Here's a basic sketch of Kail, if anyone's interested in seeing my work in process of him…and HTML isn't cooperating with me today so here's the URL: http://www.geocities.com/studioweird/birthright.jpg
Again thank you for all your kind reviews (and flames!). They help me get over my writer's blood J
Busy with schoolwork, but will still write…
Happy Diablo-Killing!
Chapter 12: The Gift of BloodIf Hell Fire burned fast, Moran ran faster.
Her heart pounded against her rib cage; threatening to break free from its prison of bone.
"Moran, wait!"
Kail and Ollan were going to die!
"Wait! Wait!" Nikan grabbed her arm and both of them skidded hard on the sand. "Moran, where are you going? You don't even know where they are!"
"Yes I do! They're in some sort of…" she stopped. Reality struck her like a spear striking a corpse's soft, rotten flesh. "They're…"
"What you know is that they're in some sort of cave," Nikan folded her arms. "Can you…describe how this cave looks like?"
"I – " Moran stopped. "I – oh, damn it…I can't remember!"
Panic clutched at her throat and she whimpered.
"I – I…"
Her eyes wandered and landed on a crudely made walking stick.
"A staff!" She blurted. "I was carrying some sort of staff…"
Nikan suddenly stood very straight and she grabbed her shoulders. "Did this staff…hold some sort of power to it?"
Moran shut her eyes. "I don't know…made me feel kind of powerful in a way, like the demons couldn't hurt me. And then there was this alter with seven signs on it – "
"I have no idea how the two of them managed to get inside that place – " Nikan covered her mouth and her eyes were wide in horror. "We need to get out of there fast, and we need to find Thorn."
"We don't have time!" Moran said. "Why don't we just ditch the barbarian and rescue the necromancer and the paladin!"
"Ah!" Nikan whirled around and knocked down a barrel. "Listen, Moran! Ollan and Kail are inside Tal Rasha's chamber and we can't get in there without the headpiece!"
Moran scrunched her eyebrows together. "But…"
"Not only do we not have the complete Horadric staff, but there are seven tombs to choose for," Nikan started pacing. "Six which are false…to discover the true tomb we have to go through the Harem…oh damn it…Damn you Diablo…"
"So what do we do?" Moran asked.
"…must find a way. No – don't have staff to open…Thorn, will you hurry up – "
"Nikan!" Moran shouted.
"Here's what we do, we go consult Drognan," Nikan slapped a hand down on Moran's shoulder as she stopped pacing. "If Ollan and Kail manages to find a way into the tomb, so can he."
"The mage?" Moran asked as she tried to keep up to Nikan's fast walking pace.
Nikan nodded. "Quite wise – except for the fact that he never realizes we will never buy any of his weapons. Silly fool can't craft a thing worthy compared to Fara."
Moran tripped on an uneven tile as Nikan made a rough turn into a dark corner, empty except for a few dirty barrels, crates, and someone's house.
"Drognan – Drognan!" Nikan shouted.
"Eh?"
"Drognan!"
"Go away, it's the middle of the night."
"Not the middle of the night," Moran cut in dryly. "I'll give you a hint – Claw Vipers, amulets, and a stinking sun that refuses to shine."
"Moran? Nikan?" A middle-aged man straightening on a turban poked his head out from a window. "Where are the others?"
Nearly an hour later, they were three empty wooden mugs that held ale sitting on a worn grand table and Moran had repeated her dream several times to Drognan who constantly wrote on sheets of parchment with a large feather quill.
"Well…this is very interesting," Drognan finally put down his quill which Moran secretly thought it was ready to burst in flames from the speed he was taking his notes. "Do you two know how Tal Rasha – no, we should say Baal now, shouldn't we? Do you know how Baal was transported into his chamber?"
Moran looked at Nikan who shrugged her broad shoulders. "No, Drognan."
"Well, when the Horadrim trapped Baal into Tal Rasha's body, they had to find a way to put him into his chamber," Drognan folded his arms and leaned back. "They had to conceal the body in the safest of safest places. So with the help of simple magic and some very advance ones as well, they built seven tombs in an isolated canyon – now called Canyon of the Magi – where many dangerous creatures not known to Lut Gholein will guard these tombs without even a question (they'll rip anything that comes into the canyon to shreds, keep that in mind). But the seven tombs – six were false. And no one but the Horadrim and the Summoner know where the true tomb lies."
"And so," Drognan continued. "A tomb was chosen, but they don't want to create a door way to put the body in…so the chamber was made to be a room without doors, just four walls."
"Why not a door?" Nikan asked.
"Doors can lead to many things," Drognan's watery eyes looked at them. "They can lead things in – and they can lead things out. Who knows how strong Tal Rasha's body was? How weak can Baal be? Certainly not forever."
Moran's throat tightened.
"They created a species of Wraiths…with the help of the Summoner," Drognan bowed his head slightly. "You do know the great Vizjeri kept demons as slaves and had a great knowledge on these unholy creatures. The Horadrim did not want to meddle with these demons, but they had no choice. So they "borrowed" a few Wraiths with teleporting powers and trained them to move Baal into a selected tomb where they can go through the walls and back out again without moving a stone."
"And the only way…to get in was through the staff," Nikan whispered.
"That is correct," Drognan said. "But it seems like the Vizjeri did not destroy these Wraiths as he had promised to the Horadrim. It looks like he still has kept them as pets and they had transported your friends into Tal Rasha's chamber."
"Why would he do that?" Moran asked.
"Who knows how his brain works?" Drognan said. "And the Wraiths are the only way I know of getting inside Tal Rasha's chamber besides the staff."
Silence fell in the room. After awhile, Moran swallowed as much saliva as she had in her mouth and looked straight at the mage's eyes. "So. What lies in the tomb?"
"I'm pretty sure Baal had escaped," Nikan said. "And Duriel, the-the-the insect lies there is…"
"Fresh meat," Moran stood up. "Drognan! Can you summon me a Wraith?"
The older man gasped and stood up as well. "Moran, this is madness! Why do you want to summon a Wraith?"
"Wraiths are the only way to get inside the tomb besides the staff right?" She crunched her teeth together. "Well then, a Wraith it is. We need to find a Wraith."
"But they were trained Wraiths, Moran!" Drognan started collecting his notes and wiping his quill hastily. "Untrained Wraiths can kill you in an instant! What will Jehryn say if he knows there is a Wraith being summoned in his city?"
"Then summon the same Wraiths that took Baal and my friends into the tomb then!" Moran felt heat rise up on her arms. "I don't care what you say Drognan, I'm going to summon a Wraith."
"Do you even know how to summon a Wraith?" Drognan's voice rose.
Fire burst on her arms. "No! I don't know! But you do!"
Nikan rose up and made a sound deep in her throat as a warning. "Moran…"
"Look, child…sorceress," Drognan said. "To summon a Wraith…you need to pay it a price. Especially for the Vizjeri's Wraiths."
"Name it."
"Blood from the artery on the inside of your wrists," Drognan's voice was grim and dry. "And once you start giving it to them, they won't stop until they're satisfied."
"But will they let me take them to where I want to go? And back again?"
Drognan sighed deeply. "Once a Wraith has its blood, they will become your slaves."
"Moran…I don't think you should do this," Nikan said. "It's too risky."
"No it's not," Moran folded her arms. "You'll go with Thorn when he gets back and I'll stay here and do it my way. It's my fault anyway…" she lowered her eyes. "It's my fault all of you have to go through this again…"
Nikan's mouth dropped. "Moran…"
A heavy thud came on the door. "Hello?"
"Thorn!" Nikan cried and swung open the door. "You're back!"
Moran turned to the Barbarian and the Amazon. "Go. If I die, be sure to send a postcard."
"You don't have to do this." Drognan pulled a large mirror into the empty room.
"I know, but I want to," Moran said. "So what do I do?"
"Wear this," Drognan handed a pile of what looked like white gauze into her hands.
"What is it?"
"Undress and wrap this around your body, and leave the ends from your arms hanging loose," Drognan said. "The reasons are, The Wraith will see your blood better, teleporting will be easier with thinner cloth, and once you get to your destination, the loose ends of the cloth can be wrapped around your wrists," Drogan pushed her into his room. "You can get dressed in there. I'll prepare things in here."
She shut the door behind her and discarded her clothes until she was naked. She unfolded the gauze like cloth and begun wrapping it around her waist, upwards, and downwards, and around her upper arms. It was thin enough to be comfortable, but thick enough to cover wounds and to conceal her body. She loosened her hair and stuck a bottle of healing potion into the makeshift belt.
She opened the door and saw the large mirror in the middle of the room along with two silver bowls of water lying in front of it.
"All right," Drognan said. "Come sit here, in front of the mirror."
Taking a deep breath, she sat in front of the mirror.
"When I recite the summoning, I'll leave the room." Drognan said. "At the moment I leave, slit your wrists and throw the blade into the mirror, making sure you break it."
He took a shaky sigh. "Offer them your blood as quick as you can and…you know the rest," he handed her an ancient looking scimitar. "Good luck to you."
She took another deep breath. "Thank you."
Drognan opened a thick leather bound book and she shut her eyes. The words he recited and the hand motions he made suddenly made her feel like throwing up. She looked away and tried to think of something else.
She felt the door click shut and she opened her eyes. It was time.
She picked up the scimitar, and she threw it over the largest artery she could see on her left wrist. Pain throbbed on her arm as she quickly slit the other wrist. With all her might, she threw the scimitar at the mirror.
It broke into a thousand diamond shards.
She plunged her hands into the bowls of water.
Instead of seeing an empty wooden backing to the mirror, what she saw was a black hole with smoke curling inside it but never leaving the blackness.
A hand protruded from the darkness.
A whimper tried to escape her throat, but she forced it down.
What was not in her vision of what a Wraith looked like at all stepped from the mirror. Actually…four Wraiths stepped from the mirror.
They looked like normal men, except for the startling fact that what looked like leathery wings jutted from their muscular shoulders. They were so large that it looked like the entire room was filled with bat wings. Their faces and bodies were those of human men, yet their eyes were red with black veins. All of them had black hair that curled down their beautiful bodies and caressed the slick muscles.
"Wraiths…" Moran lifted her wrist. "I offer you the gift of blood, and in return you must take me to the True Tomb of Tal Rasha."
The tallest one bent down and took her arm, even caressing it. Moran winced as it bent down and sunk its sharp teeth into her wrist, sucking at the blood greedily.
She screamed both with pain and terror as a light suddenly burst from them and they all turned into… skeletons. Skeletons with over large bat wings that oozed unholy light that burned and fizzled. Skeletons with sharp canines. Skeletons with burning black eyes and wings.
"Ah!" She cried in pain as their teeth sucked greedily at he blood. "Please…"
Her vision dimmed with extreme pain, and suddenly, it left her.
She nearly thudded on the ground but a Wraith caught her. They had turned back into their dark "human form", but their eyes had turned black and all of them had her blood running from their sharp teeth and their lips.
The Wraith that had caught her folded its wings around her body, almost gentle in matter. "Take…you…to…Tomb…" it said.
She shut her eyes against the burning heat of its arm. How can a body hold so much heat? She couldn't think straight, much less see. Her vision had black spots dancing around in it.
The next thing she knew, someone was calling her name out loud and the heat of the Wraith's body had left her. She felt stone and dirt, and someone's arms. Human arms.
"Ollan, quick. I think I see a healing potion on her waist…"
Someone poured something inside her mouth and someone else wrapped her arms with the extra gauze like cloth hanging loose.
"Moran! Don't die! Please don't die!"
Her vision turned completely black and she knew no more.