Ten minutes later the remaining 5 members of the party stood before the open double doors at the end of the hall. The glow from Elvis’ sunrod cast light into the room beyond but there was no sign of Alyse.
“It’s too dark” said Elvis nervously as he looked through the doorway and into the gloom “can you see anything Grumpy?”
The Dwarf stepped up to the edge of the doorway and snuck a quick look into the passage way beyond.
“I can’t see her” he said as he drew his head back from the opening.
“I’ll go and search, you stay here” said Llona as she drew her swords from their scabbards.
“Don’t be stupid woman, we’ll all go” argued Grumpy.
“You’re all too noisy, it’s best if I go alone. If I need any help I’ll call out.”
“Wait!” said Shyne with a note of urgency in his voice. “At least let me send Gimp along so that he can protect you.”
“Fuck that” Reggie said to himself “she’s on her own.”
“I don’t need protection!” Llona snarled before shouting “Nothanyal lle ve a karaar!” in Elvish at the hapless Shyne then storming through the doorway.
“Do you have any idea what she just said?” Slobba asked Elvis in a whisper.
“Well if I know my Elvish I think she said ‘Would you like to buy a cow?’” replied the Bard. “But I could be wrong.”
‘Stupid man!’ Llona thought angrily as she moved into the corridor ‘Protection! He’s the one that needs protection!'
Even with her limited ability to see in the dark she found it hard to make out anything as she moved silently down the corridor. After moving 60 or so feet she brought herself to a halt to see if she could hear anything. She slowly counted to 30 before she was satisfied that there was nothing in the immediate area and continued.
As she crept along the passage way she began to curse herself inwardly for displaying weakness in front of the others. She wondered what Rotan would have said if he’d seen her carrying on like that.
‘He probably would have slapped me to bring me back to my senses’ she thought grimly ‘and I would have deserved it’.
Rotan had been a hard task master but he had taught her much. She’d been fortunate to have fallen in with him after she’d run away from home. Others that she knew in the slums of Larencia City had not been so lucky, and they’d ended up nothing more than bonded servants to cruel masters.
‘Or worse’ she shuddered.
 |
| Rotan |
Rotan had been a good man and he did not deserve what had happened to him. She didn’t know exactly who it was that had killed him, but she suspected that it was one of the Guild Masters enforcers, most probably Durak. There were rumours that Rotan had been holding back on the guild and the Guild Master was not known for his forgiving nature. That he had ordered the old mans death was without question; he had set an example to all those who thought to do the same.
Llona was realistic enough to know that if the old thief had been stealing from the guild he had deserved to be punished; however it was the nature of his death that had ignited her thirst for revenge. Rotan hadn’t just been murdered; he’d been brutally tortured and had died an agonising death.
She’d only met the Guild Master once, it was when Rotan had deemed that her apprenticeship was over and it was time to swear her oath to the Guild. Normally the oath was given to the Master of Pockets but on this occasion the Guild Master himself took it. She assumed it was him the moment she stepped through the door and saw the figure seated on the dais in the centre of the room. Her suspicion was confirmed when she’d heard Rotan draw a quick breath when he’d entered behind her. Perhaps even then he was stealing from the Guild and had feared that he’d been caught.
Llona’s encounter with the Guild Master had been brief and frightening. As expected he was clad from head to toe in dark clothing, with only his eyes showing in the dim candle light. At the time she couldn’t put her finger on the exact reason as to why she was so scared. It could have been one of any number of things; the bodyguards that lined the walls, the utter stillness in the room or the tension in the air. It wasn’t until later that she realised that it was the Guild Masters eyes; they were cold and emotionless.
The eyes of a killer.
She knew then that he was not a man to cross. If only Rotan had thought as she did, he’d probably still be alive.
She’d loved the old man in her own way, and had sworn to take revenge on the man that had ordered him killed.
The man whose name she later discovered was Kurt.
‘I just have to figure out how to find him’ she thought to herself absently as she continued to move along the passage way.
A split second later she was grabbed from behind, one arm circled her throat while a hand clamped firmly onto her mouth.
“Don’t make a sound” a voice whispered softly into her ear.
Llona immediately froze in place, the tip of the short sword in her right hand an inch from the thigh of Alyse, her captor.
“There’s a doorway about 30 feet up on the left” the Ranger whispered “can you see it?”
Llona nodded.
“There are two people in there. I think they are wizards; and not the type that wear white robes and put on firework displays for Halflings” said Alyse softly as she took her hand away from the Rogues mouth. “Go back and get the others, tell them to get back here as quickly and as quietly as possible. I’ll stay here and keep watch. Go.”
The Rogue nodded again then moved off back down the corridor towards her friends.
‘Jumped by a Ranger? she mused 'Rotan would NOT be pleased'.
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