2. The Yawning Portal

I dreamt that night of disturbing things. Dark places and dark creatures, and two women who watched me. Though I could not discern their purpose, I sensed that they watched me independent of each other, neither aware that the other was watching too. I have never enjoyed voyeurism, nor being the object of the attention of strangers. That is why I always wear my cloak when I am outside. But more on that later.

My dream left me feeling somewhat paranoid, and vulnerable. I woke to the darkness of pre-dawn, despite being tired from travelling, and rolled over in bed in an attempt to get comfortable and drift off back to sleep. But as I settled back down, some small sound caught my attention.

Outside, camping in the wilds, I would have missed it. But absolute silence, removed from the small sounds of nature, creates a vacuum. Sound tries to fill the emptiness, and it was such a sound that I heard now. It couldn't have been anything more than the sound of cloth moving over somebody's body, but it was enough to wake me fully. Were I a dog, my ears would have been up and my hackles rising.

I slipped my hand underneath my pillow to grasp the handle of the dagger I had put there last night - another hard-earned lesson, as you might have guessed - and slowly I began to move from my bed.

In light that only an elf or dwarf could have seen by, I maneuvered past the chair and the desk, until I was stood behind a slender figure who was outlined in my vision. Everything about the figure screamed 'elf'. He, or she, was shorter than me, slender, and obviously had excellent dark-vision, to be stood so precisely in front of my chest of belongings. Then, as I watched, the figure crouched down, made a gesture over the chest, and it was enveloped in a bright yellow light.

By this light I saw that the intruder was indeed an elf, and a woman. I also noticed that her skin was darker than any other elf I had seen. Too late I realised that my chest was fading, transported somewhere beyond my grasp. That's when I felt my anger rising. Everything I owned had been inside that chest... my weapons, my armour, my books, my potions, my money!

Without a second thought I launched myself at the elf, plunging my dagger into her back as we both tumbled to the floor. Clearly she hadn't been expecting my night vision to be as good as hers. My dagger had found its mark, severing her vertebrae. She lay gasping for breath, dying, as I fumbled for the tinderbox on the fireplace. Even as I found it, and started a fire in the hearth, the woman's gasps ceased as her soul left her body. But I did not pray to Lathander for her; whoever she was, she was a criminal, and deserved nothing but punishment.

My bedroom door flew open, and I whirled around, brandishing my dagger once again. Light from the corridor spilled into the room, and I squinted to preserve my vision. But rather than another thief, Tamsil rushed into the room, practically falling over herself when she noticed the corpse.

"Oh my! Is she...?"

"Dead? Yes, I killed her," I replied cleaning the blood from my dagger on the thief's clothes. "Is the rest of the inn under attack?"

"No, this is the only drow I've seen for days," she said, looking nervously around my room as if the shadows held more. Then, as she took in the sight of me, naked as the day I was born, her eyes widened and her mouth formed a perfect 'O' of surprise. "You have... you have..." she spluttered.

"Wings?" I asked, peering over my shoulder at the silver leathery wings that grew out from my back. "Yes, I do." Her reaction, repeated anywhere that I went, was why I usually covered them up these days. Although I couldn't use them to fly, much to my dismay, I was proud of my wings. I liked them, even if they made buying new armour a chore unto itself. Most people, however, only saw them as a mark of something demonic. Before I began covering them up, I was chased out of a multitude of small countryside villages, to cries of 'demon!' and mobs carrying pitchforks. City-people were usually more accepting, but I normally didn't like to take any chances. "This elf, or drow, or whatever, took all of my stuff. She made it disappear using magic."

"Oh!" said Tamsil, coming back to her senses, though she still eyed my wings warily. "I'm very sorry for all of this. She must have used magic to get in here... that's what they've been doing all over the city. One of them will use magic to enter a building, teleport equipment away, and then more will arrive to assassinate people. By killing this thief, you've probably averted that fate for yourself."

"Fantastic. Everything I had is gone. Armour, weapons, gold. Everything," I said flatly.

"Well... my father has a store-room with spare equipment in it. You can take anything you need from there. And I'll make sure you're reimbursed for your lost gold. If you'd like to take a look in the store room, and then come downstairs, my father would like to talk to you and the other adventurers."

"Great," I said, then sighed. "Alright, I'll take a look at the store room, then be right down."

Tamsil bowed, and hurried from the room. I didn't even bother to grab a sheet from the bed to cover my modesty, I merely folded my wings around my body, covering most of my torso with the leathery scales. Then I stepped out into the corridor.

o - o - o - o - o

As I walked down the stairs towards the common room, I counted my blessings, few as they were. The first was that the store room held armour designed for a woman approximately my size, wings notwithstanding. It was banded mail, so I used my dagger to cut away the binding that held together the back section, and slipped the armour on over a clean shift I had found. I left the back section off completely; my wings, I knew, would deflect anything except enchanted weapons, so scaly and thick were they. Luckily, I had found a grey cloak, with which to cover them. I thanked Lathander for small miracles.

Another blessing was that the room held an ample supply of weaponry. I took a long sword, to go with my dagger, and shoved every useful potion into a spare backpack. I added a few rolls of bandages, a couple of flasks of alchemist's fire, and decided I had enough to get by with. The only thing I needed now was some travelling rations, and I would be good to go.

I opened the common room door, and was greeted by the sight of a dozen refugees sprawled out on blankets or wandering aimlessly around the room. Then a group of people caught my attention for a different reason; they were resplendent in armour, and had the obvious look of adventurers about them. One of them, a half-orc who has half again as tall as me, waved at me and gestured for me to join them. No doubt Tamsil had told them who I was.

I briefly assessed the group as I approached them. One, like me, was human. The woman was stunning, with long auburn hair which fell like silk in waves down her back. Her attire was likewise red, obviously something of a theme with her. The other woman of the group was an elf, fairer than the one who had stolen my belongings, though I could not guess her species. The half-orc who had beckoned me was a grand, imposing figure. The way he stood suggested pride in his skills and his heritage, though he did not give off the arrogance that I would have expected for an accomplished warrior. The last of the group was a short man, a halfling whose head barely reached the height of my hip. He was clad in black leather, and gave me a wink and a cheeky grin when he saw me looking at him. I suppressed a smile. I enjoyed confidence in a man, even if he was half my height, and this thief exuded confidence.

"You are welcome amongst us, dear," said the elven woman. "I am Linu Le'neral. These are my companions, Sharwyn, Tomi and Daelan," she said, indicating the red woman, the halfling and the half-orc by turn. "I understand that everybody here has been anticipating your arrival."

"Hmph," snorted Daelan. "Durnan will not even talk to us until Sinisalo shows up. I for one did not come to this city's aid, only to be ignored." The elf tutted.

"There is no need to be inhospitable, Daelan. This woman's presence is a boon to our cause. We should be grateful that she is here."

"And no cause speaks louder than a hundred thousand gold, eh?" said Tomi. A hundred thousand gold? This was the first I'd heard of it.

"I agree," said Sharwyn. "That amount of gold speaks volumes about how desperate the Lords have become."

"Gold, Sharwyn?" said Linu. "Have you no sense of the epic?"

"What about you, Sinisalo?" said Daelan, turning his gaze to me. "What brought you here?"

"The Lords put out a call for aid. I'm here to do the right thing, or at least to try," I said with a noncommittal shrug. It wasn't as simple of that, of course. It rarely is. But I wasn't about to share my life story with these strangers. Besides, if they'd read Deekin's book, they already knew more about me than I was comfortable with.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Daelan, relaxing visibly. "I know that Durnan is eager to speak with you. Shall we make our way into the other room?"

I nodded for him to lead the way, and the rest of the group fell into line behind me. It seemed that, wanted or not, I had some new friends.