=====================
A Single Step…
=====================
Do you feel your head is full of thunder?
Questions never end?
Empty nights alone?
No wonder
It all comes back again
- "Under the Gun"
The Sisters of Mercy
"Hello, there!" Faith instinctively went into a crouch and turned towards the voice. "Whoa-ho-ho!" the man said, holding both hands up. "No need for that here."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Warriv. I must say that I am not surprised to see your kind here. Many adventurers have travelled this way since the recent troubles began. No doubt you've heard about the tragedy that befell the town of Tristram. Some say that Diablo, the Lord of Terror, walks the world-"
"Where is he?" Faith asked, interrupting what seem to becoming a long-winded ramble.
"Who? Diablo?"
"No, the tooth fairy. Of course Diablo."
"I think you had better talk to Akara. She is the leader of this camp and she may know more than I." he pointed at an older woman sitting by the fire outside her tent.
For the first time, Faith looked around. Tall palisade walls surrounded the small encampment. A few tents and wagons were crammed into that little area. The people of the place seemed to be primarily warrior women armed with an assortment of bows and spears. "Thanks," she said and turned to walk away.
"I plan to leave this place for Lut Gholein if the monastery gates reopen," Warriv said as she turned away. "If you are still alive then, I'll take you along if you wish."
"Yeah. Thanks for the vote of confidence," Faith muttered, wondering what he was talking about. An impressive looking warrior woman walked up just before she could reach Akara.
"Welcome, outlander, to our glorious hovel." The mocking tone and the condescending look she gave Faith made her bristle. "I know you are here to challenge the evil that's driven us from our ancestral home. But know this. Akara may be our spiritual leader, but I command the Rogues in battle. It would take more than just killing a few beasts in the wilderness to earn my trust."
The old Faith would have taken that as a challenge and would have proceeded to beat this woman to a pulp. But the new Faith just stared at her until a smaller form put a hand on her arm. She turned to look at Akara. The other woman snorted and left. "Ignore Kashya. The recent troubles and the loss of so many of our sisters weigh heavily upon her," Akara said. "I am Akara, High Priestess of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye. I welcome you, traveller, to our camp, but I am afraid I can offer but poor shelter within these rickety walls."
Faith sighed inwardly. It seems that these people were all pretty long-winded. "I was sent here to deal with a demon. Do you know where I can find Diablo?"
"There were rumours that Diablo has risen, but I do not know where he might be."
"How about a Dark Wanderer, then?"
"There was such a man. But he left some time ago, heading east. Shortly after he left, we were driven from our Citadel. It guards the only pass over the mountains and until it is back within our hands, no one can go further east."
"Great. Just great! Don't you ever make things simple?" Faith shouted at the sky. "Only have to kill a demon, he said. Dangerous, he said. But nothing about a goddamned… Ugh!"
Akara watch her silently as she ranted. "If you wish to re-take the Citadel, you will need the help of the Sisterhood," she said when Faith's tirade finally ended. "And to do that, you would need to earn Kashya's trust." Faith made a face. "No matter how distasteful that may seem to you."
"Oh, fine. What should I do?"
"I don't know. Kashya has changed since we were cast out. She has become harder and less trusting of outsiders."
Faith sighed. "Got a place for a homeless traveller to sleep-" she raised her voice and glared heavenward "-while she figures out what she is supposed to do since she has no fucking clue what to do now?"
"I believe we have a spare tent somewhere," Akara replied.
Faith followed her and ignored the smile on the older woman's lips.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It was almost nightfall when Faith got settled in. They found her a tent belonging to a Rogue that was killed earlier in the week while out on a scouting mission. Now, she looked around the place from where she sat on the pile of blankets that served as her bed. Whoever the Rogue was, she was not a good housekeeper. Scattered bits of armour and clothing littered the floor and a few extra quivers of arrows and a spare bow was tossed haphazardly in a corner. A small chest sat near the head of the bed and the few personal articles on it suggests that it was used as a makeshift table. Relocating the articles to the floor, Faith opened the chest. Bright colourful cloth spilled forth.
Dresses and skirts. Reminders of better times, when battle and death were not the daily routine. She stuffed the clothing back into the chest and slammed it shut.
With a sigh, she grabbed her pack and opened it. Grabbing the book within, she was about to drop the pack back to the ground when something caught her eye. She looked back in the pack again. Sure enough, there were a few sets of clothes and some other accessories, far more than what the pack should be able to hold. Shaking her head slightly, she flipped open the book and started to read.
*Faith, by the time you are reading this, you should have realised that the pack is not as it seems. Don't worry. It is supposed to be like that. Now, look in the pack, there should be a pair of wristbands in there. Put these on immediately. These are your lifelines. They will help even the odds against the kind of magic and supernatural creatures that you will encounter. When you swing at something, think of the kind of effects you would like it to have, fire, lightning, ice, whatever. Try it out.*
The Slayer took a swing at empty air. She nearly jumped out of her skin when flames shot out of the wristbands to envelope her hand. Frantically, she started beating at her hand in an effort to put out the flames before realising that the flames were not hurting her at all. After a few seconds, the flames died away. "Wow!" she breathed. "I am so gonna like this!"
*Now, on to the second part of the equalisers. There is a little neckband in there as well. Place it so that the jewel faces forward. The neckband was a black ribbon about half-an-inch wide with a large teardrop-shaped emerald hanging from it. Surrounding the emerald was a filigree of white gold and diamonds. This little device would allow you to see in the dark as if it was a full moon and then some. The other stuff are more mundane. The jumpsuit would protect you against the more extreme of the weather conditions you may face and the armour that goes over it would protect you against most of the elemental magicks used against you.*
Faith changed into the jumpsuit and found that it was a lot more comfortable than the jeans and shirt combination she had on. The armour took a little longer to figure out as it had two thin vests, the first being a leathery affair and the second looked and felt like a flak vest but much less bulky and heavy. In the end, she put the leather vest over the flak vest. She noted the pair of sneakers and a bunch of rolled-up socks in the pack for future reference.
*Weapons. You'll need them. This isn't your usual Slaying jaunt. First, the bracers.* The plastic and metal fore-arm guards terminated in a half glove that covered the palm and the backs of the hand but left the fingers and thumb free. Faith had to slide her fingers into the glove first before strapping on the bracers. *There are a couple of blades hidden in there. Make a fist. Bend your hand inwards and then outwards again until you hear a click. Mentally form the image of a sword blade.* Despite being ready for it, Faith still jumped when the blade shot out of her right bracer with a metallic rasp. She turned her hand experimentally and was surprised to find that the blade turned with it, meaning that the blade was somehow attached to the black of the glove rather than the bracer itself. A closer examination allowed her to find the multiple stiff tracks hidden within the leather of the glove that must be what the blade rode out on. She bent her hand so that the track sections met the similar ones on the bracer and the blade slid back into its housing with another metallic rasp. With a bit more reading and a few tries, she had the technique of baring the blades, keeping them bared and retracting them at will.
Also in the pack was a sheathed sword. The hilt and crosspiece was of a black metal that she could not identify, not that she knew all that much about metals, but the blade was made of some shimmering crystal that seemed to glow with some internal light. There was no mention of the sword in the little book. Faith read and reread the book three times, but in addition to the description and instructions on how to use the other items, she only found some more history of the place, a map and some descriptions of some of the lands of this world as well as the more important cities and other points of interest.
Finally, she gave up, blew out the oil lamp and drifted off to sleep with the crystal sword cradled in her arms.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sound of someone crashing through her tent's entrance brought her awake. "What the-?"
A large woman stalked into the tent. Faith took one look at the moaning Rogue on the floor and the blue-skinned woman in tattered leathers and leapt off her bed. The unknown warrior was not prepared for an assault. A kick to her hand caused her to drop her spear. With an inhuman snarl, she turned to face Faith. The Slayer ducked the first swipe, noting the long claw-like nails. The warrior followed the swipe with a leap that sent the both of them to the ground. Trapped underneath the inhumanly strong woman that was a whole head and a half taller than her, Faith knew she was in trouble. Big trouble. She had underestimated the people of this place. A few blows to the ribs only enraged the woman. A fist to the Slayer's jaw made her see stars. By the time she shook off the stunning effects of the blow, the woman was straddling her, hand already on a downward blow that would tear her throat out. Instinctively, Faith blocked the blow. The woman made a grunt of pain when her forearm smashed into the bracer. The bracer! Faith held up her free hand and the blade slid into place, right into the woman's heart. The warrior gave a choked gasp, staring at Faith incredulously and toppled off to the side
.
"Jeez, what the Hell is that?" Faith asked, approaching the fallen Rogue. The Rogue was moaning softly in pain, but at the sound of Faith's voice, she struggled to bring a short sword up. "Hey! I'm not gonna hurt you."
"Who are you?" The Rogue's eyes were looking around frantically. "Where are you, monster?"
*What?* "I'm right here." Suddenly, something clicked. The Rogue could not see her because it was too dark in the tent. It was the neckband that allowed her to see anything at all. Faith knocked the sword aside. The Rogue immediately tried to get away, but the Slayer easily restrained her. She stopped struggling when she realised that the Slayer was not going to kill her. "What is going on?" she asked. Grabbing a blanket, she shredded it and started to bandage the deep cuts on the Rogue's arms and leg.
"Attack. They are attacking the camp. A few got through, but more outside."
"Damn it. Here, you finish up." Faith grabbed the Rogue's sword and put it in her hand.
Outside the tent, it was chaos. A few tents were on fire. There was only one entrance to the camp, but it was just an opening in the wall. The Rogues were defending it but now and then, a group of the attackers broke through their ranks. But instead of attacking the Rogues from the rear, they are charging into the camp. They are looking for something. Or someone, Faith thought as she saw them making a beeline for Akara's tent. She headed that way.
When she got there, the fight was in full swing. Kashya and a couple of her Rogues had intercepted the little group. Surprisingly, Warriv was there also, swinging a scimitar and nimbly dodging blows. But the defenders were outnumbered two to one. They will not last. Faith hit the attackers from the rear, her blades caving in a skull and cleaving a heart in two in the first pass. She was in her element now, and the fight ended quickly with the Slayer in the fray.
Faith was wiping her blades clean when the forms of the attackers registered in her mind. Despite the bluish skin and deeper blue traceries of veins, the faces were unmistakeably human. Faith sank to her knees next to one that she had stabbed in the heart. Behind her, she could hear someone approaching and the low murmurs of voices. "No," she whispered, frantically turning the body over, first one way, then another, hoping against hope to find something that would prove her wrong. She found none. "Oh, God."
Kashya had to skip out of the way when the Slayer suddenly fell backwards and began back-pedalling away from the corpses. She watched as the Slayer bumped up against a low stone wall and began staring at her hands. "Akara," she called when the Slayer started to wipe her hands frantically on the gravel, not caring about the cuts the sharp pebbles were inflicting on her exposed fingers.
"No. Not again. Please, God, no." Faith looked at her hands again. They were covered in blood, just like the time that she had stabbed Allen. She tried to wipe them off again, but every time she looked, it was there. So much blood. Someone grabbed her hands and tried to force her to stop, but she fought them. She wanted, no, needed, to get it off. Another human being. She killed another one. Eventually, Kashya was forced to knock her out to stop her from harming herself.
A Single Step…
=====================
Do you feel your head is full of thunder?
Questions never end?
Empty nights alone?
No wonder
It all comes back again
- "Under the Gun"
The Sisters of Mercy
"Hello, there!" Faith instinctively went into a crouch and turned towards the voice. "Whoa-ho-ho!" the man said, holding both hands up. "No need for that here."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Warriv. I must say that I am not surprised to see your kind here. Many adventurers have travelled this way since the recent troubles began. No doubt you've heard about the tragedy that befell the town of Tristram. Some say that Diablo, the Lord of Terror, walks the world-"
"Where is he?" Faith asked, interrupting what seem to becoming a long-winded ramble.
"Who? Diablo?"
"No, the tooth fairy. Of course Diablo."
"I think you had better talk to Akara. She is the leader of this camp and she may know more than I." he pointed at an older woman sitting by the fire outside her tent.
For the first time, Faith looked around. Tall palisade walls surrounded the small encampment. A few tents and wagons were crammed into that little area. The people of the place seemed to be primarily warrior women armed with an assortment of bows and spears. "Thanks," she said and turned to walk away.
"I plan to leave this place for Lut Gholein if the monastery gates reopen," Warriv said as she turned away. "If you are still alive then, I'll take you along if you wish."
"Yeah. Thanks for the vote of confidence," Faith muttered, wondering what he was talking about. An impressive looking warrior woman walked up just before she could reach Akara.
"Welcome, outlander, to our glorious hovel." The mocking tone and the condescending look she gave Faith made her bristle. "I know you are here to challenge the evil that's driven us from our ancestral home. But know this. Akara may be our spiritual leader, but I command the Rogues in battle. It would take more than just killing a few beasts in the wilderness to earn my trust."
The old Faith would have taken that as a challenge and would have proceeded to beat this woman to a pulp. But the new Faith just stared at her until a smaller form put a hand on her arm. She turned to look at Akara. The other woman snorted and left. "Ignore Kashya. The recent troubles and the loss of so many of our sisters weigh heavily upon her," Akara said. "I am Akara, High Priestess of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye. I welcome you, traveller, to our camp, but I am afraid I can offer but poor shelter within these rickety walls."
Faith sighed inwardly. It seems that these people were all pretty long-winded. "I was sent here to deal with a demon. Do you know where I can find Diablo?"
"There were rumours that Diablo has risen, but I do not know where he might be."
"How about a Dark Wanderer, then?"
"There was such a man. But he left some time ago, heading east. Shortly after he left, we were driven from our Citadel. It guards the only pass over the mountains and until it is back within our hands, no one can go further east."
"Great. Just great! Don't you ever make things simple?" Faith shouted at the sky. "Only have to kill a demon, he said. Dangerous, he said. But nothing about a goddamned… Ugh!"
Akara watch her silently as she ranted. "If you wish to re-take the Citadel, you will need the help of the Sisterhood," she said when Faith's tirade finally ended. "And to do that, you would need to earn Kashya's trust." Faith made a face. "No matter how distasteful that may seem to you."
"Oh, fine. What should I do?"
"I don't know. Kashya has changed since we were cast out. She has become harder and less trusting of outsiders."
Faith sighed. "Got a place for a homeless traveller to sleep-" she raised her voice and glared heavenward "-while she figures out what she is supposed to do since she has no fucking clue what to do now?"
"I believe we have a spare tent somewhere," Akara replied.
Faith followed her and ignored the smile on the older woman's lips.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It was almost nightfall when Faith got settled in. They found her a tent belonging to a Rogue that was killed earlier in the week while out on a scouting mission. Now, she looked around the place from where she sat on the pile of blankets that served as her bed. Whoever the Rogue was, she was not a good housekeeper. Scattered bits of armour and clothing littered the floor and a few extra quivers of arrows and a spare bow was tossed haphazardly in a corner. A small chest sat near the head of the bed and the few personal articles on it suggests that it was used as a makeshift table. Relocating the articles to the floor, Faith opened the chest. Bright colourful cloth spilled forth.
Dresses and skirts. Reminders of better times, when battle and death were not the daily routine. She stuffed the clothing back into the chest and slammed it shut.
With a sigh, she grabbed her pack and opened it. Grabbing the book within, she was about to drop the pack back to the ground when something caught her eye. She looked back in the pack again. Sure enough, there were a few sets of clothes and some other accessories, far more than what the pack should be able to hold. Shaking her head slightly, she flipped open the book and started to read.
*Faith, by the time you are reading this, you should have realised that the pack is not as it seems. Don't worry. It is supposed to be like that. Now, look in the pack, there should be a pair of wristbands in there. Put these on immediately. These are your lifelines. They will help even the odds against the kind of magic and supernatural creatures that you will encounter. When you swing at something, think of the kind of effects you would like it to have, fire, lightning, ice, whatever. Try it out.*
The Slayer took a swing at empty air. She nearly jumped out of her skin when flames shot out of the wristbands to envelope her hand. Frantically, she started beating at her hand in an effort to put out the flames before realising that the flames were not hurting her at all. After a few seconds, the flames died away. "Wow!" she breathed. "I am so gonna like this!"
*Now, on to the second part of the equalisers. There is a little neckband in there as well. Place it so that the jewel faces forward. The neckband was a black ribbon about half-an-inch wide with a large teardrop-shaped emerald hanging from it. Surrounding the emerald was a filigree of white gold and diamonds. This little device would allow you to see in the dark as if it was a full moon and then some. The other stuff are more mundane. The jumpsuit would protect you against the more extreme of the weather conditions you may face and the armour that goes over it would protect you against most of the elemental magicks used against you.*
Faith changed into the jumpsuit and found that it was a lot more comfortable than the jeans and shirt combination she had on. The armour took a little longer to figure out as it had two thin vests, the first being a leathery affair and the second looked and felt like a flak vest but much less bulky and heavy. In the end, she put the leather vest over the flak vest. She noted the pair of sneakers and a bunch of rolled-up socks in the pack for future reference.
*Weapons. You'll need them. This isn't your usual Slaying jaunt. First, the bracers.* The plastic and metal fore-arm guards terminated in a half glove that covered the palm and the backs of the hand but left the fingers and thumb free. Faith had to slide her fingers into the glove first before strapping on the bracers. *There are a couple of blades hidden in there. Make a fist. Bend your hand inwards and then outwards again until you hear a click. Mentally form the image of a sword blade.* Despite being ready for it, Faith still jumped when the blade shot out of her right bracer with a metallic rasp. She turned her hand experimentally and was surprised to find that the blade turned with it, meaning that the blade was somehow attached to the black of the glove rather than the bracer itself. A closer examination allowed her to find the multiple stiff tracks hidden within the leather of the glove that must be what the blade rode out on. She bent her hand so that the track sections met the similar ones on the bracer and the blade slid back into its housing with another metallic rasp. With a bit more reading and a few tries, she had the technique of baring the blades, keeping them bared and retracting them at will.
Also in the pack was a sheathed sword. The hilt and crosspiece was of a black metal that she could not identify, not that she knew all that much about metals, but the blade was made of some shimmering crystal that seemed to glow with some internal light. There was no mention of the sword in the little book. Faith read and reread the book three times, but in addition to the description and instructions on how to use the other items, she only found some more history of the place, a map and some descriptions of some of the lands of this world as well as the more important cities and other points of interest.
Finally, she gave up, blew out the oil lamp and drifted off to sleep with the crystal sword cradled in her arms.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sound of someone crashing through her tent's entrance brought her awake. "What the-?"
A large woman stalked into the tent. Faith took one look at the moaning Rogue on the floor and the blue-skinned woman in tattered leathers and leapt off her bed. The unknown warrior was not prepared for an assault. A kick to her hand caused her to drop her spear. With an inhuman snarl, she turned to face Faith. The Slayer ducked the first swipe, noting the long claw-like nails. The warrior followed the swipe with a leap that sent the both of them to the ground. Trapped underneath the inhumanly strong woman that was a whole head and a half taller than her, Faith knew she was in trouble. Big trouble. She had underestimated the people of this place. A few blows to the ribs only enraged the woman. A fist to the Slayer's jaw made her see stars. By the time she shook off the stunning effects of the blow, the woman was straddling her, hand already on a downward blow that would tear her throat out. Instinctively, Faith blocked the blow. The woman made a grunt of pain when her forearm smashed into the bracer. The bracer! Faith held up her free hand and the blade slid into place, right into the woman's heart. The warrior gave a choked gasp, staring at Faith incredulously and toppled off to the side
.
"Jeez, what the Hell is that?" Faith asked, approaching the fallen Rogue. The Rogue was moaning softly in pain, but at the sound of Faith's voice, she struggled to bring a short sword up. "Hey! I'm not gonna hurt you."
"Who are you?" The Rogue's eyes were looking around frantically. "Where are you, monster?"
*What?* "I'm right here." Suddenly, something clicked. The Rogue could not see her because it was too dark in the tent. It was the neckband that allowed her to see anything at all. Faith knocked the sword aside. The Rogue immediately tried to get away, but the Slayer easily restrained her. She stopped struggling when she realised that the Slayer was not going to kill her. "What is going on?" she asked. Grabbing a blanket, she shredded it and started to bandage the deep cuts on the Rogue's arms and leg.
"Attack. They are attacking the camp. A few got through, but more outside."
"Damn it. Here, you finish up." Faith grabbed the Rogue's sword and put it in her hand.
Outside the tent, it was chaos. A few tents were on fire. There was only one entrance to the camp, but it was just an opening in the wall. The Rogues were defending it but now and then, a group of the attackers broke through their ranks. But instead of attacking the Rogues from the rear, they are charging into the camp. They are looking for something. Or someone, Faith thought as she saw them making a beeline for Akara's tent. She headed that way.
When she got there, the fight was in full swing. Kashya and a couple of her Rogues had intercepted the little group. Surprisingly, Warriv was there also, swinging a scimitar and nimbly dodging blows. But the defenders were outnumbered two to one. They will not last. Faith hit the attackers from the rear, her blades caving in a skull and cleaving a heart in two in the first pass. She was in her element now, and the fight ended quickly with the Slayer in the fray.
Faith was wiping her blades clean when the forms of the attackers registered in her mind. Despite the bluish skin and deeper blue traceries of veins, the faces were unmistakeably human. Faith sank to her knees next to one that she had stabbed in the heart. Behind her, she could hear someone approaching and the low murmurs of voices. "No," she whispered, frantically turning the body over, first one way, then another, hoping against hope to find something that would prove her wrong. She found none. "Oh, God."
Kashya had to skip out of the way when the Slayer suddenly fell backwards and began back-pedalling away from the corpses. She watched as the Slayer bumped up against a low stone wall and began staring at her hands. "Akara," she called when the Slayer started to wipe her hands frantically on the gravel, not caring about the cuts the sharp pebbles were inflicting on her exposed fingers.
"No. Not again. Please, God, no." Faith looked at her hands again. They were covered in blood, just like the time that she had stabbed Allen. She tried to wipe them off again, but every time she looked, it was there. So much blood. Someone grabbed her hands and tried to force her to stop, but she fought them. She wanted, no, needed, to get it off. Another human being. She killed another one. Eventually, Kashya was forced to knock her out to stop her from harming herself.