Chapter 4

Unwelcome Visitors

Dawn had finally come. Its golden light heralding the end of one life and the beginning of another. Marinae’s time amongst the elves of Darkon had ended and a great question hung over her. Where did her destiny lie?

She knew that traveling south or southeast would be unwise, the mad religious fervor of Tepestani Inquisitors was well known as was the vomit-inducing sights and smells of Vaasian cities.

The southwest held little better as travel through Falkovnia was suicide for those of non-human ancestry. Marinae didn’t fancy becoming a plaything for Dravok's soldiers nor a brood mare for his breeding programs. That left one choice, westward toward Lamordia and the Sea of Sorrows. The lands of the western coast were famous for their high culture and sophistication. Perhaps there she would find acceptance.

The armed elves assigned to escort her from Neblus were grim and silent, barely even recognizing her existence. It was late afternoon when they left her at the entrance to the human city of Viaki. It was amazing just how different the humans were from the elves she grew up with. The way they looked, the way they smelled, the way they moved. One in particular caught her eye. He was different from the others, a towering figure, covered in heavy clothing, with eyes like those of a dead man. His skin was pale and blue, like that of someone who had stayed out in the winter's chill for too long. Their encounter was brief. He passed without a word but the shiver his lifeless eyes sent through Marinae lingered on.

Having purchased the needed supplies Marinae set out on the western road toward the city of Rivalis, the last Darkonian way point before entering Lamordia. The sun sat upon its zenith as she came to a crossroads. Gazing off into the north she noted a sharp line of demarcation along the road. On the near side all was green and alive. On the far side nothing lived to give color to the earth. It was the former capital, Il Aluk. A place that had once been called 'The Jewel of Darkon'.

Seeming to have appeared from no where, the odd man from Viaki approached from behind Marinae. He sat atop a beautiful white war horse, still bundled in heavy clothing despite the mild temperature.

"Necropolis, now. The city where the dead hold court and the living are not welcome."

Marinae nodded politely, but didn’t trust the stranger.

"It’s unwise to dally in this place.", he added in a low, cold voice. "Not even the sun can offer protection from all the evils which dwell in the city of the dead."

Marinae tried to lighten the mood, "I am on the road to Lamordia", but the odd man ignored her.

"Look there near that stand of trees." He said as he pointed a ways down the road.

Marinae could see movement, though she couldn’t determine its source.

"They can smell you. They can feel you. They... are hungry."

Marinae compared the man’s appearance and his words. She wondered why he knew so much about such things.

The odd man turned from the moving shapes and looked at her. "Leave this place. Do not stop again until you reach a city's walls."

"Thank you for the warning.", she said, but once again he ignored her.

Without a further word the man turned his mount towards the south road and rode off. Marinae remembered the only place that that road led to was Castle Avernus. The home of the Wizard-King Azalin Rex.

Marinae set her horse on the road for Lamordia. Moving on westward, time seemed to drag on. The sound of the Vuchar river nearby was the only thing that broke up the lonesome silence of the road. Up ahead she saw a group of cloaked figures moving slowly up the road towards her. There were six, two pulling a hand drawn cart. The cart's contents were covered by a tarp.

Six of them and one of her. Marinae wasn't liking the odds. One of the figures looked in her direction.

“Crap” Marinae muttered to herself, in elvish.

The figures continued moving towards her. Their heads were down, their faces covered by hoods. Marinae began to panic as she thought about how to deal with them if they attacked her.

“Crossbow has good range, but I won't get off more than one shot before they're on me.”

Marinae began to cast a spell. Speaking the ancient words her vision shifted and the world took on a muted and surreal quality. Each of the figures stood out in relief from their grayed surroundings. Each was surrounded by an aura of magical energy. Marinae detected that the magic was necromantic in origin. The cloaked figures came closer. One seemed to look up towards her, though she still could not see its face.

Marinae thought to herself "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, CRAP. Here's where I find out whether I learned anything poking around in forbidden texts..."

The hooded figure seemed to think for a moment and then looked back at the ground. They continued past her. Marinae noted that each was covered in rags and bandages. The scent of rotting flesh followed them.

“Stinky, even for humans.”, Marinae joked to herself.

She let them pass, but kept a wary ear pointed back at them as she moved on. After the travelers had passed, the scent remained with her. Despite their growing distance the scent grew stronger. The stench of death reached a concentration the likes of which Marinae had never imagined. It was so overwhelming that she fell from her mount, coughing and choking on the hard ground

Marinae couldn’t breathe. Her vision began to fade and soon she was unconscious. A dream came to her, an awful dream. She had a vision of bodies, hundreds of bodies, piled atop one another. Men, women and children all dead and she lay among them, beneath them, the air slowly being squeezed out of her. She tried to climb free but the weight of the corpses was too great she was about to black out again when a warm breath touched her face. With a start she awoke. It was night and her surrounding were unfamiliar. Her horse stood over her, its face near hers.

"Ass breath, then grass breath...what a wonderful day I'm having!", Marinae dragged herself to her feet and checked her supplies. Nothing was missing. The figures were gone, and the smell was gone as well. Marinae took a few deep breaths to clear her lungs. Then she looked around, trying to figure out where she was.

She was alone on a dirt road, and it was very late at night. There was a sign with an arrow pointing north. 'Sturben' it said. She didn’t recognize the name, but she followed the sign anyway.
 

"If only Sentire Marius were here. He would know what this meant.", brother Lucius continued to talk as if he was having a divine revelation.

"It means we have work to do...", said Weamar trying to bring him back to earth.

"I will stay with her tonight.”, offered Lucius. “In the morning we will move her to the temple where my brothers can tend to her."

Weamar would have preferred her moved now, but not wanting to get on the wrong side of brother Lucius he agreed.

Jake looked at the two of them. "What now?"

"Now, we try and find out how many wolves followed me. And where they are now.", Weamar frowned again, "Hopefully, there are only wolves that followed me"

"There aren't many large predators in Borca.”, Lucius thought out loud, “If there are any wolves out there, they almost certainly came with you."

"I know 4 followed me, one I killed.”, Weamar looked grim, “What concerns me more is that I wasn't running from mere wolves."

Lucius blanched at the implication of Weamar's words.

Weamar leaned down close to the brother’s ear and whispered "Be sure she has nothing but liquids for at least a few days. Wolfsbane tea would be a good idea."

Lucius nodded in understanding. He brushed his hand across Gillian’s cheek. The girl had fallen asleep.

Weamar turned and addressed the crowd, "Who hunts well?”, and added with a resigned look, “Who has silver weapons?"

The men gathered about wouldn't make eye contact. They were silent. Lynn still had her head down. Her attention was far away. Bad feelings were growing inside of her as she regretted all the things that she didn’t do.

“I was the last person that she talked to before she left.”, Lynn mused, “I should have kept our conversation going. I should have talked with her all night. I could have saved her.”

Then Lynn’s thoughts took a darker turn. She remembered Gillian touching her on the arm and how she had pulled away from her. Suddenly she realized what had happened. She’d spurned Gillian’s affections, and that was why she left so quickly. She'd been insensitive. She'd been selfish. She had pushed Gillian away from her and into the jaws of the ravenous wolves.

“Oh, no.”, Lynn silently moaned as she buried her face in her hands. “It was my fault. Why did I have to be so rude? Why do I always think about me first? I should have opened up to her. I should have let her touch me. Then everything would have been alright.”

“Quit fooling yourself. You don’t care about her. The only person that you care about is yourself”, the voice in Lynn’s head admonished her sternly.

“No. I do care. I do care about her.”, Lynn protested. “I want her to pull through. I didn't mean to make her feel unwanted."

And then Lynn added, "I’ll never make that mistake again.”

But deep inside Lynn knew that she would.

James looked around at the other men. He became quite angry. "You cowards. Are you afraid of some damn dogs?"

"They are right to fear what might have followed me.", Weamar interrupted, "I hope that only wolves followed me. If I must go alone, I must, but I have no silver weapons, so would borrow some if some are at hand."

"Perhaps William will have one”, added Jake helpfully, “He used to go about traveling all over the place. He's always goin on about fightin demons and so forth. It's time he proved it."

James seemed to be fighting his own fear by covering it with anger. "I don't know anything about hunting, sir, but I'll help you kill those beasts for what they've done to Gillian."

"Thank you James, but I fear you would be in more danger than the wolves.”, Weamar turned to Jake, “William, where might I find William?"

"He owns a place just up the road.", said Jake, “I'll show ya"

James clenched his jaw and went to stand by Gillian with his arms folded across his chest.

"Very well, let's go”
 

Moving along Marinae noted a spot on the ground that was soaked with blood. Marks on the ground led into a sparse forest to the west, almost as though a body had been dragged off. Marinae made sure her staff and throwing knives were handy. She kept heading north, being careful not to let her horse step in anything. Moving on towards the town she noted a light coming from one building. It was an inn. Its sign said 'The Golden Mushroom'.

"As good a place as any to sleep.", Marinae thought to herself.

Marinae hitched her horse and considered putting a bandana over her ears. Then she thought that it would be better to show them off. As she tied her horse to the post, a trio of growls sounded around her. She got out her quarter staff and made sure that she had some swinging room for it. Then she turned and looked around. Closing in slowly were three wolves, their eyes glowed pale yellow. They were closing in on Marinae from the front, left and right. Marinae kept in motion, watching all three, and worked to keep the building at her back. She picked one and got her crossbow out.

Jake led Weamar down the stairs and out of the inn. As he exited he gave a shout and stumbled back against the wall. Weamar pushed past him and looked out the door. He saw a woman being surrounded by three wolves, pointing a crossbow at the one on her right. He drew his sword and charged one of wolves. The wolves were staring intently at the woman at didn’t even notice him coming.

"Do something useful for a change!", the voice screamed in Lynn's head. Lynn snapped to attention. In an instant she was running up the stairs to her room. Lynn kicked off her shoes and threw on her old brown robe. Then she grabbed her sword and headed back down the stairs.

Marinae's crossbow bolt leapt from the weapon and streaked through the night. With a thud and a yelp it struck home in one of the wolf's flanks. Weamar swung his sword and brought it down on the surprised animal. His blade bit deep into the wolf's shoulder, knocking it to the ground. Another figure with a sword ran out of the Inn. Marinae raised a single eyebrow. She was surprised at seeing humans coming to her rescue.

As Marinae looked away one of the wolves charged her. She tried to get out of the way but the wolf’s powerful jaws clamped down upon her thigh and sent waves of pain cascading through her. She clenched her teeth and cursed, “Those are expensive riding leathers, you little shit!"

Another wolf charged the figure that had just emerged from the Inn. It was dark and Lynn didn’t even see it coming. It leaped onto her and sank its jaws into her throat, knocking her to the ground. The pain was like nothing she’d ever experienced. Lynn fought futilely as the wolf tore at her neck.

Marinae dropped her crossbow and quarter staff and began to cast a spell. The magical power flowed through her, collecting at the palm of her hand. When it reached a critical mass she spoke the keyword. A blazing flash of white light streaked across space and slammed into the wolf latched on to her leg. It collapsed to the ground, dead.

Weamar ran to Lynn’s aid, preparing to strike at the wolf mauling her. The wolf saw him coming and released her, dodging aside. Weamar’s sword hit nothing but air and the wolf prepared to strike back. He wouldn’t get the chance. Ignoring her injury Lynn rolled forward and gripped her katana tightly. Sweeping the blade in an arc, she drew it across the wolf's abdomen. Its insides became outsides.

One wolf remained. whimpering, it attempted to crawl away. Marinae’s eyes seemed to flare as another bolt of white light streaked from her palm. It slammed into the crippled wolf which collapsed with a sharp yelp.

Lynn reached for her throat. The wound was bad, but not fatal. By some miracle an artery was not punctured but her throat had been savaged. Blood flowed out of the wound and down her chest. Lynn quickly cleaned off her sword and then staggered back up to her room.

Jake sat stunned against the wall for a moment, then shouted "Brother Lucius! Get down here!"

Stumbling up the stairs, Lynn met Lucius on the way down. He took a look at her wound and blanched. "Oh my word! What happened? Let me have a look at that."

Lynn pushed him away gently and kept going up the stairs. Lucius fell back, surprised. "Miss, the wound needs attention, please let me help you."

"I will.", she whispered. “Follow me.”

Marinae retrieved her crossbow bolt from the first wolf and quickly cast another spell. The world went gray again. She could detect no magic coming from the wolves but their was something else. Magical residue, like the waves the trail a ship at sea. Someone or something of great magical power had passed by here, but Marinae couldn’t tell when.

With Lucius following behind with a concerned look on his face, Lynn went to her room and removed her robe. She took a look in the mirror and gasped. Blood was everywhere. She wondered how she'd survived.

"Let's get that cleaned up.”, Lucius advised. He went to the basin and got a cloth.

Then Lynn looked down at her beautiful white dress. It was stained with blood all over. Her concern for herself went away and turned to her gown. Quickly she got a handful of salt out of her things and dumped it into the basin. Then she removed her gown and began to soak it vigorously. Lucius dropped the cloth as Lynn removed her dress. She was wearing nothing underneath. He blushed profusely and turned away. Lynn was still bleeding, but she couldn't care less about herself. The only thing that seemed to matter to her was getting that awful stain out.

Weamar wandered back to the inn, noticing the newcomer’s limp on the way.

"I need a drink.", Marinae moaned, "And a bath."

With Jake trailing behind the three of them went back into the Inn. "Ezra's grace what a night!"

"You don't know the half of it.", said Marinae.

"Hrmph. I think it's improved a bit ", Weamar countered.

"Only if there were only three of them.", Marinae replied.

"True enough.", Weamar conceded, "Fewer wolves, at least.”

"Is the ale fresh here?”

"Yep. Buy you a drink?"

"Sure."

The two were hitting it off.
 

Finally Lucius spoke up again. "M-miss. We need to clean your wound."

Lynn worked furiously and the stain began to lift. Gradually she grew weaker. She staggered over to the bed and lay down. The brother swallowed hard, picked up the cloth, and muttered to himself "Faith through all trials, Lucius." He picked up a small bowl of water and approached, looking only at Lynn's bite. Lynn closed her eyes and tried to forget about what had just happened. Lucius knelt next to the bed and began gently cleaning the wound. Lynn bristled at his touch. She went stiff as a board. Her hands gripped the bed sheets.

"Shhh. It's alright child.", Lucius consoled.

Lynn was fighting a war inside. She knew that the old man was only touching her neck, but she felt his hands touching her all over. She felt his hands grasping her breasts and rubbing her nipples. She felt his hands caressing her hips and thighs. She felt him pushing two fingers inside her. Part of Lynn wanted it all to happen for real and part of her wanted the feelings to go away. The two parts fought as they so often did. In time the forces of restraint prevailed. She began to relax. Then, suddenly embarrassed, she pulled a blanket over her body.

"It looks like you had rough night.", Lucius said, feeling more relaxed now that his patient was more covered up.

"Thanks for caring for me.", she whispered. Lynn was afraid to speak aloud. She feared that her beautiful singing voice has been ruined by the wolf’s bite.

Lucius just smiled and gently wrapped the wound in a bandage.

"With time it will heal. With time, anything will heal."

Comforted, Lynn slowly dropped off to sleep. Lucius drew up a blanket over her with all the care of a father tucking in his favored daughter. He then quietly left and closed the door.
 

Jake moved behind the bar and poured two ales. "On the house."

"No, I insist.”, Weamar protested. “Damned things were following me."

"Nothing your responsible for I'm sure, but as you wish."

Marinae turned to Weamar, "Before I drink with you, I need to see to my leg."

Weamar looked around for bits of spare torn sheet from his earlier bandaging job.

Marinae showed the barkeep the wound on her thigh, "Ale, please...and enough whiskey to do some medical good. Is there a place I can have a little privacy while I do that?"

Jake slid out two tankards and a tall bottle. He thought for a moment. "I suppose the pantry. Nobody about this time a night."

"That will do.", Marinae went back out to her horse and brought in her saddlebag and then disappeared into the pantry.

Jake watched her go and turned to Weamar, “I'm going to check on Gillian and let the others know what happened.”

Weamar nodded, and sat with his ale, supping slowly. Brooding.

Marinae stripped and dribbled the whiskey over her leg. She grimaced as she felt the sting. It hurt even worse than the original bite. She took a pull from the bottle and poured a little more on her leg. Then she got her clothes back on and hobbled back out to the tap room.

Weamar took a look at her and couldn't help but notice that she wasn’t quite human.

Marinae had black hair, storm-gray eyes, was a bit too slender for a human, and she had slightly-pointed ears. She had elven blood in her for sure. He’d seen an elf once or twice before, but never up close. Marinae sat next to him and took a long pull from her ale.

"How's the leg?"

"I'll regret this in the morning...in more ways than one.", she muttered to herself, then she answered, "I can walk, but I won't be running any races for a while. I'm glad you came along when you did. Stupid of me to go running into a fight like that."

"A little, perhaps.", Weamar smiled.

"I was always the headstrong one in the family...you might say that's why I'm here.”

"Really? I'm here because I ran from those wolves earlier tonight."

"I'm Marinae, by the way."

"Weamar. Pleased to meet you."

"They followed you?"

"They, and others, were chasing me through the woods in Verbrek, I ran into some mists, and wound up on the outskirts of town. They followed me through."

"I don't know the place. I was going to Lamordia...near Necropolis, the stench knocked me out...and I woke up here, a few miles south.", then Marinae added, “I don't know this place, either, for that matter. But before I came in, I smelled magic outside...like the wake of a boat on a pond...Strong magic."

Weamar frowned.

Jake spoke up, "It's late, you should get some sleep. For your help, no charge."

The other townsfolk headed off and said goodbye while Lucius came down the stairs. "Your lady friend should be alright. She won't be speaking much for awhile, I'm afraid"

Marinae was getting more and more curious. She lowered her voice and looked at Weamar. "Are you the only one who came here mysteriously, other than me?”

"With the wolves were werewolves. I'm worried one or more of them came through. But I don't know if they would give a magical aura.”, then Weamar remembered Lynn, "The other woman who came out to fight seems to be a stranger here too, but I don't know how she arrived"

"Werewolves?", Marinae asked, regretting not having any silver weapons. "We should tie up the bodies, and put them where we can see if they're werewolves or not.”

Then Marinae looked a little flushed, "I just thought of something worse. One of them bit me, and one bit the other woman."

"And they nearly killed a local girl before you arrived."

They both looked a little flushed and turned back to their drinks.