Gateworld Tales~ The Strange Tale of Alice Lebel 2

It was nearly dawn by the time the travelers finally gave in; they had fed their lamp all night and were down to only three starshards left out of the ten the Centaurian supplied them with. Paz and Siura were piled atop each other, the morning sun mostly blotted out by the thick forest surrounding the cave. When the Lamia first woke it was nearly noon. As she was coming to she felt unusually warm, yawning and stretching underneath Paz's body. It was then she realized that the source of heat was not herself but the wounded Hoblin, feverish and sweaty. She gasped with shock at his injured state.

In the dim light she knew that the Cobold had cut him, but she had no clue as to the dire condition Paz was truly in. There was so much blood on his shredded, dirty tunic that it was hard to tell if it was all from him or shared with his assailant. He had several bruises and gashes on his exposed lower legs and arms; the open wounds were beginning to fester and swell. Infection. The monster's filthy claws were surely the culprit.

Paz tossed about with eyes still closed, then groaned loudly. "I don't feel so good."

Siura shushed him, her hand on his chest. "Stay still. Jeez, I knew you were hurt, but..." She trailed off, not wanting to think about what would happen if his state worsened. She gently lifted his body--small and fragile compared to her own--and set him down on a blanket. He was shivering.

His voice was a raspy whisper. "Guess you get to say 'I told you so,' huh?" The Hoblin managed a weak smile, but his friend was not amused.

"Shhh. Don't move." She wrapped the fleece around him, trying to keep him comfortable. But Siura knew that would only tide him over for a little while--he needed help now. She reached for one of the remaining starshards and forcefully crushed it in her hands, biting her lip as she felt the essence course through her. Once charged, she closed her eyes and started softly murmuring the incantation that her father had taught her all those years ago.

She kept up the chant for nearly a minute. Siura could feel it working. The cuts were slowly closing. She rested her fingers on Paz's face and began gently stroking him; his fever was breaking. He rubbed his hairless cheek against her hand, enjoying the euphoric sensation. It was not the first time she tended to him in this way.

Siura blushed. Over the years spent sharing limited space the pair was long used to physical contact both affectionate and otherwise, but for the Lamia there was always something special and deeply intimate about the healing process. For a time she wanted to work as a physician, maybe even as a battlefield medic, but found she lacked the stomach for it. Despite that there was a part of her that still looked forward to the flood of positive energy the magic brought--both for herself and seeing it in others.

"Siura?" Paz's sickly voice was partially muffled by the blanket covering his mouth. She was still caressing his face. "Yes?"

He moved the sheet away. "Why do you put up with me?" 

Siura smiled. "You already know why."

"No, I really don't." He looked away but continued talking, slow and shaky. "You always look out for me and all I am is dead weight. You could easily do this on--" His self-deprecating missive was interrupted by her index finger on his lips.

"Shh... Paz. Stop babbling and look at me. You know why."

Paz's blue eyes stared deeply into hers for a moment; he felt himself blushing as he affirmed their bond without saying a word. Some things simply needed no explanation. After peacefully basking in her embrace and staring at the quiet woods around him for some time, he tried to sit up. "Need some water."

Siura adjusted her position and dug through their supplies until she found one of several large leather flasks, grabbing one that was already close to empty. She uncorked it and wet a rag, delicately wiping the crusted blood off of Paz's face. He let her continue for several minutes before saying anything.

When she finished, he looked at her and grinned. "Much better... but I'm still thirsty." Giggling, she reached for a full flask after playfully dumping the remains of the nearly empty one on his head.

~

With their starshard supply nearly expended, the adventurers realized that they would have to make their move that night. Aside from an already tired Chime, they had roughly three or four hours of light at best. But they still had plenty of food and water. Siura floated the idea of using biscuits and smoked meat to try and draw the Cobold out due to Paz's vulnerable state, but the stubborn Hoblin wasn't having it. He was already feeling better and insisted that they'd have to go into the mine and flush it out. After a brief argument, the overprotective Lamia finally acquiesced--if only to keep him from angrily sulking. By the time they geared up and approached the cavern, it was almost late afternoon.

With sword slung over her shoulder Siura still took the lead into the mine's yawning entrance. Rotting, slumped rafters kept many tons of rock in place. She looked up with some trepidation as she slithered along and ducked her head under the wooden beams, but the Hoblin following her with a very long rope coiled around his left shoulder seemed unconcerned. His dirk was sheathed on his belt. Chime sat atop Paz's head, ready to provide light as needed.

"Shouldn't we have brought the lamp?" The Lamia's anxiety remained, but Paz merely shrugged.

"No point. We're so low on shards. Besides, got a feeling we're gonna need our hands free." He rubbed the scabbed-over cuts on his face. "Cobolds are fast."

Less than two hundred feet ahead and with the light shining into the tunnel already dimmer, they found themselves at the point the constable deemed impassable. The rafters had buckled, leaving a relatively small aperture to crawl through about three feet above the floor they stood on. Hand on chin, Siura carefully investigated the claustrophobic passageway.

Paz's eyes ran along her long, serpentine body. "Are you sure you can get through that? I can go through and see if there's a better way for you..."

Siura closed her eyes as she began stretching her arms and upper back, loosening up the tight muscles. "It's wider than my shoulders. I should be able to make it." She took off the sling, sword still sheathed. "Here, hold onto this for me and stay put til I get to the other side."

"Alright." Paz looped one end of the rope he carried around the end of a smashed beam and tightened it securely, ensuring that they would be able to use it and find a way back. He hoped there wouldn't be any holes in this place--it was the only rope they had.

Siura took a deep breath. "Here I go..." She laid flat with her arms stretched in front of her and shimmied forward on her belly, twisting and articulating her flexible form to get around the larger rocks.

It was a tight squeeze; she fed herself into the crevice slowly but surely. It did not take more than a few minutes before her arms peeked through the hole on the opposite side, followed by her head and shoulders; she deliberately pulled the rest of her body through with a series of grunts, feeling the scales rub the top and bottom of the aperture until it was free. "Paz. Your turn."

Paz unwound the rope from his shoulder and tied the free end of the rope to his left foot. Then he grabbed Siura's sword and entered the hole head first, crawling as he pulled the rope through. He bumped his head on a couple of low-hanging objects but otherwise had little trouble. Chime flew next to him, shining her luminescence into the narrow passage. While her cohort was navigating the crawlspace, Siura looked deeply into the cavern ahead of her. The tunnel had expanded in front of them into a vast darkened chamber; until the glowing Swarmling and her keeper had arrived, she was barely able to make out its far walls.

In Chime's light, the openings to three narrow tunnels were made visible--one directly before them, and the others at opposite ends of the chamber. The dilapidated remains of mining implements and rotted wood remained strewn about the floor. Siura moved her long body gingerly over the rough terrain, careful not to wander over a stray nail or sharp rock. The Hoblin almost tripped over a nearby piling outside of the light's reach then scanned the pathways before them, shrugging noncommittally. "So...which way?"

The Lamia subtly shook her head, her expression hesitant. "Not sure..." Her eyes jumped from one aperture to the other for nearly half a minute before finally throwing up her hands. "Ugh... we could be searching in here all day."

"We don't have all day." Paz sat down on a piece of timber, and casually kicked a stone in front of his foot. It ricocheted off the nearby wall, echoing loudly in the enclosed space.

Siura shot the impatient Hoblin a dirty look, lowering her voice. "Shh. It'll hear you."

"Does it matter?" Paz sighed and stood up. "C'mon. Let's just pick a p-"

But all three froze in place with their eyes wide when a guttural, wordless yell pierced the still air of the mine. Siura and Paz stared at each other as the screaming trailed off in a series of grunts and coughs, followed by a low gravelly croak that was disturbingly comprehensible as speech. "G'ira wah! Gor 'roaway!"

A loud scattering of loose rocks and the patter of strange feet grew distant in the darkness as Paz swallowed with a dry throat and faced the left hand path, his ears twitching. He said nothing, but nodded towards Siura and unsheathed his dirk.

~

It was Paz's turn to take the lead as he moved slowly down the cavern's sloped tunnel, trailing their rope behind them and trying not to make too much noise. Chime fell behind him, hovering above the Hoblin's shoulders and making sure the adventurers had adequate illumination. Siura held up the rear. Anxious beads of sweat dripped off her brow as the passage narrowed over the course of its descent, like the throat of a beast threatening to swallow them whole.

Compared to the chamber behind them, there was relatively little evidence that miners had been down this way. There were no rafters above them, just smooth rock. As they continued further into the depths the numerous large formations on the ceilings and floors were evidently shaped by water and time, not the tools of sentient beings.

As the ground evened out and the ceiling stretched further away from their heads the trio found themselves entering a vast, high-flung and barely lit chamber with walls of stone and a deep blackened chasm stretching out below them. A narrow isthmus of limestone created by centuries of erosion formed a bridge over this foreboding pit. Paz found his heels digging in against his will. He could go no further as his widening eyes stared down into it. The bottom was far beyond the reaches of the Swarmling's light.

But that wasn't the only thing that drew his attention. He spotted a strange, bright blue stain on a sharp-looking stalagmite a few feet to the left of him. It stood out on the dull yellow stone. To his keen nose, it smelled strongly of copper... small bits of ragged, brightly colored clothing far too small for anything but a Fae were scattered around it.

Siura did not see the blood, but tasted the distinct scent on her tongue before she nearly bumped into the apprehensive Hoblin as he suddenly halted. "What's wrong?" Her query was delivered in a dry whisper.

Paz's own voice shook, his body trembling. "H-heights... I'm no good with heights. We s-should go back."

"But you heard it go down here."

"Th-hat doesn't mean an-anything. Things echo in caves. Besides.." He pointed down at the now-taut rope tied around his leg. "Rope's too short."

Siura scratched her head. "We couldn't have gone that far." She grabbed the rope and turned around, starting back the way they came. "It must be caught on something."

It was only when Paz crashed to the ground with a startled yell and Siura felt someone forcefully tug at the rope in her hand that they realized exactly what it had caught on. The Hoblin was being dragged, kicking and grasping at the slick rock beneath him, desperate cries of fear lodged in his throat. "Ah, Siura! Help!"

The Lamia sprung into action as she immediately grabbed the rope with her free hand and gave it a harsh pull. After a couple seconds of resistance and a loud shriek of protest combined with the sound of clawed digits scrambling over the cavern floor, it suddenly went slack. But Siura continued pulling, drawing more and more of their lifeline closer to her while Paz laid on the ground, shaking and breathing heavily.

"Ssshit..." Siura held up the frayed end of the rope in front of her worried face. It had been chewed through. "Looks like it has us where it wants us."

Paz's legs quivered when he scrambled to his feet, blue eyes gleaming in Chime's pale light as she buzzed in the still air over their heads. His sword was drawn and held in front of him as he backed up to be closer to the much larger snake woman. Both fell silent and utterly motionless as the bestial snarls and skittering limbs grew closer, the echoes within the cave making it impossible to gauge where the Cobold was coming from.

"Sss-steady, Paz." Siura whispered only a short distance from her partner's ear. He nodded, fighting the tremors in his hands and squeezing the hilt of his weapon tighter.

Suddenly the Lamia saw a set of grim black eyes gleaming in the dark, not far away from where they both stood near the mouth of the narrow passage. She pointed at them. "There!"

But the creature nor its hunters would be the first to act. The Cobold issued a chilling scream as Chime immediately zeroed in on the small Demon, zipping back and forth and opening more cuts on the cowering creature's face. Both Paz and Siura were lost in the shadows dancing upon the walls of the darkened caverns and the loud echoing wails, unable to pinpoint their target in the confusion.

"Chime, wait!" The Lamia tried to follow the Swarmling's rapid movements but couldn't make out her target, and neither could Paz. But that didn't stop the young Hoblin from leaping into the fray--yelling, swinging, stumbling.

Alarmed by Chime's attacks and the Hoblin suddenly charging it, the Cobold lashed out furiously until it felt the Swarmling connect with its hand. The fragile insect girl crashed into the cavern wall and left a trail of blood as she slid down it. Her light continued to glow dimly, fading in and out as she barely clung to consciousness.

"Aaagh!" The Hoblin witnessed the fall of his precious pet. He rushed in to cut the Cobold down, screaming with impassioned rage--but the monster viciously turned the tables, knocking him to the ground and striking over and over with a rock clenched in its long-fingered hand. Paz felt blood fill his mouth. He swiped blindly at his assailant, but his blade found no purchase.

Panicked, Paz used his free hand and tried in vain to push away the flailing beast--but he gripped something else from the creature's body, a loose object tucked into its ragged loincloth. Something strange. The material wasn't wet like torn flesh, nor was it sharp. Its texture was unlike paper, somewhat alien and quite soft; it crumpled and deformed in his hand but he had no time to focus on it. He backed away shouting and kicking, trying to keep those claws and mouth of sharp teeth away.

Suddenly the Cobold fell back, hissing loudly and retreating on all fours from the angered Lamia advancing quickly towards her struggling friend. Siura lashed out with her long tail, striking the beast in the abdomen and staggering it into the stone wall, then swiftly pinned it there with her vastly greater weight and power. "Take that, you damned freak!"

But the small Demon still had some fight left--Siura shuddered painfully and yelped as the Cobold bit down with all its force on her limb, then determinedly clenched her own teeth. "Oh you little..."

Feeling around in the dark the Lamia wound her tail around the monster's body and started to squeeze, choking the life out of it and lifting it off the floor. The claws scratched helplessly at her tough scales but she only kept up the pressure until she felt it go limp in her grasp, starved of air. Satisfied, she slammed the creature down on the ground.

"Paz, I got it! Are you okay?!"

Watching his partner take care of the threat, the sprawled and bleeding Hoblin groaned a feeble response after spitting the ferrous taste out of his mouth. It felt like a couple of his teeth were broken. "Y.. yeah. I think so." His face was throbbing as he rubbed it, knowing that it would be a bruised pulp before he even left the cave.

He returned his dirk to its sheath, then unclenched his left fist and stared at the mysterious, dirt-encrusted item, holding it up to the dim light and brushing it off while straightening its crumpled and folded edges. Though he strained his eyes trying, he was unable to make out the strange writing scrawled on the small card in an alien alphabet. However... he did recognize something else on it. And gasped when he saw Siura drawing her sword out of the corner of his eye.

"Wait... wait! Don't kill it!"

She already had the blade up to the unconscious creature's throat, waiting to deliver the coup de grâce. Her expression turned incredulous. "Uh... why not?"

In response the Hoblin ran towards her, holding the foreign document up to Siura's questioning gaze after taking a second to catch his breath.

"Recognize her?"

~

The would-be monster hunters made it back outside and to their rickety wagon by dusk. Both Siura and Paz were filthy and ragged. With the Hoblin carrying a dying Chime in his front shirt pocket, they barely had any light and were left to stumble near-blind all the way back through the mine. What took about an hour before had expanded to nearly three.

The pair were loudly arguing with each other on the way back. Upon seeing the face of an eerily familiar Humie girl on the unusual artifact, Siura stayed her blade but she was far from happy about it; nor was she enthusiastic about having to drag the live Cobold that just mauled two of her partners out of a poorly lit cavern. The two hastily hogtied and gagged the knocked out creature with their remaining rope--which only made their ascent even more haphazard. The fresh cut on Siura's head that opened on the second pass through the narrow crawlspace and bled all over her worn sari did nothing to improve her mood.

"Ugh, finally." The Lamia rubbed that wound vigorously, intensely annoyed as the twilit clearing became visible to her. "This better have been worth it..."

A grim frown spread across the Hoblin's purpling, battered face. "I'm telling you. It has to be her. Why else would she have that?"

"Paz..." Siura sighed loudly. The argument felt like it had been going around in circles. She silently cursed the Hoblin's mulishness. "It's a Cobold. They steal things off their victims. It's what they do... who knows where it could've gotten it from?"

"She. Call her she."

"Whatever." Siura huffed. They were crossing the clearing now, carrying their tired and sore bodies over to their wagon. "How do you know that..."--she wrinkled her nose as she corrected herself--"she didn't kill Alice and just take it off her?" She rubbed the back of her sore neck.

Paz ran his hand through his short hair and kicked the ground. "Dunno, really. A hunch... what else do you want me to say? We're not killing her. I don't care what Will wants. She's going back to the guild."

She glared at him with fresh annoyance. "A hunch? All this damn work, over a Cobold that hasss to die anyway? Look at her, Paz. You can't fix her! Even if she was a Humie, she's barely more than an animal now."

"I don't care. We're taking her back." He stared at the ground and dug his heels in, both literally and figuratively. The throbbing ache in his face and mouth only served to make him all the more stubborn.

Siura hissed with irritation, coils winding. "Urrgh! Why are you being ssso damn difficult over thisss?" She sighed again, then tried to calm her rising temper. "Look, I know you don't like killing. Neither do I. We'll leave her with Will and he'll take care of it. No one will have to--"

"Will you just listen to me!" The Hoblin was getting visibly emotional now as he interrupted, face reddened and on the verge of screaming at her. "You're always so bloody dismissive of everything I say!"

He slammed his left fist then his head against the side of the wagon, exasperated. Brizkit let out a moo of mild protest. "Stop treating me like I'm a child! I know what I want and we're not. Killing. Her!"

Siura paused for a moment, taken aback by his sudden rage. "Paz, I-"

"Shut up." Paz's words suddenly choked in his throat. He felt the tears welling up and tried to hide them from Siura. There was a long, hesitant pause before he spoke again. "Chime's hurt. Dying. I... I don't want her to think that she nearly killed herself for nothing."

The Hoblin fell to the ground on his knees and crawled halfway under the wagon, curling up into a ball. His stomach was churning with grief, and he fought the sick rising in his throat. "She's saved my life, more than once. Please. I owe her this." He wiped his eyes on the back of his arm, leaving streaks of dirt mixed with lacrima across his face.

Siura felt a pang of intense guilt but couldn't bring herself to respond. Anything she thought of would only make him withdraw further at this point. Trying to give Paz some breathing room by slithering over to the opposite side, she lifted the still-unconscious Cobold into the back of the wagon with ease and anchored its ropes to a pair of metal tie-down pinions in the wagon's floorboards. Tied up securely like this it was going nowhere.

Several minutes of silence passed but Paz hadn't moved from his spot. He removed the critically injured Swarmling out of his pocket and delicately prodded her in an attempt to somehow will her awake. He suddenly felt his partner's hand upon his shoulder.

"I might be able to heal you both." Siura's voice was low and subdued. "We have a couple starshards left. But there won't be any more left for the lamp. Guess we could try making a fire tonight?"

The sniffling Hoblin stood up, taking Siura's outstretched hand. The scorn he felt earlier fell away from him as he gently deposited the wounded will o' the wisp into her palm. "Don't worry about me. Heal her first." The Lamia's expression turned apprehensive in light of the swollen bruises and cuts on Paz's face, but she nodded and clasped her hands around Chime.

Then he looked up at Siura and her still-seeping head injury. "Let me bandage you up. That looks bad."

After tending to Siura and applying what little curative salve they had to his own face the Hoblin hopped down from the wagon. With the fate of the Swarmling weighing only slightly less on him, he sullenly wandered the edge of the woods to search for kindling before the night set in.

~

The two rested around their small fire in the clearing, remaining on separate sides of the burning pile of twigs and leaves to let the storm of emotions subside. Few words passed between them. While they were still awake both took turns checking on the bound Cobold in the wagon. Though not seriously harmed by Siura's constricting grasp aside from a few bruised ribs, the emaciated, gray-skinned creature was beyond exhausted. Ironically with its large eyes closed and savage toothy grimace absent, it looked quite peaceful in this state.

Paz viewed the many cuts on its face with concern, along with the tip of the ear he sliced off at some point during their fight. He didn't particularly like their captive--after all it had gravely harmed Chime, to say nothing of the brutal beatings he received at its hands. But if his guess was correct, there was no way he could live with the guilt of having a changed Humie's death on his conscience. As a native Gateworlder he had never seen one in the flesh, but the Hoblin felt a sort of sympathy for the new arrivals and how they were transformed--presumably against their will, though no one truly understood how the gates worked. Paz just knew that if he were in the same position, he'd feel just as confused and angry as this "Alice" was about her fate.

Using the shards, Siura managed to prolong Chime's life but only just. She lost consciousness sometime during the trip back after struggling to illuminate the cavern and had remained comatose ever since. The Lamia had tried everything she could think of--all the healing magic she knew, which was relatively little in the grand scheme of things--but the tiny Swarmling's smashed body was too far gone. She wouldn't make it through the night.

Siura decided to break the news to her Hoblin partner at dawn--he had already fallen asleep well before the fire had completely burnt out. She couldn't help but notice how sad and weary his young face looked in the flickering orange light.

~

With the captured Cobold--still immobile but now wide awake and snarling through its gag--in their wagon and the constable's threat still hanging in their minds, the itinerant pair wasted little time the following morning. Famished, they had a quick breakfast then proceeded to pack up their few supplies and make a couple last minute repairs to the wagon's rear axle. The two ate without saying a word to each other; Paz fondled the mysterious item he found while he did so.

Before leaving they gave Chime a proper burial. She was found that morning where Siura had left her--by the dying embers of the fire, her own perpetual luminescence extinguished. The tiny insectoid was lifeless and still. Paz was crestfallen, but shed no tears as he scooped out a small hole in the soft earth of the clearing and carefully laid his cherished pet's body to rest.

Siura laid a hand on the Hoblin's shoulder and brushed a tear away from her own eye with the other while he slowly filled in the hole. "Sorry Paz, I tried... I couldn't save her."

Paz simply nodded, not looking at her. His hands visibly shook as he piled the dark, rich soil into a tiny mound. He took a small branch and used it to inscribe something at the base, then planted the stick in its summit. "Let's go."

With Siura laying down in the back of the wagon as before, Paz undid the handbrake and snapped Briskit's reins, deliberately setting off down the steep hill they struggled up before. Progress was slow over the slick mud, but the old Auroch took the descent with relative ease.

At some point after reaching the bottom Siura sat up, mouth slightly open and faintly sniffing the air. "Do you smell smoke? Something burning?"

"Yeah..." Paz paused for a moment and rubbed his itching eyes. He had noticed the smell for quite some time, but simply thought it was the remains of their campfire. It was harsh and oppressive, almost eye-watering, and it was only getting stronger as the wagon continued down the road through the haze-covered forest of bladed foliage.

The source of the foul scent and the dense fog that accompanied it became evident as they exited the forest. Over the rolling plains Paz and Siura both saw a huge plume of black smoke rising from the direction of the small town.

~

Though their Cobold prisoner had fallen silent for the past two hours, it started growling with a distinct unease upon entering the smoking ruins of Verdilan. Having switched places with Siura at her insistence once outside the forest, Paz was sitting in the cart only a few feet away from the vicious creature. He tried to shush it several times, but it didn't pay much attention until the Hoblin took out the card bearing Alice's face and held it in front of its whiteless eyes.

"Is this you?" Paz waved the artifact around, hoping to silence the lesser Demon more than anything else. It seemed to have an effect; the Colbold sat there lured by the lost girl's visage. After a time Paz heard it softly whimpering and felt a twinge of remorse, but refused to loosen its bindings. After the bruises and chipped teeth he knew better.

Siura slowed the wagon to a crawl as they rolled onto main street. Loose bits of flaming timber and other debris were scattered all over the road; the choking smoke had grown so intolerable both travelers hastily tied rags over their mouths and noses in an attempt to keep it at bay. Virtually all of the humbly constructed houses were burning; many were partially collapsed, including the inn they stayed at only two nights prior.

"What the hell happened here?" The Lamia's bright green eyes darted from building to destroyed building, looking for threats. She had yet to draw her sword, but the lack of noise was startling. This street was relatively busy when they left. She expected to hear people crying for help, screaming, shouting. But all she could hear was the crackle of the flames and popping of burning wood.

The eerie silence was getting to the Hoblin as well. It made him intensely nervous. He warily scanned around looking for Will, Dana, shopkeepers, anyone. "I don't know... could've been an accident?"

Rolling into the town center they began to realize otherwise. There were bodies piled up in the thoroughfare--at least a hundred. Men, women and children of various races, most of them Paz's size or smaller. Some were burning, some bloodied and lacerated. Many with arrows in them. A great number of the townspeople were wearing black cloaks. At the very center of this intersection surrounded by the dead stood a crude gallows, also partially collapsed and singed by the fires. The rope had been cut.

Both travelers stood agape and wordless at the scene before them, wheels at a dead stop. The stench of the corpses was overbearing. Siura felt bile rising in her throat. She would have turned the wagon around and ran for where they came, but it would have only been another dead end. Those responsible for the raid seemed to have vacated the area; she couldn't be sure. She saw many large paw prints in the dirt street--perhaps they belonged to Shan-do, perhaps something else. Whoever it was did not stay long enough to strip their kills of loot.

Paz swallowed with a dry throat before creakily responding. "Damn..." His green skin turned a shade paler from sheer horror. He shakily drew his dirk from its sheath; his hands were too unsteady to wield the weapon with any confidence. 

"We need to find Will." Siura's reply carried a sense of dread. She didn't like the idea of facing the Arcrier again, but this was completely out of her depth. Perhaps the constable would have answers.

But that notion was stopped cold as they turned to approach the road headed up to the manor and beheld a red and orange blaze upon the hill.

~

The two guild members sat there in a sort of credulous shock. Neither doubted the words of the young Hoblin seated at the table with him. In fact a Harpy aerial survey had confirmed a series of Shan-do raids in the countryside not more than a week before the pair arrived in the city. But both of the sheltered Abbadysians were taken aback by the sheer gruesomeness and senseless brutality of the scene Paz described. Anabel was in a state of numb silence--her blue eyes wide and rimmed with tears, hand over her mouth.

Even the gentlemanly Gargoyle, stoic to a fault, had to take a moment before proceeding. He clenched his clawed hands on the table in front of him. "You... you say there were no survivors?"

Siura had her right hand on Paz's shoulder, helping him get the words out. The Hoblin could only ruefully shake his head. He didn't want to think back to the way they found the Arcrier--hanging by a rope from that gnarled, wretched black tree over the graves of his own compatriots. His Centaurian deputy was lying aside the manor road, her mangled body naked and riddled with arrows.

Paz looked to his partner unsure if he could continue. She solemnly nodded and tried to silently reassure him as Fritz continued his line of inquiry. "And what happened after that?"

The young traveler cleared his throat and looked away, facing the table and rattling off the next string of events in a hushed, expressionless monotone.

"We got out as fast as we could. Rode until we couldn't anymore. Next village we rested up, bought food, clothes"--he fidgeted and self-consciously grasped at the edge of his still-new tunic below the table--"and then came straight here."

Paz exhaled loudly and suddenly started digging around in his pockets, as if in response to an unasked question. He shook his head with a nervous expression. "I must've left it back at the wagon. She probably has it..."

Fritz raised his left palm to halt him. "That's quite alright. Anabel and I do not doubt the veracity of your claim. It must have been quite the ordeal for you." He subtly adjusted his posture, leaning away from the table. "Given the dire nature of your circumstances we will not hold it against you for stealing the money necessary to make your way here. Its owners were no longer alive to use it."

Paz fell silent, his face reddening. Siura stared at Fritz and stammered fearfully. She had almost forgotten about the sack of starshards and assorted coins she took from one of the destroyed shops, partly out of desperation due to their penniless state. "H-how did you know?"

Fritz pulled out a small gold and black talisman on a chain from his pocket with his right hand and set it on the table. "This is enchanted. It allows me to see the wrongs of anyone I speak to. It has been responding to both of you since you walked in." His eyes moved from the Lamia to the Hoblin, his expression stern.

Both travelers were caught red-handed; Siura gulped before addressing their accuser. She suddenly felt quite small. "What... what will you do with us?"

"Nothing." The Gargoyle's face eased, if only slightly. "As I have already stated, we are not in the occupation of judgment and the authorities do not need to know. As far as this guild is concerned you have told us the full truth and have not committed any crime. Do you agree, Anabel?"

Still reeling from everything the travelers had revealed to her the naturally empathetic Celestine wiped tears from her face and nodded, her hands clasped in front of her chest and wings sadly drooped. "Yes... you poor things..." The pity she felt for them was incalculable.

Fritz reached out for Anabel's slender hand to quell her grief, then slowly stood up from the table. "Could you please take us to her?"

Exchanging a cautious glance and a nod with each other, Paz and Siura got up as well and silently led the pair down the hallway out to the street.

~

The wagon had been tied up at a post less than a block away from the guild's shabby building. Briskit placidly mooed at the strange quartet as they approached, lifting his head from a feed trough in front of him. The Cobold was still bound, hidden under a blanket with only its face barely visible. Since leaving Verdilan, Paz had taken off its gag and fed it smoked meat and water in an attempt to placate its seemingly endless hostility; the monster had devoured its food greedily and remained quiet in the Hoblin's company but snarled and snapped its jaws at anyone else that dared to get close.

That was very much the case as Siura stepped closer to pull off the blanket, circling around to its back to keep from losing a finger. The small, hairless Demon bucked and wriggled against its restraints futilely, growling fiercely in defense of the artifact that the Hoblin had left on the floorboards in front of its leering face.

Paz approached from the front slowly, his four-fingered hands raised and eyes locked on the Cobold's own piercing black orbs. "Okay. It's okay. These people are here to help you." It settled down somewhat, but continued to bare teeth at him.

Siura released a loud sigh, seeing the attempts to communicate with the savage being as a pointless exercise. "It's... I mean, she's been like this ever since we caught her. You should've seen how badly she beat him up." Paz shot his partner a dirty look.

Fritz affirmed her statement before turning to his Celestine cohort. "This form seems consistent with the changes she was experiencing before she ran away. I can only hope that she isn't too far gone. Anabel, would you like to try?"

"Mmhmm." She nodded as her expression took on a quiet determination and walked towards the wagon, huge wings half-spread. She motioned for Paz to step aside then closed her eyes and radiated a bright light that both travelers felt as a wave of warm, comforting sensation coursing through them. Anabel slowly reached with an outstretched hand and grasped the card from under the Cobold's cautious gaze. It growled but otherwise remained still.

"Please don't be afraid. I won't hurt you." Anabel kept her shining blue eyes focused on the small creature as it shrank back from her light. She calmly turned and handed the item bearing the girl's face to Fritz. He pulled out a set of large reading glasses and studied it, hand rubbing his chin.

"Clearly a Humie artifact. Some kind of personal identification or certification. Most items from that world do not survive the trip through the gate. She is rather fortunate to have kept it."

Paz's eyes widened slightly. "So you think it's her?"

"It is beyond any doubt at this point." The Gargoyle adjusted his glasses and further studied the portrait. "The likeness to Miss Lebel when she arrived is quite unmistakable. Though I have never seen her smiling like this before."

The Celestine was paying little attention to the conversation going on behind her. She slowly advanced towards the Demon, careful not to startle it; its eyes remained fearfully locked on Anabel, but her gentle smile and nurturing glow did not change. She looked towards the Lamia standing behind the wagon, watching the scene warily. "Siura, could you please undo the ropes? They are hurting her."

Siura raised an eyebrow, looking rather hesitant. "Are you sure about this?"

Anabel only nodded slightly in response. The Lamia took a small knife out of the inside of her sari, painstakingly cutting the ropes. Even as the blade came within inches of its scrawny wrists, the Cobold did not flinch or snarl but simply sat there dumbly captivated by the Celestine's shimmering aura.

Paz turned to watch what was transpiring and sharply inhaled as if to hold his breath. He subconsciously reached for the missing dirk he normally kept at his waist. It caught Fritz's attention as well; he stepped closer, but the expression on his slate gray face remained unflinching as stone. He firmly took Paz's sword arm in his left hand and shook his head at the impetuous Hoblin, not wanting to risk the creature's threat response.

Once free the Cobold swiveled its head, looking around nervously as if trying to escape. But Anabel approached before it could flee and tenderly placed her hands upon its hunched back. Her touch eventually moved from there to its shoulders, then finally across the gray-skinned creature's bald scalp. Its body fell limp and the angelic woman cradled the whimpering Cobold's head in her hands as if she were tending to a child, whispering softly in its long pointed ear.

"Shh... I'm here now. Come little one. What's your name?"

A sudden glimmer of awareness crossed the lesser Demon's dark eyes, which erupted into tears. The Celestine gently shushed and closed her wings around the Cobold as it blubbered piteously and buried its face in Anabel's dress, clutching at her while weeping and trying to force out a response though unfamiliar vocal cords.

"Ahrr... Awlrg... Aaaal-ice. Aal-ice."

The skeptical and tired travelers could only look on in astonishment. Perhaps it was no surprise that this feral monster was just a mere Humie girl, stuck in a hideous form driven solely by its own instinctive aggression and hunger; a being that could only expect ostracism and hatred from those who resided in the brighter corners of the world. She was far from the first to face such a grim fate. But the last thing either of them really expected was for a beast so terminally vicious to be redeemed, to find solace however temporary through someone her complete and total opposite.

The Gateworld was not a place of miracles, and neither Paz nor Siura were naive enough to believe in them. But it stood to reason that in such a chaotic universe, anything would be possible. And they saw proof of just that.

~

In its precarious financial state the Introductory Guild had no real monetary reward to offer the travelers who brought their Alice back to them. All they could offer in return was free shelter and food for their efforts, which Paz was cheerful to take after all they had been through. Siura had her doubts about the other tenants, but graciously accepted nonetheless.

They had been provided with a relatively small room on the second floor--the guild was unusually occupied of late, and it was one of the few rooms available with two beds. Despite the various races that teemed within its halls over the centuries, the guild was rather unaccustomed to residents of Siura's size. She struggled to fit her long body comfortably in her bed, but after years of travel and similarly cramped conditions the Lamia made do as usual. It was early morning, and her open eyes faced the ceiling. A lonely stub of candle flickered its orange light on the stand between the beds.

"Can't sleep either, huh?" Paz turned his head towards her. He was almost swallowed up in the large blankets of the bed opposite hers; his feet were visibly twitching under the covers restlessly. The door was closed but he kept his voice soft to avoid waking others.

Still lying on the pillow, Siura shook her head. "Still thinking about Alice... I nearly killed her. Paz, if you hadn't stopped me..."

Her partner cut off that disquieting observation with one of his own. "After what happened to Chime I almost did it myself." Paz sat up in bed, frowning as he stared at the aged wall in front of him. "But she deserved a second chance... Anabel will take care of her. At least she won't be hurting anyone else here."

"Mmhmm." Siura's expression was faintly troubled; she was deep in thought. Both remained quiet for nearly a minute before the Lamia whispered again. "What now?"

"What now... ?" Paz repeated her question before answering. "I think I'm done with roaming, Siura. I want to sell the wagon. Settle down."

Siura lifted her entire upper body above the covers as she regarded the Hoblin. She was still wearing the sari she bought no more than a day ago. "What, like going back to your family?"

"There's nothing for me there." Paz shook his head as he thought back to his parents, surely elderly by now; along with his three older brothers and five sisters that left Airum to see the world just as he did.

"So where, then?"

Paz shrugged. "The suburbs... maybe Humietown? I hear it's nice there."

"If you like turrists, I suppose." Siura replied tersely, conveniently forgetting that her mother had been on the receiving end of that slur for years.

The Hoblin buried himself back under the covers, feeling discouraged. "I don't know then. Somewhere else. It was just a thought. I'm tired of living this way... figured you'd understand."

A pause. "This is about Chime, isn't it?"

"No." Paz grumbled before pulling the sheets away and getting up. He walked towards the room's sole window and stood in front of it, staring out at the moonlit sky and trying to blot all the pointless death in Verdilan from his mind.

"I'm just done. With all of it. I've seen enough."

Paz remained there in silence for several minutes before his partner slid out of bed and joined him. In the moonlight she could see the lines that sorrow left on a face not even thirty years old. Siura tenderly wound her lower body around his legs and sympathetically held him in her arms, kissing him on the cheek. He closed his eyes and rested against her; the lines faded.

She smiled peacefully. "It's okay. We'll see about selling the wagon in the morning. Guess we could stay here and help for a while. I kind of missed the city anyway."

"Are you sure? You don't have to stay with me if you don't like the work." Paz held her arm in both hands for support.

Siura shrugged. "Why wouldn't I? Besides..." She kissed him again, resting her head on his shoulder. "Helping people is how I found you."

Paz wanted to respond in return, but only managed a sleepy smile. Any words would've been redundant anyway. The odd couple spent their first full night in Abbadys together, watching the stars until morning.



~ fin ~