Every Diablo related piece of information belongs to Blizzard. All I own are what is not said, or shown in Diablo II. Enough said.
Some of you have been asking me why it's taking so long for me to upload chapters. Well the thing is, I have a life. A life of a student for that matter, which means end term exams, homework, reading difficult literature, and other things. I also have jobs.
I promise you all that I will finish this story, and they'll be a sequel tribute to the Expansion Set. And a website as well.
Chapter 14: The Darkness of Death
"Are you sure you want to leave right away?" Jehrhyn said from the head of gold-covered mahogany table. "I was planning on throwing a grand celebration for you all."
After they all got back, Jehrhyn had convinced them to at least stay with him for breakfast/dinner. He had a spare table dragged out from his quarters and a large white tent. He had his servants, or what was left of them, set it out in a shady part of the port, overlooking a few ships and the waves. Jehrhyn sat at the head of the table, Nikan and Moran at his left, Ollan and Thorn at his right, and Kail at the other end. Every few minutes or so, a serving boy would run up to the serving table next to them, depositing another delicacy. Within a few minutes, there was enough food to fill up Thorn for about four weeks.
"No thank you," Kail said firmly and sipped at his wine. "We're only going to stay here as to help your guards clean up the palace, and then leave right afterwards. Our greatest fear lies with The Dark Wanderer. We think he plans to reunite with his brother, Mephisto in the temples of Kurast. If the three gets together…there might not be a Lut Gholein for us to come visit."
"Well then…" Jehrhyn absentmindedly rolled his roasted pork around on his plate and scratched at his turban with his other hand. "I do wish…I could spend some extra time with you all."
"No," Kail said.
Moran was amazed. If she were in Kail's place, she would truly want to spend a few days in Lut Gholein, just lying around in the newly cleaned palace and maybe even a chance for a hot bath. But Kail had all the qualities of a leader, and he was not doing the best for them. He was doing the best for their mission.
"All right," Jehrhyn sighed. "I guess, make the best of your last meal in Lut Gholein. I'll see to Meshif to prepare his ship."
They ate in silent, more from tiredness rather than grimness. Thorn shoveled mouthful after mouthful of meat, but Kail kept on toying with his food. Moran leaned over as soon as she saw Jehrhyn starting to make polite conversation with Thorn and Nikan.
"Hey, is something wrong?"
"Hmm?" He looked up. "No. I was just thinking about what you…did."
Looking around, she cautiously slid up a seat over so she was next to him. "Stop it, Kail. You didn't know better."
"You were so mad."
"That's because I wasn't thinking right," she grinned. "Did you know that the average human brain works in strange ways when one loses their cool?"
"And how you slid underneath Duriel…" he shook his head. "I should've done that, not you."
She gave him a playful punch. "Shut up. I did it because you were busy keeping the dude from hurting the rest of us."
"Dude?"
"Duriel," she grinned again.
He finally smiled back. "And you slept on my lap."
She felt heat rising up her face. "I wasn't thinking."
"Sure you weren't," he smiled.
She wanted to smack that satisfied grin off his face. Scowling, she returned to her seat and stuffed a piece of meat into her mouth.
At least she cheered him up.
She took a long drink from the wine, only to spurt it out all over Thorn who sat blinking, red liquid dripping off his face.
"I said, normal wine! Not pepper wine!" She shouted. "Who the heck?"
She looked around and saw Kail leaning back on his seat, the guilty look all over his face.
"Aaaargh!" She leapt on the table, skidding dishes out of the way, and crashing him into the floor. "You little – "
They wrestled there for a long time, amid laughter and worried cries from the servant, picking up dishes and food away on the disheveled table. With a shriek, Moran grabbed the nearest bucket of seawater filled to the brim with fish and tried to dump it on Kail. Instead, she ended up slopping a lot of water all over them, even landing a fish on Jehrhyn's turban. Thorn started guffawing.
"Stop!" He roared, but for once, no one paid attention to him.
Thorn was next to join in, picking up a large bowl of wine and tossing it over them.
"Damn it – you!" Kail shot up and leapt over the Barbarian, knocking him down into the ground.
Jehrhyn groaned, and at then end, everyone joined in on the fight, throwing pail after pail of salt water and wine over each other.
For once…the war between Hell and the World did not seem to matter.
"Moran? We'll be leaving in a few minutes," Moran heard Nikan knock on her door. "Are you packed up yet?"
"Give me…a few minutes," she said as she stuffed in pants, shirts, and two pairs of spare boots into a big leather satchel. She groaned, and sat down on her bed.
"Well, come down when you're ready."
"Yeah…thanks for telling me," she shouted and picked up a damaged dirk. Rolling her eyes, she tossed it underneath the bed where it joined several other useless pieces of weapons and armor.
"That's not very considerate."
"KAIL!" She gasped, and tripped as she saw him standing in the darkness corner of her room. "When did you come in?"
He smiled and brushed back a strand of white hair from his eyes. "I just wanted to see how long it would take for you to sense there's someone else in this room."
"Well, how was I suppose to know when I have this little mountain of things to pack, and only a few minutes to do it?" She backed away from him. "And what are you doing in my room?"
"Don't give yourself too much credit," his eyes twinkled mischievously. "Your staff. I had Cain indentify it for you."
He handed the glittering staff that Duriel had dropped the night before and placed it in her hands. It was lighter than she expected, but it felt secure and very dangerous in her hands. The crystal orb glittered and shimmered while the blade flashed.
"Beautiful things can be dangerous as well," Kail sat down on her bed and folded his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling, crossing his legs over her quilts. "I think I'll leave it to you to figure out all the different properties it has."
"Sorceress homework, huh?" She said, putting the staff down and stuffed in a tome of town portal into her shoulder bag. "Hand me my gloves, will you?"
He handed her the cracked leather gloves and she hastily slid it inside her bags as well.
"Here, let me help," Kail said, reaching for the stacks of books. "What's all this?"
"Oh," Moran grinned. "I was…ah…messing around in the palace the other day when we were cleaning it out and I happened to find the library. Jehryhn said I could take as many books as I want to."
"You like to read?" He dropped the stack into an empty sack.
"Don't you?" She placed the end of a quill into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully as she looked around her room for more articles to pack.
"Used to, a lot," Kail reached for the pile of clothes. "When I was studying Necromancy. A truly fascinating subject."
"Is that all you did?" Moran stretched as she shut her bag and pulled the strap tight. "Study how to reanimate dead people?"
"No…" Kail said slowly. "I did other…things as well."
"What?"
"Never mind," Kail sighed. "Is that all you need to pack?"
"Yeah, thanks," she said, searching underneath the bed for something she had overlooked. Hoisting the bag over her shoulder, the two sacks in her right hand, and her staff in the other, she followed Kail out into the sunny streets.
After a few farewells and a teary goodbye from Atma, they all hurried for the port where Meshif was hysterically trying to shove them all up on deck.
"Come on now," he said, giving Moran a rough shove up. "The wind won't wait for us."
"I bet," Moran grumbled as she caught herself before she fell over a barrel of water. She threw her things down and breathed in the salty air.
"Good bye, Lut Gholein," she whispered as the ship moved forwards.
"Wake up, Moran."
Moaning, she pushed back the heavy quilts around her and felt herself sweating. Never had she ever felt humid in her life except for a trip to a jungle somewhere in Thailand. Nikan looked at her with a lantern in her hand.
"Come on, we're approaching the skirts of Kurast," she said.
"What time is it?"
"Midnight?" Nikan shrugged. "Get dress and come up."
Yawning, Moran pulled a black cloak over the thin linen nightdress she wore and tied her mussed up hair into a knot. She trudged up the stairs and pushed herself up on deck. The rest of her friends were all on the starboard, looking out.
It was definitely a tropical place, full of mangroves, coconut trees, and banana trees. She couldn't tell from the poor light of the ship's lanterns but it seems like the water were murky and blackened. A terrible stench rose from it. A stench that reminded her of something very familiar.
"Kail," she whispered to his bare back as he looked on. "What's wrong with the water?"
"Tainted with demon blood," he said. "Don't try to breathe in too much of it."
Moran covered her nose and mouth with one hand as she looked on. Far away, she noticed spots of lights.
"Getting close," Meshif said. "And I don't want to stop until we reach the docks."
Shivering from the intense heat and humidity, and still very drowsy from her sleep, Moran sat down on an empty barrel.
"Shh…" Kail said. "Do you hear something?"
"Something's moving in the water," Nikan said. "Moran, hand me that knife."
Moran looked and found a small knife used for scaling fish next to her. She tossed it to Nikan who caught it smartly in the air. Quietly, she leaned over the edge of the starboard. Her muscles clenched and she threw the knife down.
With a shriek, she fell back. Moran.
A long necked creature that looked very much what a Loch Ness Monster should look like rose from the water, its skin a pale gray with dark carbuncles of blood over its skin. Hundreds of sharp teeth sprouted from its mouth and it hissed at Nikan.
"Quick, move, move, move!!" Ollan shouted, reaching for the sails.
"We can't!" Meshif said. "Any faster than this and we'll crash!"
"Do you want to die?" He shouted.
Allowing hers body to be frozen in horror only for a second, Moran reached for a solitary spear and ran up to the creature who was attempting to bit the ship into pieces. It had succeeded in pulling off an entire wooden plank off the starboard ship. A few minutes and it could demolish the entire ship.
Thorn, Kail, and Nikan were vainly trying to push it away as the ship moved but the monstrous creature looked like it could move faster and maneuver better than the large ship. It hissed angrily and spat out a long string of green slime. Shouting, Kail managed to dodge it in time but some of it splattered on Moran's arm. Pain shot up through her veins.
"Moran, get out of the way!" Kail shouted angrily pushing her away. "Do you want to get killed?"
Ignoring the stabbing pains in her arm, she pushed past him and ran to the creature with her spear. She rammed it up but the weapon bounced off its thick skin and disappeared in the water with a splash.
"The skin's too thick," she cried, pushing passed Thorn.
"We noticed, we noticed!" He bellowed. "Try to get its mouth, it's the softest part!"
"Thorn, get her out of here!" Kail shouted. "She's going to get herself killed!"
"Killed, huh?" She gritted her teeth and jerked the dirk out from his hands. She ran up to the starboard and pushed herself up at the beast.
"Moran, no!" Kailed screamed. "Don't!"
She grabbed the brute around its head and locked her legs firmly around the neck. The beast, not noticing her, continued to snap and hiss at the others.
Keeping her balance, she wrapped an arm beneath its neck and drove the dirk into the side of its mouth. She pulled it underneath the gum and slit it outwards, dislocating the jaw away from its head. Blood splattered over her and on the ship.
The beast screamed in pain and fury, spewing green blood every. Moran was thrown from the impact and landed in the water.
The taste of old copper and salty bile filled her mouth. She chocked on the water and swam towards the ship. The beast had backed away and was screaming in pain.
"Moran, you stupid girl!" Kail screeched at her and dove into the water with a rope in his hands.
She felt something wrap around her leg. She had felt something like this once, at a Japanese restaurant. It must have been an octopus tentacle.
But this one was much larger. Much more powerful. Much more dangerous.
And much more painful.
Had more power.
"Kail! Help!" She screamed as the tentacle dragged her down into the depths of the bloody water. She forgotten to take a breath and ended up swallowing the water. Choking, she felt someone grab her hand and pull her up, but the tentacle refused to let her go.
Panic washed over her. "KAIL!" She shouted the moment she had enough air in her lungs.
Struggling, Kail tried to wrap the rope around her body. "I've got you," he said. "Calm down – NO!"
Her hand slipped from hers and the tentacle gave her a long jerk.
She was being dragged into the water, into the very bloody darkness of her own death.
"Aaah!"
It was dragging her down! She couldn't breathe! The water – it was smothering her!!
Screaming, she shoved the tentacle away from her leg and opened her eyes.
The bloody water disappeared, the tentacles disappeared, and all that was left was a dark bamboo hut, lit with a single burning lamp. She was lying on a thin mattress with a rough, but light blanket over her. Five low burning citronella candles in bamboo candles sat to her right, its aromatic smoke keeping the mosquitoes at bay.
Moran rubbed her eyes and stretched. Lightning flashed through the small cracks of the hut and the loud, ear-splitting thunder made her flinch. It was going to rain any minute now.
She stood up and winced, and noticed a large bandage around her right leg. Ignoring the screaming protests from her sore muscles, she flexed her muscles and arms, thankful that everything was still in working order even though they were sore. She found a cloak among her things that were stashed into a large chest and wrapped it around her shoulders.
She pushed open the bamboo door and blinked.
She was surrounded by murky water in all three sides, and she realized the hut she was in was actually a small house on stilts. A cracked and overused longboat floated by itself in front of her.
Edging away from the cracked bamboo, she circled the house and found a bridge – a pathway on stilts that is – that led to other parts.
"Kurast, huh?" She wrapped her cloak around her shoulders as a strong wind blew hard. Lightning flashed and she hurried over the bamboo. After walking for about five minutes and passing other stilt houses and avoiding holes in the bamboo, she came upon a large stone platform that rose triumphantly over the water.
"Hey there!" She shouted as she noticed the rest of her companions. Kail, Thorn, Nikan, Ollan, and Cain seemed to be all in deep conversation with a tall man whose head was shaven and carried a tall staff. Kail lifted up his head and she froze.
The way he glared at her was worst than when he glared at demons.
"Kail…" she said. "What is it?"
He walked swiftly up to her and slapped her hard on the face.
Gasping she fell on her knees. The blow wasn't hard enough to break her skin but it stunned her and left a painful sting on the side of her cheek.
"What the hell is up with you?!" She cried, scrambling up.
Kail slapped her again, harder, on the other cheek.
"Kail, stop it!" Ollan grabbed the Necromancer's arm. "What are you doing?"
He shook Ollan off and grabbed her shoulders. Moran struggled to get away but his grip was too strong.
"When I tell you to get away from a fight you listen to me!" He yelled. "You nearly got yourself killed!"
Anger bubbled inside her, and she finally twisted away. She faced him, gritting her teeth and feeling the blood rush up her face. "And what do you expect me to do!!" She screamed hard in his face. "Sit around and just watch the show??"
He pointed a finger hard into face, his face red in anger and his green eyes blazing as if they were on fire. "When I tell you what to do, you do it! It's for your own good!"
"I just saved your lives out there and this is all I get? A SLAP IN THE FACE?" She shouted back.
"Stop it!" Cain said. "Both of you!"
Ignoring him, Kail grabbed both of her wrists in one hand.
"Kail, what are you doing?" She gasped.
He uttered a bone spell and a pair of cartilage clamped over her wrists and legs, like handcuffs. Shrieking, she fell down on her side and struggled to get up, and found out she can't.
"KAIL, stop it!" Nikan said, covering her mouth with her hands. "This isn't – "
"Yes, it's going to do some good," the Necromancer said. He held something long and thin in his hands.
A leather switch.
"Kail, that's enough!" Thorn ran up to him and pulled the switch from his hands. "What do you think she is? A dog?"
"A disobedient child," Kail hissed but didn't protest as Thorn threw the switch into the water.
"And who are you?" Moran cried. "I'm not yours to boss around!!"
Hissing in madness, he walked away, clenching his hands.
"Oh my god, Moran…" Nikan bent down and broke the cartilage around her hands and legs. "Are you all right?"
"Oh, I feel so much better," she turned away and faced the water so the others wouldn't see the tears welling up from her eyes.
She felt Thorn put his hand on her shoulder and the heavy weight made her feel comforted. But it made the dam in her throat break and she started sobbing. Thorn took her into his arms like a caring child and she sobbed hard into his leather jerkin.
"What did I do?" She sobbed.
"Eh, don't mind him," Thorn patted her back. "He was just plain worried about you. He's got a point there though, what you did was really dangerous."
"If I didn't do it, the ship…" talking was too hard and her throat hurt.
"It's all right," Ollan patted her head. "Kail's like that…when he becomes really worried, he becomes angry."
"Why would he be angry?" She gently pushed herself away from Thorn and sat down next to the strange man with the staff.
"Because he didn't want you to be at risk," Cain said, wobbling slightly on his staff. "As a leader, he knew he should've been to one to climb upon the beast's head. The fact that you risked your own life to climb upon its head and slit its mouth made him feel like he was killing you with his own hands."
The pounding in her heart slowed down to a painful pace, and she covered her face with her hands. "Why?" She whispered.
"Because of the inner feelings in the human heart, are different from those of the demons," the strange man next to her said.
"What?"
"Young Sorceress, I am Ormus," the man sad. "Welcome to Kurast."