weeks, and I intend to keep my word!"

...

Esmer sat in his room. The curtains were closed. It was night, but he didn't bother to light the lantern on the nightstand.

He didn't want to see.

The darkness perfectly mirrored his thoughts. Haidée... Beautiful, sweet, poor Haidée...

"Oh gods..." he wept, shaking with the strength of his grief. Maybe if he had kept his distance... Maybe his family would not have noticed, would not have pressed his suit, would not have stressed her so much..

He crushed his hands against his face, feeling like the most wretched creature in existence. By the time he had purchased a priest in the House of the Morning, it had been too late. Tolon had approached him, half led and half carried by a man marked as a penitent of Ilmater, not the god of Eveningstar but held in high esteem regardless. Tolon had said little; the priest had told him of his betrothed and her affliction, her terminal affliction...

Esmer had not said a word to anyone since; two days had passed. He ate what the servants brought him, and he sat and ruminated. He had not even seen her...had not said goodbye...

Broken, lost, he pictured her face, of all the times they had spoken, of all the times they would never be able to do so...

...

He left Tolon to grieve in his own way. He had purchased two rooms with Ryuu's gold. Tolon had not taken a drink, as Ryuu had suggested. That was well; men fell into the bottle and never came back out for far less.

Alexander, for his part, grieved in his own way, but more so, he was lost.

He did not know what to do; never before had he experienced such a crisis in his faith.

Another priest would have told him to destroy the Vampires, that their souls knew no peace in undeath. That Vampires, like all other undead, could bring only evil. Could be only evil.

But it was not the same.

Ryuu was no lich, that had chosen their fate though necromancy and a selfish desire to prolong death. He had been turned against his will! Nor was he a Zombie, whose choices long since became moot. He was a rational, thinking creature, albeit a dangerous one. But then, was one's potential evil punishable? Many men and women could potentially commit great evil, but did not.

Even then, it did not matter.

Ilmater was a god of forgiveness, as much as peace, forever hopeful that evil beings could one day be turned to good, and encouraged the same hope of his followers. Ryuu may be something generally considered evil, but he had suffered such abuse, and an eternity of undeath to which he did not choose. That would have changed anyone, and far more than it had changed him.

He was a victim, not a monster.

He had done nothing that would give Alexander the impression that he acted like a Vampire might. True, they were remarked upon as creatures of deception. But Ryuu could not fake his wounds. He could not lie in his actions.

"He Who Endures..." he moaned, kneeling in the corner of the room, "What must I do? What is this puzzle that is Ryuu?"

Chapter 4

Cormyr (18th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

"Faster!" Ryuu snapped, jabbing at the back of her leg with his practice sword, which was mercifully wrapped in thick cloth. Haidée gasped as it bruised her calf, and forced even more strength into each stride as she dashed circuits about her father's land, ducking and parrying her mentor's vicious attacks. Having never even held a sword, she assumed she fought well, gifted with instincts which drove her to thrust, flourish, parry, and riposte with relative confidence.

"You are faster than this, woman. Stop breathing! You don't need air, remember?"

She forced the air from her lungs, and, against her instinct, did not inhale more.

Again and again, their covered steel nonetheless rang with deafening retort. She wielded a short, double-edged sword with a plain guard, while he, favoring the two-handed style, brandished lengths of dull iron, for his own proper swords could kill her with a mere pinprick, enchanted to damage undead.

As new as she was to the condition, such enchantments were considerably amplified.

"You are slowly leaning inward, shortening your strides. Inch right; I will not allow you to get lazy in your footwork."

Grunting, Haidée shifted more weight to her right foot, grinning despite herself.

She had been fighting for hours now. Right after lifting stacks of firewood. She had sprinted for hours before that. And she wasn't tired, not even a little.

Haidée lifted her arms, elbows bent, and just managed to block the next swing, though the force of it slammed her own hands into her face. She regained her footing, dazed but not deterred, deflecting his assault.

He had already formally shown her basic techniques; she knew to keep herself moving, legs bent, always with a firm center of gravity. He had shoved her unceremoniously to the dirt several times to illustrate this. Now, she just needed to make these instincts an effort of conscious will. That way, she could premeditate her own attacks, and not merely react to Ryuu's.

She struck with the open palm of her hand, aiming for the space between two ribs. He struck that hand downward with a quick descending elbow. As he had shown her, every defense was preparation for an attack; his elbow snapped back up, for her nose, but she locked his arm back and away by wedging hers against it.

It was a bold move; with her own sword arm locked up, she needed to use her fists, and while Ryuu was not particularly large, he outweighed her by at least a good forty stones

In a moment's inspiration, she took him in the ribs with her knee, as his arm could not parry. He took one hit, and a second, but on the third he lifted her with their interlocked arms, and slammed her onto the ground.

She recovered quickly, careful not to breathe, lest it distract her, and rolled onto her feet.

Right into the path of his leading foot.

She came back to herself, looking up at the night sky.

"Not bad." Ryuu conceded, "But you repeated your attack patterns too many times. Never become predictable, Haidée. You also could have twisted my arm, locked as it was with your own, and either grappled me to the ground, struck with your other fist, or better, your forehead. A broken nose would pacify an opponent quite well."

"But not my other leg?"

"No. Why?"

"Because one leg and then the other would disrupt my center of gravity?"

He smiled, and now more accustomed to his facial expressions, she recognized it easily, "Exactly; even the one was an educated risk; you usually need two feet on the ground when you are this close to an enemy. Fists, palms, elbows, and forehead, the last only with great need. Kicking is for dancers, not brawlers, and brawlers usually come out on top in these things."

Nodding, Haidée found her footing, and lifted her sword.

"Oh, and maybe not on me, but when you are in a proper fight, that position would have been ideal to lean in for a little chew. Your fangs are your weapons too. Go for the throat."

She had little to say to that. It was best not to consider.

"Good. Again. And be quick about it; I sense dawn approaching."

"Yes, Master."

...

He sat with Tolon in the room that had been purchased for him. At the man's insistence, they drank the strongest, heaviest ale on tap, and now on this forth stein, Alexander was thankful for this time in the cloister. Monks and friars were quite adept in brewing, and their faith did not condemn inebriation. Otherwise, he might very well have been under the table by now.

"I've lost them both." Tolon said flatly, his eyes glazed and bloodshot, "All I lived for, those two, and now I've lost them both."

Alexander found little in the texts of the faith that could assuage him, for his daughter was not dead, and thus, not reached her promised afterlife.

"She will outlast us all..." He eventually replied, "If Ryuu can be trusted."

"He can't be."

He sighed.

"I know."

"Go to her."

Alexander blinked. The ale had made his thoughts sluggish, and his tongue loose. Normally, he would not address such a sensitive topic in public view, especially because of the necessary secrecy of Haidée's survival.

"Go to her, priest." Tolon repeated, pleading, "I don't trust some bloo-...someone like that. Isn't natural. I'm not asking you to join up with them...just...keep an eye on her. Please."

Nodding, Alexander finished his ale, "I can't travel like this. In the morning, I'll go to the house. I'll stay with her until my final breath, if I can."

"I have you word?"

"By Ilmater himself, I shall not shirk this duty."

...

Ryuu lit the lump of dried herbs in the shallow bowl of his pipe, inhaling gently. While the substance was generally used to treat his patients, allowing them to relax and comfortably eat, today would be a good day to enjoy some. His little garden patch behind the yurt was blossoming nicely, and a third of it would just end up being wasted, anyway.

He sat beside Oki along the water's edge, watching the hatchlings from the next home over at play, while some of the villagers stacked the driest wood they could find into the communal pit in the heart of their territory, beside the river. The hatchlings amused themselves with a pair of domesticated red turtles, which promptly hid away into their shells until the hatchlings tired and left them be, in which they would sprout out to be menaced once more.

The air was festive, almost visibly so; everyone seemed impatient, expectant. Last night's kill was a huge boar; a ferocious beast that shared the forests of the oasis and ambushed unwary hunters, and it was being currently prepared in the chieftain's yurt, its edible organs salted, its prime, juicy meat readied for the feast.

Taking in another puff, the Lizardman returned to restringing his Harp, which he would play that night at the bonfire, a practice that would commemorate the meat that the hunters had claimed for the village. His favorite pastime next to reading his growing collection of romance novels, Ryuu had found himself fascinated with stringed instruments, which had prompted him to fashion this piece. He had crafted it from a massive lump of smooth driftwood he had found near the edges of the oasis (probably flotsam from an old raft used by the soft skins), carving out a vaguely bow-shaped body with a slim central groove lined with stretched hide, its many strings tied and treated intestine, which were in turn tightened by simple spools wedged into the body of the harp.

It was rough, to be sure, but with the materials he had, it was a fine instrument, durable and reliable. It made a low toned array of notes, but he had made each string slightly thicker or thinner, depending, allowing a wider range of sound. The Harpers of the north would have laughed at his attempt to duplicate their fabled songs, but he cared not. Oki loved his music, and often added her voice for a nice harmony. He, in turn, loved giving her a pastime beyond cleaning their abode and cooking the meat that he occasionally brought home from hunting.

That seemed to be the only task offered any respect in their village, though... Hunt, or gather, or fight off the occasional raiding party. That was all that earned any accolade. Not when he saved a hunter his foot when it got caught in some gnarly pair of jaws, or when his quick thinking identified symptoms as those of a poisoning when someone idly brushed against some of the more venomous flora of the oasis.

What a bother!

He was no hunter; anyone could hear him hefting his spear to strike, or stringing his bow to fire. He could run, and climb, sure enough, but he lacked speed and grace. He could carry home a few rodents, or maybe the detached tail of one of the tree lizards when he tried in vain to catch them, but that was all. His gift was in mending, healing. He was a shaman, and a musician, and sometimes a decent cook. Not something the village chieftain, or Oki's father, could appreciate.

Oh well...there were more important things to him than the respect of the village. All he wanted, all he needed, was Oki, and the family they would make together, in this place, which had served as home for the tribe for generations.

The river flowed between his feet, foaming as it descended from the north, emptying through the oasis down to the lake beside Hlondeth and terminating into the Vilhon Reach where soft skins and the Yuan-Ti roosted.

The further north one went, following the river, the greater the elevation, until the air itself became thin and the trees became sparse. He had been told stories about there being a barren range of mountains somewhere in that direction, but he had never seen them, never travelled more than a day or two from the village. There was rarely need to. Fruit grew in abundance from the trees, and there were several species of tuber that could be harvested near or in the water, which was clear enough to spot roaming seaborne predators. The thick canopy of trees held in most of the moisture, creating a warming mist that soothed the scales and the lungs.

It was a paradise, and one that they seldom left, and never for long.

He waited out the hours until nightfall, soaking his feet, testing his Harp and gutting star fruit and mango for their gooey insides, which would be roasted into the meat for a tangy flavor. He also drew a few clay bowls of water, and set them around the fire-pit. Oki, for her part, unpacked and distributed urns filled with tree sap that had fermented for about two hours, to which her friends had collected in the forest earlier in the day. This sap, slightly watered down, produced a sweet, aromatic wine. Another set of urns, having set for a full day, would serve as a more potent, sour drink, preferred by some of the elder males.

There was also a third set of sap urns, which had been steamed over a small fire, the fumes collected into a small dried stomach, naturally crystallizing into a thin film of sugar intended to glaze the meat, sweetening it further. Combined with the seeds he now supplied, it could make the meat of the latest kill tender and savory, packed with flavor.

There was a reason a successful hunt was considered an event!

Finishing his task and providing a bowl of fruit guts, Ryu cleaned his hands in the river, then readied his Harp and exhaled slowly, catching the eye of the rambunctious hatchlings almost instantly, and they practically knocked him over as they scrambled to take a seat beside him.

Testing the strings for clear notes, he started small, drawing out a sequence of notes beginning from the string closest to his body and the third string down, focusing near the end and the frets. Down, lengthening the duration of each note, he suddenly picked up the pace, setting a rhythmic beat with a flair of higher pitched notes at the end of each cluster of lower notes. Oki listened for a while, since he was still experimenting with this song and she had not heard it before, and then began to hum in tune, mimicking the pitch and frequency.

Now comfortable with the song he was playing, Ryu alternated between the three strings closest to him, using the thickest string to set a beat and the next two for the melody. The hatchlings watched with rapt awe, their little eyes wide. He joined his voice with Oki's, his gravelly hiss adding a complimentary undercurrent to her wordless vocals. And so their song continued for a time, as evening set in, and the feast was nearly underway.

Not only to celebrate the successful hunt, this night marked The Long Night, the winter solstice, and their revelry would continue till the sun peaked through the trees...

...

Ryuu watching his apprentice stir in her death-like stupor, curious but not alarmed. Most would not notice; her deathly, motionless pallor nearly perfectly matched that of a mundane corpse...but her eyelids vibrated slightly, akin to the wandering eyes of a dreamer.

He did not particularly enjoy the thought of the girl sharing his memories, especially those memories, but he abided. So much time had passed, it felt...nostalgic, to re-experience them. Oki's name had brought him to a state he had not felt in centuries, somewhere painful, but comfortably so.

Sometimes, he feared he would forget her entirely; so much more time had been spent undead than alive, and those choice decades in the warmth of the sun seemed more and more unreal.

No...he cherished the pains of his past, for it rooted him as the present did not. He sat beside the girl as she rested, his tireless vigil more a whim than anything inspired by compassion. Prolonging her life had constituted the first selfless act in centuries, and that was more than enough for him.

"You will not sleep as well?" Alexander asked, pensive. The Priest had returned a few hours ago, and against his insistence, would remain with them through the girl's training.

He said he'd made a promise to his god, so Ryuu hadn't really bothered to argue. It would just make things a little more difficult; Ryuu was more than able to control a fledgling to the extent of keeping her off his throat. And he was a priest, with a holy symbol. He had his own protection, no doubt, so long as he kept his faith.

And who knew; maybe it would be fun?

"No." he finally replied, "I don't need much. The older you get, the less connected you are to the needs of the physical."

"And how old are you, exactly?"

Ryuu eyed him, amused.

"I was just curious."

"Gauging my powers, are you? The better if you later need to catch me unawares."

Before Alexander could stammer a reply, Ryuu laughed, "Oh, ho! Had you there. Of course I expect you to try and kill me once or twice. But that won't be a problem. I am forgiving. Anyway...let me think..."

Actually, that was a good question; what was the point in counting?

"Ahh, so many adventures I sometimes forget their order; I hunted with the Order of the Risen Scepter in Mulhorand. They rather fancied my condition, because I returned from death without the aid of Orsis, their patron god. We sacked Sekras, though it was later rebuilt. That was...oh, two hundred years ago? I've seen a good two or three dragon rages. Netheril. I really couldn't say. My view of the world and its events was rather...limited, in my youth."

The priest considered him, not visibly uneasy, but Ryuu could tell. His pulse had changed a little. He could hear it.

"I know, Alexander, I know. How can you comprehend someone who has lived so much, become so much? And with such temptation to follow darker paths..."

Ryuu considered for a moment, then, "Truth is you have the right of it. I wasn't always like I am now. Life isn't so convenient to always offer a choice. I died...well, I stopped living, in a moment of absolute despair and hopelessness, in terrible pain and utterly alone. Imagine that, and imagine the propensity of violence one would have under such circumstances if they arose in undeath, with the kind of power I wield?"

He laughed, but it was bitter, "What I was then and what I am now...day and night. I did things that I now regret, as did those who came to follow me, driven by thoughts of vengeance. Eventually, it broke me, and I wandered alone for a time. I grew up, I think. I saw more of the world, and I saw that there was more to it than death. But I never forgot why I fought, back when I still fought for something."

Alexander didn't reply.

"Does that make you uncomfortable? Good. It will help you take my words better to heart. You really should listen to your elders, after all, and at my age, you could not comprehend the insight that time and experience has given me."

"You are right at the last, at least. I cannot imagine perspective of so many years."

Ryuu considered, scratching his chin, "Maybe I'll turn you then when your life is threatened, then."

"You jest, I am sure."

"Of course."

He intentionally said it in an ambiguous tone, the better to unnerve the man.

In truth, he intended no such thing.

A mortal priest among a pair of Vampires. It was indeed going to be interesting...

Chapter 5

Cormyr (20th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

They faced each other in the clearing, the cool breeze of a Cormyrean night rustling the knee-length grass, Selûne nearly full above a blanket of her tears..

"Remember." Ryu instructed, his expression calm and reserved; "Fear not the iron. Any wound you sustain, lest it be a stake through your heart or a decapitation, you can heal. The pain is only a memento from your previous life. Learn your errors through this pain, and then dismiss it. It has no power over you now."

Nodding, Haidée lifted her sharp and uncovered sword in a duelist's stance; blade leading in her left hand, the other hand behind her back, knees slightly bent, her left leading. She knew now that swordsmen ideally offered the smallest amount of their bodies to the opponent by angling so; standing facing them was tantamount to suicide. By angling herself, she became more difficult to hit, while retaining her balance.

Ryuu stood in a near perfect symmetry with her stance. But when he moved, he did so with a natural dancer's grace, lunging forward with his sword. It barely looked like he moved at all.

Turning her wrist, Haidée slapped the blade aside, using as little actual force to do so; her opponent's momentum was supposed to do most of the work for her. Ryuu nodded at her parry, backing off. He began to circle, forcing her to do the same, lest she reveal her flank to him. He was testing her footwork; she had to match his speed, all the while retaining her stance and her center of gravity, all the while in turn seeking to outpace him and find an opportunity to strike.

One who only defended ended up dead; to defeat anything but a novice opponent, offense was needed.

Likewise, he had shown her that novice warriors defended, or attacked. An ideal fighter found the space between attack and defense, and managed to do both, attacking with a perfect parry laying in wait, parrying with a perfect riposte ready to spring and catch a thoughtless opponent off guard.

Using his lessons, Haidée had studied his swords; small, curved, and narrow, they were ideal for thrusting, but the fact that he used two seemingly upset this. How could he do any of these things that he showed her when forced to use both hands?

He lunged again, seeking to capitalize while she was thinking, but Haidée denied him again, slapping the blades away once, twice, thrice, backpedaling as he pressed his attack, and twisting his main hand sword aside, she retaliated, recovering and thrusting again with reach dull ring of edge on edge as he parried her in turn with the other.

Eventually, Haidée overextended; she saw Ryuu's eyes gleam as her footing faltered, and she saw in clear, almost frozen motion, as his sword slipped behind her guard. Instinct took over; he might very well run her through with his strength.

She slipped forward, and found herself standing several paces away, facing the trees outside the clearing, an ache in her shoulder as if she'd slammed into him.

"Recover!" her master snapped, the rustling grass betraying his approach, and Haidée pivoted, knees bent, and parried him as he rushed forward, stopping his momentum.

"What did I just do?" she asked, stunned, and he grinned, backing off, "You used a short burst of vampiric speed. Good. You are learning that your limitations are not what they used to be. You can use that again, and again, to immediately defeat a lesser opponent. Right now, we are fighting as the king's guard might; with confidence and skill, but under mortal limitations. Forget who you were, child. You are a Vampire now."

"Yes, Master. Master..."

"Yes?"

"How do you fight with two swords?"

He considered, then, "I developed my technique over many decades, improvising where I might be hindered by such a style. Likewise, I use intimidation and misdirection where normal mastery might not abide. It is a good technique, though it requires perfect ambidexterity and synchrony of motion. It is, you understand, more the style of a dancer, not a brawler or duelist. Because I do not fear wounds, I can bring myself to a state of higher focus, and that is precisely what I need to use two swords as I do. But that I cannot teach; you simply have to learn it if you want to do so as well."

"But if it is so much more difficult than this, why do you do it?"

He smiled, "Why not? When you are as old as I am, you get a different perspective of things; efficiency does not compare to entertainment. I use this style because it requires so much of me. I teach you the duelist style because you can learn it quickly, and use the most of what you have. I am beyond such measures."

The bout was over; they both sensed it, and Ryuu didn't press the matter. They sat on her father's porch, watching the forest.

His words still bothered her, "You said entertainment, Master?"

He nodded, not at all surprised by her outburst.

"Yes."

"Battle excites you? Fighting entertains you?"

"Yes. You are offended?"

She averted her eyes, "...Yes."

Ryu frowned, then shrugged, "We can spend the rest of the night doing something else, then. I cannot explain in brief words what I have learned in this matter."

Though he didn't sweat, nor had he ever, Ryuu had doffed his tunic before the match had begun. Seeing the gruesome wounds across his back, it amazed her he was so nimble and flexible.

"Does it hurt when you move like that?"

He blinked.

"When you fight? When you're...not fighting?"

"Always. The pain has become a part of me. I barely notice anymore, because it is difficult to remember a time when I didn't have these scars. Like I said, pain to us is only a phantom of what came before we became what we are."

She had no reply.

"I had another dream about you." Haidée finally said, troubled.

He nodded. His expression softened.

"It was beautiful."

Again, he nodded.

"Do you still play the harp?"

Ryuu shrugged, "Sometimes. It is hard to travel with a proper instrument, and I have called no place home in a long, long time. How about you? Ever tried?"

Haidée shook her head.

"Maybe I will show you how sometime."

"I would like that, Master."

Ryuu grunted noncommittally, "You progress well. You could give any fresh-faced warrior a run for their money, and we have practiced only four days. But do not think you have escaped my ministrations...as we travel, I will continue to train you." to which Haidée frowned, "Very well, Master. Master?"

"Yes?"

"Can I not stay here? If I learn control, can I-"

"No. You cannot." Ryuu interrupted, raising a hand, "True control takes decades, and many never achieve it at all. The reason Vampires are so ill considered is due at least as much to the fact that we cannot control ourselves in times of duress as due to the fact that we may or may not be genuinely evil. Like werewolves, we fall prey to the grotesquery of our true nature, that most, even Humans, especially Humans, manage to hide. Lust, anger, hunger, greed...we lose much of our control when we find that we can live forever, that we have this power, and often become ruled by our desires. We go wild, mad, sadistic. We become more likely to take risks, and indulge these urges. And when we descend into utter debauchery, mortals invariably take notice, and attempt to slay us. Soldiers, warriors...heroes. All would seek to destroy you, if they knew what you are. I told you what it meant to be a Vampire, Haidée. I told you what you would have to lose if you wanted to live."

She nodded, despondent, "I must lose everything I had in life."

"Not everything." Ryuu corrected, "The memories of your previous life, and the wisdom they impart, are yours forever. Never forsake them; they will anchor you to the person you were, so you need never become lost. Many forget, and it precipitates their descent into madness. But for a time, lest the grief cripple you, you must separate yourself from that which is no longer available. Believe me when I say it is for the best, because I have learned from experience."

"Yes, Master."

Ryuu nodded, "Anyway, I think I will teach you the harp sometime. Skill with a blade and skill with an instrument are much the same; practice, practice, practice, and a little improvisation. It will help develop your discipline, ere we test your proficiency in the arcane."

Silence stretched, then...

"I am sorry."

Ryuu frowned, puzzled.

"I should not have judged you for liking to fight. I just.."

"Ease, child. I am not offended. You could say that, old as I am, I define life as is measured as a single person as absurd. A person, to me, is only the sum of the connections they make with those around them. Taking a life, especially if I consume it, I consider merely a celebration of life, because that life continues with the connection that I have made to it, and indeed, the connection that will be made when I am slain. When my time comes, and I have no doubt eventually it will, I will embrace it as the inevitability that it is, and the enjoyment I took in that temporary life. Pleasure and permanency, I say! Such is the experience of life!"

Haidée tried to absorb his words, and failed. She could not reconcile his kindness towards her with such a callous, unfeeling philosophy. She built up her courage, and posed the question, "What do you consider my life, then? Why did you care at all if I had died?"

Ryuu considered this for a time, letting only the wind break the silence between them.

Then, "Again? Fine. You could say that at times I find this belief to be...insufficient. Sometimes I get...lonely. Sometimes I get sentimental, remembering the life I had lived before. I was a healer. It was my duty, my passion, to help those in need. So I offered you a chance to live. And you took it. You held on, and remained to continue and develop new connections."

"Connections to you?"

He laughed, and his deep, raspy chortle broke the tension, "Gods, no. You are not my type. Master and student will do fine as our connection, as well as sire and offspring. What do you take me for?"

His mirth did not abate, and with some hesitation, Haidée joined him, forcing air back into her lungs so she could match his laughter.

"Wonderful. I feel up for something different tomorrow."

"Like what?"

"Find out for yourself. I find that contemplation of the unknown nourishes the intellect."

...

Esmer found Tolon in the taproom, drowning his sorrow in drink. While he had no idea how a farmer could pay for these things, but he just didn't have the heart to ask how he had come up with the coin.

He had said that he'd left his daughter's rites to a friend, that priest Esmer remembered frequenting the tavern for a few days, and that there had been a second priest handling her...

Tolon hadn't said the word; his voice had broken.

Esmer would shelter the old farmer, he decided; even if the marriage had not been consummated, he considered the old man family.

First, however,...he wanted to pay his respects. They had to have buried her somewhere near the house, probably next to her mother. He would visit that house one last time, he decided.

He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't.

...

Alexander brewed himself tea to sooth his migraine. He had altered his sleep cycle, the better to keep pace with his undead associates. When they entered the house, it was Ryuu first, as always.

They shared a look, then Ryuu sat cross-legged in front of the hearth. Haidée stared longer, and she shifted uneasily, before she sat at the table on the other end of the room, poignantly looking away.

He hadn't gotten used to her eyes, now a deep maroon color, and she, in turn, had not accustomed to being so close to a living Human. He could see the thirst boiling up in her.

Since he had arrived, Ryuu had been keeping her well fed, the better to help suppress her urges, but he had begun weaning her, testing her mettle.

Alexander, for his part, had agreed to keep his holy symbol hidden under the folds of his robe. She couldn't be repulsed by an icon of a deity, but by her own willpower. It was always tense when they were in the same room.

"Tomorrow evening, I think we'll take a little trip east..." Ryuu declared, "You fight well enough for what we'll find out there, and frankly, I tire of this location. It's so...peaceful."

"Aside from rampaging Ghouls, of course." Alexander chimed in, without realizing it.

"One Ghoul." Ryuu corrected, "And not any more. Thanks to me. Anyway; I'm thinking up the mountains. A scenic, perilous locale, that."

"The Stormhorns are to the north." Alexander replied, and the Vampire shook his head, "Nay, too much of a military presence up there. Too risky. I was thinking the Thunder Peaks. Oversember Vale."

"That is a distance of many leagues. And across flat plains."

"I didn't say we were going to walk!" Ryuu snapped, "Gods, what has you so prickly today? Well, aside from your average propensity for prickliness. We, well, that is, Haidée and I, are going to fly there. I guess if you insist on coming we can carry you."

"Fly?" Haidée asked, "How?"

"As bats. You have a measure of my powers, remember. If you desire, you can take the shape of a wolf, fog, or a swarm of particularly carnivorous bats."

Alexander eyed him with equal incredulity as the girl did, "Carry me aloft...as bats?"

"Certainly!" Ryuu replied, grinning, "Vampires can drag a person for many leagues as a swarm of bats. It's one of our preferred methods of feeding. On the wing, we'll reach the vale before sunrise, and it holds many natural caves to hide in. In a bind, I could summon a cloud of darkness to protect the two of us, but I don't think I'll need to."

Sipping his tea, Alexander kept his protests to himself. He had made a promise to Tolon and to his god.

"Chin up, priest. I assure you that you will remember your time in the skies of Cormyr positively. How many men could say they experienced such a thing?"

Not many. Certainly none who flew among a pair of Vampires survived to tell the tale...

Chapter 6

The Thunder Peaks, Cormyr (21st of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

On the next night, just after sunset, Ryuu gathered his growing brood outside of the farmhouse. Both of them looked uneasy.

"Haidée." he began, "Just like we practiced."

Nodding, his pupil closed her eyes, clearing her lungs of air. She still unconsciously breathed, which annoyed him, but the effort of resisting it brought her to a state of complete focus, which would help her develop her powers in the short term. He'd fed her, using up much of the blood he'd harvested from the halls a mere tenday prior. They would have to find something worth eating in the thunder peaks, or things would get...awkward, with Alexander around.

He could feel the blood stirring in her, not her own but that she'd taken into herself. Blood was life, and in life, there was power. By infusing that power, it was possible for a Vampire or a Blood Mage to bend reality in interesting ways. And with the blessing of Kanchelsis, those alterations were more focused, more...specific.

A crimson aura surrounded her, like a shroud. It bled outward, into streamers of shadow. Her body began to grow faint...translucent. Her eyes burned red. She cried out, a horrified expression on her face, and her body broke apart, and a hundred dark-furred, shrieking bats exploded outward, carried up into the sky.

"Haidée?"

She hadn't cried out because of the transformation...and she hadn't been staring into space.

Ryuu turned, to find a male Human staring at the space she had occupied, his dark-rimmed eyes wide as coins.

" Haidée!?" he cried, taking a step into the clearing, before the man's eyes found him.

"Sorry friend, but you walked into something." Ryuu said dryly, "And I don't have the patience to explain. Alexander, it's time to go."

"You blackheart!" he cried, charging forward, "What have you done with-"

Ryuu broke apart into bats, and dragged the priest up with him, leaving the other Human alone in the glade.

...

Haidée intuited many angles, many fields of vision, and a feeling of weightlessness. She could smell earth, and something more organic. She could hear heartbeats, one rapid, one deathly faint. Alexander and Ryuu.

She paused.

A Vampire had a heartbeat? It was too faint and too infrequent to keep someone alive, but it was there...

Maybe they were more alive than they thought, after all. It made her feel better.

But then she remembered what had happened right before her body had broken apart.

Esmer had seen her...

She heard the screeching of bats, and a sense of disconnect made it difficult to tell if they were her, or among Ryuu's swarm.

"It can't be helped, girl." Ryuu's voice echoed in her mind, "Let it be."

"Yes, Master." she heard herself say, and the sheer brokenness in it gave her pause. Maybe the marriage wouldn't have been such a bad thing, after all.

Too late for it now.

Her old life was over, and her new life beckoned. She had to focus on the task Ryuu had set for her; The Thunder Peaks.

It would get easier. It had to.

...

They set down a few hours before dawn, a thin line of blue on the horizon. Reforming into solidity, Ryuu knelt in a small clearing before the landmark known as Oversember Vale.

The ground was rough, patchy, with dry, coarse vegetation amid fields of rock. Small pools of water throughout festered or fed into subterranean river veins. To the northwest side of the valley, there was a line of stunted, scraggly trees that hugged the steep rock face.

"Foreboding territory." Alexander observed, still swaying with disorientation, keeping his distance from the girl, who was still eyeing him strangely, "No civilized sorts would reside up here."

"I think that is the idea." Haidée replied, downcast, and Ryuu clapped his hands, nodding.

"Exactly! Orcs and Goblins, Giants, maybe even a nest of Dragons!" he replied jovially, idly kicking a loose rock, "The possibilities! I positively adore this location already. It's such a shame we have to wait for nightfall to traverse freely. Oh well, in we go. Alexander...you can stay outside if you really want, but you're very easy to spot out there. If a Goblin shoots you in the back, it will be rather embarrassing to go hunt it down in recompense."

He made a show of considering, then, "I will follow you into the caves."

He patted the girl on the shoulder, but didn't make eye contact. Ryuu had no time for it. They had a final chance to say goodbye, if not entirely in words. It was more that most ever had.

"Alrighty then." Ryuu replied, taking stock of the caverns he'd spotted on the wing, "Eenie...meenie... miney...mo. That one. We'll try that one, just over the clearing. It looks deep."

...

With the sun rising behind them and the thirst bubbling up in her veins, Haidée followed her master into a deep cavern. Though it became impenetrably dark, she could still see clearly, and hissed when their Human companion lit a Glowball and cast a piercing luminescence. The air quickly became humid. There was a scent of mineral water, just detectable over Alexander's musk. In fact, she could still hear his heartbeat, and it made her legs weak. She licked the roof of her mouth.

Soon. Soon, she would...appease the thirst, and his proximity wouldn't bother her so much.

Deeper, deeper they went, a curious rumbling sound detectable over Alexander's faint breathing.

"A subterranean water vein." Ryuu explained, sensing her bewilderment, "Don't ask me how it flows up this high, but a body of water seems to run through part of the mountain to terminate into a waterfall. It's quite lovely, I'd imagine. But I wouldn't recommend going to a dip though. Running water."

They stopped before a wide delve, marked with signs of recent habitation. A makeshift walkway of weathered planks bisected the delve, terminating into a ladder, which led straight down.

Across the delve, held aloft by a series of chains was a long, elegant linen banner. There was an emblem painstakingly woven into its fibers; a peal of flame with eyes, burning above black, reptilian claws. It made her uneasy just to look at it.

"The Cult of the Dragon..." Ryuu mused, eying it curiously, "Odd. I didn't know they operated in Cormyr. Not many dragons, unless you count the guards, and that's in name only. Hah. There's a joke there."

"Are they bad?" Haidée asked, feeling foolish but wanting to know regardless.

It was Alexander who answered, "They follow the teachings of a Lich who prophesized an age in which all the races were subjugated by undead dragons. Yes, indeed, they are."

"It's decided then. We will kill them all."

"Are they still here?"

He nodded, "They never leave their iconography behind. Religious reasons or some such. Since they will soon be vacating these grounds, it would be a shame to defy their creed by leaving it to molder here."

Ryuu waved his hand in a mystic pass, and the bottom corners of the banner began to burn. In moments, it was virtually incinerated, detaching from its rigging to descend weightlessly down the well.

"You know they will see that..."

Ryuu grinned, feral, "I prefer my prey with their blood up. It makes them taste better.

...

Ryuu had gone first, extending his claws and scaling straight down into the delve. Alexander belted his Glowball, sighing, and took the ladder.

Haidée didn't immediately follow. She had another trial to pass first.

"Like the swarm of bats..." Ryuu had instructed, "A Vampire can break apart into dense fog, impervious to conventional attacks. It is a useful talent, but alas, gravity takes effect. It is extremely difficult to fog to travel in any direction but down, or in the general direction of the wind."

Well, she was going down. It would be easy.

Easy...

Haidée exhaled, slowly, building her focus. Everything she needed was in her, just like before. After becoming a Vampire, everything had begun to feel different. She was cognizant of the blood in her veins...but it didn't feel like it was really a part of her. Like she just had fluid sitting in her body. When she drew upon her new powers, that fluid heated, began to burn.

But instead of hurting, it felt energizing. Haidée imagined herself as a current of air.

Everything began to feel...heavy.

Her skin became porous. She held up her hands, and she could see through them. Even in the darkness, they bled shadows.

Then everything went dark; she could not see, or hear anything, but she intuited tactile information that was...very different than the norm. She could feel the texture of rock, but spread over a great distance. She could feel the moisture in the air, about her "body" like a waxy membrane that was in motion, rather than static.

It was a singularly disorienting experience.

Haidée felt herself sinking, spilling down the ledge, flowing in and about herself. She reformed, dazed, and it took several moments to register the sounds of battle.

Drawing her sword, she dashed further into the cavern, ramping down into a wide antechamber fortified with worked stone. Roughly hewn furniture lay about haphazardly, and several banners akin to the one Ryuu had burned hung from the walls beside carved sconces. There was an altar, draped with additional banners, on which lay a large, ornate leather tome.

Alexander stood near the center of the space, living quarters maybe, brandishing a sun amulet, eldritch words pouring from his lips, and Ryuu spun his blades in elegant patterns as he dueled with strange, winged creatures with barbed tails.

Wyvern. Armless, dimwitted cousins to Dragons.

"Kill or die, child."

Her master eyed her from afar, grinning.

Haidée spun about, and behind her was one of the same creatures, its drooling maw lined with fangs.

She wasn't sure what had tipped her off to its presence, for it had moved silently, but didn't question her luck. She assumed a stance that would allow her to maneuver quickly, not yet committed to the attack. Let the beast come to her, and reveal its strength before she did.

It couldn't know she was a Vampire, or if it did, it wouldn't understand the significance. Certainly.

It hissed, reptilian pupils narrowing into thin slits, and the plume of its scaled scruff was the only warning she received before it lunged forward.

Her senses beyond that of a normal Human, it seemed slower than she had imagined, but then, she was too, to an extent. Still, she angled herself to the side, just out of its reach, planting the blade into its throat.

Or tried to; the honed metal only glanced off of its thick hide, putting her off balance.

Another hiss. There was a Wyvern behind her now.

Gasping, Haidée broke apart into bats, fleeing further into the antechamber before reforming in a crouch.

Directly in the path of their breath attacks; a gout of flame and icy vapor respectively. The ice hit first; she was lucky it did, because she wasn't hindered by it, and the hoarfrost coating her skin and clothing blunted the fire as it struck. Still, she backpedaled, scorched.

That hurt.

With their wings unable to fully extend in the confines of the cave, her attackers charged her again, the one with the icy breath first.

This time, she aimed for its eye, and felt the sickening impact as she drove her sword halfway to the hilt.

Pulling it free, because she couldn't afford to check if its thrashing was a death throe, Haidée retreated, faster and more agile that she could ever be in life. Her nails, sharp and black, dug into the stone as she leapt backward, arresting her retreat, for she could see a hole in the beast's clumsy defenses.

A voice that was not Alexander's echoed from the camber, and her body froze in place. The wyvern charged her unimpeded.

...

Ryuu felt the weave being drawn for a wizardly spell, and knowing Alexander to be purely the clerical sort, he had singled on the dragon cultist just before he froze his pupil in place with a binding.

A wizard. Good. If he had been a priest, his magic could have turned the girl to ash, young to the brood as she was.

Ryuu completed his own spell; a potent ray of necromantic energy.

But instead of the Human, he aimed for the Wyvern, and from his fingertip, a thin line of dark energy lanced forward, struck the dragonkin, and stopped its heart. It collapsed at the girl's feat, already quite dead.

Pitting Haidée against a wizardly spell so early in her training would be unfair, especially under such duress.

Advancing on the Human, Ryuu was already casting when he heard Haidée shriek behind him, felt the rush of displaced air as she leapt forward with prodigious speed, and bowled the Human over, colliding bodily and crushing him against the far wall. Lacking a blade, she clubbed him in the temple, twice, thrice, screaming, and he went still.

Alexander's voice reached an apex, and from his hand, a glorious column of golden flame burst from the floor, and smote the scaled mask of one of the few remaining Wyvern. It shrieked, and toppled, its face charred, smoke issuing from its emptied sockets. It twitched, and went still.

He took the last two with his spell; a forking arc of crimson energy that penetrated their scales, and ripped the lifeblood from their bodies in a grisly fountain. The secondary effect of the spell drew that blood to him, and Ryuu hissed in satisfaction, absorbing the feast through the pores of his skin.

It had taken months and many ruined wardrobes to perfect that spell.

Surveying the cavern for side passages, and seeing several, Ryuu cast again, invoking walls of cartilage. Nearly spent, but satisfied that he would know if anyone would try and enter the room unannounced, he walked casually to the girl, who still crouched over her prey.

She hadn't fed, and she was trembling.

"Impressive." he conceded, still grinning, "I hadn't expected you to resist a binding."

Illusions may not work on undead, but a binding was just as potent, overcome with strength of will. That she could do it while the caster yet lived was an impressive feat.

His grin faded when she looked to him.

"I didn't beat his compulsion." Haidée replied, tears in her eyes, her entire body tense, "All...all I could think of was how he smelled, how I could hear his heartbeat and see the veins on his throat. All I wanted was to eat him."

Ryuu nodded, though he was a little troubled. He had forgotten how powerful the thirst was at first.

"Do it. Why do you hesitate?"

Her expression soured further.

"You have to eat...or die, Haidée." Ryuu insisted, unwilling to humor her sentimentality any longer, "Kill or die."

That's what it came down to. She had fed off him enough. It was time to take a life.

The Vampire felt Alexander to his side. Watchful. Expectant.

The girl didn't seem to notice. She was looking at the prone cultist, oblivious.

Haidée shook her head "It is wrong, Master. It is evil."

Alexander's heartbeat changed. His pulse quickened.

"Feeding isn't any different than it was before; life can only exist by consuming life. You eat a cow, and you have to kill it first." Ryuu replied, kneeling at her side, "If that is evil, than all life is evil. So be it."

He turned her face to his, "Because life is evil doesn't mean we shouldn't live it. All of us. We do as we must. We kill, we eat, because we want to live, and are afraid to die."

She wept. She clutched the man's black robe, her claws digging into his skin.

"Now...eat."

She stopped crying, though her body still shook. She leaned down, her face level with the unconscious cultist.

"I'm sorry." she said, her voice strained, "I'm so sorry."

She bit his throat, and Ryuu waited as she drank her fill. The man grew pale.

An older Vampire, one with experience, could feed on a person without killing, or even causing much harm. Transmission of the condition required ritual, after all, so the prey might not even notice, save for the puncture marks, which healed quickly.

But the first true feeding was always lethal.

The cultist went very still, and still she fed.

Eventually, she disengaged, a thin line of blood issuing from her lips.

Haidée wiped it away with her sleeve, and as she rose, the girl wouldn't look him in the eye.

Ryuu nodded, sated as well, "Well enough. I think we've cleared this place out. We can check in a bit to make sure. I'll clear the bodies, and we can have a nice r&r."

"Shouldn't there be more?" Alexander, ever observant, ...observed, and Ryuu nodded, "I think this lout was the stablehand of sorts; the rooms beyond this chamber feel...empty. I sense no life. The cult must be out on a covert operation, or maybe a small raid with more Wyvern. If they show up...great. If not, I don't feel much like waiting for them. I'll collapse the cave so they have nothing to come back to, but otherwise, I'm not up to bothering with them."

Now looking to his apprentice, Ryuu had a thought, then shrugged, reaching into his belt pouch, "You did well, Haidée. I reward good effort, as much as success, and this was both."

She finally met his gaze, confused.

"You are fine enough with a blade, but there is much, much more I can teach you. Tomorrow, I will teach you magical theory, and it will help if you have a good focal device. So here you go."

He found the wrapped cloth, and unwound it, revealing the rosy quartz rod he had recovered from the Haunted Halls. With time to inspect it, he'd imagined it well suited for her, and had been waiting for the right moment.

Well, that seemed like now.

She reached for it, uncertain, holding it in a limp grip, as if afraid it would damage her hand.

"It's not silver, like I'd originally thought, but mithril, which is much better. Probably belonged to some itinerant elven wizard."

"What does it do?"

"Whatever you want it to." Ryuu clarified, "It's not a wand, that casts a predetermined spell powered by enchantment. It's a more passive enchantment, one that will amplify spells and augment them with certain effects."

"What kind of effects?" Alexander asked, as interested as she was.

"Who knows?" Ryuu asked, "I haven't tested it much. The blood in my body is augmentation enough for any wizardly spell. But young Haidée isn't so dense with energy as I am. The rod will be an excellent learning tool. Just don't let it be your crutch, girl. You have power all your own. Don't forget it."

"I won't, Master."

...

They made camp right there in the antechamber, a bonfire of the cultist's furniture and banners lighting it and providing warmth. Ryuu meditated atop the altar, probably intended for sacrifices.

Haidée toyed with the rod he had given her, entranced by its silvery luster, and the fine cut of its gem.

Alexander prayed over the body of the man she'd fed upon, after Ryuu had staked and beheaded it, just in case. Though the man had served an evil cause, the priest consecrated the remains and wished his soul a speedy voyage to whatever afterlife his deeds had warranted.

That done, he prepared his own meal over the fire, pre-cooked, seasoned poultry soaking in a hastily made broth of water and salt.

Infusing with the chicken's juices, he tested the broth, and satisfied, he broke apart the meat and stirred it, making a basic stew. Haidée finally seemed to notice, and took a seat on the other side of the fire.

"Do you want any stew?" he asked, offering the bowl, " Let me know if you want any, I will share."

She sniffed at it, "It smells really good. Papa made something like that every now and again, but he never used enough seasoning."

She looked away, "I could go for some of his right now."

Nonplussed, Alexander ate his meal, "There is no place for regrets. They weight the heart, and divert one's sight from what is, and what can be. Everything happens as it happens. There is a peace in that."

The girl nodded, "It smells the same as before, but I have no urge to eat it. The soup is the same as it always was, I'm just the one that's different now."

"Yes." he conceded, "But not like you think."

She stared at him, perplexed.

He smiled, "You didn't notice? You were hungry enough to break through a wizardly spell; it could be said, that your senses had taken leave of you. But at no time did it ever occur to you that I was closer to where you were in those moments than the cultist. It never occurred to you to attack me instead. Your very instincts are in line with your conscious wishes. You're still you, an innocent young woman finding her way in this world. Your options may have narrowed, or they may have opened more than you realize. Different, yes, but not worse. Not at all."

He reached around the fire, and held out his hand, "So, I thank you, for not lunging at me instead, like a thoughtless monster would. Like an opportunistic Vampire would."

Eyes wide, she took his hand, and squeezed it, "Thank you, Alexander. That means a great deal to me."

"Not at all." Alexander laughed, "The spiritual well-being of this little group is my concern, after all. The compulsion of any goodly priest.

"Oh, bother." Ryuu groaned, still on the altar, "Go to bed, you. I'm not letting you doze through the evening hours, remember, and it's nearly daybreak."

Nodding, Alexander finished his meal, "Remember, Haidée, that you are not alone. I am here. As is Ryuu. If you need anything..."

She nodded, "I'll let you know. I'm sorry, it's just..."

"I know. Good n-...umm, day, I guess. I should retire. I will do so after I commune with Ilmater. I hope he doesn't mind the lapse; this new schedule had left me a little unmoored."

Chapter 7

The Thunder Peaks, Cormyr (22st of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

He felt Oki's body against his, her heartbeat.

Ryuu sighed, weary after the celebration and the feast of boar to commemorate the long night, the longest in the year. It had been a good night; he'd drunk more than he cared to admit, and eaten far more than the patriarch thought he deserved.

What had woken him? Everything was so serene. So quiet.

So quiet.

Ryuu tensed, sat up, ear slits perked for the sounds of winged insects and their feathered predators.

Nothing.

But he smelled wood smoke. The fires had long since been quenched

Ryuu swallowed an involuntary hiss, and lightly shook his mate awake.

She tensed, eyed him confusedly, her pupils wide in the darkness.

"Oki..." he said quietly, for whispers carried further than a normal voice, "We are going to leave the yurt, and make for the patriarch's. Do you understand?"

She blinked, sobering. Her head cocked, listening as he had.

Nothing.

He crept along the interior, and gathered his bow and two arrows. Oki took his harp, for there was no other weapon.

Gently, very gently, he eased the flap of the yurt, and peered outside. There was a bright light, far in the distance. None of their kinsfolk had noticed yet. Drawing and arrow and nocking it, Ryu took the lead, Oki immediately behind, scanning for intruders.

Neither saw anything, but there was an unusual musk in the air. He eyed her, and they continued towards the patriarch's yurt, at the edge of the river.

In the span of a few more strides, a blinding light exploded near the communal fire pit, like a hundred suns, and he heard Oki scream before being deafened with the roar of a thousand waterfalls. Ryuu stumbled, disoriented, and he could clearly smell mammal in the air.

He blinked; thankfully, the light lingered and his eyes adjusted quickly to it, enough to pick out the lithe figures darting from the grass line.

"Come, now!" he cried, dragging her forward, towards the opposing tree line.

He stammered, horrified, to see a Humanoid with skin of dark oak and hair like polished obsidian. Its yellow eyes bored into him, and narrowed. It drew a recurve bow, the fletching level with its starkly pointed ears.

Ryuu had already drawn, and so he fired first.

He saw the elf collapse, struck through the neck, just as he heard a pained hiss behind him. Oki's claws dug deep into his shoulder.

Scores of Elves surrounded the camp, their fine curved blades bared. Confused, the Lizardfolk nonetheless quickly formed a defensive perimeter around the patriarch, armed with spears and clubs of wood, stone, and obsidian.

But those stumbling blindly from their yurts, however, several of those living along the outer edges, had been cut down. Some moved, others did not.

"We have to go, Oki!" he gasped, trying to find somewhere, anywhere, to retreat to.

His heart skipped a beat when she did not reply. He turned to her, and she locked eyes with him, stunned.

Then he noticed the fletching sticking from her body, between the clavicle and collarbone. The thin line of blood issuing from her lips.

"Oki!" he cried, steadying her as she went limp, save for her hand on him. Her eyes darted, sightlessly.

He pulled into the nearest yurt, ignoring the Elves, the light, and everything else.

No.

Not her, and not now!

He pulled her body back into their yurt, and assessed the damage.

Oki's breathing was wet and labored. The arrow had grazed a lung, but gods be praised, hadn't punctured it. Her left lung was only partially collapsed, and some air was flowing. But the wound bled profusely, despite his efforts to apply pressure with a rag.

The sounds of battle issued outside. He paid them no heed.

Against her cries of pain, Ryuu sat her up, and leaned her against a small stool, grimacing at the sight of the arrowhead poking from her shoulder blade. It was barbed, the material a silvery ore. It was not tied on, like theirs were, but bolted on roughly a quarter-length down the shaft, part of which was inside of her body, underneath. He couldn't cut off that end like it was. He'd have to remove the fletching and push it the rest of the way through. But he didn't have most of his tools on hand; there was nothing to saw it off.

Desperate, Ryu flexed his jaw, which could clamp down with the strength of an alligator's, and breathed deeply, preparing to bite the shaft and break it. He couldn't stop the bleeding until the arrow was removed, and he'd have to make a few incisions to make sure the arrow would break at the proper angle; backward, against her shoulder blade, and not forward or inward, towards the lung.

He was ready. He locked eyes with his mate. His were watering, and hers were unfocused.

"Be still, my love..."

She didn't reply.

The ring of metal on wood, and something softer, grew more distant. As before, he paid it no heed.

"Be still, Oki!" he cried again, taking his other arrowhead in hand like a scalpel, as she gasped, horrified, legs splayed.

"Ryuu..." she wheezed, choking on blood, "...the eggs..."

World Serpent, no...

He cursed, foully. He couldn't handle this too.

"Damn it all!" he cried, hastily making the cuts he needed to ensure the arrow would snap the right way, before biting down. He held her shoulder and neck tightly, and bit down in the shaft, snapping his head.

The shaft cracked, bent, but didn't fully separate.

Oki shrieked, dimly, as if she knew she were in pain but not exactly how.

He twisted his head again, and it broke off.

Her scales were plumed, the pores beneath them exposed to the air.

He didn't have much time. The contractions or the loss of blood would kill her if he didn't patch the wound. He leaned her forward again, his mouth filled with splinters, and pulled from the opposite end, drawing it a finger's length.

He felt an unseen barb further down the shaft lodge in her shoulder blade.

"Shit!" He screamed, pure animal frustration, "Shit, Shit, Shit!"

The nascent Elves had made their arrows specifically so they would be impossible to remove in this manner!

"Ryuu..." Oki moaned, her eyes rimmed with red, "I can't..."

"Be still, my love..." he moaned, defeated, "I will fix this. I have to fix this..."

The sounds outside the yurt abated entirely.

"Save them." she replied, a hand on her belly, "Save them."

No.

No.

"I w-will try again." He said, choked, "I can still-"

She moaned, a contraction striking her abruptly.

"Please, sun on my scales..." Oki replied, cognizant for the moment, "Keep them safe for me."

So much blood. He had to stop the bleeding. He crushed the rag against the wound, "No, I can still-"

"Please..." she begged, her eyelids growing milky and translucent.

He still had the arrowhead.

He knew where to cut. He'd been forced to do this before.

He doubled over, sobbing.

There had to be a way.

He reached for the arrow in her flesh.

And stopped.

He kissed her, deeply, like the knights of his chapbooks did, "Forgive me, Sun of my Scales."

He steeled himself and lay her flat on her back. He pulled apart his own arrow. All he needed was the tip.

Oki nodded, delirious, panting. A red foam issued from her lips.

Ryuu said a prayer to Semuanya of the World Serpent, and leaned down, blade leading...

...

Haidée startled awake. The campfire had burned low. Alexander lay opposite to her, facing away. Ryuu was idly stoking the flames with a stick.

"What manner of Elves were those?" she blurted, the blood memory still fresh in her memory.

He tensed, turned to appraise her with a carefully neutral expression. His eyes glowed like burning coals in the dim lighting.

"Ssri-tel-quessir." he replied, "You know them as Drow, or Dark Elves, but that was how they looked before the descent. A raiding party, you see."

He looked away.

"What happened to Oki?"

He said nothing.

Haidée went to him, but made no contact. She knew he wouldn't appreciate it, not in that moment.

"I was able to save her egg." Ryuu said, then shrugged, "They found me like that...over her. They let me bury her. I guess that was a small consideration, considering. Eh? The rest that had died they burned. And those that lived..."

He winced, as if in pain, "You will learn the truth of it soon enough, I am sure, if this ridiculous vision runs its course."

He looked away, distant.

"I tried to raise her, you know."

"The egg?"

"...No. Oki. I tried to raise her from the dead. I'm also a necromancer, you see."

"You didn't succeed?"

"I never fail when it comes to the wrong decision." Ryuu said, "I bound her spirit, about forty years later. Had a blood offering to make her a new body. She refused. It violated the will of the World Serpent, who lords over all reptiles. I didn't choose to live after...what had happened. The choice was robbed of me. She had the choice. She refused."

"Why?"

"The will of our god." Ryuu explained, "All things form a great wheel. Ever turning, each end is a new beginning for another. When a follower of the World Serpent dies, they live anew as something else belonging to the World Serpent. To take a new life without the World Serpent...it would be heresy. And that isn't enough for her, even now. When a soul bonds with another, one cannot begin that cycle without the other. So she waited for me, in the in-between. She waits for me still, to begin the new cycle."

"I am sorry, Master."

"I know you are. But it is what it is. Nothing to consider, really."

"You want to go to her."

He said nothing.

"But you couldn't." Haidée continued, unable to stop, "Your duty to your child prevented it. And now that you're-"

"Shut it!" Ryuu hissed, turning, eyes wild but glistening with unspent tears, "Because I made you my apprentice doesn't mean I won't paint this cave red with what's left of you!"

He looked back, "What's dead is dead. What is, is. That's all that matters. That's all that ever mattered, and all that ever will. Drop the issue. You have much more important matters to ponder in the coming days."

Downcast, Haidée said no more.

That was a wound that, like those across his back, had never healed.

...

Alexander hoped that Ilmater would forgive him this deception, but he had kept silent during the entire exchange.

He hoped Ryuu would too, because he knew enough of Vampires to know that they could hear a person's pulse, and determine their level of wakefulness.

"Right then, I think we're all rested up." Ryuu said disdainfully, "Up and at 'em. We have more to do, and I'd rather not do it here. Maybe we'll try-

...

Esmer checked and double-checked his work. The inscription was perfect, as far as he could tell, traced right out of the tome his cousin had afforded him to cast this spell.

While he was no wizard, he was an excellent scribe, and he'd prepared a particular cantrip from the divination school with ingredients prepared beforehand. Termed scrying, he could use a focal point, in this case, a small mirror in his left hand, to survey his betrothed wherever she currently was. He could then command the spell to assess her location and pinpoint it to him. His pack, and a weathered sword of fine iron rested against the well, ready for use, as was his horse stabled below.

He didn't understand what had happened, but he knew that he and poor, poor Tolon had been deceived by that vile priest and his monstrous ally. If Haidée was still alive, it would be Esmer's duty to rescue her, with his wizardly cousin's help, of course.

Most imagined wizardly types poring over esoteric tomes and conjuring mystra's weave with a flourish of their fingertips. A ritual spell was a little different; it drew from the very cosmic forces to produce a carefully controlled effect. Anyone could use a ritual spell, provided everything was accounted for.

A scrap of her tunic, marred with blood, stood at the center of a small thamaturgic circle, inlaid with silver powder, and a secondary mixture containing the powdered eye of hawk, nitric acid, copper, and zinc.

As he finalized the spell, an ochre light emanated from the circle of runes, and a loud humming filled the room, as the latent magical energies manifested.

The mirror swirled, turning pitch black, before he noticed a small, flickering light.

A fire.

Haidée sat near a smoldering flame in a dark chamber, clothed in ill-fitting leathers and a weathered cloak. Her eyes, a deep, unnatural maroon, widened in confusion, then narrowed in suspicion. She glanced about, perplexed, before something else entered his field of view.

"Child's play." a soft, sibilant voice echoed in his head, "I've outwitted archmages, you little shit! You really think a rote divination would go unnoticed?"

Something went wrong. The runes flared red, and began to flow like liquid, forming a new pattern. Pushing himself back, horrified, Esmer's fingers closed around the hilt of his sword just when something grabbed his foot, and pulled him forward, into the circle.

There was a rush of motion, of displaced air, and he landed hard, air blasted from his lungs.

A woman gasped, and steel unsheathed.

The change in lighting was so dramatic that Esmer was blinded, stabbing wildly with his sword.

"Ooh...little peeping birdy wants a scrap, does he? I should-"

"Esmer?" Haidée asked, "Gods, what did you do, Master?"

His eyesight adjusted, and he found his feet. He was in that camp he had scried, somewhere underground. The priest was there, staring dumbfounded, and the snake-fiend advanced with a pair of elegant silvery blades.

It paused, confused, "Oh yes, the betrothed, was it? You didn't strike me as a wizardly type, as clumsy as your efforts were."

"You will release Haidée at once!" he demanded, with more bluster than he actually felt, brandishing his sword.

"Adorable." it said, hissing, though it sounded somehow like laughter, "The noble prince come to save the damsel from the dragon's lair. Like one of those chapbooks I so delighted in, in my youth."

"Esmer, what were you thinking?" Haidée asked, interposing between them, "I-..."

She looked away, then back to him, her eyes a deep red color, which burned like coals in the dim lighting, "It's complicated."

"Oooo..." the creature chimed in, "This looks personal, Alexander. We should leave them alone."

Neither the creature nor the priest stepped away; the former looked amused, the latter distressed.

What in the nine hells was going on?

"Haidée..." he pleaded, "Tell me. Why did these men lead me to believe you were dead? What has happened to you?"

She blinked, "They did? I guess that's best. I can't go back, Esmer. Not like this."

She held a hand up to her face, and only then did he notice how deathly pale she was, "It was for your protection. I...I can't be trusted right now."

"You did not want to marry me?"

Her composure shattered at his words, and her indecision broke his heart.

Then, her expression softened, "I think I would have grown into it, Esmer. I think I would have very much loved a home shared with you."

She frowned, downcast, "It cannot be now. I'm no longer Human. Ryuu saved my life by making me a Vampire like him."

Vampire?

A...Vampire?

The word evoked grim storybook tales meant to frighten children, of looming castles and dark crypts.

"He saved me, Esmer." She repeated, almost pleading, "But the thirst. Its...I can't live like I did before. He's been teaching me how to fight, how to survive, without killing anyone. I wanted to stay, to...see how things came to be. But I couldn't stay there. Not without risking hurting someone I love. My father, or..."

Or...him?

What a monster he felt himself.

"This was my doing."

She blinked.

"The stress from the engagement." he clarified, abashed, "If you hadn't gone to the water that day..."

"No, Esmer." Haidée replied sternly, "Nobody can be blamed for this. What happens, happens. What is, is. All that matters is what we do now."

"Then I will go with you." he replied without hesitation.

"Are you kidding me?" Ryuu cursed, "It's bad enough with Sir Painfully Conscientious over here, you really expect me to-"

"Please, Master." she asked, turning to him, "If I could handle not eating Alexander, surely I can-"

"It's not the same, girl. A lover is much more tempting. That power, that energy, that is love...it has odd effects on a condition like ours. You'll go mad and try to feed on him, and then what?"

"I will not allow myself to harm him."

"And I will not allow myself to be harmed by her, just as I will not allow her to come to harm." Esmer added, "You could use me."

"Back me up, priest." he said, turning to the man, "Cast a charm on this bungler and let me send him on his way. I know if I teleport him out he'll just get himself killed trying to chase us down!"

But the priest shook his head, "This can help the girl maintain her humanity. I will bless an article of faith for him to repel her if need be, but I see no reason not to bring him along, if that is his wish."

Ryuu rolled his eyes, groaning, "Oh fine, and baby makes four. We're getting quite the clique going; a nobleman, a farmer's daughter, a priest, and an ages-old Vampire. Maybe we can form a musical troupe, though Alexander needs to use a wind instrument. His unfettered voice drives me positively crazy. Anyway, fine, moving on!"

"Where will we go now?"

"Let me worry about that. Boy, I hope you looked up at birds soaring overhead and wondered what it's like to fly. Cause that's the only way you're getting down this mountain in an expedient enough fashion. That, or I can just boot your insufferable arse right off the peak!"

Chapter 8

Daerlun, Sembia (24th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

After all the drama settled over, Ryuu had decided to take his growing little flock down the mountains, south and east, back into Sembia, to Daerlun.

After some difficulty with the gate guards, who hadn't seemed very amiable to four armed travelers arriving unannounced and by moonlight, one of them being a red-eyed reptilian creature, they'd bunked in one of the nicer taphouses along the western wall.

He hadn't bothered to read the sign. All he cared to notice was the visible quality of its material and engraving. Inside, it was a lively place, with many full tables and a floor lined with straw. There were a few brawls, but the patrons were subdued at the sight of him.

Ryuu decided he would acquire lodgings before one or more of them inevitably decided to pick a fight.

They had taken a seat in the corner, the better to avoid such a confrontation, and to make a show of it, and ensure the barkeep would be willing to offer a room, he'd decided to order a dinner course and libations.

"I've never been in a taphouse before." Haidée noted, surveying the interior curiously, "I imagined traveling merchants and sellswords. Everybody is really taking to the drinking, aren't they."

Ryuu shrugged, "I was originally thinking we'd try the House of Firehair, but I've never heard of a temple of Sune that wasn't also a...umm, never mind. Anyway, this seemed like a good choice."

"I still don't understand why we came all the way back into Sembia." Alexander protested, frowning at the sight of the tankards he'd ordered for his flock, and the glass of wine he'd procured for himself.

"No good ale." Ryuu replied, "And I want my followers well attended, so I ordered a woman for the priest, since Esmer will no doubt be occupied."

He sipped his wine, a fine aged vintage tasting of elderberry and plum, poignantly ignoring the incredulous stares of three more belligerent Humans.

He laughed, "So serious. All of you. I'm disappointed. You have so little time on this world, and you restrain yourself from life's pleasures. Haidée, you're exempt, since it won't be an issue."

She blanched at that.

"Hmph. I'll take the woman. Shame, Sunathaer, since she gave you the twice-over when I accosted her. Actually, never mind. I hate smooth skinned mammals."

He clapped his hands, "Okay, so... Thunderholme."

He let the silence stretch for emphasis, then, "Ancient dwarven keep. Pride of their underground nation, actually. Wiped out after the high priest unveiled his magnificent new temple in a grand dedication ceremony attended by every dwarf in the city. Too bad it was a temple to Null, and the priest used the ceremony to call down a dragon, which promptly slaughtered all of his subjects. Aurgloroasa, they called her. The Sibilent Shade."

He poured emphasis into the "s" sound, producing a reptilian hiss.

"How do you know this?" Alexander asked, to which he pouted, "Little priest doesn't think I take the time to read. Well fine, you have the right of it. I tried scrying it repeatedly before my sojourn into Cormyr, and eventually succeeded."

"Why are we going there? Haidée asked around her ale, trying not to make a sour face at the no doubt flavorless swill.

"I hunt undead, remember?" Ryuu asked, grinning, "Dwarven Wraiths, skeletons...maybe the shade of the Priest Regent himself. I'd love to take a crack at that one, if he could call down a dragon. And it'd serve him right."

He scowled, "Betraying your own kin. That's the lowest of the low. In a world that's this foul and treacherous, you should be able to depend on the goodwill of the tribe."

The Vampire took another draught, snapping his fingers at the barmaid, "So we're going to hit Thunderholme tomorrow night. Same way we got to the peaks, and the same way we got here. But first, Esmer..."

He sized him up, before offering a heavy satchel with what remained of his wealth, "I'm sure we can find some nice armor for you. And for the priest. And the girl, actually. Those leathers were supposed to be a temporary attire. I want you all geared up, so I'll draft up a list, and you'll get everything on it come morning. You can sleep for the afternoon, if you want. Here's for the expenses."

The Human looked into the pouch, and his eyes went wide, "You would offer us all this?"

"Obviously." Ryuu derided, "And get yourself a better sword. And a shield. You look slow, so it would be a good idea to have something other than your pretty face to take the hits for you."

He blinked, "I thank you for this gift. And for...for saving Haidée. I shouldn't have assumed."

"Done."

The food arrived, and another glass of wine, and another round of ales.

A little misconception was that, drinking blood, Vampires couldn't eat too. Sure, there was no need to, but it helped to pass among mortals. He tasted the stew, potato, dipping a half-loaf of bread in it and taking a large bite.

"Just don't go wasting it by dying. I'm going to train you like I will the girl. Waste of investment otherwise."

The soup was actually quite good.

"You, Alexander...you seem to hold your own well enough. Since I'll be training these two on the road, maybe you could fill in when I'm occupied tomorrow evening. It might take a few hours to break through the wards surrounding Thunderholme. I was originally going to become fog and slip through, like before, but as is..."

The priest of Ilmater nodded, "Of course. It will be a good exercise for us all to get to know each other. Since you insist on battling halfway across Cormyr, we will need the insight."

"It will bring us together." Haidée added, "A good thing, since we are coming to be your tribe, Master. Isn't that so?"

The notion struck a little deeper than she, or Ryuu himself, would have initially thought.

Troubled, but not willing to let them know that, he shrugged, "We'll see. Dawn is only an hour or so away, and I could use some time to study my tome before taking to the dreamless sleep. Leave a modest tip and tell that floozy with the red blouse there that the deal's off. She can take the initial half and shove it, preferably while I watch.

...

Alexander did not sleep well this night, in the small hours before dawn. After they'd taken rooms, and he wound up sharing his with Ryuu, the Lizardfolk had taken to his spell book, a heavy tome of black leather and bronze filigree. He was deep in concentration, so much so that he hadn't jested at all, and took no notice of his attention.

He eyed the creature, tormented as he had been since entering this peculiar alliance.

He recalled every ministration he had heard in Ilmater's cloister and anywhere else, from Sune's temple in Selgaunt to Tempus' mead hall in Luskan. He sought his answer in the hundreds of tomes he had read, the thousands of stories he had heard. The people he had met. The heroes of old that he admired; Archmage Elminster and the Seven Sisters, the Knights of Myth Drannor, and all the rest.

All sources pointed to the same conclusion; Vampires, as all other forms of undead, were irredeemably evil, only fit to destroy.

As a vessel of divine power, opposed to undead, Alexander had been forced to resist the call to violence just as much as his fledgling companion, driven by his dogma to destroy evil.

And time and time again, Ryuu defied the conventions of vampirism. As did Haidée.

They spat in the face of that convention, and everything he'd been led to believe.

He held his head in his hands. How many might have been like them, but were never given the chance to prove it? How many might have been slain outright, for no fault of their own, nay, as reward for resisting the temptation for violence?

What was a greater indication of goodness? To be born of a goodly nature, or to resist, being born of evil?

What was he to do? These creatures, these Vampires, remained inexorably Human!

Ryuu hid it well, but Alexander sensed his inner turmoil. To be separated from those you love, not by the gulf of distance but death itself. And such a love!

But he endured, to serve the world by hunting undead and those that trafficked in them. Through justice or base revenge, Ryuu performed acts of good, despite his nature.

What was he to do? How could he live with himself if he slew such a being, for something they had no control over, for the mere act of living?!

"He who endures preserve me..." Alexander thought to himself, stirring in his bed.

Then...

In the swirling sea of his doubt and confusion, it struck him in singular notions that built upon each other, leading him to the truth.

Ryuu, despite appearances, was no monster. Alexander knew this already, and his actions today had proven it.

He did not deserve to die.

He did not deserve Alexander's scorn.

He was a sufferer, a poor and downtrodden creature, a beloved subject of Ilmater. For it was his god's portfolio to aid those in need, those in pain.

As was Haidée, a poor, innocent girl who fell victim to circumstance, and had chosen to live rather than to die.

It was his duty to his god and his conscience, to help them. It was his duty to protect them, from those who assumed evil in them. It was his duty to follow them, to act as their guidance, their beacon, their shield. It would his duty to bring them peace, should they ever prove themselves the monsters the world assumed them to be.

Ilmater had spoken. Alexander opened his eyes, and they fell upon his charge.

"Thank you. I know now. I accept this task."

Ryuu opened an eyelid, lazily. His irises were wide in the low lighting.

"What was that? I'm not chasing down that woman if you've changed your mind."

"It was nothing."

"Good, good."

Ryuu closed his eyes, as did Alexander.

He would need to be rested for the morrow.

Chapter 9

Daerlun, Sembia (25th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

It was sunrise, though, on a day with such heavy overcast, it was difficult to tell. They traveled north, which he knew only because the jungle had given way to desert; a rocky, mountainous expanse of lifeless sands. It was cold, very cold. He held Oki's egg tightly against his body, terrified that it might never hatch if it couldn't preserve enough heat. He'd wrapped it in a linen sheet, thin enough not to smother, perhaps too thin.

In the cart, one of several, he sat numbly beside what remained of his tribe. The few warriors had been slain by the Elves, and those that remained had been rounded up and bound in iron. Those that had fought had been whipped, severely. They lay belly-down, their backs flayed.

He hadn't fought. World Serpent forgive him, he hadn't fought. He hadn't been able to bear it, with Oki's still cooling body beneath him, her only offspring in his hands.

It had only been one egg. Only one.

He hated himself for not being to provide more. In his age, his seed must have been weak.

And he hated himself for not saving her.

Ryuu hissed, and their captors nearest him tensed. He gave no further indication of his anger, and they lost interest.

Lost and alone, he stared into the distance, wondering what would be.

...

Haidée tensed, startling awake.

Ryuu's blood memories left her dissociated; in these first moments, she found herself uncertain if she was herself, or a little more of him.

Then, as before, everything settled, but the memories burned into her mind. She knew she would never be able to forget.

She looked over to Esmer's bed, which was unoccupied, and sighed, troubled. They had spoken little; they had only known each other for days, after all. The awkward silences had not been broken yet. Haidée wondered if they really would, with things as they were...

Nothing for it, she threw off the blankets of her bed, opposite to Esmer's, and climbed out, leaving aside her rough leathers, clad in a tunic and a pair of woolen leggings. Also ignoring her clogs, she eased open the door barefoot, and peered outside.

The room opposite, where Ryuu and Alexander had slept, was quiet. Her master was likely studying his spell books. Not wanting to bother him, she went downstairs, into the main area. It was mid afternoon, judging by the hue of the sunlight peeking through the shuttered windows. She avoided those fleeting rays, to sit at the bar. The proprietor, an elderly man with a shaven face and sad, drooping eyelids studied her intently, before proffering a tankard and filling it.

"Oh, no, please, I-"

"On the house, lass." he replied hastily, "Need a few women to brighten the place up. Keeps the patrons' focus away from brawling, you see."

Nodding sheepishly, Haidée peered about the taphouse. A few sellswords, and day laborers. Rowdy lot. There was a good deal of gambling, a few jeers directed at the barmaid, but they seemed subdued. A few looked her way, puzzled at her eyes, and quickly looked away.

"And those eyes of yours do the job too." he chuckled, though there was a tenseness to it, "Tell me truly, are you one of them Half-Drow? You have a certain look about you."

Blinking, Haidée quickly reassured him that she was not, careful to hide her claws in the rim of the tankard. She took a draught of the ale, and it tasted different then yesterday, more nutty. It was definitely better quality.

She forgot these things; her eyes, a deep maroon, certainly helped her to stand out in a crowd, and her pale, ashen skin as well, most likely. It would do not to walk about so brazenly.

"Well, whatever you are, you're welcome here." he assured her, "Odder sorts about, like yer lizard friend. What's his story, eh?"

"I'm still finding that out." Haidée replied honestly, "Everything has been happening so quickly. I'm a little unmoored, I think".

He nodded, though he didn't understand the full of it, "True enough, pretty thing like yourself joining an adventuring band. You never think to just settle down? That other fellow, with the golden hair, seems a good sort."

"That cannot be." Haidée replied sadly, "I was engaged to him, actually. But what I am...I can't have that life."

"Does it have to do with the eyes?"

"Yes."

He nodded again, troubled, "Well, it is what it is. Doesn't mean you can't find a happy medium. Ever think to enlist?"

"I don't think..." she started, laughed, "I don't think that would work out either. I'll find my place, I'm sure. These people, my...friends, they are good company."

"That's well enough." the barkeep said, "You just keep well enough. Well enough?"

"Well enough." Haidée replied, "Thanks for the talk. I needed it."

"Never you mind. I-"

He tensed, and Haidée turned to see Ryuu step down the stairs. If her presence had unnerved the other patrons, his approach left the taproom silent, pensive.

"I miss something good?" he asked, curiously, and she shook her head, "No, M-...umm, Ryuu."

They had agreed she not state his honorific in public. It drew attention.

"When should Esmer and Alexander be returning?"

"Soon enough, I'm sure. Come, they still have a few hours yet, and I wanted to test that spell rod and your own capabilities."

"No wizardry in my house." the barkeep replied sternly, and Ryuu huffed, "I was thinking the back alleys. Nice and isolated. And dark, just how I like it. Let's go."

...

Esmer, trailed by Alexander, who had found him after spending a few hours of repairing his mail-backed brigandine, studied the merchant stalls for what they sought. He haggled when he could, his tongue honed by years of backbiting at his family's behest, and sought better deals when he could not. He palmed the holy symbol the priest had given him last night; a preventative measure against his engaged, estranged Haidée from feeding on him while he slept, deeply troubled but dedicated to the moments they spent together.

Over the last three hours, he had procured rations, packs, cloaks, flint and iron, and everything he felt they would need for a long excursion. Now he needed arms, and armor, and he'd saved as much as he could for it. He'd sold their original swords.

He passed a weapon stand, and turned back, eyeing the wares. While he was not a practiced warrior, his family had been possessed of an excellent Weaponmaster, who had passed on what to look for in a quality blade.

The first item that caught his eye rested nearest to the peddler, a heavily muscled smith with dark-lidded eyes. Most likely, it was his prized work, fetching the highest price. It was a falchion; thicker, single-edged, and slightly curving, as much an axe as a proper sword. Its hilt was woven metal, and it had a thick, flat cross guard that curved at one end, the better to protect the knuckles of its wielder.

"I like it, but it's not really meant to be used in conjunction with a shield." he noted, "And it would tire me out, swinging such a short blade. I'd overbalance, so used to a broadsword."

Then again, because Ryuu had advised a shield didn't necessarily lock him into the decision, even if it was to be bought with the Lizardman's coin.

The next blade he noted was thin, double-edged, and possessed of a basket hilt. A rapier, it's benefit was blinding speed and precision. He'd found himself quite able to master it, but if they were fighting undead, he would need something with more cutting power.

"I'll stick to what I know." he decided, and, with the permission of the seller, he took hold of a bastard sword with a cross guard and round pommel, eyeing its steel for quality. Noting the distinctive blood groove and the thin lines down its length, indicative of the ore being folded several times before forging separately into the softer edge and harder spine, he nodded, satisfied that it wouldn't shatter when pitted against another weapon. He could use it with one hand or two, in conjunction with a shield or not, in tight quarters or on an open field.

Bickering for a price, but not too strongly, for he respected this man's work, Esmer walked away with the bastard sword at his belt, and the steel rapier for Haidée. Being a...what she now was, speed and precision were her best attributes, and if Ryuu was teaching her spells too she could easily manage having such a light weapon. He also bought a kite shield, of thick maple lined and reinforced with steel plates, and a pair of daggers, weighted for balance.

Alexander had declined replacing his Morningstar, which of modest quality, was nonetheless sanctified, and irreplaceable. His priestly robes, tattered in some places, however, had been modified. Bereft of its long sleeves and flowing skirt, it was more a tunic now, the better to allow freedom of movement. And he had bought a new pair of boots, reinforced with thin armor plating, as well as a pair of fingerless gauntlets and a pair of greaves.

"I was not invested in adventuring when I came here." the priest pointed out, noticing his scrutiny, "I will better keep pace and defend myself like this, and my garb is still recognizable. Not that I really need it to be."

Nodding, Esmer stopped at an armor stand, and immediately purchased the finest leather greaves, bracers, and a pair of enameled dwarven breastplates with the remainder of Ryuu's gold. A pair for him, and a pair that required mild tailoring to fit Haidée's exact proportions. He tested the metal, mostly bronzed steel with the pommel of his new sword, and smiled.

"Matching armors...I bet the lizard will find that positively hilarious. I'm buying them anyway."

...

"This should do." Ryuu noted, head uplifted to study the shadows above and mark the course of the sun over the next hours.

At no time would its light fill this particular stretch of alley.

Refuse littered the ground. It stank of piss and rotten food.

No windows above though. Nobody would try and empty a chamber pot or anything like that.

He sat down, cross legged, and Haidée did the same, "Now then, your first spell. Aside from the bats. And the fog. And- oh, whatever."

He held up a pebble, "I want you to burn it, until it melts."

She waited for him to elaborate.

He kept her waiting a time, then sighed, "You have more than my memories, girl. You should be getting my knowledge of magic. Can you speak fluent Draconic yet?"

"No."

"Korth!" Ryuu snapped. smiling as she tensed and unwittingly retorted "Where?"

"Danger." He replied, "Korth means "danger" in draconic. What are you going to manifest onto this stone?"

She blinked, "Ixen."

There was no uncertainty.

"Yes, Ixen, the better to valignat, to burn, Er Vorel Thurirl."

Having studied his spell book beforehand, the symbols required still burned at the forefront of his mind, and he expertly carved them into the dirt between them. He gave her a hundred count to concentrate, and the obliterated the runes with a swipe of his hand, "Your own spell book can wait. For now, this will do fine, so I can monitor your readings. Now take that rod I gave you and use it."

He planted the pebble right over that same space, and rested his head in his hand, as it balanced elbow on knee with his crossed legs.

The girl drew the rod, its surface gleaming even outside of an immediate source of light, and pointed it towards the pebble.

"Ixen." she rasped, the "x" sound ending in a reptilian "sss"

Nothing happened.

"Remember." Ryuu reminded her, "This isn't a passive ability, like the bats. This power comes from the weave. Mystra's weave. Think of it like plucking a thread from a great tapestry, and drawing its length into your own weave."

She blinked, then squinted, repeating the word for fire in his native tongue.

"Draw the thread. Make a new arrangement. Slowly. Deliberately. Mystra is the source, but you are its focus, the rod, the amplifier. The stone will burn. The stone must burn."

She hissed, her eyes flaring red.

"Ixen!" she rasped, and the rosy crystal at the tip of the rod did the same.

The pebble began to smoke, as did the soil beneath it.

"The energies will linger until you break focus, or release them willingly." he noted, "Pull the thread harder. More insistently. It will come to you."

She gritted her teeth.

Small embers crackled around the stone, as the residual combustible elements in the soil ignited.

But still the pebble did not melt.

"Draw the thread..."

Veins, dark and starkly defined against her pale flesh, thickened about her eyes. He could feel her blood mingling with the magic of the weave. The rosy crystal darkened, black like onyx, threaded with crimson.

He grinned. What a fascinating development.

The embers darkened, turned a deep, crimson red, before blackening altogether. The shadows of the alley deepened, becoming more menacing. The pebble flared red, and then disintegrated.

Haidée started, then shrieked, as the altered rod smoldered with crimson flame and inky shadows. She dropped it, crawling backwards, and its flame died instantly. The gem, however, retained its new nature.

"What did I do?" she asked, and Ryuu rose, and collected the rod.

"You corrupted the rod." he explained, studying it intently, "I thought this device could amplify certain magics. But you, my dear, altered its fundamental enchantment. With your vampiric blood, it has been re-enchanted to amplify shadowflame, the mating of fire and negative energy unique to undead that replaces the life-spark during their transformation. That was what you cast, melding arcane and blood magic. Impressive."

"Vile." she spat, shaken, "I could feel the evil in it. If that had hit a person..."

"The flames would have penetrated flesh to sear the soul. Those slain by it would be nearly obliterated, their husk animated into a temporary minion, like a Ghoul but burning apart from within."

"Evil."

"Evil is a state of mind, girl." Ryuu retorted, "I was turned by a necromancer, and her knowledge passed to me. If you have the tools to save who you will, and destroy who you will, without wishing it, is it really evil to use them? What if that Ghoul had turned to your father too? Would you decline the tools to save the ones you love because they sicken you, or frighten you?"

He chuckled, "A wise warrior fears his blade, for fear of the fact that he might have to use it to protect what he fights for. Shadowflame is your blade, it seems. You can use it, or you can't, but either way, you will live with the consequences."

"I feel sick." Haidée moaned, downcast.

He could have none of it. He leaned down, and forced her head up by the chin.

"Just lets you know you're still alive, my dear." Ryuu said, smiling, offering her the rod, "I want to see what else you can do. Two more spells, a little less offensive in nature, yes? Then we can go check and see if the boys are back yet. Take comfort in the fact that you won't be using these powers on the living again anytime soon, because I prefer applying my talents on the dead."

...

Sirahani waited in Aurgloroasa's court, amid the risen spirits of dwarven dead. Her host was meditating, atop her heap of treasure, more a mountain, really. Glimmering jewels, finely polished and enchanted arms and armor, even the cloven crown of the last king of Thunderholme, sat piled atop each other. Wasted, in her opinion, for Aurgloroasa was far too massive to make any use of any of it, the treasure serving as no more than a sitting cushion.

Aurgloroasa took no notice of it, or her scrutiny. A wayward adventurer might have assumed the dragon to be dead, with its shriveled, mottled coat of scales, hollow eye sockets, and tattered, ruined wings. But Aurgloroasa had conquered death as Sirahani herself had, and more. Re-created through the most powerful acts of necromancy, the Dracolich had made herself immortal and nearly invincible, her soul ripped from her body and stored in a phylactery.

Immune to even the most powerful psionic and illusionary abilities, and many forms of sorcery besides, Sirahani knew she stood no chance against such a monster. None save perhaps a demigod or an army could make such a claim.

So she had come to negotiate, to form a pact of mutual gain, or to bribe the use of the Dracolich's crypt for a short time. While certainly powerful, Aurgloroasa was not the only necromancer to reside in this cursed tomb at one time or another. Aurus' research was here, she was certain. If this wasn't his main site, it was certainly one of his select secondary facilities. The place was a fulcrum of dense negative energies, swarming with subjects and remains to use as materials. One site would lead to another. If this forgotten dwarven keep didn't have what she sought, it could certainly lead her to it.

But dragons were prideful creatures. The cost would be great, but she would suffer it.

She had a god to dethrone and a god to elevate.

Chapter 10

Cormyr (27th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

After evening set in, they travelled west, back into Cormyr. At the border, a pair of guards had watched in horror and bewilderment at the sight of a massive flight of bats and two men pulled along with it, over two bowshots in the air.

When they reached a large, marshy lake, they turned north, to the base of the Thunder Peaks. Ryuu abruptly altered course, landing in a small clearing and reforming, Esmer rising shakily from the soft earth beside him. Her senses returning, Haidée glanced about curiously, then turned, alarmed, looking for Alexander.

"Next stop..." the priest groaned, hanging by his leg upside down in an overhanging tree, "...We get horses."

Ryuu chortled.

"Sorry." Haidée replied sheepishly, using her claws to scale the tree. She was able to slowly lower him down with one arm, despite the fact that he no doubt outweighed her by fifty stones even without the armor.

"Why here?" Esmer asked, eyeing Ryuu as he pawed at the dirt.

"Because we can't go through the front door." Haidée replied for him, "Ryuu intends to become fog and reach the ruins through cracks in the earth. Right?"

"An appreciable guess." Ryuu noted, smiling, "But how, do you think, our Human fellows here will join us? And this isn't a rocky delve, its solid earth. No, I scoped this place out through divination. I know there is a connecting tunnel here, but, like the ruins themselves, they are carefully warded. Dwarves hide their civilizations well, as you may guess."

"If the ruins are warded, how did you find them?"

"I looked for the places I couldn't scry. Anyway, we would need a rune of dwarven make to enter the city through the front doors, which are collapsed anyways. I can bypass that with a hefty spell, but I need to reach the proximity of the ruins, and we can't teleport in for that same reason, so..."

Haidée blinked, "So..."

"So I'll call in a little help."

Ryuu clapped his hands together, and the fire erupted beneath him. Haidée jumped, blade halfway from its scabbard before she realized it was some form of evocation, and it had already settled.

At his feet, a series of interlocking rings were burned into the soil, lined with magical symbols she didn't recognize. But she sensed they were partially in draconic, and partially in demonic. Directly beneath him, was a small wax candle, inside of and protruding from a tiny burlap sack. Beside it was a small black gem.

After removing himself from the circle, careful not to disturb it, he clapped his hands again, and the candle lit.

"Jrgrlg..." Ryuu said, and it sounded like rumbling stones.

"Jrgrlg." he said again, more insistently. His expression pinched, strained by intense concentration.

The runes flared red, then blackened when the light touched, and was absorbed by, the black gem. A black sapphire, she imagined, determining the type of spell he was trying to cast. Most conjuration magic required a candle and a summoning circle. The black sapphire, a powerful necromantic focus, could alter the essential nature of a spell, just as her blood had altered the enchantment of her spell rod.

Wait...how had she known that?

The ground shook, then rose around the circle, lifting it.

Alexander and Esmer backed away. Their respective pulses suddenly increased. Haidée rubbed her temples, irritated by the noise.

The mound, dirt and stone and moss, coalesced into a rough Humanoid outline, though it was hunched, with thick, lumbering limbs and a face that pressed out from the torso. Grave stones jutted from its back.

An aura, pale viridian in color, bled from its eyes and maw, which was composed of jagged, gnashing stone. It reeked of evil.

"An elemental." Alexander noted warily, "But...different. Unholy."

"Made of desecrated earth." Ryuu added, nodding, "I scooped this one up from a graveyard infested with necromancers. I couldn't destroy their work, but I contained it in a form that was less threatening to the living."

"Two services remain, un-living." The elemental said in a deep, booming voice, "Name the service."

"Dig us a hole." Ryuu commanded, "Wide enough for all of us and deep enough to penetrate the tunnel below. And harden it up nice, so it won't bury itself."

Without pause, the elemental collapsed into the earth, which widened like an opening mouth. So much soil was displaced that they were forced to retreat a few paces.

"Right then. Now we wait. I will monitor our friend's progress. Alexander, why don't you show them a few things. It's going to take an hour or two."

...

Alexander stood with Esmer and Haidée in the small clearing. Even having prepared this lecture beforehand, he took some time to gather himself and better study his unlikely comrades.

He noted how they glanced to each other, the subtle emotions that played across their carefully veiled expressions.

The tenseness. Guilt. Regret.

Desire.

It was very clear to him that, whatever his faults, Tolon must have well thought out the union between these souls, in spite of the union's interruption. Though he saw the workings of a tragedy here, for all tales involving a Vampire were tragedies, especially between lovers. But he was determined to avert it if he could. If Ryuu could defy the hard truths of vampirism, perhaps they could as well.

He looked to the sun, just a thin line on the horizon, and nodded, "I would speak the words of my god, that there may be no confusion."

Haidée and Esmer both nodded.

"Help all who hurt, no matter who they are. The truly holy take on the suffering of others. If you suffer in his name, Ilmater is there to support you. Stick to your cause if it is right, whatever the pain or peril."

Alexander continued, "I am here because I feel it is right to do so. Ilmater is with me in this, and I have no doubts. Perhaps he is pleased by our mission to vanquish undead, or he sees a higher purpose in our work. I know not. There is no shame in a meaningful death. Emphasize the spiritual nature of life over the existence of the material body. If one of us is to die it will be me. I am not afraid to transcend this life, if I must do so. Do not take risks, Haidée, because of your nature. You do not yet know your limitations. Stand up to all tyrants, and allow no injustice to go unchallenged. Ryuu has told me much of this place, and I feel it my personal task to bring peace to the suffering beings we will find down there, as much as I consider it my duty to watch over and protect you. And Ryuu, despite the fact that I find him positively insufferable."

Ryuu winked at him from over by the pit, preening. Haidée and Esmer both held in their mirth.

He appraised them, all seriousness, "The undead suffer. It is always so. But these undead are beyond healing. It is our duty to Ilmater to put them down. Do you understand?"

They nodded.

"This isn't some exciting adventure. We are doing Ilmater's work."

Again, they nodded.

"Thank you, my friends." Alexander said, more softly, "I find it much more important to teach a person when to go into battle, not how. Assume your battle stance, facing each other."

Taking their places, roughly seven paces apart, each drew weapons; Haidée, her thin rapier, Esmer, a broadsword and shield. What a pair they looked; garbed in matching dwarven breastplates, thick cloth tunics, greaves, bracers, and boots, though Esmer's were thicker and backed with mail. Yet how opposing, as well; she, with her dark hair, tied into a bun, her unnatural maroon eyes, and her pale skin. How thin, even malnourished, she looked. Esmer, on the other hand, with his healthy tan, blue eyes, and golden hair, cut in a military fashion, seemed a knight from one of the old tales.

Thoughtful, they eventually looked over to him as he observed them without speaking further.

"Thank you. Now, there are many styles for each of your weapons. I will relay what I can..."

...

Judging by the course of the sun, now fully removed, the area lit by Glowballs to provide light, Esmer guessed they crossed blades for roughly an hour. Alexander showed him much of what he already knew, but for Haidée, who had been taught in a radically difficult style, it was a good learning experience. As their steel rebounded, Esmer quickly realized that despite her smaller frame, she was much, much stronger than him. Her rapier hit with the impact of a greatsword, and he'd long stopped trying to parry and instead took the brunt with his shield.

He didn't ask her to lighten her attacks, but Alexander noticed his increasing discomfort, and did so for him. He tried to ignore how emasculating that felt.

By the time they disengaged, he felt more vitalized than tired. Their bout, while long in duration, had been less taxing than an actual duel, and it loosened his muscles and left him in a pleasant state, his perspiration cooling him in the lower temperature.

He locked eyes with her, and how fearsome a sight, that unnatural shade! She returned the stare, all intensity and confusion and...longing?

They shared much in those brief moments, which only strengthened his determination, his belief that that little girl he'd been engaged to was definitely still in there somewhere.

Ryuu approached, appearing for all the world unmindful of their exchange.

"Gather 'round the pit, boys and girls..." Ryuu jeered, excited, "The party is just about to begin!"

...

Staring down, Haidée couldn't see the bottom. The hole was roughly seven paces by seven paces, perfectly round. It looked rocky, like a natural vent were it not so symmetrical. The elemental extracted itself, though it seemed more to flow than detach from the earth around it, "One service remains, un-living. Name the service."

"Not just yet." Ryuu replied with authority, "Return to your tortured realm. I will call you again when you are needed."

And in the flash of an instant, the elemental crumbled, indeterminate from a mount of upturned soil.

"What happens when it completes its service, Master?"

Ryuu shrugged, "I have to let it go. Worse things could have happened from that place than a roaming elemental, trust me."

Ryuu cast another spell, this one entirely composed of delicate, precise mystic passes. Something sizzled in his belt pouch, and a clear aura surrounded Alexander and Esmer.

"Basic slowfall cantrip. Get down there. We will follow as fog. Pleasant journey, friends."

Esmer went forward without hesitation, and slowly floated down the shaft. Alexander eyed it, rigid.

"You ready for this, Sunathaer?"

"Long and strong as Daern's devotion." he sighed, "I am with you."

He followed after Esmer, and was swallowed by the darkness. Nothing for it, Haidée became as fog, and gradually sank down, down, down...

...

The wagon came to a halt somewhere near the coast. He could smell saltwater. It had been days, several, actually, and they hadn't fed him, or the others. Two more had died on the road.

He'd noticed a weak link in his shackles; a rusted, incomplete weld on a ring where the chains linked. A weakness, perhaps, that he could exploit at a later time.

They were led out of the wagon and into a large wooden building, at the edge of a village of crude thatch huts. He heard screams from within. There were more Elves, Humans, and other races he didn't know. Some were in chains, mostly Humans.

Ryuu hissed. He should have guessed. Chung'yeh had freed them from chains, and their former masters had come for them. They were to be thralls once again.

They were sorted at the entrance, their shackles linked in groups. The females went first. His line was linked next, and he looked over his shoulder. The elderly weren't being taken in. They were being led further into the village.

"What are you doing?" Ryuu asked, confused, "Where are you taking them?"

The Dark Elves supervising their group didn't answer, though they grinned fiercely.

"Where are you taking them?!" he asked again, grunting as he was clubbed in the back, prodded forward as their group was led into the building. It was dark, lit by torchlight, and it took time for his eyes to adjust.

He wished they had not at all; there were all manner of creatures caged along the walls, and lines of the like being led beside his people.

Dazed, Ryuu held his egg tightly, pulled by his chains to a great fire pit. Abruptly, he was clubbed again, in the back of the head. Dark elves and Yuan-ti drew hot irons from the fire, and branded prone females on the upper arm. Their shrieks jolted him back to awareness, just as one of his captors had finished wrenching the egg from his arms.

He stared down, bewildered, at his empty hands.

"No!" he cried, eyes darting, searching for it. He found the egg being placed on a table to his right, where a Dark Elf studied it, taking measurements.

"No!" He screamed, pulling on his shackles. They held firm.

He bolted forward, and gasped, held fast. Immediately, he was surrounded by Dark Elves. They struck him with their prods. He doubled over, bloodied.

His vision turned red.

"LET ME GO!" he roared, the strength of one much younger throbbing in his veins at the sight of his child, Oki's child, threatened.

He screamed, lunging forward.

He would break these chains, and anything else, that got in his way!

Those behind him were dragged along. He was blocked by two Elves. Two Elves fell at his feet. Claw marks across their throats. His hands, while chained, were no longer conjoined. The link connecting them had snapped apart.

There was a sharp crackle. He cringed, but felt nothing.

Again, the crackle. He felt a line of fire across his back.

He screamed, and it sounded bestial, animal.

His captors struck at his face, at his hands.

The whip struck his back, again, again.

An elven voice cursed.

Bloodied, Ryuu closed on the egg. One arm was limp at his side, numb.

So close. So close.

He reached out his working hand. It was lacerated by the whips, bloodied.

Something struck the back of his knee. He toppled.

Sound became muffled, disjointed. He heard more screams, more cruel voices and that whip again and again.

Before the darkness closed about him, Ryuu glimpsed a Dark Elf woman with odd, piercing red eyes appraising him with a cruel smile.

...

"Oi! Wake up, sleepyhead!"

Haidée snapped to attention, to find her companions staring at her.

Ryuu grinned, "No time to doze off, sweetie. If you hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of an ancient ruin."

"That was so strange." she replied, "The visions, they..."

She trailed off, confused.

Ryuu didn't seem to know what to make of it either, "Must mean it's just taking to a little faster. That's good. It means you should be getting my knowledge much faster. Do you know the liquid blades style?"

"When faced with two opponents, the duelist will attempt to force them to intersect, tripping them up in each other's weapons."

Haidée blinked. When had he told her that?

"Good. Now let's go, before we wake the dead. Literally."

Eyes adjusting to the dim Glowballs Esmer and Alexander had lit, she found herself in a small passage, a hallway, perhaps. Behind her, there were signs of a cave-in. That way was blocked off with debris. Its sheer symmetry, equally as unnatural as the hole Ryuu's elemental had dug, told her it was indeed dwarven handiwork. Wide, precisely carved pillars and buttresses supported the hallway, and unlit sconce basins, spaced perfectly between each pillar, were embellished with a rough, blocky representation of a bearded face. The floors were square tiles, massive slabs of stone interlocking with each other and terminating beyond the walls, suggesting perpendicular corridors.

She couldn't begin to wonder how old this worked stone really was, or how far down they had descended. As fog, senses were dulled, after all. But it had felt like she'd drifted down for a very long time."

Ryuu taking point, they advanced further down the hallway, the path behind them blocked off. His tail flicked excitedly, back and forth, back and forth.

"I can't wait to see the dragon."

"How do you know the dragon's still here?"

Ryuu looked back, perplexed, "What do you mean? It's a dungeon. There's always dragons, aren't there?"

Down the hallway they crept, as quietly as an armed and armored party could. They reached a labyrinth of connecting corridors, but Ryuu kept his path true, ignoring the additional passageways, many of which had collapsed.

Despite the minimal debris, she noted a good deal of markings along the walls and floor; deep, perpendicular gashes grouped in threes and fours. Claw marks.

Then, they passed bodies, mummified in the dry surroundings. Armor, more ill-fitting plates and patches of mail than proper suits, hung loosely on thin, gangly bodies. One sported a cooking pot as a makeshift helm. Their faces, once pudgy, had shriveled into pained rictus', revealing fanged jowls.

"Goblins." Alexander noted uneasily, "Seeking a new lair, no doubt."

There were many of them; over two dozen. That their corpses were concentrated in such a small space told her they were either deposited here, or they all perished in a small space of time. That they were placed haphazardly, still clutching their weapons, made the former unlikely...

"No spell traps." Ryuu announced, "No residual ectoplasm activity. We go forward."

"Wait..." he noted, stopping their advance, "Blades out. Now."

They drew steel just as the Goblins found their feet, eyeless sockets appraising them. They advanced without a sound. The Glowballs fell to the floor, and cast uneven shadows all across the hallway.

That was fine; she didn't need light to see.

Haidée snarled, and lunged forward, covering several paces in a single stride, thrusting her rapier though a Goblin's left eye socket. Knowing this manner of undead to be immune to such injuries, for it lacked a brain, she held the blade with her covered hand, and twisted the head still attached to it, snapping it off with a dry crunch. A quick flourish hurled the thing off of her weapon and into another Goblin, toppling it.

Esmer charged in behind her, and stepping over the wretch and crushing its skull, blocked a thrusting spear, which snapped off when it struck his shield. With a mighty roar, he likewise decapitated a Goblin with a clean horizontal stroke.

Looking back, Haidée saw Ryuu completing a spell, dark eldritch passages bubbling from his fanged grimace, and four of the Goblins clutched their temples, shivering, before turning on their fellows, a peculiar sickly glow surrounding them. Alexander rebuked three more, and then, nothing for it, she turned back to the fray.

Esmer held a trio at bay, his shield up, his sword parrying rather than striking.

"Ixen!" Haidée hissed, drawing her rod, willing the Goblins to burn. Her implement, surging with dark energies, discharged a concentrated bolt, which travelled beyond Esmer and those he was dueling, and exploded a stone toss down the hall, immolating a group. Like dry kindling, they took to the torch, and collapsed into ash within moments.

The enspelled undead formed a barrier, keeping the horde from advancing more than one or two at a time, while Esmer held the front, with her, Ryuu, and Alexander raining evocations over and round him, punctuated by the thrusting of her rapier. Basic undead, the Goblins were reduced and then exterminated in short order, leaving the enspelled ones to stand idly.

A quick flick of the wrist separated the negative energy binding them and they fell, inert.

"You handle combat well, prettyboy. A little learned for a grape grower." Ryuu chuckled, examining the remains, before drawing a tindertwig, lighting it off his boot, and tossing it on one of the prone corpses. As it burned, he dragged another to it, and another, spreading the blaze.

"My family's Weaponmaster was a good teacher." Esmer replied dryly, sheathing his sword and assisting him.

When all of the bodies were burning, they left them behind, advancing down the hallway and to a vestibule, connecting several adjacent hallways. Before them was a great staircase, spiraling downward in a geometrically precise square formation, changing direction at the corners. There were no support rails. To slip was to fall a great, great distance.

"Hand it to dwarven architecture to make things less and less safe." Ryuu chuckled, "Watch your step."

Alexander went wide-eyed at the sight of the drop, but said nothing.

They took to the stairway, close to the outer wall. Alexander's hand brushed against it at all times, as if he intended to steady himself with it.

"I dislike heights." he told her, noticing her scrutiny.

"You killed a mass of undead Goblins, braved a necromancer's crypt and a stronghold of the Cult of the Dragon, and you are unsettled by this?" Ryuu asked, amused.

"Shut your mouth..."

His grin only widened, but he said no more.

...

Sirahani completed her cursory divinations, isolating the densest pockets of negative energy throughout the ruins. Aurgloroasa, per their arrangement, commanded the physically manifesting undead to excavate these sites. With luck, she would have Aurus' notes of the artifact within the hour, and the means to use it. The Dracolich's price would seem paltry indeed...

Aurgloroasa hissed, her claws twitching, digging into the gold beneath her. As an undead being, she didn't sleep in the proper sense, but Sirahani had observed her in a meditative state for the majority of her time with the creature. Stirring from it in such a way betrayed intense concentration.

"Something is wrong." the Dracolich said softly, though from such a maw, it seemed loud indeed, "There are intruders."

"Paltry adventurers, surely. I imagine you've had more than your share of them."

"No." Aurgloroasa insisted, "Fellow undead. Vampires. Two of them. And...a cleric? Curious."

A cleric and a Vampire. Her memories flitted back to the Haunted Halls, where she had observed one of each.

Surely not. A mere coincidence. Nobody could have discovered her plans so quickly! Could they?

Troubled, the Vampire began to own inquiries, and formulated her own defenses...

...

How long they descended, Haidée couldn't say. The vision had distorted her sense of time. She wondered distantly how Dwarves could stomach being so far underground.

"Must be scraping the roof of the Underdark by now." Ryuu noted, as if reading her mind, "Silly Dwarves."

When they finally reached the bottom, they were blocked by a thick iron portcullis. Ryuu dissolved it into nothingness with a decay spell, which locally advanced decomposition and corrosion. Beyond, there was a great open area, rectangular in shape. The floor was cracked and pitted marble, and cubby holes all along the walls held small piles of coins, weapons, and other items. Great statues lined the entrance and the far corridors; a pair of armored dwarves holding forked polearms in crossed positions. Stone sarcophagi, come carved in the likenesses of their occupants, were placed about the corners, with a massive specimen at the precise center. It was held inside of a small, open structure, with a pointed, shingled roof.

"Don't touch anything." Ryuu warned. approaching the central sarcophagi.

"A trap spell?"

"Respect." he replied, distant, placing a hand on its surface, "This is perhaps the one chamber in all of Thunderholme that remains pure to its creator's intent; the tomb is still consecrated by Dumathoin and Moradin. I can feel it."

"If this is holy ground..." Alexander said, curious, "How are you and Haidée able to approach?"

"No idea." he replied, "Maybe the powers at be sensed our actions above. Or our intentions to slay more undead."

"Here lies King Emerlin III..." Ryuu said aloud, reading the runes inscribed on the side of the tomb, "Slain through treachery by the fallen Dagan, son of Belgin, Blood of Jangarak. May he be feasted upon by the rats eternally. May our ancestors forgive us our failure to safeguard our king and clan. May the gods hold close this tomb to protect the bodies of kings afore."

"Rest easy." the Vampire whispered gently, "If a heart still beats in the breast of Dagan, I'll pull it out. And I'll take care of the dragon, too."

"We don't know if there is a dragon." Alexander repeated.

"Damn it! Do you mind? I'm having a moment here!"

He sighed, "It passed. Let's go."

...

"It has been located..."

Sirahani snapped to attention, appraising her host.

"In the hall of mirrors, there is one out of place, tarnished." Aurgloroasa said distantly, "Its surface reflects more than merely the chamber surrounding it."

"What do you mean?" Sirahani asked, and the Dracolich was not forthcoming.

So be it. Their exchange was concluded.

Sirahani activated her psionimancy, manifesting as a clear ringing sound, and levitated upward, and through the ceiling.

She knew where to look.

...

Beyond the tomb, there were a great many chambers. A living space, barren. The beds had been removed, or stripped apart. A subterranean garden, overgrown with large mushrooms. A massive foundry, still active. They observed from a distance, hiding amid the shadows, animated skeletons working the machinery, churning out ore and forging arms and armor. The arsenal held up an entire portion of the chamber, and included siege weaponry and wagons. Ballistae, catapults, even a small armor-plated warship suspended on a series of massive chains and pulleys. Racks upon racks of weapons mundane and exotic, closed helms adorned with spikes, and layered breastplates and pauldrons.

Even Ryuu noted a few pieces with admiration, though their purely human companions would not have been able to clearly make out their detail in the gloom.

Ryuu tensed at the sight of them, then shook his head, disappointed. They numbered in the hundreds, if not more.

It occurred to her finally the true breadth of the danger here, and she eyed Esmer, dismayed. He was here because of her. If he died...she didn't know what she would do.

He noticed her, mustered a confident smile, but she could hear his pulse. It wasn't so reassuring.

"Why are they doing this?" Alexander asked quietly, "Do they intend to invade the kingdoms above?"

Again, Ryuu shook his head, "They are Dwarves, Sunathaer. Even in death, the forge and the mine speaks to them. They enact their passions, creating implements for a war that will never come. I have little doubt they engage in less alarming crafts as well. Let us go. The passageway continues beyond."

He locked his hands, eyes narrowed, and called upon a short incantation. A few of the passing skeletons turned in their direction, began to advance.

"Master..." Haidée warned, drawing steel.

He completed his spell, and a tangible field of energy washed over them. A small rune marked her palm, and daring a glance, she confirmed that each of her companions bore such a rune.

"More necromancy..." Alexander cursed, "But I know this spell. The cloister uses something similar. It repels and confuses the undead, preventing them from noticing those warded."

"Yup." Ryuu said with a smile, strutting directly into the path of the dwarven skeleton.

Like a human, but short and wide, its bared bones as thick as mature maple branches, the undead was partially covered in what looked like dark moss, and wore an ill-fitting iron breastplate and greaves, supported by rusted links of mail. Its boots, which must have been primarily leather, must have long rotted away, leaving its feet bare.

As she passed within inches of its empty face, Haidée looked away, overcome.

This had once been a person. Maybe it still was, in a way.

"Will killing the Dracolich free them?"

Ryuu eyed her askance, curious.

"Likely not. Too much death in this place. Spirits are drawn to that sort of thing when they don't pass on completely. They leave behind negative energy that forms little pockets in Toril, to attract more."

"Are they in pain?"

"This lot? They're just leftovers. A footprint that the spirits left behind. There's nothing to save here. Complex undead house a soul. These...well, they just don't. Nothing but dust and echoes."

"Could you collapse this place, as you did the halls?" Alexander asked.

Ryuu shrugged, "Likely not. That spell took a good deal out of me, even after using a scroll. Dwarven keeps are meant to last. They won't be so easy."

What were they talking about?

She blinked, confused, then shrugged, dismissing the matter. Before them was a great double-door, unhinged, large enough to accommodate the largest of the siege vehicles.

Across the foundry, there was a great ramp, leading up, likely, to the surface.

She paused, thinking.

Even if the powers that be never used the weapons, they would remain here for another to claim. This metal, so finely crafted, would last for centuries, maybe more.

She'd read enough stories to know the damage an army could do without such formidable equipment.

And if they just passed all this by, without doing their best to make sure that didn't happen, they would be responsible.

"Wait."

They stopped.

"We should check and see if that ramp actually leads back to the surface." Haidée noted, "Just to make sure nobody uses these weapons. Master, you said you sealed underground chambers before?"

He shrugged, "Not really our place. We're here for undead, which will likely notice such an effort."

"Please, Master."

He rolled his eyes, "Fine. The ward will last a few minutes. I can go take a look. Just stay together while I'm gone. This isn't the time to wander off.

...

Ryuu motioned for them to be still, and became a swarm of bats, the better to quickly traverse the foundry. A small village could have fit inside, after all.

Up the ramp, there was another wide chamber. It was, however, roofless; where its walls would have met a ceiling, there was only an endless ascending rise, without a stairway.

"An ascending platform?" Ryuu gasped, impressed by the technological advances of Thunderholme. These must have been local inventions, or something later concocted by the Dracolich.

Thankfully, most Ferromancy-based constructs were very fragile. He looked to the chain and pulley systems along the walls, and had a good idea on how to make the lift inaccessible.

He backpedaled, outside of the immediate chamber, and drew a flask of acid from his pouch; the reagent of the spell he was to cast.

"Gixustrat." he rasped, technically, a term more for a spell that would rip the organs from a living vessel. But focused against an inanimate object, the result was much the same.

The chains and more complex machinery pulled apart, and separated into component parts. The platform, deprived of its supports, slid downward at a prodigious rate, the squeals of metal on metal deafening. When it struck the bottom, after some time, the impact actually set him back on his feet. He nearly toppled, gripping the wall, his claws digging in.

"Whew. Well, if they didn't know we were here already..."

Chapter 11

Thunderholme Ruins, Cormyr (27th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

Ryuu woke in a room that he couldn't see clearly even with darkvision. He reached out, weak, and his hand brushed against something cold and hard.

Iron.

He tried to rise, for he lay on his side, and screamed, as a thousand fires alit his back. He seized up, foam coating his lips, and he waited for it to pass. There was nothing else he could do.

"Light the brazier." a woman's voice commanded, in perfectly accented draconic.

The room illuminated by firelight.

Ryuu hissed, tried to shield his eyes, but his limbs wouldn't obey him. He suffered, waiting for his eyes to adjust, waiting for the pain in his back to abate.

"Primitive creatures..." The woman, a Dark Elf with blood red eyes that burned like coals, cooed in perfectly accented draconic, "Unimaginative."

She leaned down, over him, her hem of her flowing skirt bunching on the floor. "But you...you interest me, a sufferer among savages."

Her hand caressed his cheek, and it felt cold, "So much anger...so much pain...a stirring of destiny, I think."

Her pale flesh was like marble. Cold. Unfeeling. Her cloak, some manner of webby, membrane-like fabric, rustled of its own accord. It was clasped by some manner of bony material.

"Who...who are you?" Ryuu asked, his voice dry and feeble, and she smiled.

"Who I am doesn't matter. What does matter is what I will do for you."

She laughed, and it sounded colder than her hands felt.

He noticed others, with eyes like hers but skin that was mottled, marred by pustules and old scars. They didn't meet his eyes; the way they moved seemed...off. That was the only thing that he, in his state, could determine.

They opened his cage, and lifted him up.

Ryuu cried out, as the motion brought fresh waves of pain. His blood fell from his body, dripping onto the tiles as they carried him to a stone altar.

Gently, they set him down, and lit candles on either end. He shivered in the cold.

A banner hung overhead; it looked like the wheel of the World Serpent, but harder, more angular, with barbed points like arrows. An eye, blue and piercing, marked its center, and when he stared deeply into it, Ryuu saw a furred humanoid screaming in bloodlust, covered in gore, and a grinning half-elf in finery standing over a feasting table with a glass of wine in his hand.

The truth of the matter fell upon him, and he whimpered in horror, trying to stir from the slab.

Like the vision pools of his home, this was a holy place, but not to the World Serpent.

"I amuse myself with those touched by fate." the woman noted, "I find uses for them that suit my needs. I think you will do nicely, Ryuu, for I desire change, and destruction, and chaos."

The woman approached, and it was only now that he noticed the fangs poking from her lips. Her cloak parted, and folded backward.

Not understanding, Ryuu cried out when they spread wide, the bony clasps in fact talons, the cloak in fact a pair of bat-like wings.

She wasn't an Elf.

"No..."

She turned his head away, "Hush, child."

Her nose brushed against his neck.

"No..."

"Hush."

Her lips pressed against his scales, and a feeling of sheer, deathly coldness spread through his body. He wheezed, breathless, struggling against the creature, which held him firmly in an iron grip.

Ryuu's sight filled with dark spots, and he could hear his own heartbeat.

World Serpent, it sounded faint!

"You will awaken to find yourself made anew in my image. Go. Seek your child, and punish those who condemned you to this. Your path of bloody vengeance will bring me great amusement."

He stared, sightlessly, anew in darkness.

"Dump him in the wastes. The sun never peaks through those clouds. He will find his own way. I am certain of it."

He heard Oki scream, and knew no more.

...

"What was that creature?" Haidée asked, startling awake.

"A Succubus." Ryuu noted, distant, "Herself turned into something like a Vampire. Her life-draining kiss functioned like a bite. She turned me."

"Gods..."

"I have never heard of such a thing." Alexander noted.

"They call us Greater Vampires, resistant to some of the weaknesses of our lesser kin. We refer to ourselves as Broodlords. Kind of like the equal opposite to Dhampyr. As we age, we grow stronger, the better to rule those beneath us. Quite a few members of...never mind that. We are powerful, even among Vampires...and that means you too, Haidée. I was turned by a Succubus, and I, in turn, turned you. You're second generation to demonic blood."

She paled, looked away. Esmer tried to reach for her hand, but she snatched it away.

Gods...

"You haven't even seen the best parts." Ryuu chuckled, "But you will."

"Do you find amusement in this?" Esmer snapped, "Tormenting her like this?"

"I find amusement in everything, Human." Ryuu parried, all seriousness, "Reminds me how it feels to be alive."

With that, they set out again, through the foundry.

Through another hall, which forked several times, they found themselves in yet another great hall, but not like anything Haidée could have imagined the dwarves building.

A great open space, this chamber was filled with mirrors. They stood upon metal daises that looked like they could be rotated. Their obverse sides were mirrors, but their reverse sides had a small circular impression, and through each of them, a beam of light emanated, so piercing that she was forced to squint. The beams had a perpendicular opposite all throughout the chamber; always there was a space between each of them wide enough to permit two humans across. That path turned, doubled-back, and even forked into dead ends, with one path alone reaching the far end.

"It's a maze?" she asked, and Ryuu chortled, "More a puzzle. A puzzle someone else has already solved. Thunderholme has had its share of tomb-delvers over the ages, I am sure."

He palmed a small stone, and tossed it onto a tile that wasn't occupied by a mirror. With a metallic pop, the tile tumbled down a chute, leaving a gaping void.

"This doesn't look like something they would build for a city."

"That just means we're closer to the goodies. They wouldn't build traps on the path to the privy. Not even the Dracolich would. That would just be too evil."

He advanced along the tiles between the beams of light, and Haidée and the others followed him.

But then Ryuu stopped, again studying the pattern.

He frowned, "Hold a moment! What have we here?"

He motioned to a mirror that didn't belong to the pattern the others formed, placed between and around it so subtly that Haidée hadn't noticed it at all. Its surface was tarnished, non-reflective, and a curious glow emanated from it.

Tossing another stone into the tile it occupied, Ryuu grinned when it didn't collapse.

"Now that looks like something the others missed, boys and girls. I would be remiss not to take a closer look."

He stepped onto that adjacent tile, and inspected the mirror.

"Definitely a trap spell." he noted, "But one only meant for the living. Hang on a second while I...There were go."

He passed his hands in mystic cadence, and the peculiar glow changed color, from a dark, dark purple to a light violet.

"Transformative magic, definitely." he said, "But look, when I turn the mirror..."

As he angled the mirror to her left, she noticed that the tarnished surface still reflected something along the far end of the room. A stretch of wall that had a door.

Turning, Haidée saw no door back that way.

"The door only exists here." Ryuu proclaimed, reaching his hand towards the mirror. Where it would have touched, his hand slipped right through, and shrank to the proportions of the reflection. As he touched the knob of the door, and turned it, a door opened behind them, seemingly from nothing.

"Shadow magic." Ryuu chuckled, "How delightful. Well, let's go see what's behind door number two."

...

Sirahani pored through Aurus' encrypted notes with ease, thanks to her psionic abilities. This was indeed one of his primary laboratories. Sealed canisters of tissue lined the walls; the flesh and blood of many of the rarest species of beings of Toril and beyond. Notes of the grisly experiments he orchestrated to procure or manipulate these tissues, and divulge their many uses. Just reading his words gave tremendous inspiration for her own spell research.

Possessed of an eidetic memory, she burned the notes as she read them. Necromancy and Blood Magic did not endear towards loyalty for fellow practitioners...

And then, a final archive, of his most precious specimens.

It was here.

Excited, Sirahani unlocked his most potent warding mechanisms at a central point in the room, reinforced with a series of powerful runes. One by one, they winked out of existence, until the central point emerged from the floor; a great cylindrical puzzle-lock that she in turn opened, revealing a trio of decorative vials.

One was a hexagonal prism of clear crystal, filled with a clear fluid preserved with warding runes. The tears of a celestial archon, they could utterly redeem a soul, no matter the evil they performed in life; a last ditch effort of many of evil weal to escape punishment after death.

The second vial was a tetragonal, without fluid, which held a shard of a Mythallar, one of the ancient inventions of the Netherese, which powered their floating pyramid cities. His notes made it clear that Aurus was trying to re-invent their ancient devices, all of which derived from an active Mythallar.

But the third vial, immaculately cut into the shape of a star, filled with red fluid, held her attention.

That was her goal.

She took hold of the vial just as she sensed the living behind her.

She turned, to appraise the Lizardman and the priest from the halls, and a Human and fledgling Vampire she didn't recognize.

...

"Drakul..." the She-Elf noted slyly, pocketing the vial she held, "I've done my research since last we met. Impressive...your acts of violence on this world make even mine pale in comparison. How many thousands of elves had you killed during the later Crown Wars?"

Alexander gaped.

"What is she talking about?" Haidée asked, and Ryuu waved a hand dismissively, "Nothing you need to hear, child. So, smart Elf, you name me, but fail to introduce yourself? What happened to the legendary Tel'Quessir pomp and ceremony?"

"I am Lady Sirahani Irithyl." woman replied, "The first of my name and rightful ruler of Cormanthyr. But alas, I have not the time to waste on idle chatter. With the blood of Orcus, I have everything I need to pave the way for my lord's ascension, and my own. Vlad Tolenkov will reign over this world as he will Kanchelsis' realm in the abyss, and the children of the night will rejoice at their new god."

More white onyx flashed in her hands.

"Loreat!" Ryuu snarled, rattling off a death spell. The last digit of his finger turned bone white, and discharged a small orb of black energy.

As before, her body became intangible, unaffected by his spell, and the white onyx summoned Wraiths, a score of them. Pale, opaque bodies floated roughly two paces from the floor. Burial shrouds hung over their desiccated flesh. Eyeless faces shrieked, and their unearthly keen brought pained grimaces from his tribe.

His body suffused with Azaer's fire, a candle and a pinch of sulfur melting to nothing in his belt pouches, and Ryuu could not hide his grin.

"Do your thing, Sunathaer. Haidée, counter-spell. Esmer...try not to die!"

With that Ryuu hurled himself at the Wraiths, determined to hold their attention. Alexander incanted the holy words of his faith, and as one, their weapons glowed a pure, silvery light.

He heard Haidée shriek, and the sound of her sword clattering to the ground.

Amateurs.

"She's undead, you idiot!" Ryuu cursed, thrusting his blades into incorporeal flesh, ignoring the blisters forming on his hands.

A bolt of shadowflame streaked past his head, hit a Wraith, and it cried anew, a dark red aura suffusing it. It turned on its fellows, but Sirahani dismissed it with a deft pass. She began to cast another spell.

Cursing anew, Ryuu flung his left blade end over end, passing through her and imbedding it into the wall behind her.

She didn't even flinch.

Taking his other thinblade in a two-handed grip, Ryuu backpedalled a Wraith while parrying the clawed hands of another. It withered at the contact, but its touch stole some of his negative energy, slowing him. Had he been alive, it would have extinguished his life spark and killed him.

Powerful undead, indeed.

Ducking, getting his blade in line, Ryuu thrust home with his right, and the other Wraith moaned, a hole of silvery light burning around the wound. It retreated, seemed to shrink into itself, but it didn't disperse.

Haidée completed a spell, and Sirahani laughed, ignoring the disjunctive magic, and the darkness in the room deepened.

He felt, but did not see, the touch to pure evil. He recoiled, in horror.

"He who Endures, preserve us!" Alexander cried, And a powerful burst of light joined it, and was swallowed by the presence. Nonetheless, the darkness waned, long enough for Ryuu to manage his own counterspell, and directly pit his will against that of the caster. Intangible or not, Sirahani could not deflect this manner of attack indirectly.

They locked eyes, struggling for dominance, as that foul presence again filled the chamber. He heard curdling, bubbly sounds that wracked his mind, partially perceived horrifying, unfathomable truths that could shatter him, if he but looked a little closer. He heard the others screaming.

"Not on my watch!" He snapped, and using his lost Oki as his focal point, his rage, undiminished over tens of thousands of years, boiled into sheer, undeniable will. Sirahani's spell crumbled apart, and with a soft pop, the presence was gone completely.

Just as the Wraiths closed in.

The Vampire gasped as they leapt into his chest, and passed through him, siphoning more of his negative energy.

Alexander again invoked the name of his god for aid, and light bloomed behind him.

"Haidée, cover!" they both bellowed in unison, and Ryuu embraced the agonizing pain as his body was wracked with divine power. He felt holes being bored into his skin, concentrated rather than wide-reaching, and sighed as the Wraiths were boiled out of his body.

He was good, that one. Focused. His faith, unquestionable.

Alexander might be good enough to take him on, if he decided he wanted his long-awaited end. Only a man could vanquish a monster, they said...

Using the pain as focus as he had his rage, Ryuu barked a powerful disjunction that obliterated latent magic, even that outside of a wizardly nature. Alexander's enchantment on their weapons blinked out, as did Azaer's blue fire.

The Elf-Vampire snarled as her levitation dispelled and a shimmering field engulfed her body.

"I tire of this. Bother me no more, lesser creatures!"

With a final flourish, the Elf-Vampire vanished. A damned contingency spell, but not one based from Mystra's weave.

He cast several divinations to locate her, all in vain.

Damned mind mages...tricky ones, those.

For a few moments, there was silence.

Then his apprentice cried out, and Ryuu turned to see Alexander advancing with his Morningstar bared. About his head was surrounded by a corona of silver light that stung his exposed skin, but didn't burn it, as it would weaker undead.

Haidée, not so fortunate, recoiled, covering her blistered face, and Esmer shielded her with his body, cursing.

"Priest! What are you doing?!"

"She called you Drakul." Alexander said coolly, ignoring him, "Are you truly he?"

Ryuu scowled, nodded.

"I have read of this one." he continued, "The stories are old, very old, but they still circulate the libraries of Faerûn. A dark clad figure atop a dark steed, a Dragon banner in one hand and a sword in the other. An army of undead at his command."

"Not quite accurate." Ryuu noted, "I didn't favor a mount. My actions were committed in the shadows. The undead part wasn't far off."

"You sacked cities all across the elven nation. You murdered thousands. At one point, you nearly exterminated the green elves."

"One era of a long, long life. I was younger, then. More reckless. More angry. Itching to prove myself. Itching for revenge."

"All of this...is it just a game to you?"

"Absolutely." Ryuu parried, "I haven't fought for a cause in millennia."

"You were a butcher."

"I was a slave!" Ryuu snapped, "Who watched helplessly as his mate perished in his arms. Who failed to prevent his child from living as a slave! Who never even saw it hatch!"

He sighed, seeing the horrified expressions of his followers, his new tribe, "We are only as good as the world allows us to be. That was a different time. A different place. I wanted revenge for the destruction of my tribe. And to do that, I needed to deal with those responsible; the Tel'Quessir."

"The rest...is history. Much of it lost to history. The parts that weren't...well, I won't say they aren't accurate, but they don't tell the whole truth. The Elves recorded it, after all. They left out their crimes and touted our own. Believe me, I wasn't the only one to use necromancy. I wasn't the only tyrant."

He didn't look away. He eyed the priest straight on, "I don't give a damn if you condone it or not. I was what I was, and I am what I am. There's a reason I don't use that name."

That was it, then.

"What was she talking about? Who is this Vlad Tolenkov?" Haidée asked, hoping to break the tension.

"Vlad Tolenkov? Vlad...yeah, that fellow from the Union of Eclipses?"

"The who?"

"A worlds-spanning cabal of powerful Vampires and undead." Ryuu explained, curious himself, "They tried to enlist me after Karsus' folly, but I mostly turned it down. Don't want to cross those sorts, so I accepted an honorary position, which is, to say, I gave them the rights to declare an affiliation without actually including me."

"Karsus' folly?" Alexander gaped, "That was over a thousand years ago. And the Crown Wars...that almost pre-dates Netheril!"

"Your point?" Ryuu asked, and that was that.

...

Sirahani materialized in one of her own personal research sites, free of the bunglers and in the possession of an item she had searched for decades to obtain; the blood of a divine being. A divine, undead being.

Despite this, she hissed.

The flush of battle had loosened her tongue. She had been very careless in revealing even so little of her intentions. Even in a haunted ruin lorded by a Dracolich, the possibility of their escape worried her.

There was nothing to it; she would see how far they delved, and ensure their destruction personally if need be. There was still much to do, and no room for further error. Her success would bring about her revenge, and her rule. Failure would lead to a fate far, far worse than death.

...

Ryuu led his tribe further into Thunderholme. Though he often appeared at ease, inside, he was thinking all the time, and this was no exception.

The blood of Orcus.

Like any undead, Ryuu knew well the name of that being, that god. He had been personally championed by one of the most powerful necromancers of this age, Zhengyi the Witch-King, but had been weakened when the now King Gareth Dragonsbane and his company banished his power from the realm by stealing his wand.

Simultaneously, Orcus had been slain by the Drow demi-goddess Kiaransalee. But his relics endured, it seemed, and that bottle hadn't held some curious metaphor...it had been Orcus' actual blood.

There were a great many things a Vampire could do with such a thing. And none of them were good.

The other name, too, had been a cause for concern.

Vlad Tolenkov was old, hells, maybe older than Ryuu himself, a sometimes consort and advisor to Lloth, who, like Kanchelsis, was one of the Demon Lords ruling over a whole domain of the Abyss. If he was acting outside of the Union of Eclipses...well, it was bad news. For Lloth. For Kanchelsis. For everybody.

He had much to consider, when things were said and done here. Much to consider.

Chapter 12

Thunderholme Ruins, Cormyr (27th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

All around him, there was nothingness. The path led him through utter desolation, emptiness, a barren waste without end. The wind blew in torrents, blasting him with loose grey sands, and Ryuu whimpered, tried in vain to shield his eyes. The wind was an organic force, however; it pushed around his defenses, seeped through his hands to irritate his eyes and wounds.

It was cold…so cold…and he had nothing for warmth but the loincloth that had been given to him by his elven masters. Ryuu hand awkwardly brushed his back, at the red-black gashes all across the dull silvery coat of his scales, before, his strength depleted, he collapsed onto the sands. He writhed from wound shock, curling into a ball, opening the wounds further, and loose rivulets of his blood congealed in the grounds under him in an expanding pool. When he had lived among his people, Ryuu had been a healer, a medicine man, treating all but the most deadly of ailments. So he clearly understood the gravity of his injuries. It was over…he would die here, on this day, alone and so very far from home.

The Lizardman did not see his life flashing before him, as they often claimed would be the pre-mortem transition. Instead, he only had one thought flashing through his mind; that of Oki, his mate. The others had often wondered why she had chosen him as her mate, but he had not needed to understand. He still did not…

Ryuu coughed up bloody phlegm, and after the fit, he saw something that stopped his heart. Within the pool of sickness, black streaks intertwined with the red and clear saliva…a very clear hint of what awaited him when he lost consciousness. Ryuu tore himself from what was to be his grave, managing a few more paces crawling along the expanse, gritting his teeth through the pain as his breath started to fail him. NO! He would escape, find someone…cure it before…

Ryuu collapsed a second time, and his vision grew hazy, with black spots swimming in the blurry, unreal sight of the wastes. He thought of Oki, of the child he would never see, and finally, mercifully, he knew no more.

...

Haidée held her tears at bay, and made sure not to look at her master, who sensed her distress and promptly ignored it.

What Alexander said...he had been a monster, a butcher.

But she know what he had been even before that. She knew she had to defend him if Alexander spoke out again. Even if Ryuu would resent her for it!

Esmer kept pace with her, walking side-by-side.

Esmer...

How the sight of him still imbalanced her! Just a few weeks ago, she had been engaged to him...in a way, she still feasibly was. So much had changed, Haidée had coasted through her journey with Ryuu as if in a dream.

But his arrival had grounded her. Even within the limits of proximity the holy symbol allowed them, for even being within ten paces of either it or Alexander at all caused her discomfort, she had learned so much about him. He was more to her now than some stranger to which she was destined to be wed.

He had sought her out, once to pay his respects after her "death", and again after realizing she still lived. He hadn't questioned her being a Vampire, if anything, it had only increased his desire to be with her. Whether it was mere guilt or something else, he was not the cold, distant suitor she had feared.

He noticed her looking at him, and he moved his hand to hers. This time, despite the wracking pain that struck her from even indirect contact with the holy symbol, she didn't pull away.

He didn't speak; she realized that he preferred actions to words, like her. The gesture and the genuine, selfless concern in his eyes said volumes; he would fight with and for her, and that they would manage this...condition. That he still pined for her even after all that had happened.

The thirst boiled under her skin, but the anchor of his warm, Human had against her steadied her against it.

At ease in the middle of a haunted dwarven ruin as she had not been in her own family home, Haidée returned her attention to their task.

They passed from the laboratory, her master having picked the other two vials from the inner vault and destroyed the rest. The Elf did not reappear, did not trouble them any further. Along to the end of the hall of mirrors, through a new labyrinth of tunnels, and down yet another stairwell, they descended. They encountered sparse resistance, all undead in nature.

As the ruins gave way to more natural formations far older, they entered a massive cavern. From Ryuu's more recent memories, Haidée knew this place to be a closed portion of the underdark. Above and below them, the distance was so great that not even with her darkness-attuned vision could she see the bottom. Battlements from the ceiling above hung banners of Null; a great blackness in the rough outline of a dragon.

Stalactites and stalagmites jutted from the floors, the latter interconnected by bridges leading to a nearly city-sized structure of two diverging levels. The lower level, little more than a support, reached into the darkness below, and was lined with battlements. The upper section formed a sort of pyramid, around which hung even more banners. It was circular in shape, as if a multitude of massive stone rings of graduating sizes had been constructed on site and stacked atop each other. Arcane crystals, which glowed an eerie violet, lit the structure and revealed the intricate engravings all along its surfaces.

Atop this temple, a great form rose, a mountain atop a mountain. Alexander and Esmer tensed, looked about, but didn't seem to notice it. Like the banners, Haidée intuited the rough outline of the dragon, but saw only darkness. Eyes, a cold blue, pierced the darkness. Its membranous wings spread, and a deafening roar echoed through the great cavern.

Though he didn't actually speak, Haidée read his lips and the expression of complete and utter smugness etched on his reptilian face.

"See? A dragon. Didn't I say so?"

...

"I know not what foolishness has drawn you here, intruders..." Aurgloroasa hissed from atop the temple, her voice sibilant but painfully loud, "But you plummet headlong into oblivion. Turn back".

"Turn back, fair dragon?" Ryuu asked, hurt, a hand on his chest, "But we have only just arrived. And we haven't been introduced."

The cavern swelled with viridian light. Wraiths filled the air; thousands of dwarven dead. Hundreds of fleshy forms, preserved Zombies, shuffled into view, and ambled along the bridge leading to them. Hundreds more ambled into view from behind.

"Speak, then, that I may know those who will serve me in death."

"I am Ryuu." he said, "Also, I am Drakul and I am Bhūta, the Torch of the Reach, the Wandering Blight, and the Elusive One. I have served Gods, Archfiends, Archmages, Vampire Lords, Dukes and Pashas and everything in between. Slain threefold by the Order of the Risen Scepter, befriended two-fold by the same, and captured twenty-fivefold by King Vikrama. I am the Eternal. I am the Forsaken. I have risen and toppled nations, witnessed the birth and extinction of civilizations."

"...and I am here..." Ryuu concluded, grinning, "To arbitrate the passage of the dead of Thunderholme to their proper afterlife; pleasant, no doubt, for those slain. But for you, milady...not so much."

The Dracolich snarled, reared up. The Wraiths hissed in agitation.

"Too many, Ryuu..." Alexander said nervously, brandishing his Morningstar as a silvery corona surrounded his head, "Too many."

"Not for long." Ryuu noted, palming four items from his belt; a small lump of bone, part of a Ghoul femur, and a vial containing a chuck of rat flesh, still raw and fresh thanks to his preservation techniques.

In his other hand, he held a black onyx gem and a dwarf molar plucked from a skeleton from the foundry. By arranging his reagents thus, he melded two spells that he began to cast simultaneously.

The Dracolich roared, and the undead descended upon them.

Timing each phrase so that it was followed by the opposing spell without breaking the flow long enough for its accumulating energies to dissipate, Ryuu thrust out with two dominating spells just as Aurgloroasa's horde closed in. Over three score of the Wraiths, and two dozen of the Zombies, all positioned in front of their respective lines, shrieked, glowed crimson, and turned on their fellows, dominated by his ineffable will.

With a much smaller horde under his command, Ryuu was easily able to loosely direct the Wraiths to orbit about his tribe, protecting them from the draining touch of the other Wraiths, while directing the Zombies to likewise form a line and push out towards the temple, knocking their enemies over the bridges to tumble uselessly into the darkness below.

A few lumbered through the lines, and the others managed as best they could.

"Jrgrlg..." Ryuu hissed, as his turned cluster of undead battled with those under the Dracolich's sway, "I summon you forth in my time of need!"

Still not fully departed to its tortured realm, his corrupted earth elemental manifested instantly, surging out of the walls of the cavern behind them.

"Collapse all tunnels and supporting bridges!" Ryuu commanded, "Leave us only the path to the temple!"

Without reply, Jrgrlg sunk back into the wall.

Within the first moments of the battle, the inner level of Thunderholme began to rumble ominously.

Alexander and Haidée fired bolts of holy fire and shadowflame at the airborne Wraiths. Esmer, with only his blade, waited expectantly.

"Onward and upward!" he giggled, "Right through death's door and all the way to the top!"

Ryuu drew steel, and charged into the melee, leaping over the back of a dominated Zombie, and landing on the chest of another, planting a blade in each eye socket.

Azaer's fire boiling from his body, Ryuu kicked out, pulling the Hyosho and Kaminari free, and where they had cut, the wounds glowed blue, incinerating it from within.

With a burst of vampiric agility, Ryuu anticipated several attacks at once, interposed his body just so, and sliced through undead flesh with a blinding display of acrobatics, balancing solely on one foot, sliding forward, and spinning his blades as he rapidly shifted weight from his foot to his left hand, palm down on the stone floor, than the other, before kicking out with both feet and knocking a dwarven Zombie off the bridge.

Somersaulting back into a standing posture, Ryuu sidestepped another Zombie, elbowing its opposing arm out of the way and swiping his right blade across in a reverse-grip, and thanks to its enchantments, the thinblade sliced through its neck with little resistance, beheading it. Then using its body as a shield for the few moments before it toppled, he tangled two Zombies up and struck them with a necromantic dispel, which ripped the negative energy out of their bodies and rendered them inert. Deprived of their sustaining energies, they crumbled to dust.

Jrgrlg did his work. Massive stone stalactites fell from above, plowing through adjacent bridges and support structures. Walls tumbled inward, burying the tunnel they had come through, and several others throughout the cavern. The horde approaching from the rear was thus buried, the air filling with displaced sediment.

Hearing his allies advance behind him, Ryuu thus let his Zombies advance beyond him, and looked up to the Dracolich, who had by then completed her own spell, in the form of raining shadowflame.

Commanding the Wraiths to interpose and turn solid, their numbers dwindled quickly as they absorbed the brunt of the attack.

"Haidée!" he snapped, "Fog, now!"

He saw his apprentice nod, and as she broke apart, a thick cloud of fog covered their portion of the bridge, obscuring it from view. It terminated right at his back, for he was several paces ahead of the others. The sounds of battle echoed from within as the opposing Wraiths struggled for dominance.

"Space yourself, that you not blind the others!" he advised, then planned his next moves.

The path led to the base of the temple, which spiraled upward to the peak. The overhang would protect them, but they needed to reach it safely.

The Dracolich cast again, and a penetrating cloud of negative energy tumbled down from the temple, and towards his tribe.

Ryuu gaped, and rattled out a hasty counterspell. The cloud shrank, but didn't dissipate. Not even he was strong enough to contend with the will of Aurgloroasa.

He heard his apprentice scream behind him, and the fog dissipated, a stray fume retreating inside of a shimmering field of silvery light that emanated from Alexander's Morningstar. His clerical barrier quivered and broke apart as the cloud fell upon it, but it too dissipated into nothingness.

Haidée incorporated, feeble and shaking, holding her left hand close to her body.

Both Alexander and Esmer bled from several wounds sustained by battling the odd Zombie or two that snuck through the lines of enthralled undead.

This wasn't going well.

"Dwarven Kings of Old!" Ryuu bellowed, calling not upon necromancy but a wish spell that restored itself to him only once a century, the very last of his greater spellcraft, "Rise from your slumber and aid those who would liberate your people!".

A piercing light suffused him, as his body was used as a conduit to ferry souls from their afterlife. A half-dozen armored dwarves, translucent and cloudy, appraised him with eyes that burned gold. One, whose face was nearly identical to the statue in center of the tomb, scowled.

"Ye fiend! What justice could such a creature bring upon the head o' our betrayers?" King Emerlin III rasped dryly, a dull echo rebounding through the cavern.

"Judge me not by my dead flesh!" Ryuu protested, "For I wish ill of those who chose undeath for selfish ends. Aid me, that these halls may at last know silence, and even, in the millennia to come, new life!"

Nodding, the specter lifted his pike, and the Wraiths retreated by the droves. Those Ryuu himself had dominated likewise fled.

"Flee, ye souless things!" Emerlin snapped, and the Zombies, too, fled, right off of the bridge.

He heard the Dracolich casting from above, and the dwarven spirits recoiled in fear.

As one, shimmering chains of black iron manifested, and bound them.

"You are mine, Emerlin!" Aurgloroasa gloated triumphantly, "As it should have been in ages passed. Come to me..."

Ryuu cursed.

"Free us, ye stinking lizard." the Dwarf King moaned, as he and his fellows were pulled up toward the Dracolich.

...

After her master dispersed the undead, they dashed for the temple.

The Dracolich, for that was what the shriveled, shadow-wrapped creature above must have been, had rained more of the putrefying clouds. Between Ryuu and Alexander, none reached them again, and she was able to build up her strength. The aching feeling coursing through her body began to diminish, if not by much.

As they reached the lower structures surrounding and beneath the temple, the Dracolich roared. She did not, however, take wing.

"Are you alright?" Esmer asked, breathless, as she leaned on the wall for support.

"I think so." Haidée gasped, though the intake of air did not steady her, "I didn't think it would hurt me as fog...but I felt it."

"Your eyes are red."

"They always are." Haidée protested.

"More red..." Esmer replied uneasily, "Even the whites."

"Yup." Ryuu said, nonplussed, "Negative energy will do that to you, alive or undead. But we are tough nuts to crack, we Vampires. It will heal soon enough."

He turned, towards the stairs, "We don't have long before Ol'Aurgloroasa conjures up more undead. And now there's the spirits I foolishly summoned. I'll have to directly pit my will against hers to free them. Or hopefully I can think of a way to kill her quickly and avoid the issue altogether."

"What makes you think you can do that?" Alexander asked.

"Well, she didn't take to the wing the moment we arrived." Ryuu said, pondering, "That's odd. Even the most prideful dragons wouldn't balk from some sport. I think she's rooted to that spot. Maybe some foolhardy adventurers managed to damage her phylactery, weakening the hold on her body."

"That's a bit of a stretch."

"All we got, my friends. I kept anything solid from getting into this cavern, but likewise out. And we, I'm afraid, are quite solid."

"One thing at a time." He concluded, "Up to the top we go."

...

Wind, and sand.

Fading breath.

Blood.

Pain, terror, then oblivion.

Cold.

Numbness.

Time voided. Eternity.

Then, something more.

A puff of smoke, in a sea of darkness.

A spark.

A flame.

A thought.

What was it?

Hunger?

Yes. Hunger. A gnawing hunger.

In his stomach. In his heart. In his soul...

He had to sate it.

How?

Then, more; memories, distant and scattered. Oddly contrasting. Memories of a life in a desert, a small house atop a hill. Sisters. Rivals.

Memories before a black altar, a maiden with black wings and a proud face and emerald eyes that burned with their intensity.

More memories, of a life in a simple village, a stringed instrument playing before a bonfire. The golden eyes of his mate.

Who was he?

The Lizardman, or the Vampire?

He did not know. What should he do? Yes. He had to wake up. Wake up.

He gasped, sand coating his tongue, his fingers digging into the stuff as he lifted his body, if not his legs. So strange. Where was he? He did not know, but...

He remembered his name. Ryuu...yes, Ryuu... The life in the village. That was the correct answer.

He sat up, tried to stand. Oki? Where was Oki? Where was his home?

His nausea, his lethargy, was gone. Why? What could have happened since he fell asleep?

He opened his eyes fully, to find a windswept desert, no civilization, no life, to speak of. And he was...

"Alive?" Ryuu asked, confused, until he coughed up the sand and blood in his mouth.

Until he looked down at his hands.

Gone was his silver-grey skin; now, the two hands before him, their nails lengthened into blackened claws, were a pale, pale grey, almost sickly. The blood coating them was a deep, tar black, with streaks of dark red throughout.

"I..." he groaned, "Am..."

He was... He was...

Ryu wailed, coiling into a ball, shutting his eyes tightly. No, NO! He was wrong! He was wrong! He was dead! Gods, why could he not be dead?!

He groaned as his back reopened, the deep cuts splitting and sending waves of burning pain throughout his body.

And the egg... THE EGG!

"I have been undone!" he screamed, shrieking in hysterics as he gouged at his own face, "The one act that could have redeemed me of this horrid existence, undone. Oki, our child! Our child will hatch in their world! It will suffer as I have! Why, World Serpent, why?! Why did I not dash it upon a rock when I had the chance?!"

Black blood seeped from the wounds on his back and chest, dripping up his neck as he knelt, prostrate, burning his eyes, but he did not care.

He deserved it.

He deserved all of this!

ALL OF IT!

Ryuu screamed again, but it cut off, ending in sobs, as he crumpled.

In time, he stilled.

His hatred was not restricted to himself... Clarity left him with another target to vent his despair and eminent frustration.

"They are to blame, as much as I am..." he hissed, his hands shaking with the strength of his rage. He drifted in and out of coherence, between oblivion and fury, wavering as he tried to stand again, and succeeded.

"I will...kill them..." he snarled, hissing as he felt the wounds on his face close, tonguing his fangs as they extended far beyond their natural limit. As he felt a ravenous hunger bubbling up within him, "I will kill them all; bathe in their blood, drape their organs upon me, hang their offspring from the highest towers as they burn and feast upon what remains! They will know of me. Oh yes, they will know of me..."

He stanched the pain in his heart, the hollowness. He drowned his sorrow, murdered his doubt and fear.

New elation swept through him, and he embraced it, giggling wildly, wobbling as he took his first new steps, scooping up a dash of sand as he did. His instinct told him why he did this; grave dust, taken from the spot of his death, would sustain him as a Vampire. He would need it to move from that spot. He knew that he needed to find shade, or darkness, to hide from the sun ere it pierced the clouds.

He knew it was mad, that he was mad. He simply did not care.

He laughed, and he heard madness in it. "I will give them fear. I will give them pain. If I cannot know eternity with you, my love, Sun on my Scales, then I will send all the world to join you and our child in the void."

...

Haunted by the visions of her master's rebirth, Haidée followed him as they ascended the temple.

There, at the peak, was a great platform, composed of interlocking rings emblazoned with runic symbols. She noted among them the sigil of Dumathoin; that of a gem inside of a mountain, as well as the fiery anvil of Moradin. These symbols glowed red, though the spaces they occupied had been gouged out by claws.

The dwarven gods had not yet fully abandoned this place, despite its master.

The Dracolich sat curled atop a central platform, almost feline as her neck arched to appraise them. It was as large around as her father's house twice over and twice again, its limbs, even skeletal, like thick tree trunks. Its head alone was the size of a wagon, determinable from its body only by the broad, curling horns crowning it, and the cold blue eyes that burned beneath them.

Even standing so close to the foul thing made her want to flee. Her feet felt heavy, and her head lighter than air. She knew from her master's memories that liches of all sorts bled a magical fear. It seemed potent enough even to affect her. Or maybe that was just the sight itself.

Sirahani appeared as well, surrounded by clinging shadow. An apparition, linked to its caster.

And around them, arranged in a wedge formation, were the half-dozen dwarven kings.

The Dracolich's eyes, cold burning embers, narrowed dangerously.

"You have done me a great service in breaking the seals about the tomb and bringing this lot into my midst." Aurgloroasa mused, her voice a sibilant whisper, "All the souls of Thunderholme I would have gladly traded for these six, and you have only cost me a portion. A pittance. For this, I will allow you one more chance to flee."

"I make no such promises." Sirahani noted dryly, "Even the minor inconveniences you have posed to me warrant death."

"Why did you seek these souls?" Alexander asked, and it was Ryuu who answered, "Her hold on Thunderholme has obviously been weakened by something. I know a Dragon readying for battle, and perched on a dais isn't it. You can't move, can you?"

Despite his casual words with the monster, Haidée clearly saw the strain in his posture; the tenseness of his back.

Aurgloroasa blinked; the cruel blue motes of light merely faded, and reappeared, "Not easily. And you think that will prevent me from slaughtering you? With the kings of Thunderholme in my possession, I will be able to more actively command the dead here. I can finally move to strike the surface kingdoms, as well as those below. Once I repair the platform you upended, that is."

"An empire of undead." Ryuu noted, "I've certainly considered such things myself. Why?"

"Why? What a foolish question. I desire power, little Vampire. I need nothing else but dominion and conquest. My time here, a prisoner in all but name, has made me restless."

"I guess that puts us at an impasse." Alexander noted, and Ryuu groaned, holding his head.

"Way to break etiquette, Sunathaer. I was going to challenge her to single combat, but I don't think she's in a sporting mood now."

He sighed, "Will you allow us the benefit of single combat. You're out of their league."

"But not yours?"

"I was hoping to find out the straightforward way."

"I don't think so." Aurgloroasa replied, "I know this name, however. Drakul."

She laughed, "What an amusing accolade. But you are no Dragon, little Vampire. You are not my equal. You could, however, be a choice servant. You owe nothing to the living. Why not join me against them?"

"Countless souls and more blood that I could drink? I'll pass. I like the world alive, even if I have no place in it."

"Very well then. Kill them."

That last remark was no doubt directed at her retinue. Sirahani began to cast, and the dwarven kings advanced with weapons bared. The mountain of gold pulled itself into a wand that the Dracolich held, a Greatstaff in the hands of a Humanoid, vanishing.

Sirahani completed her spell, and a half dozen Wraiths manifested in the air above them, and circled round.

Aurgloroasa reared up, but slowly, with deliberate, stiff, lumbering motions.

Ryuu cast a spell that she didn't understand, and two of the dwarven kings vanished. Alexander likewise banished another with an invocation of his god. And then Haidée and Esmer met the charge of the remaining three, parrying and blocking their glimmering pikes, respectively.

Gods, they were strong!

Esmer buckled, but she, with a burst of vampiric speed, swatted her attacker's pike aside, and struck with a bolt of shadowflame, which smote the other point blank. The dwarven spirit recoiled, burning.

Sirahani completed her next spell, and from her fingertip discharged a bolt of lightning, which hit her, and arced to Esmer, hurling him backwards, smoking from his abdomen.

"Damn you!" Haidée snarled, calling another bolt which passed through her smug expression without pause. The dwarven kings, with technique far beyond her own, pressed her back, and only her unnatural agility and strength saved her from being overwhelmed. She attacked simply, but nonetheless kept pace, leaving them little room to maneuver.

Ryuu, she saw, dueled with Aurgloroasa, occupying her so that she couldn't use her breath attack to kill them all in one simple motion.

Alexander, already bleeding from a wound to his arm, for these Wraiths were possessed of bladed claws that manifested in the physical realm, called upon a corona of silvery flame that surrounded his head. His eyes, pupil-less orbs of silver, were painful to look into directly.

Turning back to her foes, she tried and failed to further parry their attacks and resorted to merely displacing their momentum. While she didn't tire, she felt herself waning as the thirst grew worse. It had been days since she'd first fed on that dragon cultist.

Sirahani projected forward, a curious sound like ringing bells issuing with increasing volume.

Something popped in her head just as her foes aligned on her, and her guard dropped.

Esmer, his battle cry fearsome, brought his shield to bear, down onto one pike and out against the other. What would have gored her through the chest took her through the left shoulder. The other pike lodged in Esmer's thigh, and he grunted.

Blooded, Haidée held the pike in her shoulder, dropping her sword, and blasted the spirit again with shadowflame, and he broke apart into dark streamers. Horrified, even while enthralled, the other spirit, this the one Ryuu had spoken to before, twisted away, leaving his pike, which pulled Esmer to the ground, screaming, for it was still lodged in his leg.

"Hold still, Emerlin!" Ryuu snapped, and a second pair of shadowy chains encompassed the spirit, binding it.

Looking down at Esmer, Haidée tried to gauge the severity of his wounds.

"'Alexander!" She called out, "Help him.", as she snapped the shaft of the pike from its blade, so he wouldn't bleed out, and pulled him backward, out of the fray. The motion was so quick and precise, he barely noticed, and stared blankly back at her.

As his eyes widened, she turned to see the deathly visage of the Dracolich as she swiped Ryuu to the side and discharged her breath attack, directly into her.

Time distorted. Her body felt cold, and a fragment of herself leeched away. She collapsed, her shoulder seeping dark, tarry blood, laced with hoarfrost.

"Die." Aurgloroasa hissed, and a bolt of shadowflame raced towards her prone body.

Haidée succumbed to her wounds, and waited as the shadowflame hurled forward to meet her.

But then Ryuu appeared in front of her, and the Dracolich's spell struck him instead, burning a hole in his chest, immolating his heart and lungs. Shadowflame reached through, and smote her on the face, blinding her. She heard him scream, as she heard herself scream.

"Ryuu!"

She went deaf, her ears ringing.

Her flesh healed quickly. She came back to herself to see him, still standing over her, facing the Dracolich.

"That all you got?" Ryuu gargled, leaning forward, blades bared.

He turned, facing her, and for a moment, it seemed he would stay on his feet.

But then the steel fell from his hands, to clatter on the ground. How loud, that sound!

Her master crumpled, smoking, his expression vacant. She saw the awareness leave his eyes, and then the rest.

"Ryuu!"

Chapter 13

Thunderholme Ruins, Cormyr (27th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

Pain, again.

Coldness, again.

A moment of panic, and sweet release, nothingness.

Darkness, all around him.

Familiar darkness.

"The damned fugue plane." Ryuu said, then laughed, "Shit! I couldn't die in a field or a castle or something like that? It had to be a stinking hole in the ground?!"

The darkness held no answer, and he sighed, "Fine. Where to? The Hells? I've certainly earned it."

"No." a voice replied in Draconic, distant.

"The abyss then? Will I be pulled to Kanchelsis? To Kiaransalee? Tell me if I guess right?"

"No." a voice replied, not so distant.

"Where then?" Ryuu snapped, "And who in the hells are you and where's your voice coming from?!"

"Here."

A hand touched his back, and he felt no pain. The scars, inflicted before his first death, were gone.

A familiar feel to it, too. His scruff tightened. His back went stiff.

He turned; it was the wrong way to put it, because there was no direction, or sense thereof. It more accurately felt like he was rotating while immersed in water.

But there, her flesh translucent and cloudy, emanating its own, inner light, was Oki. She was just as he remembered her, and yet...not. The sheer experience, the sheer presence, in her, was overwhelming. This was an Oki as old as he was...

"An eternity..." Ryuu moaned, tormented, "Alone, and yet here you are. Is my end to be a reward, then?"

Oki nodded, "If you are ready. You are not yet here, with me, for I stand in the world coil, and you are but vapor and shadow."

His chest ached; he wanted it very, very much. He'd trade the uncounted centuries he had before him for these moments. It looked like he had. The battle became a distant memory.

"My love..."

Oki nodded.

"Sun on my Scales..."

He reached for her, a thundering in his heart that grew painful. Unwittingly, he glanced down, to find a gaping hole, still smoldering with shadowflame. But as he drew closer, the hole diminished, until only unmarred scales remained. A dull, silvery-iron sheen. His natural coloration. The shadows surrounding him thinned, and began to brighten, until his very flesh became translucent, like hers.

To die, and rejoin the world coil. To die, and rejoin his Oki.

Was this really happening?

"I've waited so long for this..." Ryuu admitted, his hand nearly, so nearly, brushing against her face.

Then, amidst the wash of memories of his life, newer memories surfaced. A sad-faced young woman with maroon eyes and a pale complexion. A surly, brown haired priest, mace and holy symbol in hand. A golden-haired noble, looking like one of the knights from Ryuu's chapbooks in his armor.

"But I can't." Ryuu gasped, fighting the tears gathering in his eyes, "Not yet. A poor mentor I'd be if I let that girl be turned by a Dracolich and those idiots killed. I've lived this long for fighting for nothing. Gods be damned, I actually have a reason to do something for a change. I couldn't save our bloodline, Oki...but in a way, I can save my own. I won't be the catalyst for another Broodlord, another guiltless monster to be slain by the servants of the goodly gods!"

"But I've made mistakes. So many of them. I don't know if I'm about to make another one either path I choose. I'm sorry..." he said, downcast, "How long we have waited, to be parted only by this thin veil? How many millennia can we wait?"

Oki smiled, "As long as it takes. I have not forgotten, and I can never forget. I will wait here, for you to complete me, that we may become something new in another life."

"Thank you. Sun on my scales..."

Ryuu knelt, his heart aching as it hadn't since it had stopped beating. He wept.

"I love you. So damned much it hurts, even now, after so long. After everything I've done! Everything I've become..."

"Thank you. For this. For everything."

He stood. Banished his doubts. Hardened his resolve.

He turned from his mate, to another figure, for they were not alone in the fugue.

She recoiled behind him, and vanished. The light about his body dimmed, and darkened. His chest opened, and the scars burned across his back.

Just as he needed.

Gods, it vexed him coming to the father of Vampires for aid.

Kanchelsis had two forms. Thankfully, he was addressing the Rake, the sophisticated side, and not the Beast. He was a thin Half-Elf with a finely tailored suit of black silk and an open smile. His flesh was pale, as if sculpted from marble. His maroon eyes, dark-lidded, pinned him in place with their intensity.

"I know we haven't exactly gotten along..." Ryuu said, distant, "But I could use a little help. I don't think I'm ready for death just yet."

The god nodded, smiling.

"You always want something. Even when I put down that runaway Obyrith for you."

"Divine intervention is no small thing, child." Kanchelsis agreed.

"I'm all ears..."

The god lunged towards him. Ryuu wasn't stupid enough to resist. His fangs plunged into Ryuu's throat, his arms locked him in an embrace.

The Vampire groaned, breathless, collapsing.

The God held him up. He could hear Kanchelsis' slurping.

But blood wasn't being taken from him. It was being given. And it was Kanchelsis' own blood.

Ryuu cried out, wide-eyed, at the feeling of divine power flowing into him. His mortal shell, ancient but still vulnerable, hollowed out. A portion of his own essence bled away, replaced by that spark.

He screamed, in absolute horror, at the realization of the "gift" he had just been given.

Kanchelsis spoke his price. He discerned only two words.

"Vlad Tolenkov."

And at that, the god vanished, and Ryuu slipped back through the darkness, the blood of a god pulsing in his veins.

...

The Dracolich slowly lumbered towards her. Haidée had eyes only for her master.

"Haidée!" Esmer yelled, "Get out of there!"

She looked to him, dimly, to see him running as fast as his blooded leg would allow. He held his side, his panicked expression snapping her back to her senses.

She took her wand, and eyed the Dracolich, whose skeletal face nonetheless registered a smile.

"There's nowhere to run." Aurgloroasa hissed, gloating, "He was a fine opponent, to be sure. You are his spawn. I can sense it. Maybe you can be useful to me."

"Abyss take you!" Haidée snapped, and the Dracolich issued a raspy hiss that sounded like laughter. Sirahani sneered, "walking" towards them by projecting her apparition forward.

"I enjoy willfulness." Aurgloroasa said, reaching down with a single shadow-shrouded claw, "I will break it by making you watch as your other friends die."

But then Ryuu stirred in her arms, opened his eyes.

They were black, lacking pupils.

"You have betrayed Kanchelsis..."

He sneered, struggling to his feet. The gash where his heart had been, wide enough to accommodate a human hand through to the other side, didn't seem to bother him. Haidée could feel something terrifying manifest inside of him.

"You have conspired against a god..."

Sirahani blanched, confused. The feeling grew worse.

Ryuu's hands spread wide. He smiled.

"You, who chose the dark gift for selfish ends, and raged when your people abandoned you...who spilled their blood for seeing the monster in you..."

His smile darkened, became feral.

"You, who offered a Dracolich the means to invade a nation to better your selfish ends of revenge..."

"You..."

"Shall die!" he cried, laughing, "My reckoning will come in time, when I will face the judgment of the World Serpent for all I have done. But your reckoning comes now, at my hands!"

"And you!" he raved, pointing to the Dracolich, "You vulture! You carrion feeder! Taking the blackest rites; the Ceremony of Endless Night! The sacrifice of the innocent! Enslaving their souls in death! You damned coward, hiding behind them and sitting on your podium hurling belittlement and pandering offers of service towards me?! Arrogant child! Hopeless cretin! You make me sick! SICK!"

"I am the shadow of death, whose battles ravaged Toril in ancient times! Do you think I would demean myself by service so some gaudy villain?! To the hells with you, wyrm! Earlier I might have been a little cross with you, but you'd better hope your god favors hapless fools, 'CAUSE NOW I'M REALLY SEEING RED!" Ryuu shrieked, cackling madly, the open, un-healing wounds across his back bleeding shadowflame. The hole in his chest burned shut. A cloak of luminous red blanketed him, blood that shimmered with tendrils of shadow.

As he lunged forward, the cloak parted into a pair of membranous wings, spattering its material onto her armor in a brief fountain. Her wounds healed in an instant. The very ground shook with his strength as he bellowed his rage. His pennons, like bladed arms, struck the casting Elf, and her apparition winked out of existence.

Aurgloroasa, with blinding, unnatural speed, slipped backward, into an impenetrable cloud of shadows that blanketed the platform. Alexander and Esmer cried out, swallowed by the magically conjured darkness. Her last sight was her master darting towards it before it covered her as well.

...

Ryuu bellowed, charging right into it, and his swords bled shadowflame. He sensed, more than saw, the negative energy composing her being, and struck accordingly. He felt steel rebound off of the Dracolich's shadowy protection spell, weakened thanks to his apprentice but formidable still.

But now that he knew where to hit, Ryuu threw up a powerful disjoining. His spell, backed by even the indirect influence of his god, sheared through the Dracolich's conjured darkness, clearing the air. Propelled by his cloak, composed of Kachelsis' own essence, he was upon her, Hyosho and Kaminari a flurry of strokes, jabs, and thrusts, punctuated by blinding footwork that evaded the claws of the Dracolich. Her bony mask lunged toward, maw opened wide, and with his winged cloak, Ryuu propelled himself to the side as she discharged a breath of negative energy that would have rotted him to the core and stolen his essence.

Nearly expended on spells, he knew he had to make his strikes count. Her shadowy aura flickered in and out, nearly expired.

Careful to lead her away from his tribe, back towards the parapet overlooking the bridge below, the Vampire hurled his swords as she readied another breath attack, inhaling deeply, and they landed right in her eye sockets.

Aurgloroasa proceeded, unmindful, and he was forced to charge forward, and over, to reclaim his swords, landing a few strikes along her spinal column before her wings buffeted him off.

As they came to face each other, Haidée rushed in from the side, soundlessly, blade leading. It plunged hilt-deep in the Dracolich's side, and Aurgloroasa, unbothered by the wound, swatted her aside with her hind leg.

Or tried to; his apprentice leapt onto her upper thigh, retrieved her weapon, and plunged it in again, near the base of her spine.

Aurgloroasa roared, and a deeper darkness manifested around them. More Wraiths; incorporeal undead.

Haidée brandished her rod, spoke the word of fire in Draconic, and a gout of crimson shadowflame smote one and immolated it in a cloud of putrid smoke.

As they rebounded on her, for Ryuu was occupied keeping a comparatively weakened and sluggish Aurgloroasa too occupied to mount an organized attack, his apprentice swiped her hand, and from her rod issued a cone-shaped arc of shadowflame, marring but not fully banishing the undead. Alexander, with a choked prayer to his god, called upon a bolt of silvery light that detonated in the cluster of Wraiths, which dissolved with pained moans. He collapsed afterward, spent.

Haidée, hiding from the blast in her cloak, didn't see her peril in time, and as Aurgloroasa buffeted her with tattered wings, the Dracolich arched her spine in a feline manner, hurling her upward. She tossed her rod to him just as their enemy twisted with blinding speed, and swatted her with her left wing, propelling her into a parapet, cracking it as the girl careened into it.

He heard several bones breaking, and then the Dracolich was upon him.

Their exchange was a stalemate; Ryuu fought well, scoring several cuts, but against so large an opponent, he dealt only superficial damage. But Aurgloroasa, with her claws, teeth, and breath attack, needed only make a single hit to grievously wound him. It took all of his unnatural agility and flexibility to keep one step ahead of her attacks.

Aurgloroasa swiped her left arm across, and Ryuu ducked underneath, rolling towards her ribs, before darting to the side as the Dracolich compensated and struck that space with her hind leg. Rising to find her facing him again, he leapt straight up, taking wing, just as her own talon-tipped pennons snapped forward, piercing them.

The appendages winked out as she barked a counterspell, and obliterated the cloak of Kanchelsis, dropping him to the floor.

As she lunged forward to snap him up, Ryuu crosscut her bony mask, and the Dracolich shrieked, repelled by its undead-turning enchantments. The blades themselves started to rust, corroding from contact with her defiled remains.

Retreating, the cuts burning red with shadowflame, Aurgloroasa parried with her wand, and where his steel struck, thin jets of gold coins spurted out momentarily, raining down to clatter upon the stone floor. A golden trident, set with sapphires, tumbled to the floor to lodge head-down in the stone.

Heaving the wand like a maul, Ryuu was forced to leap aside as the tiles he had occupied shattered apart from the impact of Aurgloroasa's attack. He was forced to drop Hyosho in order to palm Haidée's tarnished silver rod.

Using the last spell in his wizardly repertoire, Ryuu used the rod and ignited the crosscut on her bony mask with additional shadowflame, sheathing his thinblade, and the Dracolich roared, blinded momentarily.

She turned, whipping her tail across, but Ryuu dashed over to claim the trident, leapt over it, onto her back, and thrust the weapon into the space between her vertebrae the stalactite had hit. Again, again, again, he struck furiously, his strength that of an Ogre, and the weapon, possessed of unknown enchantments, passed through the shadow aura and bit into bone. Its sapphires turned to onyx and rubies as they actually drew in the negative energy she was hemorrhaging in palpable waves.

With a final burst of his god's strength, he infused his body with the aura of Kanchelsis himself, and beneath such mass, the Dracolich crumpled. Her body collapsed on the edges of the temple walls, her head over the parapet. Ryuu took the trident in an executioner's grip, pointed head down, shaft up.

...

"I will not be bested by the likes of you, lesser creature!"Aurgloroasa cried, her roars desperate, panicked, "I am Aurgloroasa! I am eternal!"

Ryuu struck a final time, and her head fully detached from her body with a dry snapping like bark, and spiraled down, colliding with the bridge below and splintering it with a thunderous retort. It struck again, against something hard, further down, muted by distance, and again, and again.

Her body twitched, and went limp, the aura of shadows dispersing, revealing a blackened skeleton.

"Don't give a shit..." Ryuu hissed, holding up his weapon, a golden trident of elegant design, "And it looks like that served me well."

Now that the cavern had stopped spinning, Haidée she took a tentative first step, drained. Her skin somehow looked a shade paler.

"Haidée!" Esmer yelled behind her, and she turned to see him stumbling toward her, before being stopped by Alexander.

She was grateful for that; the smell of his open wounds made his proximity unbearable.

Troubled, she offered him a nonetheless reassuring smile and turned away, to Ryuu, examining the Dracolich's body.

Something shiny, unseen beforehand, hung from the stump of her neck. A star sapphire, the size of a fist and chiseled into a finely tapered, three sided length, the gem hung from a golden frame, its chain links reinforced iron. Ryuu split them apart, and took hold of the gem.

"Her phylactery." Alexander gasped, winded, holding his broken arm tightly, "Destroy it."

Ryuu shook his head.

"No. I think her phylactery had already been destroyed, or at least severely damaged. That was why she was so sluggish at first. I cannot sense a pocket of negative energy here dense enough to constitute such an artifact."

"How do you know for sure?"

"I'm the necromancer here, and this is no phylactery. More like a loun stone, but different somehow." Ryuu noted, curious, "Charged with magic. Loaded with enchantment. I'll find a use for this, I think."

He eyed his trident, "And this too, I think."

He deposited the weapon in a small pouch at his belt; somehow, the weapon slid into it without resistance, and never touched the other side of its material. A bag of holding, maybe. He also gave her back her spell rod, and she hung it from her own belt.

King Emerlin III approached them, manifesting from the ether, with his pike in hand.

Haidée tensed, as did the others. But not Ryuu.

"I know this stone." The spirit replied, "Yeh hold the totem of one of our most revered Enchanters, Stonesoul Rudrin. It will alter existing portals and power inactive ones, for a time. Use it on the limestone gate in the lower levels to return to the surface. Speak the word, "Olaramorndin." Be well and get yeh gone, outsider."

When the last of the dwarven kings departed, a great silence filled the ruins. The arcane crystals dimmed, and it became nearly impossible to see even with her darkvision.

"I can't see."

"No shit. Let's get out of here."

Epilogue

Cormyr (28th of Eleint, 1366 Dalereckoning)

While they couldn't tunnel out of Thunderholme, Ryuu had led them down through the lower temple to an inactive portal, after gathering the few coins and trinkets scattered about. Too confined to be used by the Dracolich, it was housed in a small room, no doubt a defense from an armed force gathering in abundance from the other side. Powering it with the gem that had hung from Aurgloroasa's neck, they had stepped through at his insistence, leaving Thunderholme behind.

Haidée knew nothing for a period of time; only darkness, and a feeling like falling. Eventually, she completed her stride and found herself in a small glade. It was a beautiful place, with dappled sunlight reaching down through the eaves of gigantic trees covered in moss, a muted orange in color. The humid air was dense with winged insects, the noises of which drowned out all other ambience.

Behind her, a glowing stone arch went inert, and before her, there was a small village of shingle-roofed log cabins and huts. Its inhabitants had already taken notice of them. A few scrambled away, calling for the guards.

"Well, that's much better." Esmer noted, looking up, "An open sky and a fresh breeze. Let us not descend into dwarven delves for a time, please."

He smiled at her, and the scent of him had her looking away, red-faced. Sweat. Musk. A little something else, maybe.

It wasn't his pulse or his blood, for once.

"Yeah I guess. Still, lots of fun there. And we did some good, too. That should keep Alexander happy." Ryuu said, chuckling at the priest, who said nothing.

"What exactly happened to you, Master?"

He eyed her, and his mirth faded, "With the whole dying thing? Well, you see... Kanchelsis healed me. And..."

His hand rubbed the back of his head, as he looked away, "I think he named me his chosen. That'll make the whole death thing a little tricky."

She had no reply forthcoming.

"Even in this, there is a path." Alexander said, "You have done a great thing this day. You slew a Dracolich before she could unearth the dead of Thunderholme and invade Cormyr. You've saved many lives."

"Maybe." Ryuu shrugged, "Liches are tough to kill. I can't be certain she won't resurrect by another means. Still, that would take a long time, even by my reckoning. And it was yesterday, genius. A whole day has come and gone. Don't you see the sunset?"

"I thought it was a sunrise." Alexander protested, crossing his arms, "Still, it was a mighty feat."

"Yeah." Ryuu agreed, smug, "It was, wasn't it? I should petition the monarch of Cormyr, whoever it is right now, to abdicate to me for saving their sorry hide. The bards will sing praise of my deeds until the end of days."

"I don't see that happening."

"Well, it's a good dream. Where to now?"

It was Haidée herself who replied, without realizing, "That Elf escaped. Said something about the blood of a god. That's reason to worry."

Ryuu grinned, "The dashing heroes off to a new quest? A grand Vampire conspiracy? The blood of a god? Sure, I'm game. About time we finally got the plot rolling, as they say. Enough piddling about."

He beckoned to the fields before them, and then the mountains behind them, "I like this world too much to let some dusty old hag to mess it up by elevating a new Blood God. Even if it is just the stuff of chapbooks!"

"Where then, Master?"

Ryuu made a show of considering, "To Suzail. I can look into my old contacts in the Union of Eclipses. And the three of you can get a nice wash. You need it."

Haidée considered the drying blood caking her armor, imagining the same was true all over her body, and shrugged, "You were the one that bled on me, though."

"Fine, I'll pay the launder. Let's go."

They were stopped within ten paces towards the village by a trio of armed guards, who accosted them with weapons bared. They eyed her armor, still covered in drying blood, uneasily.

"Halt! Speak your identities and your business!" snapped one of them, a middle-aged man with a white beard barked atop a spotted Destrier, scowling.

Ryuu held up his hands in surrender, "Travelers. I am Ryuu, the constipated fellow is Alexander, priest of Ilmater, and the young couple are Esmer and Haidée. As for intentions that kind of depends. Where are we?"

"Dhedluk." the guardsman replied, still uneasy but not so visibly so, "The portal behind you leads to an area near the court buildings at Castle Obarskyr. But I'm going to guess that's not where you came from."

"Nope. Portal magic is fun that way."

"Then take the path southeast of here. A short forest trail called the Ranger's Way, to Waymoot in the southwest and Starwater Road north. There is nothing for you here."

"Hey..." Ryuu said, "What happened to Cormyrean hospitality?"

"You are not a citizen and you are not in the dragons. You're lucky I don't check your paperwork, or whose blood is coating your friend there. Now get going."

At that, the men-at-arms turned tail, and her master shrugged.

"Whatever, back to Eveningstar. You can pay a visit to your old man, discreetly, and we can resupply. I'll buy you a lute or a harp or something. With all that loot from Thunderholme, I think you've earned it. A portal focus! I love it!"

He eyed the gem, no doubt worth a sizable pile of coin just for its material, with open admiration.

"Thank you, Master."

He guffawed, and turned towards the road. Nothing for it, she fell in line, beside Esmer, and Alexander went after him.

She felt Esmer's hand lock with hers, and it felt warm, human. She smiled, throwing down her hood when the sun fell below the horizon and its painful rays no longer bothered her.

Here, on this journey, beside her friends, she, too felt human. Maybe there was some hope for her after all. Maybe there was some hope for them.

"To my father, then. And then the road." she said, listening to the songs of winged insects and birds of the Cormyrean countryside, "I can't wait."

...

To Be Continued

...

Character Glossary:

-Haidée Salom: A Human bitten by a Ghoul and later by Ryuu, who agreed to turn her into a Vampire instead. She travels beside her new master, the better to learn of her powers and to control the thirst building within her.

-Ryuu: An ancient Lizardfolk Vampire. As he was turned by a vampiric Succubus, rather than a common Vampire, he possesses a much older and more potent strain of the disease, allowing him partial immunity to sunlight, running water, and other such weaknesses. Ryuu is also known as Drakul, Dragon, or Son of the Dragon.

-Alexander Mallyth: A priest of Ilmater born of Westgate, he travels the world, performing harrowing deeds in order to atone for the sins of his family. He now follows Ryuu and his new apprentice, balancing the needs of his faith and the needs of his humanity.

-Esmer Tharen: A scion of a burgeoning noble house, he was engaged with Haidée, and followed her after she became a Vampire.

-Tolon Salom: Haidée's father.

-Sirahani Irithyl: Once a noble of Cormanthyr and an advisor to Eltargrim Irithyl. She embraced vampirism in secret, as a means to better defend her homeland, and was later banished for all eternity for her condition.

-Aurgloroasa: An ancient dragon that embraced lichdom after slaughtering the inhabitants of an entire dwarven city. She has been slain and resurrected many times.

Vlad Tolenkov: An ancient Vampire who rules a castle on the Nightworld that is sometimes given his name. He is a member of the Union of Eclipses, a worlds-spanning cabal of powerful Vampires and undead. Each member of the Union claims to be its leader, but in fact they all swear fealty to the god Kanchelsis.

-Eltargrim Irithyl: The sixth Coronal of Cormanthyr, seventh son of Coronal Tannivh Irithyl, ruling from -223 DR to his death in 661 DR.

Kanchelsis: A demigod reigning over the 487th layer of the Abyss. His domain there is described as a vast mansion that changes continuously based on Kanchelsis's whims. He can manifest in one of two forms:

-The Beast: Resembles a wild-eyed, tousle-headed Human male with powerful muscles and taloned claws. He is excessively hairy. He is a wild creature, the personification of the wild beast that rages inside all Vampires. He runs with wolves and tears out throats, drinking as much blood as he can swallow.

-The Rake: Resembles a Human or half-elf with long, slender hands, finely-chiseled features, and a friendly smile. He is always dressed immaculately. He is a charismatic seducer, a lover of high fashion, debauchery, and art.