Séliss was scanning the darkness, sitting on a rock near the temple of Torag’s entrance. They had closed the building’s doors, plunging the tiefling into the dark and silence. The cave’s stillness was only rarely troubled by Mali’s noises when she would shift in her slumber, asleep not too far away.
After the destruction of the undead that inhabited the temple, the group had set up camp inside the chapel. They once again struggled due to the lack of light. Séliss tried to summon firebeetles in order to light the room a little, but the creatures only stayed for a minute before being revoked. As for her, Celia’s eyes had still not recovered from the fight. She could transfer a part of her abilities to Mali thanks to their bond, without a limit, but this wouldn’t be very useful at this moment… And starting a fire in such a closed and confined space was out of the question.
So Séliss had to examine Elemiah thanks to her darkvision and by following Celia’s instructions. Fortunately, the aasimar’s wounds were not too serious. He nonetheless stayed unconscious for a long while, long enough for the complete darkness to affect the group’s moral. His awakening was welcomed to everyone’s great relief when he came back with the light.
The group decided to clean the chapel, despite Horgus’s protests. Elemiah argued that they could not leave a place of worship in this state, out of respect for Torag. The aasimar revealed himself a fervent follower of Iomedae, the goddess of war and strategy and patron saint of the Crusade. Event if he wasn’t the kind of man to force his religion on others, the gods were still something important for him, and seeing a temple on such a sorry state broke his heart. Anevia, who until then had a gloomy expression, had her eyes light up when Elemiah proposed to restore the temple.
Séliss had proposed herself to be a guard while the others were doing the cleaning. She had other things that the approval of distant gods in mind. Thus, spinning a silver scale between her fingers, she was scanning the darkness while deep in her thoughts. She wished Ashtor was here with her. Their mental link allowed them to talk without being limited to words. It oftentimes helped the summoner to organize her thoughts.
Despite her trying her best to focus on something else, Séliss was unable to not worry about her father, Livyatan. She knew he was capable enough to defend himself – after all, it was him who taught her all she knew about magic, and he had a whole battalion of tieflings under his command – but the attack on Kenabres was too sudden. To make matters worse, as far as she remembers, it was the first year her father was not on duty during the festival. So he came wearing civilian clothes, without his battle gear, and did not have the time to gather his troops.
And this giant demon… A shiver ran down Séliss’s spine. It was the first time she was in front of such a powerful demon. If her and Ashtor were able to defend themselves against the abyssal troops, it was solely thanks to Livyatan’s presence and orders. But she feared that, facing such a nightmarish creature, even a mage of his caliber could not do a thing, even fleeing. This demon had killed Terendelev!
Séliss examined the scale in her hand. No doubt, a scale this size and this color, with such a magic aura… It had to come from Terendelev, the silver dragon and protector of Kenabres, the most powerful creature from the army at the front of the Worldwound…
The summoner was the first one to wake up after the attack. She and Ashtor then had the time to search around. At the time, Séliss spotted what was left of a magic aura on the different unconscious people around her. Someone tried to slow down their fall via magic, which explained why they were still alive with only superficial wounds.
She also noticed another aura, way more powerful. While looking for its origin, she found four silvery scales, fallen not too far from the group. Once pulled off, dragon scales keep a bit of their old owner’s magical essence, making them powerful reagents for spells and potions. But the aura coming from these ones was a lot stronger than those of the scales Séliss had seen on sale.
Curiously, the young tiefling felt drawn by one of them in particular. Unlike the others, which she could not determine the powers despite analyzing their magical characteristics, she immediately knew those of this one.
The scale had the power to let its owner to change their appearance.
Séliss sighed.
- Seriously, Terendelev…, she mumbled. This is a joke, right?
- Séliss!
The wizard jumped when Celia’s voice echoed through the cave, and she hid the scale with the others, in one of her belt’s bags. She was so lost in her thoughts that she did not hear her come.
- Séliss! called Celia once again, panicked, running to the tiefling. Quick, come, we need your help!
Séliss turned to the human who just reached her, looking her inquiringly.
- I-it’s Horgus, stuttered Celia. He lashed out at Anevia…
The summoner furrowed her eyebrows. Were her doubts about the merchant justified after all? She stood up and went to the temple with long strides, Celia following on her heels.
The room was prey to chaos. Anevia and Horgus were screaming at each other at the top of their lungs, the merchant’s face turning a deep red while the scout’s voice was morphing into a screech. Elemiah and Konrad were trying to calm the two, but had clearly lost control of the situation. And Aravashnial, sat on a corner of the room, seemed like he was trying to merge with the wall and disappear.
- Where the hell did you hide it, bitch!? yelled Horgus. Where my property!?
- “Your” property!? retorted Anevia, raising her voice as well. You’re but a shark! You got what you deserve! If I met the one who stole it from you, I’d congratulate them!
- ENOUGH! roared Séliss.
Silence fell, and eyes turned to the summoner. The latter was looking at the scout and the merchant in turns, her arms crossed and her eyebrows furrowed.
- Can someone tell me what’s going on here!? she asked.
Horgus pointed his finger at Anevia, piercing her with a stare.
- She stole a jewelry that was gonna sell for a hefty price, because she’s a fucking thief! Or should I say, he’s a fucking thief!!
Anevia’s cheeks suddenly became ever redder than the noble’s face. She was left speechless, shaking with indignation.
- How dare you!? she shouted out.
- I struck a nerve, huh? claimed Horgus with a mocking grin. Who could trust someone lying about this? We should just abandon this liar. He’s only slowing us anyway.
Séliss pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
- Konrad, please, take Horgus in the chapel, asked Séliss with the calmest tone she could muster. Anevia, you’re going to sleep here. If I see one of you going near the other, they’ll end up out of here. Understood?
Horgus wanted to argue, but Konrad and Elemiah dragged him to the other part of the temple. Anevia was staring at her feet with a raging glare, and had withdrew into herself, fulminating silently.
Celia sighed in relief. The conflict seemed settled for her. The young woman really had no idea on how to handle a dispute: she just recently started to take interest in human interactions, staying until then most of her time in nature or at her parent’s isolated cabin, far from Kenabres. She was in fact extremely shy and usually had troubles speaking to other people, and got flustered when conflicts broke out.
But Séliss was not done. Separating the two belligerents gave them a bit of respite, but it was not enough for her. As long as they did not clear the air correctly, the two humans could be a danger to the rest of the group: they could attack each other, or even refuse to follow an order in critical moments or alert other creatures by fighting again. As her father told her, every dissent between two soldiers could be fatal for the rest of the troop. She had to get a grasp around the situation and make sure that the two of them would cooperate.
Séliss crouched in front of Anevia and stared at her with a neutral look, waiting to get her attention. The scout caught her eyes, then looked away, visibly embarrassed.
- Horgus said that you stole something from him, Séliss said. Is it true?
- No! exclaimed Anevia.
Her face twisted into a cowl, hunching her shoulder, flustered. At this moment, she felt cornered. She would never steal! She was not a common thief! But that was not what hurt her the most. Horgus’s last remark had reopened some old wounds. He had alluded to something that only Irabeth knew about her. Something very private and personal that she did not want to discuss.
Celia sat down next to Anevia and put her hand on her shoulder in a soothing manner, making her shudder. It took a moment for Anevia to calm down, holding back tears that the young woman’s gesture of sympathy almost pulled from her. Aravashnial, him, was more silent than usual. He did not want to get involved in humans’ drama stories, and preferred to act as if he did not hear a thing, curling up in his corner with the hopes that nobody would pay attention to him.
Anevia breathed in deeply to relax, before settling once again her eyes on Séliss who had not moved an iota, showing an unperturbed face.
- I need to know what happened, Séliss finally explained. If we want to get to the surface, we need to work together. And as long as you’re on bad terms, it won’t be possible.
Anevia lowered her eyes. She was no longer angry, just… tired.
- Horgus sure is the least pleasant person I had the pleasure to meet, Séliss continued, but we’ll have to do with him until we’re out of here. I need you to cooperate for this.
The scout nodded, massaging absentmindedly her hurting leg. Celia offered her taps on her back to encourage her.
- Why does Horgus think you stole from him? What happened between the two of you?
- I didn’t steal from him…, repeated Anevia with a low voice. Some time ago, my wife asked… something from Horgus. A gift to me. In exchange, she sold him a necklace. Her last memory of her father…
- That’d be a good reason to steal it from him…, Séliss thought out loud.
- No! I would never do that! At first, I didn’t know. When I discovered it, I tried to convince my wife to take it back. I told her I would repay Horgus myself. But…
Anevia clenched her fist on her heart. She missed Irabeth terribly. Thinking about her in those circumstances was filling her with fear. She hoped that nothing happened to her…
- She told me it was okay, she continued. She was just happy that her father’s inheritance made me happy. In the end, I… accepted.
She raised her head and looked in Séliss’s eyes, eyebrows furrowed.
- Never would I have stolen this necklace! This would be disrespectful of her choice and the chance she gave me!
Séliss got up, taking her chin in her hand with a thoughtful look. So, Anevia’s spouse sold a piece of jewelry to Horgus, and the latter thought Anevia took it back. Time to hear the merchant’s version.
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