Hi all, nothing to say, so on with the story!
Chapter 35 Final Prayer and An Escape
Glenna glanced over at the slowly dying flames then at Shandra. "I believe I will for I have gotten almost everything I wanted, but one last detail," she said. Suddenly she sank her fangs into Drizzt's throat, but instead of trying to feed she ripped. Blood sprayed from the deep tear as Drizzt cried out in agony. Glenna shoved Drizzt violently at Shandra then turned to mist and disappeared.
Shandra was forced to drop her sword to keep from stabbing Drizzt as he slammed into her. She lowered him to the floor as his blood soaked him and her, realizing how cold he felt to her touch already. "Oh, Gods! He's bleeding to death. I've got to stop it!" she groaned.
Drizzt tried to speak, but he coughed up blood, choking on it. Convulsively, his hand clenched at the empty air.
Shandra clamped her hand over the gaping wound and frantically started trying to heal the wound. There wasn't much time left before it would be too late. Without realizing it, she slipped into a trance.
A noise drew Tarion's attention back to the dying flames. All that was left of the vampire was charred bones then his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Kylia!" he gasped. Kylia indeed was standing there, her clothes gone but not as much of a lock of her hair was damaged. Shaking off his shock, Tarion grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her then hugged her. "I thought you were dead," he breathed, close to tears.
"I did two spells, one was fireproofing, but I only did on my body not my clothes by accident. I hope you have some I can borrow," Kylia said, managing to tease a little then she saw Drizzt laying in a pool of blood and Shandra kneeling beside him. "What happened?' she cried.
"Glenna escaped, but before she did she laid open Drizzt's throat," Tarion said grimly. "She's trying to save him." There was nothing more to be said. They could do nothing but wait and watch as Shandra fought to save Drizzt's life.
Shandra felt like she was separated from her body and that her soul was merged with Drizzt. She could feel his heart stutter and die. She fought against it, fighting to keep it beating, to stem the flow of blood. She could feel the darkness of death sneaking in and she fought to push it back. Finally power surged free and she screamed her triumph as she felt the wound heal. She felt exhaustion overwhelm her and darkness feel over her as she fainted.
Tarion and Kylia rushed to their friends' sides when Shandra collapsed. Tarion gently pulled Shandra off Drizzt while Kylia knelt to check on him.
"Shandra just fainted. What about Drizzt? Is he alive?" Tarion asked.
"Yes, thank the Gods, the wound is closed," Kylia sighed.
"They will both need to rest. I'll do an attack evil spell and make sure that creature is truly gone," Tarion said. It turned out she was, so they settled down to wait.
It was nearly ten hours later before Shandra woke, four hours after Drizzt. She sat up fast. "Drizzt!" she cried, looking around.
Tarion immediately came to her side. "Easy, he's fine, thanks to you. He and Kylia went to look around."
"The vampire?" Shandra asked.
"She escaped, I'm sorry," Tarion said.
"Don't be. We'll go back to our home temple and tell the High Priest. She'll be hunted down and destroyed by them or us," Shandra said.
"Fair enough, we can leave when they return," Tarion said.
Meanwhile
Drizzt and Kylia had discovered an interesting door. "It's got a lot of magic on it as well as all those locks," Kylia said. "What do you think is in there?"
"Treasure, perhaps, but I want to find out for sure if we can," Drizzt said.
"I'll start trying to dispel the magic," Kylia said and began to chant softly.
Drizzt took a look around while she was busy then noticed something on the floor of interest. "Scrape marks?" he muttered, "like a door would make."
Kylia finished her first spell then heard Drizzt call to her and went over to him. "What is it?" she asked.
"I think that door is meant to be a distraction, look at these marks," Drizzt said.
Kylia did and came to the same conclusion. "A secret door! Let's find how it opens!" she said eagerly. After an hour of searching they were starting to get annoyed. The trigger to open the door was more well-hidden then they had thought.
"Maybe it opens with a word or phrase. The problem is what word or phrase," Drizzt grumbled, scowling at the door.
"That's got to be it and I think I can do a spell to find out what it is!" Kylia said, eyes bright and excited. She laid her hand on the door and began to chant a spell. Once finished she was quiet for a long minute then laughed triumphantly. "I got it!" she declared gleefully. "Open in the name of eternity!" The door opened. "Come on!" She went inside.
"Figures," Drizzt snorted, but he followed her.
The sight that met their eyes made them both stop and stare in stunned amazement. "Treasure indeed, more then I ever imagined! We'll never get all of it out of here!" Kylia exclaimed. She stared at the two chests of coins in awe. "We're rich!"
"I'll go get the others," Drizzt said.
Soon the four of them were standing in the treasure room examining the chest. After a long discussion they decided to let the priest fetch the chests with magic. The money would be divided in four equal parts by the High priests with half of Shandra's and Tarion's share going to the temple. Gathering their things, they headed back to the city.
Once there they told the High priest and Captain everything that had occurred.
"You have done well, all of you. I'll alert the others about this vampiress, but I fear you have other business. This came for you," Varian said, handing a Shandra a scroll.
They left and gathered in Shandra's room to see what the message was. Shandra opened the scroll and read it then sighed. ":We definitely have other business that's almost as bad as the vampiress," she said.
"What sort of business?" Tarion asked.
"Our families insist we come home for an extended visit," Shandra sighed.
The End…
Look for Part Three! R/R please, but there will also be a sequel to A Ranger's Homecoming, because the plot bunnies won't stop biting my ankles until I start it! A big thank you to everyone for reading this!
