Chapters 1-6 * Chapters 7-12 * Chapters 13-18
Chapters 19-24 * Chapters 25-30 * Chapters 31-37

Another figure, taller, also in a black robe - pulled his companion to her feet. The others filed past, putting on as much speed as they could. The taller figure held his companion by both shoulders, leaned in to examine the injured shoulder. The pale, faintly glowing skin was bruised and dirty.

Kissing it lightly, he watched the bruise fade away. He would not let her come to any harm, not so much as a bruise. She smiled from within the cowl of her cloak, beautiful even among Espers.

It had been five hours since their escape from Vector, and the Processing Facilities. Iral, eldest among them, had transported them to this mountainous wilderness en masse, but was too weakened from the effort to keep up the pace.

They paused, turned together, to look back into the darkness where Iral had sat down on a rock, and had spared them the agony of abandoning him, by saying, "I will catch up with you later..."

Krogenar stood with one foot atop a boulder, his arm draped across his knee. His keen eyes had spotted them, the flash of jewelry in the distance. A single line of lost travelers. The dark robes they wore hadn't helped.

The strider sidestepped into the brush, to avoid the MagiTek Armors, as they began the march into the wilderness. Great walking tanks, their mechanical legs pounded the ground beneath them, a single helmeted soldier perched atop each one. Steel arms clutched out at trees, knocking them down to make a path.

He awoke to the sound of panting wolves, the comforting smell of wet animals. Looking up from where he lay on the sled, Wendy's face was a mask of concentration, her eyes scanning constantly for signs of weak ice, or deep snow.

Her yellow beak was covered with ice. She pulled on the sled to slow the dogs. They stopped obediently, the sled slowing.

Stopped, Wendy worked her ice covered beak until it was free of the ice. She spat, the glob of saliva crackled mid-air, shattered to pieces on the ground.

This was a dangerous cold. The wolves knew it instinctively. From the inner crypts of their beings, they knew they should burrow into deep snow, and guard their heat. But this strange new pack leader drove them forward, with the wounded wolf behind them.

"Tree." she husked. The older strider strained his vision, the gleaming smooth contours of the area ahead revealed nothing. He rubbed his monocular lens clean, adjusted the oil suspended lens within, peered again. The tools improved vision showed him a tiny vertical spot, very distant.

She nodded, prodded the wolves into motion again. Krogenar wiped ice from the face of his Symbol of Mystra. It would be a beacon to the others, who would by now be seeking him out.

Once outside The Waste, they might still need to trek many miles to civilization, if they weren't too weak by that time.

Wendy could see the lone tree now, and beyond it, a greater wilderness. Slate grey mountains, girdled by forests and streams. The Kamekh Mountains.

They ocassionally looked back to Wendy, their gazes lingering on Krogenar's still form, wrapped in blankets on the sled.

Wendy had given their last amount of food to the wolves, pitting her and Krogenar's hunger against the need for escape - that had been 3 days ago. Without food for four days now, she was weak, weaker than she had ever felt. That, combined with the cold, made it difficult for her to focus her thoughts at times - she found herself staring at the wooden sled's handles, in a daze.

There was little need to guide the sled now. The wolves seemed to instinctively know the fastest route out of The Waste - if only to save themselves.

Krogenar had slipped into a deep slumber, and had not waked for the last two days. Once he awoke, she hoped he would be able to heal himself, or use some magic to escape.

Snow drifted in white curtains across the permanently frozen ground, and Wendy felt the cold descending from above, as the cloud cover cleared, to show the first icy blue stars of the evening.

She envied the wolves, in their furred hides - so perfectly suited for this kind of cold. The wolves stood motionlessly, still in single file, staring straight ahead. One turned, to bite at his harness.

Taloned hands performed the same arcane movements, a yellowed beak whispered "Vaas..." Again, and again. "Vaas." Pause. "Vaas" Pause. "Vaas."

Perched on a black outjutting of blood-soaked basalt, the figure occasionally stopped to reopen the wound of a bound and gagged prisoner, whose wrist dribbled blood into a reflecting pool. Peering eagerly into the pool,

Calming himself, he calmed the storm.
The wind slowed, and the howling stopped.

A blazing beacon of body heat stood out in Laisha's infravision, nearby a much weaker heat source.

Krogenar's arm shot towards the distracted Kenku, hand reaching out for his face. The mortally wounded striders thumb dug deep into the kenku wizard's eye, probing into the orbit.

Alisten covered his wounded eye with one hand, blood oozing from beneath it. Cursing, he spotted Laisha. He turned back to the sled, motioned at it with his other hand, muttered a syllable.

Lightning arced from his fingertip. The wooden planks heated, shattered into splinters. Krogenar's limp form slid sideways through the snow, one eye bruised shut, the other fluttered open slightly.

Through that half-slitted eye, he watched Laishas hands (Laish!) move quickly, expertly. Silvered strands of light were all around her. She grasped them, weaving them into a stylized knot. Her head tilted back, her eyes shut, the female drow pushed the woven symbol forward, opened her eyes.

Rocks, long buried in the ice, lifted in a circle around her, spinning up like a circular staircase to her pointing finger. Once there, they burst into flame, rocketing towards the Strifer.

To the strider, Alisten appeared to grasp similar silvery threads. The kenku seized them like he would a throat, roughly, but skillfully knotting them into a strange sigil, his eyes never leaving Laisha's. Twisting the threads of light cruelly in his hands, he completed the knotted shape.

The meteors exploded against it, some passing through, sizzling against Alisten's armor. A glimmer of light appeared in the dark, Grandal stepping from it. Meteors swept from his outstretched hand, smashing into the kenku from another direction.

Around his feet, small vines, long dormant under the ice, began twisting around his ankles. Craniotomy focused on the vines, pushing them into activity with his mind.

Cursing Mystra and all her cowardly followers, Alisten spoke the syllables that would take him away, and vanished.

Kevin carried the strider across one of his mammoth forearms, moving quickly. Grandal and Laisha swept along the arched pathway in the Forest of Mysteries alongside the titan sage.

Shara met them at the entrance to her private grove, servitor winds hitching her sleeves up and away from her forearms.

She turned, motioned for Kevin to bring Krogenar deeper into her temple. Laisha and Grandal followed, relayed the information to Shara quickly.

The High Priestess's private shrine to Mystra was a leaf-walled bubble, vines and branches weaving themselves into a canopy. A simple stone altar, held up by the stone likenesses of cats, sat on the far wall. Above it, two branches had intertwined into the shape of an eye, their offshoots winding into a circle around it. Along the edges of that curve, eight pale blue flowers blossomed.

"Burns over most of his body... you've kept him asleep?" she looked up at the two. Grandal nodded. Shara nodded in approval, "That was a wise decision."

The wall nearest Shara responded to her need, shaping itself into a bowl shape. Kevin carefully lowered Krogenar into the waiting branches, which bent and snaked to support the strider.

Phasing closer to the group, they watched, their tentacles held low to the ground.  A wolf appeared as well, tilted its head at the gathered people.

Grandal and Laisha walked behind the group, Grandal and Laisha walked behind the group, the drow watching the other Mystrans ahead of them carefully, making a mental note of who showed signs of upsetment, while Grandal walked, deep in thought.

Grandal continued in the Mystran Tongue, "His conduct does not befit a leader, Laisha. The leaders of this Church should be saving the young, from youthful mistakes. This was reckless of him."

"You're right Grandal, I agree - but I dont know why he would do this." Grandal nodded, "Well have to ask him, if he recovers."

Krogenar, cleaned and properly bandaged, slept in a cocoon of gentle, velvet-skinned leaves, fresh air washing over his bruised face.

The half-orc stumbled, clutched at a vine, pulled himself back to his feet, cursing under his breath. Shara shook her head, frowned.

Krogenar wobbled on the wooden supports, scowling. The strider turned to Shara, pivoting on his wooden supports.

"It's a wonder you have legs at all, Krogenar!" she directed a scowl of her own, "The Fusion spell was never meant for so serious an injury."

Before long, he was moving slowly about the Healing Glade. His back was turned to the entrance, but he had scented Wendy, Eusebius and Laisha before they arrived. Shara moved to intercept them.

Despite her whispering, the half-orcs ear picked up what she was saying. "Hes in a foul mood. I dont think this is a good time, Laisha." The drow wizardress nodded, said pointedly loud enough for the strider to hear.

Walking past, Wendy and Eusebius followed Laisha towards Krogenar, who did not turn to face them. Shara turned, crossed her arms, protective of her patient.

Wendy beamed, rushed to embrace the older strider.  
The end of his crutch swung out, warned her away.

Krogenar hobbled towards them, looked Wendy up and down. Her wings, thin and atrophied, hung open at her back, no longer strapped tightly to her back. She looked healthy, and happy.

"Please train Wendy in my stead, until I have recovered. Her nose is nearly useless, good hands on her, though. Vision is excellent, better than mine." Eusebius nodded, smiled. "I will, Krogenar."

Wendy felt ignored, like there was no bond between her and the older strider. Until he hobbled to her, and took her hand in his. The ring finger of his left hand was gone, taken by the frost.

"Thank you Wendy."

Wendy's face still buried in his chest, he turned to Eusebius, winked. "Dont give him any trouble." Pulling away from her, he smiled, and then hobbled away, Laisha and Shara following him. After Eusebius and his new student had left, the female drow began to question him.

Krogenar nodded. "He's been ready - and he needs to know we trust him." Then, the inevitable question: "Why? Why did you go to The Waste?"

Even as the two women tried to understand what he meant, he said, "I _did_ see it, but it wouldnt save us, so it doesn't matter."

Laisha shook her head, pushed some stray hairs from her face. "What is this 'Way?'" Shara cocked her head to one side.

The strider sighed. "I had studied The Prophecy of The Rok, and sought a way to avoid the destruction of our Church." Shara interrupted.

"No... I did not believe the people of The Realms would put aside their pettiness to bring the four blades together, so, I tried to find another way to escape The Rok."

"I had heard tell of a land beyond The Great Realms - a land that our world is but a small part of - isolated, walled off from."

Looking back up, he said, "So, I decided to find The Way into that new world... maybe it would not be damaged by The Rok, maybe it would be safe." Laisha and Shara started to understand.

"And you hoped we could evacuate the people of The Realms there?" Shara asked. Krogenar shook his head. "No, just us, and the mysteries and secrets we've protected, and could carry." He shrugged. "We could take whomever we were able, perhaps young people, with magical talent - but my first goal was to help this Church." He smirked. "I had a vision, and saw the world below me, from a great height."

"The Rok is too large to escape. We have to fight it directly, I fear." Laisha nodded, considering what he said.

Shara chimed in, "Seems reckless of you to not consider us." He nodded, "Youre right, I... I, I just wanted to be the first in that new land."

Smiling wolfishly, his canines peeking out, he acknowledged his folly. "Im sorry, that was wrong of me."

Shara shook her head at Krogenar, as Laisha wandered a bit away. Laisha turned from her thought, back to Krogenar and Shara.

"This means well need to find the Swords, or some other way to stop The Rok." she said. The strider and priest gave their agreement.

"We'll have to throw ourselves into it headlong," the other drow answered.

Krogenar nodded, "We cannot be neutral towards such a threat." "What is our status, Laisha, with The Pax?" he asked. The two females brightened at the question.

Laisha grinned, "The Pax has support, tis true - you must meet with Charman, Jovik and Trice about our plans for WestBridge."

Chapters 1-6 * Chapters 7-12 * Chapters 13-18
Chapters 19-24 * Chapters 25-30 * Chapters 31-37

[ Home ] [ Up ]

Send mail to Krogenar at CompanyWebmaster with comments about this web site.Æ
Copyright © 2001 CompanyLongName
Last modified: December 21, 2002