Hello again, I hope the last chapter was more suitable. This might be a bit short because of time, but I'll do my best!
Chapter 23--Battle Plans
They soon arrived at the vampire's lair with Kylia's guidance and it was still daylight, which was good.
Renee examined the rather plain manor house and frowned. "This can't be the thing's lair. It's to casual," she said. "You must have made a mistake."
"I know where I escaped from. Do you think I'm addle brained?" Kylia demanded.
"No, not really that, but you probably suffered a horrible ordeal at the night creature's hands. You might be confused and disoriented," Renee said, but her tone showed no sympathy.
Drizzt winced at that and prepared for an explosion. He was sure that Kylia wouldn't take Renee's comment well and he wouldn't really blame her if she didn't.
Kylia's eyes narrowed dangerously and she began to reply then seemed to catch herself. She said something in Drow then looked away.
Drizzt eyes widened in shock at Kylia's vile language. If a Drow male had ever said that to a high priestess then he would've lost his tongue at least.
Renee unfortunately noticed the expression on Drizzt's face. "Was that your tongue? What did she say to me?" she demanded.
"Forget it, I value my hide to much to end up in the middle of this little spat," Drizzt said and glanced at Shandra. "So how do you want to proceed?"
"That should be left to me. I'm a vampire hunter," Renee said. "None of you are experienced at this." She examined the house and snorted. "Never seen a lair this unimpressive."
"That's true, how dumb of the vampire to pick a lair that is non-descript enough that it will not draw attention," Drizzt agreed blandly.
Kylia giggled and muffled it with her hand an instant to late.
Renee glared at her then at him. "We will go through the back and work our way to the vampire, killing any guards in our way," she said.
Drizzt shook his head. "I would bet that all obvious entrances are trapped or warded," he remarked, dismounting. The others did the same and they tethered their horses. That done they moved cautiously towards the house.
They reached the back door without incident and Shandra gestured Drizzt forward. "Can you detect traps?" she asked.
"I'm a ranger, not a thief," Drizzt pointed out.
Shandra muttered an unladylike curse. "Damn, we should have considered this," she said.
"I can help. I have a spell that can detect normal traps and one that will detect magical traps," Kylia said.
"Then do it," Renee ordered rudely.
"Please do, Kylia, it isn't safe to stand here," Shandra added quickly.
Kylia flashed a quick glare at Renee then began to chant. She finished, but nothing seemed to happen. "No non-magical traps, now I'll check for magical ones," she said and chanted again. This time when she finished the door glowed such a bright blue that it was nearly blinding.
"I'd say that's a definite yes," Drizzt said.
"Most definite," Kylia agreed.
"So remove the traps, we have no time to waste," Renee said.
Kylia gave her an exasperated look. "The spells are too strong for me to remove. Can your mage remove them?" she asked.
Renee looked at him. "Well, Galen?" she asked.
Galen glanced at the glowing door and did a spell of his own. "No, the magic is too strong," he said.
"Then how in the nine hells do we get in?" Renee demanded in annoyance.
"I have an idea," Kylia said and grinned a bit mischievously. She looked at Drizzt. "Take off your boots," she said and began to remove her own.
Drizzt looked puzzled only briefly then grinned and followed suit.
Hopefully this is long enough. R/R please!
