Talin's mind was not where it should be. Surrounded by a mob of marauding Orcs, his little band was deep in pitched battle. He should have been watching his opponents, but they were unskilled and unprepared, and he found himself going through the motions of battle automatically. His chief concern was for his companions.
At thirty-six, Ro was three years younger than he—she'd be thirty-seven come First Seed—and she was a competent fighter in her own right. But she was still primarily a weapons-smith, and she hadn't nearly the experience that Talin had. He'd been at this for twenty... no, nearly twenty-one years now. Not that it mattered anyway. Whatever her age, Ro was always going to be his baby sister, and he was always going to worry about her.
But now he had another charge to watch over. And she was a far different prospect. Lazily swatting the head from a charging Orc, Talin glanced over his shoulder to see how Khalila was holding up.
He need not have worried. He wasn't certain of her age—without doubt younger than Ro—but she was clearly the veteran of many battles, experience that stood her in good stead now. Her compact form, meant to be as well-muscled as a gymnast's, was still gaunt from the curse that afflicted her and a year of hard living in the wilderness, but she compensated expertly for the loss of power by use of finesse.
In a move that spoke almost of dance, she deflected a descending battleaxe and made a pirouette around her attacker that ended at his back, where a deft sword thrust found a join in the Orc's armor and went deep into his vitals. He dropped at once, freeing her attention to engage another Orc trying to flank Ro. Another sweep of her deadly blade, and the Orc was down, leg missing and burning fiercely from the weapon's enchantment. She stepped back, composed as though this were but a dueling session in a salle, her large, dark eyes coolly seeking another target.
With an inward sigh, Talin forced his attention back on the three Orcs currently trying to chop through his magically generated shield. He was no stranger to beautiful, brave, and talented women. He'd known more than his fair share over the years, many of them intimately. Ro always said he could fall in love in under a minute, and fall out of love in half that time. She was right.
But there was something different about this one. There was a certain nobility of spirit about her that he'd never before encountered. And the more time he spent with her, the more drawn to her he was. That was new, too. What's more, he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt awkward around a female. He was the Eternal Champion, for crying out loud. Not that anyone beyond his immediate family knew that; it was a well-guarded secret.
Around Khalila, however, he felt like the low-born son of a weapons-smith, which he was, trying to make nice with a princess. She wasn't, of course, but she might as well have been for all the chance he felt he had with her.
Cleaving through the last of the Orcs, Talin sheathed Chrysamere and began the process of searching through the possessions of his fallen enemies. He wasn't even sure why he bothered anymore. It wasn't as if they would have anything he needed. Habit, he supposed. Or maybe tradition.
Khalila also began rifling through pouches and examining the talismans the Orcs bore. Again showing the mark of her experience, she ignored the heavier, cruder items in favor of coins and a few common gems, which she slipped into her own pack. Then, with a small exhalation of surprise, she slid a knife out of the leader's belt.
"Magic," she said, tracing the runes worked in its blade. "This is no Orc's work, either. I think it's Elven." She casually flipped it over and held it out to Ro hilt first. "You should have this, assuming we can get to a Mage's Guild and identify it as something safe."
Given that she had no magic ability of her own and little in the way of charmed items, it was a most generous offer, but Talin could see no conflict in her expression.
Ro accepted the blade, her face lighting up like a child's on Saturalia. She examined it closely, testing its weight and balance, then peered down its length, checking for warps or bends. "This is very well crafted," she said. "Are you sure you don't want...?" She offered to return the dagger with a half-hearted gesture.
"We fight as a party; spoils should be divided as a party. Besides, it would make no sense for me to take it; you are the one that's proficient in dagger fighting," Khalila replied easily. Then her normally grave expression flashed into a sudden grin. "And you clearly want it very much more than me. Have it."
Talin hadn't thought it possible, but he appreciated Khalila all the more for the delight in Ro's face. There was little in this world that made him happier than to see his sister shine.
"We should get moving," he said. "No doubt we have a lot of ground to cover, and there's no telling where this old werewolf we seek might be." He refreshed his Light spell and peered north down the corridor. Perhaps he was getting old, but it seemed to him that quarry these days were finding larger and more labyrinthine lairs in which to hide. Someday he'd have to look into divining a spell that would detect precisely where his target might be found.
Khalila nodded; pulling out the piece of scraped vellum she was using to chart their path, she compared it to the corridor she could see further on.
"It seems to branch up ahead. If I've got this down correctly, the right branch should take us back to where we ran into the giant scorpions. I'll scout down there, just to be certain; maps are useless if not accurate. Assuming it does, we can advance left."
Holding Embershard at the ready, she left them waiting at the junction and made the short sprint down the right branch. At the end, she stepped out ready for trouble. After a moment, she made a quick flick with her blade and the oh-so-familiar sound of a giant rat dying came echoing back. Then she made the return just as quickly though rather more casually.
"A whole lot of corpses just around the corner," she said with a grim smile. "We've definitely been that way."
"Left it is, then." Talin took the lead, listening carefully for any low growls that would tell him they were getting close. They'd been following up on a lead given them by an acolyte of the School of Julianos. A very old, and very powerful werewolf known only as Bloodfang was said to have information on a cure for the condition. Whether or not the story was true—if it was, the wolf certainly had never used it—they deemed it worth following up on.
They'd managed to track him to Glenfiend's Hollow, where they'd spent the last several hours trying to navigate their way through its maze.
Talin was of two minds about finding the beast. On the one hand, he certainly wanted to help Khalila, and he hoped that the mission would prove fruitful. On the other hand, what would happen if they did manage to cure her? No doubt she'd thank them, and then be on her way. A prospect he did not enjoy at all.
The next turning brought him opposite a doorway. He had hardly noted its presence when it suddenly erupted with a phalanx of skeletons. Talin flung himself backwards, warps and wefts of fire forming around his upraised hands, only to realize that the monsters were in a direct line of fire with his companions. He dropped the spell and reached over his shoulder for Chrysamere, but his change in tactics cost him the advantage and with a spear thrust that grazed his side the skeletons were on him. Amidst a whirlwind of blade work, he heard the swordswoman give some order to Ro, and then Khalila was at his back, warm and strong, taking down enemies with her sure strikes. Ro obediently stayed out of the fray, ill-equipped to fight creatures with no flesh to pierce, and Talin and Khalila made short work of the half-dozen ghouls.
Breathing just a bit harder, Khalila turned to look him in the eyes.
"Talin Nubo, you are an amazing fighter and your magic is worthy of far greater quests than mine," she murmured and Talin found his gaze drawn to her lips, so close to his own, almost inviting a kiss… "But for an experienced campaigner, your tactics leave much to be desired. You are the one with the spells that can be used at a distance. So I should take point, holding back direct attacks, leaving you free to cast the spells that will quickly end the fight."
Her tone was instructive rather than critical, but it was like a blast of cold water.
"Have you fought all your battles alone with no one else to rely on?" she asked with a sympathetic smile.
Talin stared at her in disbelief. He had great respect for her fighting capabilities, but did she really imagine that he didn't know what he was doing? After all he'd seen and done and been through...
But then he checked himself. Khalila didn't know who he was, or what he was capable of. And if he was honest, he had to admit that he'd been holding back ever since she joined them. Why, he couldn't say for sure. There was no doubt he'd like to impress her. Part of him wanted to point out to her exactly what would have happened if he had loosed the spells he'd had at the ready.
Instead, he found himself waving a hand in what he hoped was a gallant manner and saying, "By all means. After you then."
From the expression of affront on Ro's face, Talin could tell that she, on the other hand, was not prepared to allow the indignity to pass, and she opened her mouth to defend her big brother. With an unobtrusive flick of his fingers, Talin Silenced her. When she realized she had no voice, her head whipped towards him, eyes wide with surprise.
Talin merely smiled, drawing a glare from his little sister. But she would follow his lead. She always did, even if she didn't understand his reasons. In this case, Talin had no more idea what they were than she did.
They took a brief rest to repair the damages of the battle and partake of some food, incidentally finding a treasure chest in the room that the skeletons had presumably guarded even unto death. A few hundred gold richer, they took to the hallways again and after but a quarter of an hour found a long steep slope leading down into what appeared to be natural tunnels. It seemed a promising direction to the two experienced campaigners, and Ro was up for anything, so they headed off through the caves.
A few encounters with more monsters went well enough, though Talin didn't note any real improvement in their performance under Khalila's arrangements. As they approached the entrance to a large cavern and heard a long, low growl of preternatural menace, their focus intensified. They had, he believed, reached their goal.
Shifting silently to the right, he found a clear view between Khalila and Ro that would enable him to easily cast spells at the monster without hitting his companions. He still held Chrysamere at the ready, but in the party's current configuration, the blade wasn't going to be of much use. No matter. Talin had more than enough magic to compensate.
He watched as Khalila crouched, lifting the tip of her prized ebony sword ever so slightly as she eased up to the mouth of the cave. Despite the tension of the situation, Talin couldn't help but admire her graceful movements, her lithe form...
With a shake of his head, he pulled his thoughts away from such distractions. Now was definitely not the time.
He sensed the movement a fraction of a moment before he saw it, and then, with a snarl, a blur of red-brown fur launched towards them.
It was a hulking, slavering werewolf, bigger than Talin had ever seen, eyes glowing wickedly. Khalila gave a wordless cry that almost sounded frightened rather than fierce and sprang into motion, throwing herself into the path of the monster. As she engaged it sword to claws, however, she put herself directly between Talin and their enemy, preventing him from casting any of several spells at it. Ro danced in, landing several blows on its unguarded back, but none seemed to harm it in the least.
The monster backhanded Khalila away and turned towards his sister. Again, he summoned up his magical energies, only for Khalila to lunge back in, sword forgotten, and tackle the monster away from Ro and into a wall.
The monster barely seemed to notice. He looked down at the top of Khalila's head as she struggled to hold his mass in place. His lips curled back in what Talin at first took to be a snarl, but then, to his horror, realized was a smile.
And the smile was pure evil. Ro saw it too.
"Talin!"
But he needed no such encouragement. He cleared his throat. He didn't have to do it loudly; Bloodfang's hearing was superb, and the understated noise drew his attention with much greater efficacy than shouting his name would have done. The werewolf's head snapped up and the moment their eyes met, Talin focused the force of his magic through his Medusa's Gaze.
Bloodfang froze.
When he went stiff, Khalila jerked back to stare at him, her cheeks ashy and limbs shaking.
There was a long pause; as one, the party drew in a deep breath preparatory to a long sigh of relief. But that sigh was never released. The glow in Bloodfang's eyes increased, and a sound so deep it was only a thrumming in the chest began to grow. The thrumming seemed to form words.
Your victory will not be so easy…
The wolf's eyes flicked to Khalila, who immediately collapsed to her knees and screamed, her back arching in agony. Ro cried out and took several hasty steps towards her.
"Don't!" the swordswoman managed to choke out and then with blood-chilling swiftness, her body contorted and changed and the wolf was with them again. But this time there was only the wolf in her. With a frenzied snarl, Khalila reached out long scything claws to rend Ro into pieces.
Talin gestured, and a wall of earth sprang up between the two. With another roar of rage, the wolf that was Khalila tried to go around, but within two breaths, Talin had three more walls in place, effectively boxing Khalila in where she could harm neither herself nor anyone else. He had promised her, after all.
Ro wiped the back of her wrist across her forehead, trying to catch her breath. She grinned at him.
"You're pretty handy to have around, you know?"
Talin grinned back, pulling a potion bottle from his pouch. He'd been casting spells all day and his reserves were getting low. Just his luck they'd only run into one spellcaster—the Orc Shaman—that Talin had been able to pull magicka from. Thankfully, he'd learned years ago never to go anywhere without a full stock of potions to keep him powered up. He quaffed the blue liquid and felt the familiar buzz of energy pouring through his veins.
Tossing the bottle aside, he turned his attention to Bloodfang, who still stood immobilized, though the burning anger in his eyes was lively enough.
"Now then," Talin said in a light, friendly tone. "What's your life worth to you?"
There was a long, drawn-out rumble as though the cave itself was growling and Bloodfang glared impotently. But after a few moments, the growl died away and the light in the old lycanthrope's eyes grew thoughtful.
How much is the whelp's life to you? She serves me now, for as long as I like. She will do my bidding, even to destroy herself.
To underscore the threat, from behind the earthen wall came hideous yelp of canine pain.
Talin's stomach twisted inside him, but he was careful not to allow the emotion to show in his face.
"Well, she is of no value to me dead, I'll give you that," he said easily. "And I'm not known for dealing kindly with people who inconvenience me, so I'd suggest you think carefully about doing her any further harm.
"On the other hand, I can be quite generous to those who aid me in my endeavors. The choice is yours, Bloodfang, as to whether you'd rather court my favor or my wrath."
The response was swifter now, with less equivocation.
How do you know me? And what do you want, if not to destroy me?
"How I know you is my business. And what I want from you is simple. Do as you're told, and I'll let you live."
So what is it you would tell me to do?
"First, I want everyone back in human form. That means you and the girl. Then...we talk."
I have no human left in me. There is only the pack.
The thrumming rose up again, and this time it was joined by other, more organic sounds as one by one a good dozen other werewolves eased out of various niches and tunnels. Bristling, they fixed eyes gleaming with bloodlust on the two fragile humans in the center of the cave.
You seem to be a powerful spellsword, but I don't think you're yet in a position to make demands, Man.
