The Empire of Zeth/Chapter 2
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. Master Garath didn't want me to go, but 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 here in t-time..!"
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 mighty 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 knight protectors, 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 order. And she had saved his life twice now... he had no reason to not believe her, right?
"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 are the.. the captain of the supply train?" she asks him. "Yes, err - yes, sir!" 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 have detected us."
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. Somehow 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.
"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. "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. Which way, captain?"
"R-Right!" he says, struggling to his feet. "We'll head for the gate in the great wall 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 fallen."
"C-Cm'on then.. Lead on, captain." The girl motions for him to take the lead. He points to the dense forest at their backs and they set off into it.
...
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... "sir"? 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, sir!"
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... Evy." She turns and continues walking. He jogs 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."
"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?' Ranth wonders. 'She's 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...
Chapter 3: The Infernal Envoy