Chapter Five

Lina awoke, nestled in blankets. She rolled off the bed andpulled on her bodice. She was about to pull on her robes and wash her face when she felt someone 'knocking' on the mindlink that she kept with the support mages. The call of duty again, faster than a magebolt. At least the herbs had kept the nightmares from intruding on her sleep. It was altogether surprising how fast one could actually get over the memories of dying like that.

The 'knocking' grew more insistent. With a sigh, she reached out with her mind and made contact. Telepathy with a willing subject and a ready mindlink was as easy as breathing for a mage of her ability.

Lina?

Yes, who's that? Eltiraaz?

Yes. We've got a mission for you. Recon and possibly rescue. It's urgent. Can i meet you at the fourth teleport point?

exasperated mental sigh> Yes. Who is it?

Travex. It's really urgent.

She was out of the house already, hurrying towards the designated teleport location. Keep your feathers on, I'm heading there.

Hurry.

I AM hurrying.

She burst through the door into the semi sheltered location. "What is it?"

Eltiraaz turned from his preparations. He'd already set up a teleport circle to transport her, though the spell hadn't yet been activated. "Travex just went missing again, she was out to ambush one of the enemy champions, but the mages updating her on enemy movements lost contact with her, he says that something blocked his mind contact. Samantha thinks she could be trapped by enemy forces. She authorized this mission."

"Samantha? Who?"

"Duty Officer. She calls the shots, at least for today."

She knew enough to realize that it could be an actual emergency. "I'm ready. Get me there." And Lina strode into the teleport circle.

He was indeed a very competent mage, that she knew. Energies came at his beck and call around Lina. Abruptly, the energies died away. She looked at him worriedly and asked "What's wrong"

"There's an interference field in the area. And it's definitely hostile. Get your wards up, I'm going to warp us to the edge of the field. It's about six hundred feet wide and I can't tell what's there." He explained hastily, activating his own shields. Her protections flashed into life, a barrier against hostile magics. "Ready? I'm going to begin the spell." Power swirled around the both of them for a moment, then vanished along with the two mages.

Travex crouched, breaking her shadow to avoid being spotted. Her target was the Shadow, so named for her ability to hide herself anywhere. But not to the keen eyes of an elf. Travex had payback on her mind, for it was this particular champion who had caused her to suffer the agony of being torn apart by ghouls.

Her quarry vanished into the vegetation at the far end of the clearing. She peered around, ever alert for anyone approaching. Seeing no one, Travex carefully crossed the clearing as silently as a shadow. The mages helping her to scry has long since gone silent, probably assuming she could track her target once she laid eyes on it.

Suddenly an arm grabbed her neck from behind. Reflexively, she broke free in a single move.

What the... ahhh... oww...

Fiery pain burst in her abdomen before she could spin around. Paying no heed (more warriors were doomed by their own hesitance than anything else), she continued her spin to face her attacker, although the agony of the move almost forced her to double over. She came almost face to face with a gaunt, nearly skeletal figure. Magic swirled around this foe, obviously a mage.

A mage! No wonder it could sneak up on me. Doesn't matter, the wardings from the priestess should hold long enough for me to kill it. Elven forged blades can pierce shields. So why do I have this bad feeling?

It grinned.

Expectedly. Now it dies. Permanently this time.

And pointed to her belly where the pain was emanating in waves. Involuntarily she glanced down for but a moment.

No, you stupid fool, it's trying to distract you to cast a... oh goddess...

A pair of massive gashes crossed on her unarmored belly, one from middle to groin and another from hip to hip. It had to be willpower that had allowed her to get this far standing up, not curled on the ground. Already she was feeling light headed and her intestines were visible.

I have to kill this mage or I know I won't live. I might if I kill it, the wound may not be that deadly. I can get help.

Sheer determination and years of combat reflexes got her to clap one hand over her wounded abdomen, literally holding her guts in and reach for her blade with her other hand. The mage stood, grinning at her.

Laugh at me some more. I'll teach you to ambush... oww...me. I'm not a helpless human who'll just curl up and die when you slash me a couple of times.

Before her right hand closed over the hilt, however, she was shoved to the ground and her hands wrenched behind her back by someone. Travex cried out in pain as she hit the ground hard.

Aiii, who the hell!

The Shadow's voice, raspy as always, floated over as she deftly tied Travex's hands behind her back. Blood stained the grass, a warm, pulsing stream.

You!

"Not really satisfied with what you got the last time, hmm? I knew you'd come back after me. So I teamed up with a mage. Say hi to Pugna in front of you, he's the one who made that conjured image you were following and he's the one who prevented your elven mage friends from warning you."

The silence, oh goddess, no wonder. It hurts...so damn much...please...Elune...let this be over soon...they must have noticed something...

Her voice rasped out again"You know, given that you've been used to dying quite quickly" she giggled, a horrible sound"you probably won't be too happy to know that I judged my strike quite precisely. Elven precision, in fact, if you appreciate puns. I didn't injure any of your organs, with which you'll be quite thoroughly acquainted with by the time you die. If you care to know, the venom which I used this time clots your blood so you won't bleed to death as fast. You'll perish slowly, completely unable to stave off your death. Wriggle a little, my little elven ranger. No? Ah well, at least you have that little dignity to deny me some enjoyment." Her voice hardened"The next time you decide to come after me, consider this, I'll kill you even more painfully than watching your guts spill slowly from your belly"

Fighting back tears, Travex heard the two walking away, the Shadow taunting her with the obvious sounds of her movement, being perfectly capable of moving much more stealthily than that.

She turned back. "You know, you should just slit your own throat. When I get hold of you after Ner'zhul razes that ridiculous Tree of yours, I'll make you suffer for a long long time."

Silence.

The wounds had torn through abdominal muscles, which made shifting an excruciating task. After the first abortive attempt, she gave up, gasping at the fresh agony. She looked down and saw that her efforts, bought with much pain had only succeeded at tearing the wounds further open. The bleeding had slowed to a trickle. A few coils of her guts had slithered onto the grass.

Goddess, please...I give myself to you...give me relief...haven't the others noticed my silence by now...

Nothing. She was aware only of the ground she lay on, pain, and the feeling of intestines spilling from her abdominal cavity. Oddly, the sight was somehow horribly fascinating, the blood smeared coils having a magic of their own. She waited and waited, hope dying away slowly. There was a rustle. Probably the wind.

As Travex lay sprawled on her side, tears of pain trickling from her eyes, she heard the bushes parting and the distinctive crackle-boom of Laguna's Blade, followed by a distant startled exclamation from the Shadow that was suddenly cut off with a crunch.

I thought she's gone! She's watching me die! Bitch! Thanks be for the rescue, Elune! Lina, bless her is more than competent enough to take that conniving bitch and her pet mage on. Hell, she's even better than our own High Mages!

Travex fell into oblivion, relief and blood loss overcoming her.

At seeing the ranger crumpled in the grass, Lina charged, Eltiraaz a breath behind. She burst out of the undergrowth and saw a skeletal mage. It didn't seem shocked, raising its hands to cast a spell, wards already active. The Shadow was ten feet behind, preparing to rush her.

Without a moment's hesitation, her mind shaped the energy configurations for Laguna's Blade and flung it at that skeletal mage. The energy blast ripped its shieldings to shreds and blasted the skeleton to smoking bits. The Shadow lunged, but collided with El's invisible wall before she could take more than two steps. His magic caught her before she could stumble back and hurled her high into the air, landing with a brutal bone shattering crunch, where Lina's readied firestorm caught her in its consuming fireball. Nothing but an unmoving charred corpse survived the fiery detonation.

She ran towards the downed elf. The female ranger lay sprawled on her side, hands bound behind her back. Her intestines were spilled from her belly onto the grass. In fact, the spill of organs was so bad that it was obvious from two hundred feet away. Lina sprinted, knowing that seconds were precious in saving this grievously wounded elf. Reaching the sprawled body, Lina pressed her fingers to Travex's neck, searching for a pulse.

She's alive, but barely. Just barely. There isn't as much blood as I thought.

Wasting no time, she splashed one vial of healing potion over Travex's abdomen and spilled intestines. The potion was elven and made with water from their Fountain of Restoration. Whatever that was, they said that it would work. That was enough for her. She trickled another vial down Travex's throat to stabilize the dying ranger. Eltiraaz tried to help but Lina stopped him as he began to gently tuck the eviscerated organs back into the disemboweled elf.

"Don't, we've stopped the bleeding, that's enough. Let the Healers do that. If you put her guts back here, the wounds could fester and kill her. Can you teleport us as near to the Healer's grove as you can? I don't want to move her too much." Lina explained.

"Okay, I can do that." El reached out and touched her and Travex. Power rose in a surge, and the clearing was suddenly empty, except for a charred corpse, assorted burned bits and a pool of blood.