Chapter 11: On the Chase!
-----Sometime later Sol begins to come around and finds himself sitting on the ground. His ankles are tied together as well as his hands behind his back. As he glances around, he reasons he must be still outside, this time behind the stable building.
-----To the right side of him, he sees Kazel sitting beside him, tied up in the same fashion. He suspects that the half-elven girl is coming around herself. In front of him, he is aware of three of the dark forms. As he feels around as much as he can, he notices he is without his weapons.
-----The jester stands not too far away from Kazel and the one with the skull mask, who must be the ‘spider’, stands by the back door to the stable. The other form, which appears to be faceless, stands at the other end of the stable silently watching the keep. Soon Sol hears this one mutter in a raspy voice, "Just let the halfling show his face again."
-----Suddenly two more forms approach, one carrying something in his arms. They come around the dark side of the keep clinging to the shadows. As they approach, Sol’s heart sinks. One appears to be a human clothed in dark attire, however his face and hair appear to be badly burnt and singed. The other form is the dark faced one with the whitish markings on his face who moved with uncanny speed. In his arms, he carries the small and unconscious form of Sarah Night!
-----The jester turns toward them and with a smile he says ruefully, "What have ye found here?"
-----"Ah, more than we could hope for," the lightning tattooed ones answers, "You should see what this little princess carried!"
-----They set Sarah down not far from Sol and begin to tie her hands and feet although the young mage looks dreadfully near death. The burnt man stands over her with hate in her eyes. "I say we kill her. You see what she did to me. She burned my cloak from me!" he hisses.
-----"Do not be a fool!" the lightning one says, "Did she not give us her wand but a few days ago? And look what she gives us now." The dark one stands back and holds up a silky looking bag. He reaches in and draws forth the once deadly Darkening Crystal.
-----The jester sneers and chuckles and then looks back down at Sarah. "Pretty little thing, she is," he says, "I wonder if the Goddess would give her to one of us or if we should try to sell her?" Shrugging, he adds, "Put a gag on her just in case."
-----The eyes of the tattooed one widens as he see Sol. "Put a gag on him!" he says with alarm, "He’s gotta be a priest! He called lightning down on the wall!" Immediately a gag is placed around Sol’s mouth.
-----The jester then turns to the lightning one and tells him to retrieve the horses and lower the gate. With a somewhat relieved look, the dark one runs off quietly at his inhuman pace. The jester then tells the burnt man to take up a watch on the walls.
-----The jester then walks over to Kazel and swats down, pulling her tied hair back so she is facing him. "Ah, and who do we have here?" he says menacingly to her, "the butcher’s daughter." His voice takes on a playful quality. "Why are you here? Are you searching for your mother because you know where she is or do you think we have her?"
-----The jester’s features begin to change and in the space of a few breaths, he changes into a young elven woman with golden-blond hair. "It can be maddening," the elven vision says to Kazel, "Where can your mother be, my dear?"
-----Suddenly they are interrupted by the burnt man atop the wall calling down to them in a hushed voice, "Hey! Someone is out there! I hear the sound of horses in the distance coming from the north."
-----Quickly the elven woman is replaced by the form of the jester. With a hateful expression, he looks at the ‘spider’. The spider nods back to him and walks toward one of the towers.
-----Since the gag had been placed on him, Sol had been exchanging worried looks at Sarah's inert form, hoping to read for signs of recovery, and baleful looks at the burned one before he left for the wall.
-----Sol chuckled briefly when he heard that horses had been heard. Raven must be coming. It has to be Raven surely. The fact that he may have come too late, with the gate soon to be closed stops the warrior's short-lived gagged laugh.
-----Kazel's eyes widen a bit but she otherwise shows no emotion to the jester. In fact, his attempts at taunting her simply gives her clues to fuel her curiosity on something she had almost decided to forget. In the meantime, as if without thought, she silently starts right away to work her hands free using every trick she knows with ropes.
-----After a few minutes, the dark faced tattooed man returns quickly and tells the jester, "A troop of soldiers has taken position a few yards to the north. I say it is time for us to leave."
-----"Leave, you fool?" the jester protests, "Why, have you noticed who else we have here?" The evil one points down at Kazel. "Do you think she would be here if she didn’t know something?"
Go to Page 2