Bloodsword: War of the Leaf

Mysterious Allies Revealed

Tev sighed as he slowly rolled over, pulling his thick blanket closer around his chin as he did.  The morning’s first crowning rush of light was just filtering through the trees, the air still crisp from the night’s chill, as he opened his eyes and found himself staring up at a clear blue sky.

“Thank the Maker,” came a soft woman’s voice, husky and sensuous, from somewhere off to Tev’s right.

“I thought you were going to sleep forever!”

With an oath stillborn on his lips, Tev rolled to his feet and drew his sword all in one motion.  But the woman that he found sitting on a stump beside the flickering embers of what was left of the fire only leaned forward with a smile on her face.

“You’re not seriously thinking of using that thing on me, are you, Sword of Blood?”  She asked and Tev felt a flush of anxiety go through him.  ‘She knows who I am!’ he thought wildly, as he slowly stood erect and let his eyes study the woman who now looked up at him with a friendly smile.

She was, in a word, stunning.  Golden hair tumbled loosely around her shoulder, framing a face that was both classic and delicate in its flawless beauty, her brilliant green eyes almost flashing with a light of their own as they looked up at him.  And the snug leathers she wore, in gold and scarlet, did nothing to hide the firm swell of her large breasts, her flat stomach and her athletic body.  In fact, as his eyes made their survey, she actually moved her body to display it more fully.

“Do I pass inspection, Sword?” she asked lightly and Tev blushed when he realized that she was aware that he had been inspecting her.  Hastily he pushed his embarrassment aside and renewed his grip on the blood metal sword in his hands.

“Just,” he growled in a low, flat voice.  "Who are you?  And what in the name of the Third are you doing here?" he demanded tautly.

If she was perturbed by his tone, or the sword that was now pointed at her, the stranger didn't show it.  Instead she waved her hand and, with a shimmer of magic and light, she was a slender elf with big, amber-colored eyes.  Another wave and she was a cloaked figure in shadow.  Then, finally, she was once again her lithe yet fulsome self.

"I've worn many forms in my efforts to stay close to you and help, Sword," she said with a smile.  "Do you not recognize them?"

Tev frowned, confusion rippling through him.  Burn him if he was lying but he did recognize those figures.  The first was helping that Mardish lord with the S'ia healing box.  She had been the one to tell him not to worry before his broken body was stuffed into it to be forever changed.  Then there had been that cloaked figure at the S'ia ruin, with the temple, that he had caught out of the corner of his eye.  And the one in the throne room in Abydos.

"That ... that was you this whole time?  Why?" he demanded.  "Why have you been following us?  Why have you been helping us?"

"I have my reasons," she replied evasively.  "It's my hope that all will be revealed shortly.  All you need to know now though, is that I'm a friend and I want to continue helping you."

Hmmm, no mention of his comrades there.

"Well, you can begin by telling me what you did with Feral’Sath.  He was supposed to be keeping watch.”

Nodding and smiling at the human’s quick recovery, the woman glanced over her shoulder with a toss of her golden locks.

“Oh, you mean your rather serious looking Dolomin friend.  Don’t worry, he’s fine.  In fact ...” Her voice trailed off with a chuckle as Feral’Sath appeared out of the forest, weapons ready as he ran towards the fire.  He skidded to a stop beside the fire, chest heaving as he looked from the woman, who smiled, to Tev and back again.