The Empire of Zeth/Chapter 11

Evy spends the next several days recuperating, feeling much weaker than she'd ever felt before in her life after the recent events. Master Garath gratefully accepted Ranth's offer to stay with Evy while she recovered, as he was too busy attending meetings and sifting through reports to watch over her. A cot was set up in Evy's chambers for Ranth to use, as he refused to leave her side to go back to his own quarters to sleep.

Ranth poured Evy water and helped her eat, telling her stories about his youth and time in training with the imperial guard to pass the time. It was getting late, and he was almost finished telling her the story of the time he accidentally locked himself inside a store room as a little boy for an entire day.

"I thought I'd never get out of there. When my father finally came and found me, I was crying in a corner eating field ration packs like they were the last thing I'd ever taste. To this day I still can't stand the things..."

Evy chuckled, enjoying the tale. She yawned deeply, and her eyes fluttered with sleepiness. "Th-Thank you for staying with me, Ranth.." she mumbles, her eyelids drooping.

"No problem!~" he says, patting her on the shoulder as he gets to his feet. "Sleep well, you don't want to be in bed forever!~" Evy sticks out her tongue at him which only makes him laugh. She falls asleep and Ranth prepares to go to bed on the cot. Taking off his boots and shirt, he climbs into the cot and lies down. Glancing back over at Evy, Ranth sees she is already fast sleep. He rolls over onto his side, and tries to get some shut eye himself...

...

Evy dreams once again. She is back on the train, and everything is as it was before. Leg'than Direhammer is standing over Ranth. He raises his sword, about to bring it down on his head. Evy cries out and tries to run to him... but her feet feel like they're covered in honey. Each step is a struggle, but she forces herself on.

Time moves slowly, and the sword slowly descends. Evy reaches for her own sword, only to discover it's not with her. She tries to call it to her side, but it won't listen! The sword descends further. Evy screams and leaps forward, but the scene moves and she falls flat on her belly.

The sword hits Ranth's helmet and cleaves it in twain. Evy screams "NOOOO!!!" and cries as she is forced to watch Ranth die, helpless. The uruk-hai hears her scream and turns, grinning evily at the girl lying on the floor. He stalks towards her, raising the sword that still drips with Ranth's blood over his head and brings it down on her...

...

"Evy! EVY!" Ranth stands over Evy's bed, trying to wake her. He dodges her flailing limbs, remembering what happened last time he shook her while she slept... Evy thrashes and throws the bedsheets off with such force that they fly into the wall on the far side of the room. Her eyes shoot open and she breaths heavily, sweat covering her skin and soaking through her black-dyed cotton night clothes.

It takes Evy a few moments to realize where she was. Her eyes finally focus on Ranth, and they tear up. "R-Ranth?" she cries. Evy leaps out of the bed and seizes Ranth around the torso in a bear hug so tight he swears he can hear his bones creak in protest. Grimacing, he awkwardly pats Evy on the back and she trembles.

"It's alright - you're safe, Evy!" he coos to her. "Can you not squeeze so hard?? You're hurting me.." Evy lets go as he says this. "S-Sorry! S-Sorry!!" The girl locks her arms behind her back. Not meeting his eyes, she goes and retrieves the bedsheets.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Ranth asks as Evy brings the sheets back over to the bed. She nods, still not meeting his eyes. When she struggles to untangle the sheets, he steps forward to assist her. Evy mumbles her thanks and together they put the bed to rights.

Once it's made, Evy sits down on it, dangling her legs off the side. After a short hesitation, Ranth sits down beside her and puts an arm around her small shoulders. She snuggles up against him, still trembling. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asks her softly. Evy shakes her head, hiding her eyes underneath her bangs. "Alright, you don't have to if you don't want to." He sits there for a while, until she stops trembling.

Seeing Evy is calm now, Ranth takes his arm from her shoulders and moves to get up. As he turns and stands up, Evy quickly grabs her forearm. "W-Wait, where a-are you g-going?" she stutters.

"I'm just going back to the cot, alright? You should try to get some more sleep, if you can. Those nightmares can't hurt you - they aren't real, and I'll be right here if you need me." He pats her on the head to reassure her.

...

Ranth didn't dream for once, and woke up peacefully the next morning feeling refreshed. Stretching, he yawned and looked around. Realizing Evy was not in bed, he glanced around the room and saw that she was not there either.

Ranth levered himself out of the bed with a grunt went to find his clothes, quickly dressing. He was trying to figure out what to do next when he heard light footsteps coming down the stairs. Evy entered the room holding a tray of food. "Oh, you're finally awake." she giggled. "I thought you were gonna sleep till the world ended!~"

Ranth rubbed his eyes. "Very funny..." Evy only grinned at him and set the tray down on her table, plopping into one of the chairs. "I got hungry waiting for you to wake up so I went and snagged some food from the mess hall." She grabbed an oat cake and stuffed it into her mouth, then patted the chair next to her. "Cfome jfoin mfe!~" she said with her mouth full. Ranth shook his head and took the offered seat next to her.

Evy took a swig from a cup containing some kind of fruit juice, then wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "I also feel much better today, so I think I'm all back to normal!~" she declared happily.

Catching her eye and holding her gaze, Ranth stared into Evy's wide purple eyes. Evy smiled, dropping her teasing pretense. Her chin wobbled as she stared back at him. "Th-Thank you for taking care of me, Ranth..." No longer able to bear the strong emotions flowing from her open gaze, Ranth seized her up in a hug and held her tightly, shaking his head to clear the tears from the corners of his eyes he told himself weren't really there. "Of course, Evy... I'd never want anything bad to happen to you and I'll always be here for you from now on. I promise..!"

Evy hugged him back, and they held the embrace for a time. Finally Evy began to squirm and Ranth quickly released her before she could "accidentally" overuse her strength again trying to get free. He reminded himself to be careful not to make her do that, thinking that it must be hard on her to have to be so careful with her inhuman strength all the time...

Evy climbed back into her seat and went back to gobbling down her breakfast. Ranth felt his appetite return as he watched her eat, and realized that he, too, was famished. He picked up the pastry he'd shredded and ate it, then helped himself to another, then some kind of salted meat, eggs, etc. He poured himself some of the fruit juice and refilled Evy's tankard for her. They ate in silence for a while before hearing footsteps on the stairs. Turning, they saw Master Garath entered the room holding another food tray.

"Oh, you already got food? I should have know..." he laughed, and set the tray down on the table. "May I join you?" he asked politely, and Evy nodded and patted the seat on her other side for him to sit. Master Garath sat down with a sigh and rubbed Evy's back. She stopped eating and beams up at him. "Evy you know better, stop eating like a wild animal..." he scolded her, grabbing a napkin and dabbing at her cheeks.

Evy rolled her eyes at him but let him do it. "Mother hen!" she teased him. "I wouldn't have to be a mother hen if you behaved, little one!" he retorted, setting the napkin down. Evy sighed and sat up straighter, eating more daintily without making so much of a mess. "I take it you're feeling back to your old self?" Master Garath asked Evy once she'd finished eating. "Mmm-hmm! I feel much better thanks to Ranth!" she said with an open smile.

"I'm so happy to hear that." Master Garath said, tussling Evy's hair. Turning to Ranth, he says, "Thank you, Ranth... It pained me deeply not being able to take care of her during her recovery, but I've been in council war meetings almost nonstop since the Infernal Legion began increasing their offensive."

Ranth nodded, grateful for Master Garath's heartfelt appreciation... but feeling somehow like he didn't deserve it. "It was no problem." he said. "After all she did for me it was the least I could do." Now it was his turn to tussle Evy's hair, making her roll her eyes again. "I'm not a doll, you two! Stop that!" she said, pouting at them both adorably. The two men only laughed, making her scowl at them and go back to eating her food.

Master Garath helped himself to some of the food, and Ranth poured him a cup of juice. He nodded gratefully and accepted it, downing it in one go. Ranth only now realized how tired Master Garath looked, and wondered when he'd slept last...

After they finish eating, Master Garath turned to Evy. "Evy... if you are feeling better, High Priest Emery wanted me to pass along a request." Evy sat up, looking at her master calmly. "Sure, master. What is it?"

Master Garath folds his hands in his lap, looking at his napkin. "He was very impressed with how you handled removing that fel mark from yourself and wishes to instruct you in more advanced holy magics. He thinks you'd be very good at helping us locate and remove sleeper marks from others in the empire." Evy nods, waiting patiently for him to continue.

"I am inclined to agree, though... given all that happened between you two, I don't feel right forcing you to do this... so while I think it would be in our empire's greater interest for you to accept his offer, if you're not comfortable around him right now I would understand, and.. and I think he would, too..." He continued staring at his napkin, not meeting her eyes.

Finished, he waited patiently for Evy to respond. Evy thinks about it for a moment before giving her answer. "No, it's fine... I.. I want to help." she says slowly. "He was just doing his job trying to protect everyone... it sucked, but I get it. If I can help save other people I want to learn how!" she declares, determination in her eyes. Master Garath studies her face, then nods. "I figured you'd say that, but I wanted to ask. You're a good person, Evy. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!" He hugs her tightly, making the girl squeak and protest, though she doesn't try to pull away.

Master Garath lets her go, chuckling and ruffling her hair again. "C'mon!" Evy complains. "Now I gotta brush it again!" She holds out her hand and the hairbrush on the nightstand flies into her grip. Scowling at her master, she swiftly brushes out her ebony locks until they're straight again. Master Garath hides a smile behind his hand, pretending to be stroking his beard. "Sorry, Evy. Anyways, since you've accepted the training you will report to the Cathedral of Light on the 3rd hour after noon each day for instruction."

Finished with Evy, he turns to Ranth. "Oh, young master Ranth. Your father wished me to inform you that you need present yourself to the imperial command offices today on the 2nd hour after noon for a thorough debriefing and to receive new orders." Ranth's eyes go wide. "O-Of course. I won't be late!" Glancing at the time piece, he sees that it's less than an hour before noon right now. Ranth jumps to his feet. "I don't have long to prepare! Evy, I'm sorry but I have to go! I'll see you as soon as I can, and good luck with your new studies!" Evy waves to him as he rushed out of the room.

Master Garath watches him go, then turns back to Evy. "You've found a good friend in master Ranth, Evy." he says. "I'm.. overjoyed to see you opening up to someone else." Evy blushes and looks down. "He's very nice... and I like him a lot."

Master Garath chuckles. "Don't be embarrassed, I won't pry - I'm just happy to see you making friends. Which reminds me..." His tone makes Evy look up. Now that he has her attention, Master Garath continues. "In light of what's happened, Lord Tristan of all people persuaded the council that you shouldn't have to hide yourself away from the public anymore, and I very much agree with him." He smiled at her warmly. "You can go where you wish now, Evy. You don't need to hide from the public - they will now know a drow walks among them." Evy's eyes widen. "R-Really? S-So... I can go out in the city..? Anytime I want!?" she exclaims, looking very excited.

Master Garath nods. "I won't lie... part of the reason this came about was as a strategic political move. The common folk are terrified of the legion since the fall of Carthidge and worry that the empire will no longer be able to protect them. Letting them know a drow, who's powers are the stuff of legends, is in service of the empire will go a long way to make them feel safe again."

He continues, wishing to be honest with her. "It's... a bit manipulative, but I still think it's a good idea, not to mention good for you. I've always hated hiding you away, especially with all you've done for the empire." Evy nods. "I understand, if this story will make people feel safe then I don't mind. I want to protect people!" She puffs out her chest confidently.

Master Garath goes to mess with her hair again, but before he can do it shadows form around Evy and she shadow steps to her bed. Master Garath looks at her and she sticks her tongue out at him, making him chuckle. "Fine, you win." he says with a smirk. "I'm glad you're okay with this." Pausing, he considers. "The proclamation that a drow serves the empire went out this morning. It'd probably help if people saw you as soon as possible so they believe what we've told them, so you wanted to visit the market..."

Evy hops to her feet. "R-Really!? I've always wanted to go into to the market!~" She scrambles around her room, donning her dragonhide and spell-weave armor and fastening her enchanted rapier to her belt. Next fastens on a black cloak and quickly tosses several things into a well-worn shoulder bag. Within the space of a minute she's all ready to go. "I'll go right now, thank you so much!~" she exclaims, seizing her master in a too-tight hug. "E-Easy, Evy! Don't crush my old bones!"

Evy lets him go, looking sheepish. "S-Sorry!" she mumbles. He pats her shoulder this time. "That's quite all right. Remember to mind your strength, and don't be late for your lessons with High Priest Emery!" Evy hops to the door, and waves to him. "I won't! I'll see you at dinner!~" she says with a whoop, then darkness gathers around her and she vanishes without a trace. Shaking his head, Master Garath winces as his bruised ribs protest, not for the first time and certainly not for the last. Evy could be a bit too enthusiastic sometimes... He hoped setting her lose on the poor city wasn't a huge mistake!

Groaning, Master Garath walked back upstairs, heading to his office to process yet more intelligence reports...

Chapter 12: Heroes

• Chapter Index