Lumenyárë Canta

Thalion leaned over the counter towards the innkeeper, “Ulric, have you seen a young, pretty woman? About this tall,” Thalion held his hand just below his shoulder as he spoke to Ulric, “Dark hair and pale blue eyes?”

Ulric tapped a finger on his chin before his eyes brightened with recognition, “Aye! I saw the lass this morning. I offered her a place to stay. Ain’t seen her since.”

“You…haven’t seen her?” Thalion’s voice seemed to crack as he gazed at Ulric.

“Aye, sorry lad,” Ulric shrugged as he turned to help one of the patrons at the bar. Thalion turned to Rissien.

“So it’s a woman is it?” Rissien asked, a smile tugging at his lips.

“What?”

“You’ve been thinking an awful lot about something, now I know what it is,” Rissien grinned.

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s wrong,” Thalion narrowed his eyes.

“Sure, my friend.”

“She’s new to Thedan, Rissien.”

Rissien’s eyebrows rose as he looked at Thalion over the top of his mug. Slowly Rissien turned to look at the inn door that had a huge beam across it. Rissien’s face slowly paled as he stared at the barred door. It had long since grown dark and Ulric had just put the beam in place moments before.

“Thalion,” Rissien began, his voice soft as he leaned forward, setting his cup down, “We can’t go out there.”

Thalion felt a surge of anger course through his chest, Rissien dropped his gaze. Thalion felt his face flush as he too leaned forward, “We can’t leave her out there, you know what happens at night,” Thalion whispered, his voice hard.

“If we go out there, we risk getting killed by those…things. I’m sorry, but she’s probably already dead.”

Thalion leaned back in his chair, his eyes cast down towards the table, arms folded across his chest. After a moment Thalion got to his feet, grabbing his broadsword and buckling it onto his back. He fixed the strap as he turned to Ulric, “Open the door, Ulric.”

Ulric sputtered and dropped the cup that he was holding. Ale splashed all around the counter and floor, “Are you insane, elf?”

A small smile tugged at Thalion’s lips, “Perhaps.”

“Wait, Thalion, you aren’t seriously going out there!” Rissien shot to his feet.

“I’m going, Rissien, with or without you.”

Rissien’s mouth opened and closed as he stared at Thalion. The inn had gone silent, of course there were only a few patrons that held rooms at the Red Diamond, Thalion and Rissien included. Ulric finally moved towards the barred door and lifted the heavy two by four piece of wood that was across the handles.

“Shit,” Rissien whispered in exasperation.

Thalion crossed the room and opened the inn door gently. The street was covered in a thin silvery film, like mist on a foggy night. Carefully, Thalion moved out into the street. Above him the bright moon hung low in the black sky. He heard Rissien move outside with him. The inn door shut quickly behind them, the ray of golden light from the fires inside vanished.

“Damn, Thalion. If we make it through the night, I’m going to have your ass in the morning.”

“You can try,” Thalion laughed lightly, though his chest had clenched the moment the inn door had slammed shut. The night was cold and it sunk past his leather armor to his skin. Taking a slow, deep breath, Thalion looked up and down the street trying to determine which way he should go.

“How will we find her? This city is huge, Thalion.”

Thalion tried to think of something to go off of for them to find the young woman. Rissien waited for his answer. The silence stretched, a soft sigh from Rissien filled the air and a moment after a high pitched screech echoed somewhere in the distance. Thalion’s heart skipped a beat as his eyes snapped towards the sound.

“That’s how,” Thalion said to Rissien as he took off at a dead run down the street, Rissien right behind him.

The silvery mist on the streets swirled around them as they barreled down the road. Thalion listened for more of the sounds to lead him to the woman. As long as he could follow the noises, he would soon make it to her. Provided she’s not dead by the time I get there, Thalion thought sourly. A bitter taste filled the back of his mouth.

Thalion remembered his first night in Thedan. He’d just bought his room at the Red Diamond, Ulric had served him his meal and Thalion had wanted to see the city during the night hours. However, upon Ulric’s urging, Thalion stayed in the inn. When Thalion asked Ulric why no one went into the streets, the innkeeper’s face grew pale, his dark eyes filled with fear.

“There be a curse in Thedan. An old curse at that, lad,” Ulric’s eyes shifted back and forth as he leaned closer to Thalion, his voice dropping, “Things come out in the night to haunt the streets. Anyone caught out there when the moon comes out is bait. Some say these things are ghosts from a war long ago. Others say they are demons that drain your life.”

“Has anyone seen these…’things’?” Thalion had asked his voice skeptical.

Ulric stuttered, “Are you insane, elf? No one lives to tell if they’ve seen it!”

“Then how can you be so sure that they are ghosts or demons?”

“Trust me, elf, you do not wish to be out there,” Ulric finished than had turned away and wouldn’t speak anymore of the subject.

Thalion remembered that next morning. He had gone out into the city, his thoughts still wrapped around what Ulric had been telling him the night before. The market place was filled with people as usual, but the difference was that they were all massed around one area. Curious, Thalion had made his way through the crowd, pushing the humans out of his way to get to the front.

What he saw froze his blood. A woman’s body lay on the ground, her limbs twisted in the most grotesque way possible. Her dress was torn to shreds and there was blood everywhere, the poor woman was hardly recognizable. Thalion pushed the image away as his mind’s eye replaced the woman of that day to the one he’d met that morning.

Another screech filled the air, Thalion turned down an alley way, praying that he wouldn’t be too late. She’s armed, she can handle herself, Thalion kept telling himself, though his chest and lungs wouldn’t loosen to the empty thought. She can handle herself.

***

Qaida had wandered the city for the entirety of the day, avoiding the market place as it was too busy for her tastes. The people that she passed seemed nice enough, going on about their business without so much as a second glance to her. It was nice to not be noticed, to not have to constantly watch behind her as she moved from one street to the next.

In Alexon the thieves’ guilds and mercenary guilds like Faine’s were always out to get one another. Several times Qaida had been attacked by one assassin or another. She’d sustained many scars from those attacks, but had always come out on top. Qaida’d learned early in Keydon to keep an eye on the shadows and behind her. Having nearly been killed because she hadn’t been paying attention was enough to snap her awareness into overdrive.

It was an old habit, one that she was not going to leave behind soon. Every person she passed, she shot a short look over her shoulder to, making sure they weren’t whirling around with a knife in their hands. Her fingers twitched, slowly edging towards her daggers for each dark shadow she passed in the alleys.

They were subtle movements, subtle reactions to everything around her. No one would notice her skittish, untrusting looks unless they were looking for it. Qaida didn’t think Thedan was littered with guilds; at least that was her first impression. Though the incident in the inn hours ago was enough to prove her wrong and solidify her defenses.

Before she’d realized the hour and how late it was, the city was soon dark. Qaida knew she was a good hour or two away from the Red Diamond Inn that she’d taken a room at. Having wandered deep into the south-western part of the city, Qaida took a moment to re-route herself to head back. As she was walking slowly down the street, mapping out a direction, her eyes caught notice of a silvery mist slowly making its way through the streets.

It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before, it was thick almost and hugged the ground closely. Qaida stopped walking as she watched the unnatural fog make its way down the street towards her. Slowly it wrapped around her boots, sending a deep chill through her limbs before moving on. Qaida unfastened her cloak, letting it float down to the ground. Her body slid down into a defensive position, her hands reaching behind her to grasp the handles of her daggers sheathed on her lower back.

Qaida inched slowly towards the alley way just to her right, crouched down and moving silently. Once she made it into the opening of the alleyway, she fluidly motioned her hand forwards, her fingers curling. Qaida pulled the shadows around her, covering her presence. Not a second later, she felt a piercing cold flood her body. From the shadows she’d called to her, she felt sharp painful scratches all across her. Qaida threw herself out of the shadows into the silvery moonlight. Her heart in her throat, she gazed at the darkness.

Drawing her weapons, Qaida eyed the alleyway, waiting for her attacker to show themselves. She didn’t have to wait long. From the darkness a tall shadowy figure emerged. It was silver, almost transparent with armor covering its body, long clawed fingers and wielding a deadly looking sword. Qaida’s eyebrows came down in confusion.

What the hell is that? She thought. Slowly Qaida backed away from the thing as it advanced on her. A second later Qaida whirled around and dropped down as a silvery blade nearly took her life. Lashing out with her daggers, Qaida felt her weapons do something strange. It was almost like they’d hit their target, but hadn’t at the same time. Startled, Qaida sidestepped another attack from the first opponent.

Raising her dagger she met the second corporal’s sword as it swung down at her. The first one let out a high pitched screech that nearly dropped Qaida to her knees. She was sure the damned thing had just ruptured her eardrum. Qaida threw herself off to one side, nimbly maneuvering herself to be behind the armored one. Lunging forward, she drew her blades in a sharp cross cut into the things back.

Again, her weapons felt as if they’d hit something, but they went through the being without hurting it. Qaida ground her teeth. The thing turned on her, blade swinging in a sharp slash right towards her chest. Qaida quickly stepped backwards, twisting as she did so to avoid the hit. She was sure that even though she couldn’t injure the thing, it could most certainly kill her.

The second being came around to her other side, weapon slashing at her much the same as the first did. So they have no real tactic, just swing madly and hope to hit something yes? Qaida thought as she eyed the two things attacking her. They weren’t particularly fast, or smart, but that didn’t mean a thing to Qaida if she couldn’t kill them. What if there’s more?

A sharp screech echoed in the air again. Qaida felt chills run up her spine, Shit. She turned around to see three more of the strange creatures slowly making their way up the street. They were all armored, albeit each was armored differently, each held strange wicked looking weapons, but they were all silver and seemingly ghost like.

Qaida stumbled forward, her shoulder stinging slightly. Whirling back around her dagger rose to meet the blade of her original attacker. To her surprise, her weapon held fast against the enemies. Ducking, Qaida let the things weapon slide over hers. She went into a complete spin, her daggers cutting through the corporeal form in quick succession.

As she came out of the spin, Qaida let herself complete the move with two hard slashes, both daggers coming down one way then back the other way. With her daggers up in the air and her body twisted from the move, Qaida had to quickly spin around to knock the second beings weapon away from her or be run through. Again, her blades cut through the ghost like being, fast and hard.

Qaida fought furiously, sweat beading on her forehead, her muscles beginning to burn as she kept their weapons away from her and tried to find their kill point. In a few moments, she was not only fending off two, but five of the ghostly beings. Qaida twisted to and fro, her daggers whirling around her. The five ghosts stood in one spot, surrounding her and swinging their weapons at her in slow deadly slashes.

Qaida feared going through them. Pulling the shadows towards her to hide her retreat wasn’t an option either as the first one had attacked her viscously via the darkness. Qaida soon realized that the five beings were slowly closing a tight circle around her. Qaida fended off their weapons, finally giving up on trying to kill them. She tried to figure a way out of what she’d gotten herself into.

“There!” A voice yelled. Another voice gave a battle cry. Qaida whipped around, taking the brunt of one of the creatures weapons. She lost her dagger, the weapon flipping from her hands through the ghost in front of her. Her heart skipped a beat as she lost the weapon. Qaida dropped, crouching low as she twisted the other way, her remaining weapon cutting through three of the ghost’s to no avail. Anger coursed through her as well as a hint of fear.

The ghosts than backed away from her and she had two men on either side of her, fighting with her. One of them swung his large sword at the closest ghost, the weapon going through it. Once he’d finished the move he turned to her, grabbing her arm he pulled her upwards and shoved her behind him. Thalion!  She thought half in relief, half in anger.

“Move, down the alleyway. There’s an abandoned home just down the street. Go!” Thalion yelled at her. Qaida turned, retrieved her lost dagger and bolted down the alleyway. A quick look over her shoulder showed her Thalion and the other man following her. Thalion motioned for her to go right. Qaida followed his instruction. She was going to continue running when a strong hand took hold of her arm gently, stopping her headlong rush.

“Here,” Thalion whispered, his shoulder slammed into the wooden door breaking the lock indefinitely. Qaida frowned as Thalion pushed her ahead of him into the dark room. Qaida stopped, her daggers in front of her as she eyed the darkness.

“Rissien, the table,” Thalion whispered to the other man. Both men pulled the heavy looking table towards the door, throwing it up against the entry.

“Will that be enough?” The one named Rissien asked.

“Should be, all Ulric has is a beam across his tavern doors,” Thalion replied.

Qaida turned to the two men. Rissien was leaning against the upturned table; he looked to be out of breath. Thalion was watching her. Her eyes narrowed at him. The elf’s chest rose and fell heavily, a wry smile filled his face in the dim light from the moon.

“I swear to you, Thalion…this woman better be worth our risking our hides,” Rissien stopped in mid sentence as he turned around to look at Qaida. His gray eyes shining in the light. Qaida noticed that she had moved right into a beam of silver moonlight from the dusty window. The look on Rissien’s face made Qaida frown at him. Slowly, purposefully, Qaida sheathed her daggers, slamming them into the scabbards with emphasis.

“Rissien,” Thalion called softly. The man pulled himself together, shaking his head as he quickly looked away from Qaida who rolled her eyes and turned away from both men. 

“Are you injured?” Thalion asked.

“No,” Qaida replied shortly. A soft laugh from Thalion told her that the elf knew she was lying. To her surprise though, Thalion didn’t move towards her to offer his healing abilities to the shallow cuts she’d received.

“Care to tell me what the hell those things were?” Qaida asked the two men.

“To be honest, I don’t have the slightest clue. I don’t think anyone does in this city,” Rissien answered.

Qaida’s eyes slowly closed as she bowed her head, hands on her hips. She let out a low frustrated sigh, “I saw the silver mist emanating from a certain part of the city. It crawled across the streets as if it were being spread from somewhere. There’s got to be more to that than just some strange ghosts at night.”

“Thalion, tell me she’s not serious.”

“She’s dead serious, my friend,” Thalion replied, his voice told her that he had a smile on his face, “What do you have in mind?”

“Find the source, destroy it,” Qaida replied simply.

“Just like that?” Rissien asked in disbelief.

Qaida turned slowly, “Just like that.”

Rissien turned his gray gaze to Thalion who’s intense dark blue eyes were trained on Qaida, “You aren’t… shit. You are.”

“I’m only half considering, Rissien. We still have…other problems to deal with.”

“Good, because I didn’t ask for your help,” Qaida said.

“Oh?” Thalion raised an eyebrow, “And you would do this for a city you’ve only been in for a few hours… just because? Come now, that can’t be the truth.”

“I can’t idly sit by and watch some strange beings stalk the streets of a hapless city,” Qaida retorted, using Thalion’s similar speech to her earlier that day.

Rissien looked out the window into the streets, “Looks like we’ll be staying here for the night.”

Qaida cringed inwardly, well at least I’m in good company and not with someone who wants a dagger in my back, she thought. Thalion crossed his arms over his broad chest, his gaze hadn’t left Qaida.

“Care to tell me your name, I missed it the first time we met.”

Qaida ground her teeth as she eyed Thalion. His dark blue eyes sparkled with an arrogant mirth that was bound to drive Qaida mad. She turned away from him and took a seat on the staircase a few feet from her. Thalion uncrossed his arms and took up a position next to the door. Rissien remained where he was at near the window that streamed with moonlight.

Halfway through the night, with Rissien and Thalion occasionally speaking to each other and Qaida’s thoughts on the elf, she finally looked up to him. I’m going to regret this, she thought, “It’s Qaida.”

Thalion looked towards her, she could tell his was biting back a smile, “Qaida?”

“My name. It’s Qaida.”

“Ah, a pleasure, Qaida.”

Qaida sighed heavily, this is going to be a long night.