Chapter 8 Suse's Revenge

"Vampire!" Lila's scream had woken them up. Riswynn quickly grabbed her weapons and searched for the undead while Nim lit a torch from her bag.

"Where?" Riswynn asked when she couldn't find it. Disia had picked up her axe from where she left it.

"There," Lila pointed near the ashes of the campfire. She pressed her hand against her thigh, a warm and sticky liquid spread down through her fingers.

A second tiny bat attempted to latch onto Disia, but she swung her axe at it knocking it back twenty feet against the cave wall.

"That's not a vampire," Riswynn laughed looking at the tiny dead beast. Another of the creatures flew towards Disia. Distracted by Riswynn's laugh she almost lost her balance, instead she brought her axe in an upward swing, splitting the bat in two. A fourth came flying from the darkness straight for Riswynns right hand. It drained her blood, ignoring the bandages. She cursed, swinging her warhammer one handed, barely missing her own hand. It's body exploded into the cavern wall.

Three more showed up, attaching themselves to Disia's hands and wrists. Nim closed her eyes and visioned in her mind of what she wanted to do. Soon a ball of sacred flame was hurled from her hands and hit one of the bats.

"Watch it," Disia said almost getting burned. She watched the bat drop to the floor on fire and it writhed in pain as it burned to death.

"Hold still," Lila said as she aimed a perfect shot at one of the other two. Her arrow landed the bat against the wall, it's wings flapping as it tried to free itself.

Disia began to stumble, the sudden loss of blood catching up to her. She tried swatting the remaining bat away, her fingers only meeting air. Riswynn rushed to help steady her before she could fall, and with the palm of her hand crunched the remaining bat up against the wall. Nim held Disia's hands in hers as she placed her amulet between them.

"Jeesh," Disia said when she had recovered her energy again. Nim then wrapped her wounds in bandages.

"What happened?" Riswynn asked Lila as she re-wrapped the wound on her thigh.

"I fell asleep, and I woke up to the vampire sucking my blood," Lila said reluctantly. She was afraid they'd think her a bad scout if she told them she passed out from the pain. Riswynn began laughing again.

"It's not funny," Lila yelled. Riswynn stood up, backing a few inches away from her.

"Lila, I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh, but. That," she said pointing to the dead bat in the campfire's ashes.

"Those are not vampires. They were stirges."

"But it was sucking the blood from my wound," Lila skipped over her words.

"I know. That's what they do."

Lila could feel her face turning beat red. Her palms started to sweat and she averted their eyes. They watched her sit back down in her corner away from them, and place her hand in her pocket.

"I'll watch the rest of the night," Riswynn said sitting down on a bedroll next to Disia. Nim got rid of the torch before she went back to sleep.

Lila could swear they were staring at her in the dark. She felt foolish about the creatures and yelling at Riswynn. She touched the hand carven mouse her master had given to her. Her fingers caressed over it's smooth edges, and it eventually subsided her emotions. She fell asleep with the tiny mouse wrapped safely in her tiny hands, and again she dreamed of her master. This time of pleasant memories.

So much had changed overnight. Wrapped in the fur coats Martia had loaned them, they traveled further north into the Dragonrend Mountains. A light wind and heavy snowfall slowed their pace. Lila continued to struggle with the pain in her thigh and balancing her footing in the snow. Riswynn laughed, something about the same kind of stubbornness as her when Lila declined Disia's offer to carry her. Every now and then they would stop to let Nim soothe Lila's pain.

In the middle of their small break for lunch; the wind suddenly picked up, paralyzing them from the cold.

"We should've prepared a little better for this weather," Disia said trying to wrap herself as tight as she could in the furs. Next to her Lila's teeth chattered. She watched Disia, and followed suit hoping to keep warm.

"I don't think this has anything to do with the weather," Nim said huddling close to Riswynn for warmth.

"My apologies," a man's gentle voice said. Immediately the wind died down and they had feeling in their bodies once again. Disia instinctively reached for her axe.

"There's no need for that," the man laughed.

"Then show yourself," she said getting to her feet. Lila stood up with her, reaching for her bow.

"I am harmless. You must trust me," he said. Riswynn and Nim waited for him to emerge, but they had not moved from their sitting positions. They sensed no threat to this man's voice.

The man was hesitant at first, but eventually revealed himself through the snow. The ground shook below them for a second as a large silver dragon flew down in front of them. His spiny frill showed tinges of a blue-ish gray, and it continued on for most of his scales.

Lila's eyes widened at the shimmering beast so close to her, she had only heard of dragons from her master. Riswynn and Nim finally got to their feet, as if to greet his presence.

"You can put that away," Riswynn said to Disia, still holding onto her axe.

"He is harmless." Disia placed her axe back in her belt. She'd only ever known of dangerous dragons. Her realm was filled with blue and red that inhabited volcanoes and deserts. The dragon sat down to ease Disia's apprehension.

"What is your name," Nim asked.

"Mik," he said staring at Disia.

"You're beautiful," Lila blurted out. His eyes switched to the girl more than half Disia's size.

"I'm still a little one just like you," he smiled at her, a twinkle in his blue gray eyes. Lila's face turned a bright shade of red and she hid behind Disia for comfort.

"I would love to be behind her too," the dragon laughed flirtatiously. Disia raised an eyebrow at him at first, but then smiled at him. His laugh was starting to grow on her.

"You don't look that little," she flirted back.

"I'm only fifty years old. Some of my species can live to be a thousand."

"There's no known Ancient Dragons in Brine. Or at least no one's survived to talk about them," Riswynn pointed out.

"What is it you're doing in these mountains?" Disia asked, feeling more comfortable with him.

"The same as you."

"You're heading to Eadnoth Keep?" Nim asked, surprised.

"No, no," he laughed.

"If only Eadnoth Keep were abandoned. No, I'm heading for a certain destination. In search of a home. Originally I was headed for that dark keep to the west of here.."

"That place gives off an evil aura," Nim cut him off. The dragon nodded.

"Yes, I could feel it hundreds of miles from the clouds."

"We were attacked by blood hawks that most likely guarded the place," Riswynn told him.

"Oh, I know. I was watching you. I've been for awhile."

"Stalker," Disia teased.

"Can you blame me?" He laughed, another sparkle in his eyes.

"Why have you been watching us?" asked Riswynn.

"Well at first I was intrigued by this girl with the axe," he gestured towards Disia.

"But after awhile, I noticed something different about your elf friend here. Something special." His eyes sparkled again.

"Yeah, we've already been told that," Riswynn said.

"I can barely cast my basic spells half the time. I don't know how anyone can call that special," Nim said.

"Don't doubt yourself," he told her. His gentle voice had turned stern, almost like a father. It was Nim's turn to blush.

"Thank you," she said with half a smile.

"I should be going," he said as he stood from his sitting position, but not before he got close enough to Disia to give her a good sniff. The girls thought this was weird and it showed on their faces.

"Oh, one more thing," he said, turning around to face them again.

"Please be careful and take care of each other. This isn't a big mountain, but it's big enough. I'm not sure, but it's possible other dragons reside here. And not all dragons are as friendly as me." He gave them one last twinkle of the eye. They nodded in a silent promise as he took off running. Their bags jolted around as the ground shook.

They talked excitedly about Mik, the silver dragon for the next three hours as they continued north.

"I've never met a friendly dragon," Disia said, watching what she thought was a hawk fly high over their heads.

"I've never even met a dragon," Nim said.

"Only read about them in my books."

"My master used to tell me stories about them."

"What about you Ris? Ever met a dragon before Mik?" Disia asked.

"I've met a few young dragons, but none were ever as friendly as Mik," she said, emphasizing the word friendly as she stared at Disia.

"Yea, he took a real liking to you, Disia," Nim laughed.

"Come to think of it, so did those guards back at Belronde."

"Are you sure we're not going in circles?" Disia asked trying to change the subject.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Riswynn looked at Disia.

"That blood hawk's been flying above us for a bit. I think we might be walking back towards that dark keep."

"Oh. No. That's an eagle. She's been following us for about an hour."

"Don't worry," Riswynn said before Disia could give her a look.

"Eagles are neutral creatures."

"Why is she following us?" Nim asked.

"I'm not sure, but she means no harm so I wouldn't worry." They went back to talking about Mik, and teasing Disia.

"Alright," she said, aggravated that her plan didn't work. Lila laughed with the other two, but it made her think. Men did seem to be drawn to her easily. And it wasn't just that, women seemed to feel comfortable around her too. She was reminded of when she first met Disia over a week ago. She certainly had given off an attractive vibe, but now there seemed to be something more as well.

"Are you sure that eagle is harmless?" Disia had kept her eyes on the bird, and it was now flying closer to them.

"Yes," Riswynn assured her as the small beast let out a screech and swooped down near Disia's feet. She practically tripped over it as it spanned it's wings and continued to screech. It took off in flight, but came back a few seconds later continuing to screech.

"I think it wants us to follow it," Disia said watching the eagle repeat what seemed like odd behavior over and over again. As if it understood, the bird landed on Disia's shoulder.

"Perhaps it's family member is injured," Riswynn suggested.

They followed the bird for thirty minutes when it came to a stop near a good sized cave. They were happy to see an orangish glow radiate from it's entrance, hopefully a campfire was inside because the sun would be starting to set soon. The eagle led them inside, and perched itself on a thick branch next to a woman. An elf smaller and thinner than Nim, but much darker skin, stood in the corner cutting up plants. Her white hair was pulled back into a braid and her eyes glowed red. She gave Lila the same uncomfortable feeling the strange man in black did.

"Dark Elf," Riswynn whispered to the others.

"It's rude to whisper," the woman said, giving the eagle a piece of food to eat. She turned around to face them.

"Please, come in. It'll be completely dark soon and you'll need a safe place to stay for the night." She gestured to her well built campfire on the other end of the cave.

"I don't have much for food, but you seem to be traveling, so looks like you've got that taken care of." None of them budged.

"My name's Xulista, and this here's my companion, Frelsa," she said as the eagle moved to her shoulder.

Riswynn looked around the room. There wasn't much but a couple of pots for brewing and thick walking sticks. Her eyes noticed the woman's quarterstaff resting against the wall near her. It was wrapped in vines and leaves from the bottom all the way to the top. Her eyes then settled on a box on the floor on the other side of Xulista's feet. She could see a pair of bone dice placed next to a gold bracelet. Immediately she thought of Martia's cook, Suse back at the Inn. Her thoughts were confirmed by the purple handkerchief with yellow lining wrapped around a copper chalice.

Riswynn nudged Nim and pointed in the direction of the woman's collection.

"Are those the heirlooms Suse mentioned?" Nim whispered. Riswynn nodded. Disia was listening in, and not even bothering to ask, she had already started to grab her axe.

"Here I offer my hospitality and you want to draw your weapon on me?" The woman glared her eyes at Disia as she began to reach behind her for her quarterstaff.

Attack the girl with the axe. Xulista told her companion telepathically. The eagle took flight from her shoulder; it's talons scratched down Disia's arm and drove its beak into her shoulder. Disia dropped her axe from the sudden attack.

"I think this druid is weak," Nim said relaxing her fingers for a spell. Riswynn ignored her and went for the eagle that landed on Disia's arm. She heard the sound of bones crunching as she bludgeoned the beast off of Disia. Lila had heard Nim. She looked from Xulista to the eagle as she aimed her bow. She decided to shoot at the eagle trying to fly away from Riswynn's warhammer. Disia picked up her axe with her injured arm; after several tries, she pinned the birds wing down with her foot and sliced her axe through its body.

"You killed my Frelsa." Xulista squinted her eyes.

"How dare you." She placed the quarterstaff in front of her as she closed her eyes and began to mumble something.

Disia clutched onto her injured arm with her right as she watched the vines and leaves on the staff grow thicker. They heard Nim shout something in Elvish and watched as a flash of light streaked towards the druid. It disappeared before it even reached her.

"Weakling," Xulista opened her eyes and smiled. The vines began to reach out to her and grow around her. They encircled her from head to foot, a green and brown aura moving with them. Xulista smiled when the vines finished, and trailed back to her staff. Thick, bark - like branches now covered her charcoal skin. Her entire body was protected by whatever the vines had left behind.

Riswynn and Disia began moving towards her. An arrow wedged in one of the branches. Xulista laughed as she pulled it out and threw it onto the floor.

"There's no use trying. You really can't get through this."

"Magic can," Nim threatened as she cast another guiding bolt at her. Xulista laughed again as the light barely even made it halfway.

"See?"

"You couldn't even hit me the first time." A flame flickered in her hand. She flung it towards Disia, who was nearing too close.

"Faster than you look," the druid said. Disia had brought up her axe in time to protect her face.

Lila looked at the woman's skin.

Surely every inch of her body can't be covered. There's gotta be an opening somewhere.

She didn't understand how this magic worked, but one thing her master taught her - "There's a way around everything. You just have to use your brain, and maybe sometimes a little creativity." She continued to look over Xulista's body, searching for even a small spot. The woman just sat there, laughing. Gloating even. The bark began to thicken the more she took pride in her power. It was like the confidence made her magic stronger.

Finally she saw an opening. It wasn't much, but with the right aim and confidence, she could possibly hurt this woman. Again, she picked up her bow and took aim at the dark elf.

"You're going to try again?" She laughed, her red eyes glowed now. The bark continued to thicken, except in the opening Lila spotted.

"Well, go on then, halfling." She winked at Lila.

Confidence, Lila. She could hear her master's voice.

Her arrow landed next to a thick bark, between Xulista's collarbone and shoulder. The druids eyes widened; shocked someone had found a way through.

"Lila," Nim screamed in amazement. Xulista's branches began to thin. Confidence broken by a single arrow, her magic dwindled in strength. She pulled out the arrow and examined it, half expecting it to have some sort of magic she never heard of.

"Time to end this," Disia said swinging her axe into the same spot Lila shot. With no time, or strength to prepare for a defense, Xulista heard the blade of the axe crunch through her armor. She then felt the same slicing feeling she had felt before when Frelsa died, as the axe carved through skin and bone.

"Frelsa," she cried out. Small tears formed in her eyes in hopes that this red headed well built woman would have mercy on her, like so many had before. Today was not her lucky day.

Disia continued to attack at her collar bone. The druids bark skin finally crumbled apart, pieces of sticks falling to the floor. Even after she took her last breath, Disia continued to strike her axe into her.

"Disia," Riswynn said stopping her from making another attack. Blood had already started to stain the cavern floor.

"Sorry," she said when she realized where she was.

"I lost control."

Riswynn patted her on the back before she began looking through the cave to see what else Xulista would have. Nim stepped up beside Disia with her amulet and tried to heal the deep wound the eagles beak left.

"Just use the bandages," Disia said seeing the frustration in Nim when she continued to fail.

"We better get rid of their bodies. We can rest here for the night." Nim finished wrapping the bandages and she checked Lila's over as well. It was slowly healing, but it was looking better. They ended up tossing Xulista's body off the mountain with her quarterstaff, and buried her companion under the snow.

"Did we find anything else of use?" Disia asked.

"I found a box with a bunch of gold and silver coins in it," Riswynn said shaking a box filled with money.

"That came to about fifty gold. Not sure how she came into that much. Other than more pots and herbs, just useless stuff she probably stole," Riswynn said placing the gold bracelet with Suse's initials into her bag. She felt good about being able to return the heirlooms to Suse. Not only that, Martia would be happy too.

She watched as Nim handled a painted wooden box.

"What's that you got there, Nim?"

"I don't know," Nim said trying to open the delicately and beautifully painted box. Odd images were painted randomly all over it, but together it made the box look rare. Nim finally opened the box, pulling out a small mirror set. The handles looked just as beautiful and ancient as the box it came in.

"Those look antique," Disia said. Lila got in closer for a better look; they definitely were beautiful. Riswynn, however was skeptical. She never did trust anything antique. She would have to bring it back to Commander Biri. Hopefully she could find out something more.

"Nim," Riswynn said placing the bone dice and the two copper chalices with silver chain necklaces inside her bag as well. Skeptical of the wooden box made her want to have Commander Biri check everything.

She had something important to bring to Nim's attention, Nim had too much doubt in herself.

"Are you okay?" She continued watching Nim run her fingers over Suse's silk handkerchief.

"Not exactly," Nim said turning to face Riswynn.

"I didn't like having to throw that woman over the side of the mountain." She continued to play with the heirloom, her hands finding comfort in the silky fabric.

"That's not what I meant," Riswynn sighed. She looked at Lila for a second. Lila was making more arrows from Xulista's walking sticks and the scattered bark branches on the floor. She hummed an Elvish song Riswynn had never heard before. That girl there had confidence in her talents. Probably learnt from her master, but damn she had one hell of an aim.

"Do you know how Xulista was able to build a shield around her like she did without so much as mumbling a word?" Riswynn asked Nim.

"No," she replied quietly, but she knew the answer.

"Confidence," Lila whispered using a small knife to shape the tip of the sticks.

"She was more so cocky," Disia said. Riswynn smiled.

"I hate people like that," Disia went on.

Lila nodded in her head, secretly she did too.

"Yes," Riswynn said.

"Confidence. You can't keep doubting yourself, Nim. I've seen you make your spells. I don't know what goes on in your head when things go on. Maybe you're intimidated, maybe it's because you've never been in real fights until now. But, you've got to have confidence in yourself."

She knew Riswynn was right. She thought back to what Mik said as well. Even back at home; when she used to practice with her peers, she'd always mess up.

How can anyone see that as special though?

Darn it Nim! How are you ever going to stop doubting yourself if you keep judging yourself?

She saw Riswynn giving her a look, and hoped she wasn't reading her thoughts. She knew she could block people from reading her thoughts, but she wasn't sure if she had the ability to read others.

"Let's get settled in for the night," Riswynn said. She walked over to Nim and put the handkerchief and wooden box in her bag. Nim was reluctant at first, but after Riswynn explained she wanted all the items to be checked by Commander Biri because she wasn't sure they were safe, Nim understood and helped her place the box securely in her bag.

"I don't think Suse will be very happy about not being able to have her heirlooms," Disia brought up.

"I'm going to return them to her, but I will tell her and Martia I'm sending Commander Biri up there to check them out in case."

"Martia will be understanding, and she'll be able to explain that better to Suse than I can."

They didn't eat much of their dinner that night as they sat around Xulista's campfire. Guilt had finally caught up to them about just tossing her over the mountain instead of a more sincere burial.

"You saw the way she acted," Disia countered Nim's view of treating others how you want to be treated.

"Didn't you see the way she looked at our belongings?" Riswynn asked.

"That doesn't mean anything," Nim said getting frustrated.

"She even mentioned we had our own food. She probably would of expected us to share with her," Disia spoke again, ripping her bread to pieces instead of eating it.

"Of course she would have! She was offering a place for us to sleep for the night," Nims voice began to rise.

"Of course she was offering us a place to sleep for the night," Disia said raising her voice as well, air quoting the last part of her sentence.

"She probably intended to steal from us while we slept, then take off. How else do you think she got most of her things?" Disia was yelling now.

"You don't know she was like that," Nim retorted. Her teachers warned her about humans and how quick they were to anger. It was one of the main reasons why her ancestors split to another realm and formed their own with just High Elves. But this was ridiculous.

"Are you saying Suse and Martia are liars?" Riswynn asked, feeling offended. She may not know Suse as well as she'd like too, but she'd known Martia for years. Longer than Commander Biri even. She could of been Martia's cousin; and if Martia trusted Suse, so did she.

"No," Nim said feeling like everyone was ganging up on her.

"I just think throwing her off the side of the mountain was wrong."

"We buried her companion in the snow," Lila said quietly, hoping her opinion for the love of animals would help.

"It's still not right."

"We couldn't just leave her outside, Nim. She could of attracted wild animals," Riswynn said thinking of the mountain saber tooth tiger that was well fed, and the hobgoblin on it's worg.

"We could've brought her in then."

"And bring the monsters right to us? Use your brain, Nim. Do you want another huge ass saber tooth gnawing through your chest?" Disia was yelling at her again.

Nim had enough of being ganged up on. She got up and sat alone on the other end of the cave. It was the first time her and Disia had ever butted heads. She hardly ever cried she thought to herself as tears rolled down her cheeks. She never finished her dinner, but she wouldn't of been able too. Knots formed in her stomach, another feeling she hated.

None of them slept well that night either. Disia took the first watch, she was still too angry to sleep. Nim did have a point about getting rid of someone's body the way they did, even if the woman lived a horrible life. But they had to protect themselves too, after all the woman was dead and they were still alive.

Chirping woke Nim early the next morning, so early it was still dark. She sat up and looked across the cave, the fire had gone out and the others were asleep.

Who was on watch then?

Special One.

She recognized the raspy voice. She turned to her left, and there he was with his companion. The two pseudodragons they had met back in the forest.

Rough night? He asked, his companion stood next to him playing with her tail.

Nim nodded.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered.

I can't stay long, but I've come to give you another warning.

Nim sat up straighter.

Be careful of the White. The White in the snow and ice.