Trademeet

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"Last time we didn't even see anyone that resembled a leader. All we saw was a massive army and alot of fighting. I agree with Andra, the leader might be nearby but they definitley were not part of the fray." Kalab said as he stretched. "Shall we go attempt to find this mysterious person.

 

Tania frowns slightly, then nods. "Yes, that makes sense. No group works well without a leader. But the leader does not have to be present, only able to direct things. So that gives us just about everywhere to look. In the sea as well as on land. It would take a powerful person to control such a large army."

 

"Well, we're getting no where just sitting here. We should spread out.. maybe by ourselves or ing groups of two. Dalamar and I can go by ourselves, since we have.. *ahem* pets."

 

"I'll go with Andra, if that's okay with you," Galliel said to Andra. "Then maybe Kalab and Tania could be in a group. Let's each take a direction. We'll look north, okay?"

 

In a complete deadpan, Andra asks, "Which way's north?"

 

Elwithral took a second to give Andra an incredulous look, then smiled and turned. "We'll take the south-western way, and see how long this army is," He started walking out if the cave, then stopped short and said, "Oh and these, " he gave them each a shining white gem, "is to signify danger. We are all connected by this, " he looked at their looks of surprise, and FLASH! " Well, now we are. Just hold on tight, and think of the others and we will be notified."

"Okay then, are we ready? We will talk to you all later.

I hope."

Dalamar and Elwithral walked out of the cave with their two pets beside them.

 

Tania glanced over at Kalab "I guess that leaves the east/south-east for us. Shall we go?"

She turns and starts out of the cave.

 

Andra looked at Galliel. "Since those guys left north and east, I suppose it's logical to say that is north," she commented as she pointed in the appropriate direction.

She stepped out of the cave and waited for Galliel to follow.

 

Galliel followed Andra out of the cave. "Do you want to proceed side by side, by leaps and bounds, or one of us a good deal forward of the other? I'd go for any of those."

 

With Elwithral riding Ellesime, and Dalamar riding just below on the back of Gwynephere, they neared the valley that the army was marching through.

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

Yugia silently watched over her army as she was being carried on her platform. She looked at the mountains, the trees, the sky, suspicious of all. At any sound she halted her platform and got a soldier to check it out.

"Fassster! Ve need to get moving! Thossse foolsss who attacked usss earlier may have informed the sssity." She cracked her whip in their direction.

 

Kalab walked along side Tania. He felt awkward, and a like a hired body guard there to protect a princess. He towered over her, and he looked the part. Shaggy brown hair, bloodstained skin and armour and his massive sword swinging on his back with every step. If anyone was watching they would not assume that the odd pair were companions. They would assume Kalab was nothing more than hired muscle.

He knew the land and the area. And as far as he could tell, they were heading in the direct of Suldanesallar, but he knew that the city of Elves was a few days away from Athkatla.

"Tania, does it seem strange to you that the army would target Athkatla. Especially with Suldanesallar only a few days away. If the elves feel threatened they would be more dangerous than Athkatla, all the people in Athkatla are soft and greedy. Not warriors. Also it's not really and industrial city, mostly just merchants. I almost wonder if this isn't part of something much bigger."

 

Tania turned and look at Kalab thoughtfully. Of them all she felt she knew him least. He was human as was her father and step-brothers.

"Kalab, that is very wise and I think you may be right. There is something strange about all this. I wish we knew more. All I know is they attack on sight."

She walked on lost in thought.

 

"Side by side works well for me," Andra replied.

As the pair walked away from the others, she allowed her thoughts fair run. "Do you know anything about this army were looking for? I suppose now would be a good time to tell you I'm more of an 'actor' and not a 'planner'." Her lips turned downward in a frown. "I'm seriously considering just dimension door-ing my way around here. By the gods, I wish I held on to that flying carpet."

She twirled her staff impatiently from hand to hand, keeping one ear open to the woods and the other on Galliel.

 

"They didn't really attack on sight though. We made the first move. We saw them and charged in headlong. But then again most of the army was undead, and undead aren't known for intellegence in battle." Kalab tailed off and fell deep into thought. To most it seemed like he was nothing but a muscle bound barbarian, but to those who knew Kalab, knew thay there was more to the man. He was quite intellegent and quite skilled battle schemes.

 

"Let me think," Galliel told Andra. "First we fought a group of undead, that later Elwithral said was connected to this army. Then the next day we fought the army, or at least part of it. I'm not much of a thinker either. My father kept asking me if I would ever learn anything from my mistakes, but I'm not really sure what he was talking about."

Suddenly she stopped and ducked behind a tree. "Looks like a scouting party," she whispered to Andra. "I'd say four or five, lightly armed. Let's take them out, and capture one or two to find out who they are."

She drew her longsword and dagger, then waited silently behind the tree as she listened to the scouts approaching.

 

"The ones who attacked me did so without provacation. You're the warrior. I'm a cleric with some extra talents from being half silkie. I have some fighting skills but don't know much about planning a fight. An army of undead indicates to me that this is evil."

Tania walked on feeling concerned.

 

"The presence of undead does signify that someone has evil intents. You are correct. Undead are usually used as fodder, especially skeletons. No major losses. Thats what concerns me." Kalab said as he walked along side Tania. "By the way, do have any idea of what we are looking for?"

 

"Not a clue. We are on a fishing trip without knowing what we're fishing for. Guess we look for anything suspious or strange or powerful. Your're probably better at this than I am."

 

Andra stepped behind a different tree, listening as the scouts walked towards her.

 

Elwithral and Dalamar walked towards the mountain. Near the base Dalamar saw an overturned caravan.
"Elwithral, regarde!"

Elwithral ran over to see who and what it was. He paused, dumbstruck. "Elves?! They attacked elves?!" He said as he pointed at the lifeless bodies of elves strewn across the plain.

"Maybe they weren't attacked by the army Elwithral. Maybe it was someone else." Dalamar looked pained.

Elwithral walked towards the bodies and then jumped back. "Ugh! I can smell the Dark magic here. It is rank with it," he spit on the ground, "This is your speciality, Dalamar." He backed up and motioned for Dalamar to go ahead.

Dalamar proceeded to the bodies and kneeled beside one of the few. He sniffed the body. "It's Dark magic alright. And very powerful at that. I've actually seen this before. It's the kiss of a spirit," he added at Elwithral's *no-duh* look, "an evil spirit. A Wailing Virgin. Their kiss sucks the soul of their prey, and makes the person or persons never able to be raised or revived."

"Oh, yes, I remember these. We fought them in the Spine of the World, remember?"

"Yes! yes we did." They both sighed, seeming to just drift away in memories.

"But anyway, I don't think this army could recruit Wailing Virgins. Like, you would need at least 10 amazing Dark wizards to summon them." They looked at each other with fear for a split second, then went to back to their calm facade.

*****

"Vut did Lady Yugia say vus over here?"

"I don't know, she makes us check out every little ting."

The three wizards from the army marched over a hill only to see the caravan still overturned. "Ha ha, doze stoopid elves! Our spirits dook care of dem, eh?!" They glanced around.

"You don't tink one or two are still alive?" one asked.

"No, they could never escape the death kiss of the Wailing Ones."

Elwithral and Dalamar, invisible and behind the overturned caravan, whispered softly, "Should we kill them? Or interrogate?"

"I think we should kill them. They are wizards and we don't know how powerful they are. Besides, I want another few souls, and Gwynephere is hungry, " Dalamar said nodding towards the two animals, "and by the looks of her, so is Ellesime."

They nodded and decided to do it fast, seeing as though the wizards would probably have protective and detective magics. The plan was to blast them away, silently, with a fissure, and then letting the two pets attack from there. If the wizards didn't fall, and the pets retreated, the two friends would use (what they like to call) their Devastating Spells. (These spells kill instantly, with some magical prettiness. They were invented by the two, but they don't use them all the time because they like to play.)

"Jiuter!" The fissure cracked its way underneath the feet of the wizards and blew them away with the hot air that was escaping. The two animals bounded forwards and started to rip and tear at them. The wizards managed to fight them off and they retreated. The two friends then turned around from the caravan and both uttered *one* of the seven command words. "Liaxzs!" Two of the wizards blew apart, in a show of purples and yellows swirling around them. The other wizard was so afraid and flabbergasted, that Elwithral just used Rapture of The Father and destroyed his soul, leaving him to be a souless veggie, which later on Gwyephere enjoyed playing with.

"Well Dalamar, that was fun. But, I think we need to regroup with the others. We need to warn the other communities. Who knows. they might be threatening Suldan, Trademeet, anywhere. They could be going to Baldur's Gate. We don't know how many armies they have."

Dalamar nodded and mounted Ellesime, Gwynephere going back to her house cat form. She bounced up on his lap and Elwithral jumped on the back. "Let's go."

*****

Elwithral had indeed been right. Yugia's army was but a small part of the whole plan. Although her army was the largest, there were others about half size, marching a week away from Suldan, Trademeet, and up through the Umar Hills. Afterwards, if all went well, they would move past the Cloudspeak Mountains.

[ September 21, 2005, 00:43: Message edited by: Elwithral Irenicus ]