Del'rania struggled through the seas of oblivion, trying to escape its dark waters and the silvery voices that beckoned, tempting her as they did in her dreams. Finally she crawled onto the shore of consciousness with a gasp.
"Del'rania?" a distant voice called. "Del'rania? Keshrik slarr?" Goblan, but her mind was too fuzzy to translate the words.
"…uuuhhhh…" She tried to assess her surroundings. Everything was dark. Her eyes were shut, she realized, but she had no desire to open them. She was bobbing up and down, but even as she groaned she came to a stop.
"Vax slarr d'skum?" the voice insisted anxiously.
"…lemme alone," she managed to get out. Her head ached so much, and she was so exhausted…
There was a short pause. "Govan, please,"said the voice gently. "Vax slarr d'skum?"
Del'rania hunted for the meaning within the depths of her mind. Wish…you…to stop, she thought dully. It took a few moments to register. "What? Um…Tri?"
"Vax slarr d'skum," the voice repeated patiently.
Panic seized her. Her eyes snapped open with fear, and she cried out and shut them again as sun reflected off of mithral armor burned her eyes. "No, no, no, no," she moaned, rubbing her head into the metal as if to burrow away from unseen enemies. Although she spoke Drow, the voice seemed to understand. Once more she began to move, bobbing up and down with a clopping of hooves.
Bolts of pain shot through her head with every clop. Without a sound, she slipped back into the icy waters.
-
Riko eyed the darkness of the night uneasily, half-expecting another band of drow to leap out from the depths to kill them both. Makia nuzzled him affectionately, disturbed by her master's anxiety, and he absentmindedly patted her nose to clam her.
His eyes turned to the form of the drow, lying by the fire where he had carefully arranged her. It had been three days since the battle, and yet she had only stirred today. The necklace gleamed silver through the rags of her shirt.
The necklace. That was the key to everything, he was sure. That was what caused…whatever had happened to Del'rania that night. It was an eldritch item, a strange thing that seemed…holy, somehow. It frightened and fascinated him. It captured the moonshine in its silvery depths.
Despite his fears, he crept over to the unconscious Del'rania. Almost by its own accord, his hand reached for the shining disk…
A midnight hand shot out and snatched his hand from the disk, crushing it in a bone-crunching grip. He grunted in surprise and pain and tried to peel away her fingers, but it was like trying to bend steel.
A faint sound floated up from Del'rania, and, still trying to free himself, Riko looked down at her face. It lolled to one side, disturbing its pool of white hair. Long eyelashes fluttered uncertainly before slowly rising as she opening her eyes. She stared bemusedly at him, seeming not to see him.
"Suhl'arin jhi?"
"Excuse me?" he replied, forgetting to speak Goblan for a moment.
"Riali bisu noma…srasa maan?"
"Skosa Govan," he reminded her with a sigh. "Speak Goblan, I don't know your language, remember?"
She stared at him, seemingly uncomprehending. Then, "Srasa maan? Ah…ska kukrin?"
"Oh. Food?" he asked, relieved. "You want food?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, I want food," she snapped weakly. "I feel like I haven't eaten in days."
"You haven't. Well, not real food…I gave you water but I was afraid you'd choke on solids." He beckoned Makia over and took a loaf from her saddlebags. She snatched it from his hands and wolfed it down, then looked up expectantly at him.
For almost an hour she ate ravenously. Twice she tried to sit up, but did not have the strength to stay upright. "I feel like a three-year old drowling," she complained.
"Drowling?" he queried, raising one eyebrow. "That's what you call your children?"
"Yes," she replied, with the slightest hint of a challenge.
"Cute," he murmured, ignoring her bewildered look at the Common word.
After she finished, he squatted down beside her to look her in the eye. "Listen," he said, "We need to talk."
She avoided his gaze uncomfortably. "About what?"
"That." He pointed at the necklace.
Her hand rose protectively. "What about it?" she replied weakly.
"Del'rania…" He sighed. "That night…" He closed his eyes in memory. "I should have died that night. And you probably should have died, too. But we didn't. And somehow, I'm sure that the fact that we're still alive has something to do with that…necklace of yours."
"How do you know?" she challenged.
"Look, I woke up to see you glowing with silver fire healing my wounds," he cried, growing angry. "Are you a cleric, Del'rania, by any chance? Are you? No? I thought so. You've been hiding something all this time, and I haven't asked you about it so far—but enough is enough. You owe me an explanation."
"Oh? Since when have I owed you anything?" she quavered
It was a weak excuse, and they both knew it. For a moment Riko was rendered wordless with fury. "I rescued you from the slave market," he began, trying to keep a hold on his temper, "I promised to take you to a place of refuge—fed you my food—fought by your side instead of fleeing on Makia—nearly died, for that matter, fighting for you—and kept traveling with you instead of abandoning you for the last three days, even though it meant tying you to my back! Heironeous shield and protect me! And you have the, the arrogance to demand what you owe me? For the last time, WHAT IS THAT NECKLACE?" The last part came out as a shout despite himself. Del'rania quailed before his wrath, half-raising her hands to fend him off.
Riko stared at her, prostrate and still trying to shrink away, and forced himself to relax. Slowly the anger drained out of him, leaving him tired and exhausted. "Sorry," he muttered, barely loud enough for her to hear. "These last few days, they haven't been… sorry." He took a deep breath. "I'll ask you again—what is that necklace?"
Silence for a few tense moments. Finally Del'rania mumbled, almost ashamedly, "I don't know."
Riko eyed her suspiciously. "What?"
"I don't know," she repeated.
He paused uncertainly. "Then…where did you get it?"
"Stole it. From a dragon's hoard."
"You stole it from a dragon's hoard?"
"Well. Sorta. The dragon was dead…"
"Who killed it?"
"A small army sent from Zorin'zaal."
"From where?"
"It's…a city. Of drow. Underground. Where I'm from." Del'rania lapsed into silence.
Riko considered for a moment. "Look, just start from the beginning," he sighed, "Just tell me about the damn necklace and how you got it."
Del'rania looked down. "Well…It started when the Council began gathering a small army to attack a nearby red dragon…"
"Council?—no, never mind…"
"The most powerful kismatai in the city," Del'rania recited, "led by Most Holy Archpriestess Janarelle, Blessed in the Eyes of—gaak!" She broke off, coughing, twisting on the ground. Riko bent over her, worried, but she waved him off as she recovered.
"It—was done—all in secret—" she wheezed. "They were—looking for—good fighters—good wizards—good sneaks…" She paused to take a deep breath. "Anyway, I was—I am—quite a good sneak, if I may say so myself. I was employed by House Sus'sarin—they drafted me for the effort.
"They promised us great rewards if we pulled off this job, even though they didn't even tell us what the job was at the time. Gave us all sorts of magic gear, or enchanted our weapons for us—I had a nice little blade at the time, they got some spellslinger to magic it for me—then rounded us in one huge room to tell us what our job was.
"This red dragon lived many miles away. Huge bastard, monstrous wyrm—anyway, we were essentially being hired to assassinate the dragon. Fighters were separated from spellslingers, and then we sneaks were split up into a bunch of different groups, little squads headed by particularly skilled sneaks, sometimes assassins. We were going to be teleported into the dragon's lair—"
"Wait a minute," Riko interrupted. "They were going to teleport you into the dragon's lair? Wouldn't that be suicide?"
"They were going to lure the dragon out first. I dunno how. It'd been impinging on Zorin'zaal territory—maybe they were going to try to make a 'truce' with it or something. It doesn't really matter.
"So we were teleported to the dragon's cave—oh, wait. Before they did that, they told us not to touch anything from the hoard. We would get our share later."
"Smart. A dragon can sense when someone steals from it, I believe."
"Really? Facinating," Del'rania said, showing little sign of interest. "So we all hid in the hoard room, and waited for the dragon to come back." She closed her eyes, seeming to remember, before continuing.
The cavern was completely dark, black but for the few glowing lichens growing on the walls. All around the room she could see the others, spread out along the many ledges, hiding in crevices. She shivered and pressed herself closer against the wall, wishing for the dragon to return so they could do their job. Beneath them lay the dragon's hoard, tauntingly close…yet forbidden by the Council. Think of afterwards, she told herself. This will make all of us wealthy drow. Think of afterwards.
Suddenly she perked her ears up. Footsteps, heavy footsteps, far off. Dragon's returning, she signed to Kal'ruhn, who nodded and passed the message on.
It was still a long time before the dragon came. Monstrous and majestic, a terribly beautiful creature the reddest of red. She found herself admiring the creature in spite of herself. The dragon climbed onto its golden bed, magnificent power incarnate.
Abruptly it tensed. Its eyes, hot pools of lava, narrowed suspiciously. That long, serpentine neck twisted around and around as it sniffed out the intruders. Prepare for attack, signed Kal'ruhn. Get ready… "Now!" he shouted, as the dragon came right below them.
They leapt out from their hiding places, landing agilely on the dragon's back to plunge their weapons as best they could into its scaly hide. More and more, the bands of sneaks and fighters poured out from their crevices and ledges to launch themselves at the dragon, until the great wyrm was covered with hundreds of dark figures. The monster roared in pain and anger, shaking itself and clawing at the drow.
Distracted, the dragon did not see the Gate opening until too late. Spellslingers swarmed forth with fireballs and lightning, acid clouds and force missiles. The dragon opened its mouth as if to yawn, and blew a flower of fire at the oncoming mages.
She cried, covering her eyes at the sudden light. Beneath her she could feel the dragon moving, stretching itself out. Suddenly it shook itself, like an earthquake beneath her feet. Instantly she was flung from its back, to fall with a grunt in the golden sea below.
Slowly she collected herself, moaning with pain. The hoard had softened her fall somewhat, yet her body still ached all over. Laboriously she pulled herself to her feet. A few feet away shone her rapier. Aching at each step, she stumbled over to pull it from the hoard. She cast her eyes about the room, ignoring the ongoing battle, looking for a nice crevice to hide in and lick her wounds.
Abruptly she froze in her steps. Somewhere, something…called. Shaking, she turned slowly and jerkily walked to a silver gleam amidst the gold.
It was not a shard of silver, but rather an ornate piece of jewelry. Mesmerized by the necklace, she picked it up and examined it carefully, rejoicing in every little detail. Around her, the chaos seemed to freeze and melt away. With trembling hands, she lifted it to her neck, and the ends melded beneath her fingers.
"Then what happened?"
"I ran."
She pounded through the caverns and caves of the Underdark, not knowing where she ran, only knowing that she must flee. Somehow she knew which paths to choose; something guided her steps. A strange, crazed energy thrummed through her veins, driving her ever onwards.
Finally, after hours of running, she found herself climbing up through tunnels to burst out at last onto the surface, to collapse a few feet from the entrance to the Underdark. She stared in wonder all around her at the strangeness of the surface world. Everywhere was green. Tall green moss covered the ground. Huge plants of gray and brown and white loomed above her, covered by an explosion of greenery that grew from the stems and branches. Stringy lichen twisted around the giant plants and hung from their branches. Light lanced through the canopy of green, burning her eyes. Exhausted, she curled up beneath one of the large plants and fell asleep.
Riko stared at her in bewilderment. "Tall green moss? Giant plants? Stringy lichen? What in the name of Heironeous are you talking about?"
Del'rania gave him an exasperated look. "You know…trees, grass, vines, that stuff. Only I didn't know what they were."
"Oh." He reddened, feeling slightly foolish for some reason. Of course she wouldn't have known what a tree was. "Well…carry on…"
When she awoke, she traveled on. They would follow her, she knew; being on the surface would deter Them for a while, but eventually they would continue the chase aboveground. She was lost, tired, hungry, but it was of utmost importance to get away from the Underdark as fast as possible…
For days she traveled, sleeping only when too tired to travel. Hunger drove her to try whatever looked edible, though she could not tell the poison from the safe fruits. The second time she slept, she had awoken, startled, knowing something was wrong. Something crackled a distance away. Five or six drow, looking for something. Looking for her. They had found her. She ran, vanishing into the forest before they could sense she was near.
"You awoke, knowing something was wrong? Is this connected to whatever told you those other drow were coming, the other night? Is it, Del'rania?"
"No!" she cried, so vehemently that he knew she was lying. "No, it had nothing to do with that!"
The hunt continued, day after day. She was growing desperate, now. They drew closer, with each passing day. And she was growing weaker, too. Exhaustion was taking its toll on her, and something she ate had mildly sickened her. Water, too, was scarce, as she came across a brook or a stream only every few days, so she was constantly thirsty, too…
And then one day, she awoke yet again, knowing they were close. She fled blindly into the greenery, hearing their shouting behind her. Desperation gave her strength, and she ran on and on, knowing the chase would end today…
But just as she began to tire, new sounds began to reach her ears. Sounds of shouting, laughing, talking. Sounds of people other than her hunters. Sounds of hope. Adrenaline gave her a new burst of energy, and wearily she turned her steps towards the voices.
Yet even as she drew close to the noise, she could hear them nearing. They might still reach her before she got to the others. Terror seized her and she forced herself to move faster.
Suddenly a human stepped out of nowhere, shining in his armor. He looked as startled by her as she was by him. Drawing his sword, he shouted what sounded like a warning to someone nearby.
She threw herself at his feet. "Please," she begged, sobbing for breath, "Please, you've got to help me, they're coming…" As she tried to pull herself upright, she heard a clack behind her, the clack of a crossbow. With a scream she threw herself to the ground once more. A crossbow bolt bloomed at the man's throat, and she scrambled past him as he fell to the ground. Men were shouting, running, making their way towards her even as her pursuers burst forth from the undergrowth. With a final burst of energy, she stumbled the last few steps into the human encampment. Humans surrounded her, staring at her in shock as she fell to her knees and then hit the ground with a sigh, fainting from exhaustion.
She drifted in and out of consciousness for a long time. Humans stood over her, arguing angrily in their strange tongue. A man crouched over her, rubbing his hand and cursing violently (from the sound of his voice). Someone forced a spoon between her lips, and a warm something trickled down her throat.
Finally she awoke completely. She was lying against a cold, metallic surface, covered in a thin blanket. Slowly, in a daze, she sat up, staring in bewilderment about her. Bars surrounded her, the bars of a metal cage bouncing up and down on a wagon. Other wagons rolled alongside her, wagons filled with miserable looking creatures chained together—humans, goblins, halflings, even some of the loathed lightskin elves. Realization dawned upon her, and she screamed a wordless scream of anguish, shaking the bars of her cage in impotent fury. This was a slave cavern, and she was a slave.
"So that was how the slavers found you."
"Yeah, I found them."
The corner of his mouth twitched in spite of himself. "Of course you did," he soothed. "Look, it's getting rather late, and you still look pretty tired…I'll take first watch, and Makia can take second, and tomorrow we'll go on a three-watch schedule, okay? You get your sleep." He got up and moved a short distance away, drawing his sword and eyeing the horizon.
Barely a minute later, he heard Del'rania shifting around. "Something wrong?" he asked, turning to look at her.
"Riko?" she asked, sounding uneasy.
"Yeah?"
"…Thanks."
"What?"
"Just…thanks." She rolled over without another word, and within minutes she was asleep.
Okay, I hope you enjoyed the flashback in this chapter! That's one of the reasons why I took so long. Originally Del'rania told her story through a conversation with Riko, but only after I finished it did I think, "Hey…it'd be pretty cool to do a flashback!" But then I had very little time to do it until today. Parent-teacher conferences tomorrow, baby! The other reason is that I FINALLY got through to FictionPress and got my account. Yay! Although I enjoy writing fanfiction, I generally prefer to write my own original fiction. So I've also been dividing up my already-written stories into chapters and uploading them on the main computer downstairs, which is frequently occupied by my parents. And now I'll take the opportunity to shamelessly plug myself. PLUG! No, seriously, I would appreciate it very much if you went and read my stories, since I think they're better than this fic. My pen name is Lady Storyteller, and though of course it's your decision I will love you forever if you do read my stories. Of course, I already love you guys forever, since you've actually taken the time to read what I write and review…mwah. Big huggles, guys. hugs everyone