The Choice - part 2

By: Requa Posted on: July 30, 2008

Rowena coughed, her face looking slightly flushed, and knew that she had been afflicted with the deadly voyria venom. She reached for her immunity elixir, but found herself paralyzed. Trying to eat a piece of bloodroot to cure the paralysis proved futile as the very thought of ingesting food or drink nauseated her, and she realized she was also afflicted with anorexia. All in all, it was apparent that it was a matter of minutes before the voyria venom took hold and killed her, and judging by the look in Darwen's eyes, he knew it. Nevertheless, she was calm. She knew it had been inevitable - Darwen's skills were more polished than hers, no doubt having learnt a trick or two from his future Evil mentors. She stared up at his shadowed profile, her eyes like chips of green ice even so near death. "Over my dead body," she hissed.

He sighed deeply, her reaction not unexpected but regretted. Filled with a mixture of anger and sadness, his dark eyes searched her face, seeking some sort of sign of fear or distress from her, but found nothing except calm resignation. "It hurts me to hurt you, Rowena," he whispered.

She felt something wet and warm trickle down her nose, and lifted a hand to wipe it away. Her fingers came away covered in crimson blood, and with a jolt, she realized it was the voyria venom slowly destroying her body. "Then don't do this, Darwen. Let us go our own ways," she appealed to him quietly in a last-ditch effort for survival.

He shook his head sadly. "I can't, Rowena. I love you too much. If you can't be mine..you shan't be anyone else's," he vowed. He raised his dirk, preparing to land the killing blow. "Farewell," he whispered.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the stroke of Death, to begin once again the long journey through the Halls of Maya to meet the Creatrix.

It never came.

A flaming meteor arrow lit up the darkness, whistling as it cleaved through the air. Rowena's eyes flew open just in time to see Darwen hastily touching the tattoo of a shield inked on his left arm, trying to magically shield himself, but it was too late. The arrow slammed into him, burning him alive. He screamed in pain, falling to his knees as he fumbled for a health vial. Rowena searched the darkness for her unknown saviour, but saw nothing until a familiar figure with dark, striped fur and a long tail emerged from the shadows, followed by a shorter, slightly stouter figure, illuminated by an unearthly white light that Rowena identified as belonging to a guardian angel.

She slumped in relief, but soon sat up again as she coughed hoarsely, expelling black fluid with bits of what looked to be tissue suspended in it. Quickly, the shorter person hurried to her side, and in the blinding light of the guardian angel Rowena recognized the kindly face of her sister-in-law, Ashinna. She tried to speak, but was stopped by Ashinna, who motioned for her to lie still. The Dwarf priestess laid her hands on Rowena's limp frame, and healing light emanated from her hands, encompassing her body. Suddenly, Rowena felt her body cleansed of the voyria venom, and breathed a sigh of relief. Ashinna repeated the gesture until Rowena was able to stand up, fully healed and battle-ready. She quickly thanked Ashinna and began readying herself for battle.

However, her involvement now seemed unnecessary. While Ashinna had been tending to her, the taller figure had been busy duelling Darwen, who seemed out of his depth even though shadows and darkness were usually an advantage to a Serpent. Even in the semi-darkness, lit only by Ashinna's guardian angel, it was clear that the stranger was so much more agile and powerful than Darwen, who seemed unsettled by his sudden appearance and kept fumbling his attacks. One particular jab by the stranger sent Darwen sprawling into a corner, and he scrambled to get to his feet. Soft grass and dead leaves crunched under the warriors' boots as they began circling each other cautiously, looking for an opening.

"Who are you?" Darwen hissed at the figure, furious that he had been denied his kill at the last minute. "What business have you here, filthy servant of Good?" He spat on the ground to illustrate his disgust, and Rowena felt a shiver of horror run through her as she witnessed the true monster that Darwen had become.

A calm, unruffled voice rang out through the silent clearing, and Rowena stifled a gasp as she recognized the voice. "Saving my sister from scum like you."

Darwen narrowed his eyes slightly, before raising his eyebrows in recognition and giving a derisive laugh. "Adalan."

The figure inclined his head slightly. "That I am, Darwen, and I always did say Rowena was too good for you." He turned towards Rowena. "Next time, listen to your big brother, won't you?"

"Adalan!" Rowena exclaimed, and the Rajamala turned, but wasn't fast enough to stop Darwen plunging his dirk deep into his back. Rowena gasped in horror, but Adalan wrenched himself free with a grunt of pain and aimed two slashes at Darwen with two gleaming steel broadswords of Theran make, widely favoured by Runewardens. Cold blue flames wreathed one of the runeblades as the Nairat rune flared, emanating an icy chill that penetrated Darwen to the bone and immobilized him on the spot, his body covered with a thin layer of ice. The Serpent managed to stretch just far enough to apply caloric salve onto his body, however, and the ice melted.

Darwen panted as he sipped from his health vial, and snarled at Adalan's tall frame. "I'll kill you, you weak Elysian, and your interfering wife. But your sister.." His face twisted into an evil leer. "Her, I'll keep alive."

Adalan spoke, and Rowena heard a hard, steely ring to it. "You'll not touch her again, scum," he growled menacingly. Rowena started forward, but Ashinna held her back. "It is a duel," the Priestess whispered quietly. "More than Adalan's life is at stake - his honour, as well." Rowena sighed and wrung her hands, itching to jump in and help, but the unspoken rule was that unless specified, duels were one on one only - and Adalan adhered to that rule fervently. From Ashinna's fidgeting, she knew she felt the same way. He was, after all, her husband.

The two women watched as Darwen crafted a mysterious vision, directing it towards Adalan, and he appeared fooled for a moment. However, he soon saw past the illusion and angrily thrust his broadswords towards Darwen, missing him by mere inches as Darwen's snake-like weaving saved him. Lightning-quick, Adalan twisted and jabbed at him again, and this time both swords hit their target. Rowena watched as two bolts of lightning hurled skywards from the tips of the runeblades, and knew there could only be one outcome. With two loud cracks of thunder, hailstones began pouring down from the skies, battering Darwen's body. Amazingly, he survived the onslaught by sipping from his health vial and desperately downing some irid moss, but even that could not save him from Adalan's next vicious double slash. True enough, with a long, pain-filled scream, Death ripped Darwen's soul from his body, which dropped to the ground, mangled and no longer functional.

With a short nod of satisfaction, the tiger-like Rajamala ignored the body and strode quickly towards Rowena, brow furrowed in concern, and she ran to meet him halfway. He crushed her to him in a hug and she buried her face in his chest. "I'm so glad you're here," she murmured indistinctly into his fur, and he pulled away slightly to ruffle her hair. "I'm glad I got here in time, else who knows what might have happened."

Averting her eyes from the twisted corpse lying on the ground, Rowena asked, "Was that your arrow that hit him earlier?"

Adalan nodded affirmatively. "Some of your citymates are on their way, but I was the first to reach here after Syleste told me what was going on." With a soft gasp, she remembered her worried citymates, and quickly moved to assure them she was all right, elicting many sighs of relief and slight grumbles about being given wrong directions. Rowena blushed and coughed softly in embarassment, and Adalan smirked at her. In the next instant, his face grew somber as he shook his head and narrowed his eyes to thin slits at her as he remembered her folly. "How could you have come to meet him without telling us, Rowena?!" he chastised her. "If I hadn't farseen you in the Black Forest instead of the Western Ithmia and made all possible haste to get here, you would have been killed and taken to Mhaldor!"

The red-headed Tsol'aa sighed and shuffled her feet uneasily. "I know, I was an idiot. But he just wanted to meet me, and I thought..." She fell silent, not knowing what to say. He sighed, all traces of worry and anger fading from his face, and gave her a friendly cuddle. "I was just worried about you, you little minx." She nodded and tucked her head against his shoulder, cuddling in close.

Adalan looked at the dead body on the grass with an expression of distaste, and then glared angrily at Darwen's soul, which still lingered in the clearing, unwilling to leave. "I'm warning you for the last time. Stay away from my sister, or I swear on the throne of Maya, I'll hunt you down and make sure you -stay- down," he snarled, pointing his broadsword at him for further emphasis.

The soul of Darwen ignored him and stared imploringly at Rowena. "Rowena..." he whispered.

Rowena strode over to him and gingerly picked up Darwen's mangled corpse. Adalan stared at her. "You're not thinking of ressurrecting him?" She shook her head. "I'm sure Lord Lupus would welcome the essence." She shot a sidelong glance at Darwen's soul. "Even if it is a little..dirty." Adalan chuckled, and she turned her back on Darwen's soul. "I'm finished with you once and for all, Darwen." She hurried back to Adalan's side, looking up at him. "Take me home, brother, please."

Giving Darwen's soul one last suspicious once-over, Adalan finally turned away. "Sure." He beckoned to her to follow him. Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed in her head, and she recognized the voice as belonging to her mentor, Sequestra. "My portal," the voice said, and on cue, a piercing sound cleaved through the air.

"It's Sequestra's," she smiled at Adalan, who had started rummaging in his canvas backpack for a monolith sigil. His shoulders slumped slightly in relief as he nodded and closed his pack. Within seconds, a sonic portal vibrated in the air before them.

Adalan motioned to her, and she fell into line behind Ashinna, who smiled benevolently at her. Impulsively, she smiled back and gave Ashinna a compassionate hug, which the affectionate priestess returned in kind.

Rowena turned her head for a last look, but Adalan had already stepped through the portal, and the encompassing darkness of the Black Forest was replaced by the soft glow of candles and fireplaces. A brisk breeze caressed her face, and the melodious bells of the clock tower struck midnight - she was home. Immediately upon arrival in Cyrene, she was promptly swamped by hugs from her fellow Cyrenians and interrogated about her adventure. She smiled, warmth filling her as she looked around at all the concerned faces that surrounded her, overwhelmed by their obvious sincerity, and knew without a doubt that she had made the right choice.