Author Note: Well here is got chapter 2 is and I still don't own W.I.T.C.H. or D&D so no lawsuits please
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Reference Chapter has been rewritten into story form, so it's now (I hope) a little more entertaining to read compared to the more instruction manual format I had before.
Also I would like to give my thanks for Sniper Fodder who is helping me clean up my writing a bit so now my story should be easier to read (which we are all thankful for lol!)
Okay now that I got that out of the way let's begin the next chapter
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Chapter 2: Dormant Powers Awakened and Unleashed
It had been three days since the bread roll theft Will had made and she was once again running low on food. But she was making good progress on the tunnel, because the compass point was spinning around in circles. This meant she just needed to start digging upward but there were two problems.
One problem was the fact there was a lot of rocky earth straight above Will's head, which lead to the second problem; Will simply lacked both the height and upper body strength to break through it.
She could make mounds of dirt to get herself up high enough to hit the right spot, but it gave her poor footing at times and since she was only twelve, she did not have the strength that only an adult would have to swing one of the picks hard enough to do much damage to rocky terrain.
'There has got to be some way to break through,' Will thought, as she stopped for the day and headed back to the room on other end of the tunnel to eat what was left of the rolls, then go and get more supplies.
This was not just for her everyday meals, but also for when she finished her tunnel, since she did not know how long it would take to find the elves or their tree top kingdom. Heck, even the veteran rangers had trouble finding their way through enchanted forest of the elves.
Suddenly Will's eyes widened due her sudden realization "Belcoot!" she exclaimed and suddenly started running towards her room. Completely forgetting about getting her after-noon meal of bread rolls and grabbed her cloak was hoping she could make it to where she was going without too much trouble.
The problem with this sudden trip was that required her to use the main roads at times. This was only for a moment each time she used them, but for a half-elf, a moment in the open could be a very bad. Especially when one did most of their first 'food gathering' attempts in those areas.
But if she could get to the one she called Belcoot, all her problems would be solved because with him and his friends, she would be able to finish the tunnel in seconds. Plus as an added bonus, she could ask if they could help her get food the honest way on the way back.
Will quickly climes ladder that lead back up to the ruins of the old house above and exited at the top of the ladder, closing it behind her. She then used her keen eyesight and hearing granted to her by her Elvin blood to make sure no one was nearby. She could not afford to lose her secret place now to carelessness, not when she was so close.
Once Will was sure no one was around, she slipped through the opening of two pieces of fallen roof that hid the entrance to her home. Will then made her way down the side roads to avoid being seen as long as possible. Though some would say knowing almost every side road and back ally route would be impossible in such large town. But when had a teacher like hers, it a piece of cake.
'I just hope they are there. If not then it might be months before I can break through,' Will thought to herself, as she reached the first main road she has to go through.
Will looked out into the street from her hiding place in the shadows and saw it was fairly quiet, but this road was like this normally. It was the ones closer to the center of Trader's Central that where going to be tough.
The red headed half-breed waited for a moment, then headed out into stone path, hoping no decided to make sure if there was a half-elf under the hood of her badly worn cloak. As she crossed it seemed she was in luck as made into the next back ally road.
Her luck also held for several other main street roads, mostly because it was still the busy part of early spring. People were more focused their work at the moment. Now she had only one road to get across to get Inn were the ones she was looking for would be. If they were not working on a job that is, but it was hard to tell with those four.
She noticed a couple of town guards patrolling this road, probably looking out for trouble makers or just for half-elves. To them, her kind was trouble incarnate, so they were guilty unless proven otherwise.
Will would rather not get beaten because few guards felt like a having a little fun and call it their duty, though did feel maybe it was karma for all the food she stole. Even if she had no choice in the matter, stealing was always wrong and she made vow to day try to make up for those thefts if possible one day.
But she was getting ahead of herself. First she needed to finish the tunnel and then worry about making amends. 'And to do that I needed help,' the redhead though, as she watched the two guards turn to talk to man in a stall ten feet away from the ally she needed to go to.
'It's risky, but now is the time,' Will thought, before walking as fast as she could towards the ally, without attracting attention to herself. She was just making into the ally, when a hand roughly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her hood down, while spinning her around to face the two guards.
"Well what do got here? A thief I bet!" said the one who grabbed her said throwing her into the ally wall while the other guard just laughed.
"Ya no half breed scum would be around this part of town otherwise," the other said and grabbed Will by her short red hair and pulled hard, making Will yelp from the pain.
"Hey! No noise from you half breed scum!" the guard ordered and let go of Will's hair just long enough to slap her across the face, sending her tumbling to the ground laying against the wall again.
The guards were laughing at this and the one who grabbed her then started to move towards her to continue the beating, when Will's foot shot up and hit him right between the legs. The guard was too stunned by the surprise attack and staggered backwards, collided with his partner and knocking them both to the ground.
Taking advantage of this, Will shot to her feet and ran at full speed out down the alley, but she heard one of guards get up as she did. 'Probably the one who did not a gender change,' Will though to herself as she ran.
You would think Will would be enjoying the fact gave one of the guards a taste of their own medicine, but she did not.
Will knew it just invited trouble when you fought back. The laws made by the local lord made it a major crime to strike a town guard, punished by a six-month imprisonment and one harsh beating, if you were human that is.
If you were half-elf like Will, you get six months of pure torture that most full grown half-elves have been known to die from. If the less corrupted officials came to question what happened, the death was blamed an escape attempt or some other cover story to hide the murder.
Her only hope was that her friends were in the inns; since they were fairly well know in this town. Even the local lord and his guards tend to back off when this group put their foot down against racial crimes; they were that powerful in both influence and in strength.
As she turned the corner and burst through the door to the inn, making everyone turn to see her and the angry guard run through the room. The guard was too fast and closed in on Will, grabbed her again, but this time with much more force. He then grabbed Will's arm and pulling it behind her back.
With one good twist, there was sudden snapping sound that made Will let out a blood curdling scream of pain.
"That's right you little piece of trash! You better scream because…ack!" the guard started to say, until he was suddenly grabbed by the throat and lifted off the the ground very large and angry looking man.
The man was human with black hair, about was about seven feet tall and had a massive build of pure muscle, but the brown robe he wore showed he was of the Druid Class surprisingly.
"Put him down Grizz we need him alive if we want answers…then you can kill him," called the voice of a hooded man in the clothing, small build and smart mouth attitude of a Rouge; which of course got him a whack in the back of the head from an older woman with a staff, who had walking up behind the two.
"Keep you're smart alike remarks to yourself Roy!" the old woman scolded the Rouge. She had black but slowly going gray hair. Her face, though not badly wrinkled, showed she was getting close to the end of her prime and was dressed in dark blue wizard robes.
"Anyway, Roy is right for a change Grizz. You really should put him down, as we need the fool able to speak clearly and unfortunately it needs to breathe to do so. Besides I believe you have a more pressing task at hand," she said with a more cultured tone then Roy's and was pointing to the injured Will.
With those words, the guard was dropped like a sack of potatoes and the giant of a man walked over to Will. The young half-elf had curled up into a ball on the floor, clutching her broken arm and Druid waited for his wizard companion to get the young girl into position for him to do his work.
All the while Roy was still rubbing his head and yelling out, "Dam it you evil hag! Why do have you do have to hit so hard Zerase!" This of course, got him hit by an invisible force that sent him fly across the room by said wizard.
"He never learns does he?" the deep voice of Grizz asked Zerase, who finally had Will's head on her lap, while the Druid sent a blue glowing light into the arm, slowly healing the wound.
Zerase did not answer the druid, but had a smirk on her face, which quickly softened into concerned smile when Will let out a whimper of pain, since Grizz doing the job slowly to insure broken bones were healed correctly.
While they were doing this, the guard had finally recovered from his near death experience from the want to be titan. He knew once they were done with half-breed, they would want to talk to him and he got the feeling they were going to use more than words when they did.
So the guard did the one and only thing he could do, run! But before the scared man could get half way to the door, he was closed lined by a man who was clearly a ranger by his attire, which was forest green pants and tunic along with brown cloak and a worn but usable pair a leather boots.
His facial features also gave a sign to his class, since his dark brown hair was as messy as the Druid's, but oddly enough unlike the Druid who was clean shaven, the ranger had a rather shaggy beard on his face.
As the guard tried to get up again, one of the ranger's boots was quickly placed on the guard's chest to keep the guard pinned to the ground. "You're not going any were just yet," The Ranger stated in cold tone, making it clear to the guard that if he tried to run again, there would a world of hurt.
Just then, the first guard came limping through the door and calling out, "Hey! You catch that worth less half-elf?"
It only took the first guard seconds realize his partner being pinned to the ground by the Ranger; but before he could do or say anything else, a hand grabbed the second guards, which belonged to a very ticked Roy.
Roy used his free hand to pull his hood down, which revealed long blond hair with blue eye and most importantly, a pair of half-elf ears.
"You know, I am in a really bad mood right now. So keep talking so I have an excuse to hurt you," The older half-elf growled, and then with one swift motion, he threw said guard over to where the second was pinned.
"One day Belcoot, this group going to short one wizard!" Roy grumbled, giving the wizard the evil eye, while closed the door before someone else barged through.
Zerase glared back at this and replied, "Perhaps you would like another flying lesson?"
Roy gave mature response of sticking his tongue out the aging wizard, which she ignored and went back to comforting Will, who had settled down a little, now that the healing was almost complete.
While his wizard and rouge teammates did their usual bickering contest, Belcoot started his integration of the two guards.
"Alight now, why were you chasing her and it better be a good reason or else you're going to find out how protective Zerase and Roy can be, when it comes that girl!" Belcoot warned, knowing that with Zerase's magic and Roy's bluffing and intimidation skills combined, no could hold out for long.
The guard under Belcoot's foot spoke first "She a thief, all her kind are!"
This got the foot one on the guard's chest now hitting in the face, signaling it was the wrong answer.
"Hey it's the truth! You ever see a half-elf doing anything close honest work?" the other guard stated, only to have the Roy's foot slammed into same spot Will hit earlier.
"Are they ever allowed to work smart mouth?" Both the rouge and ranger growled at the other guard, though he was probably could not hear them with the pain he was in.
"Alright here the deal; we both know you're not going to get punished if we turn you in, but the higher ups won't like dealing with the mess, so we are all just going to forget this even happened got it?" Belcoot threatened, getting quick nods of agreement from both guards. The one who could still stand helped the other out the door, not wanting to press their luck further with the four adventures.
Unknown to them Belcoot, could actual have gotten the charges to go through with his…special connections, but he rather wait until he could get some bigger fish before showing that little ace in the hole.
After they were gone, Belcoot turned to where Will was and saw show she was being helped to her feet, though was still a bit shaken.
"Let's head up to the room, Will looks like she could use a quite place to settle down," Belcoot suggested, then turned to the old man who ran the inn.
"Send the usual up will you?" Belcoot requested, getting a nod from the owner and the group went up to the room their room, with Will being carried up by Grizz, despite her protests that she could walk.
Once they were in the large room that Belcoot's group used often, Will took a look around and saw the group had left their weapons and animal partners in the room as they normally do. The inn's owner preferred his customers not carrying weapons or having animals taking up space in the main room of the inn, mainly in case something like the fight a moment ago happened.
Grizz's animal companion was large grizzly bear, which was fitting do to his name. Grizz's weapon of choice was large club perfect for his large size if needed to use simpler methods instead of spells.
Over where Belcoot sleeps, Will saw his wolf companion along with his two scimitars for his dual weapon fighting style that many rangers who preferred close combat used.
Over to were Roy sleeps was his throwing knives and rapier all, which were perfect for the quick and accurate rouge.
The last place was Zerase's bed were Grizz was setting her down, with said wizard sitting down next to her. Zerase had kept her weapon the staff with her at all times even in the inn, but she left raven familiar in room with the other animal partners.
"So Will, what brings you here today? Besides getting away from a couple idiots that is," Belcoot asked his young friend, knowing she preferred to handle things herself after hearing how Roy lived on his own when he was her age.
'That girl has got too much pride to ask for help unless she really needs it. Way too much like Roy when he was younger…except she more mature the Roy ever will be,' the ranger thought to himself.
"I…I need your help," Will replied, looking down and feeling rather pathetic at the moment. She wanted to get the Elvin kingdom on her own like Roy did, when he once stole an item called the ring of feather fall to get over the Great Wall years ago.
With the ring, he could easily drop from almost any height safely, so he used his stealth to sneak up to the rampart of the great wall and over, before the guards could stop him. This made it easy for him to head straight for the safety and the tree line and into Elvin territory.
Will wanted to be able to find her own way over, even though Belcoot or the others had offered to make the guards let her through and escort her all the way through the forest.
"Is this about the old poacher tunnel?" Zerase asked, getting a shocked look from Will.
"We are not like the town guards Will; we have more advanced methods of finding out about certain things like that. Ones the local lord or his guards are too stingy to pay for and most of those in this town with basic skill to do them, lacked ability to get through enchantments that were in place to hide the tunnel," Zerase explained.
"Besides, we were hired to locate it by more…higher ranking people, to locate the tunnel since the town's own investigation was getting no results after year a of trying. It was thanks to your digging we were able locate the tunnel much more easily," added Belcoot, which got a confused look from Will.
"Your hands have gotten a lot rougher over the last few months, like they have been doing heavy labor. But we all know half-elves never get work anywhere and the fact this was during the winter season made it even stranger," Roy also added, in one of his moments of complete seriousness, then it was Grizz's turn to speak.
"We tried scrying your location, but something was blocking Zerase's attempts and we know you can't use magic, let alone a spell that strong. But Zerase kept trying until it seemed you slowly got out of the shielded area and it showed you digging," the large druid explained further.
Will was starting to get scared, if they were hired to investigate the tunnel that meant they were out to destroy it, just like the town guards were planning to do during their own search for it!
"Will it's…" Zerase tried to say something, but had Will shot up and ran out the room thinking she had to get back and protect the tunnel.
'They are only doing they are doing job but I can't let them!' the redhead though to herself, as she shot down the stairs and out door of the inn.
As Will made her way out, she collided with someone and whoever it was, grabbed her by the arm and yelling something at her. But all Will noticed right now was sudden burning feeling inside her, wanting to get out.
Suddenly, the feeling released itself form with the redhead, and a burst of light appeared right in front of the man's face, blinding him and allowing Will to shoot past him, leaving a few very confused people watching the scene.
As the four adventures came rushing down the stairs, they saw what happened and Roy glared at Grizz and said in a sarcastic tone, "Can't cast spells huh? Funny how that looked like a flare spell to me!"
This got him another whack on the back of the head from Zerase who growled out, "Her powers probably just awakened you fool! Now go after her!"
While Zerase dealt with Roy's stupidity, Will was running at full speed, using all the routes that Roy had taught her when they first met.
'Funny how now I am using them to stop him now,' Will thought, as she ran past people, too confused at the speeding girl's pace to notice her heritage.
The Redheaded half-elf was just heading around a corner, when she saw group of 15 guards coming down the road and two pointing at her while shouting, "She was with them sir!"
Will then realized it was the two guards from before and it seemed they did not take Belcoot's threat that seriously.
A large man about 6'5 with a large build almost as well built as Grizz stepped then forward. He wearing a captain's uniform and was not a happy one form the looks of it.
"You're under arrest half breed, for striking an officer of law!" he declared and the guards quickly swarmed the young half-elf before she get chance to start running again.
But another burning feeling coursed through her body once again while this was happening, this time feeling a little different, almost darker. But instead wondering what this different power was she called on it and slammed her first into the face of a guard the moving into grab her.
The moment the punch connected, a burst of dark purple energy exploded from her fist, badly damaging the guard's face and causing the others back away in fear.
"W-w-w-warlock!" one managed to sputter out, recognizing the strange purple energy of eldritch blast when he saw it.
Will was now even more scared and confused at this accusation, since she knew about Warlocks. Everyone (or at least most common people did) but how could she be one? She never made deal with demons or devils!
"But I...ahhh!" Will tried to explain, but a guard hit her from behind and the rest started kicking at her while was down on the ground, while the captain stood back and laughed.
"So made a deal with dark forces have you, half breed? Well it has sealed your fate!" the captain said in a mocking tone, knowing that men would not stop until the girl was dead or but then noticed his men stopped moving like they were frozen in place.
"What is happening?" the commander demanded, until he heard a cold and angry voice behind him say, "I happened!"
The large man spun around in fear to see a black haired elf with a slightly tanned skin and brown wearing a white shirt with brown pant, boots and cape. The cape had the mark of Royal Knights of Meridian on it and at elf's side, was a single edged long sword with sheath also bearing the same mark as the cape.
Will crawling past the now frozen in place men to see the woman as well. She was still recovering from the beating she just got, so could not run yet. All she could do was wait and hoped the Elvin woman was only after the guards and not her.
The captain had recovered enough to say two words, "Lady Vandom!"
Everyone but Will was shocked at this woman's name. Will on other being confused at this reason asked weakly as she struggled to get up, "Who?"
000
Author Note: Okay every one probably confused but all will be explained in due time