CHAPTER 2
Lolz, I'm gonna have to do one of those "Last time on Lone Ranger..." thingies for those peeps who didn't read the last chapter.
A deep yell startled Calien out of her thoughts. The yell came again. Strangely enough, it was human. Calien hurried down the stone steps to see what was going on. When she got down, a horrible sight met her eyes...
The stench of death and corrpution filled the dungeon. Blood stained the walls and the floors. There was a general air of evil. But that was not the worst part.
The dugeon opened out into a large courtyard-like space. In the middle, in the square space between four pillars, a warrior was surrounded by skeleton captains. He was swinging his sword blindly but not hitting anything. Calien frowned. Warriors were supposed to be excellent at using swords. So why was this one so blindly hacking at air? Then she saw the blood pouring into his eyes from a long gash in his forehead. Suddenly he fell. The skeletons waved their swords in the air, hissing in tirumph, when Calien fired a holy bolt at one of them. The skeleton fell to pieces. Its skull went flying and cracked another's. I knew that book Adria gave me would be useful, she thought as she fired a second, and a third, and a fourth holy bolt. She fired for the fifth time, and made one skeleton topple. The bones, brittle from being still in a sarcophagus for so long, shattered. A domino effect enused, and soon all of the skeletons were in pieces on the cold, slimy cobblestone floor. Calien ran the the warrior. His eyes were beginning to glaze over.
"Greetings, warrior. My name is Calien. I'm a member of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, or a rogue as you would put it. I'm here to help you," she said in the gentlest voice she could manage.
"They... surrounded me... trapped..." the warrior choked out. Calien put his arm around her shoulders and began to walk with him to the stone stairs. To take his mind off of his pain, she said, "What is your name?"
"Aramir*," the warrior replied.
"Where do you come from?"
"I come and go.... Never knew my parents, they... were killed by... the Dark Lord himself... Diablo." The darkness seemed to draw closer in around them as Aramir said the name.
"Oh. So were my parents. Here are the stairs. Lift your foot. There." With some difficulty, Calien helped Aramir up the stairs and out of the church. She limped with him to the center of town, where Griswold's forge, Ogden's tavern, Gillian's bar, and Pepin's house were, and where Farnham and Cain stood around (or, in Farnham's case, sat). Pepin, standing at the door of his house as usual, saw them and rushed to them. Ogden ran into his tavern and nearly having a nervous breakdown at the sight of a half-dead man -- who looked like more of a demon than a man due to the blood everywhere -- being supported by the rouge who everyone thought had a chance of saving the town (with the exception of Wirt, who was a brat anyway). Cain stood and looked on, then shook his head as if he knew something the others didn't. Gillian and Farnham must have been in their houses.
"What happened?!" Pepin exclaimed.
"The undead skeletons got to him," Calien explained. "Help me, I can't hold him up anymore." Griswold went over to where they were and helped them lead them into Pepin's house.
"I'll let ya take care 'o the warrior's health, and I'll take care 'o his armor and weapons," Griswold said.
"Good. Just sit down right here while I take care of you. This may sting," Pepin said. He waited for Aramir to sit down on his bed, then inserted a needle full of some reddish liquid into his arm. The warrior swayed for a moment. Then his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed onto the bed.
"Will he be alright?" Calien asked.
"I don't know. He has quite a bit of deep wounds. It's a wonder he hasn't died from blood loss already. Help me get his clothes off." Calien reddened.
"But... but, Pepin... it's... well, it's a breach of the prime directive of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye to see a man naked. It counts toward sex."
"Well, that's the stupidest rules I've ever heard. To try and prevent a rogue from bedding someone. It's really none of their buisness if you bed a man or not," Pepin said.
"But it's a rule, none the less," Calien stuttered.
"Do you want him to survive?" Pepin asked.
"Well, yes, but -"
"Then help me. It's not as though you're going to bed him while he's unconsious."
"Fine. I'll get his armor and take it to Griswold." Calien turned him over and took the chain link armor off. She turned him over again so that he was on his back and slipped the metal helm off. Now that she could see his face, she saw that he was extremely handsome. She took the sword out of its sheath and walked out of the little cottage and gave the armor to Griswold, who thanked her and disappeared into his forge. She then reentered Pepin's house. Pepin himself was rummaging in the cabinets above the washing basin. Aramir was still lying on the bed, now wearing nothing but a loincloth. She noted that he was no longer bleeding except for a wound on his chest.
"I didn't leave him naked, since you seemed so sensitive about it," Pepin said. Calien didn't say it, but she wouldn't have minded quite so much now. Instead she thanked him and went to join him.
"I'm getting a potion of full rejuvination for him," Pepin said. "Isn't it pretty?"
Calien stared at him.
"Right then. Tilt his head so that I can put this in his mouth. That's right - oh no, that was the last one!" Pepin exclaimed in irritation, for he had just dropped the potion on the wooden floor. The container, being glass, shattered on impact, and the golden liquid seeped through the slats in the wood.
"Trouble follows you wherever you go, Pepin," Calien said. "Why did you have to give him that stuff that made him unconsious if you were just going to give him a potion?"
"I object to that remark," Pepin answered with mild indignation. "And I gave him 'that stuff that made him unconsious', which, by the way, is called anesthesia**, because warriors are independent. They will want to take care of themselves. I don't know what the warrior would have done with all of this delicate glass. It would have been like a bull in a china shop."
"And YOU didn't break one?" Calien asked, the corners of her mouth lifting in a smile despite her best efforts to contain it.
"That's not the point," Pepin said, reddening.
"A warrior isn't as nimble as a rogue, by far, but they can still be delicate when they know they need to."
"OK Calien, whatever you say. If you don't have any full rejuvinations-"
"Why do we need rejuvinations? Warriors don't cast spells," Calien asked.
"This one does," Pepin answered.
"How can you tell?"
"Ancient healing skill. Adria would be able to tell what spells he knows. I, however, can only tell he knows spells," Pepin answered modestly.
"Oh. Well, I have a few." Calien took out of a loop in her belt a potion of full rejuvination and handed it to Pepin. "Here."
"Thank you. Now tilt his head again. The anesthesia is beginning to wear off. That way - there! You might want to step back. Some people don't take kindly to passing out in one place and waking up in another," Pepin said. Slowly, Aramir's eyes began to flicker open. The first thing he saw was the face of Pepin inches away from his. He yelled and his hand flew to the place where his sword and scabbard would normally be. Pepin jumped back.
"Aramir, it's alright," Calien said gently. "You're ok now."
"C. Calien?" Aramir said, sitting looking around the room for her. He saw her standing by the table at the head of the bed.
"The one and only," the rogue answered.
"I thought... well, I don't know what I thought. I have a headache the size of the dungeons beneath town."
"That should wear off soon," Pepin said, smiling. Suddenly the happy and satisfied look on his face vanished, replaced by fear. For at the open door stood a tall sorceror. The air around him seemed even darker than the night outside. He wasn't happy, Calien could tell. And from the stories she had heard when she was a little girl, that wasn't a good thing at all.
*The name Aramir isn't entirely original. See below.
**I don't know if I spelled that right. Yes, I KNOW that they didn't have anesthesia in Diablo. And quite frankly I don't care. In my story they had anesthesia and that's that!
You'll see as I write that I like cliffhangers ^_^. Whoever can guess how I put Aramir's name together and from what they came from first can write the next chapter! (Don't get nasty. Calien likes Aramir, and, no, Aramir is not gay. No one gets killed. If the "winner" does any of these things, I'll let the second correct guesser write it, and so on and so forth.) I'll give you some clues (that's really easy): LOTR and FIRST AND LAST PARTS. If you readers can't figure it out by Wednesday of next week (May 28, 2003), then I will post more clues. If you figure it out, please post your answer in your reviews. And I can tell who sent what first, so don't worry that someone's going to scam this. I will email you if you got the right answer. If you woud prefer it (IF you win) I will tell you in a review that I will write to my own story. Just tell me when you submit your answer if you want to be notified by email or by review. Good luck!
Lolz, I'm gonna have to do one of those "Last time on Lone Ranger..." thingies for those peeps who didn't read the last chapter.
A deep yell startled Calien out of her thoughts. The yell came again. Strangely enough, it was human. Calien hurried down the stone steps to see what was going on. When she got down, a horrible sight met her eyes...
The stench of death and corrpution filled the dungeon. Blood stained the walls and the floors. There was a general air of evil. But that was not the worst part.
The dugeon opened out into a large courtyard-like space. In the middle, in the square space between four pillars, a warrior was surrounded by skeleton captains. He was swinging his sword blindly but not hitting anything. Calien frowned. Warriors were supposed to be excellent at using swords. So why was this one so blindly hacking at air? Then she saw the blood pouring into his eyes from a long gash in his forehead. Suddenly he fell. The skeletons waved their swords in the air, hissing in tirumph, when Calien fired a holy bolt at one of them. The skeleton fell to pieces. Its skull went flying and cracked another's. I knew that book Adria gave me would be useful, she thought as she fired a second, and a third, and a fourth holy bolt. She fired for the fifth time, and made one skeleton topple. The bones, brittle from being still in a sarcophagus for so long, shattered. A domino effect enused, and soon all of the skeletons were in pieces on the cold, slimy cobblestone floor. Calien ran the the warrior. His eyes were beginning to glaze over.
"Greetings, warrior. My name is Calien. I'm a member of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, or a rogue as you would put it. I'm here to help you," she said in the gentlest voice she could manage.
"They... surrounded me... trapped..." the warrior choked out. Calien put his arm around her shoulders and began to walk with him to the stone stairs. To take his mind off of his pain, she said, "What is your name?"
"Aramir*," the warrior replied.
"Where do you come from?"
"I come and go.... Never knew my parents, they... were killed by... the Dark Lord himself... Diablo." The darkness seemed to draw closer in around them as Aramir said the name.
"Oh. So were my parents. Here are the stairs. Lift your foot. There." With some difficulty, Calien helped Aramir up the stairs and out of the church. She limped with him to the center of town, where Griswold's forge, Ogden's tavern, Gillian's bar, and Pepin's house were, and where Farnham and Cain stood around (or, in Farnham's case, sat). Pepin, standing at the door of his house as usual, saw them and rushed to them. Ogden ran into his tavern and nearly having a nervous breakdown at the sight of a half-dead man -- who looked like more of a demon than a man due to the blood everywhere -- being supported by the rouge who everyone thought had a chance of saving the town (with the exception of Wirt, who was a brat anyway). Cain stood and looked on, then shook his head as if he knew something the others didn't. Gillian and Farnham must have been in their houses.
"What happened?!" Pepin exclaimed.
"The undead skeletons got to him," Calien explained. "Help me, I can't hold him up anymore." Griswold went over to where they were and helped them lead them into Pepin's house.
"I'll let ya take care 'o the warrior's health, and I'll take care 'o his armor and weapons," Griswold said.
"Good. Just sit down right here while I take care of you. This may sting," Pepin said. He waited for Aramir to sit down on his bed, then inserted a needle full of some reddish liquid into his arm. The warrior swayed for a moment. Then his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed onto the bed.
"Will he be alright?" Calien asked.
"I don't know. He has quite a bit of deep wounds. It's a wonder he hasn't died from blood loss already. Help me get his clothes off." Calien reddened.
"But... but, Pepin... it's... well, it's a breach of the prime directive of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye to see a man naked. It counts toward sex."
"Well, that's the stupidest rules I've ever heard. To try and prevent a rogue from bedding someone. It's really none of their buisness if you bed a man or not," Pepin said.
"But it's a rule, none the less," Calien stuttered.
"Do you want him to survive?" Pepin asked.
"Well, yes, but -"
"Then help me. It's not as though you're going to bed him while he's unconsious."
"Fine. I'll get his armor and take it to Griswold." Calien turned him over and took the chain link armor off. She turned him over again so that he was on his back and slipped the metal helm off. Now that she could see his face, she saw that he was extremely handsome. She took the sword out of its sheath and walked out of the little cottage and gave the armor to Griswold, who thanked her and disappeared into his forge. She then reentered Pepin's house. Pepin himself was rummaging in the cabinets above the washing basin. Aramir was still lying on the bed, now wearing nothing but a loincloth. She noted that he was no longer bleeding except for a wound on his chest.
"I didn't leave him naked, since you seemed so sensitive about it," Pepin said. Calien didn't say it, but she wouldn't have minded quite so much now. Instead she thanked him and went to join him.
"I'm getting a potion of full rejuvination for him," Pepin said. "Isn't it pretty?"
Calien stared at him.
"Right then. Tilt his head so that I can put this in his mouth. That's right - oh no, that was the last one!" Pepin exclaimed in irritation, for he had just dropped the potion on the wooden floor. The container, being glass, shattered on impact, and the golden liquid seeped through the slats in the wood.
"Trouble follows you wherever you go, Pepin," Calien said. "Why did you have to give him that stuff that made him unconsious if you were just going to give him a potion?"
"I object to that remark," Pepin answered with mild indignation. "And I gave him 'that stuff that made him unconsious', which, by the way, is called anesthesia**, because warriors are independent. They will want to take care of themselves. I don't know what the warrior would have done with all of this delicate glass. It would have been like a bull in a china shop."
"And YOU didn't break one?" Calien asked, the corners of her mouth lifting in a smile despite her best efforts to contain it.
"That's not the point," Pepin said, reddening.
"A warrior isn't as nimble as a rogue, by far, but they can still be delicate when they know they need to."
"OK Calien, whatever you say. If you don't have any full rejuvinations-"
"Why do we need rejuvinations? Warriors don't cast spells," Calien asked.
"This one does," Pepin answered.
"How can you tell?"
"Ancient healing skill. Adria would be able to tell what spells he knows. I, however, can only tell he knows spells," Pepin answered modestly.
"Oh. Well, I have a few." Calien took out of a loop in her belt a potion of full rejuvination and handed it to Pepin. "Here."
"Thank you. Now tilt his head again. The anesthesia is beginning to wear off. That way - there! You might want to step back. Some people don't take kindly to passing out in one place and waking up in another," Pepin said. Slowly, Aramir's eyes began to flicker open. The first thing he saw was the face of Pepin inches away from his. He yelled and his hand flew to the place where his sword and scabbard would normally be. Pepin jumped back.
"Aramir, it's alright," Calien said gently. "You're ok now."
"C. Calien?" Aramir said, sitting looking around the room for her. He saw her standing by the table at the head of the bed.
"The one and only," the rogue answered.
"I thought... well, I don't know what I thought. I have a headache the size of the dungeons beneath town."
"That should wear off soon," Pepin said, smiling. Suddenly the happy and satisfied look on his face vanished, replaced by fear. For at the open door stood a tall sorceror. The air around him seemed even darker than the night outside. He wasn't happy, Calien could tell. And from the stories she had heard when she was a little girl, that wasn't a good thing at all.
*The name Aramir isn't entirely original. See below.
**I don't know if I spelled that right. Yes, I KNOW that they didn't have anesthesia in Diablo. And quite frankly I don't care. In my story they had anesthesia and that's that!
You'll see as I write that I like cliffhangers ^_^. Whoever can guess how I put Aramir's name together and from what they came from first can write the next chapter! (Don't get nasty. Calien likes Aramir, and, no, Aramir is not gay. No one gets killed. If the "winner" does any of these things, I'll let the second correct guesser write it, and so on and so forth.) I'll give you some clues (that's really easy): LOTR and FIRST AND LAST PARTS. If you readers can't figure it out by Wednesday of next week (May 28, 2003), then I will post more clues. If you figure it out, please post your answer in your reviews. And I can tell who sent what first, so don't worry that someone's going to scam this. I will email you if you got the right answer. If you woud prefer it (IF you win) I will tell you in a review that I will write to my own story. Just tell me when you submit your answer if you want to be notified by email or by review. Good luck!