Dance Macabre: Tales from a Cursed Land

X: The Dark Lords (1/4)

One of the Dark Lords of the realm knows.

That was what the crone of the swamp had said. It did narrow down Raviel's search quite a lot, but did not make it considerably easier. If he hadn't already met the Lady of the Lake and that strange messenger of the Viscount of Shadows, all the Dark Lords might have just as well been folktales and superstition.

Saska knew names - Raven, Lady of the Lake, Old Man of the Mountain, Viscount of Shadows - but he had rarely wandered outside the Raven's territory and certainly made no contact with any of the lords before meeting Raviel. Although he offered to contact Outcasts again, the elven mage was not very fond of that idea after what had happened at the swamp.

Instead he chose to seek out another who traveled a lot: Tessa. Admittedly, her friend's advice had gotten Raviel into trouble last time too, but at the very least those two had also pulled him out of it. He could not say that much for the Outcasts.

Maybe there were only bad and worse choices here. But he -needed- that information. And...he kind of wanted to see Tessa again.

He tracked the huntress with the same spell he had used last time, eventually finding her in the middle of wilderness. She was bathing in a shallow stream apparently without a care in the world and with the way she smiled at Raviel when she saw him, she might have as well been expecting him.

Raviel hurried to cover her with his own cloak as she stood up, water still running down her lovely form. Saska could only stare.

Tessa smiled and gave him a teasing kiss on the cheek. "Always a gentleman." Then she turned to look at Saska. His clothes were considerably more worn than Raviel's, he didn't seem to carry any weapons and one of his eyes was covered with bandages. Not exactly what she would have imagined. "I take it this is the companion you wanted to save?"

Raviel nodded. "Yes, this is Saska."

She gave the boy a charming smile. "Nice to meet you, Saska. I'm Tessa."

Saska blushed. He was not used to stunningly beautiful women paying any attention to him. "N- Nice to meet you too!" he hurried to say.

Tessa giggled. "I'm sorry, Saska, but you are a little too young for my taste. No offence." Then she turned back to Raviel. "So is this a thank-you visit, or do you find yourself in trouble again?" she asked with a flirting smile.

Raviel smiled back. "A little bit of both." He looked around briefly. "Nightshade isn't with you, is he?"

"I last saw him when you did. But I can contact him if you need me to?"

"No, hopefully not. I don't...really trust him very much. I need information about the Dark Lords. One of them knows about my brother's whereabouts."

"Hmm. Well, I have heard my share of stories. But before we get to that..." She moved a little closer to the elf. "...perhaps a little chat just between the two of us?"

Saska almost rolled his eyes and pulled their horse's reins a little to get her to follow him. "I'll go take a walk or something."

"Don't go too far."

"Raviel, I am not a little child. I can take care of myself just fine."

"...Alright." The boy sounded angry, or at the very least annoyed. Much more so than reasonable - at least in Raviel's opinion - over being asked to make himself absent for a while. Maybe he was jealous?

~*~*~

About half an hour later the elf had left Tessa at her camp and gone to seek out his traveling companion. Saska had not even made an attempt to be stealthy, so following his tracks down the stream was quite easy.