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IV
Awakening (scene I)

Bianca glanced up on more time at the child before drawing the latest in a series of symbols on the wooden floor with a piece of white chalk. Shoving some of her black hair behind a small, pointed ear, Bianca couldn’t help but continually ask herself just who this little girl was and why she was in the hands of a pair of Wyrm Cultists. She had been trying to discern anything she could about the child just through observation. The child’s blonde hair had Bianca guessing that she might be from the north or possibly the country of Drekar, but the girl’s clothes, simple and unassuming in their design, offered no clues to her origins.

Standing up once the last symbol was drawn and looking down to make certain the series formed a circle around the child’s small body, Bianca scanned the common room, which was really nothing more than a large empty space of wooden floors and walls with a single door on three of the walls and a large window on the fourth that faced the narrow street outside of the building. The room’s sole purpose was that it separated Melchiah’s personal chambers from hers in the tenement she and Melchiah shared.
She jumped in surprise when a heavy thud hit the floor a few feet away and nearly went for one of her knives until she saw Melchiah standing in the room with the bag he received from Alistair on the floor next to him.

“You’re wasting your time…” The Dark Elf commented while walking across the room and loosening the straps that held his sheathed blades to his body. Once he reached the window, he set the weapons upright against the wall and seated himself on the floor cross legged. He then closed his eyes while resting his gloved hands on top of his knees.

“She can’t stay with us.”

Bianca ignored him and went back to the symbols she had drawn around the child. After linking all of them together with a carefully drawn line that ran the entire circle that the symbols formed, Bianca set the chalk down and knelt on both knees at the child’s side. Glancing back to make sure Melchiah was going to remain silent; Bianca put a hand on the girl’s forehead. She then closed her eyes and began to mutter something under her breath.

There was no physical change in the environment to be perceived by the five traditional senses. The tell tale signs of the air shifting and a certain indescribable tinge running across a witness’s skin were all but absent, unlike with most instances of magic use.

Bianca remained still except for the movement of her lips and the little blonde haired girl certainly had not moved save for the idle up and down motions of her tiny chest as she breathed in her deep slumber. The words coming from Bianca’s mouth were not spoken in the common tongue and they carried a certain impartiality about them that suggested neither good nor ill will as they were given life. Even as Bianca’s tone grew slightly louder and her speech slightly faster, there was no evident shift in the very fabric of reality that even an apprentice magician would cause upon casting a spell.

Such was the neutralizing nature void magic. Present and absent. Active and passive. All at once.

Bianca drew her hand back and slowly opened her eyes. She glanced down at the child, who still rested peacefully, and let out a sigh as she wondered to herself whether or not it worked.

“The smart thing to do would be to leave her at the gates of the Wyrm Cult compound…” Melchiah made vocal the thought he had put on hold when
Bianca started the spell mere moments ago.

The Dark Elf’s voice brought his companion back into reality, causing her to turn her head and challenge him with a fiery glare. “We aren’t doing that, Mel!” She remained adamant.

“This is going to jeopardize Arghanas’ business should the cult find out who you are and who you work for. Mark my words.” Melchiah theorized. “And if he finds out that we…you’ve…stolen something that belongs to the Wyrm Cult, he’ll have you hunted down just for bringing the unwelcome attention to his organization.”

Bianca’s expression suddenly grew grim as she studied her insensible companion’s dark face. “Is that a threat, Melchiah?” Bianca stated.

“I wouldn’t do that.” Melchiah responded calmly and carefully. “But you are jeopardizing your safety…”

“Well, your concern is most appreciated…” She said to him while turning back to the child. “But everything will be fine.”

“I sincerely doubt that.” The Dark Elf argued. “We have an unnecessary complication to deal with, now.”

Bianca spun back around with a glare on her face. “You can’t be serious, Melchiah. She’s just a child!”

“And do you believe that we are the kind of people that a child should be around?” He asked. “She’s no better off in our world than she would be in that of the Wyrm Cult’s.”

“I already told you that I’m not leaving her with those psychotic snake coddlers!” She said in challenge, surging to her feet. “You’ve seen the kinds of things they’re into. Who knows what they’d do to this poor child?!” Bianca motioned to the girl as she began to close the space between herself and her partner.

Melchiah arched his head back ever so slightly and looked at Bianca while remaining seated. “And as I’ve already asked you...how are a pair of killers-for-hire any better? For our own good and hers, we must be rid her.” The assassin persisted.

“Don’t be so callous…” She started.

“I wouldn’t have to be if you had simply used your head back on Baird’s boat.” He cut her off. “It is exactly this manner of rash decision making that could very well get you killed in this city, Bianca. I shouldn’t need to tell you that.” Before Bianca could respond, Melchiah stood up and looked her in the eye. “You and I have known each other for quite some time. I don’t want you to think that I’m upset with you, but it’s because I’ve known you for so long that I must question the sensibility behind what you’ve done. You don’t even know the child…”

Bianca sighed and rubbed her forehead in agitation. “Forget it, Mel. I’m standing by saving that little girl’s life and I’m willing to face whatever the snakes, Arghanas and whoever else sends at me as a result of that.” She vowed. “Even you,” She emphasized while looking Melchiah in his dark green eyes.

Melchiah paused and thought about what she just said “I am not your enemy in this, Bianca. You know as well as I do that Arghanas will be if he finds out what’s happened, however. One way or another, I fear your actions are going result in things ending badly for you…”

Melchiah stopped as soon as he realized there was no point in continuing.
Silence fell over the room and the thick tension in the air could be felt as Bianca slowly stepped away from Melchiah and began walking towards her room.

Melchiah began to say something to her but suddenly stopped again.

Bianca spun around in surprise.

The two of them stared in stunned silence as they watched the child stir where she lay. A light moan escaped the little girl’s lips before her blue eyes fluttered open and she sat up, a confused look on her face as she scanned the room before coming to Melchiah and Bianca.

Bewildered, the two looked from the girl to each other as if expecting the other to know what to do next.

IV
Awakening (scene II)

Renato groaned in irritation as another load of charred bodies and separated extremities were dumped at his armored feet. He glared at the peacekeepers who simply walked away and left him to his work before he knelt down and lifted the first body into the wagon behind him after some struggle. Wiping sweat from his brow and trying to think of anything other than the horrible stench of burnt flesh and the nauseating smell of sea air, Renato instinctively jumped and grabbed the hand that was suddenly placed on his shoulder. He prepared to strike the one foolish enough to touch him but stopped in his tracks when he noticed it was only Dran, returned from the compound.

Dran motioned his head to the alley behind them and then turned and walked towards it. Renato grabbed brother Strahm’s severed limb from the wagon and followed.

“Perhaps you were right in your assessment that these peacekeepers should suffer, Dran…” Renato admitted as he glanced over his shoulders while he and Dran slipped into the shadows of the alley.

“All good things will come in time, brother Renato…” The reply came, though not from Dran.

Renato turned at the sound of the icy tone and saw the tall, cloaked figure that had accompanied Dran from the compound.

“Ah, Rilas! The lord sent you, did he?”

“Indeed…” Rilas spoke with a nod of his head. “Dran has already told me of what you’ve found here.” He explained.

Renato was prepared to speak, but reeled back slightly when Rilas pulled back his hood to reveal the appearance of a fair skinned Sylvan Elf who looked as though he had just crawled from the grave. The Elf scanned Renato over until he noted the severed limb that he carried. Rilas then extended his arm from beneath his long, baggy sleeve and the skin clung to bone as the elf motioned his dagger-like digits for Dran to relinquish Strahm’s arm to him.

No sooner than when the appendage was in Rilas’ cold palm did he sink his filed teeth into soft human flesh with the abandon of a starved, rabid wolf. With a vicious snap of his head and little effort he tore a large chunk of flesh free and with a single gulp it disappeared down his gullet, much to the dumbfounded fascination of his fellow cultists, before the elf staggered back and steadied himself against a nearby wall while his hollow eyes rolled back into his head.

“Brother Rilas…” Dran stepped forward with some concern, only to be stopped when Renato placed a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s fine, Dran. Be patient, soon enough we’ll know what Strahm saw in his last moments of life.”

And relive Strahm’s last few moments Rilas did.

The pale, gaunt elf growled in pain and clutched his side as though someone had driven a blade into it. His head then snapped to the side and he spun in the same motion of a man who had just been punched across the jaw. The deranged elf put his face to the wall behind him and breathed heavily for several moments. Dran and Renato watched the scene, each man wondering to himself just what Rilas had been seeing but it was only after the elf stood in the same place for several long, deathly silent minutes that the two men approached him to inquire.

“A Halfling…” Rilas spoke in a blood soaked voice after a violent coughing fit but before Dran and Renato could question.

“Pardon?” Renato asked.

“A Halfling woman was the last person to see Strahm alive….” The elf answered while finally releasing the late Strahm’s arm from his implacable grip.

IV
Awakening (scene IV)


“My vision showed me that it was some Halfling b***h who took Strahm’s life, my lord.” Rilas explained to Shemsu-Set in the confines of the Wyrm Cult compound.

The towering cult leader stood with his back to the elf, half distracted by the sculptures and blasphemous paintings of great serpents and heathens idolized by his sect that were neatly displayed in the gallery they occupied, many of which were created by the cult leader himself. The Orc sisters, Nagda and Audra, stood ever vigilante at their lord’s side as he raised his metal chalice to his lips.

“Did this woman take the prize?” He questioned before sipping his drink.

“If she did, Strahm died before he could see it happen, I’m afraid.” Rilas explained to him. The elf winced slightly when he heard a sustained growl and the grinding crunch of metal.

Shemsu-Set clutched the crumpled chalice in his hand, crushing it in on itself as though it were mere paper in his palm. He unclenched his stained teeth long enough to lap some of the thick, dark red drink from his jaw with his tongue before turning back to Rilas. “There is but one man who would have known of this action before it took place.” The ruined chalice hit the floor with a loud, metal clang. “The Halfling must be a crony of that “dog” Arghanas Prax.” The cult leader concluded with a nod of agreement from Rilas as well Audra while Nagda knelt to retrieve her master’s chalice from the floor.

“You’ve done well, Rilas.”

“I live to serve, my lord.” The Elf responded with an appreciative nod before taking a bow and exiting the gallery.

“Prax has made his move.” Shemsu-Set stated to the two Orc sisters, who stood to attention the minute he started talking. “Go. Find the Halfling. Do whatever you must.” He ordered before turning back around to admire the artwork.

Audra moved to the exit immediately while a sinister smirk crossed Nagda’s scarred, green face. She lifted the crumpled chalice Shemu-Set had discarded and, without so much as a word, her hand exploded in a bright blue flame that consumed the metal until nothing was left. She clenched her fist and snuffed the flame from existence as suddenly as it appeared before following suit behind her sister.




“What's this, now…?” Zanai asked herself.

The gates to the Wyrm Cult’s compound opened to allow two identical figures out before closing again. Zanai noted that the two Orc sisters were dressed in similar suits of dark, barbed armor made of heavy leather over simple robes and both women wore their hair in simple ponytails. She’d have had an impossible time of telling the two apart were it not for the fact that one Orc had her distinctive tattoo on the left side of her face while her twin had the exact same mark on the right side.

Zanai watched the twin with the right side tattoo, whom also had a fighting staff strapped across her back, tap the other on the shoulder and motion to follow before the two took off in a run to the west of the compound. Zanai stuck her head from the alley, her interest in these two mounting as they took off. She took one look back at the compound across the way before instinct decided for her that the two Orcs were far more interesting than the three men she had followed from the docks.

The tail of Zanai’s coat trailed behind her while she moved quickly but silently in the wake of the Orcs, making sure to keep a hand near the sheathed swords at her lower back as she went.