The Empire of Zeth/Chapter 2 (Ero)

The young man groaned, his entire body was one big throbbing pain.. but the pain was lessening? Struggling to open his eyes, a face swam into his vision. The little drow girl who had saved him before was kneeling over him as he lie bleeding out on his back.

"H-Hold still.. I c-can't save you if you move too much... You are on the brink of death!" Golden light flowed from her palms into the mortally wounded young man. His bleeding gashes slowly begin to mend themselves, and the pain subsides slightly. The girl grimaces and falter, clutching her side. The young man forces himself to sit up and catches her as she collapses again her. "Y-You! You saved me? Who... who are you?" His eyes flicker over her plain dark clothes, and lock onto the insignia sewn onto the cloth over her right shoulder.

"You... You're one of Master Garath's students?? But.. you're a drow! How..?" the girl pushes out of his grip and shakily gets to her feet. "I- was sent when we received your distress call. I was the only one who could... ug.. who could get there in t-time.." She cries out in pain and clutches her side. "I had t-to... to shadow step to get h-here..!"

She grimaces and clutches her side again. The man shakes off his paralysis. Like all citizens of the empire he had heard the stories. Stories that the mighty drow empire from across the sea had been annihilated by a horde of unknown origins that vanished without a trace as soon as their civilizational lie in ruins. No one had seen a drow in years - they were believed to be extinct.

The stories also said they were an insanely powerful race, and viewed all other races as lesser and inferior. Why would one of them help out humans..? He looked at her again. She was trying to heal a very bad looking wound in her side with her magic. He decided for the moment to believe her. For one, she wore the insignia of the empire's most elite intelligence operatives, from the Order of the Devout Hand. That he hadn't heard that a drow was serving in their ranks was unsurprising, as they were a highly secretive. She had also saved his life twice now, after all... he had no reason to not believe her, right?

The girl doubled over in pain, clutching her side. As she did, the afternoon light caught her tunic in just the right way that the young man realized his mistake earlier when taking in her appearance. He had thought it was silk, but like anyone familiar with the Zeth Imperial Army's higher command he now recognize it for what it actually was: spell-weave, a special enchanted silk woven from the excretion of a worm enchanted before birth to impart magical power into it through its natural process. The result was a silk so strong that could stop a crossbow quarrel at point blank range. It was an extremely costly material given only to those who had proven their value and service to the empire, and the secrets of its creation were well-guarded by the Academy of Imperial Magi.

The fact that this girl wore spell-weave lent further validity to her being one of Master Garath's students, as it must have been made specially for her. He'd never seen a spell-weave tunic made for a child - it would have been considered a waste of valuable resources, as most clothing crafted from the material were handed down from soldier to soldier according to tradition. The creation of such a piece of clothing took even a great master several months of tireless work and the use of countless valuable materials, after all.

He took a closer look at her leather chaps and realized they were not blackened leather, but black dragonhide, a material even more rare and valuable than spell weave! There could be no question she was a powerful warrior to have been granted such armor. Dragonhide of any color is exceptionally strong, naturally reflects magic, and is highly resistant to fire. Even green dragonhide was incredibly rare, and green was the weakest type of chromatic dragonhide. The man was quite envious. Not only was her ensemble significantly stronger than his heavy Zethian steel plate armor, it was extremely light and comfortable.

The girl's ears twitch. She stands up straight and whirls around, somehow having noticed his gaze. Putting her hands on her hips, she leans down and demands, "Why are you starting at my butt, captain?"

"I-I wasn't!" he exclaimed. "It's j-just, err... I've, um, never seen black dragonhide up close before, let alone a used to make a child's armor..."

The girl looked offended. "I am not a child!" she said with a scowl. The captain gave her a funny look. The drow girl rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, fine. I AM a child, but NEED I remind you I outrank you, oh lowly captain! So show me some respect!"

"E-rr, s-sir- I m-mean: ma'am, yes ma'am!~" he said, fumbling for the correct words to address her by. It still felt very weird to say that to the little girl scowling and standing over him, but she WAS his superior officer if she was one of Master Garath's students. He tried his best not to stare at her flat chest, but knew he was failing...

The little girl's cheeks flush, as she remembered her tunic was still cut open. She folds her arms over her chest and scowls again at the captain. Her chest and belly were lined with in purple warpaint-style tattoos with symbols he had never seen before. The drow girl closes her eyes and an emerald-green colored fire traces each and every thread on the tunic as she mutters words he can't understand. The garment begins mending itself as she concentrates. He shakes his head, greatly impressed. She was clearly quite a powerful sorcerer on top of being a very capable fighter. As the last threads of her tunic knit themselves back together, the captain coughed, then tactfully tried again once she had opened her eyes.

"Th-thank you grand knight for saving me. Its my dishonor that I was not able to assist you.. further." It was not his turn to grimace and clutch his side. The girl noticed and placed a healing hand on his torso. The last major wound on his body slowly mended itself before his eyes."

"You were.. the captain commanding the supply train?" she asks him. "Yes, err - yes, sir! I m-mean - ma'am!" he says, still feeling a bit weird at addressing the little girl as his superior officer. "Then you know where we are... We have to move - they will detect us soon."

His eyes widen. "B-But... I thought this route was supposed to be fairly safe! I mean, we were headed to the great fortified town of Carthidge, after all!" A shadow plays across the girl's face. The young man's stomach dropped. He knew he was not going to like what she was about to tell him.

"Carthidge... has fallen." she says in a hushed tone. "This land has been annexed by the Infernal Legion. We have to move fast."

A chill went down the captain's spine. Carthidge had held back the invaders for over a century - for it to fall was unthinkable! And yet... how else could one of their war machines have gotten so deep inside their territory? His gut told him the girl was telling the truth.

After giving him a moment to take in what she said, the girl clears her throat. "You know this land better than I do." she says. "What route should we take back, captain?"

"B-But... can't you shadow step us back to the capital?" he asks her. She only shakes her head. "I'm d-drained... I used the last of my magic to.. to save us both..." She grimaces again. "So we will have to go on foot. Now which way, captain?"

"R-Right!" he says, struggling to his feet. "We'll head for the gate in the great wall at.. at Faridge. Though..." he pauses, envisioning the terrain in his mind's eye. "Its a three day march even under the best conditions.. but it's the closest and safest way back if.. if Carthidge has indeed fallen."

"C-C'mon then.. Lead the way, captain." The girl motions for him to take the lead. He nods, pointing to the dense forest at their backs, and they set off together at a trot.

...

After a few hours of silent walking through the dense woods, the captain can no longer hold back the question that had been burning in his mind since he first saw this strange girl.

"So, um... miss? Err... 'ma'am'? If you don't mind me asking... how did a drow end up as one of master swordsman Garath's students? I mean... I thought all the drow were, um... wiped out."

The girl turns to look at him without stopping, a shadow in her eyes. "I.. don't want to talk about it, okay?" she mumbles.

"S-Sorry, I'll drop it. Um... maybe a better question would have been, uh.. what's your name?"

She gives him a sidelong glance, then turns to face front again. "My name is Evy." she mumbles to the forest.

"Nice to meet you, Evy. My name's Ranth." She doesn't reply. "And this was my first command... I doubt I'll be getting another one." he sighs.

Evy stops and turns to face him, nearly making him collide with her small body. "You faced down an orc elite and slew it - I saw you fight. I'll tell the high command what you did, don't worry. There was nothing you could have done..."

Surprised, he looks her in the eyes. "Um.. th-thank you, miss. I-I mean, much appreciated, ma'am!"

Evy rolls her eyes at him. "We're gonna be traveling together for a while you know, Captain Ranth. Stop agonizing over silly military ranks and chains of command and just call me Evy... please."

He blinks. "O-Of course ma- I m-mean, Evy." She turns and continues her fast-paced march, rolling her eyes. Ranth has to jog to catch up with her.

They walk in silence for many more hours. Ranth watched their surroundings closely, his senses alert for anything. He was a keen observer - it was one of the reasons he was placed into the imperial scouts by the academy's aptitude testing. As such, it didn't take him long to notice that Evy was tiring, though she was clearly trying her best not to show it.

"Erm... Evy? Why don't we make camp for the night? It will be too dark to see clearly soon."

She scowls at him. "I see in the dark as well as you'd see at high noon..." Evy retorts. "We should.. keep moving."

"It won't do either of us good if you collapse... C'mon, well just rest for a few hours. There's a hollow in that big tree over there that will protect us." She nods and heads towards where he had pointed. Did she not heal herself enough, he wonders. She's seemed so strong, though... just how badly did that monster on the train beat her?

Evy slumps to the ground in the hollow. Her eyes flutter shut almost as soon as her rump touches the ground. Ranth rushed over to her worriedly and checked her pulse. It was slow, but strong - she had merely passed out from exhaustion. Shaking his head, Ranth grabbed some kindling to make a very small fire under a rock to keep them warm. He focused on it and concentrated. A small spark flew from his hand to the kindling as he spoke a word of magic command, lighting the twigs ablaze.

Sitting back on his heels, Ranth took the first watch, though he glanced over at the small girl breathing softly a few feet away as she slept peacefully. He owed the little drow girl his life twice over, and that was something he would never forget.

He caught himself staring at the young girl without realizing it. She looked young and cute while she slept, and for some reason he longed to reach out, to pat her head and stroke her hair... Shaking his head to clear it of such silly notions, Ranth turned back to the forest and began his watch.

Chapter 3: The Infernal Envoy

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