Mission:
Reilyn sighed as she made her way away from the Ocean Fyre to the privacy of a remote corner of the coastline. Being a hordebeast was a new expirience to her... she still had to get used to the hustle-and-bustle of the busy Dock Ward, the tavern-studded lane that ran along the edge of the beach. Reaching the water, she stood and watched the sunset turn the ocean from indigo to dusky blood in shade.

Thrusting her paws into her pockets for extra warmth, she felt a crumpled peice of parchment that had been stuck there earlier that day. Reilyn had applied for a mission to do for Lord Ublaz, in hopes to move up in the ranks. Deciding this would be the best way about doing so, she ended up leafing through an over three-hundred page pile of parchment for one that suited her. Of course, she hadn't had much choice... but the variety was much better than the guild she had once been a member of. She pulled the peice of papyrus-made paper out and unfolded it, re-reading it in the dimming light.

"Ublaz has been getting severe headaches. While this may appear trivial, it greatly interfears with his hypnotic powers. Some of the monitors are beggining to get restless in the absence of Ublaz's control. Rumors have been heard of herbs from islands to the south which can prevent such headaches. Find these herbs and bring a large supply, before the monitors become uncontrolable."

Scrawled on the bottom in her own less-than-neat script were the words, 'Ask Dalamar.' Well... she had been meaning to seek out the brother of her best friend for some time now. And since she heard he had taken a residency on the far side of Sampetra and was contemplating a membership, he seemed one of the most ready choices for help on the matter. Reilyn shrugged and pocketed the paper once again. Shivering and drawing the cloak she wore more tightly around her body, she walked towards the woods that sparsely covered a little less than half of Sampetra.

A black-furred fox crouched on a thick branch of a tall oak tree, watching the movements of small animals in the darkening light of a dying day. Hearing a noise that was out of place, the skilled fox ranger shrunk farther into the shadows of the tree's leaves, careful to conceal himself from whoever might be out there. Settling himself in, he watched to see what happened.

A figure, relatively tall for the vixen it appeared to be, walked towards his tree. It (or 'she,' as he should probably call it) was casting wary glances here and there, as if she was expecting someone, or something, to jump out at her. Of course, that suspicion was probably well-warrented, the ranger acknowlged briefly. He had noticed shady beasts lingering around. Mostly the common otter or squirrel; not enough to cause trouble in such a heavily-armed kingdom as Sampetra. But it was known for them to travel in groups of two or three and jump an unwitting traveller of these parts.

The fox gave a derisive snort. Squirrels, otters, badgers, and the such... the self-righteous fools. They had the nerve to call themselves 'Goodbeasts,' whilst creatures like he were 'Vermin' simply because they didn't fit in with their silly little lives. Those goodbeasts were the ones that harbored more ill-intent and prejudice than the average fox or ferret. Always chasing the common wandering minstrel or bard away merely because of species. Woodlanders seemed to regard his kind as some sort of happy little terrorist that would slit their throats as thanks for a warm meal. The black fox gave a dry laugh at that.

"...... Dalamar!......" The name carried his way by the wind snapped him out of his reverie. The almost musical tones of the voice, underlaid by a deep strength and perpetual sadness, told him immediately who it was. But, what was she doing here? Drawing a dagger as a precaution against the possibility he was wrong, he jumped lightly down to the ground from his high perch. The fox held the tip of the dagger between thumb and forefinger, poised and ready to throw if need be. Moving without a sound through the widely spaced trees, he made his way toward the figure.

"Dalamar?" It was much closer now. The ranger stood with his back to a tree and waited. Sounds of booted feet crunching fallen branches and dried grass passed by the tree on the side oppostite him. Swinging around behind her, the fox reached forward and placed his paw firmly over her mouth. Giving a muffled cry, the startled vixed automaticly put a paw on her rapier hilt. The ranger quickly shoved his dagger into his belt and closed his now-freed hand around the vixens forwarm.

"What are you trying to do? Tell every brigand and thief in these woods where you are?!" He removed his left paw from her mouth to enable her to speak. Without responding, she struggled a moment before realizing that the ranger held her in a vise-like grip that proved unbreakable.

"Don't tell me you don't recognize my voice after all these years." The ranger deftly spun her around to face him and sighed. "By the gods, Reilyn, I havn't seen you in ages! But..." He scanned her face. "Something tells me you want something."

Reilyn's eyes lit up in a mixture of recognition and shame at the fact that she hadn't known who he was at first. Without a word, she handed him the crumpled parchment with her mission written on it. She politely waited for his response while he scanned it. When he finished, he glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Since when did a headache mean life or death?"

Reilyn pointed at the parchment. "Dalamar," the name carried a warning under-tone. He had never really liked authority... that was probably why he hadn't actually joined...

"Yes yes, I know. 'It interferes with his hypnotic powers.'" The black-furred fox rolled his eyes skyward. Reilyn had misunderstood his question. He wasn't sure if that was purposly or by total accident. In any case, he wasn't as dumb as some thought him. Although, he mused, smiling to himself, that could probably be disputed...

Dalamar allowed himself to give Reilyn a look up and down, appraising her. He had last seen her a few years ago outside Dalenvorn, a town on the northern coast of Mossflower. She had been one of his sister's best friends, and therefore one of his friends as well. She was almost another younger sister (gods forbid) and had always been hanging around. Still, he felt a certain amount of affection to his would-be sibling, and wouldn't want to see her disappointed.

"I'll help you. But we have to think about the most likely place to start." He paused, looking her up and down once more, noting her disheveled and weary appearence. "Anyway, you'll be needing sleep, I suppose. I have a camp a little ways away."

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The sun came up as it always did, bright and yellow, staining the dark blue sky first pink, then orange, and yellow. Seabirds called as they wheeled tirelessly over the ocean, turned into silhouettes when the moved in front of the giant fiery ball in the sky. Waves crashed on the sand, and the sound of beasts talking loudly on the warves and in streets, bawdy laughter from the taverns played on the wind.

Reilyn opened her eyes slowly, noting with dismay that the sun had already climbed high. They had lost a lot of time, and she wondered why Dalamar hadn't woken her up earlier. Looking around, she wondered where he had gone. The fox sighed. She had forgotten that he always managed to disappear when you needed him, only to show up again wondering why in the Nine-Hells you were angry.

Reilyn stuck her paw into her pocket, looking for the paper with her mission written on it. Dalamar and she had talked late into the night, writing down the most likely islands in Sampetra's vicinity. They had come to the conclusion, once Dalamar had heard enough about the herb to identify it as tanthalas, that it would be on Lythari, a small, much shunned island to the south.

She frowned. The paper was gone. She had wanted to get this mission over as soon as possible, and get back to her normal lifestyle. And now, with Dalamar and her mission parchment missing... Reilyn cursed under her breath.

"My, my. Such language." Reilyn looked sharply upward at the tree she was sleeping under. A figure jumped from one of the branches, and Dalamar landed lightly next to her, grinning.

"We should set out, O One of the Late Sleep." He held out her paper, blatently ignoring the look she was giving him. "And I've managed to get a hold of a boat we could use."

"What do you mean? I though we'd just--"

The black fox held up a paw, cutting her off. "I'll only help you on one condition: No other hoardbeasts." He gave a small smile. "Seabeasts always manage to get in the way..."

Nevermind the fact I'm one, she thought. Nodding, she stood and followed him into the surrounding woods.

She blinked. This was the boat? Made of a dark brown wood, it was little more than a small rowboat. But at least rowboats looked like they'd float. This one was dirty, and had holes that had been patched up numerous times. There weren't any benches inside of it, which made Reilyn wonder where they would sit. Rowing was difficult if you were too low to get adequate leverage on the oars.

Noting her expression, Dalamar grinned. "Trust me, it'll hold together." He held out an oar, which she took. It wasn't in any better shape than the rest of the boat, but Reilyn hoped it would do. She looked at it skeptically and climbed into the boat.

"Right."

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They arrived at the island at dusk.

The trees were darker here than at Sampetra. Gray mist floated between the trees, the forest almost dark as night a few feet into it. Eerie and unidentifiable sounds floated from inside the dense jungle, and wraith-like shadows flitted here and there. There was a presence in the air that seemed almost evil... Reilyn stared about in horror.

"What is this place?"

Dalamar tied the boat to a tree, then came and stood next to her. He stared into the darkness a moment. "This, my friend, is Lythari." Dalamar turned his head and grinned playfully at her, though the smile didn't seem to reach his eyes. Those stayed grim orbs in the middle of his face. "The demons welcome you." Dalamar sighed, the grin melting off his features as he contemplated the fact that they'd have to actually venture into the forest. "Well," he paused, looked from her to the tree line. "Shall we be off?"

The two companions moved hesitantly to the edge of the forest. Reilyn glanced nervously at Dalamar, who stared strait ahead, an unsettled expression on his face. "I... It's supposed to be haunted, you know..." She mentally thanked him for sharing that uplifting tidbit of information. He paused, as if realizing what he had said. Seemingly in an attempt to reassure her, he continued. "It's all stories, I'm sure."

Reilyn took a deep breath, patted her rapier hilt to reassure herself, and led Dalamar into the woods. To keep their minds off the trek ahead, Dalamar related to her the islands history.

Apparently, Lythari had been populated at one point. All kinds of beasts lived on its shores; foxes, wolves, ferrets, weasles, mice, otters, squirrels, and more. Little was known about the founders, but they had managed to work around the racial differences so that all lived in harmony with one another and nature.

The forest had been lush and green, carefully tended where parts had been destroyed by fires, floods, and insects. Paths were kept clear, the bushes trimmed back.

Theirs was a democracy, led by a council of elders elected by the common people. The leaders strove to keep peace between neighbors, and to prevent upper and lower classes from forming. Such a balance was needed in a place like this. And if it stayed, the civilization of Lythari would stay intact.

But every good thing come to an end.

One beast, a weasle by name of Shalanjo, was elected to the ring of elders. He slowly worked his way up in ranks, using his silver-tongue and blackmail to gain power. Laws were made that upset the democratic order, the balance that had been so carefully looked after. Taxes were paid, grudges were formed, neighbors fought neighbors. Beasts were killed in the streets.

One by one, the inhabitants left. The blood of the slain had soaked deep into the ground, never to be forgotten by the land. Shalanjo stayed, a power-hungry tyrant, ruling over those that had either been left behind or had decided to stay. The land changed from its once bright, happy, and peaceful self, to one of darkness and evil, said to be filled with vengeful spirits of the dead...

Dalamar ceased his narrative, bit his lip. His eyes glinted in the darkness as he gazed around warily. Reilyn glanced at the surrounding woods. Nervously, she rested her paw on her sword again. Somehow, the history of the island made everything seem worse; the darkness more like night, sadness more deeply depressed, the air dangerously evil.

"Look. A clearing..." She looked over at Dalamar, who pointed. Reilyn followed his gaze. Indeed, the trees thinned a little ways ahead.

They stepped into the area, vacated of trees and filled with crumbling walls and stones. "... Lythari..." The two foxes looked around in wonder. The legendary utopia where "goodbeasts" and "vermin" had lived together... perverted by an ambitious weasle... abandoned... All that was left were over-grown ruins.

Dalamar stooped and picked up a small leaf, held it up for Reilyn to see. "This," he said, "Is tanthalas." The leaf was wedge-shaped. It's edges were a deep purple that marged into green towards the center. It grew on a small, bush-like plant, with many leaves of its kind growing on each stem. Reilyn took one, rubbed it between her fingers. The leaf had a vaguely waxy feel to it, and it had a pungent odor, like henna and green tea.

Wordlessly, they filled Reilyn's pack with the leaves. They grew all over the ruins, it wasn't hard to find more. The roots had gripped the stone, digging deeply and crumbling it, as if to erase the doomed civilization all the quicker.

Tying the rope around the top on the bag, Reilyn put it on her back, making sure it was snugly in place. Years of traveling had taught her to tye it to her belt, as well as her back. Thieves would grab a bag off your back if you weren't careful...

"Back to Sampetra?" Reilyn nodded. She was ready to leave. "Alright." Dalamar glanced at whence they came. "We should be fine. Apparently, it's all stories after all..."

The attack came from behind.

Reilyn was thrown against a tree, and her head cracked painfully against it. She fell to the ground, trying to make sense of what was up and what was down. Through blurred vision, she saw Dalamar move to stand in front of her, grabbing Reilyn's sword from her belt and pulling a throwing dagger out of his belt.

From the corner of her eye, Reilyn saw a dark shadow move to combat Dalamar. Without a definate shape, the thing merged from fox to ferret to wolf and back. It seemed to have the claws, teeth, strength, and speed of all of them at once. Like smoke over a forest fire, it was an oily gray and seemed serpentine, able to be seen through. There was no doubt in her mind that the thing had come right from the Abyss.

She shook her head violently to clear her vision, and stood shakily. Dalamar was losing. His sword seemed to do no damage against the wraith. The shadow-beast flung out a hand, using some ethereal force to throw Dalamar back against a tree, much as it had done to her. He lay for a moment on the ground, dazed. Noticing her standing there, the black fox's eyes took on an expression that was some sort of mix between alarm, terror, and worry.

"Run!"

She didn't move, but watched, rooted to the spot as he fumbled for the sword hilt. The wraithlike shadow-beast moved toward Dalamar, seemingly floating instead of walking.

"Run, dammit!" His voice had a more frantic edge to it that made it higher pitched. Reilyn stood a moment longer, watching, weaponless. The wraith stood above him now. Dalamar's paw gripped finally gripped his borrowed sword. He held it up between himself and the undead shade of a beast.

The wraith made a sweeping motion, which ripped the sword out of Dalamar's grasp. Helplessly, the black-furred fox gazed up at the shadow-beast. Reilyn saw the wraith stay still a moment, then swoop down as a hawk hunts a rabbit. Dalamar screamed... and screamed...

And Reilyn was running.

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Dead, dead... he's dead. My friend, my companion... my brother... Dead... my fault, always my fault... Reilyn tossed and turned in a fevered sleep, seeing Dalamar's last moments over and over again in a dream-like state. Finally, she sat up straight with a cry. Taking a shuddering breath, she sobbed. Dawn was hours away.

The sun came up as it always did, bright and yellow, staining the dark blue sky first pink, then orange, and yellow. Seabirds called as they wheeled tirelessly over the ocean, turned into silhouettes when they moved in front of the giant fiery ball in the sky. Waves crashed on the sand, and the sound of beasts talking loudly on the warves and in streets, bawdy laughter from the taverns played on the wind.

It comforted Reilyn to know that some things never change.