Author's Note: Introducing a new character! I hope everybody's enjoying
the story! I'm still looking for chapter titles, so if anybody has any
ideas, feel free to put them in your reviews!!!
Chapter Thirty Eight
Phalyssa woke, an indeterminable amount of time later, her head pounding fiercely. "What happened?" she wondered aloud, quietly. She peered around, taking in her surroundings. She was in a crude tent, with Ambermist. Their arms and legs were shackled with metal bands that hummed with magic energies.
Thinking back, the teen remembered waking up in the meeting house, and giant rat men barging in. She had been ready to fight when a large light had filled the room. After that, everything was blank.
"Psst! Ambermist!"
"Oooo." Ambermist groaned and opened her eyes. "Ow.What happened?" she asked groggily, attempting to sit up. Her swollen stomach made it very difficult though.
Phalyssa helped as best she could. "We've been kidnapped, I think. By those wererats."
Ambermist snarled, "Great."
The two struggled for ten minutes to escape the bindings, but to no avail. The bands were magicked against escape. The duo began entertaining various plans to win back their freedom. They even attempted to deceive one of the werewolf guards. He snarled menacingly and threatened them with all sorts of harm.
After he left the tent, Phalyssa turned to regard Ambermist. "When we get free, do you wanna kill him?"
The thief grinned broadly. "We'll castrate him first. Chop off his nuts and make him eat them."
Phalyssa giggled wickedly. "Okay!"
* * * * * *
Jea woke early-sort of. Considering the fact that the two hours of sleep she had gotten were plagued by nightmares, it was more: she was up late. Washing quickly, the ranger woke her husband.
The group hooked up with Barak, who was dressed in personalized chain mail, complete with a helmet designed for his bear form. The five began tracking the rats through the thick forest. They traveled over a week in the woods, always two steps behind the evil weres. When they reached a mountain range, Barak explained that the long chain divided the island in half, and that the Werewolf/Wererat village was on the other side. He led them to a narrow passage way, and guided the party through the range.
* * * * * *
After being led along for two and a half weeks, Ambermist and Phalyssa were tired, cranky, and pissed. They were fuming darkly about all the unpleasant things they wished to perform on their captors, when they broke through the tree line into open ground. Phalyssa was taking in the new surroundings in surprise when pain flared at the back of her skull, and she lapsed into darkness.
When she fought her way back to consciousness, she was in the dark. Touching her head gingerly, she rose painfully to inspect her location. She was in a very dim dungeon cell, one damp and mossy with age. The rooms only company was the bright white skeleton of what could have only been a weregryphon, long since dead.
Carefully, she picked her way over to the heavy wooden door and peeked through the grating. A fat wererat guard was outside, leaning back against the wall, drinking.
The silver haired teen looked at the skeleton. Suddenly, an ingenious idea crept into her mind. Rummaging through the bones, she helped herself to a nice long femur. With a bit of twisting and effort on her part, she managed to mount the skull with is wicked eagle's beak onto the thigh bone- creating an ugly, makeshift mace. Inspecting it, the girl still wasn't satisfied.
She sorted through the bones a second time, and grinned evilly as she found the thing's claws. Brow furrowed in concentration, she wedged several of the curved talons in various crevasses of the skull, even going so far as to bore a hole in the top with one. The end result was a heavy, spiked mace-that would damage werecreatures.
Smiling at her handiwork, Phalyssa checked out the door's hinges, determining the way it would open. Choosing her spot carefully out of sight, she called, "Hey, Ugly! Guess what?!" When the rat snuffled in response, Phalyssa added one of the most venomous insults ever used by her mother. (Jea had instructed Phalyssa on insults-after all, if you make your enemy angry, he makes mistakes.)
Jea's advice rang true. The rodent squealed in fury and scurried over to the door. Swinging it open, he charged into attack her-only to get brained from behind by Phalyssa.
The youth had brought her full strength to bear on the lycanthrope, and his brains were now oozing out of his ears. Irritably, she hit him a few more times for good measure, and rifled through his belongings.
With a quiet, "Yes!" of victory, she pocketed the dungeon keys and a handful of coins. Cautiously, she left the cell and shut the door quietly behind her.
The hallway was empty, and monotonous stone walls were interspaced evenly with doors on both sides. Phalyssa was at the end of the hall, and she noticed the wall behind her curved slightly. She was in a sort of underground tower.
Creeping quietly, the girl went systematically down the corridor, opening each door and investigating the rooms, seeking Ambermist.
She found a few more skeletons and a nice ornate bone knife in the first four rooms, but no Ambermist. The hallway ahead was broken by a passage on the left. The hallway she was in continued passed that for another 15 feet before ending. Peeking around the corner, she saw four wererats.
Leaning back against the wall, out of sight, she thought for a long moment. She wasn't strong enough to take them all on at once. She would have to come up with another plan. An idea came to her, and she crept back to the corpse of the wererat she'd killed. Using her new knife, she cut the tail and head off the body. Taking a burned out torch off the wall, she arranged the items with barely hidden glee. As she headed back to the intersection, the teenager cast an illusion on herself, creating the image of a gruesome phantom.
Imitating eerie spirit noises, Phalyssa stepped around the corner. The four rodents stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds. Then two of them broke and ran, and a third collapsed to the ground in a fetal position, terrified.
The last rat man moved to investigate and Phalyssa simply used her makeshift mace on him. Then she busted the skull of his whining friend.
Dusting her hands off, Phalyssa dropped the spell and her gory theatrics tool. She searched the rest of the level, but Ambermist wasn't there. She then found the stairwell and went up.
* * * * * *
Two and a half weeks later, the rescue party reached the edge of the city. It was midday and they were hidden in the brush, discussing plans.
After a while Jea turned to Barak and said, "Tell me, Barak: How good are you at diversions?"
The werebear's feral grin was answer enough.
* * * * * *
After opening the first half dozen cell doors on the second floor, Phalyssa was a little frustrated. She reached the next door wearily and began to undo the lock. Her ears perked up when she heard rustling inside.
"Ambermist?" she hissed querulously.
"Phalyssa?!" The teen almost laughed in relief at the sound of the thief's voice.
"Yeah, it's me! Hang on and I'll let you out!" Phalyssa eagerly turned the key.
The pregnant elf exited the cell, an animal legbone in her hand. Looking at the items Phalyssa was carrying, she grinned. "Where'd you get the keys?"
The silver haired teen smiled maliciously. "I tried out some of Mom's insults on a guard."
"Ooo..Ugly.And the knife?"
"Found it in a cell. They took my armor and sword, so I had to substitute."
Ambermist considered that a moment. "Do ya think there might be more toys in the other cells?"
"I dunno. We could look," Phalyssa replied with a shrug.
The two worked their way through the rooms. Ambermist managed to get her hands on some nice bracers, and a mace, in one of them, but most were devoid of anything except old, mossy bones. At the end of the hall, however, they found something most peculiar.
Phalyssa opened the door and looked around. She thought the room was empty and was about to leave when she heard a quiet whimper. Her eyes narrowed, and she grabbed the torch from the wall.
Bringing the light into the room, she investigated the noise. Over in the far corner, someone was huddled, looking very much like a pile of rags.
Phalyssa walked over and spoke hesitantly. "Hello? Are you okay?" She put a hand gently on the person's shoulders.
The person flinched slightly and turned to face her. She found herself staring into a pair of catlike amber-green eyes. She smiled reassuringly. "Hi. I'm Phalyssa. What's your name?"
The person tried to speak, and had to attempt it several times before a harsh croak of "I'm Aruka," could be understood.
"Well, Aruka, would you like to come with us? We're gonna get out of here," Phalyssa said gently.
Aruka nodded and rose with difficulty to his feet. With a start, Phalyssa realized what sounded and looked like a child was actually a youth her age. He was roughly 6'4" with a torso that seemed overlong. Dressed in rags that barely met the standards of decency, he was beyond gaunt-he was starving. You could count all of his bones, and see ever knob and scar on his skin. His skin seemed extra hairy, but was so caked with dirt and filth it was hard to tell. His hair, which hung down his back and was matted, seemed a dull reddish brown. His most fascinating features were his face-and tail. His nose was pink, and catlike, with whiskers, black lips, and sharp teeth. His ears poked out from his hair and twitched independently. They were pointed and furry. He had a dexterous lion's tail, one that kept swishing and twitching.
Phalyssa smiled at the lion youth. "C'mon let's go."
Aruka followed her hesitantly, shadowing her footsteps. As they stepped out of the room, Ambermist asked, "Who's he?"
Aruka panicked, so scared that he practically tried to climb inside Phalyssa's skin. He whimpered as Phalyssa put a hand up on his shoulder to reassure him. "It's okay. That's Ambermist-she's a friend."
Aruka made a small sound. "Weally? You suwe?" When she nodded, he said, "Okay." He spoke with a slight lisp.
Phalyssa introduced the two, then looked at Aruka. "We may to fight our way outta here. Do you need a weapon?"
Something in his eyes changed, briefly. "No," he said, his voice suddenly an octave deeper and missing the lisp. "I have something to use." Concentrating, he stared intently at his hands. The two females watched as his form changed, growing larger and more animal like. His hands warped into sharp clawed elongated hands. Grinning around a mouthful of sharp teeth, he growled, "See? Let's go!" On the last word, the childish edge returned to his voice.
* * * * * *
The trio crept along the halls, keeping a steady lookout for guards, and checking the cells for more prisoners. They found nothing, except more bones-not even the rats dwelled here.
It was by complete accident that they stumbled upon the secret door. Phalyssa had leaned against the wall to rest, and the section vanished into thin air. She fell back with a startled gasp, staggering to maintain her balance. Aruka and Ambermist poked their heads in, and then entered cautiously. Carefully they checked out the room. It had not been accessed in quite some time; the layer of dust coating everything was over an inch thick.
There was a small area in the center of the floor where there was no dust. In it sat a small pile of gems and gold, atop which rested a chest. It was a simple, plain wooden construct, with a thick, intricate lock on it.
Ambermist gleefully rushed towards the goodies, the two teens following slowly. She grabbed the lock on the chest; it was designed to resemble a cobra, with its mouth as the keyhole, and its tail the curved lock piece (you know, the part on a padlock shaped like an upside down U.)
Using her lockpicks, she worked vigorously on the padlock. Hearing a satisfying click, the thief grinned excitedly. Dropping the lock, she started to open the lid.
.Only to drop it with a squeak as a snake tried to bite her. Panting, she stepped back. "Shit!"
Phalyssa whistled appreciatively. "Ugly."
Aruka stared curiously over Phalyssa's shoulder. "How could it still be alive if this place has been empty so long?" he asked quietly.
Phalyssa narrowed her eyes at the chest. "I think it's magicked. I say each of us give it a try."
Ambermist shrugged. "I guess I used my turn. Aruka, go ahead."
The nervous teen crept towards the wooden box. As he touched the lid, a warning hiss issued from within. Backing up in fear, he murmured, "Youw tuwn," to the silver haired girl.
Shrugging, the daughter of Jea and Laguna grabbed the lid, ready to grab the snake. Deftly flipping back the top, she jerked in surprise. An ethereal serpant lay curled in the bottom of the chest. It peered at her.
*Greetingsss,* it hissed in her mind. *Sssoo, you have been found worthy, Chosen One. Call uss, child, and we ssshall hear.* The snake faded into a pale smoke and disappeared into an item in the bottom of the chest.
Reaching in, she pulled out a shiny amulet. The thin silver links of the chain were smooth and cool, and the amulet itself was a snake, twined about itself, with crystal emerald eyes.
Slipping it over her head, Phalyssa turned to her companions. "Okay, let's go."
They exited the room-but not before Ambermist had shoved the gold and gems into her pockets.
Chapter Thirty Eight
Phalyssa woke, an indeterminable amount of time later, her head pounding fiercely. "What happened?" she wondered aloud, quietly. She peered around, taking in her surroundings. She was in a crude tent, with Ambermist. Their arms and legs were shackled with metal bands that hummed with magic energies.
Thinking back, the teen remembered waking up in the meeting house, and giant rat men barging in. She had been ready to fight when a large light had filled the room. After that, everything was blank.
"Psst! Ambermist!"
"Oooo." Ambermist groaned and opened her eyes. "Ow.What happened?" she asked groggily, attempting to sit up. Her swollen stomach made it very difficult though.
Phalyssa helped as best she could. "We've been kidnapped, I think. By those wererats."
Ambermist snarled, "Great."
The two struggled for ten minutes to escape the bindings, but to no avail. The bands were magicked against escape. The duo began entertaining various plans to win back their freedom. They even attempted to deceive one of the werewolf guards. He snarled menacingly and threatened them with all sorts of harm.
After he left the tent, Phalyssa turned to regard Ambermist. "When we get free, do you wanna kill him?"
The thief grinned broadly. "We'll castrate him first. Chop off his nuts and make him eat them."
Phalyssa giggled wickedly. "Okay!"
* * * * * *
Jea woke early-sort of. Considering the fact that the two hours of sleep she had gotten were plagued by nightmares, it was more: she was up late. Washing quickly, the ranger woke her husband.
The group hooked up with Barak, who was dressed in personalized chain mail, complete with a helmet designed for his bear form. The five began tracking the rats through the thick forest. They traveled over a week in the woods, always two steps behind the evil weres. When they reached a mountain range, Barak explained that the long chain divided the island in half, and that the Werewolf/Wererat village was on the other side. He led them to a narrow passage way, and guided the party through the range.
* * * * * *
After being led along for two and a half weeks, Ambermist and Phalyssa were tired, cranky, and pissed. They were fuming darkly about all the unpleasant things they wished to perform on their captors, when they broke through the tree line into open ground. Phalyssa was taking in the new surroundings in surprise when pain flared at the back of her skull, and she lapsed into darkness.
When she fought her way back to consciousness, she was in the dark. Touching her head gingerly, she rose painfully to inspect her location. She was in a very dim dungeon cell, one damp and mossy with age. The rooms only company was the bright white skeleton of what could have only been a weregryphon, long since dead.
Carefully, she picked her way over to the heavy wooden door and peeked through the grating. A fat wererat guard was outside, leaning back against the wall, drinking.
The silver haired teen looked at the skeleton. Suddenly, an ingenious idea crept into her mind. Rummaging through the bones, she helped herself to a nice long femur. With a bit of twisting and effort on her part, she managed to mount the skull with is wicked eagle's beak onto the thigh bone- creating an ugly, makeshift mace. Inspecting it, the girl still wasn't satisfied.
She sorted through the bones a second time, and grinned evilly as she found the thing's claws. Brow furrowed in concentration, she wedged several of the curved talons in various crevasses of the skull, even going so far as to bore a hole in the top with one. The end result was a heavy, spiked mace-that would damage werecreatures.
Smiling at her handiwork, Phalyssa checked out the door's hinges, determining the way it would open. Choosing her spot carefully out of sight, she called, "Hey, Ugly! Guess what?!" When the rat snuffled in response, Phalyssa added one of the most venomous insults ever used by her mother. (Jea had instructed Phalyssa on insults-after all, if you make your enemy angry, he makes mistakes.)
Jea's advice rang true. The rodent squealed in fury and scurried over to the door. Swinging it open, he charged into attack her-only to get brained from behind by Phalyssa.
The youth had brought her full strength to bear on the lycanthrope, and his brains were now oozing out of his ears. Irritably, she hit him a few more times for good measure, and rifled through his belongings.
With a quiet, "Yes!" of victory, she pocketed the dungeon keys and a handful of coins. Cautiously, she left the cell and shut the door quietly behind her.
The hallway was empty, and monotonous stone walls were interspaced evenly with doors on both sides. Phalyssa was at the end of the hall, and she noticed the wall behind her curved slightly. She was in a sort of underground tower.
Creeping quietly, the girl went systematically down the corridor, opening each door and investigating the rooms, seeking Ambermist.
She found a few more skeletons and a nice ornate bone knife in the first four rooms, but no Ambermist. The hallway ahead was broken by a passage on the left. The hallway she was in continued passed that for another 15 feet before ending. Peeking around the corner, she saw four wererats.
Leaning back against the wall, out of sight, she thought for a long moment. She wasn't strong enough to take them all on at once. She would have to come up with another plan. An idea came to her, and she crept back to the corpse of the wererat she'd killed. Using her new knife, she cut the tail and head off the body. Taking a burned out torch off the wall, she arranged the items with barely hidden glee. As she headed back to the intersection, the teenager cast an illusion on herself, creating the image of a gruesome phantom.
Imitating eerie spirit noises, Phalyssa stepped around the corner. The four rodents stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds. Then two of them broke and ran, and a third collapsed to the ground in a fetal position, terrified.
The last rat man moved to investigate and Phalyssa simply used her makeshift mace on him. Then she busted the skull of his whining friend.
Dusting her hands off, Phalyssa dropped the spell and her gory theatrics tool. She searched the rest of the level, but Ambermist wasn't there. She then found the stairwell and went up.
* * * * * *
Two and a half weeks later, the rescue party reached the edge of the city. It was midday and they were hidden in the brush, discussing plans.
After a while Jea turned to Barak and said, "Tell me, Barak: How good are you at diversions?"
The werebear's feral grin was answer enough.
* * * * * *
After opening the first half dozen cell doors on the second floor, Phalyssa was a little frustrated. She reached the next door wearily and began to undo the lock. Her ears perked up when she heard rustling inside.
"Ambermist?" she hissed querulously.
"Phalyssa?!" The teen almost laughed in relief at the sound of the thief's voice.
"Yeah, it's me! Hang on and I'll let you out!" Phalyssa eagerly turned the key.
The pregnant elf exited the cell, an animal legbone in her hand. Looking at the items Phalyssa was carrying, she grinned. "Where'd you get the keys?"
The silver haired teen smiled maliciously. "I tried out some of Mom's insults on a guard."
"Ooo..Ugly.And the knife?"
"Found it in a cell. They took my armor and sword, so I had to substitute."
Ambermist considered that a moment. "Do ya think there might be more toys in the other cells?"
"I dunno. We could look," Phalyssa replied with a shrug.
The two worked their way through the rooms. Ambermist managed to get her hands on some nice bracers, and a mace, in one of them, but most were devoid of anything except old, mossy bones. At the end of the hall, however, they found something most peculiar.
Phalyssa opened the door and looked around. She thought the room was empty and was about to leave when she heard a quiet whimper. Her eyes narrowed, and she grabbed the torch from the wall.
Bringing the light into the room, she investigated the noise. Over in the far corner, someone was huddled, looking very much like a pile of rags.
Phalyssa walked over and spoke hesitantly. "Hello? Are you okay?" She put a hand gently on the person's shoulders.
The person flinched slightly and turned to face her. She found herself staring into a pair of catlike amber-green eyes. She smiled reassuringly. "Hi. I'm Phalyssa. What's your name?"
The person tried to speak, and had to attempt it several times before a harsh croak of "I'm Aruka," could be understood.
"Well, Aruka, would you like to come with us? We're gonna get out of here," Phalyssa said gently.
Aruka nodded and rose with difficulty to his feet. With a start, Phalyssa realized what sounded and looked like a child was actually a youth her age. He was roughly 6'4" with a torso that seemed overlong. Dressed in rags that barely met the standards of decency, he was beyond gaunt-he was starving. You could count all of his bones, and see ever knob and scar on his skin. His skin seemed extra hairy, but was so caked with dirt and filth it was hard to tell. His hair, which hung down his back and was matted, seemed a dull reddish brown. His most fascinating features were his face-and tail. His nose was pink, and catlike, with whiskers, black lips, and sharp teeth. His ears poked out from his hair and twitched independently. They were pointed and furry. He had a dexterous lion's tail, one that kept swishing and twitching.
Phalyssa smiled at the lion youth. "C'mon let's go."
Aruka followed her hesitantly, shadowing her footsteps. As they stepped out of the room, Ambermist asked, "Who's he?"
Aruka panicked, so scared that he practically tried to climb inside Phalyssa's skin. He whimpered as Phalyssa put a hand up on his shoulder to reassure him. "It's okay. That's Ambermist-she's a friend."
Aruka made a small sound. "Weally? You suwe?" When she nodded, he said, "Okay." He spoke with a slight lisp.
Phalyssa introduced the two, then looked at Aruka. "We may to fight our way outta here. Do you need a weapon?"
Something in his eyes changed, briefly. "No," he said, his voice suddenly an octave deeper and missing the lisp. "I have something to use." Concentrating, he stared intently at his hands. The two females watched as his form changed, growing larger and more animal like. His hands warped into sharp clawed elongated hands. Grinning around a mouthful of sharp teeth, he growled, "See? Let's go!" On the last word, the childish edge returned to his voice.
* * * * * *
The trio crept along the halls, keeping a steady lookout for guards, and checking the cells for more prisoners. They found nothing, except more bones-not even the rats dwelled here.
It was by complete accident that they stumbled upon the secret door. Phalyssa had leaned against the wall to rest, and the section vanished into thin air. She fell back with a startled gasp, staggering to maintain her balance. Aruka and Ambermist poked their heads in, and then entered cautiously. Carefully they checked out the room. It had not been accessed in quite some time; the layer of dust coating everything was over an inch thick.
There was a small area in the center of the floor where there was no dust. In it sat a small pile of gems and gold, atop which rested a chest. It was a simple, plain wooden construct, with a thick, intricate lock on it.
Ambermist gleefully rushed towards the goodies, the two teens following slowly. She grabbed the lock on the chest; it was designed to resemble a cobra, with its mouth as the keyhole, and its tail the curved lock piece (you know, the part on a padlock shaped like an upside down U.)
Using her lockpicks, she worked vigorously on the padlock. Hearing a satisfying click, the thief grinned excitedly. Dropping the lock, she started to open the lid.
.Only to drop it with a squeak as a snake tried to bite her. Panting, she stepped back. "Shit!"
Phalyssa whistled appreciatively. "Ugly."
Aruka stared curiously over Phalyssa's shoulder. "How could it still be alive if this place has been empty so long?" he asked quietly.
Phalyssa narrowed her eyes at the chest. "I think it's magicked. I say each of us give it a try."
Ambermist shrugged. "I guess I used my turn. Aruka, go ahead."
The nervous teen crept towards the wooden box. As he touched the lid, a warning hiss issued from within. Backing up in fear, he murmured, "Youw tuwn," to the silver haired girl.
Shrugging, the daughter of Jea and Laguna grabbed the lid, ready to grab the snake. Deftly flipping back the top, she jerked in surprise. An ethereal serpant lay curled in the bottom of the chest. It peered at her.
*Greetingsss,* it hissed in her mind. *Sssoo, you have been found worthy, Chosen One. Call uss, child, and we ssshall hear.* The snake faded into a pale smoke and disappeared into an item in the bottom of the chest.
Reaching in, she pulled out a shiny amulet. The thin silver links of the chain were smooth and cool, and the amulet itself was a snake, twined about itself, with crystal emerald eyes.
Slipping it over her head, Phalyssa turned to her companions. "Okay, let's go."
They exited the room-but not before Ambermist had shoved the gold and gems into her pockets.