Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has been following and commenting on the story. I appreciate your remarks – they keep me motivated to continue writing it. In answer to MysticAngel's question – yes, she is still only fourth circle, i.e. about level 12ish. The events depicted in the story are somewhat embellished upon, but they are all true and did happen to her. Please keep reading and let me know what you think
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The sun beat relentlessly down on the young enchantress making her way through the Desert of Ro. Naramira looked up at the scorching sky and prayed for what seemed like the hundredth time for some shade or somewhere to rest. The hot sand burned her feet right through her boots, and her water supply was beginning to get disturbingly low for such a long way still ahead of her. If she had known the journey would be so arduous, she would have brought supplies for four more people.
The hot air in front of her wavered, her vision blurred with heat. In the distance she could see the shimmering forms of palm trees swaying in a slight breeze. She had seen such mirages before, the heat and her thirst conspiring together to trick her mind into believing relief was at hand, but she would not get her hopes up again this time. What was more, the ground had suddenly started to shake, a regular beat making the sand tremble beneath her feet.
She rubbed her sand-stung eyes, trying to focus and when she looked up again a monstrously large head was protruding from the dune ahead of her. "I'm imagining things again," she thought, suddenly concerned for her sanity. But then the head grew a neck, and then the shoulders were visible and soon she could see its chest and she knew what was heading towards her was not an illusion but a real flesh and blood sand giant!
A momentary panic overtook her, but she kept her head and quickly cast an invisibility over herself, fortunate enough to remain unnoticed by the enormous creature coming her way. She watched in awestruck horror as its whole body became visible. The ground was now lurching so much that she had to lie down to keep from falling down, her eyes widening in alarm as a foot longer than her entire body stepped not a meter away from her.
Only when the giant had disappeared behind the next dune and the ground had stopped trembling she finally got up, dusted herself off and continued on her way. It was with great relief when she discovered that the mirage she had seen earlier was real too, and she hurried towards its promised reprieve from the blistering sun.
A cool breeze wafted through the oasis, instantly cooling her down. There was a small lake in which she washed off the dirt and sweat from her travels and filled her water bottle again. She sat down on the shore, took her boots off and dipped her feet into the refreshingly cold water. A suspicious-looking log drifted not far away, which Naramira suspected might be a crocodile, but she kept an eye on it and was ready to make a run for it if it came any closer. In the distance she could see an island in the centre of the lake and wondered if that would be a good place to spend the night. When she felt rested enough, she put her boots back on and made her way to an abandoned rowing boat pulled up out of the water and onto the sand. Unfortunately, the boat had a gaping hole in its bottom, so she regrettably gave up the idea of going to the island.
She turned round and bumped into someone before she realised she had company. "Excuse me," she apologised, wrinkling her nose in disgust at an unpleasant odour emanating from the figure. She looked up at the person's face and recoiled in horror as she saw rotting flesh and rancid bandages wrapped around its limbs. The creature opened its mouth to reveal decaying teeth and uttered a wordless moan. With slow, but forceful movements, it lunged towards her, grabbing at her face as if longing to devour the life within her.
Naramira reacted with lightning reflexes. Rainbow colours filled the air, stunning her undead assailant and giving her time to root it to the spot. She quickly moved out of reach and said the words that would drain the creature's unnatural strength. As the colours faded, the zombie still managed to pull its legs free from the entangling roots and once more shambled mindlessly towards the young enchantress.
She was preparing to cast Choke, when instinct warned her to turn around. She glanced behind her to see the gaping maw of a crocodile inches away from her leg. With a yelp she jumped out of its way, surrounding herself with brilliant colours once more. She had to act fast. A purple ring of magic encircled the zombie and, as its awareness was suddenly wedged firmly into a corner of her mind, she turned her attention to the crocodile.
It felt like an epic struggle. The animal's hide was tough enough to repel most of her spells and she was reluctant to come within reach of its jaws, so her dirk was practically useless. In the end perseverance won out over brute force as she managed to root the crocodile and watched it choke to death, its limited mind incapable of overcoming her magical suggestion.
A low moan drew her attention back to the zombie. The impression in her mind was of an all-consuming hunger. It suddenly overcame her spell and its consciousness wrenched itself free, leaving her reeling with shock. She recovered just in time to ward off its advance with her dirk, ripping a long gash in its bandaged arm. No blood flowed from the wound and the creature came at her relentlessly, as if it felt no pain. A bright red glow enveloped the zombie as the young enchantress attacked its mind with chaos. She could see the creature's dull eyes rolling wildly as mental images assailed it. It began convulsing spasmodically and bits of rotting flesh fell to the ground as the body decayed rapidly in front of her eyes. Naramira averted her gaze, fighting down the bile rising in her throat, as the walking cadaver fell to pieces and lay unmoving on the sand.
Naramira did not linger by what was left of its corpse. The sky was turning orange and the intense heat of the day was already dissipating. She wanted to be somewhere safe, wrapped up warmly in her blanket when night fell, bringing with it the freezing cold of the desert and the undead creatures that walked in it at night.
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Many days passed and Naramira had almost given up hope of ever escaping from the desert when one day the dry heat turned into an uncomfortably clammy heat. She knew then that her destination was drawing nearer. A few days later the sand gave way to rugged green terrain and soon after she found the southern pass through the great mountain range that led to the Innothule Swamp.
Although she only skirted around the edge of the marshes, keeping close to the mountainside, the putrid stench of decomposing vegetation was enough to make her wish her short passage through the swamp would go by quicker. She spent one sleepless night listening to the croaking of frogs while swatting countless mosquitoes and other annoying insects away. The following afternoon she reached the jungles of the Feerrott and set up camp at the edge of its perimeter for the rest of the evening while she considered the journey lying ahead.
She remembered the only conversation she had ever had with an ogre: "Can you tell me how to get to Oggok, please?" "Boomba not speak to human. Boomba catch human and sell pickled body parts in glass jar. Human want some nice pickled body parts? Boomba sell cheap." "Er…no… thanks. I need to know how to get to Oggok. Can Boomba tell me the way?" "Human buy pickled body parts. Then Boomba tell human how to get to ogre city." As vague as his directions had been, they had managed to get her this far. "But I don't know how I'm going to explain that jar of pickled elven parts to Lyise if she ever sees it."
She had also managed to scrape bits of information from various travellers she had met along the way. Few had ever travelled to these parts, but those that have all said the same: ogres did not like visitors. Sentries made regular patrols of the area surrounding the town gates and killed any travellers they came across without thinking twice. They feared dark-elves, however, and allowed them free passage to their city. The young enchantress suspected that her best option would be to take the form of a Teir'Dal and bluff her way past the sentries and into town. "Of course, it would be better if I could take ogre form, but that's going to be a bit difficult. I don't think I could concentrate on what one looks like long enough to pull this off." She just hoped she could manage the cruel and haughty disposition dark-elves were infamous for when the time came.
Naramira woke early the next morning, nervous but excited at what the day might have in store for her. After she had packed up her meagre belongings, she took a deep breath and changed shape. She watched in fascination as her skin slowly turned a rich indigo colour and her hair became as white as snow. When she entered the darkness under the dense jungle foliage, she was also amazed to find that she could see quite clearly in the gloom.
There was a narrow trail winding through the jungle. It was still uncomfortably humid, even as early in the morning as it was, and it seemed that the swamp's whole mosquito population had followed her here. She could hear strange animal sounds in the distance and she soon became edgy the deeper into the jungle she progressed. At one point she was almost startled out of her wits when a lizard-like creature, waist-high, walking upright and carrying a short spear, scurried across the path. "That must have been one of the Tae Ew lizard-people I've heard about," she realised when she had gotten her breath back.
She was still thinking about the strange creature when she pushed her way through the undergrowth and found herself standing unexpectedly in front of the city gates with two ogre guards levelling their spears at her. She shuddered as she took in their appearance: towering head and shoulders over her, with beady eyes and cruel-looking fangs, skulls dangling from strings around their necks. She gulped, but managed to keep her voice steady. "How dare you threaten me! Let me pass."
"What business does dark-elf have in ogre city?" one of the guards asked.
"My business is my own. Now let me past lest I call the powers of the Prince of Hate down on you!" she threatened, praying silently to Erollisi Marr for forgiveness.
Shaking visibly, the two guards immediately withdrew their spears and backed away from the young enchantress. She strode arrogantly past them and into the city. "No wonder dark-elves are feared all over Norrath," she mused. "They can get away with anything in Innoruuk's name."
Walking down a grassy incline, Naramira wondered where the inhabitants of Oggok were. The city seemed deserted. A deathly quiet hung in the air. She followed the road until it entered a cave in the mountainside and then realised that the city was in fact comprised of a series of tunnels and caves in which the ogres lived. When one of them stuck his head out of a doorway and yelped and slammed the door shut at the sight of her, she came to the conclusion that it was because there was a dark-elf in the city that everyone stayed behind locked doors. "Well, that makes this deception much easier for me."
Unfortunately, there was no one to ask directions from. She wandered around the tunnels for quite a while before the sound of boisterous laughter suggested that she might find the tavern nearby. A sign on a doorway read "Meet and Drink Tew Buy" and she opened the door to be met with sudden silence. A room full of ogre men were staring hostilely at her, but luckily none of them had had enough to drink yet to make them brave enough to confront her.
"I'm looking for Clurg," she said to the room in general. No one replied, but one brave soul managed to point towards a door presumably leading to a back room. Naramira nodded in acknowledgment and entered without knocking.
A stout ogre wearing an apron looked up from the beer barrel he was busy opening. His eyes looked somewhat more intelligent than those of other ogres she had met so far. He looked intently at her before he asked: "Dark-elf come to be main course at Clurg's dinner party?"
Naramira was taken aback. This one didn't seem to be afraid of her. "I've brought you something," she answered coolly, taking the Barkeep's Compendium out of her satchel. "Something I was told you might pay handsomely for."
Clurg's eyes widened and his face split in two with a big toothy smile. "Dark-elf bring Clurg's book back. Dark-elf kill human who stole Clurg's book?" His hands stretched out longingly towards the heavy tome.
"The book is yours," Naramira replied, handing it over with a smile. She couldn't help but feel gratified to see the joy on the ogre's face.
"Clurg not care how dark-elf got book. Clurg is happy to have book of wonderful recipes back. Clurg will reward dark-elf with wondrous treasure." He reverently put the book down on a nearby bench, reached deep into the back of a cupboard and pulled a white beer mug out. He spat on it and polished it with his sleeve, before offering it to her.
"You call that wondrous treasure?" Naramira asked, greatly disappointed.
"Stein of Moggok is wondrous treasure!" the ogre insisted.
Naramira took the mug from him and at once felt a wave of power rush over her. The room seemed to brighten in the magical glow emanating from the stein and the young enchantress felt invigorated and enlightened just by holding the mysterious artefact. It was indeed a wondrous treasure.
"This will do," she said, her voice filled with awe.
Clurg beamed at her and without any further ado, opened his long-lost book and, finger tracing the lines, began reading intently. Naramira reluctantly stowed the stein in her satchel and left the ogre to his reading. "My hand already feels empty without it," she thought as its power left her.
She entered the common-room to find the tavern's patrons clustered around a burly ogre wearing a feathery headdress. "A shaman!" The ogre took one look at her and bellowed: "Deceiver!" He rushed at her with a ceremonial spear aimed at her heart.
As rainbow colours filled the room, Naramira quickly opened a gate and, before any of the ogres had recovered, she was standing before the West Gate. As the gate closed behind her, she had just enough time to see the startled expression of the ogre shaman as the hot desert wind blew sand in his face. She smiled and patted her satchel, satisfied with the outcome of her quest. She dropped her illusion and made her way towards the Academy.