The hooded figure climbed noiselessly into the room and stood above Savina. It held no weapon, and made no threatening move. It simply stood above her and studied her.
She stirred and rolled over, apparently having a dream of some sort.
The creature bent over her suddenly and laid a black-gloved hand on her forehead. It murmured quiet words and straightened up, looking toward the door.
Savina sat up suddenly, staring around her room. She wasn't sure what had woken her up. Then she saw the tall, dark figure standing at the side of her bed. Without thinking, she kicked the figure squarely in the stomach and scrambled to her feet, and opened her mouth to scream.
Surprised by her kick, the figure stumbled back and grunted. As she opened her mouth, it raised its hands and uttered quite words…and she froze.
She couldn't move. It had happened again. She couldn't control her body.
The hooded figure laughed, a dry, raspy laugh, and crooked it fingers slightly, "did you get my picture? Did the Kender give it to you? How do you like it? I hope you like it because it tells of the future."
She couldn't breathe. Savina fought to draw a breath, but her body was disobeying her. It felt like her lungs were being smashed.
Then the pressure was gone.
Savina dropped to her knees, panting and looked up at the dark figure, "who are you?"
There was a quiet hiss, but the creature did not answer.
Her body went rigid against her will and she felt herself stand up and move to stand in front of the creature.
"I'm someone you knew once long ago…well physically I am anyway." It reached out with one hand and stroked her cheek, "you've grown quite beautiful."
Savina felt vomit rise in her throat, she tried to jerk away, to reach out and strike the hand away, but she couldn't move. Then her arm twitched and rose slowly. Triumph flooded through her body, she'd moved her arm.
The creature drew in a sharp breath and fell back a step, "you're stronger than I realized."
She could move again.
She lunged foreword and tackled the creature, half-thinking of ripping the creature apart with her hands.
The figure stumbled back, reaching up to keep it's hood from falling off.
With sudden rage she couldn't explain, Savina landed on the creature and began beating it with her fists on its face and chest, wherever she could reach. She yelled as loudly as she could, not knowing that she was screaming, "I want my father back! Where is my father?" She didn't know or care what she said or did. She threw what is possibly the most horrible temper tantrum of all time.
The creature pushed her off, with extreme strength, and sent her stumbling across the small room into the opposite wall. The creature rose to its feet and made it's way quickly to the window.
At the same moment the door burst open and Aragorn stood framed in the doorway, a sword in his hand. He took only a moment to take in the situation, then strode foreword and made a broad slash at the creature.
But the creature was too fast. The sword caught its shoulder, making a small slice, but then it was gone, disappeared out of the window, into the night.
Savina got to her feet, her legs shakings and her head throbbing from where she'd hit it against the wall.
Aragorn shut the window and turned to look at her silently.
Legolas stood in the doorway, his eyes darting from Savina, to the window, to Aragorn. "What has gone on here?"
Savina rubbed the back of her head, "that damned cloaked creature came in through my window and…" she trailed off and shook her head, she thought of what the creature had said about the drawing telling the future, she couldn't tell them that.
"And what?" Legolas stepped toward her, surveying her anxiously, "did it hurt you?"
Aragorn leaned out the window, then slammed it shut and sheathed his sword.
"It…it didn't hurt me," Savina replied slowly, "I woke up and it was standing over my bed, I kicked it in the stomach and tried to scream but it raised it's hands and muttered something and I couldn't move. I couldn't move, and it could have killed me, but it didn't, it stroked my cheek and told me I had grown beautiful." Savina paused, "I fought it and," she managed a weak smile, "I won. I moved my arm even though I was under its spell. That seemed to surprise it," she chuckled, "it was also sort of surprised when I bodily tackled it."
Legolas was not amused. He frowned and looked at Aragorn, "I wonder why it was in her room, do you think it wanted to kill her?"
Aragorn shook his head, "it could have killed her twice if it had wanted to," he paused, studying her, "it wants her for something." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, Savina recognized it as the sketch Tas had given her. He stared down at it thoughtfully, then crumpled it up and stuffed it into his pocket.
Legolas' blue eyes darkened, "that's it, we can't leaving her alone anymore."
Savina sat down with a thump on her bed and put her aching head in her hands, she hated how Legolas talked about her as if she were a child and as if she weren't even there. She hadn't wanted all of this when she'd decided to join the quest. She'd wanted to carry the map and get out of Dubbin, and above all, try to find her father or at least find out what had become of him. Tears burned in the corners of her eyes. Hastily, she wiped them away, promising herself that she wasn't going to cry. She hated how she always seemed to end up as the damsel in distress. From now on things were going to be different, she knew she could handle herself and she was going to prove it. Suddenly she felt someone looking at her and raised her eyes to find both Legolas and Aragorn staring at her.
Aragorn spoke quietly, "we all need rest."
Legolas pointed to the floor, "she can't be left alone, I'll sleep right there."
"I don't need a guard," she said quietly.
"Fine," Legolas said in a tone as he was convincing a small child to eat their vegetable, "then you can guard me."
Savina lay back and pulled the covers over her, turning to face the wall.
There was silence for a moment, then Aragorn left and returned a moment later carrying a blanket and pillow, which he tossed to Legolas then left, shutting the door behind him.