Chapter 5
"Pirates! We have to get out of here!"
Solyma swore as she reluctantly pulled herself off Tamara and scooped up her clothes. She heard heavy footsteps descending from the deck as she pulled on her shirt and looked for someplace to hide or, failing that, a weapon.
"Solyma! Annette! Untie me!" Tamara said, her voice full of fear.
Annette nodded and began to struggle with the knots in the scarves until Solyma grabbed her shoulder and motioned for her to stop.
"No time-" Solyma began.
"You can't leave me here for those-" Tamara yelled until Solyma clapped her hand over the woman's mouth.
"You hear something?" one of the pirates said from down the hall.
"Naw, hey, look. These are woman's clothes," another said.
"They've got to be aboard somewhere, there were only men on that boat."
"Rich too. Let's find 'em."
Tamara's eyes were panicked and wide as Solyma looked around the bare galley.
"Don't say anything, don't move, don't even breathe," Solyma said as she began to craft an invisibility weave around Tamara. She motioned for Annette to go into the kitchen with her head as she began to tie off the weave. She had just finished and was turning to rush into the kitchen herself when the pirates entered the galley.
"Don't move, bitch!" the first one yelled, waving a rusted short sword at her. The other one, shorter and with a scar across his bald head, leered at Solyma's bare legs.
"She's a good looking piece," the bald one said as he moved towards Solyma.
Solyma eyed him warily, spinning a fireball in her hand behind her back. "Oh, please, don't hurt me! I'm very rich and I'll pay you whatever you want!" she said, doing her best damsel in distress voice.
The pirates laughed. "You'll pay us alright," the taller one said.
Not a very original response, Solyma thought as she finished the fireball. She was about to char the shorter one's face off when she heard another pirate behind her.
"Look whut I found!" he said as he pushed Annette into the galley, a sword at her back. Her dress was torn and she looked like a deer facing the hunter's arrows. Behind her were at least two more pirates. Solyma cursed inwardly as she counted the pirates, too many for her to deal with before they killed Annette.
"If my maid was harmed in any way, I'll have your heads!" Solyma said as she let the fireball dissipate. Time for a new plan, she thought. Now, I just have to think of one.
"Solyma, what-?" Annette began.
"Lady Solyma, you stupid cow! Do I have to whip you again?" Solyma snapped. Annette looked confused for a moment before she caught on and nodded.
"I'm sorry, my lady. I won't forget again."
"See that you don't."
By this time the first pirates had moved closer to Solyma. "We got real lucky this time," the taller one said, "two sweet pieces to have fun with."
"I don't know," this was one of the others, "the captain'll want her for himself. You know how he likes the rich ones."
"We'll just have to have some fun before the captain see's her then, won't we?" He motioned to the one holding Annette and the maid was pushed forward to stand next to Solyma by the table. Solyma watched carefully as the bald pirate leaned against it, his arm almost touching Tamara's hidden leg.
"Why ain't she dressed?" one of the smarter ones said from the back of the crowd forming in the galley.
The bald one looked at Solyma closely, she could practically hear the squeaky wheels of his mind turning as he thought. His eyes widened comically as Solyma reached out and pulled Annette to her and ran her hand down Annette's back to her bottom. "They were going to fuck!" he said.
"Two girls can't fuck," another one said.
"Yeah they can," the bald one said and grinned, displaying an incredible collection of gum diseases. "Do it, show 'em what you do."
Solyma sighed inwardly. Men, she thought and hoped that Annette would play along. She held Annette's shoulders and turned the maid towards her. "Play along," Solyma whispered as she tilted her head down and kissed Annette. The maid responded surprisingly warmly to her kiss, parting her mouth willingly and moving her hands down to the small of Solyma's back.
"Now," the bald one said, his mouth hanging open and drool trailing from his lower lip, "get those clothes off and get on the table."
Solyma cursed inwardly again. Maybe if she was lucky she could scare the pirates with a lightning bolt and get- No, too damned many. It seemed like the entire ship was packed into the galley. Solyma stalled for time as she slowly began to undo the ties of Annette's dress. The young maid looked into Solyma's eyes, trusting her completely.
"What are you doing here? You lot're supposed to be checking out the hold!" a new voice yelled as he pushed through the crowd.
Solyma looked over and saw a ridiculous sight. The pirate, apparently the captain, was dressed in a garish motley of styles from Corannon and Alathan. He was wearing the type of feathered cap which was popular for all of a month several years ago along with the puffy shirt, tight trousers, and boots with ridiculously large and flared toes. He was a waling representation of rich bad taste from the past twenty years. The final touch, and Solyma had to work hard to keep from laughing, was an overstuffed codpiece colored an eyewatering yellow.
"Eh, who're these two lovely ladies?"
"We found them here, captain," the bald one said, obviously disappointed. "They were going to put on a show for us."
"Not here they ain't! The crew could be back any time and they've got a Knight with them!"
There was a general sound of muttering fear and anxiety among the pirates.
"So get into the hold and start taking it back to the ship!"
The crew began to mutter but they obeyed and soon the galley was empty but the pirate captain and the two women.
"Now, you two get on deck!"
Solyma walked out of the galley behind Annette, swaying her bottom in a way that was guaranteed to gain the pirate's full attention. Just before they reached the deck she turned to him, a seductive smile on her face.
"Captain," she said, "the men won't be back for a day. They told me so themselves."
"A day, really?" the captain said, licking his lips.
"Yes, a day at least. Now, your men wanted my servant and I to put on a show for them." Solyma pouted, curving her full lips into a frown. "I don't like such uncouth and mean men. But you are obviously someone with style and class. We'd be delighted to give you a more...private show."
"Oh yes," the captain gasped while his face turned a beet red. "I'd enjoy that."
"We could do it right here? Or maybe in our cabin?"
The captain licked his lips, his eyes flicking from Solyma's bare legs to the enticing curve of Annette's shoulder. "Right here," he managed to gasp out as he began to pull off his codpiece.
Solyma smiled and let the shoulder of her shirt drop down, nearly baring one breast. She slinked closer to the captain and pressed his eager hand onto her breast.
"My, you are strong," she whispered huskily.
The captain groaned and bent his head to suck at her breast, his hands reaching under her shirt to fondle her buttocks.
Solyma endured this long enough to see that the pirates were all busy elsewhere. Then she kneed the captain in the groin and slammed his head into the bulkhead. Annette was still staring open mouthed when Solyma kicked him in the head for good measure and rolled him into a supply closet.
"Ick," Solyma said as she pulled her shirt up, "I need a bath now." She turned to Annette and motioned for the younger woman to follow her. "Go lie on the top bunk," Solyma ordered as they entered the cabin that Solyma and Tamara shared.
Annette obeyed and lay down as Solyma quickly spun a weave of invisibility around her. When it was done Solyma smiled warned Annette against moving or making a sound. With that she ducked down and pulled out a heavy leather case from her luggage.
Solyma smiled as she pulled on some clothes and strapped on a light suit of leather armor over that. She had just finished when she heard some pirates stomping up from the hold. She crouched behind the door as they passed, pulling two daggers along with a long sword from the case.
Annette heard two wet thumps in the passageway outside the cabin as Solyma dispatched the pirates. There was a long pause and then she heard the door to the deck open. Then the screaming started.
Solyma whooped with glee as the pirates ran around the deck trying to get back aboard their ship. A few stood with swords or bows at the ready until she threw a lightning bolt at them. It had been a while since she had used these battle spells but the old knowledge flooded back and soon she was blasting the pirates into messy bits of reddish meat.
She ducked behind a barrel as one of the pirates finally shot an arrow at her. None of them seemed to know how to deal with a mage, she saw no hint of a mass rush or of someone hiding and waiting to surprise her in between spells.
"Get back to the ship!" one screamed as he ran by her. She waited until he was near the railing before pitching a fireball at him.
The pirate screamed as he went up in flames and toppled into the sea leaving only a cloud of sickly-sweet smelling steam.
The ship the pirates had arrived on was small, a large sloop at best. Solyma grinned as she knocked another pirate into the water, a ship that size usually had twenty men at most. Another fireball reduced the crew to perhaps ten.
She stood as the remaining pirates ran back across the boarding planks and cut the lines securing the two ships. Solyma stood on the deck, her arms shrouded in the crackling and flaming nimbus' of weaves of fire and lightning. She considered the ten panicked men trying desperately to push away from the schooner and laughed, making an obscene gesture at them as they sailed away. As they reached the limit of her range, she poured the stored energy from the weaves into one last fireball. The barrel sized fireball soared across the sea, little flames detaching and floating to the water where they extinguished themselves with a hiss, and punched through their main sail. In seconds the sails were ablaze beyond hope of salvation with the fire spreading through the rigging and turning the masts into giant torches.
Solyma brushed her hands off on her thighs and turned around. She swore as she saw the pirate captain climbing up the stairs from the lower decks, a knife at Annette's throat.
"I thought I told you to stay still," Solyma said to Annette.
"I'm sorry, I thought they were all gone and I was going to come up-"
"Enough talk!" the pirate yelled. "You may be one powerful spellweaving bitch, but I've got your little slut and she'll die if you try anything."
Solyma sighed. She should have realized that underneath all that ridiculous clothing the pirate would still have to be one mean son of a bitch to stay in command of ship. "What do you want?" she asked.
"You're going to swim to the island and get the ship's boat and bring it back here. When you do, I'm getting out of here and I'll push this one overboard once I'm out of your reach."
"I can't swim," Solyma said, somewhat truthfully as she ran her hands through her hair. She could swim, but not for very long and probably just straight down. She began to shape a weave as she pushed back her hair and tucked it behind her ears.
"Then you'd better learn fast!" the pirate yelled, his knife dangerously close to Annette's throat. Solyma grimaced and pulled off her leather breastplate. She began to move over to the railing as she pulled her shirttails out of her waistband and started to kick off her boots. Looking back at the pirate she smiled and pulled her shirt over her head.
The pirate's eyes flicked to her bared breasts for a split second, long enough for Solyma to finish her weave and send the pirate's knife flying from his hand into hers. Annette struggled and kicked and managed to get away from him as he pulled his sword.
"I'll kill you," he started to say. He got as far as "I'll" when Solyma threw the knife back at him, catching him in the base of his throat. He gurgled something indecipherable and fell to the deck, his puffy shirt soaking up most of the blood.
"That's quite a mess, Solyma," Tancred said as he watched the sailors sweeping the deck clear of debris. "Why didn't you just burn the ship before it could grapple?"
"More fun this way," Solyma said quickly while she turned her head to look out to sea. She could feel the drain from using so much magic in such a wasteful manner, usually she'd be more efficient and less flashy but...
"Really? You let them board?"
"Sure."
"You didn't forget to post a lookout and get surprised by them?"
"Of course not."
"Then why is Tamara tied to the galley table?" Tancred laughed at her face as she suddenly remembered the noblewoman's predicament. "Don't worry, she's still invisible. I smelled her. You'd better get down there before the cook starts setting the table."
Cirron flipped through one of the many books that lay strewn about Lord Volchim's desk in the library. He saw no use for them, none of them had pictures, at least not the kind that he'd want to look at.
"Why should I keep these?" he asked the wavering form of Sammel, a wizard he had known back when he had worked for Tancred.
"These books are an incredible collection of necromantic tomes!" the shade said, his voice sounding like an echo from a long tunnel. "With these you could summon almost any spirit and force it to do your bidding!"
"I don't like magic," Cirron said, throwing the book to the floor, not noticing as the shade winced.
"Magic freed us," Sammel said.
Cirron grunted in reply and shrugged. "What would you need to summon an army of spirits?" he asked.
"A sacrifice first to gain the service of a powerful Dathuz, then it could serve as a general for the spirits summoned after it."
"What kind of sacrifice?"
Sammel's form wavered and shifted as he looked nervously around the room. "Well, my lord-"
"Out with it, man!"
"The Dathuz have an intense desire for the things that they are denied-
"And those are?"
"Umm, women, food, liquor."
"So? I can get any of those in abundance."
"But my lord, a Dathuz of the power we need would not be swayed by a serving maid and a keg of beer."
"What would they require?"
Sammel coughed nervously, purely out of habit. "An elf woman? And perhaps some good Willowsrun wine or maybe some diamondflower extract?" He braced himself for Cirron's anger, the mercenary had not been kind when his plans were obstructed. He raised his transparent and haggard head when Cirron began laughing.
"You forget the hospitality of our good Lord Volchim! He has supplied all we need, there is are several bottles of diamondflower in the cellar. As for an elf woman, well, our Lord Volchim had an equally good taste when he was selecting his women as when he was selecting his drink." Cirron smiled and laughed again as he felt the impotent struggles of Lord Volchim.
"Beautiful place," Solyma said idly as she leaned against the ship's railing and watched the town of Merglise. Her eyes swept over the whitewashed two story buildings that formed most of the town, taking in their brightly painted shutters and balconies while searching for any sign of life. "Where is everyone?" she asked herself.
"They would have most likely fled," Kerrith said from towards the center of the deck. He was unpacking the gear and weapons that he had brought for dealing with the dragon. "A house offers no protection against a dragon's flame."
"Hector, can you find anything?" Solyma asked. Hector paused and seemed to concentrate for a while before he shook his helmet.
"There's a powerful shield blocking any scrying, it seems start at the edge of the port, perhaps if we pass through it I can try again," he said.
"Who made it?" Kerrith asked.
"I don't know," Hector said with a shrug, "it could have been the dragon, that's the logical answer."
The motion of the ship changed as the helmsman turned it towards the town's docks. Or what was left of them. Most of them were charred wooden pilings although a larger stone pier remained intact although scorched. Solyma surveyed them, noticing that there were no boats moored. "Where'd the boats go?" she asked.
"Fled?" Tancred said as he walked over. He had changed into his armor, a suit of leather older than most people on the ship, and was running through a series of stretches.
"No," Kerrith said, "look." He pointed to the charred remains of a mast sticking up out of the water. The shape of a boat could be barely made out below the water. "Burned along with the docks."
Bradley was nervously watching the sky as the schooner coasted towards the pier and sailors jumped off to secure the ship. No dragon had appeared by the time Solyma and the rest had unloaded their luggage and the schooner had cast off, hurrying to reach its destination further south on schedule.
Solyma gave a cheery wave to the receding forms of Tamara and Annette before turning to walk down the pier towards the town. Behind her, Hector floated slowly after her, his helmet bowed in concentration as he scryed the area around the town.
"Find the dragon yet?" Solyma asked as they reached the town square. "Finally, dry land." The square was paved with smooth square flagstones, painted a light sky blue color. Directly across from the road leading to the docks was the town hall with an empty flagpole standing before the stone building.
"Not yet," Hector said quietly.
"Do you guys feel that?" Tancred said suddenly, lifting his nose to sniff at the air.
"What?" Solyma said. She watched as Tancred rubbed his arms and grimaced.
"There's a disturbance," he said, "try to feel it."
Solyma shrugged and closed her eyes. She moved her arms in slowly in front of her as she spun a weave. Bradley, Hector and Tancred watched the softly glowing lines of magic join together as she gathered them into herself. Solyma shivered as she began to feel the chill of masses of undead in the area.
"Someone's been creating undead," she said. "Lot's of them."
"It's coming from the manor of Lord Volchim," Hector said.
"Can you see into the manor and find out what's going on?" Solyma asked.
"No, someone has blocked it off from scrying."
"The same person who covered the town?"
"No, this one is much weaker, although its craftsmanship is quite good."
"Hey, Kerrith?" Bradley suddenly said. "Do you guys see that?" His shaking finger pointed towards a small speck on the horizon that was growing rapidly.
"Get ready," Kerrith said as he hefted a large barbed spear.
"Where is Vysthus?" Cirron yelled as he strode through the dusty corridors of the manor house. "I want that elf girl found now!"
"He says that soldiers have landed at Merglise," Sammel said as he floated after Cirron. Behind him was a small group of zombies and skeletons wearing the rusted and filthy remains of armor and carrying various weapons.
"Hel's blood!" cursed Cirron as he smashed a vase of dead flowers to the floor. "Why are they here?"
"I don't know, my lord."
"If Vysthus is too busy killing them then you will have to find the girl. Use those books you love so much and find her!" Cirron said, watching as Sammel bobbed obsequiously and floated towards the library.
"Spread out!" Kerrith yelled. "Solyma, Bradley, you know what to do!" They nodded and peeled off to duck under the balcony of a building on the other side of the street. The theory was that as the dragon attacked one team, the other team would be able to attack it without worry. When the dragon turned its attention to them, the other team would attack. Wolf pack tactics and good in theory, the only problem being that it was theory.
The dragon swooped in low over the town and landed in between the would-be dragonslayers, its tail poised and ready to strike as it swiveled its head from Kerrith on one side of the street to Bradley, Tancred, and Solyma on the other.
Solyma gulped and hoped that her flame shield was as good as she remembered it to be. Tancred looked back at her and hefted the heavy barbed dragonslaying spear in his hands. "Ready?" he asked. Solyma started to answer when the dragon flamed them.
Sammel flipped through the pages of particularly ominous looking tome until he found the diagram illustrating the weave necessary to summon an-
"Incubus," Sammel said. He sighed.
Incubii were notoriously insubordinate, especially around women. Still, it was the only creature he could summon on short notice and, with the amount of power he could wield, the only creature that would be able to find and bring back the elf woman.
The shade began to trace out the weave of summoning on the floor, using the same chalk that Lord Volchim had used in his attempt to summon his dead wife. Sammel hoped that his attempt at summoning would end better.
"That was close," Tancred said as he kicked the melted spear head where it lay among the heap of ash and charcoal that was once a two-story building, possibly the local inn. Solyma's shield had held easily and had deflected the dragon's flame around them. Tancred had then thrown the spear at the dragon's eye and might have killed it then if it hadn't flamed the spear.
"You're telling me," Vysthus said. "You're very fast for a vampire."
Tancred shrugged. "Only when I want to be," he said, eliciting an exasperated sigh from Solyma. The dragon just stared at him in polite incomprehension.
"Would someone mind telling me what's going on?" Bradley asked from by the docks, ready to jump into the water if the dragon showed any further sign of combustion activity.
"You were sent here to kill me, were you not?" Vysthus said. "A fisherman brought reports of a marauding dragon and a lord who seemed to have gone mad?"
"Yes," Kerrith said, still leaning on the his spear. He seemed mildly surprised, the first time Solyma had ever seen him that way, when the dragon crouched on the ground and laid its head at his feet. This allowed Kerrith, not a short man by any means, to look directly into the dragon's eyes.
"Honorable Knight of the Shield, I beg you for assistance," Vysthus said. "My egg has been kidnapped by a screeling. He has forced me to obey his commands by threatening my child."
"How did this happen, my lord?" Kerrith asked, flipping his spear and jamming it point first into the ground.
"He stole into the cave that my wife and I share under cover of a fierce storm. Being a creature from beyond the veil, he managed to elude myself and steal my egg. I admit that I was not as cautious as I should have been, my wife and I have always been on good terms with the people of Cielcroix and I felt no reason to be vigilant. I have learned my lesson."
"That's all very well and good," Solyma said, "but how do we know that you're telling the truth? You could just be trying to get our guard down." She tried not to show annoyance as Bradley and Tancred slowly edged away from her.
"You cannot know, all I can do is offer my word. And the fact that I have not tried to kill you."
Solyma could hear Bradley sputtering in outrage from behind Kerrith. "You just tried to incinerate us!" he yelled, ducking back behind Kerrith when the dragon swiveled its massive head towards him.
"No, he didn't," Solyma said. "He wasn't using a very hot or fast flame, why?"
"The screeling has the shade of a mage serving him," Vysthus said. "I was afraid that he would be watching us."
"Then why are you talking to us now?"
"I have spun a weave around us to block any attempts to scry into this area." Solyma turned her head to look at Hector who nodded slightly.
"I suppose we should find your egg then," she said.
Sammel sighed and tried to explain what he wanted to the incubus again. The incubus was stupid even by the rather lax standards of its kind and was doing its level best to escape from the summoning circle.
"No, now listen- No there aren't any women for you here," Sammel said. "Find the elf woman and bring her back here, yes, an elf. No, you can't have her, my master wants her for himself."
The incubus grunted in anger, obviously upset at not being able to have his way with the elf.
"If you do this, then you can have all the women you want."
The incubus sounded like he liked that idea.
Sammel finished securing the weaves of tracking and control to the creature before he opened the circle. "Now find the elf woman and bring her back here, unharmed!" Sammel said as the creature raised its nostrils and sniffed at the air.
In a flash the creature crashed through the library's windows and was off into the forest. Sammel fervently hoped his control over the beast didn't slip. Most incubii would use their power of illusion and mind control to place their victims in whatever fantasy they most wanted, subsequently feeding on the sexual energy given off by the women. This one looked like a throwback to the incubii's primitive ancestry as a race of magical predators, generally content to mate with anything female.
Faded and dry, the flower still exuded its soft, delicate scent despite the fading effects of time. Ismene felt tears welling up in her eyes as she gently stroked the scarlet flower with a trembling fingertip. She had found the flower in her bag, tucked away in an inside pocket and forgotten since that night...
The moon shone brightly down on the small garden next to the manor. From inside the ballroom music could still be heard along with snatches of conversation drifting on the night air. Lord Volchim and Ismene waltzed through the garden, uncontrollable grins on their faces as they spun each other to the faint music of the orchestra.
Ismene laughed in delight as Lord Volchim lifted her by her slender waist and spun her around him before pulling her close and kissing her. Her laughter faded as she murmured in pleasure and ran her hands over his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath fabric of his jacket and shirt.
Lips still pressed together, they sat heavily on a stone bench near a profusion of orchids. Ismene closed her eyes as she took a deep breath, the heady perfume of the flowers making her head spin. She opened her eyes as Lord Volchim reached down and plucked a single scarlet blossom from the garden. She watched with wide eyes as he tucked it in her hair just over her ear and leaned forward to kiss her again...
Ismene blinked rapidly, trying to hold back the flood of tears that threatened to overwhelm her. Despite her efforts a single tear slid down her cheek and dropped onto the flower, soaking into the faded stem. Ismene jerked her head up as she heard Amy and Theodoric running down the hall, their voices raised in laughter as they chased Irvan's small dog, their laughs accompanied by the small creature's delighted barking. Ismene smiled and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, tucking the flower back into the darkness of her bag before standing and going to the door.
"If you've got that much energy, you can help me wash the clothes-" she began. In the warm darkness of her bag, the flower bloomed again, its withered stem and petals swelling with new life.
"There's someone else trying scrying the area around the manor," Hector said suddenly. Solyma looked over from where she was lounging on small lawn of grass in front of the town hall.
"Any idea who that could be?" she asked.
"It is most likely Irvan, the local mage," Vysthus answered. "I have not been able to contact him since the screeling took control over Lord Volchim."
"Where's he live?"
"In a tower a short distance from town."
"Can you take us there? If we work together we should be able to find the egg a lot faster."
The incubus snorted the air, catching the distant scent of an elf woman on the breeze.
Grinning, it dropped from the tree branch it had perched on and darted through the densely packed trees of the forest.
Ismene sighed as she leaned against the warm stone of the tower's outside wall, her hands tangling in the moss and other vegetation that grew over it. She had snuck out for a few minutes by herself to cry without disturbing the children.
She wiped her eyes with her handkerchief and turned to walk back around the tower towards the door. The young elf froze when she saw the creature standing in front of her.
The monster was at least six feet tall and heavily built. Two small horns stuck from its forehead, lending an even more fearsome aspect to the monster's face. It had long jaws which parted to reveal a mouthful of sharp teeth and a long, snakelike tongue.
Ismene slowly began to back away from it, hoping to circle around the tower and get in the door.
She stopped as it snarled at her, a barbed tail rising from behind its back to lash back and forth. Looking down, she saw a monstrous cock jutting from between the creature's legs, the same greenish-grey color as the monster's skin.
Ismene managed to scream once as the monster leapt at her and bore her to the ground. She struggle fiercely against it and managed to punch it in the snout as it leaned down to lick her face. It snarled in anger and covered her mouth with one of its claws before lifting her in its arms and running into the forest. Ismene's struggles proved futile as the tower disappeared behind them and the shadowed depths of the forest surrounded them.
Vysthus arrived at the tower first, circling and finally swooping in for a landing as Solyma and her companions trudged up the small dirt road on foot.
"We should have brought horses," Bradley mumbled to himself as they entered the tower's clearing.
"No room on the ship," Kerrith said mildly.
"It's not like it was much of a walk, maybe two miles," Solyma said.
"Well, I'm not used to walking so much," Bradley said as he sank to the grass of the clearing and pulled off his boots. He rubbed his feet as the rest of the group studied the tower. They were startled as the door burst open and an elderly mage burst out, weaves crackling around him.
"Ismene!" he yelled and then he noticed them. "Who are you? Vysthus? What are you doing here? What did you do with Ismene?"
"We're from Corannon-" Solyma began, only to be interrupted by Vysthus.
"What has happened to Ismene, Irvan?" the dragon asked.
"She's gone! The children said she went outside for a moment but never came back. If you didn't take her, then who did?"
"The screeling."
"Aeleon's book," the mage moaned, "I've got to find her!"
"Wait a minute!" Solyma yelled. "What's going on here? Who's Ismene?"
They listened as Irvan and Vysthus quickly told them of what had been happening in Cielcroix, starting with the death of Lord Volchim's wife and finishing with Ismene's escape from the manor with the children.
"Right," Kerrith said. "Can horses travel through the forest?"
"Not easily," Irvan said. "Usually it's easier to go around and take the roads, even if it is a longer trip."
"Very well, Tancred, you have certain abilities. Will you be able to follow the trail of Ismene's kidnapper? The rest of us will remain here and try to find Vysthus' egg."
Tancred sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose after removing his dark spectacles. "Yeesss," he said slowly. "It'll be tough in daylight, but I suppose I'll still be faster than the rest of you. But why doesn't Vysthus find her?"
"If the screeling, Cirron, sees him, he may order Vysthus' egg killed," Irvan explained.
"Oh, I see- Wait. What was his name?"
"Cirron Maccius, why?"
Tancred sighed again and glanced over at Solyma. "Remember Cirron?" he said. Solyma made a face and nodded.
"You knew him?" Irvan asked incredulously.
"Yes, I killed him. He was a mercenary under my command when I was younger. He was too out of control and I had to kill him one day."
"Then you're Tancred Guiscard?"
"The one and only," Tancred said with a faint smile as he sketched a bow. "I'd better get after, what's her name? Ismene. I can still smell her. She's an elf," he said with a wink in Solyma's direction. Then he was off, seeming to almost glide between the trees with supernatural agility and speed.
Continued in Chapter 6
The World of Alderest - IV - A Journey With the Dead - Chapter 5
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