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Chapter Thirty-Seven:

Dresmor

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"I don't like this."

Quin nodded in agreement with the ghost as he stroked the vibrating cat-bear curled up on his lap.

"Neither do I. Jaelyn would never leave for this long without telling me...or at least someone. If it was just her and Bishop, I wouldn't be worried. But with Akereth being gone, too..."

"I wouldn't trust her being gone this long with that ranger, either." Gulaonar said. "Something has happened..."

The halfling sighed. "Oh, please, don't think like that. We have enough problems. Maybe Jaelyn and Bishop just went out to...you know, be 'alone' and Akereth went to interfere. They're probably on their way back now."

Gulaonar shook his head. "It should not have taken this long, then."

"Well, with the way Bishop and Akereth are always going at it, I'm sure Jaelyn is probably having trouble keeping them from killing each other."

"No, this doesn't feel right."

Quin sighed. "Well, I guess one of us could go search for them."

"I don't like that idea, but it seems we don't have a choice. We need to know what's happened to them. It will have to be you, Quin. No doubt you can handle a few drow on your own, but should they bring an army to the village-"

Quin held up his hand and shook his head. "No, I get it. All right, I'll go and I'll take Feral with me. He could probably pick up Jaelyn's scent and follow it."

The ghost nodded. "Good idea."

Quin picked up the cat-bear and sat him on the floor as he stood from his bed. Feral gave him a look that said Hey, I was trying to sleep, you know.

Quin pat him on the head and looked up at Gulaonar. "I'll head out now."

"Be careful, Quin."

The halfling grinned. "Will do!"

Quin began gathering only the essentials for his task: his weapons and his pack, containing only his bed roll, a few healing potions, his canteen, and a set of flint and steel.

As the ghost faded out of his hut, Quin threw some fruit into his pack just in case. He then strapped on his rapier, pulled the strap of his pack over his head, and made for the door.

He paused at the threshold and looked back to see Feral still sitting there on the floor, staring at him with his head cocked to one side.

"Come on. I'm going to go look for Jaelyn. Don't you want to help?"

Feral's ears perked up and he bounded over to the halfling's side.

Together, they left the hut and found their way into the northern forest, taking the light trail that led deep into the wood.

Feral sniffed along the path, stopping every once in a while to look around.

"Can you pick up her scent, boy?"

Feral looked up at Quin for a moment as if absorbing what the halfling had said, then he went back to sniffing at the ground, moving ahead of Quin on the path.

The scent soon led them away from the trail and Quin found himself looking at a tiny clearing with a small pond.

As he surveyed the scene, Feral sniffed along the bank. He found one place of particular interest, but only for a moment before he let out a menacing growl and darted off into the woods.

Quin started after him, barely able to keep up. "Hey, wait!"

Feral followed the scent for miles and miles without pause. By the time the cat-bear had finally stopped to relieve himself on a tree(one that groaned in protest), Quin nearly keeled over.

He flopped onto the ground, breathing heavily and brought out his canteen. He took a few slow drinks from it, recapped it and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Quin lay back in the grass and stared up at the sky. It was smothered in dark gray clouds that promised rain.

The halfling looked forward to it. Since the barrier was gone now, he guessed the plant life would be looking forward to it as well.

Quin remembered well when the barrier finally fell-or dissolved, or whatever it had done. The entire island had shook, the village huts swayed on their supports, and the natives all paused in their daily rituals to stare up at the sky. They all then gathered at the village center; even Olland had come out to join them. They stood in a large circle, clasping the hands of the ones beside them and bowed their heads. Some old man garbed in intricate robes stood in the middle of the circle, chanting, and the natives voices rose behind his. Gulaonar had said it was just a short ceremony they performed at the end of the island's journey.

Quin was brought out of his thoughts by a tug on his cloak.

He sat up to see Feral pulling the fabric impatiently. He let out a whine. It was obvious he wanted to get moving.

"All right, all right. Let's go."

The halfling pulled himself to his feet and the two set out again, Feral leading.

Some time later, they reached a small area surrounded by boulders. There were some tracks in the dirt and Quin could easily tell that they belonged to Akereth, and it looked like he had been involved in some kind of struggle by the way his prints began to drag a bit in the dirt toward the forest. He was about to go investigate this, when Feral let out a high-pitched whine.

The animal was sitting near the boulders.

Quin hurried over to have a look. There was blood towards the bottom of one of the boulders and a small stain on the ground. He wasn't sure whose blood it was or what had caused the person to bleed. He looked down at Feral.

"Jaelyn's?"

The cat-bear whined and backed away from the spot. Quin caught the odd expression of concern on the animal's furry face.

"Right. Well, there isn't much, so she's probably okay. Maybe she stubbed a toe or something."

Quin turned around as Feral sniffed the tracks in the ground and followed whatever scent he got from them into the forest.

It didn't take them long to find him.

"Gods."

The skin of Akereth's corpse was pale gray and it gave off a faint odor of decay. Quin guessed he'd been dead for a while, his throat having been slashed. The blood on his hide clothes and skin had dried, but the puddle on the ground under him and the blood inside the wound was still damp.

Quin had no doubt who had done this; it had Bishop written all over it.

Feral let off a few whines and nudged the body a couple of times as if trying to wake someone that was asleep.

The halfling pushed him with his boot to get him to stop.

"Come on, let's go. There's nothing we can do here."

As the two headed back the way they had come, Quin couldn't help but wonder if Jaelyn was truly okay or not. He knew she would never let Bishop murder the native. For Akereth to be dead, she must not have been able to prevent it, which meant she must have been incapacitated or something of the sort at the time. And there was no way in the hells she would have stayed with him after that.

Quin's eyes widened as the metaphorical light bulb in his brain was dusted off and switched on.

She was his prisoner now. Nothing else made sense. Bishop was probably keeping her prisoner until he could figure out what to do with her. After all, she was a witness to Akereth's murder.

The question was: where was he taking her?

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The horror of the nightmare pushed him back to consciousness.

He awoke with a start, sitting up and breathing heavily while he tried to get a hold on reality.

His surroundings slowly faded from his burning village to the deceptively serene, dark forest of the island, but he could still smell the burning homes, the seared flesh; he could still hear the agonized screams of the dying and the horrified ones of the remaining villagers just realizing their fate; he could still see her face, the confusion and pain in her eyes, the blood that seeped from her mouth after he planted his sword in her chest.

It had been Jaelyn.

Just a dream.

That it was and it didn't make any sense(not that dreams ever did), but the images of what he did still gave him a nasty jolt and churned his stomach.

Bishop sat there for a long moment, head in his hands as he tried to calm his racing heart and twisted gut, and keep his mind clear of those graphic, unpleasant dream images.

If he didn't know it before, this dream and his reaction to it made things crystal clear to him now. He couldn't just ignore it or pass it off as something else anymore, not with both of their lives on the line. He cared for Jaelyn, too much for his own good. He didn't want her to die, and certainly not for him.

He might be able to stop it, if he had the courage to.

He rose his head to the sky, wondering what time it was. Dread filled him.

Dawn was breaching night. Time refused to slow down for them, to give them a moment to think of something, anything other than the failed plan they were currently working with.

He got up, crossed the camp, and knelt next to Jaelyn.

She was sleeping peacefully, a hand tucked under her cheek, her white hair spilling down her side and across her arm.

He resisted the urge to touch it and shook her awake.

Jaelyn blinked a few times with a tired moan and then sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Time to get moving." he said as he stood away from her.

He made his way toward the path they had been on before, but paused and looked back at her over his shoulder.

She was rolling up his small, thin mat that he had allowed her to sleep on.

"Leave it." he called to her. "We're not going to need it anymore."

Jaelyn looked up at his grim words and only nodded as she got to her feet and made her way over to him.

They looked at each other for a moment, both seeming as if they wanted to say something, but no words were exchanged.

Bishop turned away.

"Should make it there by midday. Let's go."

And he was right, of course.

They had traveled in complete silence toward their destination, and close to noon time, they could make out some of the stone temple between the trees and a tall, white stone tower could be seen above them.

Jaelyn stared at it as they grew closer and closer to what would likely be their end, but she was no longer afraid. She couldn't allow herself to be afraid. She needed a clear mind to find a way out of this.

She returned her gaze to the path before her and realized that she was now walking ahead of Bishop.

When she stopped and turned around, he was standing a few feet behind her, staring around with a strange look on his face.

"What is it?" she spoke for the first time since they'd left camp.

He glanced at her, avoided her eyes, and decided it was better if he just looked elsewhere.

"...Don't know."

"Well, let's go. We're almost there."

She turned to keep walking.

"Wait."

Jaelyn faced him again, her face holding an impatient expression.

"What?"

He frowned hard at her. It was an expression of both anger and frustration, one that he used quite a lot around her.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"This!" he shouted at her. "Throwing your life away!"

Jaelyn sighed. "I thought we already went through this. I don't have a choice."

"No," he said and stepped over to her until he was but a foot away. "You do have a choice. You could run like you did before...right now."

"What?"

"Run away, Jaelyn."

She frowned. "No."

Just as she was about to turn away again, he grabbed her and jerked her around to face him. "This is your only chance. I'm giving you a choice. I won't come after you if you run now."

She shook her head. "I am done running."

"Damn it, Jaelyn, I said run!" he yelled angrily as he propelled her away.

She caught herself against a tree and stared at him in surprise. "What're you doing? Are you insane?"

He gave her a mean, intimidating look. "Run or I'll make you run."

Jaelyn stood her ground, giving him that defiant look he both adored and hated.

"No!"

He growled through clenched teeth and came after her.

Jaelyn dodged his grabbing hands, spun around him and shoved him in the back.

"We're wasting time with this nonsense!" she said, angrily. "No matter what you do, I'm not leaving you."

He faced her. "Is that so? You know what they're going to do to you in there? They're going to torture and rape you until they break you. Then you might be lucky if they kill you after that. That's the only reason why they want you."

It was a lie, of course. He knew as much as she did about their reasons for wanting her. The problem was she was aware that he knew.

Jaelyn also knew what he was trying to do, and as much as she was touched by it, she wasn't going to let him win this one. They were in it together.

"You don't know why they want me. Besides, what do you think they're going to do to you?"

He shrugged. "I can talk them into thinking I'm useful to them. They'll keep me alive."

"Come on, Bishop, you're not stupid enough to believe that. Aren't you the one that's always saying the drow aren't going to talk?"

"It's the only option I've got. Now, you can either be stupid and go in there, or you can run away."

"It's not the only option you've got. You can take me to them as planned."

"No. That's not an option."

"It was before. What's changed? Nothing."

Everything.

He shook his head. "Look, if you run back to the village, you can prepare those idiot natives to march on the stronghold. What do you think's going to happen with both of us not around to show them what to do? And if the drow decide to attack first, they won't last a second. Is that what you want?"

"They have Gulaonar. They'll be fine. You going in there without me isn't an option, either, Bishop. They're not going to give you time to try to talk them into believing you're useful if you go there without me. They'll kill you. Is that what you want?"

"Enough of this! You're going to listen to me this time, whether you like it or not. Now start running!" he shouted at her in a tone she'd never heard before. It was a harsh command, but there was desperation behind it.

"You want me to run? Fine."

With that, Jaelyn spun and set out in a sprint, heading straight for the temple.

Bishop stood there for a moment in surprise. Then he grit his teeth and growled angrily.

"Get back here!"

He chased her through the forest, weaving around trees, leaping over enormous ferns and moss-covered logs. She was fast, but he was gaining on her.

He wanted to shout at her, but decided against it. He needed the oxygen. However, when he got his hands on her, he was going to throttle her to death.

He pushed himself to run faster and the moment he did, she risked a glance over her shoulder. He saw a smirk flash across her face before she faced forward again.

The edge of the forest and the temple were in view now. Jaelyn finally slowed to a stop and leaned back against a tree to catch her breath as Bishop finally caught up to her.

He bent over a bit, hands on his knees to catch his own breath so he could yell at her.

"You crazy bitch!"

Jaelyn looked at him, a soft smile on her face.

"You're the one that told me to stop running."

"I wanted you to know the difference-what to run from and what not to."

"I know the difference." she said, facing him fully. "I know what I'm not running from. I'm not running from them and I'm not running from you."

"And that's exactly what you should be running away from."

Jaelyn shook her head and pushed herself away from the tree. She stepped forward in full view of the temple.

Two towering, ivy-covered stone columns and an arch created a portal to the temple steps. The main building was long, stretching toward the stone tower, just breaking off before it reached it. From her angle, Jaelyn couldn't tell what separated the tower from the main building but guessed it to be a small courtyard or maybe a short path. The stone of both temple and tower was sun-bleached and looked ancient. A wall of dark green ivy crawled up the sides of the temple. Most of what had reached above the forest shade had been burned from the harsh sun. Strange, unreadable markings adorned the archway, were etched into the temple walls on either side of the main entrance and spiraled up the tower.

A handful of drow were patrolling the temple grounds and a few were standing guard at the entrance.

Jaelyn noticed an oddity(other than the temple and the drow). There were staffs, topped with small, blue-glowing orbs, stuck in the ground. There were a lot of them, set up all along the temple's perimeter. She supposed these were the things keeping Gulaonar out.

She wished she had her bow. She would've liked to test the strength of those orbs.

Jaelyn heard an irritated sigh from beside her.

She turned her head and looked at Bishop.

"I would've had to face him, eventually. We all would have." she assured him.

He frowned. "Yeah. Would've been nice to be ready for it first, though. This is suicide. Should've just let the poison kill me."

Jaelyn nudged him gently with her elbow. "Don't talk like that. We have a chance. No matter how small it is, it's still a chance."

He shook his head. "Sorry, drow, but that hopeful, optimistic, leader talk doesn't work on me. I'm a pessimist."

"I've noticed." she remarked and sighed. "It's not just hope. It's fact. We have a chance. Listen, if I find a way to get you out, or if you find it on your own, you have to destroy those staffs with the orbs on them. They're what's keeping Gulaonar out."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do. Why else would they have them set up around the temple like that? Besides, Gulaonar said there were some kind of devices keeping him out. It must be them." She nudged his arm. "Come on, let's get this over with."

He watched her walk casually out toward the archway, her back straight and her head held high. She wasn't afraid, or if she was, she was doing a hells of a good job hiding it. He remembered how afraid she had been when they had been captured before. That Jaelyn was no where to be seen. To whatever end, she was intent on seeing it through. He had no idea whether to hate her or love her for it. He partially blamed himself. After all, he'd pushed her to this point of fearlessness.

When he joined her at the archway, Jaelyn looked at him, a smile on her face. She stared at him for a long moment, at his face and in his eyes as if she were trying to commit every detail to her memory. Then she caught his hand and squeezed it gently. He didn't pull away.

"Anything could happen in there, so there's something you should know, something I want to say while I still have the chance to say it."

He knew what she wanted to say; he could feel it.

"Save it." he snapped at her and tried pulling his hand back.

She held on tight.

"I'd rather say it now then say it with my dying breath later, if it comes to that."

"And I'd rather not hear it at all. You may think you mean those words, but that's not what it is."

"I know what it is. You just don't want it to be real."

"Yeah? There's a lot you don't know about me, drow. You can't say anything, you can't mean it until you know everything there is to know, and that's not happening. So save your words, tell them to someone who will give you everything and not just what they want you to have."

Jaelyn dropped his hand, stricken by his words.

He turned his back to her and passed through the archway.

With an aching heart and tears threatening her eyes, Jaelyn moved to join him.

She got about halfway to him before someone snatched her from behind and held a knife to her throat. She let out a yelp of surprise which grabbed Bishop's attention.

He spun, drawing his sword in the same move.

There were three of them. One drow held Jaelyn to him, a knife threatening her throat and the other two, one armed with a crossbow and the other with dual swords, flanked their leader.(anyone standing between two others was always the leader)

"Drop your weapon." the leader commanded, pressing his knife a little deeper into Jaelyn's throat as a warning.

Bishop bent to relinquish his sword all the while his other hand sneaked its way to his belt. As he straightened, there was a small, sly smirk on his face.

Jaelyn had no idea what he was up to until he flung his arm out.

The move was too fast for any of them to react quick enough. The crossbowman fell dead, a dagger sticking out of his forehead.

The drow with the twin swords wasted no time and leaped toward the threat. His swords came after Bishop in an intricate whirl. The ranger dodged back from one move and ducked low to the ground on the other, grabbing his sword up in the process.

He swung it low and hard and was rewarded with the sweet sound of an agonized cry. When he straightened up, he saw the drow writhing on the ground, screaming in pain. His left leg had been severed at the calf.

He could've easily put the drow out of his misery, but Bishop decided to let him suffer while he dealt with this other.

The drow holding onto Jaelyn gave a brief laugh.

"That was a mistake." he said, his words directed at Bishop. "You'll suffer for their deaths."

While he talked, Jaelyn was reaching a hand inside the front of her trousers, feeling along the inside of her leg.

"You waste your time." the drow went on. "You're out numbered and out armed. You don't stand a chance."

Jaelyn had the dagger out now, holding it by the hilt against her stomach.

Bishop took a threatening step forward to keep the drow's attention focused on him, to give Jaelyn a chance to use that knife.

The drow pressed his blade into Jaelyn's neck, drawing blood. Bishop's hand tightened around the grip of his sword. The drow grinned and spoke into Jaelyn's ear.

"Seems your friend here has little concern for your well-being."

"He doesn't have to be concerned. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." she retorted.

"Oh? I can te-" the drow's words shifted to a pained cry as Jaelyn stabbed the dagger into his leg.

He let her go out of reflex and Jaelyn pulled the dagger out, giving it a cruel twist as she did. She spun to face him and backed away.

The male drow gave a nasty laugh as he pressed his hand to his wounded leg.

"I stand corrected."

"You won't be standing for long." Bishop growled at him.

The drow grinned again as his gaze moved to a place beyond his two adversaries. "As it seems, neither will you."

The ranger didn't move, having played that same trick on many an enemy, but Jaelyn took the risk and glanced behind her.

It wasn't a trick.

"Uh, Bishop...we have company."

He didn't want to know what was behind him, but he turned nevertheless and found that they were surrounded by a troop of drow, most of them armed with crossbows, lead by a severe, grim looking drow. He was garbed more authoritatively than the others and there was a large, well-made sword in his hand. The blade gave off a sinister, purple glow. He wondered if this was Dresmor.

Bishop gave a quick glance back over his shoulder to see the drow Jaelyn had wounded smiling with grim satisfaction, then his gaze shifted to the forest beyond him. Though that way was clear, he knew there was no use in trying to escape. They would be filled with bolts in a heartbeat. Even if they used that wounded dark elf as a shield, there was a good chance one of them wouldn't make it. He wasn't taking that chance.

The drows' grim leader approached the two rangers. He seemed to glide toward them, his movements fluid and graceful, and yet power permeated from him; a dark, nameless power.

The drow's white hair was pulled away from his face and flowed down his back. It carried a shimmer of silver. He had the almond-shaped eyes, pointed ears, and slanted brows of his elvish heritage, but the cruel, thin mouth, the scar that cut across his left eye, and his muscular frame cut out that image of elven elegance. His eyes were a pale yellow and penetrating. They, along with his face held no emotion whatsoever.

And yet Bishop could clearly see the resemblance between this drow and Jaelyn, especially around the eyes and nose.

The drow stopped before them. His unyielding gaze lingered on Jaelyn for several intense moments, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Those bright yellow eyes flicked over her shoulder to the wounded drow standing behind them. They hardened unpleasantly.

"You have failed to complete a simple task." he spoke in a monotone voice. It seemed he wasn't surprised by the failure.

The wounded drow's mouth dropped open as if to say something but no words came forth. If either ranger had bothered to look at him, they would've seen a frown on his face and deep fear in his eyes. It seemed to take a great effort to keep himself from running away, screaming. It probably would have been best if he had.

Dresmor stepped between Jaelyn and Bishop, unconcerned with them for the moment as he approached his useless minion.

Jaelyn caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to find Bishop glaring daggers into Dresmor's back, his hand gripping his weapon so tight his knuckles went white. He looked ready to pounce on Dresmor at any time. Jaelyn grabbed his arm and shook her head when he spared her a glance. His expression told her that this was the opening they needed; it would be so easy to end the bastard's life right now with his back turned to them. Hers told him they would both be dead the moment he rose his sword.

Bishop muttered a curse, knowing she was right and hating that they had to pass up this opportunity. He knew it was probably the only one they were going to get.

At his leader's approach, the wounded drow blanched(as much as any drow could blanch) and swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry, my Lord Dresmor. This won't happen again."

Dresmor stood there for a moment, staring at him, and then slowly his mouth lifted into a smile. "No, it will not. I trust you have learned from this. Go join the others."

The drow bowed quickly, relief flooding his face. "Thank you, my lord."

He moved to join the rest of the drow, but only got a few steps before Dresmor grabbed a handful of his hair and forced him on his knees.

Jaelyn saw the horrified realization on the drow's face just before Dresmor's blade cut into the back of his neck and severed his head from his body. She looked away before she could witness the entire gory display, but that couldn't keep out the feel of the drow's warm blood splattering her face.

She shuddered and felt sick to her stomach. She nearly lost all control in that moment. It was the feel of a warm, strong hand grasping hers that kept her from doing so. Bishop didn't look at her and he didn't speak; there was no need for either. The simple gesture said everything.

Dresmor stepped over the corpse and stood before his men. He lifted the severed head up high by its hair to show them what failure would get them. The gathered drow stared fearfully at it.

"I will not tolerate failure!" he boomed and then tossed the bloody head away where it landed on the ground with a sickening, moist sound.

Dresmor moved to enter the temple, issuing one final command before disappearing beyond the large stone doors.

"Bring them!"

There was no hesitation.

Four drow separated from the pack and drew their swords. Both rangers were stripped of their weapons and forced toward the temple doors.

Bishop's hand never let go of Jaelyn's.