Ask for help

Aliara **** down the treacherous, violent impulse. Even if she could take down four hunters-- and, in her weakened state, she wasn't at all sure about that-- what would she do next? She'd still be lost down here in the dark. Plus, there might be more of them who weren't speaking.

And what did they ever do to you? asked a voice deep down at the base of her spine. These people are innocent, Li. Give them a chance.

Aliara sighed and lifted her hands away from her belt. Alright, Tey, she said to herself. We'll do it your way.

She stepped gingerly over the stalagmites. From here, she could see a tunnel curving away from her refuge, with torchlight flickering off the wall. She planted her hands on her hips and waited.

The first figure to come around the corner nearly ran right into her. He was human, burly, at least Teysa's height but twice as broad, with a torch in one thick-fingered hand. He was wrapped in furs with a chainmail hauberk visible beneath and heavy iron sabatons on his feet. He wasn't watching where he was going because he was looking back over his shoulder, and had been drawing in a breath to speak when Aliara politely cleared her throat.

"Excuse me," she began.

The man recoiled from her as though he'd been stung. He took a couple of steps backwards and sat down heavily. Somehow, he didn't drop the torch, but it was a close-run thing. His face, or at least that of it that could be seen between iron halfhelm and bushy black beard, turned tomato-red. "Where in the nine pits did you come from, girlie?!" he roared. His free hand fumbled at his belt and drew out an axe with a beard nearly as impressive as his. "Lotho!" he hollered. "I found someone!"

"You what?" The second figure around the corner was evidently the owner of the second voice, the slightly-more-sophisticated one. Another human male, this one a bit shorter and thinner than his companion, but wearing bulky half-plate. He carried a long spear with a diamond-shaped tip, which he used as a walking stick as he entered the cave. His face was slim and clean-shaven, with an ageless look about it-- he might have been anywhere from twenty to forty years old. He pulled up short at the sight of Aliara. "Well!" he said, his eyes widening in surprise, "it looks like you actually did. Hello, ma'am. May I have the honor of your acquaintance?"

"What's going on?!" This was the third voice, the high-pitched and reedy one. Its owner turned out to be much as Aliara had envisioned: tall, skinny, elven by the look of him, one of the pale elves of the Grey City. It surprised Aliara not at all to see him in the silver-threaded robes of one of the Grey City's arcane guilds, though she couldn't have named which one. He carried a twisted iron staff with a glowing pearl set in its head. "Carried" was the wrong word-- he seemed to cling to staff as though he'd blow away with it. As she watched, he swallowed, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down like a balloon on a string. His eyes were bright violet, his hair ashen grey, framing a delicate-featured face. His skin was as smooth and bright as alabaster.

The bearded man clambered to his feet and looked down at her with his brow furrowed. In contrast to his companions, he looked even more like an ogre. His eyes were dark and deep-set under a shelf of beetling brow, his hair thick and greasy-looking, as black as coal. He had a ruddy tomato of a nose, the only part of his face clearly visible between whiskers and helmet. He shifted nervously from foot to foot, despite his size. It was all to easy to imagine him swinging a club made from a sapling-- maybe he did have giant's blood. Such things were known to happen, especially in the rural areas.

All three of them stood in a semi-circle, staring at Aliara. They weren't threatening her, not exactly, but she was uncomfortably aware of the way they held their weapons close. "I'm Aliara," she began. "I've been wandering down here for... I don't know how long. I'm lost and starving, and if you're going to kill me, please just make it quick."

"Kill you?" said the armored man, (Lotho, she remembered, the big brute had called him Lotho). "Why would we do that? We just, uh, weren't expecting to run into a half-elf down here."

"Where the hell you come from, missy?" asked the brute. He scratched his forehead with his free hand. He was even taller than Teysa, Aliara realized, a giant of a man.

"You really wouldn't believe me if I told you," she said. She pointed in what she thought was the way she'd come. "There's a dead drider that way. She tried to kidnap me, but I got away."

Lotho raised an eyebrow. "Well, that would explain it. How exactly did you escape? Driders aren't known for letting their catches go."

"What's going on? What's happening? Outta my way!" This was the last voice, the female one. Its pitch seemed modulated to stab into Aliara's eardrums like a pin, and its owner had no sense of volume control. Aliara winced and looked around for its owner. No sign of her-- was she invisible? Or astrally projecting, maybe, or--

"Down here!" This time the voice seemed to come from directly below her. Aliara looked down and startled backwards. Elbowing her way between Lotho and the elven mage was a gnome.

Most gnomes Aliara had met in her life were either simple farmers or merchants working in the big cities. This one was neither. She came up to Aliara's waist, and Aliara was not a tall woman. The gnome's hair was bright violet, tied up in a massive leather-banded topknot that added a full eight inches to her height. Her face was waspish and pinched, though perhaps that was just her sullen expression and narrowed eyes. A fat silver stud stuck out of her lower lip, giving her a pouty look. It was impossible to make out any details beyond her face, though, as she was swaddled head to toe in padded leather armor, her chest criss-crossed with a pair of hefty bandoliers lined with metal canisters about the size of Aliara's thumb. The whole outfit gave the impression of a child's feast-day costume, but Aliara had the good sense to bite her tongue. She could sense the hostility radiating up off the gnome.

"Who's this bitch?" the gnome asked, ignoring Aliara entirely in favor of her male colleagues. "Shapeshifter, you think? Another hunter?"

"She says she's lost, Talia," said the bearded man with what sounded to Aliara like well-practiced patience. "She's... what are you, again?"

"I'm a treasure hunter." It wasn't a great lie, but it was the best one she'd had the opportunity to come up with in the past minute or so. "Last thing I remember, I was looking for the tomb of Empress Shy'zen, and the next thing I knew, I was in the arms of this drider. She got the drop on me and carried me off the path. I managed to get away and I was sleeping in this cave when I heard your voices."

"You got away from a drider?" Lotho looked thoughtful-- and less sympathetic that Aliara would like. "That's quite a feat. I should like to know how you did that."

There was no use lying about this. "Moonwidow," Aliara said. "I had a vial of moonwidow. I smashed it against her when she was distracted."

The gnome's whipped her head around and gave Aliara long, appraising look, her eyes wide. She let out a long, low whistle. "You're lucky you did get any on yourself," she said. "That'd do it, though."

Lotho appeared to reach a conclusion. "You poor dear," he said, and the other three relaxed noticeably. "You've really been through hell. Good thing you escaped when you did. You wouldn't want to know what those driders do to women they catch."

Aliara gulped in what she hoped was a convincingly nervous fashion. "I've heard rumors," she offered.

"You should join our group," Lotho said. "Just until we get back to civilization. This is no place to be wandering around alone."

"Who are you all?" Aliara asked. "Not that I'm not grateful, or anything, but I wasn't expecting to run into people. At least, not friendly people."

"Ah! Where are my manners? I am Lotho," he said, bowing low, "and these are my companions. This man-mountain is Kurk."

The massive Kurk gave Aliara a nod.

"And this fine fellow is Rhuyem, our resident mage."

"Order of the Nine Topaz Wands, mage of the third echelon, second class," Rhuyem said, and smiled weakly. He seemed to be afraid to meet Aliara's gaze, and his own eyes darted around nervously. He sketched a shallow bow all the same.

"And this is Talia, our--"

"Talia Suveeno, alchemist extraordinaire!" Talia said, cutting him off. She stepped forward and reached up with both hands to shake Aliara's one. She grinned broadly and pumped the half-elf's hand up and down. "Pleasure to meetcha. I do all the hard work. Pity about that Moonwidow. I'd have liked to have some for testing, but Lotho won't let me buy any. I don't suppose you could tell me where you got it?"

"Please don't," Lotho cut in. "Given your approach to laboratory safety, I think it's best you avoid reagents that can kill us all by the merest touch."

"Later," Talia whispered, and winked up at Aliara.

"We, my dear, are hunters, much like yourself," Lotho continued. "But we hunt monsters. We're stationed out of Vollerat. Do you know it?"

Aliara had-- but the things she had heard would not make her any friends here, so she feigned ignorance. "No, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm a newcomer to the Underneath." Think lost professor, she told herself. Absent-minded, a little naive.

"Ah! A wonderful place!" Lotho smiled warmly. "Much of the trade that comes through is visiting the fighting pits. Our task-- our vocation, as it were-- is to round up an array of dangerous beasties for the arena champions to test their mettle against. Cave-lizards, trolls, that sort of thing. We specialize in live capture. Talia, show her."

The gnome popped a couple of the thumb-sized cylinders out of her bandolier and rolled them around in her hand. Her stubby fingers barely closed around them. "My own invention," she said proudly. "This stuff'll knock out an ore-chewer. Er, for a while, at least."

Some reaction seemed to be called for here. "Oooh, impressive," Aliara said, and gave a little clap. Talia looked pleased and slotted the cylinders back in place.

"And yourself, ma'am?" Lotho asked. "Do you happen to have any skill at arms? We could always use a fifth pair of hands."

Aliara weighed her options for a moment, and decided honesty was, again, the best policy. "A little," she admitted. "Mostly daggers. I don't know how useful that'll be."

"Better than nothing!" Lotho said. "Come on, we're losing valuable torch time. We're on the trail of a stonewyrm. Really, it's lucky for you we ran across you when we did-- had the wyrm found you first, I wouldn't fancy your chances." He reached into his pack and pulled out a small parcel wrapped in waxed paper. "But you said you were hungry. I'm sorry, all we have is travel bread."

Aliara fought to keep her hands from shaking as she accepted the parcel. It required an effort of will not to tear the paper to ribbons and devour the bread then and there. Instead, she accepted it politely and unwrapped one corner with trembling fingers. She pinched off a corner between trembling fingers. Travel bread tasted like sawdust and was only marginally more nutritious, but right now, she'd have eaten a handful of dirt if there had been a couple of nice juicy worms in it. She popped the morsel in her mouth and **** herself to chew slowly.

Even so, that first swallow nearly doubled her over. The second the food hit her stomach, all the hunger pangs came back, their rage redoubled as though they'd been biding their time. Her stomach clenched like a fist, her head spun, and she stumbled a step or two. The others watched her with concern, but only Lotho stepped forward. He raised his arm as if to touch her, but she flailed at him until he backed off.

"No! No! I'm ok!" she wheezed. "Just give a moment."

"How long has it been since you've eaten, Aliara?" he asked.

"Not... sure. Feels like... ages. A few days, at least." In truth, she had no idea how long she'd wandered in the darkness. It felt like forever.

"Well, take your time. Eat slowly."

Aliara nodded and tried another nibble. This one hurt, but less than the first. She left it at that; she was afraid that, if she ate more, the cramping in her stomach would bring it all back up. She re-wrapped the bread and handed it back.

"Are you good to walk for now?" Lotho asked. "We can't carry you."

Aliara nodded, and when the group set off, she fell in line behind Lotho. The other two followed up behind her. They moved in companionable silence, the only sound the crackling of the torch. Aliara's thoughts cast back to the last time she'd walked in formation like this-- Rodrik leading the way, then her, then Mez, and Teysa bringing up the rear. How long had it been? No more than a year, right? That seemed like another lifetime, so long ago that she could barely remember. Were Rodrik and Mez even still alive? It seemed doubtful. All at once her heart felt leaden in her chest. She'd lived the adventurer's life for too long, and lost too many friends. She had just made new ones, and already she was fretting about their fates.

Lotho's voice broke her out of her reverie. He began to sing, quietly at first, but picking up strength with each step.

Oh, my girl is a Sovrian, as lovely as can be

I sang to her a love song 'neath the old courting tree

She's marching off to war and I don't know when she'll be home

So I'll leave my love behind me when I roam

The tune was unfamiliar to Aliara, but she found herself picking it up easily enough. Kurk joined in in a surprisingly soulful baritone for the second verse.

Oh, my girl is a mountain girl, as rugged as the hills

She laughs with me and dances in the meadows and the rills

She's off to hunt the Great White Stag in the forest's secret heart

So tis time for my love and me to part

Even Rhuyem and Talia joined in, though the gnome's high-pitched voice seemed incapable of precisely hitting any note. She made up for it with enthusiasm.

It's hard to say goodbye, goodbye, it's hard to say farewell!

It's hard to let 'em go and wish 'em well!

Kiss your love tonight, for tomorrow may not come,

And if it does, go out and raise some hell!

As the last notes faded away, Kurk held up a hand. At once, the other three fell completely silent. Rhuyem hefted his staff, and Lotho spun his spear between his palms.

"What is it?" Aliara whispered. She closed one hand around the hilt of her belt dagger.

"Spoor." Kurk's whisper was a rumble of settling stone. Aliara looked around the tunnel but saw nothing. The others, though, were readying themselves.

When the wyrm came, she had barely any warning. One moment they were standing in a loose huddle, waiting for direction, the next the wall was shattering like plaster, like dry rotten bone, bursting outward in a shower of loose shards and **** dust. Aliara bent double coughing and so she barely caught a glimpse of the wyrm. A grey body, that was the impression she got, segmented like an annelid, with a shovel-shaped head, its sides bristling with spines and flukes like a marine predator. The air filled with the thunderous sound of stone cracking and shattering and the panicked shouts of her new party. Something hard and heavy hit Aliara in the chest, hard enough to lift her off the ground and slam her into the nearest wall. She coughed and gagged as she got up, fighting to catch her breath.