XIII: The Embers of Memory

They made no more stops during the day, but the way itself became easier. Partly because Bishop had indeed reduced the speed. Not very much, though – enough to make this generous gesture apparent, no more than that. It also helped that they finally left the forest and went into the hills, where the natural growth was not that dense, just sun-heated sand rustled quietly underfoot.

Some part of Adele's brain registered that she was hungry – but the woman understood all too well that it didn't matter as much as it should. She soothed herself with the thoughts that the gith needed Shandra alive… but the next thought to come to her mind was why they needed her alive. The creatures surely left no impression of guys who would nicely question somebody in hopes to get required information in an amicable way.

They passed through a small cavity between the tops of two hills that seemed grown together. The barely noticeable path ran down, to the valley, where in the dim sunset light bathed a tiny village. A single street, a handful of houses, a well in the centre – the settlement wasn't much of a change from West Harbor, only looked more peaceful.

Maybe some of the villagers saw the gith… Gods, only to know that she's still alive.

"Hold on," Bishop cut off suddenly, and the others came to a standstill. The ranger's gaze was fixed on the village. "Something isn't right."

Adele also looked down, at the settlement. Because of their company standing in the deep shadow from the hill, the village's sandy street seemed almost shining, washed by the bronze light, and solidified, like stream of pure gold; only a light wind rolled pieces of dried grass along it in silence.

"But where are all the villagers?" Elanee suddenly wondered, her voice so quiet it was almost inaudible.

"Maybe there's some festival in the neighbor village?" Khelgar suggested, but there was apparent doubt in his tone.

"To the Hells with the villagers," Bishop shook his head slightly. "No livestock. They didn't take it all to market, right?" tensely and somehow not very reassuringly he drew in the air through clenched teeth. "And we are still on the trail of our scaly friends… So this is where they wanted us to come, huh."

Adele made a step back: "Let's back off a little, wait for some time."

Qara shot her an indignant glance: "What? We've come all this way – and now we're going just sit around and wait?"

Bishop chuckled hoarsely: "Now, now, little empress. You just listen to your friend here - might just save your life."

The ranger bent down to his wolf, giving him a light pat on the nape, and the animal, following some unspoken command known only to the two of them, waged his tail a bit and in an unhurried pace started down the hill, towards the village, sniffing. Adele was watching the wolf for some time, when out of the corner of her eye saw Neeshka silently slip on the top of the hill, probably looking for a better view on the settlement. Bishop cursed under his breath and, grasping at her tail, jerked her back down under the shadow-cover.

"Hey!" the tiefling squeaked, but he immediately clapped her mouth with his palm.

"Shut up," he hissed, digging his glare into her eyes. "If you alert them - I swear, I'll use you as a shield. Got it?"

Neeshka blinked several times above his hand in acknowledgement.

"Good," the ranger answered in the same unnervingly quiet tone.

Casavir's hand closed firmly on his upper-arm: "Leave her, Bishop."

Bishop moved his narrowed eyes to his grip, then slowly lifted them to Casavir's face: "Why don't you hold yourself in hands, paladin?" The paladin didn't move, yet his grip didn't relax.

"Wow, a fight?" Neeshka muttered, casting her gaze between the two men. "'Cause of me? Come on, I'm not that offended."

Qara grinned gloatingly, probably hoping that the paladin will thrash the ranger.

"Alright, let's all cool down," Adele wedged herself between them. "We don't have time right now for scuffles."

Bishop threw her an icy glare: "I don't have time to die here today because of your crew's stupidity," he sneered. "Though I can't say I'm not glad with your desire to die. You do that – I'm out of debt."

Adele let out a condensed sigh. "Yes, Bishop, you are a very evil bastard, I remember, no need to remind."

Neeshka tried, but failed to stifle a snicker, earning another murderous glance from the ranger.

"And what is going on?" Grobnar asked innocently, looking up at all of them in turn.

"Seems like an ambush," Adele answered, again watching the village below.

"An' no traces of battle," Khelgar grunted perplexedly. "Then where's all the folk gone to?"

"Nowhere," Bishop filtered through set teeth.

Adele suddenly noticed a glimpse of movement in the shadow cast by one of the sheds and strained her eyes, trying to figure anything in that sharp contrast mess of light and dark areas.

"There's someone there," she whispered. "To the right from the well… A boy, it seems… Wh…? Oh, he shakes his head. To us."

"Good eyes," the ranger nodded almost approvingly, also looking in the pointed direction, and grinned again. There was nothing merry in that grin. "Thanks, milksop, we've figured already that you've got us ambushed."

"So what 're we waitin' for?" Khelgar wondered. "We're here an' the enemies 're there. Let's go!"

"Yeah, you go ahead, dwarf. And we'll just stay here and see what happens," he looked at his wolf, who had already passed along the outskirt houses, came to a halt and was now staring back at his master. Bishop nodded grimly.

"They're inside the houses?" Adele clarified, getting another thoughtful nod as an answer. "You know this place?"

"It's Ember, already Luskan grounds. Have been here in passing a couple of times."

Casavir pointed at the patch of ground where the well was: "To my opinion, that is the only place with enough space for maneuvers."

"Well, your opinion matches mine," Adele agreed. "But we don't know how many of them are here. If too much – they can just encircle us," she sighed. "Alright, I have a simple plan – someone needs to go and lure them out."

"Volunteer," Khelgar said at once.

The woman smiled at him: "I'll keep you company, don't worry."

"Ah, live bait," Bishop drawled. "Nice."

Casavir stared at Adele, his eyes a bit widened: "That is too dangerous for you."

"What, Khelgar can, but I can't?" she grinned.

The dwarf laughed, placing his axe on his shoulder: "That's ar lassie."

"Besides, to be honest, I am kind of expecting you to come with us," Adele mentioned, looking at Casavir. "Since the three of us are for a close combat, while guys here can attack from the distance those gith, that'll fall for the bait," noticing his look becoming confused by the fact he hadn't thought of her plan that way, she smiled again. "Yeah, I'm smarter than I seem."

The paladin couldn't help but smile in return, nodding in agreement to follow her and Khelgar, and the woman shifted her gaze to the others: "So, how are you about covering?"

Elanee, looking pensively underfoot, nodded, leaned down, scooping a handful of sand, letting it spill through her fingers, and closed her eyes. Qara was already whispering something to her weasel, who was sitting on her shoulder, stroked his fur and, meeting Adele's questioning glance, tossed her chin up a bit in a common haughty gesture: "Fry them up to firebrands, you'll see."

Neeshka winked encouragingly at Adele and immediately slipped behind the hill, looking for a place to hide. Grobnar followed in another direction, absently murmuring some song under his breath.

Adele licked her lips: "Ready?"

"Always," Khelgar grinned and started stamping towards the village, Casavir at his heels, passing by Bishop, who just leaned his shoulder against the nearest large boulder, merging into its shadow, and almost lazily drew a longbow from behind his back, running his thumb along the string.

Taking in full lungs of air, Adele followed the dwarf and the paladin, stepping forward the path down the hill, but, as she also passed the ranger by, she caught a sight of an already familiar expression on his face – like he was going to smile, but changed his mind – and arched her brow at him in silent question. He nodded:

"Well now, who could have thought there are brains in that pretty scull," he smirked. "Why don't you use them regularly, princess?"

Adele regarded him with a long blank stare, then shook her head helplessly and continued to walk down the path, mentally making a note to get used to the ranger's annoying "insulting compliments" habit.

Damn, if you are impressed – why don't just say so? …I mean, like I need to impress you or something, anyway…

…On the border of the village she noticed the wolf, who didn't stop or even looked at the three of them, pacing along the houses in the same placid and indifferent manner, ideally playing the role of such an innocent peaceful animal, minding his own business. Following his example, Adele, too, didn't slower her step, gradually – but not quickly - catching up with Casavir and Khelgar, at the same time keeping her hands away from her weapon, slightly swinging them back and forth in steady rhythm of her footsteps and sometimes looking around with a careless curiosity, until her eyes finally found the boy she noticed earlier. Ragged dark-haired lad, probably not older than seven, he was still sitting in the shade of the hood of one of the barns, between the barrels, staring back at the woman.

"Go away," she mutely articulated with her lips.

He didn't move from the spot and kept staring right at her. Shivering a bit from his gaze for some reason, Adele figured that if the gith hadn't harmed the villagers before they would hardly bother to do something like that now.

But still, it was strange for a child not to be afraid at all.

"An' where's everybody?!" Khelgar exclaimed in a loud cheerful voice, probably enjoying this whole trap thing and gladly playing along.

"Don't know," Adele answered, managing to tear her gaze away from the well, looming ahead in the pre-dusk haze. Suddenly the way towards it seemed like several miles long. Her eyes slid along the houses, silent, empty-like, not stopping but locking on Casavir, and the woman had to squint from the way sunrays reflected from his armor. "Maybe it's some kind of a rest-day today?" she turned on her heels, lowering her voice almost to a whisper: "They appear, we scatter. Several dispersed aims are harder to hit." With that she placed her palms trumpet –like to her mouth and raised her voice again: "Hello?! Anyone here?!"

"Kalach-Cha!!!"

"Wouldn't ya know!" Khelgar grinned.

The githyanki poured out of the houses, and before Adele could even think about it her hand had already pulled the rapier out of the sheath. Elanee's tuneful voice flew over the street, and the same moment fluttering walls of sand rose from the ground, cutting Adele, Casavir and Khelgar off from the gith, but leaving them small corridors to get away from the place where enemies expected to find them. Exchanging short glances, they did just that, everyone darting forth in their own direction as they had agreed. Through the rustle of sand Adele heard gith's raspy shouts, probably discovering that the things turned out differently than they had anticipated.

The fire blazed, and the woman suddenly caught a glimpse of Tamin, scampering by a tortuous trajectory, sparks of Qara's spell cascading off his body, leaving hurdles of fire behind the weasel, through which the gith had to break, fuming and smoldering, just to fall on the ground struck by throwing daggers, bolts or arrows.

Khelgar rushed past Adele with a joyful war-cry, swinging his axe and hewing down the gith he came across, not even stopping to check if he had actually killed them or finish off the survivors. It seemed that Neeshka took that upon herself, her silhouette flashing at the side, as deft and agile as always, like that of a kitten playing with several clews at once. Her tail swished from side to side anxiously and even whipped across Khelgar's face.

"I swear, I'll chop off that blasted tail of yers, fiendlin'!" he barked, without a break sending the giths around him flying.

"Only after your beard, moss-breath!" the tiefling laughed, diving into the sand.

Adele easily slit the throat of the nearest gith open, feeling a broad grin breaking on her lips.

Honestly, who can be afraid on anything with such friends around?

Under the whizzes of enemy's arrows she dashed to the well, making short work of turning up githyanki and at the same time searching with her eyes for the shapes of her other companions, also rushing to the meeting point. Adele even caught sight of Bishop, who was apparently made to leave his shooting-spot and was now making his way to the well, with breathtaking speed firing his arrows at random to where the gith's bolts came from. Judging by acute yells, most of his arrows hit the mark.

Reaching the well, he leaped on its roof in one swift spring, while the others gathered round, with their backs to the high brickwork. The sand was abating, and immediately Qara, probably waiting for it, confidently drew a line on the earth with her staff, crying out some words, and not far from her a flare emerged from the ground, arching to the side and surrounding the well with firewall. The remaining gith lingered perceptibly, but only for a second, darting to them even through the flames, to be met with steel, while Bishop methodically and neatly got rid of the archers hiding behind the windows.

Adele moved a bit forward from the well, deeply gashing the chest of another gith, but that didn't make him back off – instead he fell right onto the woman, making her jump away clumsily. The bandage on her hip burst, blood sprinkled from the wound, and Adele clenched her jaws, suppressing a cry, turning it to a faint groan that seeped through her teeth. Hearing that groan or just figuring everything out by the look on her face, Casavir caught her by the waist with his free arm, keeping her from falling, lifted the woman and easily moved her backwards, shielding with himself, parrying the attack of another creature and at once running his sword through his body…

… "Those seem to be all of them," Elanee muttered, looking around through the fire coming to naught.

Adele shut her eyes tightly, leaning against the well.

"You feel bad, miss Adele?" she heard Grobnar's voice.

The woman looked at him and chuckled, noticing an arrow that got entangled in the gnome's tousled hair.

"I'll be fine," she said, reaching for his head, fishing the arrow out of his fair locks, and handed it to the gnome. "Here's a trophy for you."

"Oh, my," Grobnar stared at the arrow in huge surprised eyes, then threw his head back to look in the sky and after that gazed back at Adele. "Where did you get it from?"

She didn't answer, still smiling, and fastened her bandage. Over her head Bishop squatted down on the roof, viewing the gith's corpses from above.

"Nice little ambush they planned here," he concluded. "Decent effort, sloppy execution," he shot a glance at Neeshka. "To think, it might have even worked if I hadn't been here."

"They wouldn't have noticed me," the tiefling retorted in a miffed tone, gathering her knives.

The ranger jumped down to the ground and strolled along the dead, pulling out his arrows. His wolf was sitting aside, sometimes shaking himself and licking clean his fur that was singed here and there. Khelgar was turning over the bodies, probably in hopes to find somebody still alive. Casavir didn't move, standing beside Adele and looking around to make sure none of the githyanki was in hiding. Adele herself was gazing around, noticing a couple of pale frightened faces in the windows. Figuring the gith were not harming them, the villagers probably decided it would be safer to hide themselves in cellars or some such.

"They left a large force in this village," Bishop said, scanning the corpses one last time. "Which means it'll be easier on us when we catch up to the others. Well, as long as we catch them before they go to ground."

Adele shrugged: "Yes, but if they are fewer now – they'll travel faster."

"Eh?" he looked up at her in slight surprise, as if he had already forgotten that someone besides him had a voice, and grinned snidely. "Well now, aren't you a bright ray of hope!"

"She was just pointing out the realities of the situation, Bishop," Casavir explained.

Like a shot, the ranger's gaze shifted to him: "Rein in, paladin. She can answer herself, without you speaking for her."

Casavir frowned, apparently taken aback that his words could be interpreted that way, and shook his head: "It was not my intention to speak for her-"

"Yeah?" Bishop cut him off with a wry smirk. "Then don't. And maybe next time you'll sound convincing," not giving him time to answer, he looked back pointedly at Adele: "What I was going to say is that you are right. And what's more, our friends won't be leaving an obvious trail this time, since they don't have the men to bait any more ambushes."

"And thank the Gods," Neeshka said, looking over the corpses, and flinched. "Don't want anything like that again."

"…says you!" Khelgar replied. "Bring them on – says I!"

"Yeah, that was fun!" Qara agreed, though her face was pale apart from the morbid crimson flush on her cheeks. Excelled Tamin was already sitting in his safe burrow under her collar, his tiny dark eyes glittering. "Like target practice! Except – real targets! Hope they'll send some more after us."

"Well, I hope they won't," Elanee shook her head.

"Nah, c'me on!" the dwarf waved her off. "If that's the best they can do, we'll be fine."

"Anyway, let's get moving already," Bishop rounded.

Elanee again looked around: "Maybe we should check on the villagers."

The ranger regarded her with a scowl. "Why?" he demanded coldly.

"Someone may be hurt."

Adele chuckled humourlessly: "I'm afraid after such an enchanting carnage they are scared of us no less than they were of the gith."

"Well then, let them stay in their corners and rot," Bishop snapped. "They had it coming anyway, laying so softly for the gith."

"The githyanki were here because of us, not them," Casavir remarked.

The ranger stared at him almost unbelievingly: "Tell me you are joking, paladin. They came here because of us, but they were here because of them," he spat on the sand. "To give up themselves and their homes to the enemy… I'm surprised the giths let any of them alive at all after that. It's more mercy than I'd've shown them."

"The githyanki are not common soldiers. And the villagers are not veterans of battle, like we are. Their behavior can be forgiven."

"Well, you can forgive everything you want, paladin," Bishop mocked, his voice acidly caustic. "Cowardice, spinelessness, stupidity… And forgive me that I don't want to."

"Okay, that's enough," Adele chimed in, seeing that the paladin was ready to answer something, and got to her feet, swaying a little as she stepped on her damaged leg.

At that Casavir gave a slight start, as if awakened from a dream, and caught the woman by the elbow, helping her to maintain balance. The ranger grinned, looking at them, and shrugged:

"Agreed, need to keep moving," he nodded at the northen path that led out of the village. "The trail goes for the mountains, so we have a lot of ground ahead to cover, and-"

"Uhm… forgive me," came a quavery female voice.

They all turned at once, and a young girl, huddling near one of the houses, obviously got confused and scared of such attention. Nervously picking at a strand of long blond hair, tied into a tail, she finally dared to come closer – though her face showed that she was ready to bolt away every moment.

"Forgive me," she repeated, darting her eyes around their motley company. "Are you… um..." her gaze slid towards the dead gith, and she swallowed hard.

"They pose no threat anymore," Casavir said in his deep round voice that seemed to envelope with calmness. "And neither do we."

The girl nodded, though she still seemed to be stressed. "Are you hunting them?"

"Yes, we are," Adele answered, coming up to her. "Have you seen them? Those that went further?"

"Yes, they... " she gulped, her gaze becoming almost pleading as she looked at Adele. "Please... They were carrying off a woman with them..."

"Shandra?"

"You know Shandra?" her eyes lit up with hope. "I heard her screaming… I… I tried to call out to her, but... I didn't realize they had her at first, but, you see, she makes a merchant run through Ember and Port Llast during harvest season, and..." her voice broke, and she gulped again. "I'm… I'm sorry, where are my manners? I am Alaine, and…" she shook her head, looking at all of them, her eyes shimmering with tears. "Please, save her… I saw the beasts taking her to the mountains to the north and east…"

"You don't say," Bishop drawled, his tone equally bored and annoyed.

Alaine stared at him mutely for a second, blinking in confusion, then looked back at Adele: "You will rescue her, won't you? And thank you for saving us from those creatures! I can't th-"

"Like we did that for you," the ranger murmured icily, eyeing the girl with disgust. The girl took a step back, fear starting to creep back into her eyes,

Yes, Bishop, wonderful, let's drive the only person trying to help us to hysterics, shall we?

"It's alright," Adele gave her head a calm shake, coming closer to Alaine to distract her dismayed cornered gaze from the ranger. "We shall do what we can."

"Will you…?" she smiled hopefully.

"You have our word, Alaine," Casavir added soothingly. "We shall return Shandra safely."

"We can't promise anything like that," Bishop put in. "She could be dead already," he shot another disdainful glance at Alaine and flinched. "Now why don't you stop wasting our time and run back home to the rest of your hiccup-scared kinfolk, huh?"

Alaine swallowed and nodded in fright, moving back to her house. Adele gnashed her teeth, not looking at the ranger, but managed to force a smile for the girl: "Forgive him, Alaine. To track down beasts a person has to be one."

Bishop let out a short chuckle: "Now that's the truth. Ah, I'm definitely starting to like this journey," casting one last glance at Alaine, he jerked his head towards the dead gith. "And the next time you'd better try doing something by yourselves. Might not get lucky with such merciful enemies – and end up butchered like lambs on the slaughter."

"Not everyone would just pass by, like you, ranger," Casavir cut off.

"And you won't be in time everywhere, paladin."

"Ooo," Qara rolled her eyes and nodded at Khelgar and Neeshka. "Here I thought those two were unbearable. But just the moment they seemed to stop their bickering – here we are again."

"Indeed," Neeshka muttered, a bit amazed, and nudged Khelgar with her elbow. "Hey, why haven't we bickered for a long time?"

"Oh, go to Hells," the dwarf grunted.

The ranger, paying no attention to them, stared at Adele and raised his brows in mock wonder: "So, can we go without more mewling dogs getting in our way? The trail gets colder."

She didn't answer, turning away and stalking past him up the street that led out of Ember. Under the pressure of anger that flowed inside of her even the pain in her leg seemed to fade away. She was angry at the githyanki, at her own wound, at the godsdamned smuggler…

…and at the fact that when he was saying all those things she couldn't help but think about West Harbor and her neighbours, getting ready in minutes to repulse the gith's attack…

…think about Amie, rushing at the gith's mage to protect her mentor…

…think about Highcliff and Elder Mayne, who didn't even try to solve the problem with the lizardfolk somehow…

…and for all the blunt cruelty that was in Bishop's words, some part of her soul actually agreed…

Deep in her grim thoughts Adele didn't even notice a person stepping out of shadows to approach her and almost crashed into him, instinctively receded a bit and lowered her gaze.

The boy. The same pale skinny boy she had seen earlier, the only one who tried to warn them of the ambush – in the bustle of everything that happened she had almost forgot about him. The child didn't move, again staring right at her with his strange shrouded eyes, huge and black, so black that it was impossible to make out the border between the pupil and the iris.

"You…" he suddenly drawled, keeping his gaze - floating yet uncannily piercing at the same time – at the woman. "You're the one who will destroy Ember."

"…What?" Adele chuckled nervously. "What're you talking about, kid?"

He tilted his head to the shoulder, studying Adele from another angle, and pursed his lips: "Wait… no... I was mistaken. Strange… The killer looks like you, but isn't."

The woman perplexedly looked back at the others in stupid hope that someone would explain her what's going on. Elanee, standing at her side, was looking at the boy with hooded, almost sleepy eyes, then whispered: "This child… he is… unusual. I can feel that he is in touch… not with the land, but something even greater…"

"Yeah," Qara ran her fingers through her hair thoughtfully. "I can barely see him – his aura is blazing so much…"

"Ember cannot be saved," he continued in an absent and frighteningly even voice, still looking only at Adele and ignoring others. "All within the village when the time comes will perish… except me".

"What do you mean?" Adele asked, her own voice unwillingly dropping to the same low level matching the child's tone.

"Ember's fate is set in stone, but mine is not. However, I shall share Ember's fate unless you help me."

"How?"

"I think you're carrying something that will allow me to survive. You cannot help me in any other way…"

Bishop, standing aside, smirked: "What, this is how they beg for money nowadays?"

Adele paid no attention to him, her eyes glued to the boy, and placed her bag on the ground to his dirty bare feet:

"Alright. Have a look and see if you can use anything."

"Thank you," he answered in the same calm tone, ran his eyes over her pack, then over the woman herself and those of her companions standing closer, then shook his head. "No, you have nothing…" his eyes flickered towards Bishop. "What about him?"

"What about me?" the ranger asked suspiciously.

"Bishop, let him have a look," she said, running her gaze between the two of them. "Please."

"…Fine," with apparent irritation he threw his pack down from his shoulder into the sand. The wolf sitting nearby watched in alert as the boy came up to it. "Have a look. But try to take anything - and I'll take both your hands as trophies. Got it?"

The child examined his bag with only a fleeting gaze, then lifted his eyes at Bishop himself.

"Your knife..." he suddenly said, pointing at the dagger Bishop kept on the quiver belt across his chest. "It's… different."

"My skinning knife? I've had this thing forever, there's nothing special about it."

"There is… A memory… Can I have it?"

"No. Only between your eyes."

"Bishop," Adele called out, for some reason feeling on edge from the way Elanee and Qara were looking at the child. Her voice seemed frightened even to herself. "Give him the knife."

The ranger looked at her coldly, amber eyes narrowed: "You surely are quick to give me orders, princess. Careful with that."

"I'm asking you to. I'll pay you for it."

"Is that so? Fine..." he pulled the knife out of the scabbard and extended it to the boy – but not low enough for the child to reach it. The ranger's eyes were fixed on Adele. "But don't expect me to forget." With that he lowered his hand finally.

"Thank you," the boy took the dagger and looked back at Adele. "We shall meet again… and soon, I think."

Saying that he made his way between the houses back to the village, his hand clutching at the knife tightly. Adele followed him with her eyes, feeling somewhat relieved as he left, then stared at her companions. They all looked at her with the same bewilderment she herself felt.

All except for Bishop, who was already walking away with his back to Ember…


When it got completely dark they finally set camp. After a day-long journey, preceded by an almost sleepless night, and a clash in Ember everybody was exhausted. Even in case of catching up with the githyanki in their present state they could hardly do anything to them.

Seemed that Bishop realized that as well since he graciously let them to make a stop for five hours. Or, perhaps, even he got tired finally.

Adele was silently strolling between her companions wrapped up in blankets and bedrolls, taking time for the anxiety caused by the battle and everything else that had happened during the day settle down in her blood – in that condition she wouldn't have been able to fall asleep anyway, and she knew about it. After the fresh dressing and Elanee's healing her wound in the hip had finally given up hurting. The annoying dull ache in her ribs had also faded, although sometimes Adele felt its stings echo through her left lung, but not hard enough to make her cough, which was good. In passing tucking Qara's blanket tighter around the girl, who's face was already regaining it's normal colour, Adele looked around.

Apart from herself, Bishop and Elanee everybody was sleeping already. Khelgar, as usual, fell asleep the moment he touched the bedroll, which almost drove Neeshka to quiet hysterics, and she even fell asleep that way, giggling under her breath. With difficulty, yet Adele managed to put even Casavir to sleep, though the paladin was obviously more than uncomfortable with the thought of leaving the ranger on watch. Not that Adele herself was thrilled with that perspective, but it was obvious that from their whole band Bishop was the one to be less tired. And somehow she doubted that he would go through the trouble of killing them all in their sleep – the ranger didn't give that much damn about them at all to bother. Even Grobnar fell asleep, sometimes murmuring something in his sleep, curling up at Elanee's side, with the druidess sitting near the tree and leaning against it. Her face was weary, eyes half-closed, but Adele couldn't make out if she was awake or not. With elves it was hard to tell sometimes – that she knew all to well after life with Daeghun.

Bishop was sitting on the edge of their camp, on a rolled out bedroll, wrapping himself in his cloak. Having took out of his bag a piece of dried meat, and out of top of his boot – another knife, he was cutting off small slices and threw them into his mouth, chewing them down slowly, almost wistfully. The wolf was stretched on the ground near him, following every slice with a half-slumbering gaze – not very interested one, though. Judging by the fact that the animal used to disappear for some time during their way, Adele came to a conclusion that he had found something in the hills for a snack.

The place they chose for a camp was secluded enough, hid out of view between the hills – yet Adele saw that every time any sound came from the darkness of night, the ranger's gaze immediately turned in that direction and the hand with the knife froze for a heartbeat.

"We could have stopped at Ember," she remarked as she was passing past him.

Bishop winced, not looking at her: "What for? So that those worthless fools could lay a festive table for us in the middle of the village? Thanks a lot, I don't have that much self-control."

"I understand that you were not very impressed with them, but-"

"I wasn't," he admitted calmly and looked up at the standing woman. "I'd like to think that neither were you."

"…?"

"You are from West Harbor," he nodded, forestalling the question. "Duncan said. Said what happened there, why you left. The gith showed up – and you killed them. Right?"

"…Yeah."

He clicked his tongue, as if proving an elementary truth: "See. And there'd be a lot less misery in this fucking world if everyone followed that simple rule: either stand up and fight, or choose to suffer… but don't whine in that case."

Adele smirked mirthlessly and sat down on the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees: "Now that's a gloomy outlook for life."

"Is it? Defending people all the time you end up hurting them worse than if you let them take a few wounds. There's learning in fighting and killing."

"Well, not everybody is into killing…"

"…says the girl who had just finished off several dozens of poor gith," he grinned and shook his head, again looking into the night. "I'm not saying everybody should be Luskans, princess."

"I just meant that some people can stand for themselves – and some people just can't. Simple as that."

"Well, the Hells with them then," he took another slice of meet and chewed it up, shrugging indifferently. "Survival of the fittest it is called. And if you protect the weak all the time the result is one – they remain weak. Not giving them any opportunity to stand for themselves you line them up for another butcher to come and finish the job. What would have happened with your little swamp village if you hadn't opposed the gith? You know what. Know as well as I do. At least I admit it."

With a sigh Adele placed her elbows on her knees, propping her head with her hand and looking into space: "I do know. But still, Ember is not West Harbor. At our place people get used to danger since childhood."

"Well, maybe that's the way it should be, princess. Your rough childhood made you tough enough to face what was coming. Could you have come all this way without killing anybody? Somehow I doubt it."

Adele didn't come up with any answer, involuntarily looking at his profile, numerous scars covering his tanned face. Those scars, shadow of stubble on his cheeks, chin and neck, thoroughly accented unwelcoming expression, constant watchfulness of his gaze – all that added years to his age, and only now Adele realized that he was actually very young, not that much older than herself.

Damn, what have happened to him to make him so cynic… Wonder where he comes from? Surely doesn't have a distinct clear accent of someone who grew up in a large city…

Bishop put the rest of the meat back into his pack and took a couple of large sips from his water-flask – though, judging by the smell, it was filled not with water, but with watered ale. The woman's gaze slid down the strap across his chest, where he used to keep his knife… That made her remember the strange black-eyed boy, and Adele shivered slightly, as if feeling his penetrating stare on her again.

"Listen," she said, "that knife you gave to the boy-"

"Actually, you gave it to him, not me," Bishop answered, and Adele arched her brow at the sharp edge that appeared in his voice, then shook her head:

"…Alright, how much does it cost?"

He shrugged: "Couple of coppers, I guess."

She felt startled: "…You mean… there was really nothing… special about it?"

"No - like I said from the start. Just an old skinning knife. But beggars will take anything they can get their hands on, I guess."

Adele shook her head in doubt, again looking into space: "Nah, he wanted that specific knife…"

"…Well," the ranger scratched his stubbled chin thoughtfully, "if the sop wanted to carry it to defend himself – it is easily concealable. Or if he is expecting an attack of a pelt-golem – guess, he can skin it afterwards."

"And it's not magical, not charmed?"

"Don't think so. I mean, maybe – but it's not likely. I had this thing forever and never noticed anything like that. It's just… mine," Bishop shot her a grim look. "And don't worry – you'll pay me for it."

"I said I will," she grunted, reaching for her purse. "How much do you want?"

That "almost smiling" expression flashed across his face again: "Did I say anything about money?"

She blinked, puzzled, looking at him, then felt her eyes widen a bit in understanding: "…Beg your pardon?"

"Well, seeing how eager you are to console me in my loss…" he fell silent, letting the end of his statement sink, then smirked, sliding his eyes down her.

Adele backed off a little: "You seem to be very tired, ranger - starting to have some strange ideas."

He chuckled: "Now, now, don't be so harsh on yourself as to think that a man can't have any ideas about you. Pretty elven half-breed in skin-tight leather jerkin…" he shrugged. "It'll do just fine."

"Not for you," she stated, rising to her feet, and smiled, "and not for me, I'm afraid."

He followed her up with the same derisive stare: "Well, if you change your mind – I'll be right here. Catch me in the right mood – why not. That's up to you."

Adele gave him another thin smile, looking down on him: "And here I thought there was something worthy about you," she threw her hands up in mock disappointment. "But, hey, no, look – it's good-old Bishop again."

"I am what I am," he nodded. "Glad you've got that."

"Well, try not to overglad yourself – or you might miss the trail in your joy."

He laughed: "You know, you warm my heart, really. I love a sharp tongue in a woman."

"I just hope your crush on me won't spoil your watch," she cut off, turning away.

"Then your debt stands," he sent on after her back and chuckled again. "Guess, right until you get drunk again."

Adele froze for a second, feeling a blush creeping up her neck, but didn't look back and walked away, towards the place where she had left her belongings.

Yeah, you get drunk once, leer at the guy a bit – and you'll never see an end to it, she chided inwardly, rolling out her sleeping-bag.

Worming inside of it, she wrapped herself tight from the cold emanating from the ground, and sighed, closing her eyes. Her ear caught another sharp snore from Khelgar, and the woman smiled inwardly, falling into a tired but pleasant sleep.

It was almost deprived of any dreams, instead filled with quiet whisper of the forest, rustle of the grass, a bit tart but nice smell of smoke, pine pitch and leather, and something cool and calloused slid down her neck, stroking gently, causing a wish to purr, a light wave of air tickled her ear…

She gave a slight start, waking up with displeasure, mechanically freeing her hand from under the blanked to brush off a leaf or whatever it was on her neck, half-opened her eyes… and became paralyzed as they met with another pair of eyes, amber, cold, amused…

???????????? What the -????????????

Bishop leaned in closer, and with horror Adele realized it was actually his fingers on her neck. She backed away – but there was only ground underneath her, though she almost felt like trying to dig herself into it with her shoulder-blades.

He… Crap, what is he…? He's…?!!

"Rise and shine, princess," he whispered almost soundlessly, his thin sneer becoming wider and sharper at her reaction. "It's about time."

Coming to her senses, she swiftly waved her free hand to smack him against the face with the back of her palm – but it missed, flew hair-breadth from his cheek as he had already got up, making a few steps away, and she sat bolt upright, glaring in the distance with silent rage. Swallowing, she threw her blanket off, rising to her feet and ignoring his deliberately intent supervision.

"What, have five hours passed already?" she asked, her voice thick with sleep and anger.

"Yeah," he answered, and by the sound of his voice Adele could swear that son of a bitch was grinning. "So let's get moving."

"As you say, oh ranger."

She went to wake up the rest of her friends, paying no further attention to Bishop. He was just standing there, a motionless silent figure between the trees, his arms folded, mockery written in every line of his pose – and Adele discovered that, perhaps, for the first time in her life she was actually starting to hate someone...