Chapter 3
It was twilight when Tanis opened his eyes. Much of the moon and sky was covered by the thick treetops.
The half-elf's head throbbed with pain, and his clothes and boots were covered with patches of dirt and blades of grass. The last thing he remembered, was chasing down the orc, and stabbing it with his blade. Then he tripped on a large stone and rolled down the hill.
Before he had been knocked into a brief slumber, he saw a group of drow elves, donned in cloaks, approaching him.
Then the darkness took him.
Tanis quickly stood up, observing his surroundings. He stood in the middle of a short grassy area, surrounded by a circle of raised earth, topped with tall grass and tall ferns.
"I fell like I'm standing in a bowl," he whispered as his eyes spotted a large rock a few feet away from him. He reached down for his sword, but his fingers only found his scabbard.
"You are standing in the Dancing Dell, Tanis Grey," whispered a soft angelic voice from behind the half-elf.
Tanis turned to face the newcomer. She was a beautiful dark elf, dressed in a long silver gown that covered her slender body. Her silver hair was down to the small of her back, and in her left hand she held Wyrmclaw. "The Dancing Dell is a place for followers of the Dark Maiden gather to dance," the drow said with a smile.
Tanis had heard of Eilistraee, the Dancing Maiden from one of the clerics back at the Hall of Justice. According to what the rogue had told Tanis, the Dark Maiden was a good aligned drow goddess, who encouraged her dark elf followers to travel to the surface, and coexist with their surface cousins.
If what Tanis guessed was correct, than this drow female, was a priestess of Eilistraee.
"Milady, if it's not to bold to ask, can I have my sword back?" requested Tanis as he walked over to her.
The drow smiled and handed the sword back to Tanis. "This sword has quite a history. Seeing the blood stains on the blade, it looks like you're putting it to good use."
Tanis blushed as he placed the sword back in its scabbard. He looked at the drow and asked," So the dancing in this dell is some sort of ritual?"
The dark elf giggled and kissed his cheek. "You have many things to learn in Faerun Tanis Grey of Krynn. So far you have learned about religions, orcs, and walking statues in your travels. If you choose to stay in the dell, then you will witness a ritual that is rarely seen by male eyes."
The words spoken by this drow confused Tanis. How did she know who he was? And how did she know about him coming from another world. "Who are you?" he finally managed to ask.
"I am Quile Veldaron," she answered. "I am a high priestess of the Dark Maiden, as well as one of the Seven Sisters. You have been quite the talk amongst a few of the Chosen lately."
After hearing the drow speak once more, Tanis had more questions. He wanted to ask about the Seven Sisters, who he had briefly learned about back in Neverwinter.
Yet the half-elf never got a chance to ask, for as soon as he opened his mouth, more female dark elves emerged from the forest. Tanis watched in amazement as Quile and the other drow began to circle around the rock and sing.
Silver light slowly shot down from the sky, and a silver glow radiated from the rock.
Tanis watched as the drow removed their cloaks, revealing their naked bodies. Quile removed her gown as well.
The half-elf couldn't help but stare. The site of beautiful naked elves standing in the moonlight while a large rock that glowed with silver light, sent a spiritual feeling through his body.
And just when the half-elf thought it couldn't get more interesting, Quile, and other drow began to dance.
Gileed and the twenty remaining elf soldiers set camp for the evening near a pair of burly weirwood trees. The elf leader scanned the area. He didn't want to have the same experience like the one he had the night before, and be ambushed by orcs, bugbears, or whatever creatures that lie in the forest's thick trees and grasses.
After surveying the camp, and making sure the night watches were set up, Gileed returned to the spare tent he had put up for the evening. Just as the elf was about to make himself comfortable, one of the scouts walked in. "Lord Gileed, a few of us have found something," he said in elvish tongue.
With a sigh, Gileed and the scout left the tent, and walked along a dirt road that led away from the camp. The scout, a slender black haired elf named Neidlarin, pointed to a large nest. Gileed's even eyes lit up when he saw the three green spotted eggs in the middle.
"Those look like dragon eggs," Neidlarin whispered in aw.
Gileed drew his long swords and pointed the one in his right hand towards the next. "My guess is that those are green dragon eggs. We should destroy the nest and take the eggs."
The scout's face twisted with concern. "Milord, do you think it's wise to take dragon eggs from the nest? What if the mother is around here somewhere, and finds her eggs missing, or worse, what if she sees us taking her eggs?"
"Green dragons are vile creature, and are as wicked as their rainbow-hued cousins," retorted Gileed. He took a moment to survey the area. When he saw no sign of a dragon, he turned back to the scout and said," It looks like the mother has either abandoned her nest, or perished. Nevertheless, your orders are to go back to camp, get some of the men, and destroy the nest. As for the eggs, I will take them back to Evereska."
"Yes milord," Neidlarin whispered as he walked away from the nest. Gileed watched the scout leave, then bent down to examine the eggs. "What fine specimens you will make," he whispered as he placed the eggs into his pockets. He then took a walk around the nest-that is until he heard screams coming from the distance.
Gileed raced down the path. He could see the flames shoot into the air as he came closer to the camp.
When he finally reached the camp, his eyes widened in horror, as he saw a huge red dragon shoot a stream of fire from it's mouth, burning alive two elven warriors.
"Lord Gileed, what do you suggest we do?" cried one of the older elven warriors, who was carrying a wounded archer over his shoulders.
Gileed drew his long swords and yelled," Archers, fire your enchanted arrows! Wizards, use your spells!"
The unijured archers readied their arrows, while the three wizards who had journeyed to Ardeep Forest, unleashed raging ice storms that rained down from the sky, and struck the dragon with giant hailstones.
The dragon let out a furious roar, and blew a line of ravenous flames that engulfed the three wizards.
Watching his comrades fall, Gileed drew his swords and stepped up to face the dragon.
"Foolish elf, do not think you've seen the last of me," growled the dragon as it leapt off of the ground. "I know where you are going and it's only a matter of time before we meet again."
Gileed noticed the look of anger the dragon gave him. He had seen that look somewhere before, but couldn't remember.
He watched as the dragon flew off into the distance. His left hand reached into his pocket and felt the eggs. Part of him feared that the red dragon had stolen the eggs from a rival green dragon from somewhere in the forest.
Gileed turned to his men. "Be sure and give the dead a proper burial. Then we make haste for Reluraun's Tomb."
The men stared at their leader, then began to salvage of what remained of their camp. Some of them began to wonder if journeying to Ardeep Forest was worth getting attacked by orcs and dragons.
Apparently Gileed doesn't think so, was the common thought in many of the soldier's and scout's minds.
While the men were working, Gileed turned to the sky. For a moment, his mind wandered away from the carnage that had just taken place, and traveled to secret place in his memories.
Years ago, when he had just entered adulthood, Gileed had fallen in love with Hill Elder Solostran's daughter, Eneyla. He had made many attempts to woo her, but despite his good standing relationship with her father, Eneyla did not share the same feelings for him as he had for her.
One day Gileed was about to ask Elder Solostran for Eneyla's hand in marriage. When the two met to discuss then matter, the maids at Solostran's home informed the Hill Elder that his daughter had run away with some human wizard. Rumor had it that it was Alustriel of Silverymoon, and from that day Gileed cursed the Shining Lady of Silverymoon for taking away the love of his life.
After Eneyla had left, Gileed pledged his services to Solostran, who had always treated Gileed like a member of the family.
"That is why Tyresian doesn't want me to go to the tomb," Gileed whispered. "He was always jealous of Elder Solostran's love for me."
When he was finished with his thoughts, Gileed turned to face his men, who were now preparing to bury the dead wizards.
Kaylah entered the Dancing Dell with her crossbow out, ready for a fight, but she was not prepared for what she saw when she walked into the dell.
Her eyes saw several naked dark elf females, dancing around a glowing rock. She raised an eyebrow and lowered her crossbow, and shook her head.
"Kaylah, you're here," Tanis yelled as he walked over to her. When she saw the half-elf approaching her, Kaylah jumped into his arms and held him tight.
"Tanis, I'm glad I found you here," Kaylah whispered, the glow from the rock shining the scales on her dark colored skin. "Now we can go back to Lucilya and the others."
Tanis smiled, but then looked at Quile and the other drow. "Are you sure you don't want to stay and watch the rest of the ritual? It's pretty amazing."
Kaylah looked over at the naked drow, then glared at Tanis. "I spend most of the night trying to track you down, thinking you are dead, and here I find you out here watching naked elves dancing."
The half-elf stared at his friend. "What is that suppose to mean?"
The rogue pulled away from him. "I heard that you were taken away by drow. I expected to find here out here being tortured, but all you're doing is standing here, watching these naked women dancing."
Tanis stared at her in disbelief. "I thought you would like the fact that I was learning something about your drow heritage."
"So now you think this is part of my heritage?" she screamed at him. "Do you expect me to start stripping my clothes off for you and dance around naked?" Tanis tried to object, but Kaylah pressed her finger to his mouth. "Don't say anything. We're going back."
The half-elf gave a nod, then Kaylah turned to the drow and yelled," And you all need to put some clothes on. You all should be ashamed of yourselves."
Kaylah grabbed Tanis's arm and pulled him back to the forest. Quile Veldaron stopped dancing and chanted a prayed to her goddess to watch over Tanis and his half-drow lady.