I could feel a weird tension growing between Hannah and myself ever since I came back from the Paz dimension as I had started to think of it. Gabriella was pointedly ignoring me, and Cassandra was half-heartedly ignoring me in solidarity with her lover. Bethul'Dyr was avoiding everyone, and I was avoiding Gregorius. I felt so painfully alone.
I had spent all of yesterday thinking up ever increasingly dumb plans for reaching her. Like what if I went to the Tomb and traded my soul to the First Lich. Or what if I went to the Summit of Mount Kryr and somehow defeated the Harbinger and used the Rod of Dragon's Blood to.. no, I don't have any spell points. Fuck. The forbidden section of Arcadia's Infinite Library felt like my only realistic option to help Paz. And myself, as I remembered that I've still got a demon-portal time bomb inside me.
We set up camp near a waterfall as the sun was going down and everyone went off to do their own thing. Tomorrow we should reach Vaqyn by mid-day, and from there about two or three more days until Arcadia, and I was excited to meet new people. It had been a very mild day, so I decided that I would explore the waterfall and take a much needed bath. Who knows, I might even get lucky and find a hot spring.
I collected my few clothes that Cassandra had donated, she was the only one close to my size, and marched the five minutes through the forest towards the waterfall. I heard it before I saw it; the thundering crash of water as it cascaded down from high above. It was far from the biggest waterfall I had ever seen, nothing could compare to pictures of places like Niagara Falls, but still it was magnificent, and the sight of the crystal clear water bubbling and churning took my breath away. I could see salmon swimming in it as I walked closer, and immediately hoped that I could manage to catch a few for dinner.
I looked around to make sure I was alone, and then began humming random songs from Ocarina as I stripped out of my clothes. I dipped a bare toe into the water and my tail wagged; the water was quite cool, but very refreshing. A rustling of leaves made me quickly glance behind me. A doe poked out of the trees and pranced up to me. She stood, staring at me with her head tilted quizzically and her floofy tail wiggling. I reached out and petted her and she didn't even flinch. Was this someone's pet deer?
"Hello sweetheart, my name's Alexis." She jumped, seemingly startled, and darted away into the woods in a panic. Weird.
I slipped into the small lake and shivered. The water was cold enough to be very bracing, but I had joined for a little ice swimming back home, and compared to that, it was easily tolerable. I did a few laps and felt like myself for the first time since I had woken up in Illith Aranor. I have always loved water, and swimming is my favorite workout. I flipped onto my back and closed my eyes and just floated in peace as the rest of the world faded away.
"Ello girl'e, my a'en' you ah pretty one."
I screamed and flipped upright, treading water as I spun around. There were four men spaced out around the shore so that I was surrounded on all sides with the waterfall behind me. They had a very rough look about them and each was well armed with a worn, but still very sharp sword at his side and a crossbow in his hands.
"Who are you? What do you want?" I hated that my voice quivered and broke as I called out to them. I knew that they could feel my fear.
"O', 'ow rude o' us. I be Ser Robert o' Windham." The closest one addressed me and gave a deeply melodramatic bow. He wore an overcoat that might have been fancy many years ago over light leather armor that was scuffed and faded. "Oi, introduct yerselves tuh thuh pretty lady, yeh useliss feckers!"
The one to his right bore a nasty looking scar that cut through his left eye. "Marn." He growled with irritation, entirely over the antics of his leader.
"Sumnor." The short man was looking at me with a hunger in his eyes that I really didn't like.
"Frederick, a pleasure to meet you, my Lady."
They all had the look of slavers. I guess only one of them was chatty. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
"W-what do you want?" I felt the bottom of the lake under my feet again and crouched down in the water, crossing my arms over my chest in a feeble attempt to cover myself. My tail swished back and forth in the water like an agitated cat.
"Weh wan' you' pretty lit' ass." He smiled at me. "Reck'n you' fetch a' leas' fiv' plat'num."
My eyes went wide with surprise and shock. Five thousand gold pieces, just for me? Gosh, you'd think these guys would dress better if they were getting those kinds of prices. And apparently Marn agreed with me.
He turned to his leader. "Five platinum? She's gorgeous and exotic, but five? You sure about that?" Marn's voice was deeper, and he had probably been classically handsome back in the days before he became a slaver.
"Thys ere' one o' thim Teflen. Dev'l-bluds."
Marn frowned. Teflen? Are you sure you don't mean Tief-"
Robert cut him off with a swipe of his hand. "Cour' I'm sure! Yuh knows pointah ears, Sumnor knows thuh shor'ies, and I knows thuh tr'cksy ones. " He crossed his arms over his chest; the discussion was closed. "Fred'ck, ifin' yuh pleas'."
Frederick was a lot younger than the others. He still had a boyish face and I was almost certain I saw real intelligence in his eyes. He raised his hand and I felt the wind pick up. A wave crashed into my back, almost knocking me off my feet and pushing me towards shore. Another wave made me stumble and I swallowed water instead of air. I held up my hands in surrender and trudged towards shore as I coughed up a lung. The cold mountain air felt absolutely frigid on my wet skin and I started shivering violently as I stepped out of the water.
Frederick took off his cloak and wrapped it around my small frame. "There Miss, I hope that's a touch better." I nodded thanks to him.
Sumnor rested his hand on my shoulder to keep me in line between himself and Robert with Marn in the lead and Frederick bringing up the rear. As we started walking, Sumnor's hand started to drift south before Robert slapped it away. "Han' off thuh merch'dise. She' wor' nothin' wit' your grubbuh mit' all ovar 'er."
Sumnor glared hatred at Ser Robert and then took manacles off his belt and reached for my hands. Well now Sumnor, the bad news for you is that my momma didn't raise no bitch. My tail yanked the sword out of his sheath and deposited it in my hand in one lightning-fast motion. And in the next breath I swiped the sword at him with all my strength. He looked down as his insides spilled out onto the ground and collapsed.
A wave of nauseating energy started in my tail and radiated throughout my entire body. I doubled over and vomited, unable to keep my stomach between the twin factors of gore and the mysterious nausea. Gods Below, I really wasn't cut out for this world. I looked up just in time to see the butt of Marn's crossbow smashing into my face.