Chapter 2: Leash

Nadeshiko yawned as she hurried towards the dome shaped building that served as the town's prison.

It's to early to be up, she thought glaring up at the crescent of El, and then muffed another yawn with her hand.

The prisoner, an Arderial male with short grey hair, violet eyes, and clad in dark blue leather armor had been quite since his incarnation, the only rings he had on him were those that could summon small but agile dream creatures, perfect for his line of work.

The town militia had confiscated these, along with his Guard Wings, a peculiar grapple and a modified Boom Stick.

The one object they couldn't take was the Hyren ring, trying everything except removing his finger, something the Elder had expressively forbid them to do, and that was not the only surprising request he had made in regards to the prisoner.

Leoric had come to with a splitting head ache, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the blow to his ego. In the guildhalls where he had learned his craft, the fates of thieves caused more nightmares then the Core. Stories of dank cells, torture chambers, and pits swarming with horrors magined from the dream plane were told and retold until the youngsters sharpened the skills to the point were they could past the initiation and become a true member of the Thieves Guild.

However, outside the guild house walls he had found the truth to be different. He'd had his share of battles, against guardsmen, backstabbing clients, and vengeful marks.

But never before had he found himself in a situation such as this. Although he had to admit, the cell was not oppressive, with its bed, basin and a window cover with some sort of tough, transparent membrane. He figured that the only prisoners here were the drunk and disorderly kind.

The door to cell opened, heralding the approach of a pair of guardsmen clad in wicker armor and each armed with a mace.

Behind them stood female weave magi with long auburn hair, and gold eyes. As opposed to Leoric's pale complexion, hers possessed a slight tan, and she wore a pale blue blouse and trousers.

'Good morning prisoner, I am Nadeshiko, a servant of the town council here in Tabi,' she announced striding past the guards to stand before him.

The Arderial rose to his feet, and the guards tightened their grip upon their weapons, as he stretched and offered her his hand.

'My name is Leoric,' he replied with a smirk as Nadeshiko pointedly ignored his gesture and glared daggers at him.

'I'm glad that you find this all so amusing,' she sneered, 'for up to this point you were the shining star of the Arderial Chapter of the Thieves Guild. It is my understanding that as a highly placed member you possess information that makes you a liability.'

'What!' Leoric croaked staring at her in disbelief, 'how could you know that?'

It was Nadeshiko's turn to smirk, 'we have our ways, however, all is not lost,' she said as one of the guardsmen handed her a flat box.

'The Weave has not survived attacks by Shadow Magi, and Calders to be stripped of its wealth by thieves,' she announced opening the box and thrusting it towards Leoric.

Before Leoric could react a mass of steel tendrils erupted from the box and wrapped them selves about his neck. He would have resisted but at their touch his thoughts seemed to scatter and sink beneath a grass green haze.

Nadeshiko watched shocked as the Bonding Collar emerged from the box, a mass of hair thin tendrils, and in the middle a medallion shaped like a four pointed star and set with grass green gem. The tendrils wrapped themselves about the males' neck weaving them selves into a tight band while the medallion rested snugly against his throat.

Leoric shuddered as the gem blazed with a light of its own, he would have fallen to his knees if Nadeshiko had chosen to catch him.

She placed him on the bed and sought out the box. Within it she found a small bracelet set with a gem and designed that were identical to those on the collar.

As she slipped it onto her wrist, Leoric came to his senses.

'So that's how it is in the Weave now.' he said sharply.

'Yeah,' she said unable to meet his gaze, 'that's how it is.'

After the incident in the cell, Leoric was released into Nadeshiko's custody and the Weave magi led him to a building near the center of town. Like the prison it was dome shaped, but had the appearance of being built from green hued wicker.

The interior was spacious with a vaulted ceiling; however, he was surprised to see that all it contained was a rough circle of chairs surrounding a pool of reflective liquid.

A lone Weaver sat in one of the chairs, his skin was brown as a nut and clad in light green robes of office. He looked up from the pond as they approached.

' Greetings young man,' he said gesturing for both of them to be seated, ' My name is Welg, and I see from the look in your eye that you have many questions, and considering our actions it is only fair that we answer them.'

'Fair enough,' Leoric said, 'what do you intend to do with me?'

'Rather then send off to a labor camp in Kybar's Teeth, or mine in the Underneath, we have decided to recruit you to aid us in defending the Weave.' Welg replied, 'However you will be sent to deal with any typical foe. Sometimes you may be called on to fight Shadow magi, sometimes you may be sent to other realms to acquire relics for either safe keeping or destruction.'

'In short, you're turning me into your errand boy,' Leoric said and glanced toward Nadeshiko, 'what is her part in all this?'

Welg pointed at the bracelet.

'Think of her as your handler, through that relic she can remain in contact with you, track your whereabouts or as you experienced in the cell, stop you in your tracks,' he said, ' have you any further questions?

Leoric held up the Hyren ring.

'Just one,' he said, ' why couldn't I use this?

Welg chuckled, 'Simple, my boy,' he said slowly rising from his seat, and to Leoric's disbelief was able to remove the ring from his finger, ' it is fake.'