Breathe (Book Two) (UNDERCONSTRUCTION--100 pages lost)

[Riverdane]

"You walking yet?" Vven said, returning after what seemed an hour. River was sitting with his back to a tree, still sore from his fall from Brimstone's back. But his limbs were coming back to him.

"Yeah, I'm just riding this out." River said, looking over Vven's shoulder for the rest of the group. Vven was alone.

"Vven...." River began.

"So, did you like my performance, the Yelinak thing?" Vven cut in, chuckling. "Old old spell from my arsenal, Alliance. Cast it and the target sees you as one of its own race. I had no idea who she would see, that Yelinak crap I made up on the fly after she named me. Pretty decent performance tho, aye?" He beamed with self pride.

"Vven..." River repeated, slowly climbing to his feet.

"Oh, it walks! Congrats." Vven said, still absorbed in his role as Yelinak. "You know, I always had a talent for acting. Was going to be a bard before deciding on enchanter. Broke my mother's heart, which was a bonus. The first dark elf bard! I could act with the best of them, but I couldn't sing worth crap. Eventually got angry and killed my vocal coach. Pity. I wouldn't have to camp that damned Froglok ghoul assassin for the inky mask."

"VVEN." River interjected loudly. "Where are the others?"

"Oh, them?" Vven said. River just looked at him. "Well, I found them."

"And...?" River prompted.

"Well, my plan was to sneak up on them and scare the hell out of Whizbang. They were all together, they ran off pretty much in a straight line. I am just about to break my invisibility spell and give the old man a heart attack when they are suddenly surrounded by about 10 of those giants."

"Giants?" River said in alarm. "Walkers is on dragon faction..."

"I know, I know." Vven said. "Well, the giants' leader says 'Where are your papers?', and Pedi, anticipating the problem I guess, says papers were absconded by Wuoshi, whom they narrowly escaped after she realized they were Giant allies."

"Smart." River said.

"Aye." Vven said. "The giant actually bought it. So he asks their names, and I'm waiting for Hi, I'm Joe, and this is Mary, but Whizbang says, and I quote: 'I am Whizbang Dustyboots, gnomish sorcerer of the third rank, Baron of the Dragonscale Hills and wielder of the Staff of the Four! I am the scourge of the Teir'Dal, death incarnate to the Kromzek and ' ....well, you can imagine the rest." Vven paused, and then added, "Maybe he should just shorten it to Whizbang the Idiot."

River took a deep breath and said evenly, "Vven, where are they now?"

"Now?" Vven replied, "Now, in jail." River let out his breath as if punched. "You know, River..." Vven mused. "Everyone who hangs out with you ends up in jail. I'm sensing a pattern here..."

River ignored him, starting to march off the way Vven had come.

"Hold on hold on." Vven called after him. "Where are you going?"

"I'm giant allied, and I'm going to get them out." Riverdane called back over his shoulder.

"Ok, wait up." Vven said. "I'm coming with."

Riverdane stopped dead and turned to Vven. "No." he said simply.

"What no?" Vven cried, insulted.

"No, Vven." River repeated. "Dealing with giants is like juggling knives; you never know when you are going to slip and kill yourself. This will be a delicate enough situation without your mouth getting me killed."

"I've never been so insulted!" Vven exclaimed.

"Yes you have." River said curtly, turning back to the forest and marching off again. "Find Brimstone or something." And then he was done.

"Me, Vven Psyphon, reduced to a STABLEHAND." Vven spat to no one in particular. "Sure, Wyldechylde gets all the glory and Inky?....is alone."

The forest regarded him silently and did not answer.

[Riverdane]

Kael Drakkel...stronghold of the Kromriff and Kromzek Giants, palace of King Tormax, bane of the Claws of Veeshan and Coldain dwarves, pass between the lush Wakening Land and the frozen Eastern Wastes. Inhabited by a military force of storm and frost giants, winning the support of these untrusting behemoths was a long difficult task, but after presenting enough dragon heads as a gift, River, Nizzre, and the rest of Razor's Edge won papers for the majority of the guild, making what was a bloody battle ground for some a bank and haven for them. Ramluk was also free to pass, but on numerous occasions in the past, Ramluk carrying his papers was expecting just a little too much from a creature that emphatically will show you three fingers and proudly say "Two!". But Ramluk would be River's leverage to at least see the King.

Everything loomed large than life for River, walking through the frozen halls of Kael Drakkel. Amazing how outside the huge doors, where River had shown his papers to two guards playing dice in the warm afternoon sun, that the interior just past the doors could be so cold. But they liked it cold, the storm giants did. And they kept their home accordingly.

Allied or not, this place always made River feel uncomfortable. Huge drakkel wolves, chained with large linked restrainers to keep them tied to a post, lunged at him and bared their fangs. River knew that even if loose they would never attack without order, but the wolves' eyes seemed to say to him 'We don't care about any papers'. River gave them a wide berth.

As River passed one building, her heard an odd and familiar sound from it. The eerie sound of a flute carried across the frozen air. Deftly plucked mandolin strings balanced the sound beautifully, and a ironically familiar song sprang from equally familiar female lips. It was in its final verses, and the singer was performing it with a haunting sorrow. River felt his face flush red with emotion, warming him and at the same time making him feel as empty as a void.

"Nor questions later, months beyond
Where in the woods near Kithicor's ponds
To her screams and labored breath
She gives troubled birth and bleeds to death

And through her passing comes a chylde
with hair as black and eyes as wylde
And paladin raised, grew fine in form
Of blood and pain Riverdane is born."

Then....silence.

"SING THE ONE ABOUT THE NAKED COLDAIN WHORE!" one voice yelled, breaking the silence. The laughter of drunken giants followed.

"We'll be performing that in a few moments when we return," a weary human male voice said. "The band is going to take a five. When we get back, we'll do another round of 'Cold Ass Sally'....again."

As with the song and the female singer, River recognized the voice of the male. He turned toward the bar and entered.

[Riverdane]

River's eyes scanned the bar, but all he saw was a half dozen drunk giants, who ignored him as they tossed back huge mugs of beer. A hand lettered sign was on the wall, "Trinity--Appearing today and tomorrow ONLY". River approached the bartender, a burly giant with red hair twisted into two war braids, and tossed a platinum piece onto the bar.

"Where's the band?" he asked, looking up at the scowling giant.

"Papers, puny one." the giant growled. River fished into his armor, and took out a folded piece of parchment. He unfolded it and lay it on a dry section of the bar. The bartender glanced at it, scooped up the platinum piece, and motioned with his head to a door to the side of the bar.

"Back there," he said. "Make it quick, we don't pay them to stink up the place."

River nodded and refolded his papers and tucked them back into his armor. Then he made his way to the side door.

He could hear the voices as he approached.

"We have to get a new gig." the male voice said. "This place is dead. And the faction work to get in here is bumming me out, man."

"There are no new gigs." the female said. "I told you that a hundred times. No one is interested in music anymore. They're afraid to leave the house."

"Can you forage up some chips? I'm going nuts." said a third voice, also male.

"Yeah we need some chips or something." said the first man.

"I told you, I'm a half-elf, we can't forage." the woman said wearily.

"Well, you should have been the half that can forage!" the second man said.

There was a pause, and then all three started giggling. And then the sound of a cough. River swung open the door.

Smoke filled the room. Draped over the large couch like small dolls were two human males and a half-elven female. One of the males was in the process of passing a small, handrolled cigarette to the woman. The smell in the air was a sweet scent, unlike the acrid smoke from River's cigarettes. They didn't seem to notice his entrance.

"I thought I recognized these voices." River said loudly enough to be heard.

The effect was as if he had screamed in their ear. One of the men leapt up and fell off the couch. The woman started coughing and waving her hands in the air, trying to disperse the smoke. And the second man flipped the lit cigarette into his mouth, and with a grimace, swallowed. He skin took on a pale green hue.

As the smoke cleared, the man on the floor peered at him.

"Wow, it's like...River." he said.

"Hello, Thallas." River said, reaching down to pull the man to his feet. "Sorry I barged in like that."

"Wow, River." the woman said. "This is trippy."

"I'm feeling a little 'trippy' myself, Katarin." River said.

"Man," the last man said. "I thought you were a guard or something. I ate the smoke man." He looked decidely ill.

"Sorry Kaosmos." River said. "I thought you gave this crap up tho, when you joined Razor."

"Oh, yeah, um.....I figured, one more time, you know. Since I was with Kat and Thallas and all." Kaosmos attempted lamely, looking at the others for support.

"Yeah right." Katarin giggled. "You brought it."

"Yeah, thanks Kaos." Thallas said. "I needed it, this place bums me out."

River regarded all three bards fondly. The lingering smoke in the air was making him a little dizzy, so he sat down and looked at them.

"We have a little problem." River said. "Whizbang is captured here."

"Bummer," Thallas said sadly. "The Boss."

"The Boss." Katarin agreed sadly.

"Not cool the Boss is locked up." Kaosmos added morosely.

The Boss. Odd thing about these three bards. Kaosmos was currently a member of Razor's Edge, Thallas from Walkers, and Katarin from Promethian Order. Yet all were Walkers at one point, before their separate lives and careers brought them to different venues. All worked for Whizbang. And even to this day, the wizened gnome was still "The Boss".

"I need to see King Tormax and get him out."

"No dice, man." Thallas said, shaking his head. "Tormax isn't in."

"Yeah, dude." Kaos said, "You gotta deal with Mr. Cranky."

"Bad news." Katarin said.

"Real bad." Thallas added.

"Got any chips?" Kaosmos asked.

"No chips." River said. "Mr. Cranky would be....who?"

"I could use some chips." Katarin said. "Thallas, you sure you didn't bring any?"

Thallas was rummaging through his pack. "Chips, chips. Nope, no chips." he said.

"Guys, guys." River said impatiently. "Who's Mr. Cranky?"

"Wait!" Thallas exclaimed, peering into the bag.

"Vindi, man." Katarin said to River.

"Chips??" Kaosmos cried hopefully.

"No." Thallas said.

"Bummer." Katarin said.

"Vindi." River repeated unhappily. "Lovely."

"Roach!" Thallas said, holding up a small half-smoked cigarette.

"Woot!" Kaosmos exclaimed. He and Katarin gathered around Thallas, all three giggling at nothing in particular. River didn't even look at them as he began to leave. Vindi. How difficult was this going to be.

"Bye guys, thanks for the info." River called over his shoulder.

"Bye Riv." Katarin said.

"Later Riv." Thallas added.

"Got any chips?" Kaosmos said suddenly, looking for River.

But River was gone.

[Riverdane]

"GET OUT!" the voice boomed. River stopped dead in his tracks.

The rest of the bar was empty, chairs tilted back at angles that suggested they had been vacated rather abruptly. At the bar, he could see the huge back of Derakor, the Vindicator. Vindi to his associates and enemies. To his friends...well, Vindi had no friends. But he did have a temper. And that temper and alcohol tended to mix....explosively. Vindi hated everybody.

The bartender quaked in fear, the bottle he was attempting to pour for Vindi sloshing liquid all over the bar as he attempted to steady his trembling hands. With onesweep of his massive arm, Vindi sent glasses, bottles, cutlery crashing to the floor and snatched the bottle from the bartender's faulty grip.

"I...said....GET OUT!" Vindi bellowed. The bartender needed no further prompting. He left the building not looking once over his shoulder. Vindi growled to himself and tipped the bottle to his lips.

Now or never, River. He began to tiptoe quietly towards the exit.

Vindi paused, sniffing.

Crap. River halted his breath, and slipped to the floor, eyes rolled back. He appeared very much dead.

Vindi drew himself erect and turned fully, lumbering ominously towards River's prone position on the floor. His voice was the snarl of a predatory bear coming upon fresh meat.

"Fee...fie....fo...whatever." Vindi said menacingly. He leaned over River, so close that he could smell Vindi's last dinner. It smelled of charred flesh. It made River want to gag. Or scream. Or both.

"You know," Vindi purred like a tiger. "A monk from Eternal Advocates once tried to feign death luring me out. Do you know what I found out about iksar?" Vindi paused. River's heart skipped a beat.

"TASTES JUST LIKE CHICKEN!" Vindi bellowed directly into his ear. River felt as if his eardrums had exploded. He winced despite himself, and at the first sign of movement, Vindi picked him up and dangled him in front of him like a doll.

"So, little idiot, I wonder what human tastes like?" Vindi said.

"I have papers!" River tried lamely.

"I don't need no stinking papers!" Vindi laughed harshly. "You picked the wrong bar, human."

"Listen, Mr. Crank...Vind...Derakor..." River stammered. "I'm just in Kael to have audience with King Tormax and I'm out of here."

"The only way you're out of anywhere is leaving my body with the rest of my offal." Vindi commented, sitting River on the bar roughly. "But first, a pre-dinner drink. Move and I'll break your legs so you can't." River did not doubt it for an instant. He was paralyzed with fear. Vindi started tipping the bottle to his lips.

"Sir?" a voice from outside said suddenly. "Are you in there?"

"What is it?" Vindi snapped, putting down the bottle irritably.

"We...um had a prison break, Sir, but the prisoners were caught." the voice called hesitantly. "We wanted to know what you wanted us to do with them since the jail is apparently not secure."

"Send them in here!" Vindi commanded, "Then leave me alone! I'm trying to drink!"

The door swung open, and through it were pushed the gnomes, Ramluk, Verdad, and a stranger, a dark elven woman with a purple scarf tied into her hair. Her exotic purple eyes darted all around the room, checking for all means of escape.

"River!" Whizbang exclaimed, spotting River sitting miserably on the bar. "With the help of this woman we were able to get out of the cell, but then Ramluk..."

"Me gassy." Ramluk said sadly.

"...and the noise brough half the Kromriff in the place down on us." Pedi finished.

"SHADDUP!" Vindi yelled, turning to face them. "Can't a giant drink in PEACE?" The sight of the Vindicator froze them all like possum before a racing carriage.

"On the bar, all of you." Vindi commanded. They hesitated. "NOW!"

One by one, they scrambled up barstools and took their places on the bar next to River. The two women flanked him.

"And you would be....?" River softly asked the dark elf.

"Runiko." she said. "Tho had I known getting your friends out would put me in front of Vindi..."

"She used my hairpins to pick the lock." Pedi informed River.

A rogue, River thought, filing away the information for future reference. If there WAS a future.

Vindi was looking at them each in turn.

"Gnome, gnome, human, darkelf, ogre, high elf.", he contemplated. "One two three four five six." He frowned. "Just shy of a seven course meal." His face grew thoughtful. "Although, I could eat the band for dessert." The bottle tipped up to his lips again.

"Vindi," Verdad said suddenly. "May I call you Vindi?"

"No." Vindi said flatly.

"Vindi," Verdad continued on obliviously. Whizbang winced. "Are you a gambling man?"

"Verdad..." River began. Verdad didn't seem to hear him. He was just watching Derakor.

"Yeah, so what?" Vindi said, bringing the still unquaffed bottle to his lips. "Shut up, elf, before I use your spine to pick my teeth."

"And by the way you're hugging that bottle," Verdad continued quickly, "I bet you fancy yourself quite the drinker."

Vindi raised an eyebrow. "No one can consume more spirits than me. No one."

"I'm sure that's true of the rather weak-livered storm giants." Verdad agreed readily. "But I bet you never had a drinking contest against a high elf."

"They don't call them high for nothing," Whizbang whispered between clenched teeth. "Verdad, are you HIGH?"

"Sssh." Verdad hissed back. "I once dated this wood elf bartender from Kelethin. I know what I'm doing." Then he turned full volume to the incredulous Vindi. "Well, have you?"

Vindi let out a long nasty guffaw. "You mean you think you can outdrink ME?" he laughed.

"Well, yes, I do." Verdad went on like a carnival barker. Ramluk just sat staring at him blankly. "I think that I could beat you in a drinking contest. In fact, I am SO confident I can that I am willing to risk the lives of me and my five companions here on that wager."

"Their lives were forfeit the moment they entered this bar." Vindi reminded him.

"Sooooooooo, you're afraid you'll lose, huh?" Verdad said, shaking his head sadly. "Wait till the people in bars across Norrath hear Vindi was afraid to have a drinking contest against a high elf. The shame, the shame...."

"Me? Afraid of losing to YOU?" Another long laugh. "Alright, little white elf. You are either an idiot or insane. But I will take your bet."

"And if I win we can go free? All of us?" Verdad said quickly.

"Yeah yeah yeah." Vindi said. "Whatever elf. You will not win."

"We shall see." Verdad said lightly. "We shall see. Alright, I'm going to request standard ale. But since you're such a big man, I'm going to suggest Dragon Fire for you."

Dragon Fire. Some of the most vile, potent stuff served.

"Dragon Fire gives me the runs." Vindi said.

Verdad sighed. "Ok, Mr. I-can-drink-a-high-elf-under-the table, if you're afraid to try DragonFire..."

"Vindi is not afraid to drink ANYTHING!" Vindi barked, anger creasing his brow. "Dragon Fire it is."

"Good!" Verdad exclaimed. He pulled three mugs off their hooks, each the size of his head, pitchers to a normal man, and began filling them with ale from the tap. He lined them up on the table, and then took a large black bottle from the bar and and started filling three shotglasses the size of water glasses full of a darkish liquid with steam rising from it. River's eyes watered even at a distance.

"Ok." Verdad finished, putting down the bottle. "You have but to drink those three shots before I finish these three mugs."

"Easy enough, dinner." Vindi said, reaching towards the shotglasses. "Say go, human."

"One minute...." Verdad interjected. "Not that I don't trust you, Vindi, but just for the sake of coutesy, let's make one thing clear. You are not to touch my glass and I won't touch yours. Deal?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Vindi said. "Say go, human."

River stared at Verdad sadly, who just winked at him.

"Go." River said.

Verdad lifted the huge mug to his lips and started chugging back the ale. Huge gulps he took, consuming it at a rather quick rate. Vindi, on the other hand, tossed back his first shot in two seconds. Smoke wafted from his mouth, and Vindi paused a moment, his grip on the bar tightening. But that was the only sign of hesitation. Verdad was only two-thirds done with the first mug when Vindi lifted the second shot to his lips and drank it down. Tears ran from the giants eyes, and a gurgle rose in the back of his throat, and he swayed. Verdad meanwhile, not looking too well himself, was just finishing his first ale. Vindi looked at the high elf, who was turning decided green, and smiled meanly. Verdad looked like he was ready to fall over.

"Not looking to good, elf." Vindi said, putting down his second glass. He reached for his third.

With as coordinated a motion as he could muster, Verdad took his empty mug in both hands, and slammed it down upside down over Vindi's last shotglass, completely covering it.

"Bah." Vindi said, going to lift the mog from over his shot. "Looks like you lose, elf."

"Uh uh uh." Verdad said warningly, shaking his head in drunken negation. Vindi paused. Verdad reached for the second mug.

"What 'uh uh uh'?" Vindi said, reaching again to remove the mug.

"No touching my glass." Verdad said, and belched. He began drinking from the second mug.

"What?" Vindi said, hand about to lift the mug from its spot over his shotglass. "How am I supposed to get my..."

"No no no." Verdad said singsong. He tapped Vindi's hand. Vindi recoiled as if slapped. "We made a deal. No touching the other guys glasses. Now if you'll excuse me..." Verdad began draining the second ale with a grimace.

"YOU CHEATED!" Vindi roared, standing up.

"Great Verdad." Whizbang hissed, "Now we get to see him go from mildly annoyed to INSANELY PISSED!"

"CHEATER!" Vindi cried again, still swaying from the alcohol. "I eat YOU first!" He reached for the drunken Verdad.

"WHAT are you doing!" called a voice from the other end of the bar.

Vindi turned. Verdad turned. They all turned.

There was Vven, with his hands on his hips.

"Momma?" Vindi blinked in surprise.

"Vve...?" Ramluk started, until a jab in the ribs from River shut him up.

"SONNY!" Vven said, rolling his eyes, voice going up two octaves.

"What in Hells...." Whizbang began.

"Alliance." River said, naming the spell. "Long story."

"Momma!" Vindi repeated, looking at a spot fifteen feet above Vven's head. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you," Vven said in that high voice, "And what do I find? You playing with your food again!"

"Awww Momma..." Vindi said, obviously awed by whatever he was seeing. "I wasn't playing with ..."

"Did I hear you make a deal with that appetizer over there?" Vven said suddenly, pointing to Verdad.

"Well, yes, Momma, but he chea..." Vindi began defensively.

"Didn't your father and I always teach you to uphold your deals?" Vven said sternly.

"But Momma, Daddy's been dead since I was born. You told me you clubbed him to deathw hen you found him with that Kromriff stripper and...."

"Whatever." Vven said. "Didn't I always tell you to uphold your deals?"

"Well yes..." Vindi said miserably.

"Then do the right thing!" Vven said shrilly. "Let them go, and I'll cook you your favorite....something."

"Well, if you say so, Momma." Vindi said dejectedly.

Suddenly the back door swung open.

"Hey, does anyone have any chips?" Kaosmos said in a daze, stumbling out. "Or peanuts, or someth..." He stopped suddenly, as his eyes took in the scene. "Far out." he murmured.

"Now, be a good boy and let these things go." Vven recovered, after a startled pause at Kaos' entrance.

"Ok, Momma." Vindi said sadly. "You can go now." With a sigh of relief, they began climbing down off the bar.

"Thallas, Katarin!" Kaosmos called, freezing them in their positions of climbing down. "You gotta see this! Vindi is acting all spaced out, and there's this dark el..."

A long chord was struck on a mandolin as Thallas came out of the room, and a blue light pulsed from the instrument. Kaosmos' eyes flashed the same blue light and then went vacant, as he stood there, drooling. Katarin's beautiful voice began to hum a familiar tune, as Thallas looked at Whizbang squarely.

"And now ladies and gentlemen," Thallas said, motioning to the door to Whizbang with his eyes. "As promised, live in Kael Drakkel, Trinity's rendition of 'Cold Ass Sally'!" Kaosmos stood quietly mesmerized as Katarin began to sing.

"Um, ok, get them going!" Vven said quickly. "Go now, shoo, little things!"

Whizbang thanked Thallas with a nod and a smile to Katarin and drew Pedi by the arm toward the door.

"Guards!" Vindi called to the door.

"Yes, Derakor sir?" came a timid voice from the other side.

"Escort the prisoners to the borders and see them off."

"Safely." Vven added.

"Safely." Vindi repeated.

"Whatever you want, sir!" came the quick reply.

Riverdane held open the door, and pushed them all out, Runiko in tow, and gave Vven a look of amazement.

"And as for me," Vven said, twirling a finger in his hair. "I'm going to start cooking up that meal I promised you. You just wait right here and...finish your drink."

And with that Vven walked out the door, River closing it behind him.

Vindi, scowling now that he was out of his Vven's gaze, lifted the mug off the last glass of Dragon Fire. With an angry toss, he shattered the mug against the wall and kicked back the last shot of the steaming liquor.

And the band played on.

[Riverdane]

Standing on the marshy banks of the water that surrounded the entrance to the Plane of Growth, the company finally felt out of the cold shadow of Kael Drakkel.

They had found Brimstone a short way away from the citadel, and moved determinedly through the forest towards the plane's entrance, each feeling the pressure of time on every step. Verdad slowed them down a bit, moving noisily with drunken steps through the brush. Vven was up in front, effortlessly floating through tree and vine, as they came to the banks of the lake. Runiko stayed about three feet behind him the entire way, eyes constantly on him, filled with awe since their narrow escape from the Vindicator. And no words were spoken among any of them, until they came to a stop there on the shore.

Verdad broke the silence.

"So, Runi, what are you doin' next Friday night?" he ask woozily.

She turned to face the swaying high elf. "I told you already in the cell, I don't like white meat."

"Oh." Verdad said sadly. "Excuse me."

And with that he we behind a nearby tree and puked up his guts.

"There's the bridge." River said, pointing to the carved stone bridge that spanned the waters to the tower that housed the portal to the Plane of Growth. A few satyr patrolled the outside, half man, half goat, and in the shadows of the trees, if you looked close you could see the lithe form of dryads running between them.

"Inky stays here." Vven said. "And so should Runiko and ogga over there. The Bitch Mother doesn't like we of the darker disposition."

"I shouldn't even go." River said, "Shadowknights aren't exactly on her list of visitors either, at least for welcomed guests. But I don't have much choice."

"As fun as it's been," Runiko said lightly, attempting to ignore the sound of Verdad's illness. "I think it's time I head back to Neriak."

"Runiko, thank you for getting them out of the cell." River said. "We wouldn't be alive had not your escape brought us all together. Is there anyway I can repay you?" He reached for his sidebag of coin.

"No, I have lots of money." she said. "Comes with the job. Do you have any pretty things?"

"Only his wife." Verdad commented from the woods, and then was sick again.

"I'm afraid not." River said.

"Well, that's ok." Runiko said, eyeing each one of them with those purple eyes of hers. "It was a pleasure to help, and without Pedi's hairpins, I'd be rotting in that cell right along with you."

Riverdane regarded her for a moment. "No," he said, "Somehow I doubt you would have remained there long."

"Goodbye, everyone." Runiko said with a wave. And then she knelt down quickly before Pedi and embraced her tightly. "Thank you for the loan of the hair pins, little sister." she said softly. Then she straightened up, took a step backwards, and....disappeared.

Verdad came out of the woods wiping his mouth and looking greener than before. "Amazing," he said. "Men meet for the first time and want to cut each other's throats. Women meet and suddenly they're family."

"It's a girl thing." Pedi said.

"Not teir'dal girls." Vven said to himself.

"Feeling better Verdad?" Pedi asked, looking at the high elf's waxen complexion.

"Not one of my finer moments," Verdad said. "But I'll live."

"Alright then." River said, swinging down off Brimstone's back. "I'll take Whizbang, Pedi and Verdad with me to see Tunare and beg for "Natural flame" to burn Terris' tear in. Vven, you and Ramluk stay out here with Brimstone....I don't know how the fauna of the Plane of Growth will react to a damned stallion."

"Me play with horse when you gone?" Ramluk asked River, excitement lighting his dull gaze.

"I'd like the horse alive when I return, Ram, so....no." River said.

"Kk." Ramluk said sadly.

River led the way across the bridge, Verdad in the back with the two gnomes in between. The satyrs growled softly as he passed, but none stepped to block his way. Up into the tower they climbed, higher and higher, until they found a strange odd twisted growth glowing at the top. River peered over the edge of the tower, seeing Ramluk and Vven near the stallion off in the distance. Behind them, sinking below the foilage, was the setting sun. Another day disappearing into night. Another day ticked off like seconds in a race to save the world. Each passing hour felt like a weight, and each night felt like impending doom. And beyond the sense of oblivion, of all life ending, River could only feel one thing: the incredible emptiness of his soul, his heart yearning for his wife. River turned toward the portal to Growth and touched it, urgent to be progressing with his quest.

Time was not his friend.

[Riverdane]

Breathtaking beauty.

This is the only way to describe the Plane of Growth. Nature unleashed in all its spendor, the land was a riot of life, trees rising to dizzying heights, lush flora, perfect skies, deep grass, the smell of....life. Sounds were everywhere, the breathing animals, the croaking of the frogs, the cry of birds high up in the trees. You could get a sense of motion here, from everything....everything was alive, everything thriving. Riverdane held his breath as his eyes took in the beauty of the landscape.

Across the rolling hills, a creature was approaching at a rather alarming rate. Closer and closer it drew, until River could see it to be a horse, pure white, with a long golden horn attached to its forehead, protruding out like a gold spike. Behind it, kinging up dirt came a whole herd of unicorns, but this one was the healthiest specimen of the lot, tho all seemed to be in pristine shape. And clinging to its back, like a small doll, was a wood elf woman, dressed in a simple green cloth dress, red tresses flowing back in the wind as the herd approached. She effortlessly brough the unicorn in when within speaking distance, and the herd stopped as one. She sprung down from the horses back and regarded them without fear.

"I am Duir, Milord Hate." she said. "We've been expecting you." Her hand caressed the side of the unicorn's neck while she awaited Riverdane's reply.

"We come to see Tunare." Riverdane said. "Do I seek audience with her through you?"

"Aye." Duir replied, "I am a druid in Her service, and have lived here many years doing Her bidding. It was Her will that I bring you to Her. Please, climb astride the unicorns. The way to Her tree is long, and the 'corns will guide you there swiftly and with steady hoof."

River eyed the pack of unicorns. Something in the way they shied from his gaze made him think the only steady hoof would be the one kicking him down, but did not voice his concern. the unicorns regarded the gnomes and Verdad calmly enough for him to put aside his own fears.

"Thank you, Duir, we accept Tunare's hospitality." he said formally.

And after setting the gnomes atop the smallest of the unicorns, River and Verdad mounted two, and Duir climbed back onto her own steed.

"So, Duir...." Verdad drawled, looking better than he had. The air, River supposed. "Maybe after this we could go riding...."

"Onward!" Duir called, spurring her unicorn forward, ignoring him.

"Not my week." Verdad muttered, and with a mind of its own, his unicorn began following Duir across the plains.

[Riverdane]

Onward.

Across the plains they rode, past giant bear and prowling wolf, through shaded glen inhabited by strange stick men, both tiny and enormous in variety of size. Past green and golden wisps that moved about for some purpose known only to them. Past sprites and faeries and other magical creatures, all pausing in their daily routine to see the black knight astride a unicorn and his entourage pass through. Odd days, these, they thought. Odd days indeed.

Over pebbles, over a stream, past a gorgeous waterfall, water cascading like molten silver down to pool into a glittering foam. The unicorns moved of their own will, but River found himself with head turned over shoulder as he watched the waterfall disappear into the distance, imagining himself and Camille at its bottom, looking up at the sun. But the only place his wife lay was on a cold bed in the center of Hate, unmoving, with the fate of the world resting on the opening of her eyes. He blinked back tears and turned forward again, not having the strength to look backward a second time.

Into an area dense with trees they rode, and the shadows and limbs began to block out the sun, as it grew darker and darker the further they progressed into the deep wood. The trees were large and thick, and old...so old. You could feel the age of the ancient wood. And River could feel something else. These trees could smell the taint of Innoruuk in his blood, and they didn't like it. Not one bit. His feelings of being watched with malice grew every yard Duir led them into the wood.

And then....the largest tree he had ever seen in his life.

Into the heavens it spiralled, its trunk massive, the width of his guildhouse or greater. Moss clung to its sides like large green sheets, and a fungus of some sort encircled it, forming a wide ledge that ran in circled up and up and up into the heights, a walkway to ascend the tree to its upper reaches. Duir pulled in her unicorn and dismounted lithely.

"From here, we go up by foot." she said, lifting Pedi down from the back of her unicorn. "It is high in the branches, the home of my Mother, but it is not far if we do not pause."

Whizbang looked up from the base of the tree with a frown. "We gnomes prefer the ground, Lady Duir." he said uncertainly. "Is it safe?"

Duir chuckled lightly. "With the blessings of the Mother, it is as safe as Ak'Anon for you, milord gnome." she said. "And if you were in ill-favor with the Mother, not even tinkered wings would save you from the plummet she would force upon you."

"Reassuring." River murmured.

"We climb." Duir said, stepping onto the mushroom ramp and circling up and around the tree.

And the company began its ascent.

[Riverdane]

Verdad stood gaping openly. Whizbang nudged his knee.

"Pick up your jaw, lover boy." he whispered fiercely.

Tunare.

The Goddess of Nature, the Mother of All, stood gazing at them in all her beauty. Green flowing robes draped her as if part of her body. Golden hair flowed down to the small of her back. The pointed ears of the high elven and the slanted cant of her eyes were the only thing that spoke of elven, the rest of her was....more. She exuded power, both a gentle will and a destructive force made physical. Her eyes seemed to dare a mortal to tell her a lie. For Mother would know all.

"You have arrived, Mortal Hate." Tunare said with a rich, feminine voice. Low in pitch, but female. DEFINITELY female.

"You have expected me." River said, his voice tembling slightly, such was his awe.

"Yes, word travels fast of End Game," she said, "...and the birds speak to me when I wish to hear of the mortal world. I know where you have been, and I know why you have come. I wish I had the power to know where you will be going, but alas, only Terris knows at all, and, forgive me, Terris isn't speaking."

"Then you know what I need to do." River said, not a question, but an opening for her to proceed.

"Aye, I do." Tunare said, "But first, your Company is not complete. I shall summon them to us."

A wave of her hand, and materializing before them on the platform high in the tree, appeared Brimstone, Ramluk, and Vven. They were frozen in shock.

"What in Hells....?" Vven sputtered, coming out of his surprise. Then he took in Tunare and snarled.

"Welcome to my home, Vven Psyphon." Tunare said formally. "You are the first teir'dal to come here unmolested in the history of your race."

"Charmed, I'm sure." Vven said nastily, pacing around on the platform, looking around the interior of the tree. "Love what you've done with the place. Get many termites?"

"Vven..." River said warningly, but Vven ignored him.

"So, Tunare. You know, I always wanted to try this..." he stopped pacing, and floated over to her and looked her straight in the eye.

"Where are the phat lewtz?" he asked with an evil smile.

Tunare did not flinch, though her green eyes dilated slightly. "Even if you were alive, dark elf, I would not deathtouch you for that question. I have opened my home to your Company, however cursed they may be by your inclusion in it."

"They love me." Vven smirked.

"Forgive my hateful companion, Tunare." River said, not looking at Vven. "We suffer his company because we must, by nature of the Prophecy." Vven looked wounded.

"I forgive all," Tunare said, "Strange times call for strange bedfellows. Speak your desire of me, Mortal Hate."

River did not hesitate. "I need to burn a tear in Natural flame."

Duir cried out suddenly from the back, a low moan of despair. But River could not turn to look at her. His focus was fully on Tunare and her impending answer.

"Do you know what you ask of me?" she asked, voice dropping almost to a whisper. The question frightened River, in her tone, not the words.

"No." Riverdane said honestly. "I don't know at all."

"No." she repeated. "Of course not, my boy. Who could know?" Somehow, a woman that appeared younger than he calling him boy did not strike him odd at all. River felt....very young before the goddess. Like a child.

There was a long pause. Uncomfortable. River did not now what to make of it, so he broke the silence.

"Will you help me?" he asked.

Tunare gazed at him, face solemn.

"Yes." she said.

"Thank you." River said, exhaling held breath.

"Duir, my child." Tunare called to the red headed wood elf. Duir stepped forward.

"Begin the flame."

Duir's eyes were filled with tears. "I cannot, Mother." she whispered.

"You cannot? Or WILL not?" Tunare said, suddenly angry, very angry. Her voice built in volume, as she stared the young druid down. "You would rather have one of these men, these wizards, begin Natural Flame? Have you no pride to serve your Mother, druid, in the time the world needs it the most? Do you dare defy the WILL OF NATURE?"

Duir cowered before the goddess, almost pushed back by the weight of her words. The others, even Vven, were caught in the power of Tunare. It was frightening to behold.

With a shrug of her shoulders, Tunare's robes fell to pool at her feet, exposing her body for all to see. Her form was magnificent, breasts full of mother's milk, stomach extended as if pregnant with child, and no navel, no navel at all. In her nakedness she was awe inspiring, and terrifying, and beautiful. There was nothing sexual in nature about her, and they gazed without shame upon her form. Her body began to glow with a greenish light.

"Oh my..." Verdad began.

"Shut up." Whizbang finished, sheilding his eyes as the glow glew blinding.

"BEGIN NATURAL FLAME, MY DAUGHTER." Tunare demanded. Her feet suddenly lost form and became twisted and mishapened, bark forming on top of the skin. The feet themselves begame great roots, which bore into the platform to become one with the wood. "I AM TUNARE, MOTHER OF ALL..." Her torso stretched up, up, growing more solid. Her arms outstretched, and her fingers enlongating to branches, her hair filling with leaves, as she grew taller....taller.... "AND BY MY WILL, DAUGHTER, MY WILL BE DONE!"

"Forgive me Mother." Duir cried, hands beginning to burn with druid fire.

"You are forgiven." Tunare's voice floated down softly from the top of the tree she had become.

"I am damned." Duir said miserably, and touched her hands to the trunk of Tunare.

LIGHT.

Brilliant blazing light, as Tunare caught fire and began to burn. Moans of pain came from within the flames. And outside, a high pitched scream. Vven stepped out onto the ramp outside and glanced down.

The scream was rising in pitch, and Ramluk clapped his hands over his ears, eyes wild like an animal, making little noises as he rocked himself back and forth. River was horrified by the entire scene.

"What is happening here?" Riverdane demanded, grabbing Duir by the shoulders. "What is that screaming? What is this?"

"The 'corns..." Duir began sadly.

"...The unicorns are screaming." Vven said, coming back in. "They are circling the tree, running around and around."

"And they will until it is over." Duir ended.

"Until what is over?" River asked. Whizbang went to look over the edge at the unicorns, while River waited for Duir's answer.

"Burn your tear." Duir begged, "Please, now, and finish your quest. For Tunare will burn until you are done..."

"The other trees..." Whizbang called from the ledge. "They are changing, somehow...."

"They are rotting." Duir answered. "While the Mother burns, all nature will slowly rot. All life will slowly end. Please make haste!"

"Pedi." River said, turning to her. Pedi was searching frantically through her pack. "Where is the..."

"It's gone!" Pedi cried. "It was in this pack I know it! I even took it out in the cell in Kael to make sure..."

"The tear is gone??" River exclaimed.

"Yes!" Pedi looked ready to cry. "It was here River, and now it's..."

" 'Do you have any pretty things?' she said back there." Vven said suddenly.

"What?" River asked, snapping his head toward Vven.

"I KNEW teir'dal women do not hug in 'sisterhood'!" Vven exclaimed. "Runiko, the rogue! She was picking Pedi's pockets!"

"The rogue!" River exclaimed through the screams of the unicorns down below. "Where did she go to?"

"Neriak, she said." Verdad answered over Ramluk's frightened moans. "She said she was going to Neriak."

River swung atop Brimstone's back. "Stay here, all of you." he said. "I am going to get that tear."

Vven placed his hands on Brimstone's flank. "Not without me you're not."

"Vven..." River said, going to remove Vven's hand. His own hand passed through Vven's as if not there.

"This is no Misty Thicket you're going to, River." Vven said simply. "This is my hometown. And you're going to need a guide. You're in my world now, human."

"Make stop!" Ramluk wailed, tightening his grip over his ears and closing his eyes as if that would shut out the sound of the screaming unicorns. "Miss Pedi make stop!"

Without further question, Brimstone's nostrils blew smoke, and River and Vven disappeared.

[Riverdane]

"He's with me."

The two guards at the gate to Neriak in the Nektulos forest just nodded to Vven, and River followed Vven warily through.

"Just like that?" River asked, eyebrow raised, when they were beyond the guards.

"I'm rather well known here." Vven replied, moving deeper through the darkening halls.

"Wait." River called, groping in the dark. He murmured an incantation, and his eyes began to glow violet. Things took on an odd blue hue in the gloom, as River's spell let him pick out ultraviolet radiation. Vven waited impatiently. "Alright, following you." River said, more comfortable now that he could see.

The outer limits of Neriak was, in simple terms, a slum.

"This is where you live?" River asked in distaste, walking past mounds of garbage just laying strewn in the gutters. The surrounding dwellings were now more than battered shacks pressed up against each other. Gibbering and odd gutteral words would break the silence as they passed by.

"Every city has it trash." Vven said defensively. "But no, I live deeper in the city. What you are passing throgh now are the Foreign Quarters, where the inferior races that follow Innoruuk are permitted to stay. It's gotten quite crowded since the frogloks reclaimed Grobb from the trolls. And there went the neighborhood."

A rat scurried across River's foot startling him. Vven tapped his foot, and River fell back into step behind him. Ahead in the distance, River could see another more opulent gate flanked with more guards--the city proper, he imagined. But suddenly Vven veered off to the left, guiding River through a maze of broken-down hovels, deeper and deeper into the Foreign Quarter. Before long River was completely lost, turning left and right until direction lost meaning for him.

"Where are we going, Vven? There isn't much ti..."

"Trust me." Vven replied curtly. "A rogue like Runiko isn't going to leave a trace where she goes, it's just the nature of rogues. And Neriak is easy to get lost in, as you may attest." He turned left, then right again. "We're going to see an old shaman friend of mine. He's a lunatic, but he sees everything coming and going into Neriak. Just let me do the talking and we'll find out where she is soon enough."

"Somehow, the idea that your friends are lunatics seems very plausible." River commented.

Vven scowled. "You're with me, aren't you?" he asked. River had no reply for that one.

Another few turns, and Vven suddenly stopped. The growl of a canine rose from a rather disgusting shack. And then the sound of flatuence, as loud as a whipcrack. And then....the stink.

"Scurg!" Vven called through the glassless window of the hut. "That you I smell in there?"

Another fart, and then a high, demented laugh. "Kekekekekekek" it chortled. "Who be you?"

"Vven Psyphon." Vven replied. "And a...friend."

"Ahhh, kekeke, you be TWO, that's who be you!" the voice called from within. "Come in, come in, we'll sit a spin!"

"Let's enter." Vven said, pushing the door inward. River frowned and walked into the stink.

There, in the corner, stirring a pot of steaming something over a fire, was a green, slimy, horrifying looking troll. A mangy dog bared its teeth at them as they entered, but the dogs owner seemed pleased to have company. He stirred the pot quickly and leapt to his feet.

"Hello Scurg." Vven said. "Long time."

"Vven!" Scurg said exuberantly, passing wind for what seemed to be forever. When the noise has subsided, Scurg went on. "I heard you lost your head and decided to stay dead!"

"Somehow I am not surprised you heard." Vven said.

"Who's your friend? A little pale for you, yesyes?" Scurg said, giving River a quick once over.

"Riverdane Wyldechylde." Vven replied. River nodded a hello, and glanced down into the pot. Something unrecognizable floated to the surface of the boiling water, and then sunk down below the bubbling surface. River's stomach turned.

"Ah, the Dane, the Dane! The bearer of pain!" Scurg chuckled. "Have some dinner with a poor trollie, your excellency?"

"You know of me?" River asked in surprise. Scurg farted in response.

"Son on Inny, and way too skinny!" Scurg said, then that Kekekekkekeke laugh again. "All of Neriak knows their new god, yesyes!"

"That's good, then." River said.

"Or bad." Vven commented, brow furrowing in thought.

"Please, eat with Scurg!" Scurg begged, stirring his pot. "Hmm, needs more. Carrots I think." His eyes darted around the empty room. "No carrots! Have any carrots?"

"Um, no." River said, attempting to hold his breath. Scurg was farting again rather regularly.

"No carrots, hmmm." Scurg said. "Needs something more! Maybe....yes! More fingers!"

And with a speed that had River defensively reaching for his sword, Scurg picked up a large knife and neatly cut off three of his own fingers. River gaped in shock.

"One for flavor!" Scurg cackled, tossing it into the pot. "One for a little more meat!" In went another finger. "And the last for you, Stinky!" he said to the dog, tossing the third digit ono the floor. The dog greedily gobbled it up.

"You're mad." River commented sickly.

"No, I'm not upset!" Scurg laughed, holding up his mutilated hand. "They'll grow back, see??" And sure enough, his green fingers were slowly reforming, pushing out of the severed stumps.

"I'll pass on dinner, thank you." River said, turning away.

"Scurg," Vven interjected. "I came for something other than dinner. The rogue, Runiko. Do you know her?"

Scurg continued to stir the pot, his crazed eyes darting everywhere. "Aye, Scurg sees all, Scurg knows all, kekekekeke!"

"Is she in the city, Scurg?" Vven asked.

"She come back to city today yes. She made mention of hitting bar in Neriak Down Under to a friend tonight!"

"Thank you Scurg. That's perfect." Vven said.

"Thank you." River said, turning to the door.

With incredible speed, the troll suddenly reached out and grabbed River by the shoulders, pulling him close to his misshapened face. His breath stunk of rot. River's sword came up in defense, the tip pushing dangerously hard under the troll's chin.

"Back off troll." River growled. The dog stood, hackles up, snarling, and began barking at River. But there was no fear in the troll's eyes, which had suddenly become very lucid.

"Word of warning, River godling!" Scurg chortled. "Remember, in time of need do like the troll shammie do! You are what you eat, Riverman! You are what you eat! Scurg see all! Even that not yet to be seen! Kekekekekekekkeeekkkeekek!"
And with that he released River, and went back to his pot, still laughing like a crazy man.

"Let's get out of here." River said.

"Onions!" Scurg said, gripping his knife. He stared pointedly at his own foot. "Soup needs onions!"

Before Scurg could find his onion substitute, they left.

[Riverdane]

River looked up at the side of the building in shock. Vven just looked disgusted.

There, on the brickface of the shop in the city proper they stood next to, was River's likeness, painted in crisp detail and over 20 feet tall.

"Well," Vven commented, "They didn't waste much time."

"What is this?" River asked, gaping up at the likeness of himself. It looked exactly like him, down to his armor and weapons, but his eyes held a malicious glint, and his smile was...evil.

"Innoruuk's image used to be on this building, but, well, Inny's gone." Vven said. "Now they have a new god. Word seems to have spread fast. I'd be surprised if there was a single person in the Neriak Commons that didn't recognize you."

"But the guards out front...."

"Have probably been there for some time River. Look. At that building over there." And Vven pointed to another, where a likeness of River carrying the severed head of a dwarf in one bloody hand stood over a pile of corpses. "You must have some agent."

"This is unreal."

"This is real all right." Vven said. "You killed the god of the Teir'Dal, River. And you ascended into the position. You have....followers, now."

"No offense, Vven, but I don't want to lead your people." River said carefully.

"The only offense is that a human leads us at all." Vven said with a sigh. "But know this, your followers are a bloodthirsty crew. I hope you're up for this."

"Me too." River said, beginning to walk through the streets of Neriak Commons. "So, where is this bar we need to go to to find Runik....."

"The Dane!" a high voice cried suddenly. River's head snapped to the side. A dark elven woman stood pointing at him, hand trembling. "The Dane!"

Voices began building as more teir'dal came out onto the streets to see what the woman was shrieking about. Most stopped dead upon seeing River, and added to the call "The Dane!" River was frozen in his tracks, as more and more dark faces surrounded him. The noise grew, bodies packing the narrow streets from behind, in front, the sides. And all through it, a building chant, starting off soft and from the back, but building in tempo and volume till all of Neriak seemed to echo:

...dane dane dane Dane Dane DANE DANE....

A hand reached out to touch River's, tentatively at first, then, when not cut off, hungrily gripping his fingers. Another hand, then another, reaching greedily for his face, his chest, his crotch. Black blue hands passing through Vven as if smoke, and touching, touching. River's eyes began to fill with panic, as the bodies crushed in around him.

....DANE DANE DANE DANE DANE DANE DANE....

And suddenly, he was lifted, up, over the heads of the crowd. His sharp edges armor was cutting fingers, hands, as he was lifted and moved across the crowd deeper into the city, floating across the bloody hands like a ship upon the sea...

...DANE DANE DANE DANE DANE DANE DANE...

One collective guttural cry, passed from hand to hand as if nothing, deeper, deeper into the city, toward a stage like area, a raised platform. The crowd was thinking as one, if thinking could be what it was called, as they moved River through the city above their head. A small dark elven child cheered with the crowd, then caught underfoot, was trampled upon, unheeded by the crowd. The boy cried out in pain, but it was unheard above the chanting....

...DANE DANE DANE DANE....

Until River came down shakily onto his feet on the raised dais. Then the crowd drew back a bit, teir'dal as far as his eyes could see. His body pitched dizzily as he attempted to regain his equilibrium. He stood staring out into the crowd, actually recognizing some faces of one-time enemies, now staring up at him in rapt worship. There to the left was Kizdean Gix, scourge of the West Common Lands. And there in the front, eyes closed in some sort of religious fervor, was Dorn B'Dynn of the northern desert of Ro. And pushing his way through the crowd, was that old silver-tongued devil himself. Ambassador Dvinn. Representative of the teir'dal to the orcs of Crushbone. The snake that walked on two legs.

"Milord!" he presented himself loudly, pushing his way through the front of the mob. "How fortunate that I arrived this morning from my excursions to Crushbone to have the honor of seeing You visit our humble city! And how unfortunate Verina Tomb is not here to greet You, a more proper representative as a servant of the True Temple! I pray that I do not displease Thee with my layman's tongue, but if I do, please, bless me by removing it!" He knelt low before River, waiting for...something. Probably for River to remove his tongue. When it didn't happened, Dvinn looked up cautiously and continued.

"Lord, I beseech Thee, tell us why You have chosen to grace our pitiful city?"

River cleared his throat, and looked out across the faces, all waiting for his answer. He seemed at a loss for words. And suddenly materializing at his side, was Vven.

"Don't just stand there gaping!" Vven hissed. "Say something!"

"I come for the thief Runiko, who has taken something from me that is not her to take." River said loudly.

A murmur, then a growl from the audience. It began to move, a wave pulsing through it, Then a disturbance from the back, and a small shriek. River could track someone being pushed through the crowd, towards the front. And then, spilling out as the people in the front parted, Runiko tumbled forward onto the platform onto her knees before him. She stared at his feet, frozen in place.

"Is this whom You seek, Lord?" Dvinn cried out, pointing down at Runiko. His eyes were wild. "Is this the infidel who would dare steal from a God?"

"Yes." River said, "This is the one." He knelt down and tipped her head up to him, and then in a quiet voice, began, "Runiko, you took something very important from Pedi's pack. I need to get th...."

"Here!" Dvinn suddenly cut in loudy, drawing a wicked looking dirk. "Bless me Lord, by using my own knife to cut out the heart of the infidel! It would be my honor and priviledge to supply my weapon to bring down Your vengeance!"

River straightened up and gazed at Dvinn disapprovingly. "That will not be necessary." he said.

The crowd gasped as one.

"River..." Vven hissed.

"Milord?" Dvinn asked, startled. "But is it not law to remove the heart and drink the blood of one who would steal from you?"

River blinked, and looked at Vven.

"Yup." Vven said simply.

River stared down at the terrified Runiko, grovelling at his feet.

"Milord?" Dvinn asked again, confused.

"It was." River began loudly. "But....it is no longer."

"What??" Vven muttered fiercely.

"It is no longer?" Dvinn repeated slowly. "Then....begging Your pardon, Lord, how shall we deal with thieves?"

"Remember our nature, River...." Vven whispered, but River was already speaking, and Vven's warning went unheeded.

"Imprisonment." River said loudly. "She shall be imprisoned, and all thieves after her, until reformed of their ways."

"And then we kill them?" Dvinn asked hopefully.

"And then you set them free." River said.

"Milord, begging your pardon...."

"You beg pardon so much, I'm surprised you don't have a tin cup and a lute on some corner somewhere, Dvinn!" Vven said loudly, shooting River a murderous look. The crowd laughed uneasily. "You have heard our God. Do you deem yourself wiser than He to question His motives or commands? Or are you simply too stupid to understand His will?"

Dvinn's eyes squinted down into two ugly slits, and he turned to slither away. But he whirled suddenly, lunging at Runiko with the knife in his hand.

"Then let us seal the new commandment as always, in BLOOD!" he cried, leaping at Runiko.

"NO!" she cried out, whipping to her feet in flash of steel, two daggers previously concealed under her crouched body now plainly in her hands. As she turned, she threw her arms wide in a sweeping motion to assume a defensive posture, and one of her daggers grazed River's cheek, close enough to draw blood in a fine line. The crowd held its breath. Dvinn's hand was frozen as he stared at River's face, as blood began to trickle.

"He bleeds!" a voice finally called from the back.

"HE BLEEDS!" Dvinn cried, spinning to face them, pointing at River with his knife. "The Pretender bleeds! He is no God!"

"He is Mortal Hate!" Vven cried out, to be ignored by the sudden grumbling that began to build up again, this time, directed toward River. "Dare you defy Him?" But he was unheard, as the chant began again:

DANE DANE DANE DANE DANE DANE...

And as one, the crowd surged toward the stage

DANEDANEDANEDANE

And Vven's cries were lost as River was swept under the tide of Teir'dal fists.

[Riverdane]

An obscure tune, played on lute and mandolin echoes in his mind, as his life blood empties into his body...A voice Katarin's yet not sings a song written long ago by a more lucid Kaosmos, after Thallas had spent weeks researching River's lineage...haunting, the past visits him like an old lover, to caress his dying body...

Gather round all young and old
Wyldechylde's history shall unfold
A tale that very few know well
A chylde is born from fires of Hell

A warm spring day, East Commonlands,
A Festival of human clans.
The inns are freely sharing goods
with Freeport's patrons in shaded woods.

A pretty lass with raven hair
And eyes so lovely men would stare
Is walking there among the trees
She answers to the name Eleese.

Eleese was twenty years old that day
Two decades old that day in May.
Alone-she thought!- and slightly lost
When her fate's die was tossed...

As twilight stole across the glen
She picks a flower, turns and then
What does she behold to her surprise?
Shocking white hair and violet eyes.

A dark elf from the Nektulos
has found our maiden, afraid and lost.
Far from the path in East Commonland
A woman is observed by man.

But my, his eyes, so full of light
Not hateful at all, she forgets flight
She falls into those bright twin pools
Forgets the path, his presense rules

His face so handsome, fine lined, intense
His lips, his nose, her body drenched
As heat within her stirs and flares
From the power of his stare

Never before has she been touched
A virginial lass, pure and such
She did not understand this heat she feels
All melts away...only he is real

---"You are frightened"
----"No"
-----"You are very beautiful, my sweet"
------Flush of heat, from cheeks spreading down.
-------"Do you find me beautiful as well?"
--------
---------"Yes"
----------A smile....and a twist to his smile...cruel.
-----------"Have you ever been with a man"
------------"No"
-------------"I will show you how to please a man"
--------------Lost
---------------in the wood
----------------"yes"

And there among the shadowed pine
Dark elf and human bodies twine
A hand does steal inside a skirt
Legs parted, clothing stained with dirt

A gasp, as man in woman deep
With one quick thrust her walls are breeched
What starts in heat has turned to ice
With shoulders pinned, grip like a vice

--PAIN, hot cold fast--full, ripping tearing hot--heat wet clawing gasp--eyes panting wet hot --fast lust desire more--fasthotwetheatgaspmoansighthurst--

Above the maiden's ravaged form
Reality shifts and reforms

--thrusthardfast--

The dark elf's face melt's away

--hotterharderfasterbreathless--

It is now Innoruuk with whom she lays

--hardfasthoticeSCREAMbloodTERRORhotPAINNNNNN-

--
--
--

A whimper and her senses run
And she slips into oblivion
When she awakes she is alone
And crawls the path away from home

Alone in shame, she can't return
Innoruuk's mark inside her burns
Lives in darkness to the west
Maiden's blood upon her dress

Till then a shining Knight of Marr
Spied her in the woods from far
And took her with him, spoke gentle things
to this half wylde woman near druid rings.

Her mind returned with his gentle care
As he brushed the nettles from her hair
No questions asked, as their days went by
Till he asked her hand under North Ro's skies.

Nor questions later, months beyond
Where in the woods near Kithicor's ponds
To her screams and labored breath
She gives troubled birth and bleeds to death

And through her passing comes a chylde
with hair as black and eyes as wylde
And paladin raised, grew fine in form
Of blood and pain Riverdane is born

[Riverdane]

Seven days.

For seven days River kept himself alive, rat by rat, till the rats stopped coming, and then bugs, roaches and anything else living that would make a wrong turn and head into the cell of Riverdane Wyldechylde. The guards never came in to feed him or check on him, just walked on by, sometimes chatting amongst themselves, but never with a care if the prisoner lived or died. River prayed one would come in to see if he was dead. He would drain enough to get more than the semi-aware state he lived in on the tiny life force of the vermin that would fall into his grasp.

Slowly his insides mended first, the worst of his damage from the beating the dark elves had visited upon him. His broken legs took longer, but spider after roach after worm he slowly fixed them. And still even after seven days, he could barely drag himself to his knees. His wounds sent him spinning into unconsciousness each time. How odd. For days he had wished for blessed sleep, but the only way he could find it was to pass out from pain.

But River did like the cannibilistic troll shaman do, in his own particular way. He ate life, the shadowknight did. And thanks to that ability, he indeed was what he ate.

On the seventh day, River found himself swimming in an out of consciousness, listening with eyes closed to the scuttling of the bugs, waiting to grab whatever he heard close. And suddenly, his routine changed.

Thump.

The sound of a body hitting the floor, then a teir'dal voice of one of the guards.

"What the Hells..."

And another thump.
The jingle of keys.
The cell door opening.

"Ok, lazy. Rise and shine! Yeast and shoepolish!" Vven singsonged.

River's eyes snapped open.

The first thing he saw was Runiko's open hand in front of him, Terris' tear cupped in it like a pearl.

River propped himself up into a sitting position.

"Take it." she said.

"Thank you." River said slowly, voice sounding hoarse and alien. He took the offered tear and slipped it into his money pouch. Next thing Runiko offered was his sword, retrieved from whomever had taken it as he was beaten down on the dias. River used it to propel himself shakily to his feet, the room spinning.

"The guards." he asked, the thought of their life force a gnawing hunger inside him.

"Deader than a doornail." Vven replied, floating close. "Runiko's poisons are just a tad too effective."

"If they lived," Runiko said, "I would be dead before dawn."

"Why did you help me, Runiko?" River asked.

"Well," she began, not looking directly at him. "It's complicated...."

"Because I spared you?" River said gently.

"Hells no!" she laughed suddenly. "That was just stupid."

"A rose by any other name still ain't a teir'dal woman." Vven chuckled.

"Then why?" River insisted.

"Because, human." she said. "One day my luck is going to run out. And I'd like to be able to get a rezz when it does." She turned to Vven. "So, he's free, as promised. And as for my repayment...."

"Yeahyeahyeah, sweetheart." Vven said absently, with a wave of his hand. "Dinner and a bloodletting, as soon as I get my body back."

"Good." Runiko smiled. "I'll be waiting in the shadows." And with that, she stepped back and simply disappeared.

River, despite his fatigue, looked at Vven in amusement. "Sweetheart? Vven, are you getting soft in your new state?"

Vven shot him a look. "One word of this and the world will hear how Gix took you down like a newbie."

"Our secret Vven, our secret." River replied, taking a shaky step forward. "Ok, how the hell do I get out of here?"

"One dark elf projected illusion coming up." Vven said, eyes flashing. River took on the likeness of a slovenly darkelf.

"I can't support you, being, like this." Vven said, motioning to his ghostlike self. "So you're going to have to stumble out of here on your own. Don't speak, and stare at the ground a lot, and follow me."

"After you." River said, not looking back at his prison once.

"Well, Babyeater!" Vven said loudly. "Looks like you had just a TAD too much Dragon Fire last night. I'm surprised you haven't puked up your guts yet!"

And River, mumbling incoherently and swaying like a drunken teir'dal, painfully lurched his way out of Neriak.

[Riverdane]

"Brimstone, to Wakening Lands." River murmured outside in the Nektulos Forest. He did not climb onto the horse's back, just clung weakly to its side, Vven on the other, while the horse shimmered from view.

Wakening Lands.

"You smell like your excrement, Wyldechylde." came a familiar voice.

Shock registered on Riverdane in several ways. Wuoshi's voice so close was the first. The oddness of it was the second. And thirdly, and most shocking of all, was the condition of the Wakening Lands.

All around him, the lush vegetation had disappeared. what was left was barren branches and rotting clumps of leaf, the entire forest looking like a madman's rendition of life. Trees and vine were rotting away. And so, apparently, was Wuoshi.

Wuoshi lay flat on her belly, eyes crusted with some black matter River could not identify. A wheezing sound came from her as her body slowly inhaled and exhaled, her once beautiful wings lackluster and riddled with disease. She looked like Riverdane felt, weak....too weak to move. She coughed suddenly, and a trace of green vapor leaked from her mouth like smoke, and blood bubbled on her lips.

"Don't worry, human," she said painfully. "I am forbidden to eat you. I am a vegetarian now."

Vven stared at her laying in her sad state, and slowly began to fade away from view. She did not notice him, she only looked at Riverdane through caked lids.

"Wuoshi," River said slowly. "What have you been eating? The forest is.."

"Dying." Wuoshi said. "Yes, it is rather obvious, wouldn't you think?" Another fit of coughing, more blood. "But I am....on a diet. That means no eating meat, not that I would have anyway. You smell as if you have soiled yourself."

"I have." River said honestly, smelling himself for the first time, realizing the changes his body had gone through in the cell.

"Well, we both smell like death then." Wuoshi said. "Go away, Riverdane Wyldechylde. I await Milord Yelinak. The day of Dragon Ball draws near, and would like privacy when I await my suitor."

"It is quite alright, milady!" Vven said loudly, reappearing. "Let Wyldechylde warn his people."

"Milord!" Wuoshi said weakly, staring over Vven's head. "You have come!"

"I have." Vven said softly, shooting River a look. "The Dragon Ball draws near."

"I have done as you ask, milord." Wuoshi said, chest heaving as she fought back from coughing.

"I see." Vven said, looking upon the diseased, bleeding dragon. "You are the perfect picture of dragonkind."

"Do you think so, milord?" Wuoshi said, eyes brimming with tears.

"I do." Vven said, not looking at her, not looking anywhere, actually. "Wyldechylde, let it be known! Soon I will dance with Mistress Wuoshi at the Dragon Ball, and afterward, we shall wed. Let your kind fear the brood of Yelinak and Wuoshi!"

"Milord!" Woushi exclaimed happily, trying to climb to her feet. She collapsed, failing, more green vapors escaping her as her bulk crashed to the floor. She tipped her head up from the dirt, blood forming a long glistening web as it hung from dying lips. "I am sorry milord, I would get up, but I am...so...tired...."

"Sleep, Wuoshi," Vven said gently. "Sleep now, my love, and when you awake, how we shall dance!"

"Yes...." Wuoshi sighed. "We will dance and dance and dance...." Her head sunk to the ground, eyes closing. And slowly, the heaving of her breathing slowed.... slowed.... and...stopped.

Vven just looked at the dead dragon, no expression on his face.

"That was....against your nature, Vven." River said quietly.

Vven seemed to come out of deep thought. He did not look at River as he spoke.

"I guess with the Goddess of Nature dying, we're all feeling a bit unnatural." he said, giving Wuoshi one last look. "Let's move."

[Riverdane]

Drunder, Fortress of Zek. The Plane of Tactics. The home of Rallos Zek, the Warlord.

The stone walls inside the fortress rose to dizzying heights. The company found themselves on a huge stairway, leading up. Groans of pain issued from all sides. The entryway to the fortress was littered with bodies, some barely alive, some long dead. Cloth strips of all kinds were being used to bind the wounds of the dying. And further above them, past the top of the stairs, came the unmistakeable sound of metal against metal, sword against armor and shield. The sounds of battle.

"Go on." Pedi said, face pale, stooping down near one of the wounded. "I can't pass them like this. I will catch up." River nodded, seeing the mass of the dying, and led the rest up the stair.

Onward they marched, upward. Large ogre guards lay dead along the path, the mighty race of Daiku, fallen in their path. The guards had not been replaced, and flies buzzed hungrily around the fallen guards. Ramluk frowned.

"The dead stay dead, Ram." Whizbang said slowly, so the ogre could understand. "This business hurt the melees worst of all."

"Is bad." Ramluk agreed. They marched on.

They came to a hall at the top of the stairs, that ended at a ledge, overseeing a huge pit. Warily they peered over the edge.

There, in the middle of a pile of bodies, standing amidst several warriors of different races locked in battle, was Rallos Zek.

Rallos Zek, the Warlord. Dressed in brillant steel and vellium armor, every inch of Rallos was coated in metal. A huge flaming sword, brighter than even the natural flame of Tunare that burned destructively in Growth, was clasped in his hand. The armor was fashioned to make a terrifying war mask, and the sound that issued from it made River's hair stand on edge.

The sound of laughter.

Rich deep laughter boomed across the battlefeild below. Rallos turned like a juggernaught and observed the death surrounding him, laughing as if told the most humorous thing he had ever heard. Indeed, to Rallos, war was his passion and his joy. He could only find delight in severed limbs and disembowelled guts.

"MORE!" Rallos bellowed, "More, you dogs! And no more whining that the clerics are gone! Those cowards will feel my wrathe when I catch up to them! But for now, FIGHT, damned you! Those of you that live, start binding! That's what cloth is for, not to make you look pretty!" The sound of his voice made River's blood burn with bloodlust, so potent was the sound and the call to fight. He controlled it barely. Whizbang and Verdad, of a different stock, looked merely ill at the thought of physical combat. But Ramluk...Ramluk was panting, eyes drinking in the scene like a man in the desert coming upon an oasis. A low growl was rising in the ogre's throat.

"We need to get down there." River said to Whizbang.

Whizbang nodded. "Verdad, get Ram, please." And with a small movement from Whizbang and an uttered word, River felt his feet lift from the ground. Another word, and Whizbang was levitating next to him. Verdad had similarily levitated Ramluk and himself. Vven needed no help.

"Down." River said, and they descended into the pit.

The reek of death here was even stronger. Bloodscent hung in the air like a sickly sweet fog. Past the fighting gladiators they walked, Ramluk waving to the warriors as he passed them, giving thumbs up of encouragement, or clapping for particularly jarring blows.

Onward they marched, to Rallos.

Rallos Zek spun to face them, with speed unbelieveable for someone in that much armor. It startled them into halting in their tracks.

"So, more come to test their mettle in the Pit of Zek!" Rallos roared. "To arms, ogre and human, to arms! And to your weak looking friends, to the gymnasium! You look barely able to lift a sword!"

"I am Riverdane Wyldechylde, Son of Innoruuk,
and Heir of Hate." Riverdane introduced himself loudly.

"Never heard of ya." Rallos dismissed him, uninterested. "I said FIGHT boy!"

"I am Mortal Hate." River tried again, "and I seek audience with you, Rallos."

"Audience eh?" Rallos said, not looking at them, rather, watching with some interest as a huge halfling cut off a teir'dal warrior's head with a particularly well placed swing. "I don't take audience when I am deep in sport."

"Nevertheless," River said, mustering his courage. "I demand audience, the fate of the world rests on it."

"You DEMAND now, do ya?" Rallos said incredulously, turning back to face the five. "No one demands anything of the God of War! But, you do have either incredible courage or no wits at all. I will make you an offer, little man. If one of your party can disarm me, I will grant you your audience. If not, begone from my sight before I grow bored of single battle and set my legion upon you for a hunt!"

"I do not come here to bargain with you Rallos." River said.

"River, I have a date next week with two woodelf twins, and I really really really want to make it." Verdad said nervously.

"You are in no position to make demands, 'Mortal Hate'." Rallos chuckled. "You have five minutes to decide." And with that, Rallos turned his back on them.

"Guys, I don't think we have a choice." Whizbang said.

"Fine," River said, drawing his sword. "Then I fight."

"NO!" Ramluk said, grabbing River's arm and pulling it down. "Me fight!"

"Ram don't be ridicul..." River began, but Ramluk was striding forward.

"Me god!" Ramluk said insistantly. "Me fight! Me warrior!"

River caught hold of Ramluk's arm. "I appreciate that Ram, but you have no armor. This is my fight and...."

"Me fight! Me god!" Ramluk argued, shaking River's hand off and marching towards Rallos.

"Ramluk, for the gods' sakes, stop!" River commanded, annoyed. "You have no armor, you're going to die in there, don't be stupid, man!"

"DON'T CALL ME STUPID!" Ramluk roared, stepping to River in a rush and glaring down at him. River was shocked into silence at the ogre's ferociousness. "Me not stupid! Me remember what Vven forgot! Me go fight, not you!" And with that, Ramluk gave Riverdane a shove. River fell onto his rump with a startled thump.

"You forgot part of story." Ramluk said to Vven disapprovingly.

"I didn't forget, Ram." Vven said softly.

"Ram..." River tried, but Ramluk was ignoring him, striding toward the Warlord. River dragged himself back to his feet.

"Ramluk!" he ordered. But Ramluk was ignoring him.

"Vven," River said, turning on Vven. "What didn't you tell us? What did we miss in the Prophecy?" Vven paused.

"What did you leave out!" River insisted, face growing dark.

" 'A sacrifice pure of mortal life'..." Vven murmured.

"WHAT?" River cried.

"Would you have come?" Vven asked quietly.

River spun to grab Ramluk and drag him back, but the ogre was too far away.

"Ramluk no!" River yelled desperately, but the ogre warrior was paying him no heed.

"YOU!" Ramluk growled at Rallos's back. Rallos turned, looking down at the unarmored ogre.

"You accept?" Rallos asked.

Ramluk beat his breast. "Let's party."

[Riverdane]

"River, where the Hells have you been?" Whizbang exclaimed.

Pedi took a long look at River and then touched Whizbang's arm. "Hush you." she said quietly, as River painfully dismounted from Brimstone. Around them, far below, the unicorns continued to screech unmercifully. Ramluk was passed out in a corner of Tunare's tree, face lit ruddy red with the reflection of the burning goddess. Verdad was pacing near him, face looking weary. Duir was on her knees, eyes closed, almost close enough to the fire to be scorched, murmuring prayers with the look of a zealot. Vven hovered in the background.

"What happened to Ram?" River said, limping to the burning tree within a tree.

"We had to stun him to unconsciousness." Verdad said, "Everytime he wakes. The unicorns are spooking him. We have to get him out of here, River."

"We will," River said, then black spots in front of his eyes, and he almost pitched forward to the floor.

"Heal..." Pedi whispered, eyes flashing blue. River was infused with their light, and in a moment Pedi did what the life force of countless vermin could not. She mended the broken Riverdane with her eyes.

"Thank you." River said, reaching into his purse. He withdrew the tear Runiko had returned to him.

Into the fire of Tunare it went, disappearing with a hiss as the fire evaporated the unnatural ice that it was. For a moment, the flames went deep green as they ran up Tunare's trunk, and the moaning from the goddess subsided. But then the flames licked up orange and red again, and her pain resumed.

"Verdad, place Ram's hand on Brimstone." River said. "And all of you gather round. We are off for Tranquilty again. I need to wash the filth of Neriak off of me, and we'll finish this damned quest."

There were no questions. The screams of the unicorns droned on, as did Duir's chanting. As long as the quest remained unfinished, Tunare would burn, and the world would die, and there would be no return from that black void. They had no desire to remain in the hell that had once been the Plane of Growth.

"Ride." River murmured, and they shimmered from view.

The Plane of Tranquility was not as bad as Growth, but the effect of dying Nature had taken its toll there too. The grass was brown and spotty, and the once blue waters were brackish and green. Pedi attended to waking up Ramluk, while River stripped off his armor and clothes and waded out into the chilly depths. After washing the filth of his journey to the home of the dark elves off his body, he changed into fresh clothing and burned the old in a small pile. Then he began the job of cleaning his waste from his armor.

Ramluk had come out of his unconsciousness wild eyed, but with no more noise from the screaming 'corns, he slowly relaxed his breathing to become the old dimwitted Ramluk they knew. While River cleaned his armor, he recounted his trip to Neriak, leaving out no detail except his moment of weakness with his mother. That memory and the shame of almost having given up he would take with him to his final rest.
Vven added in bits about finding Runiko and River's escape. Neither spoke of Wuoshi's death by starvation.

"So, your own "people" almost killed you." Whizbang said in disgust. "Animals, the teir'dal are!"

"Two teir'dal got him out." Vven commented.

"Bah." Whizbang said. "Dark elves live for the misery of others. Had his captors been gnomes...well.....gnomes would never have imprisoned him in the first place!"

"Gnome!" Ramluk said happily, eating one of Pedi's cookies.

"Gnomes are a freak of nature and should be punted whenever possible, with steel-tipped boots." Vven said evenly.

"Gnomes are a noble race, inky." Whizbang said. "Even the ogre will tell you. Didn't we save you and your mother from the brownies, Ram?"

"Gnome!" Ramluk said again. Then to Pedi, "More cookie?"

"All gone, Ram." Pedi apologized.

"Gnome." Ram said miserably.

"You're all inferior to high-elves." Verdad voiced from the side.

"When we're done defending our heritage," River interrupted, before this went further. "We may want to concentrate on where we need to go next."

" 'When War finds peace from eternal strife' " Vven intoned.

Ramluk's brow creased.

"War." Whizbang said. "Plane of Tactics. Rallos Zek."

Ram's face lit up.

"Me god." he said happily, jumping up.

"Aye, Ram." Whizbang said with a sigh. "Your god. We somehow have to convince Rallos to end war. Too bad it wasn't something more simple, like teaching mages to control their pets."

"ME GOD!" Ramluk said again, then his face fell. "Me have no armor, lost in Justice trial. Me god will laugh."

Riverdane was busy fastening his own in place, freshly cleaned and oiled. "I'm sorry Ram, but you are so big my bracer would make a nice ring for you."

Ramluk's shame of having left his armor shattered in the Plane of Justice disappeared as the ogre continued to contemplate meeting his deity.

"Me god." he said proudly. "When go?"

River pointed up a hillside, where the entrance of the Plane of Tactics lay within a small castlelike structure.

"Now." he said, and they marched up the hill, Ramluk happily in the lead, toward the Plane of Tactics.