“I’ll be there in a minute.”
Freidrich gives him a knowing wink accompanied by a sly smirk.
“Take your time, boss. If it could wait a night, it can wait another hour.”
The way he said the sentence made Uther feel a bit uncomfortable, but as his lieutenant turns and walks off, visibly dunking his head in the communal well on the way past, Uther can’t help but sigh with a smile.
Freidrich might be a little crude, but he meant well.
A pair of gray-skinned arms wrap around him from behind, and he felt a pleasant shiver run through him as the smooth, hot skin of the drow pushes up towards him.
“Is it okay if I borrow your horse?”
Her request is followed by her soft lips touching at his neck, promising great gratitude should her wishes be fulfilled.
Uther sighs softly, closing the door in front of him before turning and taking her in his own arms.
She smiles in a way that makes Uther feel warm inside.
“Of course. Where are you going?”
Lyssia places a finger on his lips.
“There’s something I need to take care of. And it’s…”
Her eyes grow pained and distant, her voice trailing off.
Uther embraces her tightly, kissing her.
“It’s okay. You can tell me when you’re ready.”
“That’s a cool ma-
“OI WHAT THA F-”
Crudus makes the entire couch fall onto it’s side as he clambers away from the necromancer, eyes wide and face pale.
“GIT THA FOCK AWAY FROM ME YA BLOODY MONSTER!”
He scrambles onto his feet and hoists a decorative footstool above his head as Anders backs away from the half-orc.
The woman steps in towards the man, decisively punching him in the gut, and as he topples she kicks him in the face.
“NO ONE threatens Anders! You get that?!”
Wheezing for air on the floor while rubbing his chin, the gladiator looks up at the woman in a new light.
Was it not for the abomination standing in the corner of the room, his horrid face once more covered by the cowl, he would probably have been highly entranced by the woman.
He liked his women fiery, and he’s got the scars to prove it, but for now he’s got other things to care about.
“Oi! Don’t kick tha patient!”
“If you’re strong enough to hoist up a footstool that big, you’re strong enough to get kicked.
“Now, I’m going to make one thing perfectly clear to you: Anders is responsible for freeing all of us, and he saved your godsdamn hide, you bloody ingrate, so if you ever threaten him again, I’ll rip your heart out and force you to eat it before you bloody die, do you understand?”
The icy tone in her voice actually had Crudus convinced that she indeed was speaking the truth, and he was snapped out of his initial fright at the visage of the mage, and he now looks at the woman with newfound respect.
“Jus’ don’ let him eat me soul.”
The woman looks at him, and she bursts out laughing.
The summer wind blew through Lyssia’s hair, and she felt free in a way she never had before.
For the first time in her life, she was free to do whatever she wanted, no longer bound by the law of the sisterhood or the dark mother.
No one could tell her what to do, and that was something she had never experienced before.
She was free.
Before, she had been a slave to the church, but now she was free.
She might be sent to hell for her heresy, but she didn’t care.
The gods could go fuck themselves. Looking around the pleasant forest, it was hard to tell that it was the same one where the demons had ambushed her and her former sisters. It was vastly different during the day.
Gone was the ominous mists and the harsh, dark trees, instead she was surrounded by a forest teeming with life.
Above her birds are singing among the branches, and at a couple of occasions she spotted wild deer among the trees, who bound into the safety of the deeper forest in fright of her.
It is so pleasant here, it is almost difficult for Lyssia to feel morose, even with the grim nature of her task.
She pats the horse on his flank.
He has made good pace getting here, and when she got back she would make sure to get him a treat.
She heard that horses enjoyed carrots and some strange surface fruit known as “apples”.
She slipped off Moff, and tied his reins to a low branch.
The horse snorts disapprovingly, and gives her a judging gaze.
“Wait here.”
The horse rolls his eyes as if saying ”Like you gave me a choice”
“Don’t give me that attit-”
Lyssia stops herself.
What was she doing, talking to a horse? It was just an animal, a beast of burden.
Once more she has to stop herself.
Until a week ago, she had held a similar view of humans.
She sighs.
“Fine.”
And unties him from the branch.
The horse seems very pleased.
“Don’t go running off. I’m trusting you, here.”
She takes the saddle bag off of the horse, swinging it over her shoulder as she walks into the deep forest.
She felt her heart speed up.
Just a few more steps.
For a moment, she has a hard time proceeding, but then she steps forwards.
A second step, foot raised high to avoid stepping on the arm of a dead drow.
It wasn’t the one she was looking for.
She continued inwards, and around her were the mangled decomposing corpses that had just a week ago been her companions.
She feels a lump in her throat as she finds the one she was looking for.
“gods…”
Lyssia dropped to her knees in front of her sister, whose empty eye sockets stared past her into the forest.
“Ylene, please forgive me. It’s all my fault. I killed you… please forgive me…”
Hot tears rolled down her cheeks as the lump in her throat took away her voice, and she devolved into sniveling and crying, putting her arms around the sister long lost.
“Uther! Watch out!”
Uther had just moved one of the crude wooden tiles to propose a new tactical approach when the shrill cry rings out.
And it’s barely in time.
Uther ducks aside just as a throwing knife flies past, nicking him slightly on the shoulder.
Looking around for his assailant, Uther is greeted by a trio of cloaked individuals running at him from the door into the tactical room, and he can hear the sounds of fighting outside.
Daggers flash, and Uther barely has time to register everything that’s going on before the enemy is upon him.
He feels a dagger cutting into his stomach before he has time to react.
Twice more the dagger pierces into him, and he feels warm blood flow out of him rapidly.
He feels lightheaded and numb as he collapses back.
The assassin that struck him down leaps onto the table, knocking maps and tiles all over the place, and jumps onto Johann.
But Johann was prepared, and is holding back the assailant’s dagger-arm, wrestling him on the floor.
The two remaining assassins are caught up fighting the other members of the war council, and just as Uther’s vision begins to fade, he sees Freidrich burst in through the door.
His sword is bloody, and he is bleeding from a massive gash over his eye.
His remaining good eye finds him, and Uther can see his lips move as his vision goes to black.
Then he sees bright light, and for a moment, he believes himself dead.
But then the light fades, and he’s in the middle of a room where everything seems thrown about, away from him.
No longer does he feel the wounds on his stomach, and no longer is he bleeding.
Instead he feels a mental fatigue unlike anything he had ever felt before.
His head is pounding heavily, but he’s alive.
He springs onto his feet, nearly slipping in his own blood.
He’s on his feet before anyone else, and he grabs the assailant who was sprawled over Johann by the hood, ripping her away from him and sending her flying through the room, crashing into the wall.
From the looks of it, she’s stunned but not severely hurt.
“Freidrich! Protect the unarmed!”
The lieutenant, who is now is also getting onto his feet, nods at Uther, looking at him with revering eyes.
Uther picks up a dagger from the floor and sinks it deep into the closest assassin, also a female, and she goes down with a gurgle.
The other remaining assassin is felled by Freidrich’s sword.
With no immediate threat apparent, Uther walks over to the stunned woman who’s reaching for a dagger beside her.
He kicks away the weapon and grabs her by the collar, lifting her up with ease.
Her hood falls back, revealing her tar-colored skin as night and white hair.
Uther furrows his brow.
“A drow…?”
He collects himself from his surprise in a heartbeat.
“Why are you attacking us?! Who sent you?!”
She looks at Uther with hateful eyes, but her lips remain shut.
“Tell me!”
Uther pulls her away from the wall for a second before thrusting her back into it, making the woman cry out.
Her mouth moves as she whispers something, too low for Uther to hear.
“What?”
He leans in to hear better.
”Dark mother embrace me”
She lashes out, kicking Uther in the groin, making him topple as she grabs her dagger from his hand. She presses the dagger towards his throat, spinning him around so that he has his back towards her.
“Stand back! I slit throat!”
Her accent is rather great, but her message is clear.
But Uther isn’t going to stand for that.
He throws his head back, hearing her nose crunch as she cries out in pain.
Before she has time to enact her threat, he grabs her arm and throws himself back, smashing her between the wall and himself.
With a groan she collapses, unconscious.
Uther looks up to Freidrich.
“How many are injured?”
Having regained his calm after the near-death experience, Uther looks down to examine himself.
Where there were once three deep cuts, two of which easily stabbing into his kidneys, there are now pale scars.
“A few of the other guards, they took us by surprise.”
His gaze is still locked at Uther, and is still that uncomfortable revering look on his face.
“You really were blessed by a goddess, boss. You should be dead.”
“What are you doing, sister?”
The voice took Lyssia out of her silent grief beside her sister.
She had already wrapped her sister in a length of white linen in order to transport her back to the city, and the cloth was stained with Lyssia’s tears.
As Lyssia snapped around, she could see a member of the sisterhood standing on the path between her and the road.
She notices that the forest around her has grown unnaturally silent, devoid of the previously so cheery birdsong and other signs of life.
Her eyes lock with the assassin.
“I’m bringing my sister home.”
The other drow smiles condescendingly.
“You should know better. The already departed have no place in the halls of our mother.”
“I’m not bringing her to the temple.”
The smug smile is wiped from the other drow’s lips.
“What?”
Lyssia’s angry glare locks with the other drow’s.
“I’m bringing her away from you and your damn cult. I will not serve the mother any longer.”
The woman’s face turns to a sneer.
“You dare turn your back on the mother? For that you will die.”
The assassin draws her blade first, but Lyssia takes the time to set her sister down on the ground with the utmost care.
The other drow dashes towards her.
Lyssia draws her dagger, unmoving.
The other drow bares her teeth, throwing herself at Lyssia.
Mistake.
Lyssia drops down, dodging to the side with the grace of a panther.
Before the other drow has even landed, Lyssia pounces at the spot where her opponent will land a few heartbeats later.
The enemy lands gracefully, but doesn’t have time to turn back towards Lyssia before Lyssia’s knee impacts her spine hard.
Lyssia can hear a crack as her whole body weight as well as her momentum is transferred into the other drow’s back.
The other drow screams as she tumbles to the ground, and Lyssia rolls to her feet.
The enemy remains on the ground, her arms desperately trying to lift her up, even as her legs remain unmoving.
It isn’t hard to tell that the woman will never walk again.
Lyssia chuckles softly.
“You weren’t good enough to face me, and now you’ve paid the price. I broke your spine. You’ll be crippled for life. I would have killed you, but I want you to carry a message back for me.
“Cancel the contract on the human named Uther, and leave me alone; or else I will kill every last one of your sisters.”
The woman laughs painedly.
“Uther? His life is already over. When you didn’t return another sorority was sent out. He is dead!”
Lyssia feels a deathly cold grasp her heart, and she picks up her sister, running back towards the horse.
“Hey! How am I supposed to get back?!”
The assassin cried from her place on the ground.
“Crawl!”
Lyssia called back as she spurred Moff on, departing towards the city as fast as the horse would carry them.