Author's Note: Hi. So it's been a while, but I fully intend to work on this more consistently and often, as life and crippling depression ease their death grip on my brain. There will be more following this chapter, so have no fear, it is not ended.
"We can do this," Alystin whispered beside Sabal's ear. She could see uncertainty, perhaps even fear, on her lover's face as the group as a whole gazed at the planar gate currently spawning a dozen dretches that would someday be transformed into more powerful demons. The wizard was prepared for the battle ahead, feeling the most rested she'd been since they came to this horrible place.
"I know," Sabal said despite the fact that her heart was anything but certain. "I don't see Daemoch."
"He's here," Xullae said with certainty.
"We'd best hurry, then," Camran said, lifting his staff. He put a hand on Sabal's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "We're with you, Sabal."
"Nendir needs to be the first one through that gate," Aly said firmly. "He can't handle the effects of this plane for much longer." Truth be told, he was already so weak that Alystin wasn't certain if they could save him. It hurt.
"Don't worry about me," the elf said. Nendir looked like a ghost.
Sabal knew his odds of survival were particularly thin, but she wished otherwise. He had come to the Demonweb for her sake. The little sliver of her that was untainted wished better for him. She looked over at Xullae and nodded.
The petitioner smiled, but there was an unmistakable edge of sorrow to the expression. For a moment, she seemed to search for words, but found none. Instead, she sighed. "Let us be done with this mess," Xullae said. "I will pull Daemoch away, but that will not last long. As soon as I am incapacitated, he will go to the gate."
"How will you lure him away?"
Xullae smiled. Her appearance wavered, shifting to look like Sabal. "I will give him what he desires: rebellion to crush."
"He can't see through the illusion?" Linnan asked with concern.
"His senses do not extend to truesight," Xullae said. "It will be enough, if you are careful and do not show yourselves until the last possible moment."
"We will be," Sabal promised. She hugged the petitioner impulsively, feeling a faint prickle of tears in her eyes, though no droplets flowed. This was yet another time where her mentor was giving up everything for her. The Spider Queen would not be kind to Xullae after this. "Thank you."
"First, you must survive," Xullae said. "When that is accomplished, you can thank me. Now come. Escape awaits."
Sabal nodded, albeit unsteadily. She gripped Alystin's hand tightly, though she was careful not to dig her claws into her lover's body. It was hard to watch Xullae walk away. The sight of her mentor, even like this, stirred the better parts of her nature. Only Alystin and thoughts of her safety stopped Sabal from going after Xullae. The wilder sucked in a deep breath, doing her best to ignore the burn of hatred in her blood as she looked down at the dretches. She wanted to charge into their midst, to shred and rip and tear, anything to satisfy the hunger she could feel gnawing at her insides. The idea of tasting flesh and blood was almost as wonderful as being able to hold Aly again.
Suddenly, she understood why breakfast was no longer palatable: it wasn't alive.
That revelation was not a pleasant one. How long would Aly love her if she learned of that curse? She narrowed her amber eyes as she padded through the abyssal darkness that wreathed so much of this plane, her sword in one hand. She refused to let go of Alystin's hand until she absolutely had to. There was no way she was losing the wizard in this place. Whatever happened to the wilder, she was making certain that Alystin made it safely out.
They were surprisingly stealthy, given Storunn's presence. The shield dwarf was at the rear of the group, to ensure Alystin and Nendir would be closest to the gate when they were inevitably discovered. Sabal was just behind them, Linnan and Camran behind her. They stayed tightly together, maneuvering around the rocks to obscure sight of them for as long as possible. No one dared speak a word. Premature discovery would cost them everything.
Sabal stopped in the shadows as a dretch started to sniff around. It stiffened, about to alert, so she seized control of its weak, malleable mind. The hunger dominated everything for a moment. All she had to do was walk it over to her. Then she could sink in her claws, her teeth, and feel it writhe in agony. It would be so easy.
That was a course of action that would put everyone at risk. She managed to overrule instinct for the moment, biting her lower lip until she tasted blood. The sharper pain grounded her agony-wracked body even as the blood increased her appetite. Soon, she promised herself. The demon spotted one of its fellows and she felt a flash of aggression in its mind. Sabal caught it and amplified it.
The dretch snarled and charged at its fellow, cursing in Abyssal.
Alystin relaxed slightly as the creature walked away, but frowned slightly when she saw that Sabal hadn't relaxed. The wilder was like a drawn bowstring, ready to let fly. "D'anthe, are you alright?" she whispered softly, barely audible even to Sabal.
Sabal nodded, not trusting herself to say anything. When she looked back at Aly, her slitted pupils were wider, those of a hunter. Even sight of her lover made the hunger pains almost unbearable. Suddenly, the demon was the least of Sabal's problems.
The poison of this plane wanted her to harm Alystin, and the only thing stopping her was love...and the discipline honed by years and years of training.
Nendir tapped Aly's shoulder and pointed at the gate. A larger demon stepped through, immediately heading towards the dretches. It was a gaunt humanoid shape covered in pitch black, leathery skin with a horn jutting out of the back of its head, and carried a lethal looking blade. Babau, Alystin identified in her thoughts even as the assassin demon executed the problem dretch. The fight would be a little more problematic if that thing came after them, particularly if it called another of its kind.
Still, they were almost to the gate. Alystin inched along a stone ledge towards it, studying the runes as she did so. A feeling of relief crashed over her when she identified all of them. This was doable, and perhaps easier than she'd expected. The problem was that her odds of being precise with their destination might not happen. She could probably get them somewhere in the Sword Coast region, either surface or underdark, but that would be about the best she could hope for.
The sound of a sudden screech of Abyssal delight was her cue to bolt for the gate, Nendir and Camran on her heels. She looked back to see the babau launching itself at Storunn, who managed to block its first attack. He let out a shout as acid the color of blood dripped onto his arm. That was enough to draw the attention of the dretches, who loped over with surprising speed, trying to surround the dwarf.
Linnan hit from one side and Sabal hit from the other, catching the babau completely off-guard. The halfling darted from demon to demon, slashing at their legs to cripple them and make them an easier target for Storunn's hewing axe.
The wilder was a picture of savagery as she attacked the babau, face contorted into a snarl to show fangs. The babau shrieked in alarm, but that only seemed to drive the transformed drowess to greater abandon. Sabal plunged her sword into its chest, and when it didn't die, she lunged at it, ripping away at its face with clawed fingers. She bit down on its shoulder and ripped away flesh to consume, immune to its acidic blood.
It tasted better than any meal she could recall, even sweeter because it was a punishment inflicted on the creatures that had turned her into an abomination. She would never have her life again, but she could have this.
"Sabal, are ye—?" Storunn started to ask as he turned around. He did so just in time to see Sabal wrench her blade from the dead babau's chest and turn to the nearest dretch, chin wet with demon's blood. She was laughing, slitted amber eyes alight with delight. He felt a distinct chill run down his spine.
A few of the dretches backed away, clearly evaluating Sabal as a threat they weren't equal to, but the others surged to meet them. "I'll get to Aly and Nendir if you think you can hold them," Linnan said.
"We'll start retreating that way too," Storunn said gruffly, recovering slightly. He wasn't sure if Linnan hadn't seen or was waiting until they were safe to comment. The second was probably the best course of action. He looked over at Sabal, who was clearly enjoying this altogether too much. "Sabal, we be leavin'! Aly needs ye!" The wizard was probably the only thing that would get Sabal's attention at this point.
Sabal decapitated a dretch and then started to retreat towards the gate, placing herself between Storunn and the enemy. She'd fed off one or two now, enough to ease the powerful hunger. She taunted the demons in Abyssal as she backed towards the gate, cutting down any of them that came within reach. One of the dretches split away, running off towards another rift. That was probably where Xullae had lured Daemoch. They had seconds.
Alystin ran her fingertips over the runes, feeding power into each one. They shifted shape subtly, keying to a new location. It was on the surface, but it was also a place known to her: the cave where they'd taken shelter in the Spine of the World before heading to Silverymoon. If the orcs were there, local banditry wouldn't be a threat. Now she just needed to strengthen the link. Jumping across planes with any precision was not easy to do. It was a miracle that Nede had gotten them as close to Sabal as she had. That meant putting most, if not all of her power into it. If Daemoch attacked, she would have only the spells stored in her rings.
Hopefully that would be enough to buy them time.
There was a roar from the direction the dretch had run. A massive, arachnoid form shot towards them at unholy speed. "I need more time!" Alystin shouted.
Nendir drew his bow even though he was barely standing. "How much time?" he asked hoarsely, arms trembling with exertion.
"As long as you can," the wizard said. She gave him a small smile. "I'll get you home, Nendir."
"I know," the surface elf said. He let loose an arrow. For all his weakness, it flew straight and true, piercing one of Daemoch's eyes. The demon shrieked and lunged towards him, but was intercepted by Sabal.
For all her demonic corruption, her habit of putting herself between the group and harm hadn't gone away.
Sabal knew her blade couldn't deal with the demon's carapace, but that was fine. Daemoch's mind would suffice. She hammered at the creature with her psionic powers, relentless and unforgiving, fueled by the small meal she'd managed. She was far more powerful now that the creature's bite wasn't fouling her body with toxins and her mind was unclouded.
The monstrous bebilith brought one of its blade-like legs down at her. Sabal just barely dodged the worst of it. The sharp edge of its leg sliced deeply into her thigh as she hurled herself out of the way. Storunn grabbed her and pulled her back towards the gate.
"We're out of time, Aly!" Camran said running forward. He put a hand on Sabal's shoulder and let healing magic flow into her body.
Sabal screamed in agony, head jerking back as her whole body spasmed with pain at the healing spell. The connection to a god of light was far more painful than it had been earlier, no doubt corresponding to her increased strength. Still, the wound closed. The most unfortunate part was that the distraction had broken her concentration on Daemoch. The demon advanced, but not towards her.
It headed straight for Aly and Nendir, blood weeping from its damaged eye. Sabal broke free of Storunn's hold without a thought, a primal need to protect Alystin overpowering everything else. "Aly!" She sprinted as fast as she could. It was too slow.
Daemoch lunged for the wizard with a bite, but found a different target interposed. Nendir had stepped in the way, the only thing he could do. The elf screamed as that horrible venom surged into his veins.
Sabal bashed into Daemoch with the force of her will and the demon immediately dropped the elf, spinning around. Camran and Storunn skirted around the beast to grab Nendir. No doubt Camran was trying to purge the elf's system of the venom before it was too late. Linnan grabbed Aly's hand. "We've got to go now," the halfling said.
"I know," Alystin said. "Get Nendir through the gate." She looked back to her lover. "Sabal! Now!"
The wilder shot between the bebilith's legs, tackling Alystin and taking them both through the gate after the others, Daemoch's shriek shattering their ears as they passed through.
They fell for what felt like a hundred years and an instant at the same time. Then the cold of transition became the warmth of a summer night. They hit the grass in a roll, tumbling down a hill, reveling in relief for a split second before consequences set in.
"Nendir," Alystin panted, still disoriented and confused.
"I have him," Camran promised. Now that they were on solid ground, he could actually get a look at the elf. Nendir was currently laying on him, stirring slightly even though most of his body was limp. The cleric sat up awkwardly, the elf in his arms. The cleric immediately started to pray, invoking his goddess as he sought to heal the bite.
Nendir looked like death, still as pale and bruised as he'd been in the Demonweb. He coughed, but his eyes opened. "Gods, but that hurts."
"That's my trooper," Linnan said with a grin. He punched up into the air and let out a whoop. "We did it!"
Alystin started to laugh, throwing her arms around Sabal's neck and touching their foreheads together. "We did it," she said, feeling downright giddy.
"Aye," Storunn said, burying his face in the grass for a moment. Then he sat up. "Sweet earth beneath, starry sky above. Downright perfect if you ask me."
"Been better," Nendir croaked. He was smiling fiercely all the same.
Sabal felt completely out of her element. She'd never really felt comfortable on the surface, though perhaps that was because they were only on it for a very short period of time. Now it was doubly strange, given that she had spent so long in the Demonweb. It couldn't have been too long, not judging by her friends' ages, but it felt like it had been a thousand years. She was immensely grateful for her freedom. It was a debt to her friends, to Xullae, that she would never be able to repay.
Alystin released Sabal with her right arm, but only so she could move a hand to Sabal's cheek. "How do you feel, d'anthe?"
Sabal didn't have words for what she was feeling. There were far too many emotions. Overwhelmed tears started to drip down her cheeks, washing away some of the blood. When Alystin's expression changed from delight to concern, Sabal shook her head to try and communicate that the wizard shouldn't worry.
Camran handed over his handkerchief so that Sabal could wipe her face. She took the time to clean off her chin too, though fresh blood started to flow from the wound to her lip even after she'd cleaned up a little. A few shaky breaths seemed to ground Sabal more.
"Thank you," she said softly as she looked up at Camran. Then she looked at the others. "Thank you, all of you."
"Let's just never, ever, do that again," Nendir said, trying to sit up more. "Everyone okay?"
"Scarred for life," Linnan said cheerfully. "Otherwise good. Not to put too fine a point on our situation, but...where the hell are we?"
Nendir looked around. They were somewhere in the mountains, though he didn't know how far east or west they were. Definitely on the southern side of the range. "I think this is the Spine," he said. "But that's about the best I can do."
Storunn took a deep breath, his thoughts returning to the battle. He made a mental note to talk to everyone about what he'd seen of Sabal in that fight. There was a definite chance that they were all in danger, even if it was from Sabal. The wilder wasn't the kind to prey on her friends...or she hadn't been before the Demonweb, anyway. Now? He knew that she could have the best intentions in the world and still be a very, very real threat.
"We need to pitch a proper camp," Camran said. "Nendir, can you walk?"
"Walk?" Nendir said with a grin. "We're home. I'll dance a jig all the way to the campsite."
"I think I want to see that," Alystin said, getting up and holding her hand out to Sabal. She helped the wilder up gingerly, still treating her lover as if she was fragile. Once Sabal was up to her feet, Aly slipped an arm around her lover's waist. She leaned into Sabal slightly. "I love you, d'anthe. Welcome home."