- Chapter 21 -

 

Everyone had questions for the newly-returned monster-hunters, but no-one had any answers for Raven. The Dravwyrn had told her that Strides-Tall had survived the explosion of the Reclamationist device, and now that revenge had been satisfied, she needed to know the truth, but no-one had a truth to share.

"No-one has seen Strides-Tall", she told Sshraada and Mararen. "The ship didn't go anywhere near the Rock, and they say there's nothing left alive over there now. Where could she be?"

"Close enough to be a threat to your friends, according to what the beast told you", said Mararen. "There is the other ship to consider, the one that brought her here originally. Maybe she's there."

"They're going in to pick up the survivors soon", reported Sshraada. "Go and get some rest, if you can. If we hear anything, we will let you know."

Intense desires and emotions leaving her in the calm following the storm of battle, Raven found intense fatigue filling the void that was left behind. Her first impulse was to seek a bed, and sleep for a century, but a strange pale girl with unusual long ears was there to meet her at the bottom of the steps leading below decks.

***The mistress would like to speak with you***, the girl announced, speaking with her mind.

Raven flinched, the unexpected psychic intrusion making her head ache. "Not...not so loud, please...", she begged, frowning as she recoiled.

The girl switched from thoughts to words, even though she was clearly unexperienced with the latter. "Forgive, please", she all but whispered. "Please - this way. The mistress wants you."

"Mistress? Do you mean Marishanna?", asked Raven, and the girl nodded, sending her long limp ears swinging.

The girl, who with gentle questioning revealed her name was Ta'awen, took Raven to a cargo hold that was empty but for a faintly glowing opening in the air, a doorway opening into a dimly-lit cave, divided in two by a paved pathway with fruit-bearing trees growing to either side. The dancer was reluctant to step through another magical portal so soon after her excursion to The Darkening, but Ta'awen went through through without fear, and curiosity forced Raven to follow.

At the end of the path was an alcove, recessed into a sheer rock wall that rose up out of sight, and much of the floor of the alcove was taken up by the opening to a seemingly bottomless pit. Ta'awen showed the same fearlessness as she stepped into the pit, and her faith was rewarded by a slow, safe descent, in absolute defiance of gravity's power. Knowing she could call upon her wings if gravity should chose to reclaim its dominion over falling objects without warning, Raven once again followed in the girl's footsteps.

Ta'awen led Raven through a complex of chambers and tunnels, all lined with expertly crafted and fitted stone blocks, sometimes sidestepping past areas of floor that Raven could see bore symbols of power, invisible to those lacking an sensitivity to magic. Eventually, they reached a large hall, divided into three by a wide avenue of pillars that led up to a stepped dias, where a small, yet familiar female form relaxed on a couch covered in black leather.

"Marishanna...!"

"I'll wager you never thought you'd see me again", said the Salvandireen female, grinning slyly. "An assumption made by allies and enemies alike in the past, yet each and all of them have been proved mistaken."

Raven marched up the avenue to Marishanna's throne. On the steps lay Brossganth Cinderbeard and another Murgand, a female, both sleeping soundly, whilst on the top step, on a pile of cushions next to the couch, slept a smaller, much more slender figure with golden hair, dressed in black leather.

"A magically-induced sleep", Marishanna explained, slipping down from her couch. "It will help them recover from their ordeal."

Raven had one thought at the front of her mind. "Strides-Tall - is she...?"

"Free of the 'Curse'?", replied the warrior-sorceress. "Well, she isn't exactly covered with scales and sprouting wings, is she? I am, of course, assuming the monster is no more."

"I hurled him to his death myself", said Raven coldly, drawing a smile of admiration from the diminutive female. The dancer did not notice that Marishanna's long satin dressing gown hung open at the front, and that she moved so that as much bare skin and shiny boot-leather was "accidentally" on display as possible.

"I think we can safely assume your friend is out of danger", purred Marishanna. "Come - relax now. You've earned it."

Marishanna demanded that she and Raven should not be disturbed, but somehow she knew it would not last. Raven had only just been lulled to sleep with soft words and long pauses, and the Salvandireen warrior-sorceress had only gotten as far as stroking the dancer's smooth black hair where it lay, spilled across the bed, when Ta'awen hurried in, apologising profusely and keeping her head bowed, with the elven woman Strides-Tall hot on her heels. The spell should have kept her asleep for a few hours more, Marishanna thought as she stared angrily across the room. Must be out of practice.

"Don't punish the girl", said Strides-Tall. "I insisted on seeing you, and I made her bring me to you."

"You've seen me", the warrior-woman snorted, "now get out."

"Not if you're pulling the same tricks on Raven that you pulled on me, and the Murgands", the elf snapped back.

"I have used no magic on our mutual friend", Marishanna told her. "She sleeps because she is exhausted, and you would be too, if you had fought the same battles, and been tested to your limits. You should also show me a damn sight more respect. I, and my ship, made your rescue possible, and if I had not acted when I did, despite grievous wounds, you and your two companions would be cold ash, drifting in space. You owe me your life - but for now, common courtesy will suffice."

Strides-Tall's manner showed no sign of changing as Ta'awen was sent to fetch the other heroes, who gathered in another part of the Salvandireen's secret sanctuary to dine on the finest fare the magic of the enchanted palace could provide. There, tales were exchanged and mysteries were explained - most notably, Marishanna's escape from Deepscar Rift.

"The answer to that is all around you", the warrior-sorceress told them, gesturing in no direction in particular. "I opened the portal to this, my own little, self-contained world, dispatched the monster, then rescued our Murgand guests...

"...and this ungrateful wench", she added, almost as an afterthought, waving a disdainful hand Strides-Tall's way.

"I never said that I wasn't grateful to be rescued", retorted Strides-Tall. "I just don't appreciate some of the ways you handle some of your guests."

"Better a guest than a prisoner - or a slave", said Marishanna plainly. "If you prefer, we could always hand you over to the next Dark Dravwyrn we run into..."

Strides-Tall gave the choices some thought, and was not certain which she found preferable. Marishanna, on the other hand, entertained thoughts of what enjoyment she could have had had she chosen to take advantage of the elf whilst she had been deep in magic-enhanced sleep, an opportunity she had had to set aside when Raven arrived.

The meal was not just a chance to catch up - it was also a chance to celebrate still being alive, and Brossganth Cinderbeard would have been the first to embrace such a moment, had there not been a whole host of duties awaiting him the next day. "As the highest ranking member of my race in the vicinity, it falls to me to take charge of Jaglundar's Rock", he announced during a quiet moment, in solemn tones befitting his transition from young warrior to lord of his own domain. "Join me in this honour, friends and fellow warriors, for you all helped to make it possible."

"And what about the Reclamationists?", asked Strides-Tall. "I don't see any of their people here - are they included in your invitation?"

"Their exclusion from this gathering is according to mistress Marishanna's wishes", said the young lord, nodding reespectfully in their host's direction. "I, for one, find her judgement impeccable in this respect."

"You sound as though you've no inclination to conclude this item of business as they wanted it, my lord", observed Broxka.

"I'll let them state their case", Brossganth responded stiffly, and with a finality that told Strides-Tall that any bets placed in the Reclamationists' favour would be money wasted.

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