The Hunter was still in the night sky, her arm eternally poised to throw her starry javelin at the void.
Dana stood alone on the palisade, gazing up at the familiar constellation as it began to fade in the dawn's creeping light.
The previous day had been long, and her sleep had been deep, but for the third morning in a row it had been cut short. Once again, she had risen before everyone else, and had found her way to the ramparts, alone with her thoughts. The reality of waking up to a world without Lydia was still a sharp, jagged thing that moved in her breast every time she breathed.
During the day or the evening, she could drown it in the urgency of action, in the din of battle, in the comforting presence of her newfound companions; somehow, they dulled the pain enough to allow her to function, even laugh.
But here, in the silent, twilit world that held its breath before the sunrise, the weight of her loss was inescapable. It was as if she was back in that first morning after, when it had all seemed like a bad dream, except she knew the cruel sun would inexorably rise and cast its harsh light upon the truth.
She was thankful at least for the quest she had undertaken; it filled her with a sense of purpose and drove her forward where she would have floundered if left to her own devices. She shuddered to think about what would happen when they'd vanquish Andariel and go their separate ways, provided they didn't die in the attempt. A cold breeze picked up and she clutched the fur-lined cloak she wore tighter to her body.
The sun peeked over the horizon.
- "Hail, sir knight," she suddenly declared aloud. There was no trace of her sorrow in her voice.
- "Oh, um...good morning, milady," Galen replied, surprised she had heard him approaching.
- "Had enough beauty sleep?" she asked teasingly.
- "You tell me," he replied with his best smile.
She made a face as if to appraise him.
- "I'd give it another couple of hours," she decided impishly.
- "And here I was hoping to charm Andariel into submission," he retorted wistfully.
- "Because it's against your code to strike down a woman?" she suddenly asked in a more serious tone. Her voice held an edge.
The paladin said nothing for a moment.
- "Listen, about our encounter with the corrupted rogues," he eventually spoke up. "I'm sorry, I failed you as a brother in arms. I left you to do the bloody work in my stead and even put you in danger. There's no excuse for it. It's...it's just been a while since I've had to end a human life."
- "I need to know that I can trust you at my side," she said, turning to face him fully. "The dark rogues are dangerous and cunning adversaries, you cannot afford any hesitation."
- "I promise you it won't happen again," he asserted as he looked her in the eyes. His face had that serious air knights wear when they pledge their sword to a lady.
- "Good. Your mercy could end up getting you killed, and I've grown rather fond of you," she said with a small smile. "Your heart is too soft for the warrior's trade. It makes me wonder how you managed to survive a war."
- "I almost didn't. Do you remember when I told you the war had claimed my grandfather's life?"
Dana simply nodded. His features grew even more contrite.
- "What I didn't tell you was that it was my fault," he said at length, looking out towards the horizon. "When I got my first taste of real battle, I fought without killing intent, disarming or incapacitating my foes. Every wound I inflicted was non-fatal. I was good. I was really good, and I thought I could get away with it. But even a paladin cannot afford to disrespect his enemies like that, and there came a day when I was overwhelmed because of it. I would've died had my grandfather not sacrificed himself to save me. He paid with his life what I refused to pay with the foeman's blood," he finished, his clenched knuckles white from the strain.
- "I'm sorry," she said simply, placing her hand on his. Her voice was gentler now.
- "After that, I could no longer justify restraining my blade and endangering my brethren. So every day I went to war like a plowman goes to his field, and the harvest was rich and red. It was a nightmare I have not fully recovered from. In my dreams, I still see the faces of the knights and men-at-arms who fell to my blade. Some of them were no older than I was, fear etched on their young faces as the life drained from them. There wasn't even time to heal anyone until the end of the battle, and by then there were more corpses than prisoners."
- "You did what you had to, and you saved the lives you could," she offered. "No one could ask more of you."
- "I fulfilled my duty to my countrymen," he said, turning back to her, "no matter what it cost me, but I wished with all my heart I would never have to sully my hands again. Sadly, the world is a messy place and in the fight against evil even the innocent may come to harm. I understand that. It doesn't make it any easier. I won't lie, it's even harder when my enemy is a woman. I suppose an amazon like you would find that insulting."
- "A little," she admitted, "but I understand. When I first left my island home, it took me a while to adjust to the idea of fighting men. I doubt any of your foes were innocent, however. Misled, perhaps, or blindly loyal, but no man may call himself innocent when he plays the part of conqueror. But as for the dark rogues, they are no better than demons."
The edge in her voice was back.
- "What if they could be redeemed somehow?" he asked.
- "They turned on their own sisters and slaughtered them without remorse. They must be hunted down and destroyed."
- "Most of them did not choose this fate. Only Blood Raven and a few others fell to the dark powers willingly, and they had been driven mad by their experiences beneath Tristram. As for the rest, who knows what dark tortures were visited on them to break them? Would either of us have been stronger in their stead?"
- "That doesn't change anything. They're too far gone; death is the only mercy we can offer them."
- "You're probably right," he sighed. "Once again I must shed the blood of Hell's victims."
- "I would kill a thousand of them if it could bring back Lydia!" she spat out.
The amazon's sudden outburst took Galen by surprise. She was usually so good at hiding her pain and anger behind a mask of competence and camaraderie, but the mask had slipped. She tried to bring her emotions back under control, yet her eyes welled with unbidden tears.
Before she could try to hide them, sudden warmth enveloped her and she found herself in the paladin's arms. An instant passed before she welcomed and returned the embrace.
They stood still in the morning light as time flowed strangely around them.
When they finally separated, she offered him a weak smile that wavered at the edge of shame and gratitude. The tears were now streaming freely across her cheeks. He tentatively wiped a few of them away, hoping she would not berate him for treating her like a dainty maiden. Amazons have their pride.
- "I'm sorry," she said in a low voice. "I don't know what came over me."
- "Please, don't apologize," he replied. "You've much to mourn and little time to do so. I know you've been putting on a brave face for our sake, but we're your friends. We're meant to share in your burdens."
- "I don't want to be dead weight."
- "Dead weight?" he scoffed. "We would never have made it this far without you. I've allowed my burdens to endanger us both, and yet you helped me bear them. You can trust me with yours."
Her smile grew wider, yet sadder.
- "You remind me a little of her," she said. "She always knew just what to say to lift my spirits, as far back as I can remember."
- "You grew up together, I take it?" he asked.
- "Yes, we were childhood friends. We went together to the same lessons, trained together under the same masters, and played together in the palace. We were inseparable."
- "You grew up in a palace?"
- "My mother was the captain of the royal guard, and her mother our queen."
- "Lydia was a princess?" he asked, his blue eyes wide like the sky.
- "Not just a princess," she retorted. "The queen's eldest daughter and heir to the throne of Skovos."
- "By all the fires of Heaven! What was she doing here, so far away from home?"
- "It's a long story," Dana replied with a sigh. When Galen made no move to change the subject and instead gazed at her expectantly, she chuckled and leaned on the palisade, her eyes dancing to the hidden tune of her memories. "Lydia always hated the fact that she was being groomed to succeed her mother. She abhorred statecraft, and would find ways for us to sneak away from our tutors. As we became young women, she avoided the court like the plague, preferring to go hunting in the jungle. Her mother would try to introduce her to the sons of influential matriarchs and she would run off with me to participate in the arena games. She had always been wild at heart, and when we reached the time of our coming of age, she decided there was too much world out there to see to spend all her life in the Skovos isles. She wanted to taste the exciting life of a traveling mercenary, like many of our amazon sisters.
- "What about you?" he inquired.
- "I had trained to become her captain of the guard, and was sworn to protect her wherever she went. I had my misgivings about leaving, but I couldn't bear the thought of being separated from her. So when she boarded the first ship to the mainland, I was right there by her side, and I stayed by her side as we wandered the world in search of adventure. We always said we'd go home one day, when homesickness became stronger than wanderlust. Now, she will never see Skovos again." The tears threatened to return.
- "What's it like? Skovos," Galen asked, trying to distract her from her pain.
- "It's the jewel of Sanctuary," Dana spoke with a sudden surge of pride, though the paladin could also make out a tinge of nostalgia. "A lush island where nature is as beautiful as it is deadly, just like its women. Yet at the heart of that untamed jungle lies a great bastion of civilization, its white harbor the richest in the Twin Seas, its marble halls echoing with the words of the world's greatest orators and philosophers. Many of us leave our insular paradise for the thrill and glory of the mercenary life, but we often come to realize there's no place like it in all the world."
- "You wish you were back home?" It was as much a statement as it was a question.
- "Now more than ever," the amazon admitted.
- "You miss your family," he continued, a note of regret in his voice.
- "I've sent them letters over the years, though I've received none in return. I don't think my mother ever forgave me for shirking my duty, any more than the queen did Lydia."
- "But you didn't shirk your duty," he objected. "You stayed true to your princess and followed her to the ends of the world."
- "I was an accomplice to a runaway heir, and in so doing brought shame to our house. The truth is that after I left Skovos, Lydia was my only family. My best friend. My lover."
Another chuckle escaped her lips at the sudden redness in the paladin's cheeks.
- "Your lo..." he stumbled upon the word, as though it were foreign.
- "There you are!" Aan called out from below, and the paladin offered a silent prayer to the archangel of fate. "I've been looking everywhere for you two. Akara has summoned us to her tent."
- "Let's not keep her waiting then." Galen walked briskly, heading to the sisterhood's headquarters.
- "Wait!" the barbarian said. "Not this way."
- "But that's where Akara is," Dana chimed in.
- "Yes, but we're not going there yet. Another matter calls us first."
- "What matter?" asked the paladin.
- "Breakfast!" Aan stated with barely concealed glee.
Akara's tent was crowded. The entire rogue leadership was there, as well as Deckard Cain and, standing protectively by his side, the young sorceress who had zapped Aan. Her unruly, curly light brown hair framed a sun-kissed face that betrayed her youth, yet a sharp mind shone through her vivid amber eyes.
The barbarian eyed the staff she held in her grip accusingly as he stepped inside, followed by Galen and Dana.
- "Welcome, heroes," Akara greeted them with pomp they were not expecting. "We've been waiting for you".
- "Apologies, priestess," Galen offered with a quick glance towards the northman. "It took us some time to get going this morning."
- "Perfectly understandable," she granted. "You had a long night. Your brave efforts to rescue the last of the Horadrim have saved the lives of many, and may yet prove salutary for all of Sanctuary. Which brings me to the dire news I must now share with you. Cain and I have talked about recent events at length, and we have arrived at a terrible conclusion: that we are dealing with a far greater evil than Andariel alone. I'll let him explain."
- "First," the old man began, "allow me to thank you with all my heart for saving me and what remains of my hometown. I am forever in your debt, and I will endeavor to repay that debt by accompanying you on your journeys, wherever they may take you. I expect you will need my counsel, for you face the Lord of Terror himself."
A stunned silence ensued.
- "How can that be?" Galen voiced what his allies were thinking. "Diablo was slain in the cathedral beneath Tristram."
- "He was, yes," the Horadrim agreed but his tone implied there was more to the story. "As you all know many champions answered the call when darkness fell on our town, among them some of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye's foremost warriors. But the one who struck the killing blow against Diablo was none other than our prince, Aidan, King Leoric's eldest son. Many were lost in the fight against the demons beneath the cathedral, but when our prince emerged victorious from the labyrinth, we thought our troubles were over. We must have celebrated for weeks, throwing great feasts in honor of the heroes who had delivered us, yet Aidan remained quiet and sullen throughout. He was changed. He kept a cowl on even indoors, and what could be seen of his eyes looked haunted. He kept to himself and would sometimes wake up screaming at night; always something about "the east". He wasn't the only one. The other two who had survived the encounter with the Lord of Terror had also grown brooding and aloof. Whatever darkness gripped our prince seemed to afflict them as well. One was the rogue Moreina, whom you knew as Bloodraven; I do not need to tell you of her fate. The other was a Vizjerei mage by the name of Jazreth."
- "He must have fallen to the same infernal influence that corrupted Bloodraven," Dana surmised.
- "He is not corrupted!" the young woman at Deckard's side exclaimed, but doubt soon clouded her outrage. "He is simply… not himself."
- "This is Talia," Cain offered helpfully, "a sorceress of the Zann-Esu, and Jazreth's daughter."
- "My father became more of a stranger every time he went back down into that accursed cathedral," Talia said bitterly. "By the end I could barely recognize him. He used to be self-assured and cheerful, but the horrors he experienced turned him into a disquieted and grim man. Whenever I would ask him about it, he would merely offer me a melancholy look. I thought it would pass with time, but one night he simply left in the dead of night, without a word. The rogue also disappeared."
- "What of prince Aidan?" Galen asked. "Did he fall with Tristram? Or does he too serve the enemy now?"
- "It is far worse than that, I fear," Cain answered. "He left town shortly after the other two heroes, and the following day we were suddenly beset by a horde of demons. Akara and I believe the dark wanderer that came to the monastery the night it fell was none other than the prince himself. Except he is no longer truly himself. He is now Diablo's vessel."
A heavy silence fell on the assembly as Cain's words sank in. The first to disturb it was Aan.
- "What do you mean, "vessel"? Did he not slay the Lord of Terror?"
- "He did," Cain conceded, "but the Prime Evils are more than just flesh and bone. Ever since the Dark Exile, when the three brothers were cast out of Hell, their spirits have been trapped in Sanctuary. The Horadrim were formed in order to capture their essence within mystical artifacts called soulstones so that they would no longer be free to possess mortals and wreak havoc upon mankind. They succeeded; Tristram's cathedral was built to guard Diablo's stone. I do not know how or why it has failed to contain him, nor how he has managed to corrupt the very champions who vanquished him. I simply know that he must be stopped. I fear he travels east to free his brothers and once again sow terror, destruction and hatred in the world."
- "…and he has left Andariel behind to bar pursuit," the amazon suddenly realized.
- "Which is more troubling than you know," Cain retorted. "That a Lesser Evil is aiding Diablo may mean that the forces of Hell are once again aligned behind him and his brothers."
- "Let him cower behind his legions," the paladin said with sudden fierceness. "The very gates of Hell will not stand before our wrath."
Dana had never seen such fire in her companion before, not even in the midst of battle. His voice held more purpose and conviction, and his whole countenance was warlike, as if responding to some call to arms only he could hear. She felt an upswell of pride and stood a little taller for it, and she saw the same pride infect Aan's stance at the paladin's words.
Deckard Cain stared thoughtfully at the young knight before him, and a tentative smile formed on his lips.
- "The priestess has told me of your valor. You three have faced untold dangers and come out victorious, but I fear the road ahead only gets more perilous. I will offer what assistance I can."
- "As will I!" Talia blurted out. "The clan mothers have long predicted the emergence of evil. It is the reason I traveled to Tristram with my father. I will fight by your side."
Galen hesitated, exchanging a look with the amazon. Whilst a spellcaster would be a welcome addition to the party, the sorceress looked too young to have seen much battle.
- "We took you, didn't we?" Dana remarked wryly, as if reading his mind.
- "Perhaps it's best you stay to help defend the camp," the paladin told Talia.
- "Oh no, not this time," she replied petulantly. "My father told me the same thing back in Tristram, ordered me to defend the townsfolk while he went down into the cathedral to face the demons. Look where that got us. I will not be relegated to guard duty again."
- "He only meant to keep you safe," Cain said placatingly.
- "I am a battlemage of the Zann-Esu," Talia retorted as she drew herself up, though her slight frame made the pose more endearing than formidable. "I do not need to be protected."
- "I do not doubt your power," the old man replied. "Without you, no one from Tristram would be left alive today. Still, I wish your seniors were here to fight in your stead."
- "You fought off the demons alone to protect the townsfolk?" the amazon asked the sorceress.
- "Yes, though I could only save a few," the sorceress replied dejectedly. "I defended Ogden, the innkeeper, while he gathered as many of the survivors as possible in his cellar before the town was completely overrun. He…he went out one last time to look for more survivors, but he never made it back. I could only hold the khazra off so long before the inn burned down around me and I had to dive into the cellar."
- "You did all you could," the paladin offered consolingly. "It was very brave of you."
- "Well I'm convinced," the amazon declared. "We'll be honored to have you fight by our side."
- "Very well," Galen conceded. "We're hardly in a position to turn away powerful allies. Don't worry, elder," he added upon seeing Cain's apprehensive demeanor. "We look out for each other."
Everyone turned to Aan, expecting him to voice his approval, but all he offered was a grunt.
- "Now that that's settled," Akara spoke up, "I'm afraid further discussion will have to wait. Knowing what we now know, we can no longer afford to stay idle behind our walls. We must retake the monastery as soon as possible. Every moment we delay allows Diablo to slip farther from our grasp. Kashya?"
- "I have already sent scouts ahead of you to reconnoiter the Rakkisroad leading up to the monastery," the redhead announced. "They will thwart any ambushes and harass any enemies still roaming the countryside."
- "Then we shall set out immediately," the paladin declared. "Talia, you're welcome to join us at our tent for preparations."
The young woman turned to Deckard Cain as if loathe to leave his side; she had spent so long as his de facto bodyguard she had taken the role to heart. He offered her a fond smile and a simple nod.
- "Do not worry, my child. I'll be perfectly safe here."
His words easing her uncertainty, she joined her new companions in arms with no small degree of trepidation. She knew next to nothing about these people, yet the knight, who looked not much older than she was, emanated a warm and soothing presence, and something about the tall blonde reminded her of her older sisters in the clan. The gruff barbarian, on the other hand, was a different story; he did his best to ignore her royally.
She sighed inwardly as she was reminded of a Zann-Esu proverb: The first element will sing for you. The second will dance with you. The third will laugh at you.
She allowed herself a confidant smirk; that proverb had never applied to her.
