Disclaimer--I do not own the forgotten realms setting, but I do own the characters used within the story. In other words, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THEM! I SWEAR I'LL SIT ON YOU!
AIDEN'S FLAME
A.N.--OK, there was a mistake in my postings, as I posted chapter 4 in place of chapter 3. I apoligize for this, and would like to say that anyone who would like to know what was going on in chapters 5-6, or is 6-7 now, should go back and read chapter 3, which on fan fiction will be displayed as chapter 4. I think... For the writers out there, DON'T USE PROLOGUES ON 7
As he had expected, finding the arcane vendor was the easy part. Even as he walked in, he knew the man wasn't going to be easy.
"Well met," he said to the man in the dark shop. It was near dusk now, but the shop showed no signs of closing.
"You are no wizard," said the man. "You have the potential, but you are yet untamed."
"You are correct, I am not," Aiden replied. "But nonetheless, there are some items I must have." He handed the wizard the list.
"Why should I sell to you?" he asked.
Aiden removed a jingling bag of coins from his belt. "Because I can pay."
"What use have I for your money?" the wizard asked. Aiden sighed.
"What do you want?"
"It is not what I want, but what they want," the wizard replied.
Two shadows shifted behind the wizard, breaking from the wall and taking on form of their own. Drow form.
"Your job is done, human," said one, pulling a dagger and starting toward the wizard.
Aiden reacted quicker than the stunned wizard, pulling a dagger from its sheath and throwing it directly in the drow's throat.
The other dark elf was already shooting his crossbow at random in the area where Aiden had been, but Aiden was not there.
He had rolled over the counter before the first shot had been fired. Now he was within reach of the dark elf's drawn sword.
For reasons Aiden did not fully understand, he was in a rage. This fight had truly angered him, but why? He jumped and kicked the flat of the blade, pushing it out of the way.
Aiden punched twice, once to the face then once to the solar plexus. The drow doubled over and dropped his sword as Aiden kneed him in the face. The dark elf went down, unconscious.
He turned back to the wizard, who had just shot a fire ball at the first drow and said, "My contract states that I must kill you." He held up both hands as Aiden took up a defensive posture. "However, seeing as how my contractors are dead by our hand after trying to kill me, I believe my contract to be negated.
"Whatever you need is yours, elf….For a price."
Zenalic had been drawing the different levels of the building and all the rooms she remembered for some time when she heard the creek of the door. Assuming it was Aiden, she only glanced at the door…Where a drow stood, already chanting a spell.
She had nearly turned away before she realized what she'd seen. Jumping up, she did the first thing she could think of. She threw the chair at the drow and began her own spell.
The chair hit the dark elf, but he continued casting, almost unfazed.
They finished their spells at precisely the same instant, and a huge fireball flew from her outstretched hand even as she felt his silence spell take hold of her.
The wizard called up a shield and managed not to be hurt by her spell, but it didn't matter.
She had donned the mail and blades after Aiden had left, and now she drew the sword, rushing forward before it was clear of its scabbard.
The drow fumbled with a blade of his own, but it was too late.
Her first swing, however untrained, took him in the throat. That alone would have killed him, but she did not stop. She slashed again and again, leaving a bloody heap on the floor. She stopped only when another drow walked in and took in the scene. He drew a sword of his own and started toward the silence-forced wizard.
She raised her sword in a defensive position and stood her ground. The only spell for battle she had was used up against the first dark elf. She could have cast some form of illusion, as there had been many of those in the two spell books, but they all required speech. So she had to face him, blade to blade.
He moved cautiously at first, afraid of her and her possible skill. When he was within ten paces, he charged her at full speed, attempting to startle her into inaction.
No such luck.
She blocked what she thought was his first strike, but realized it was a feint as he pulled back and swung for her exposed gut. Jumping back, she caught little more than the tip of the otherwise deadly slash, which only succeeded in placing a long gash in her tunic.
He jumped in and swung again, this time meeting her blade. As she blocked, Zenalic brought her knee up into the drow's groin. She took one hand from her sword and drew one of the daggers, immediately slashing up and through his piwafi.
He roared in anger and jumped back as his blood dripped to the floor.
Zenalic felt her voice return and cast a spell meant to light dark places that she had thought might do well against drow.
As the dark elf began to come in again, she finished her spell and a brilliant ball of pure white light flashed into existence in front of the drow. The light, only slightly uncomfortable to Zenalic's eyes, immediately blinded the drow with his keen, yet light sensitive, eyes.
He dropped his sword and threw both hands to his eyes as he blindly fumbled toward Zenalic. She replaced the dagger in its sheath and held the sword with both hands. As soon as the drow was in range, she slashed out with all her strength. Her aim true, his head toppled to the floor, accompanied by both of the dark elf's black-as-night hands.
She felt her stomach turn and quickly looked away. She had just killed two drow with a blade… She had killed before, but never with a blade, never so personal. All her life she had fought with her spells, and in this, her first fight with a blade, she had managed to slay two drow!
Aiden burst through the open door and looked around.
"I did not know you could use a blade this well," he said, setting another wrap, this one from the arcane shop, on the bed.
"My father demanded that if I was to be a wizard, I must first learn to wield a blade," she replied, still forcing herself not to vomit. "It has been long, and I am out of practice, but some things never leave your mind entirely."
"I see," Aiden replied calmly, having long left his spontaneous rage behind. "A wise man, then, your father. Let me retrieve the maid. I am sure they are quite used to this kind of…cleanup. You did well, Zen. Very well."
She looked into his eyes, so comforting and honest, and could not help but smile.
A.N.--Awww, aren't they just so cute with their drow-killing-ness? R&R!