New Calling (PG-13?: mostly Violence, some mild swearing)

[Kallysti]

((Kally is my same character from EQL but I made her anew for EQ2... I'm such a sentimentalist, I guess. Anyway, she needed a "transfer" story to explain how she and Selquinn (her sweetie, lol) are in a world 500 years in the future. This is still a work in progress, please bear with me. Might be a while til it's finished *hide*, though there is more than this. I'm just feeling shy about posting too much. Please be gentle, I'm fragile :P... ))
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The Search Beginning

"She's not dead, Celi."

"I find that hard to believe," the cautious, old iksar replied, "how do you know? And with the reports our intelligence has been bringing back, how can you justify sending our people out on such a... a fool's errand, Sel? I mean, I miss Kally too... but every one of you is needed for our defense here! I can't just send my people off to who knows where based on... a feeling."

"It's not just a feeling, I know," Sel replied through gritted teeth. He should have known this wouldn't go well from the onset. Telling Celibate that he knew because he'd had visions... visions of Kally... he shuddered inwardly and regarded their guild leader again. The old lizard was set in his decision to keep the Crusaders here, at the keep. Waiting in defense of... whatever he'd been told was coming. Talk of visions and the very real torturous pain he'd felt shivering down the link he and Kally shared would not be proof for Celi, he knew that. In fact, it would probably ruin any credibility he'd thought he'd had.

Sel kept going, though he was quickly losing his patience, "And where does this so-called 'intelligence' of yours come from anyway? I've checked and double checked their information. I found absolutely no evidence of an attack headed this way."

"Are you sure you aren't just refusing to see..."

Sel shook his head and continued, his voice soft and dangerous, "Neither has Wych, Sulas, or Charnicc seen anything. And if this is the best excuse you can come up with... for leaving behind one of your own, then you can count me out of any plans you had for the Crusaders. Ever." Heart heavy, he turned and left. He had thought there had been some hope but... he sighed. If he had to do this on his own, then he would do this on his own. However long it took. "I'm coming, Kally," he whispered under his breath.

"Wait!" Celibate called after him. Activity continued through the guild hall as if nothing had happened. Sel walked across the room and stopped near the door. With one fluid motion he seemed to casually fire a single arrow. With his usual dead acuracy it hit it's mark and quivered, buried in the wall next to Celibate's head. All activity ceased. Nearby, Loreat raised an eyebrow inquiringly at Sel and little Caittune gaped inelegantly at him, but the ranger's attention was otherwise focused. With one final look around the hall, he turned back towards the door.

Celibate turned around, a stunned look on his face as he regarded what had just whistled by his head in this, his guild's sole sanctuary. Then he shook his head as he looked more closely and realised Sel's true intention. Attached to the arrow were the shattered pieces of Sel's guild badge. Celi could do no more than contemplate this as the door to the Phoenix Crusaders guild hall closed behind Selquinn for the last time.

[Kallysti]

Kallysti

The heavy stone door grated shut, throwing Kallysti into a darkness that even her own formidable night vision could barely penetrate. Not that there was anything in here she would want to see. Stubbornly, her eyes still tried to pick things out in the darkness. On the nearly black walls in front of her face she could barely make out darker patches of... something. And her peripheral vision made out dim, lighter shapes on the floor. No, light would definately not make any improvement upon her surroundings.

She fought to remain upright, her legs trembling from the effort of standing. She put a hand to the wall to steady herself. It felt dry, yet strangely greasy at the same time. She pushed away any thoughts of what it might be covering those walls. And what lay strewn across the cell's floor, for things had crunched under her feet when they had thrown her inside. Falling to the ground was not something she wanted to do. Not unless it meant she was dying.

Not that she cared if she died. In fact, she wanted to die more with each passing hour but she knew they would not let her. Blood trickled down her legs from numerous deep slashes down her back. And from around her neck. At least, she thought dismally, they won't let me stay dead...

She closed her eyes, breathing as shallowly as she could to block out the pain. She kept her hand on the wall, as if it were a lifeline, holding her up and raised her other hand slowly to her chest. Through the thin, shredded, white robe she wore, she could feel the amulet. She did not have to look at it to know that it no longer glowed. It had, once. The deep, warm blue and green had mingled and swirled through the strange stone: the stone that bound her soul to his. She thought perhaps it still felt warm in her chilled hand but that could have easily been her imagination. Or nothing more than the captured warmth of her body. The stone was lifeless now, unimportant to any but herself. If it wasn't so important, though, why did they want it? With Sel dead, why did it matter? Tears caught in her throat, as hopelessness threatened to overwhelm her.

Because there it was, springing into her mind yet again: Sel was dead. At first, she had refused to accept it though they had told her, they had even invaded her mind against her will and "shown" her. She did not remember, she had been unconscious at the time she was taken but their telling felt so true... and the amulet had been dead since she had been taken. She shied away from that line of thought, trying to drive it back to a forgotten part of her brain. Her sanity hung on a bare thread and dwelling too long on what she had been shown would surely snap it, sending her plummeting down into a madness from which she knew she would never return. And that would be an even worse torment in itself... for she knew that it would solve nothing. A tortured, piercing scream in the distance underscored the thought. A violent shiver ran down her spine and her entire body shook, sending fresh blood to trickle down and pool at her feet.

She released the stone and let her fingers travel up the dull velium chain until they reached her throat. She bit back the scream at what she encountered but an agonized whimper still got past her lips. An almost finger-length strip of flayed, bloody meat circled her neck where they had stopped at nothing to remove the simple stone on it's chain from her possession. They had continued their efforts until she had fallen dead and perhaps beyond that. And her death had made no difference, they still failed... and brought her back.

It was stone. The chain was metal. Where did this seeming sentience come from? That long ago ceremony had bound hers and Sel's souls together into a single stone, which Loreat had then cut and placed into two settings. Even had she and Sel been together under normal circumstances, she would have been surprised that it behaved this way. And now with Sel's soul having surely fled the stone, now that he was irrevocably beyond any reviving... she stopped herself. Still, the amulet should definately have had no power now. So what was this odd behavior?

And why did they want it? Just to study? Did it still have power they thought they could twist to their own purposes? Or did they merely wish to torment her further? It was probably this last, though she knew that giving up the stone on its chain would not end the ministrations she was enduring at their hands: oh no, they enjoyed it too much to end it for something so simple. After all she had done that ran counter to her own people, after all her betrayals to them, they would want to prolong her punishment for a very long time. Him especially.

She refused to even think his name: He who had been her Lord, her Prince. He whom she had held above all others for so long, until she had learned differently. Now she cursed that long ago day of her youth when she had sworn her unwavering faith to Him. Yes, He had granted her the powers she used from that day forward. But the price... the price of that power was high. In the beginning, she had readily paid it. But it had risen. And what He asked, what he took... it wasn't worth it. She wondered if she should never have sworn those oaths... But that part of her life was over now and she could not change the past. Now, she rejected Him, His power, all that He granted and all that He was. She had told Him so, while she had still been able to speak in His presense. Before his servants had silenced her...

She did not know how long she would be waiting for them to return, to drag her from her cell and chain her before Him, so that they could continue with their... entertainment. She did not know how long she had been standing and despite her best efforts, she found her legs buckling, and she fell to her knees, her hand sliding down the wall as she sank. Tiny shattered objects on the stone floor dug into her lower legs but she barely noticed. Her head sank to her knees, defeated. There was nothing she could do and no reason to fight.

She had not been aware her eyes were still closed until something made them snap open. This time, she was sure she felt a tiny warmth from the stone. She reached one hand into her robe again and grasped the amulet tightly. No, it still remained lifeless, not just to her eyes but to her heart as well. She would not allow herself to hope but she would not give this one tiny thing up either. In this one small thing, she would remain defiant. A single tear made a warm, wet track down her cheek. No, dead though it might be, she would still not let them take the one link she still had to the man she loved.

[Kallysti]

Back Where It Began

The leaden grey sky was lightening to the East, though the sun would not show it's face today if Sel was any judge. A thick, steady snowfall melted as it touched his face, running down his neck. It half-melted in his hair and refroze until thick, blond icicles clinked softly by his ears.

"Why did we come back here?" he almost whispered, standing motionless in the falling snow.

An even softer voice answered from behind him, "I think we come for the same reason, you and I. To see the place again, to study it and try in vain to determine just what went wrong." Then he added, almost too quiet to hear, "And how I failed."

You blamed this kid for your own failing, Sel, he berated himself, If anyone is to blame, it's you. How could you have missed the signs of that many on our trail? How did they sneak up on you? You should have known! The next words came very hard but he knew them to be true, "I was wrong to tell you that. You did all you could. It's not your fault, Ged."

"If you say so," the young Teir'dal sounded unconvinced.

It had just been a routine scouting mission. Long, tedious. Kally insisted on joining him, she said she was bored. Caittune was busy elsewhere and could not transport them, so they'd asked Kal's cousin, Gedwilth, to take them. The young wizard was eager to go just for the sake of travel but there was also nothing he wouldn't do for Kally. They'd scouted out what they needed to. It had been a waste of time, there was nothing there that they'd come looking for. Then, as they'd been getting ready to go... the attack came.

"Look, three against at least twenty. And we were taken by surprise as well. If you hadn't evacuated when you did, it would have been three of us dead. Or worse. And with no one else around, who'd have known?" He smiled slightly, though it did not reach his eyes. "Then who'd have come to save us? There was no way of knowing that the evac would have left Kally behind..."

"I guess you're right, Sel. Evacuation spells are tricky at best, it's just that..." he shook his head, "Dwelling on the past isn't going to change things, is it?" he asked rhetorically. He narrowed his eyes against the falling snow, "Are you sure this is the exact place that it happened?" Selquinn nodded. They were in the middle of nowhere, in the vast, snowy expanse of the Western Wastes, but even drunk and blindfolded he could have found this location. The place they stood looked just like evey other spot out here but it was burned into his mind and he could not forget. He still didn't know why he and Ged kept returning there. Any trace of what had happened was surely long gone. He knelt in the snow, still searching in futility.

"You know Sel," Ged said suddenly, "you and I really have a lot more in common than you'd think."

Sel looked up and considered his unlikely companion a moment. The tall, thin, young dark elf wore an uncharacteristicly somber look. His normally excited face was drawn and dark circles were apparant under his sunken eyes. "Yes, yes, I know, Ged. We both miss Kally. We'll both do anything..."

"Well, that of course," he cut in, "but what I meant was, we both come here to study, to search for any clue that might help us. We just study different things." He nodded sagely and said sadly, "We also both wrongfully blame ourselves for what happened."

Sel looked back down at the ground, "You checked Neriak?"

Gedwilth sighed, "Yes. And it's strangely... empty. Especially the clerics' guild." Sel looked up sharply. Ged noticed his interest and gave him a humorless Teir'dal smile, "Oh yes. It seems my dear old uncle is most... worried... about his only daughter. And he's taking all who will join him to go and get her."

"Does he know where she is?"

Ged shook his head, "I don't know. But, given what I know of their relationship, let's just hope we find her first..."

[Kallysti]

Visitors and a Mission

Kallysti lay curled on the ground in her filthy cell. She had lost track of time long ago. There was never a world without pain, a world without humilation, without suffering. She could not remember the sun or when she'd last eaten. Light and love, her Selquinn... all were dim memories of a time long ago. A time that would never return to her. She felt filled with a hopeless equanimity: there was a certain peace in knowing there was nothing worse that they could do to her. The worst had happened. Sel was gone forever. Or was he? Part of her still did not believe the source of the information, no matter how it was forced into her mind. And yet... the stone remained silent. But more than that: if he yet lived, why had he not come for her?

Curse this stone, it's dead weight to me now! I should just give it to them... She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, NO! No, Kal... it's the one thing you can still deny them... Or maybe she should... what did it matter now? She closed her hand around the amulet that had been laying loosely in her hand, frustration giving her weak, bony hands sudden strength. What to do with the damned thing! What should she believe? She no longer knew which thoughts were hers. The... Intruder... was there often now, whispering, spreading his vile presense through her mind.

She reached up, holding her head and more voices soon joined the two arguing in her mind. Wait, no. The new voices approached from outside her cell. She closed her eyes and went limp. No resistance, subservience... sometimes it placated them enough to handle her a bit more gently.

There were two of them, as far as she could tell. One she knew quite intimately: the voice of The Intruder was an echo of the voice in her head. But as they drew yet closer she recognised a new voice, yet one as familiar to her as her own. She froze, moaning softly. Oh, please, not this... not him... She had thought nothing she'd suffered could possibly get worse. She was wrong. The door creaked open slowly, revealing the sickly yellow light from the hall beyond. She resolved that she would keep her eyes closed and not move a muscle, no matter what happened. The sound of footsteps ended next to her head and she sensed the two dark shadows standing over her.

"A pity she's asleep," the new-old voice commented dispassionately, "though it seems your 'treatments' have rendered her completely useless to me, not just as a cleric but even for the purpose we discussed. Just kill her, I'll find another way." Disappointment was apparant in his tone.

"I am saddened that you underestimate me after all we've been through. My methods are sound, even if she was a tough one to break. Really, that made it all the more satisfying in the end. You are correct in that she'll never be able to function as any kind of healer, though she mostly did that to herself," The Intruder replied. He gave a small sigh of mock disapproval. "And our Prince has grown tired of her since then, as you have probably guessed. We are free to use her as we wish. As to your other concerns? Watch," he said lightly but there was nothing light about the sheer command in her mind: STAND, it said. For only a second, she resisted. Blinding agony ripped through her head, though her face reflected none of it, and she rose as quickly as her weakened legs would let her.

He placed a finger under her chin and raised her head up until her eyes met his, "Whom do you obey?"

This time there was no hesitation, "You, my lord."

"Who?" he commanded, his voice cracking like a whip.

She blinked, her eyes met each man's squarely, "Both of you, my lords."

The Intruder smiled triumphantly at his companion, "There, you see?"

His companion did not seem the slightest bit impressed. "So she stood. She parroted your words," he shrugged, "Will she do what I need done?"

"I thought you might ask that," he winked and smiled, then produced a small, wickedly serrated dagger from beneath the folds of his robe. "Here, my child," he said soothingly as he placed the hilt of the simple knife in her hand. She nodded slightly and without further ado turned her back to them. She placed her other hand flat on the wall and without hesitation, drove the blade savagely through the back, just above her wrist. She did not scream but simply pulled it out and turned back to them again.

The new-old face nodded, thoughtful. "Well, I suppose she might do after all. Let's get her cleaned up, maybe a bit better dressed and send her off then. Though I suppose first we should tell her the mission. To give her something to think on, more than anything else." He stopped a second before he added, "Oh, wait, another question, if you would," his voice was soft and smooth as silk.

"Yes, old friend?"

"I see you had no luck removing the amulet..."

The Intruder shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid there is nothing we can do, short of removing her head. And I fear that would just defeat the purpose. As you can see," his hand whipped out and pushed her head back, fully exposing her raw, bloody throat, "we've tried every other method short of that."

"She does as you command, you cannot make her remove it herself?"

Again, a shake of the head, "Show him your hand, my dear." The knife she was holding fell to the floor as Kally held up her unpierced hand. Her palm was deeply burned and horribly scarred. "It resists her as well as us, as if it has a mind of it's own. We believe she has to give it of her own free will. Do not think we haven't tried everything else!"

"I see," he shrugged, "so much for that part of my plan, then. We can still continue without it."

The Intruder turned to leave, "I'll go and get what we need. You two can have a moment alone."

The door closed, leaving her alone with his companion. The elder Teir'dal studied her a minute, smiling, and gently traced the line of her jaw. Kallysti shuddered inwardly and wished she could scream, wished she could pick the knife up off the ground and plunge it into his throat. Before they had come, she thought her world could not get any worse. She thought they could take no more from her. She was wrong.

He spoke clearly, there was no mistaking his intention. She listened, her face expressionless. His instructions were simple and brutal. Her mind screamed in horror at what he commanded of her but her voice only answered serenely, "Yes, Father."

[Kallysti]

Found

She looked down over the cliff without fear, her feet as close to the edge as possible without plunging to certain death on the beach below. She leaned forward and regarded the sharp rocks that she knew were down there: she had walked up and down the path from the beach to the snowy cliffs so many times since one of their silent wizards had left her here that she could do it in her sleep.

The icy cold wind cut through the long, red robe they had wrapped her in after a cleric had half-heartedly bandaged her hand. She supposed she was lucky the angry younger Teir'dal that they sent had even done that much. His disgust at even touching her was so apparant that she knew that was as much as he would do; one such as her did not deserve his mana for healing.

Another frozen breeze whipped her much shortened hair around her head. She wished that it would numb her mind the way it had her body. Her instruction from her father had been simple and she could not keep herself from dwelling on it. She reached inside the folds of her robe and brought out the simple serated dagger they had given her. Dull grey and sharp... she looked at her bandaged hand... deadly sharp. You will kill for me, he had said, and you will know when the time comes. The worst thing was, she did not know which of her friends she had been sent to assassinate. And if she could not stop herself from mutilating her own body at their command how could she possibly keep from killing her friends? At least no one had found her yet but she was afraid it would not be long before they did.

Experimentally she held the dagger out over the drop. One at a time she straightened her fingers from around the hilt. But the last one would not let go. Her hand shook as she fought the compulsion to hold on to it but an intense pain began building in her head. Changing her tactic suddenly she gripped the blade tightly in both hands and tried to drive it into her chest. The command in her head blinded her with an almost unbearable agony as the dagger stopped a hair's breadth from her skin. Kallysti screamed and in a last desperate move flung herself over the cliff's edge... and bounced back, landing on her backside in the snow. And there she sat, defeated. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. The pain abated slowly, as it always did, and she put the dagger back into the folds of her robe.

She grew colder and colder as she sat but she knew she would have to get up soon to continue her wandering: she would not be allowed to let herself freeze to death any more than she could plunge that dagger into her heart.

"You know, I've never seen a cliff act like that!" said an amused, light hearted voice, "Are the winds really that strong? Or is that one of those new wizard-type spells I don't understand?"

Kallysti looked up at the speaker then quickly back down again. Wych! What would he be doing here? "Just a strong wind," she mumbled into her lap, hoping he hadn't recognised her.

"By the gods..." his cheerfulness had turned to shock, his soft voice much closer than before, "Kally?" She raised her head reluctantly and found his wide blue eyes were only inches from hers. A wide smile quickly spread across his face, "Are you all right? You look terrible! Where have you been? Who'd have thought to find you here? I mean, I've been searching as much as I can but Sel has been a machine! I swear since you've been gone he doesn't sleep, he just... searches." He stood up and held out a mailed hand to her.

She took his hand and let him help her to her feet, "Yes, well, it's a long story, Wych, I..." she stopped, an utterly thunderstruck look on her face, "Sel? Did you say Sel has been searching?"

"Did you think he wouldn't? Really, Kally, I thought I knew you better than to think..."

Wych chattered on excitedly as he lead her towards the wizard spire but she was only half listening now. Sel was not dead. He's NOT dead! But on the heels of her elation came pure horror. She knew without a doubt now, why her father had sent her back. She stopped in her tracks and Wych looked back at her questioningly. Tears sprang up in her eyes as cold laughter echoed through her head.

[Kallysti]

Reunion

Something had awakened him but Gedwilth did not open his eyes. He had gotten so little sleep lately that he took what he could get, when he could get it. It seemed that as time went on, Selquinn only pushed them harder. He began to drift back into sleep.

"I know you're awake, Ged. Please, we have to get there now!"

Ged cracked an eye open and looked up at his friend. Then, in as sympathetic a voice as he could muster in his current state, he replied, "Look, Sel, every morning it's the same thing: 'Ged, we have to go now!' and the urgency grows with each passing day. Then we get there... The Emerald Jungles, the Ro Desert, the Iceclad Ocean, and so many places I've lost track, and you search. We search, as little good as my tracking skills are, and every day there is nothing. It's not that I want to give up, not ever! But can't we have one day of rest maybe? Just one?" He looked up pleadingly.

Sel shook his head sadly, "If that's how you feel, Ged, then I'll go myself today. But I have to get going now..." And without another word he walked off, quickly fading into the surrounding forest.

Gedwilth sighed. "Sel, wait!"

For a moment, only silence answered him. Then a quiet voice answered, "Yes?"

The small dark elf stood up and quickly gathered his things. "Well," he continued, speaking into the deceptively empty forest around him, "I am awake now anyway. I might as well take us..."

Without warning a piece of the surrounding foliage seemed to break off and appear next to him. Ged wasn't as startled by that as he used to be and showed no sign of surprise. Still grim and unsmiling but with the barest hint of satisfaction, Sel told him, "Cobalt Scar, please."

*********************

"You know, I don't know why I'm heading towards the dragon portal here, Kal. Neither of us can use it and I don't know as any wizards or druids are heading here now who would take us anywhere. Etal left me here and I'm sure he meant to come back soon and all but we can always go back through Skyshrine certainly. It's not so bad if you know the way..." Wych babbled on a bit longer before turning around again to find his friend was gone. "Kal?" he inquired, puzzled. It was not hard to see where she had gone, even a blind drunken barbarian could have followed her trail towards the beach. What confused Wych was the why... why would she want to head off alone again? She clearly needed help. Maybe he should have just picked her up and carried her with him...

He was thinking that's just what he was going to do when a wizard did appear at the dragon portal. Wychwethl blinked. It was a small Teir'dal wizard and, "Sel!" he exclaimed with a smile, "Sel, you just missed Kally! She's off that way..." he trailed off as he saw his fellow ranger had already taken off like a shot in Kal's direction.

Wych was still watching his friend's dwindling form in stunned silence when he heard a shocked curse from behind him. At least, he thought it was a curse, he didn't know enough of the Dark Speech to fully understand it. And it all sounded like cursing to him. He turned to find Gedwilth standing behind him, a look of utter disbelief on the young Teir'dal's face. There were more of the foriegn "curses" before he slipped into Common, "He was right this time, damn him. And I almost didn't..." The dazed look became a smile for just an instant before Wych saw the small wizard's strange violet eyes unfocus. They then grew wide as saucers with sudden realisation and he screamed, "Sel, wait! NO!" Ged took off running after him, as fast as he could with a long robe through snow.

Like you're going to stop him now, came Wych's confused thought as he trotted after him.

****************

Poor Ged really didn't know just how close he'd come to being throttled that morning. Sel realised he was pushing the young wizard hard but he had been pushing himself even harder. He had made himself sleep that night, and for the first time in almost a month, he had truly slept. And dreamed. It was in these unguarded moments that the worst visions came to him. And it was the reason he never slept. It was no relief, no comfort, to close his eyes at night in rest. He did not want to face what he saw and he berated himself constantly for his own cowardice. And so he pushed himself to look everywhere, without rest. The visions, when they came, were true: skin crawling, torturous, and true, and yet they taught him nothing of Kal's whereabouts... until last night.

It had started the same: darkness. The litany of refusals and denial followed by subtle, painful punishment. But then, for the first time, eyes opened and he saw. His destination was clear then, he knew exactly where to go. And that was when he first tried waking Ged...

And he was right, she was here! He knew it as soon as they'd arrived. It was just as the visions had shown him and she was almost within his reach now. Something was strange though: she had surely heard him coming but she made no move to face him. Her only consession was that she had stopped moving. He ran around to face her but before he could look into her eyes there was a strange tickling of pain in the back of his head and Kallysti collapsed bonelessly to the ground. Sel knelt beside her. She was breathing, unconscious to his eyes but breathing all the same.

Gently, he lifted her and laid her over one shoulder, her feet dangling almost to his stomach. It probably wasn't the best position for her but he wasn't taking any chances. It was possible that others had followed her here and so he would keep one hand free, just in case. He stood and turned, thinking only to get back to the portal and Ged, thinking only that he had to get her some place warm and safe. But that changed in less than a heartbeat.

Pain clouded his vision suddenly. The feeling in his legs started draining away. A spreading warmth was growing in his lower back and he staggered, almost falling to his knees. He felt Kally slide downward, her feet slowly lowering towards the ground. Again red haze flared at the edge of his vision and another spot of warmth began to grow behind his right shoulder. Then he did fall, his head striking the ground and blacking out his vision.

He must have only been unconscious for a second, though, because when he came to he saw Kallysti rising above him. Her legs straddled his chest and he felt the sharp edge of a knife at his throat. Instinct told him not to move but he did dare to shift his line of sight. Emerald green eyes met near-colorless grey. Her arm shook and he felt a small trickle of blood snake down the side of his neck. As he watched, tears began to stream down her cheeks and her jaw was trembling slightly. The tableau stretched into an eternity for Sel. Then the scene before him seemed to double: he was himself, stunned and helpless, looking up at her and at the same time he was seeing himself through her eyes, the wickedly serated blade poised to strike. And into his head came the all-to-familiar litany of refusal and denial followed by... pain. But unlike in his visions, this pain built steadily until it became an unbearable agony. And then... all went black.

[Kallysti]

Discoveries

The first morning's light shone through the unshuttered window and across the eerily still form of the sleeping dark elf. On a small stool beside the bed, Gedwilth sighed and added a bit more power to the shields now tightly woven around her. "How did we get in this mess, Kally?" he whispered, "What happened? And who could do this to you?" He had a pretty good idea of what had happened, or some of it at least, though the other two questions he could not answer.

"What did happen, Ged?" demanded a confused voice from the other room, "Where are we?"

"Sel," he answered without turning around, "I was hoping you would wake up soon. We're at Caittune's old house near the Kithicor forest. I asked Wych to look for her and let her know..."

"Why does my head hurt? How long was I..." Ged turned to see a very confused looking Selquinn almost stumble around the corner. He stopped short and Ged watched as the stunned look became one of instant and complete recall.

"Kally," he breathed, walking past the small wizard as if he were not there. He knelt beside the bed and reached out to take one of her small hands in his. "Kal... why? I just don't understand."

Her still form did not answer. But Ged did, "She's not herself, Sel. Kally did not want to hurt you."

Sel laid his head down on the edge of the bed, "I know. I could see it in her face when..." he closed his eyes a moment, "And the... headache?"

"Kally was sent to kill you. Did you realise that?" Ged looked down at his friend. Sel flinched a little but the elder Feir'dal did not look surprised. The young wizard continued, "She was broken, brainwashed, and sent here, that much I can tell. Also, that she was completely under another's control. Or so this 'other' thought. She did resist them. Their retaliation, the 'headache', was most likely meant to kill her. However, there was something else that they did not count on."

Sel reached his other hand up and rubbed his head, "The bond."

"Exactly. What was meant to kill her was divided bewteen you. And it was powerful enough that almost one full day later, the stronger of you has only recovered enough to wake up. Also..."

Selquinn sighed and held up a hand, "Enough. Give me the details later, Ged. All I need is one thing."

The small dark elf raised an eyebrow at him, "Yes?"

"A name. Who did this?"

Gedwilth shook his head, "I don't know. There are the usual suspects, of course but I cannot be sure unless..."

"Unless?"

"Well, I do lack a certain amount of his subtlety but... Grandfather did teach me the trick of looking, well, um, into her head. But..."

"Will it work?"

Ged nodded, "If there is anything there, yes. I can find it." Sel looked up to find the intense young wizard staring intently at him, "But I waited for you to awaken because, Sel? I need your permission."

"My permission? To look in Kally's head? How can.."

"No, Sel, don't you see? It's the bond, again. To see into her head is to see into yours. I have her permission, I have had it for a long time. But, unless it became a life or death issue, I was not going to look until I had yours."

Selquinn had not let go of Kallysti's hand throughout the conversation. Now he reached up, cupping the side of her face in his palm as he seemed to stare at a spot just above the top of her head, "If it will help," he began but Ged stopped him.

"I want you to understand. You will be bared to me, there is nothing you can hide. Things you may have even forgotten, in fact," this time he held up a hand to forestall Sel's reaction, "Wait. Also, understand, anything I see, stays with me. I may seem like I never shut my mouth sometimes," he smiled a little, "but I can keep a secret. There could be another way to do this but it would not be as sure. And it would certainly take longer than I think I can hold a shield around her. Make no mistake, Sel, they want her back."

Sel did not hesitate, "You have my permission. Just give me a name, Ged," he whispered, still staring above Kallysti's head, "tell me who I have to find."

"All right," Gedwilth answered. He stood up and gently pushing Sel aside a little, put his hands on either side of her head. All was quiet for a brief few seconds before the small Teir'dal gasped suddenly.

"What is it?" Sel asked quietly.

"By the gods," came the incredulous reply and his concentration broke for a second as he fixed Sel with an uncomfortably pitying look, "Sel, I never knew..."

Sel looked away quickly, "Just get me a name," he muttered.

Ged nodded and continued. In only a few seconds, he spoke again, "Yes. I cannot say I'm surprised. I was hoping it would not be but..." He looked up to find bright green eyes watching him expectantly. "I have your name, Sel: Kahir Varshalin. Her father."

Selquinn's eyes narrowed, "Yes, we should have known."

"What are we going to do?"

"We? Don't you need to stay with Kally?" Ged nodded. "Then you stay here. Keep her safe, whatever it is you're doing. Keep doing it."

"And what are you going to do, Sel?"

A frightening, humorless smile spread across the blonde ranger's face as he began strapping on his armor, "I am going to pay a visit to an old friend."

[Kallysti]

((*ooc* This is maybe getting a bit more dark and violent than before. I'd still skirt it nearest to PG though. But I'm not a great judge of these things.

Also, I'd like to mention that this next part is largely my bf's- the "real" Selquinn- suggestion. So some of the credit goes to him. Still my own writing and touches to it but the over all idea was his))
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One Less Problem

"Everything will be all right, love. You just rest," said the calm voice. Sel's voice, she thought but where is he?

"Where are we?" But she knew where she (they?) were. Few places were as familiar to her as the streets of Neriak.

"I'll take care of everything. I didn't intend for you to come along this way," their (his?) head shook. Something heavy was in their (her?) hands. Quickly it was thrown to one side and there was a splash. Hands still felt sticky, though. She saw the entrance to the clerics' guild growing larger as they approached.

"Is that blood? On our... your... hands? Are you all right? Why are we here?"

"I'm fine. I just need to take care of something. It's under control, Kally," She felt herself pushed somehow... "Go back. Wake up."


Light flooded into the room. She squinted a moment before she made out Ged standing at the window, looking out.

"Sel.." she coughed.

Ged spun around, "Kally! I'm so glad you're awake. Sel is... "

"Gone," she finished, "but he'll be back. It's all going to be fine. He said so." Her eyes were worried as she looked up at him.

Ged smiled, reassuringly he hoped, "I think he will be."
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Kahir paced his office irritably. Not only did the Thornwood whelp live, his traitorous daughter had somehow escaped him as well! "She'll obey me til the end, will she?" he ranted to himself, "If we don't find her soon I'm going right back to Hate and show that smug enchanter just what..."

"General!" the urgent shout echoed faintly from the front entrance, "General Varshalin, come quickly!"

They found her! was his optimistic thought as he ran out of his office and down the hallway. He only vaguely noticed that there was nobody anywhere in the guild that he could see. That wasn't too unusual at this time of night...

He stopped, uncertain, at the end of the hallway. A helmeted head looked in through the gates, "Out here! They're out here!" He ran outside and skidded to a halt on the bridge outside the guildhall. He turned all around, looking but no one was there.

His colorless eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion, "What's going on here?" he demanded, "I hope someone has an explanation for all of..." but something crashed into the back of his skull, ending his demands and sending his world into darkness.

.....

The darkness remained, even as consciousness returned. He lifted his head and found that was all he could do. Must be some kind of blindfold, he thought, for he could make out a thin strip of light at the edge of his vision. He was upright and unarmored, his feet tied firmly to something at the ground, his arms stretched above his head and tightly fastened as well. The air around him was thick, humid. He could feel something... blood, sweat, possibly both... trickling in several small streams down his body.

"So glad you could join me. Sir," came a soft, serene voice, "It would be a shame if you died before..."

"Coward," the high priest spat, "if you're going to kill me, at least let me see your face!"

"Certainly," came the answer, "I had no intention of letting you die without first having a little face to face chat." And without further talk, the blindfold was torn from his face. Glittering emerald eyes belied the almost contented smiling face, inches from his. Still watching the old dark elf, Selquinn backed up and sat on a tree root, facing him.

"Really," the ranger continued conversationally, "it was so pathetically easy to take you, bring you here. After all that worry, I had absolutely no problems disposing of your guards and getting to you." The dark cleric said nothing. Sel went on, shaking his head, "She's afraid of you, you know. She has been for as long as I can remember. I guess I was, too. Since the first time we... met," Selquinn smiled a little sadly, "You know, we went through such pains to avoid you. We knew you were coming, so we always ran. Even when I was tired of running, Kallysti insisted."

He cocked his head to one side and continued on almost sadly, "I want to be surprised, you know. That you used her like this. I guess I should be flattered that you wanted me dead that badly. Do you even care anymore? Do you want your vengence, do you want to win, so badly, that you would do this to your own daughter?"

"She was no longer my daugher when she became your whore," he suddenly replied in a contemptuous voice.

Sel's eyes closed a moment and he took a deep breath before replying, "So you will still speak to me. Good," he nodded, "maybe you can answer a few questions."

"Why should I answer anything? You are not going to let me live!"

Selquinn's composure almost dropped for an instant, "I saw what you did to her! She was barely alive and so twisted by what..."

"I'm flattered, myself," Kahir interupted, "if you think I was the one who did all of that to her. But I'm not that good, I assure you. I was merely handed the reigns," he smiled smugly, although for some reason he did not understand, his hands seemed to have stretched a little further upwards, "My death will end nothing, you know. Do you really think I am the only one who was looking for you both? They will keep coming."

"Well, they might. But you won't. You're right about that, at least." Sel cocked his head to one side as if listening to something new. He gazed around him, suddenly, as if seeing the lush undergrowth for the first time, "There is a certain beauty to the jungle, isn't there? Not my favorite place, a bit too wet but there is such a wildness. Such a feeling of... growth."

Kahir would have shrugged but the ropes were beginning to dig deeper into his wrists. "Did you hear me? My death will not matter, Thornwood. They will not stop looking for the both of you!"

Selquinn's smile broadened, almost with wonder, "Such an array of creatures in a jungle," he dropped to one knee and scooped up a bright green snake off the ground. It wove slowly around his bare hands as if it were at home, "This, for instance. You probably wouldn't guess that this snake is the most venomous creature in the natural world. But he keeps to himself. Will not even strike unless you're small enough to eat," he arched a thin, blond eyebrow, "or unless he feels threatened."

"So you'll leave me here, like any of your damnable kind would, for the animals to finish off?"

Sel shook his head and reached up to a nearby tree branch and let the snake go on its way, "I suppose it's likely that if you were left here, the creatures, big and small, would certainly- eventually- make a meal of you. But in this particular jungle, it is the plant life that I find the most intriguing. I would like to direct your attention, if I could, to the branches above you. Yes, those," he pointed, as Kahir could not help but look up, "where your hands are bound. I have not studied the trees here as much as some but I do remember being told about this particular one." He looked up at the tree as well, then beyond it to the sky above, "You see, with all this life, the plants here are very crowded. Competition for sunlight can be fierce. This hardy little tree, though, relies on one thing to win: in it's first year, it grows at least several inches daily in order to reach the light as soon as possible." He took a few steps closer, until ranger and cleric stood less than a foot apart, "You can probably already feel those ropes growing tighter at your wrists and ankles. You fancy yourself a great interigator and I've seen the racks in your temple, surely you could say far better than I how much one can stretch before death claims them. Personally, my wager is on the animals. Especially," a knife flashed in his hand- the same knife that Kallysti had been sent with to kill him- and across the cleric's chest, leaving a long, shallow cut, "with the smell of all this fresh blood." He drew the knife across the dark elf's chest a second time, deeper, "and that, is for calling someone I love a whore." He backed up again and sat on a large branch, not far off of the ground, still facing his captive.

Kahir spat in the ranger's direction, "Well, why would you know any differently? Whores are all you know, after all: my traitorous daughter, your poor, dead, first wife," and his sneer became a grinning rictus as he added, "and your mother."

Something in the priest's tone at the last made Selquinn looked up at his captive, his smile faltering for just a second, his eyes narrowing almost imperceptively.

The old cleric nodded knowingly, "Ah, yes. Sadly, I could not be there that day but my colleagues told me all about the young Mrs. Rosewood. So beautiful, so sweet in her last... hours. Clever, also, how you changed your name like that, by the way," he grimaced in pain but there was a cruelty in it as well. Though at the mention of his mother, Selquinn had lowered his head and his eyes closed. The Teir'dal continued, "Truly, I wished I could have been there. I've never had a Feir'dal before- not my style- but I would have made an exception that day. They say most there really enjoyed... her," he looked at Sel significantly, a mocking sorrow twisting his face, "Well, most of those there enjoyed it."

Sel opened his eyes again and looked up when the high priest grew silent. His smile returned, his face composed and serene, "I was taught long ago, that unlike the other gods, Tunare's temple is not in any building. It is all around us, every living thing. Thanks to you, I was a guest in Innoruuk's temple and in between the threats of sending me back to that hellhole where I spent most of my childhood, you thought to teach me something of His wrath. It's only fair then, that I teach you something of Tunare's at one of Her altars." He leaned back against the trunk of the tree, his eyes never leaving the now silent cleric, "So which will win? The animals, big and small, devouring you alive? Or the stretch of the fast-growing tree? You were wrong, by the way, about my leaving you here to die. This is may take a while," he said and sighed almost contentedly, "but I don't intend to miss one minute. Perhaps before you die, while you are here as a guest of myself and the Mother of All, you will tell me more of what you know."

[Kallysti]

((*sigh* I'll probably be R-rating this after this one, btw. It's gonna get a bit more violent. Sel's got... issues. And they're about to become more apparant *grin*))
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Necessary Separation

"Don't go," she said from the bed. He'd thought she was asleep again but her eyes were open now, and implored him. She looked so small and frail under a pile of blankets, a soft pillow under her head. Gedwilth had collapsed on a sofa in the front room, literally having held the shields around Kally until he'd fallen unconscious. And while there had been no recurring incidents, neither she nor Ged were sure if the enchanter's control on her was broken. It may just have been that he did not know of the high priest's death. And it was only a matter of time before he learned...

"Honey, I have to..." Sel began, still knelt beside her.

"I know. But I also know where you were yesterday, and through the night," she replied. She didn't have to tell him that, it was her request, her voice, at the end, that had made him stop and just finish the old cleric off with a single arrow through his eye. Sel, she'd whispered to him, though, whether it was really her voice or his own doubts, he still wasn't sure. But there was a whisper all the same, a surprised whisper- not that he'd gone to kill her father, she would know he'd do that, but surprise at his... excessiveness, you're better than this, Sel. Just... fix things and come back. Please? And he'd complied, whoever it was that asked. Maybe it didn't matter which of them it was. Maybe he'd finished the old cleric off just because it was taking so long. Maybe.

But before that happened Sel had learned just who and where this "other" was. Sel shook his head, it really hadn't taken as long as he thought it would to make the Teir'dal talk. And the other things the old cleric had known! He'd said so much before he died: about Kally, sure, but he'd known so much about Sel himself, too.

"And I'm fine with what you did... maybe not how," she continued, echoing his thoughts, "but well, I'm so afraid this has only been the first. I'm afraid you may be developing a taste for vengence again, Sel, like you used to. I'm afraid..." tears were forming at the corners of her eyes now, "it won't end. There will always be one more."

He shook his head, standing up, "No.. I... no, Kal. This is different. You know it is! This one, he can still take control of you again. We don't know..." he sat on the edge of the bed and leaned down, sliding his arms around her shoulders and pulling her close. She felt so frail, even covered in bandaging. He'd seen the newly healing flayed skin around her throat, the deep slashes on her back, her hand, pierced clear through... those injuries were not all. They were not even the worst of it but they were all that showed. And the one who had done so much of it, one he could do something about, was still out there! No, he thought, squeezing her gently, this is not just for vengence, this is for her protection. But he could not deny he wanted to make this other Teir'dal suffer for what he did... just as easily deny Sel's own nature. "This is the last one," he whispered, almost certain that he meant it, "I promise."

The tears that had been threatening in her eyes spilled over, "I still have such a bad feeling about this, Sel. Please... I lost you once, I thought it was for good. You were dead, I was too," she sobbed softly into his shoulder. "Maybe... I could come with you," she said in a small voice, "I can try..."

"You know you can't, love. You need to get better. We may have to run when I get back, you'll need your strength. I want to do this as quickly as I can, and that means alone. But I'll be back, I swear," he pulled her a little upright, holding her tight but still as gently as possible. "And the sooner I leave, the sooner I can return," he kissed the top of her head before standing up straight again, "Try to get some sleep."

She watched him as he finished strapping on his weapons again. He couldn't seem to meet her eyes and he was gone quickly. He took a deep breath once he was outside and began jogging through the forest. That conversation had been hard, so much harder than Kally probably thought. Because as much as he wanted to tear apart everyone who had had a hand in hurting her, he wanted even more to stay with her and keep her safe. She needed him, he knew that... but this enchanter needed taken care of more. But when she'd begged him to stay, it was almost more than Sel could take.

He was deep in thought for a long time as he made his way through the forest towards the Knowledge portal, though it was still a long way off. So he was almost on top top of them before he saw them: Teir'dal. They hadn't seen him, so he quickly hid. They probably hadn't seen him since they were preoccupied... and they weren't alone.

[Kallysti]

((Some notes/disclaimers: We have a guest writer on this bit! I finally badgered John into doing it *hugs*. Partly because this was his idea and partly because I don't write battle/fighting stuffs so well... (something I should work on though, lol).

I'd also like to put a disclaimer here because this is quite graphic and violent. Just so no one's offended. If you will be, don't read it :) I'm a really bad judge of the rating stuff, so I might be going overboard or I might not be. Please, mods, adjust it if needed.))
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The Children

Sel crouched low behind a gnarled elm tree and watched in silence as the Teir'Dal patrol approached him. The warrior walking at the front of the procesion scanned his surroundings with apparent disinterest, walking at a leisurely pace. Sel could hear more footsteps on the trail just out of sight, cracking branches and kicking over rocks on the rough trail. Stupid As always, they make this so easy...

The rest of them came into view through the brush. He could see seven more, spaced out as if they were escorting someone, but he could see nothing in the middle of the group. They were all armed, though one seemed to be leading something by a rope and the two bringing up the rear wielded whips, as if they were leading some sort of animal, or...Sel's stomach began to turn as he considered the possibilities. A high pitched cry a moment later confirmed his suspicion. He saw the Teir'Dal holding the rope look behind him in annoyance, then give the rope a savage tug. More high pitched groans and wails followed. One of those in the rear cracked his whip at something, then laughed wickedly. Sel silently dropped back from the trail a bit and pulled himself onto a low limb of a maple tree. His new vantage point gave him a view of what they were escorting. His jaw clenched in anger as he saw the captives. Slaves. Halflings. Halfling children... a red haze seemed to settle over his vision. He was almost unaware of the arrow he nocked to his bow; he couldn't feel anything but unbridled rage and hatred.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"A good trip. This should bring a nice price," said the dark elf pulling the children by the rope. He looked back at them. Their tear-streaked faces were downcast, unable to face their captors. Each child had his or her hands bound tightly to the main lead he held. With a cruel smile, he gave it another vicious tug, jerking the children forward and causing a boy in the middle to stumble and fall. The child hurried back to his feet to avoid another lash from the whips at his back.

The sentry walking beside him laughed at the halfling's plight. "Aye, should be a nice payoff," he grunted. "The moment I get mine, it's off to the Maiden's Fancy." The two of them laughed again at the thought. The Fancy was where both of them seemed to spend most of their gold these days.

The first arrow struck the Teir'Dal leading the children in the throat. A fountain of blood burst from his neck, showering one of the other Teir'Dal near him. He spun and collapsed to the ground, dropping the rope and grasping the wooden shaft in his throat. The one next to him staggered back in shock, attempting to wipe the blood from his face as he watched his companion's convulsions. He managed to shout a warning to the others before another arrow came out of the trees and took him in the chest, driving through his chainmail and splitting his heart. The others crouched low. The one in the lead ducked into the underbrush on the side of the trail closest to their unseen attacker, as did one of the ones in the rear carrying whips. The rest stayed low, clustering in around the children.

The sentry from the head of the column crashed through the brush, seeking their ambusher. He looked around wildly, watching for any out of place shapes, any strange colours, any movement. His brain just barely registered the flash of an arrow flying at him before it buried itself low in his stomach, a full four inches of it pushing out his back. He screamed and fell to the ground, writhing in agony.

The dark elf with the whip had moved far enough in to see the arrow's flight. He darted towards the maple tree, finally seeing the green-clad figure on the lowest limb. He lashed out with his whip as he ran, the tip cracking less than a foot from the bowman. The archer spun with almost unnatural grace and dropped out of the tree, landing softly on his feet, and rushing to meet the Teir'Dal slaver. In the dim light he could just make out long blonde hair and pointed ears. A Feir'Dal. The whip cracked again, lashing at the wood elf but glancing off the armour under his leather tunic as he rushed forward inside the range of the whip. The dark elf tried to back away and felt his foot catch on a root protruding from the ground. His feet went out from under him and he fell hard on his backside. He raised his hands to defend himself as his attacked rushed in at him. The bow in the wood elf's hands whistled through the air as he swung it into the side of the slaver's head, shattering both the bow and the skull it had struck.

Sel tossed the splintered remnants of his beloved bow aside and drew his swords. Lowering his head, he burst through the underbrush toward the trail. Stealth was unnessessary now, even if he'd possessed enough reason to think about it, which he didn't. Some voice deep within urged caution. He didn't hear it through the blood pounding in his ears and the anger which clouded his vision. Children...

He burst through the underbrush onto the path right in the midst of what remained of the slave procession. The children shrieked and pressed themselves against the ground and the Teir'Dal jumped visibly, unsure whether to fight or run. Sel struck down the first he came to, opening his belly with a contemptuous backhanded swing of his blade. The Teir'Dal dropped to the ground, shrieking and vainly attempting to hold his shredded entrails together. The one next to him rushed forward, parrying Sel's second sword and attacking low, at the knees. Sel felt the blow tug at his armour as he slashed downward at the dark elf's sword arm. The shock of impact running up the blade into his hand accompanied another spray of blood as the dark elf's arm was severed at the elbow. He staggered back, blood spurting from the stump of his arm. Another stroke of the sword opened his throat.

The three remaining slavers rushed forward at Sel. The first swung hard at his head with a wickedly curved scimitar. Sel ducked under it and thrust upwards, driving the point of his blade through the chin and into the Teir'Dal's brain. He snarled as he twisted the blade and yanked it free. The remaining two stood before him, the last whip-wielding slaver holding back about ten feet as his companion rushed in with his sword raised high. Sel dropped low and spun around, his sweeping kick taking the slaver's legs out at the knees and sending him crashing to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. As he struggled to get back to his feet, Sel's boot crashed into the side of his head. A burning agony exploded in his stomach. He clutched at the pain with his left hand and felt a foot of steel protruding from his stomach and pinning him to the ground.

Sel left the Teir'Dal writhing on the ground with his sword in his gut and turned toward the whip-wielding slaver that remained. The Teir'Dal backed up a few steps, moving closer to the children. He grabbed the nearest one as he drew a dagger from his belt, cutting the child from the lead rope and pulling it in front of him. The halfling girl screamed loudly as he put the dagger at her throat and began to back away, his other hand gripping her hair painfully. The sobs of the other children mixed with the moans and cries of the dying Teir'Dal.

"Stay back!" the slaver shouted to Sel. "I'll kill her!" His breath came in short gasps and his hands shook. He couldn't understand how their entire company had been torn apart by this inferior being so quickly. "I'll cut her throat!" he screamed, his voice wavering. He pulled on the girl's hair, twisting her head back and causing her to shriek again. He backed away down the trail, dragging the child with him. Sel followed relentlessly, drawing his own dagger with his free hand. A flick of his wrist sent it sailing at the Teir'Dal and planting it in his forearm. He yelled in pain, clutching at the wound. In a flash the girl had broken free and darted into the safety of the trees. Then Sel was upon him.

The sword lashed out and opened the dark elf's chest and sending him to the ground. He made an attempt to roll away only to be struck again. Sel's mind raced with a tangle of thoughts and emotions. Bastard... put a knife to her throat... selling children... It seemed a few seconds later when he could finally control his thoughts. His arm hanging exhausted at his side, the sword held limply in a hand too tired to raise it anymore told another story. So did what remained of the Teir'Dal on the ground before him. Some of the pieces were identifiable, others were not. His leg throbbed painfully. He looked down to see a tear in his armour above the knee, the green chainmail stained red with his blood. He thought it was his, anyway. He was covered with a good amount of it from the Teir'Dal.

A rustle in the bushes to his left caught his attention. He limped into the brush, looking around. A small foot sticking out from under a fallen fir tree caught his eye. He crouched down and peered under the tree to see the halfling girl looking back at him, eyes wide with terror. Sel cringed inwardly to think of how he must look, covered in blood. His stomach turned.

"It's all right now," he whispered to the girl, slowly reaching out to her. "They can't hurt you anymore. They're all gone now." She recoiled from his outstretched hand, whimpering. Sel wiped some of the blood from his face and tried to smile. He couldn't. Not now.

"Y-you're a wood elf?" the girl whispered back, still trembling.

"That's right," Sel answered. "My name is Selquinn."

The girl tentatively reached out toward his hand, then clutched at it. Sel gently pulled her out from under the log. She grabbed him, hugging him fiercely and sobbing. He held her close, gently rocking her as she cried, trying to control the shaking of his hands and squeezing his eyes shut as his own tears left tracks in the gore upon his face.

[Kallysti]

((Sorry it's been so long, I've been busy. (if you were wondering, hehe.) But here's the next bit. I'm sorry if it's a bit confusing, all will be clear soon. And I swear it's almost done now! :P))

Confusion

The one kept watch. He had offered after the children had dropped off into exhausted slumber, one by one. By rights, their rescuer should have followed. Sheer stubborn force of will kept the ranger upright despite his obvious need for rest.

And so the one had gone to him and offered to keep a look out. And since his offer had been genuine, Sel's exhaustion outweighed his confusion. This older halfling, who had obviously not been among the children, kept the watch for them all.

Electricity suddenly filled the air around them, signalling an incoming gate. He smiled mischieviously. His guests were right on time. A thought occured to him and he stepped back into the shadows. The time was not right, he thought. But soon.

***************

The forest around them was eerily peaceful and Gedwilth looked up into the trees above them. He blinked uncertainly, "This isn't where my evacuation is supposed to take us! Something is wrong..." He glanced over at Kallysti and away again. His cousin had changed so much since her return but nothing had prepared him for what he'd found just before their flight, not from her...

Suddenly, he heard Kallysti's breathless gasp, "Sel!" and spun around to see her kneeling next to a nearby tree. He followed her a few steps and saw. Sure enough, there was Selquinn, only just waking up at the sound of Kally's voice. Gedwilth's eyes widened as he came closer and got a better look at the scene that unfolded before him. Quickly, he knelt beside her, concern now plain in his strange violet eyes.

Sel looked as though he'd staggered straight off a battlefield to collapse into unconsciousness. Blood stained the armor he still wore and had begun to dry to a flaky rust color. His precious bow was nowhere in sight but his swords lay beside him, as if dropped. Dropped next to...

Ged's eyes widened further, "What happened?" he whispered, not taking his eyes off of the tiny halfling girl curled up sleeping beside Sel.

The Feir'dal shook his head slowly, almost thoughtfully. Ged noticed blood matted the blonde hair on the right side of Sel's head. "They had children," the ranger said, calmly, softly, as if that explained everything. He was still mildly groggy, whatever had happened.

The small wizard scanned the trees and bushes carefully but saw nothing except Sel and his tiny slumbering companion. "They?" Ged asked.

Selquinn nodded and put his arms around Kally, who had slid her arms around him carefully and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Um, who?" Ged tried again.

But it was Kallysti who answered: a muffled, dreamy quality in her voice, "Teir'dal. Slavers. There were so many but I surprised them, killed them all."

Gedwilth blinked and replied worriedly, "No, Kal. Those weren't slavers. Those were Innoruuk's faithful, they came for you. I don't know how they found us so soon! But we had to evac, remember?"

She picked her head up and looked back at her cousin, confusion in her pale, grey eyes as she shook her head, "But... I saw them, Ged... with the children, and I had to... and I remember killing them so vividly!"

"What?" Sel answered sharply, "How did you..? But who..."

A piercing high-pitched scream silenced their conversation. As one, the three of them remembered the tiny halfling and looked down at Sel's side. But she was gone. The ranger rose painfully yet quickly to his feet, "Wait!" he shouted after her, "It's all right, these are my friends!" There was no answer.

He started towards the bushes where the child had disappeared but he had not taken three steps when he found that the path was suddenly blocked. The one who had been keeping watch had materialized from the forest directly in front of him. Only years of training and his natural elven reflexes kept Selquinn from running the grown halfing over.

He had stopped mere inches from the newcomer. "Oh, you," he said, as if only just remembering something, yet oddly accepting the strange presense without question, "did you see where she went?"

The halfling smiled up at the Feir'dal and nodded, "Yes. I sent her home. She is with the others now. They're safe, I promise." He winked.

"But how... who are you?"

The little man's smile broadened but he only said in a mild voice, "I think it's your friend there who might need more help than my children." He pointed to the tree where Sel had been resting. They both turned and saw Kally now lying in an unconscious heap at the base of the tree. Sel rushed to her side and for the first time looked closely at her current condition. Her new robe was torn in several places and soaked in blood, at least as much as his armor was. He looked up sharply at her cousin.

Ged met his eyes squarely and answered the silent question, "We needed firewood. I was only gone a few minutes!" He glanced down nervously, "I.. I come back and... it's everywhere. Blood, pieces of... of them. I think there had been three of them. I think. All I know for sure was that they were Teir'dal. Agents from Hate, I believe. She tore them apart, Sel. With a tiny dagger and her bare hands. She only took minor injury, I do not believe they expected to find her. Or at least," he swallowed, "to find such fight in her. And there were more heading our way. So... we evacuated and somehow it brought us to you."

Selquinn scooped the scrawny Teir'dal off the ground, his own injuries and exhaustion forgotten for the moment as he held her tightly to him.

"She's just incredibly tired," Ged continued, "the same way we found you..." his eyes were concerned, yet confused once again. "We could all use a rest, couldn't we?"

"I know just the place," the halfling, again almost forgotten, had materialized beside them. Ged startled visibly.

"Incidently, who is this?" the wizard asked. He was getting a little annoyed at all the things he didn't understand all of a sudden.

"I don't know," Selquinn shook his head, "he just showed up after... after things were over. He said he would keep watch while I slept and I'm afraid I had little choice but to trust him."

"And I did. Everyone is safe, are they not?" the halfling said mildly. Ged and Sel both looked questioningly at him. He continued to smile up at them. "Mister wizard, sir," he addressed Gedwilth, ignoring the burning curiosity and implied inquires aimed at him, "if you would? Just a little port... anywhere is fine. All roads lead home, you know. And it's the least I can do after your friend here saved my children."

Sel hugged Kallysti even tighter to him, this new mystery wasn't as important just yet. Ged just shrugged and began to cast.

[Soria]

MORE! :: is now a slavering beast for you're writting::

[Kallysti]

((Ok, so maybe I'll drag it out a bit more than I thought :P And I'm feeling shy about writing again cause it's been so long, lol))

Rest and Realisation

Gedwilth carefully balanced another log against the formidable pile he'd already created. "Can you build us the fire, Ged?" he mimicked to himself, and smiled at the old joke. "Fine use of your skills, fireman," he shook his head and sighed a little. At least one of them was in better spirits. And strangely, it was Selquinn.

Their "host" had disappeared without a word upon matieralizing in this strange forest. The three of them, Sel still holding a half-conscious Kallysti, barely had time to look around them, however, before a tiny halfling had appeared. She said her name was Kirja and it took them a moment to recognise the same little girl who had been sleeping beside Sel when they found him earlier. She carried a picnic basket on one arm and was nearly staggering under a pile of clean clothes, towels, and even bedding.

Ged had rushed over to help her. She wrinkled her nose at him before turning to Sel, smiling sweetly. She told him that her "papa" sends his apologies but he has other things to attend to right now, though he sends them food and clean stuff. She screwed up her little face, trying to remember the message word-for-word. She said her papa would come and talk to them when they were cleaned and rested. She went on to explain that they would be safe here for that period of time, and still looking only at Sel, explained that there was a stream nearby where they could clean up. She informed them solemnly to remember to use the stream, not the pond. The pond may look shiny and clear but, she said, wide-eyed, there are scary things in there. Then she shrugged and, with a final scowl of little girl jealousy at Kally, she scampered off.

Sel had smiled and, shifting Kally to one arm, picked up two towels and robes. Then, after teasing Ged about the fire, said they would be back soon and headed in the direction of the stream that Kirja had indicated.

Ged had a nice, blazing fire going by the time they got back. Not that they needed it but fire always comforted him. He had also made good use of his time by laying out bedding and food for them all, as well. As they walked back, he saw that Kally now moved of her own accord, only needing a little help now and then. Both were clean and cleanly dressed. And they both seemed very calm as they sat down by the fire to eat with Ged.

He tried to voice his concerns to them as they ate: Where are they? Were they still being followed? Who was that halfling? Kally only smiled at him. She leaned forward and putting a sisterly hand on his knee told him everything is going to be fine. She didn't know what was going on right now, she said, but she was sure, absolutely certain, that it would be explained soon. Sel had nodded in agreement and there was very little conversation after that.

Completely exasperated at that point, Gedwilth had taken the rest of his meal and a clean towel and headed over towards the stream. On his way, he saw the clear, still pond the little halfling girl had warned them about. His curious nature got the better of him, as it often did, and he sat down on its shore, staring out at the depths as he finished eating. The pool did seem a bit disquieting but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. He stood up, brushing off his robe and with a sudden idea in mind, he flung the last crumbs of his meal onto the surface. For a second, nothing happened. Maybe I was wrong after all, he thought. He began to heave a sigh of relief. Then he saw it: tiny bubbles at first but quickly growing in size and number. He couldn't see what was beneath but the crumbs disappeared in almost no time at all. And suddenly, the surface was calm again, as if nothing had happened. Ged nodded grimly to himself and headed to the stream to bathe. His mind was now running even faster with recent events.

When he returned to the campsite he received another shock. Kallysti and Selquinn slept peacefully together. Both lay on their sides, her back pressed to his chest and his left arm protectively around her waist. And standing over them, watching their serenity with animal curiosity, was the largest rabbit Ged had ever seen. It literally towered over them and could have eaten any one of them in two or three bites. When it saw the Teir'dal coming, though, it dashed off with hardly a sound.

The small wizard stood wide-eyed for a while. He was certain now. He knew where they were. And as this realisation hit him, he heard someone clearing their throat delicately. He spun around to find the strange halfling behind him.

"Gedwilth," said the ever-smiling face, "we need to talk."

Ged's violet eyes narrowed suspiciously but he nodded, "Of course, my Lord."

[Kallysti]

((Hehe, if anyone's still reading these! I'm sorry I'm bouncing back and forth between my two WIPs but inspiration knocks where she will.))

The Mysterious Gift

"Are you sure you have it down, young man?" he asked, "The spell must be exact."

"Yes, sir," Gedwilth answered, "and while I have no doubt as to whether it will work the way you say, I would still like to know how you know that's what they'll want," he glanced over at Kallysti and Selquinn, who were still sleeping peacefully nearby.

"I keep telling you, stop calling me 'sir'. Of course I don't know for sure if that's what they want. If everything was certain in the world, well, how boring that would be! But there's a very good chance I'm right. And consider the alternative, I simply cannot keep you here and safe for very long. There are... other things... requiring my attention and I cannot put them off much longer."

The alternative, the small Tier'dal thought, Running. Never stopping. Continuing on like this, hunted by an enemy who will never give up, he narrowed his eyes, looking at their strange host. The dark-haired halfling sat with his back to a tree, his eyes half closed, his arms behind his head in a relaxed, deceptively harmless pose. Persued by the Dark Prince's minions or a deal with the King of Thieves. How do we end up with such choices?

Bristlebane rolled his eyes a little and sighed with the air of one long put-upon, "I told you several times. It's not a deal, it's a reward. That was quite the effort your friend the ranger put forth for my children back there. And they were not his people or his concern. So I am grateful, for I cannot be everywhere at once, you know! I wish I could be. I did try once a long time back and it's quite the story... but perhaps one for another day," he smiled, "Although I do suppose a 'gift' from Bristlebane is just as suspect, if not more, than a deal with him. But as I said already: what choice do you have?" Gedwilth nodded reluctantly, the halfling's mischevious smile broadened, "Now, before we wake your friends, do you have any other questions?"

"I know what I have to do," Ged began to shake his head then stopped, "Well, I do have a random question of curiosity, if we have the time..."

"Those are the best kind and I always have enough time for such inquiries," came the still smiling reply.

"Yes, well. It just occured to me: you keep referring to them as 'your' children. Why? I was always under the impression that the halfling people were traditionally the children of Karana."

"And indeed they are. No one is more fatherly than Karana. The dependable, boring old fart," he shook his head and leaned forward conspiratorially, "None of them are very much fun you know. Well, sometimes your boy, Sol Ro, can be. But most of the time it's really not worth his mood swings. And Tunare can be fun if you can sneak a little alcohol into her punch Why, I remember one time when she..." he cleared his throat and winked at the little wizard sitting cross-legged in front of him. Ged's stare was rapt, his mind soaking in every word, "but you were asking about my children. I believe you misunderstood my meaning and that er, has been known to happen," he shook his head in mock sadness before continuing, "I did not call them my children because they are halflings. I call them my children because almost every child is mine. At one point or another in their lives, at least. The halflings are simply more aware of it. Some even stay mine when they grow up. Well, the special ones do, anyway... my rogues, my bards, even a few rare others. But I do admit, I have a soft spot for children... because there are tricks that even I can learn from them..."

A small sound nearby made them both turn their heads. "Oh, it seems our sleeping beauties are waking up on their own," the grinning halfling said, "so I can give them their gift and be on my way, there is much to be done..."

[Kallysti]

((This one feels more rushed to me than any of them. Maybe because I'm almost done and I'm hurrying? LOL. Hope you guys like it. I'll probably edit it the next few times I see it though, hehe.))

The Journey Back

Their meeting with Bristlebane done, Kally, Ged, and Sel walked amiably through the forest of the Plane of Mischief, carefully examining every tree.

"How long were we here, Ged?" Kallysti said, teasing.

"Days, you said? Are you sure?" Selquinn asked immediately after.

Gedwilth shook his head, smiling. He knew that they only remembered a hazy span of rest and safety after they'd come here. And it didn't bother them as much as Ged thought it would. They're together again. They're rested, fed, healing... of course they don't mind... And on top of that, the news that Bristlebane's interference had somehow knocked loose the old enchanter's control on Kally. What was it he said? 'That old Tier'dal will have to come within touching distance of her to reestablish his hold.' And as long as Sel is around and alert, there's no way that can happen...

Even the news of a dubious gift from the King of Thieves had only made Kally and Sel nod thoughtfully...

"I'll give you one thing, in thanks for what you've done for me," he'd said, "anything you want. Anything. Just wish it and it's yours."

"Anything?" Sel asked.

"As long as you both agree on what it is. I can do it. What do you both want, more than anything?"

They didn't even have to think about it, "Safety," they agreed, "some place safe. To no longer be hunted, chased down by the agents of Hate."

Bristlebane's eyes twinkled mischieviously as he smiled at Ged, "I think I have just the thing..."

"Ged! Are you paying attention?"

He blinked, looking around and found himself walking alone now. He looked over his shoulder. Kally and Sel stood together beside a medium sized elm tree. One that looked just like any other. "Is that the one?" the wizard asked.

Selquinn nodded, "Yep. It's right where he said it would be."

Ged walked back and stood beside them, looking at the tree. He looked around the forest. Nothing to distinguish this particular spot from anywhere else but then, tracking through woodlands is what Selquinn had been doing all his life, so he'd know much better than Ged would that this is where they needed to be.

"So we just touch it?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kally replied, "I forget just where it goes, though. I wish we could just port out, instead."

"What was it he told us? For the spell he gave you to work?" Sel asked, "'No portals until you get back to where your troubles began'. I mean, I know where he means, but... sounds pretty cryptic to me. Why would a spell have to work that way?"

"It's locational. That is, the energies at that spot are what's most important. Um, if I had to explain it, it would take all day... maybe when we have some liesure time," Ged said, looking through his spellbook and making sure he had remembered it right, though they still had a bit of distance to travel first. "I've never seen anything like this," he muttered to himself, "I can see that it will work but not the how of it. And certainly not the where or why..." he shrugged, "just something else to study later..."

"Let's just do this," Sel said. And as one, the three of them reached out to touch the tree...

************************

"Dropped from that tree in Mischief and into the icy waters of Cobalt Scar, then swim to the icier caves of the Siren's Grotto. And now, past this tunnel, the depthless snows of the Western Wastes. I remember now why I hated coming out here," Kallysti's teeth chattered loudly.

Sel had gone not too far ahead to scout out the immediate area. He knew where they had to go... 'where the trouble started'. To him that meant where Kallysti was first taken, so long ago. Where afterwards, he and Ged had returned time and again to search for her... so of course he could find the exact location but he was taking no chances.

Suddenly Kally began bobbing softly as a warm puff of air levitated her above the ground. "It's not much," Ged said shrugging, "but it will warm you a little, and keep you walking above the snow as well."

"Thank you, Ged," she smiled and nodded to Sel who was running up behind the little wizard.

"It's not that far," the ranger told them apologetically, "just have to keep moving, and we'll take the shortest route. The only things I saw signs of out there were the dragons... the ones that don't mind our presense," he smiled slightly and lead them out of the tunnel into the snowy fields.

They hadn't gone more than a dozen steps though, when a familiar voice shouted behind them, "Kally! Sel! Wait!"

The three of them spun around immediately. "Wych?" Selquinn asked, almost to himself.

"Wych, how did you find us?" Kally asked as their old friend stopped before them, smiling broadly.

"Well, it's a poor ranger indeed who can't track his friends," he replied dismissively, "we separated so suddenly before and I came back to see if you needed any more help."

"Oh! We appreciate the thought, Wych really but we're in a hurry and..." Ged started.

But their friend was only watching Kally. "You must be frozen," he said, taking off his cloak and reaching around her shoulders to fasten it, "here. Some gentleman, this fellow of yours is, eh?"

"Oh, no, I..." More than the temperature suddenly held her in place. Staring past them all, she appeared to even stop breathing for a moment. "Yes, thank you," she blinked and pulled the cloak around herself more tightly.

"Shall we, then? Where are we heading?" Wych asked.

"Well, we were going across the Wastes," Ged answered, his eyes narrowing very slightly, "but there's a problem..."

"Oh?" the white head cocked to one side inquiringly.

"You aren't invited." Magical chains sprang out of the ground and wrapped around Wych's feet at Ged's command. "Sel, run!" the young wizard shouted and hooked an arm through Kally's, dragging her a couple of steps before she seemed to shake something off and follow on her own.

Sel ran after them, looking back over his shoulder in complete confusion. "What was that? Wych..."

"That... wasn't Wych..." Kally panted, running beside him.

"No," said Ged, "that... enchanter..."

"You could both tell and I couldn't?" Sel looked back at them, annoyed with himself as much as anything. He remembered what Bristlebane had said... The old bastard will have to touch her now to gain control again... And now it appeared as though he had.

"He... blocked you... Sel. Didn't... realise... Ged would sense..."

"Good thing I... did. I'm surprised that.... Kal?" He realised suddenly that her voice had been fading as she spoke.

Selquinn and Ged stopped a second and looked back. Kallysti was still running with them but she was clearly flagging badly. Sel ran back to her and lifted her almost effortlessly. He looked back at where 'Wych' had been standing. No one was there now. "Damn," he whispered as he jogged back to where Ged now stood catching his breath. He looked around them, squinting, looking for their persuer. But mostly he was trying to determine how off course their flight had taken them. "Aha," he said to himself and nodded. He looked down at Kally in his arms, she was still breathing heavily and her eyes were now squeezed shut as if in pain. "Not far now, love," he whispered to her.

"Sel!" Ged shouted a warning. And Sel spun around, just in time to see the arrow go through his friend's throat.

((/ooc Yes, a cliffhanger, just makin sure you'll all come back *grin*))

[Kallysti]

((Whew! Ok, here's the last installment... well, not quite. This will have a nice little epilogue post too. But here's the last of the actual story. I hope we've done it justice. This is a mix of John and I, he had his hand in most of the battle stuffs, at least :) Oh, and I apologise in advance for any of the melodrama... you'll just have to indulge me *grin*))

----------------------------------------------

Full Circle

Selquinn dropped them both to the ground in an instant. "Ged!" Kallysti's eyes snapped open causing her to wince and shake her head, as if trying to unconsciously dislodge something. She crawled along in the snow, keepng a low profile. She could not see him yet but the sounds of his movement were thunderously loud in the eerie muffled stillness of the snowy wastes.

You think you can resist me that easily, do you? came a whisper echoing through her skull.

Yes, came the distracted reply, though she knew what would be coming. And indeed, the pain of resistance in her head was all-encompassing, making her want nothing more than to curl up on her side and give up. She gritted her teeth and crawled through the snow towards the sounds of Ged's thrashing. She fought for every inch of ground, sweat standing out on her forehead as she fought the command that told her to stay where she was.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD! she screamed futiley inside her own mind.

Mirthless laughter echoed back at her, Do you really think it's as easy as asking? Don't worry, my child, we'll be back together soon. It seems I have a few more lessons for you after all... you and that foul Fier'dal pup of yours...

No... His control on her seemed to have lessened since she'd first been sent back, though. And that was probably the bigger reason he wanted her back in Hate again. He'd have to do more this time, this time she knew Sel was alive... he'd have to use him for... she refused to finish this thought, her eyes still searching for where her cousin had rolled after he fell. The voice in mind seemed to lessen... but as if he was suddenly distracted or preoccupied. She tried not to think by what...

"Aha!" she whispered, and spying Ged's outstretched hand she reached out and took it. And she looked back over her shoulder to see how her ranger fared...

*********************************

Selquinn had stood again and spun back around to see where the arrow had come from. Rising from the loose snow thirty paces away was a white-clad figure holding a shortbow. Behind him several other shapes burst from their hidng places and began advancing. Sel momentarily reached over his shoulder for his bow and stopped as he realized it was gone. Snarling, he charged forward, baring his blades. The twin swords crackled with lightning as they cleared their sheaths. All he could hear was the pounding of his racing heart and the crunch of his feet digging into the snow and ice. A red haze seemed to fill his vision. Ged was dead, or at the very least dying. They would pay.

The figure with the bow nocked another arrow and took aim. Sel pushed himself to move faster and sidestepped just a moment before the arrow was loosed at him. He felt it tug at his cloak and pass by harmlessly. Then he was upon the archer. Up close he could see just what he faced. He wore a mask that covered most of his face, but the dark blue skin left no question. Teir'Dal.

Sel's first swing with Swiftwind was met by the archer's bow, which shattered as the enchanted blade tore through it and into the dark elf's forearm. Blood sprayed from the wound as the dark elf reached down to his belt to draw out a serrated dagger. He seemed unfazed by the injury. Sel lashed out again, severing the hand that held the dagger with Swiftwind as he buried Earthcaller in the Teir'Dal's chest. More blood sprayed from the stump of the elf's wrist, showering Sel in scarlet drops as his foe fell. As he slid to the ground, the dark elf locked gazes with Sel. There was no emotion in his eyes. No fear. No hint of the agony he should be in. Nothing at all Sel jerked Earthcaller from the dying elf as he faced the others who had nearly reached him. He counted fifteen of them, armed with a variety of weapons and all showing blue skin on what showed of their faces. All of them showed the same blank stare. Sel began to back towards where Kallysti and Gedwilth were. The first of them reached him a moment later, swinging viciously at him with a warhammer. Sel was forced to halt to defend himself from the blunt hammerhead that whistled toward his face, ducking and then slashing out with Earthcaller, cutting most of the way through his enemy's knee. He fell, the shattered joint unable to support his weight. Even so, he tried to swing again, not showing any sign of pain of concern at the crippling injurt he'd sustained. Sel's mind began to whirl, trying to understand exactly what he faced. The others had begun to surround him.

They weren't undead, he knew. They moved too fast and were too well coordinated. Their blood was warm. These were living elves but they acted like... just like Kally had. They were puppets. Sel gritted his teeth and cursed the one who had caused them such trouble, the unnamed enchanter who wouldn't leave Kallysti in peace.

There were still fourteen of them to deal with, and he was on his own. They had almost completely surrounded him. As one, they pressed forward, all attacking simultaneously. Sel ducked and dodged, trying to parry everywhere at once. He let his mind fade away, allowing himself to be aware only of the multitude of weapons that flashed around him. Each swing of a Tier'Dal weapon was met by either Swiftwind or Earthcaller. Occasionally one of the electrically-charged swords would lash out into an opening, tearing through blue flesh and spraying steaming blood into the white snow. No weapon could touch Sel. The weaponshield technique was one he'd studied since he was a child, and it had taken him years to master. He deftly blocked every attack that came near him and riposting when he could, all while trying to break out of the circle he was trapped in. Only eight of them were left, but he couldn't keep defending himself like this forever. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was aware of the exhaustion that was settling into his muscles. He wasn't going to last long enough.

Sel pushed the thought aside and focused on the attacks which seemed to come at him faster and faster with each passing second. Despite his efforts though, the red haze of battle soon slid from his vision and the harsh, ragged sound of his breathing filled his delicate ears.

Only one of the Tier'dal remained now but it might as well have been a thousand. Exhaustion blurred Sel's vision, each of his swords now seemed to weigh two hundred stone.

Knowing his foe's state, the remaining dark elf mercilessly pressed his attack. The ranger backed up, grudgingly giving ground and using every remaining ounce of strength just to keep his defense up.

As he backed up one last step, his foot struck something and he fell heavily backwards. The dark elf, now above him, smiled coldly and raised his sword. Sel tried to raise his swords to protect himself, knowing in his heart that he would be too slow this time. I'm sorry, Kally... he closed his eyes and braced for the inevitable...

...that never came. He opened his eyes again, only to see dark elf had fallen to one side and Kallysti standing above him, her feet braced, her eyes narrowed. The robe she had been wearing now fluttered in shredded pieces from the waist down. She reached out a hand and helped Sel to his feet. As she helped him up, he looked down at his now dead enemy. The simple, razor-sharp dagger that Kally had once plunged into Selquinn's own back so many days ago, was now buried to the hilt between the dead Tier'dal's shoulder blades. "More are coming," she said, sighing, "this was just the first wave. He has been busy since the fighting began, too distracted right now to keep more than a light grasp on me. But that will change. And more are coming..." she repeated.

Lying less than an arm's length from the body was Ged. Strips of torn fabric were swathed around his neck and miraculously, he seemed to still be breathing shallowly. Kally looked down at him for a moment, then away, "I really will never heal again," she whispered to the snowy fields, "a part of me had still hoped..."

She shook her head angrily now, "I've been nothing but a liability since I returned to you, Sel! Useless. Like a fainting little princess in a fairy story, waiting to be saved at every turn. Well, no more!" She turned to the dark elf she'd killed and, bracing one foot on the back of his neck, reached down and pulled the dagger out of his back with both hands. Then she pried the still-stiffening fingers of his outflung hand from the hilt of the curved, wickedly sharp short sword he had carried.

She stood to face Sel again, a white-knuckled grip on both weapons that she now held. "No longer will I be hiding behind you, my love. Now, I will fight beside you, no matter what."

Despite the pain fogged exhaustion he felt, despite the barren hopelessness of their situation, Selquinn looked back at her and couldn't help but smile. She had never looked more beautiful to him than in that moment. "He will not have you back, Kal, no matter what I have to do..."

"No, Sel," she answered, "he will not take either of us, no matter what we have to do."

Selquinn nodded, trying not to think about exactly what it would probably come to. He would take care of them both, if he had to, though. And now, he knew she would do the same.

How touching... sneered the voice in the back of her mind, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you'd forgotten me. You want so badly to finish him off so I cannot coerce you both? Why not just do it now? And she felt her arm lifting of it's own accord to strike her unsuspecting Sel down where he stood.

"No..." she whispered, gritting her teeth as new, fresh pain stabbed at her brain.

Sel knew immediately what was transpiring, "Kal?" he asked a little uncertainly.

She shook her head, "I'm alright, Sel. As long as you're with me, he can't take complete control again. And he knows it..."

Perhaps so, came the answer, almost a shrug in his voice now, I underestimated you, it would seem. Let's hope you aren't doing the same to me...

An inhuman screech answered this message and the two of them looked as one to their left.

"Dear gods... Ashenbone drakes..." the large boney monstrosities were the most prominent of the horde that now approached but certainly not the only ones...

"I suppose I'm flattered," Sel panted, still nowhere near recovered, "he's sent half of Hate's denizens after us!"

"I'm with you this time. If we're not going to make it, let's at least see how many we can take with us..."

"I'll stay to the back, then try to kite as many as I can away from you. We can hold them off a good long while, I think..." a third voice agreed. Kally and Sel's eyes went wide and they looked down a moment at Gedwilth, who was now sitting up and scribing spells, "my lures will work best against the drakes. As for the others..."

"Ged!" Selquinn exclaimed and reached down to pull the young wizard up.

"Please, Sel, we don't have much time, let me get these spells..."

"GED!" Kallysti screamed at him, "Ged, the spell!"

"The... spell...? Oh! Oh, Bristlebane's... yes! Right. Are we in the right spot to cast it, Sel?"

The ranger looked to the fast-approaching mob and shrugged, "Yeah, Ged. Close enough."

The small Tier'dal sprang to his feet and almost fell again as a dizzy spell made the world fade in and out. Kally caught him and held him up. After a second, he shook her off, a look of intense concentration frozen across his features.

"Safe, Ged," Kal whispered, "get us away from here..."

Derogatory laughter pierced her, Safe? You'll never be safe. If it takes me a lifetime, I will find you again, child. Count on it. For another lifetime, I will keep searching!

"...is that so..." the barest breath on the wind, answered, amused, "...let's see about that..."

"Here's something you can't do, you son of a bitch," Ged said as the portal began to open, strangely stretching before them. And they went through.

[Kallysti]

Boats

"Hey! How many times do I have to chase you stinking refugees back belowdecks?! I swear, next time I'll just toss you all overboard, no matter what the Overlord says!"

Kallysti opened her eyes to the gentle rocking motion of a ship. She heard a sudden indignant squawk from Gedwilth beside her and in the next instant felt herself lifted bodily by the roughspun shirt she wore... Huh? a disjointed thought ran her head, Why am I dressed like this?... and half thrown, half shoved through a door and down a few stairs.

"Damn refugees get dumber every trip, I swear... Stay down there, now!" came the shout as the door slammed behind them.

Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness and she saw that they were not alone. She looked over to her cousin and saw the same look of confusion on his face as he reached up and touched his throat. There was not a mark on it now. Kally shrugged helplessly, "Sel?" she called in a soft, tremulous voice.

"Sell?" answered an amused voice behind her. She turned and had to look down before she met the eyes of the speaker. "You ain't been sold, elf lady," the gnome said, grinning, "wouldn't think your type would stand for that anyway! Nah, we're just heading to the island, and maybe if we're found worthy, on to Freeport to serve the Overlord. You do remember when you got on this ship, where it was heading, right?"

She blinked, "Of... course..." she said slowly and looked over her shoulder at Ged. The gnome shook his head then shrugged and wandered off to sit with other, presumably more intelligent, company.

"So this is the 'safe' place is it?" she whispered to her cousin, "Well, the voices are gone from my head anyway. But where is Sel?"

*******************

There was a light tapping on his shoulder. Selquinn looked up from where he sat on the wooden planking, utter confusion in his eyes as he stared at the high elf who smiled woodenly down at him. "You'll have to get back below deck until we dock, now, please."

He shook his head, and speaking slowly asked, "Where's Kallysti? Where am I?"

She helped him to his feet and consulted a clipboard as she lead him to a door, "I'm sorry, there's no one by that name on my list. But perhaps she is already on the island? Or even beyond that in the beautiful city of Qeynos itself! As I'm sure you will be one day. Now," she opened the door and gestured for him to go inside without her, "if you could please stay with the other refugees until we dock, it would be most appreciated. We don't want anyone above deck and getting hurt or in the way of the crew. We should be reaching our destination shortly, I hope you enjoy your stay."

And with that the door closed behind him.

**********************

Kallysti and Selquinn did continue on to Freeport and Qeynos, respectively. Eventually, they would figure out that Bristlebane's portal spell had taken them approximately five hundred years into the future... a "lifetime" if you happen to be a Tier'dal... and both would work to find the other, perhaps succeeding, perhaps not. But that's another story.

[Kallysti]

((Ok, I lied about it ending there... late last night, my b/f was inspired to write again! To add en epilogue of his own here. I don't know if you guys know this character... he's the shadowknight that Sel spares in the "Original Kallysti & Selquinn" story... and he's in it later on, I just haven't gotten to it yet, lol. Anyway, this bit is ALL HIM writing. :D))


Epilogue: The Hunter

The small chapel deep within the the guild hall was dimly lit, the low ceiling and the black stone on all sides making the room a cramped, uncomfortable place. Being a shrine to Innoruuk, the Prince of Hate, only made it worse. Even his most devout followers found this room a burden. It was fitting. Innoruuk was not the most kindly of gods by any stretch of the imagination. The only objects in the room were two small sconces on the wall to either side of the altar against the back wall. It provided just enough light for Drahzarr to read the unholy scriptures before him as he knelt before his god's altar.

He had been in the chapel for nearly a week, never eating or sleeping, simply meditating and praying to his one true lord for forgiveness. As a youngling, barely able to claim the title of initiate, he had been shamed by that so-called Dark Ranger, defeated in combat with astonishing ease and left in the forest wounded, to suffer for the remainder of his life with the memory of his failure. The pursuit of Selquinn Thornwood had become the focus of his entire being. He had pushed himself mercilessly, training for hours, even days, without rest. Even his instructors had seemed appalled at what he did to himself in the name of hatred and vengeance. It was generally accepted that Drahzarr might not be completely sane, and his brothers had withdrawn from him, likely waiting for the proper moment to end him entirely. He never gave them that chance. The truth was, they all feared him. He trained ceaselessly, honing his skills at both combat and magic. And he studied his intended target. He interrogated every Feir-Dal he came across without mercy, always seeking information about Thornwood. As he learned more, he began to draw a parallel to himself. Both of them, driven to extraordinary lengths in the name of revenge, cast out of their families and their orders because of it, and never caring... because vengeance was all that mattered. The similarities only made Drahzarr hate the wood elf even more.

Thornwood had a terrible tendency to disappear as if he had fallen off the face of Norrath, only to come right back when you didn't expect it. It had happened in the past, just as it had a week ago. He resurfaced, and Innoruuk's servants had nearly had him. Should have had him. As always, he had escaped, taking the cleric Kallysti with him. This time the escape made no sense. Powerful magics had been worked this time, and Thornwood had slipped through their fingers once again.

And so Drahzarr knelt before the altar, beseeching his master to show him a way to find his quarry. His whole mind was devoted to his prayer, but deep in his conciousness he could feel how weak he had become. He doubted he could stand now even if he were so inclined. His armour felt noticeably looser than it had when he'd begun, and his lips were so parched that they cracked and bled whenever he dared to pray aloud, which he did almost continuously. He dimly wondered what would kill him, the lack of water or the lack of sleep. Grimly he kept at his vigil. His faith was all he had...

Drahzarr blinked his eyes and ran a dry tongue over equally dry lips. The vast black cavern he knelt in was only lit in his immediate area, the rest of the massive chamber lost in the darkness that surrounded him. His weary mind struggled to understand what was wrong. For a moment he wondered how the chapel had grown even as he knelt within it. Then he tried to remember when exactly he had left the chapel and come to wherever this place was. Neither explanation made sense. Slowly his mind awakened. It must be the exhaustion. He was seeing things.

No, Drahzarr. This is real.

Drahzarr snapped his head around, seeking the source of the words. There was only darkness.

You have been calling for me. Now I answer. Explain your presence here.

"I cannot," Drahzarr croaked. Before him, growing more distinct, was a shadow. Even in the complete blackness that was all around him, he could see the massive shape. The only distinguishable features were two red eyes that glared back at him malevolently. Slowly he understood where he was, whose presence he was in. He pressed his forehead to the cold stone floor. "My lord..."

Silence. You seek Thornwood still. You shall have one more chance. He has defeated those who possessed strength, and outwitted those who possessed intelligence and wisdom. What is needed now is pure hate. In this, you are the most faithful of all my children, and so I choose you. You will destroy him, and my former priestess Kallysti as well.

"Where... where will I find them?" Drahzarr whispered to the floor.

Not where. When.

"I don't understand, my lord."

Silence, whelp. You will understand soon. When you arrive, much will be changed. Whatever vows you may make, remember that you have only one master.

"As it has ever been, my prince." Drahzarr lifted his head to meet the gaze of the red eyes in the darkness, Slowly he drew his feet up underneath him and rose unsteadily. "I am yours."

A rasping laugh answered him. We shall see.

The back of Drahzarr's head seemed to explode. He screamed and clutched his head between his hands. The world spun around him faster and faster. It felt like he was being turned inside out... and then it was over. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the sudden assault of the bright sunshine. The grass he lay upon tickled his nose. Raising his head with a groan, he saw a Teir'Dal woman standing not ten feet from him, looking at him with a mixture of curiousity and disgust.

"What's your problem, and just where did you come from?" she called to him. "If you're not dying, get on your feet. The Overlord won't abide laziness."