Tianna -- Scribbler's Corner

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Date Posted: 10:48:08 01/21/02 Mon
Author: Baeraad
Subject: Tianna
In reply to: Baeraad 's message, "The bottom of the well" on 10:46:32 01/21/02 Mon

The foliage of the Alezandre Forest crackled in protest as three young humans forced their way through it. It took its revenge as often as it could, with tearing thorns and whipping branches.

'- Are we getting anywhere today?' Tianna asked pointedly. 'I mean, we've passed midday. An hour ago, I'd say. I don't want a nighttime battle here. The God granted us certain advantages over the bad guys, and I'd really like to make use of them.'

Sira glanced over her shoulder. Her thick blonde hair had gathered an impressive number of loose twigs and leaves on its way through the forest, but she appeared not to notice.

'- It's not my fault that he's so damn careful,' she said. Her voice didn't have the grudging tone it usually developed when she was being rebuked, though; she was concentrating on the trail. 'He's backtracked over and over again, and taken the worst possible route through the forest. But if he does it every night, he can't make it that complicated. We'll get to him in time. Just be quiet and let me work.'

She started walking again, the bronze pendulum she held in front of her face swinging back and forth. Sira claimed it would lead her to the vampire. Tianna had her doubts. You could do a lot of things with magic, especially if you were as skilled with it as Sira, but the craft was unreliable by its very nature.

'- Ten gold pieces says she's lost and won't admit it,' she whispered to Ritros. A loud snort from Sira told her that she had spoken too loudly, but the magician didn't turn around.

'- I'm sure she knows what she's doing,' Ritros said.

Ever the diplomat, Tianna thought, a bit too sulkily for her own taste. She was warm and sweaty, she was positively consumed by the swarms of insects inhabiting the forest, she had gotten rip after rip in her clothes, and she felt like starting a fight.

On the other hand, that wouldn't be very productive, now would it? She forced herself to keep her mouth closed, and thought longingly about the old-fashioned kind of vampire, who would never take three steps on any ground that wasn't paved. Just her luck to run into one who was into wildlife.

'- Ha ha!' Sira cheered after pushing through a last set of bushes. 'Here we are, well before nightfall! Now what does Miss Doubtful say?'

Tianna managed to escape from the sinister claws of the plantlife and looked into a glade. In its midst was a large, crumbling stone building � possibly the last remnant of some ancient village. The door had long since rotten away, and the last traces of it lay in the grass. There were no windows, and the doorway looked like a portal into some strange, dark realm � if you pardoned the melodrama of it, which Tianna, given the circumstances, felt inclined to do.

'- Miss Doubtful says she was wrong,' she said humbly.

'- And?' Sira insisted.

'- And she's sorry she didn't trust in your skills.'

'- And?'

Tianna glared at her, eyes half-closed.

'- And don't push it!'

'- Ah.' Sira grinned. 'Well, let's get going, then.' Without waiting for them, she rushed into the house. Being careful was just not her style.

Tianna eyed Ritros tiredly.

'- How long do you think it'll take before she remembers that it's all dark in there and you're the one with the light?'

Ritros shrugged his broad shoulders.

'- Five seconds?'

'- Ten,' Tianna countered.

Actually, it was exactly four seconds later that Sira shouted:

'- Are you two coming or what?'

Tianna and Ritros laughed together and followed her.

The inside of the house was cold, even with the summer heat outside, and smelled of moss and mold. The inner stone walls still stood, but all furniture had either been removed or rotted away along with the door. Ritros lifted his left hand and conjured a mild, white glow that illuminated the dreary scene.

'- Thank you,' said Sira sarcastically. 'Now, what are we looking for? Is he a coffin kind of guy, or do we have to look for comatose rats and smoke hanging in the ceiling, too?'

'- Lord Ceridan moves around a lot,' Tianna said. 'And he doesn't like to have mortals following him. A coffin would be too much trouble to take with him. But then, he isn't really one of the great shapeshifters, either. I think we're just looking for a body.'

'- That should make it easier,' Ritros remarked. 'Remember to watch out, now. If he's careful enough to make such efforts not to be tracked, he's careful enough not to let his body be defenseless. There are probably wolves, or something.'

Please not rats, Tianna instantly begged the God, please not rats� She could fight a vampire if she had to, but the traditional companions of the undead made her feel an urge to shriek girlishly and climb the closest convenient chair. She sincerely hoped that that would not find its way into the songs of her Triangle. Being remembered as a mighty warrior hero was a good thing. Being remembered as a silly wench was not.

The room directly after the entry was large, and there was a hook in the ceiling where a chandelier might once have hung. Tianna started to think that this place had been really lovely in its days of glory. Not an actual castle, but a rural version of one.

'- I wonder who lived here?' she said, looking around. There was an uneven layer of dust on the floor; in some places it had been swept aside by what wind had found its way in through the doorway, while in others it lay half an inch high. There were a few fairly ancient animal tracks in the corners, but the only fresh ones were from small paws, in some places followed by dragging tails. Tianna shuddered. Rats. 'A merchant? An Acolyte?'

'- Village Acolytes don't live in houses this big,' Ritros mumbled as he drew his hands over a wall, probing for a hidden passage. Vampires liked hidden passages. It appealed to their superior nature to have things in their homes that not even their guests would know about.

'- Well, this house is old,' Tianna persisted. 'They lived like this a few hundred years ago.'

Ritros looked a bit guilty at that remark, as if he was responsible for the less than ascetic lives of long dead priests. Of course, Sira did nothing to help.

'- Yeah, all glory to the God,' she said cheerfully, 'and all money to me, because spreading all this glory all day is hard work, you know�' She laughed at her own joke.

Tianna decided to ignore that remark. Few magicians missed an opportunity to make fun of the Church, knowing fully well that their right to laugh at the God and his servants had been established in blood two hundred years ago. She did not think that Sira actually did carry a grudge about the Witch Wars, though some magicians did. Carrying grudges did not go well with Sira's nature. Making fun of people, however, went very well indeed with it.

Tianna looked into one of the doorway from the hall instead. There was a rusting iron stove, she could see in the sparse light from Ritros' holy power, too heavy to have been moved, and hollow-out parts of the wall that must have served as cabinets once. A kitchen, then. She did not even bother to look around, but went back to the others. She very much doubted she would find Lord Ceridan in the kitchen. It was just not vampire-like. Sleeping in a ruin was something that undead did, so that might be in order. Sleeping in the kitchen was something that servants did.

The fact that there had been lots of spider-webs in there had of course nothing to do with her decision�

'- What do you think happened to this place?' she asked as they moved on through a broad corridor. Every now and then, they passed a doorway to a smaller room, but they were all empty when the Triangle looked in.

'- Who cares?' Sira said, which Tianna had more or less expected.

'- Well, it's interesting. I mean, people lived here. They had lives, and dreams, and hopes. Where did they go?'

Sira looked at her sideways.

'- They died,' she said flatly.

'- Well, yes, I know that, but why don't their descendents still live here?'

'- Maybe they just didn't have kids,' Sira said. She looked into a room at the side of the corridor, found it empty, and took a few long steps to catch up with her two friends.

Tianna grabbed two handfuls of her own black hair and pulled them hard.

'- Sira, you're the most boring person in the world!' she complained. 'Can't you work up an interest for anything else than food and men?'

'- Two excellent things to be interested in,' Sira said with a grin. 'Actually, I can work up an interest for slaying vampires, too. It's kind of fun the way they yell and scream and go "no, this can be happening, I'm invincible!"' She chuckled at the thought.

'- Could you both please work up some interest for the vampire slaying we actually have at hand?' Ritros asked, calmly but firmly. 'Ceridan is a bad one. He takes pleasure in hunting his victims, and catching them once they're the most tired and scared.'

'- Bloody stupid,' Sira grunted. 'That way, there's a chance they might get away, and he'd go hungry. And hasn't anyone told him you shouldn't play with your food?'

Tianna could not help laughing at that one, despite Ritros' raised eyebrows.

'- No one said evil had to make sense, Sira,' she said. 'But that doesn't make it less capable of hurting people.'

'- Is that a body?' Ritros asked. He stepped into another room and reached out with his glowing hand towards a dark mass in a corner. He took a few steps closer. The light from his power gave away a human shape dressed in leather. 'Yes, it is! Come on, let's�'

At that point something fell from the ceiling and hit him in the head. He collapsed on the floor, the quarterstaff rolling out of his hand.

Tianna picked up the projectile, finding it to be nothing more advanced than a rock about the size of a large man's fist. She looked up in the ceiling and saw an uneven crack that ran across the length of the room. Easily broad enough to push a stone through, if there was someone or something up there to do it.

Sira said something it was just as well that the prudent Acolyte didn't have to hear. She knelt by Ritros and felt his throat. The light from his power was fading, allowing darkness to descend over the room. It felt like an unpleasant omen.

'- Well, he's still alive,' Sira said, relieved. 'A bit of luck there, at least.'

As if hearing that had made the Goddess realize Her mistake, that was the moment when the floor collapsed. The stones under them just dropped, as if everything that had held them together had disappeared in a stroke of magic. One moment there was a room; the next, half of it was an empty black hole.

Tianna's reflexes were excellent, but even though she threw herself backwards the moment she felt the ground giving in, it was of no use; the trap was too wide. She kept herself out of the hole for the time of one heartbeat, the power in her leap keeping her in the air. Then her back hit the wall and she fell.

All light was gone now, everything was just dark void and the sound of stone breaking apart. She heard Sira shouting something that sounded more angry than fearful, and hit something that knocked all the air out of her lungs. The impact did not break her fall, just sent her spinning out over the abyss again. She had a short second to think a confused thought about falling all the way to Hell, then something hit her head hard and an initial blast of pain turned into merciful unconsciousness.

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Replies:

Ritros -- Baeraad, 10:50:07 01/21/02 Mon