Author's Note: Sadly, there's combat in this one, so it's not as much fun, but I still tried to make it entertaining! Thanks to Sticksie for all her help! I have edited this one to take out the excessive game dialogue, making it feel more my own, rather than me just repeating the game. I hope it's for the better! Enjoy!
Cari was already half-awake when she heard a branch snap nearby. She lay still, her body tense and coiled as she listened carefully to her surroundings. Neeshka's deep breaths proved to be an irritating distraction.
We need to get a silence spell for that girl, she thought irritably.
She could hear something moving closer. She kept her eyes shut and her body poised to strike as it came to a halt at the edge of her bedroll. She heard something swing back and she snapped her eyes open, grabbing and pulling on the foot that had just attempted to kick her in the ribs.
"Arrrgh!" a deep voice yelled, and a heavy weight landed on her chest. Cari heard Neeshka scrambling nearby, and suddenly the campsite was bathed in the bright light of a torch.
"Cari, Cari are you all right?" Neeshka said nervously, looking down at her.
"I'm fine, just, who in the Hells-" she started, "Damn it Bishop!"
If this was some cheap attempt to get into my bedroll, it failed. There are easier ways to get me into bed that don't include kicking me.
She looked up in the ranger's face, which was now directly above hers, an indignant sneer playing on his lips. "Damn it yourself, Cari, I was about to wake you up and tell you it's your watch."
"Use your words, not your feet," she spat, pushing on his chest, but secretly savoring the feel of his weight resting on her body. "Would you get off?"
Ah, Cari, I know you like being underneath me as much as I like being on top of you. Bishop thought to himself. But you can't let it show, can you? Not right now.
"I rather enjoy being on top of you, Cari," Bishop whispered, smirking slightly as he straightened up. "But not like this, and not in front of all these people."
She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Of that, I am sure, Bishop. Now, why don't you get some rest? I'll take watch. You could have just asked me."
Cari jumped as Bishop's hands wrapped around her elbows and his chest pressed up against her back. She could feel his breath on her neck as he leaned in.
"If I had, I wouldn't have gotten that wonderful treat, now would I?" he moaned, grazing his lips along her neck.
I could probably kiss her now and get away with it.
She turned her head, so his lips brushed against her cheek. "You could have asked about that too," she whispered, "Perhaps I'd have said yes." She pulled away and sat down beside the campfire, her cat-like eyes gleaming in the moonlight.
Hells, I'm such a fool, she thought as she took out a book on armor crafting she'd borrowed from Grobnar, trying to quell the desire surging through her blood. I could have had him.
Maybe he'll still-
No. Down girl, not yet. Make him break first, not you. If you break first, he'll be gone the next morning. That's how men like him are. Make him want you. Make him break first.
All right, you have a point. She sighed and shivered slightly, still feeling his lips on her neck. Still means I'm sleeping alone, though.
After watching her for a few moments, Bishop snorted and walked over to his bedroll, his heart still racing from the feel of her skin on his lips.
So close, so unbelievably close, and you didn't take the chance? He thought angrily. What in the Hells is wrong with you?
I want to impress her, make her want me, make her need me. And that isn't going to happen in the middle of the woods with the paladin and the gnome a few feet away.
Fine, have fun trying to sleep now.
Bishop passed into a restless slumber, the taste of her skin and the smell of her hair still tempting and taunting his senses.
ooooo
"Wait a minute," Bishop growled, holding his hand up to halt everyone behind him, "Something's wrong."
They had come to the edge of a town Bishop said was called "Ember." Cari scanned the village, but there was no sign of life. Any life. No chickens or cows, not even a stray rabbit.
She walked forward and stood beside him. "Something is wrong. Where is everyone?" she asked, narrowing her eyes, "Where are all the animals?"
What is she talking about? Bishop thought. What animals...? Wait... Hells, she's right, he said to himself, looking around, mildly impressed that she had noticed something that he hadn't, she obviously has her wits about her.
"You have a good point," he admitted, smiling slightly at her competence, "I had noticed the villagers, and that's odd enough, but no livestock?" He shook his head. "This isn't right. I do know our 'friends' have been through here though. It looks like we're finally catching up."
Cari nodded, noticing the way Bishop tightened the grip on his bow. After a brief moment of silence, she voiced the question that had been eating at her for the last few days. "Bishop?" she asked quietly, "Is it just me, or has following them been… easy?"
He thought for a moment, originally disregarding her words, but the more he pondered her question, the more he thought that she may be right.
You know… it has been awfully easy finding them. The paladin could probably do it, and that's saying something.
But where did she learn that? He thought, even more impressed. If all her kin are like Duncan, they're all degenerate barkeeps who are too damn nosy for their own good.
Perhaps she's actually worth all the torture I'm putting myself through…
"I think you're right. They've made no effort to cover up their tracks," he murmured, smirking, "You seem to know your way around out here. Are you sure you're Duncan's niece? He can't follow a trail unless it's a drizzled trail of alcohol."
"My father is a ranger, Bishop. I didn't spend nineteen years under his roof just sitting around."
If you're impressed, just say it, she thought, don't insult Duncan just because you can.
Wait a minute, what am I saying? I've endured two days of nothing but paladin jokes and comments about Bishop needing a bath.
"Your father is a ranger, is he?" Bishop sniffed, slightly surprised. Cari nodded. "Interesting. In any case, keep an eye out. I have a feeling that they want us to find them. I smell an ambush."
Not two seconds after Bishop mentioned an ambush did a swarm of githyanki come pouring out of the houses.
"Ah, I hate being right all the time," he said sarcastically.
"Just shut up and kill them!" Cari yelled, thrusting her swords into a nearby gith.
"I will if you stop barking orders!" he spat, shooting another gith in the head.
"Fine, whatever, sorry, just shoot!" she screamed, running forward and plunging her weapons deep into the chest of yet another one.
It wasn't long before all the githyanki lay dead, and Cari and her companions stood grouped around the well in the middle of town.
Bishop snorted. "Not a half-bad ambush. Could have been better on their part, but I suppose that's lucky for us. I have a feeling that it's not over-" He stopped suddenly, looking off into the distance. "Figures. Reinforcements. Let's kill 'em."
Cari spun around, her long ponytail whipping Khelgar in the face as she sprinted off.
"Lass, I'm cutting yer hair the minute we get back to Neverwinter!" he shouted, swinging his axe wildly at the new invaders.
"You cut my hair, I cut your beard!" Cari cried, ducking the bolts from a githyanki crossbow.
"Now that's a wee bit below the belt, lass," Khelgar said angrily, his axe making a sickening thunk on the skull of a downed gith. He ducked as a gith wizard shot a spell over his head, leaving a wide-open path to Neeshka.
Neeshka screamed as she was hit with the spell, and Cari cried out as she crumpled in a heap at Qara's feet. The sorceress snarled and let loose one of her fireballs, incinerating the wizard instantly. Casavir drove his sword into the chest of another githyanki and ran to Neeshka's side, concentrating on healing her.
An arrow whizzed by Cari's head and she turned to see Bishop nock another one and let it fly, it finding its mark in the neck of the gith with the crossbow. She smiled and ran to attack the final githyanki as Bishop grinned triumphantly, stringing another arrow. The gith fell to its knees, its crossbow still held high.
A cruel smile crossed the green, sunken face of the dying githyanki. It loaded a bolt and shot it, sinking it deep into Bishop's shoulder as it fell backwards, dead. The ranger bellowed in pain and Cari spun around again, nearly knocking Grobnar to the ground.
"My, Mistress Carianna, you need to be more careful!" Grobnar said, staggering slightly as she slashed the throat of the last githyanki and ran over to Bishop, blood staining his leather armor.
"Good," he said, wincing, "I've been looking for an excuse to get new leathers anyway."
Cari rolled her eyes. "Are you all right?" she asked, showing more concern than she meant to, "Are you well enough to move?"
He gave her a look. "It's a crossbow bolt, not a dire bear tooth lodged in my neck. I'll be fine until we make camp."
She sighed. "All right, just let me look at it when we rest. Can't have my best archer out with an injury, you know."
I really can't afford to have him crippled; she thought to herself, I need him around.
"Of that, I'm sure," Bishop growled, standing up and holding his injured shoulder. "There were a lot of them here. Luckily for us, it means that it'll be easier when we finally catch up to them. Less resistance."
Cari looked around at her companions. Qara, Khelgar and Grobnar were uninjured, and Casavir only mildly so, but to see him carrying the limp form of Neeshka in his arms made her heart wrench.
"I'm glad that we'll face fewer warriors," Cari said, tearing her eyes away from Neeshka, whose tail dangled from Casavir's grip, "But doesn't that mean that the remaining forces will travel faster? And they'll be careful about leaving a trail this time?"
Bishop nodded. "She's right, we need to get moving, or we'll lose the damn farmgirl's trail," he grimaced, hitching his bow over his uninjured shoulder. "We need to make more progress before we make camp-"
"Pardon me," interrupted a timid-looking blonde woman, fearfully stepping out of the shadows, "But you mentioned you were tracking someone - a farmgirl. Do you mean Shandra Jerro?"
"Yes, we're following her," Cari snapped, "And the longer we talk, the farther away she gets, so unless you have more to say, get out of our way."
Yeah, thanks for letting the gith take over your homes and ambush us. If Neeshka dies, I swear…
"Those things… they had her!" the woman said fearfully, "We-I didn't know what to do! Shandra comes through here every harvest season. I heard her screaming, and then those things forced us to give up our homes… Oh, please, forgive me, where are my manners? I am Alaine."
You've got to be kidding me. Cari thought to herself. The moron is introducing herself. I've got githyanki carrying off Shandra, a ranger bleeding from an arrow wound on my right, Casavir's carrying the limp body of my best friend on my left, and she's introducing herself?
"And you are?" Alaine prompted, backing away slightly at the look on Cari's face.
"Not in a good mood," Cari said dangerously. Bishop chuckled as Alaine struggled to regain her composure, obviously just as frightened of Cari as she was the githyanki.
"I saw them not too long ago. They don't have much ground on you. You-you should be able to catch them," Alaine said timidly, "And thank you for saving us, I can't thank-"
"You have already done enough by letting them ambush us," Cari snarled, stomping away, "Now get out of our way!"
"You should listen to our fair leader, she's got a point," Bishop growled, holding his shoulder and following Cari, "Next time, fight, girl, or next time, you'll die. If you don't, you didn't deserve it in the first place."
"I would never let that happen, ranger," Casavir said calmly, "Sometimes others require aid. It is a duty and a kindness to lend what aid we can."
Cari spun around and glared at him. "Would you stop that? Cyric's blood, you're carrying my best friend right now, could you find something more productive to do than to undermine me?"
Casavir snorted, and then sighed. "You have a point. Perhaps I am undermining your leadership."
"Yeah, you are, so can we keep moving?" Cari barked, "And would you pull that greatsword out of your behind? You're starting to make everyone else around you tense."
"Obviously," Casavir muttered, chuckling as Cari threw her hands up in frustration. "But perhaps everyone would be happier if you didn't take your bad mood out on the rest of us. Makes me tense."
So, now the paladin decides to get a sense of humor.
Well, better late than never, I suppose.