Thicker Than Water

Aurei gets help from a surprising source

59.

Thicker than Water

 

 

It was late that evening and she had ordered that everyone leave her alone so she could sit with her aunt as she died.   Eleazar had pleaded with her to allow him to stay, but she had insisted, for she wanted nothing else important in her life to be tainted by this coming pain.

The room was quiet, lit by the crackling fire in the fireplace, but she could hear the rather subdued sounds from the tavern area that reminded her that in spite of everything, life went on.   She had not known Zeatt for long, but the thought of losing the only blood relative that she had ever met, just filled her with anguish.   She replayed the night her father had died, and that only compounded her pain.  

 

Zeatt was resting comfortably enough, her shallow breathing steady, but everyone knew she wouldn’t have long; perhaps a few days.   She found herself angry at God.   Why did Yesh allow this to happen?   They had been on a mission to destroy the evil that threatened all good people.   Why must the good pay for the evil that is done?   She sat back in the chair beside her aunt, holding her chest which still hurt from the phantom scratches from the Shadow Demon, until finally; sheer exhaustion sent her into a deep sleep.

 

It was several hours later when a dim blue light flickered at the foot of the bed, forming into a larger light until finally two forms walked through it.   Aurei slept through the event, and the two forms got their bearings for a few moments.   The male wore green leather combined with chainmail and moved with extreme stealth.   The female wore a variant of the extremely revealing costumes worn by typical Sorceress.   The high heels of her leather boots clicked slightly on the wooden floor as she walked; causing her to pause for a moment and stare at Aurei asleep in the chair, then back to her companion, who held a finger to his lips.  She nodded at his suggestion, but her heels prevented her from any sort of stealth, and so she kept walking until she stood between Aurei and Zeatt.  

She leaned over the Drow matron, touching her cheek and then turning to look back at her companion, who stood behind Aurei’s chair just in case she awoke.

“She’s close to death.”   The female whispered.

She leaned back over the Matron to resume examining her.

It was her voice that woke Aurei up.   She opened her eyes to find a dark shape leaning over her Aunt like a Vampire about to strike.  

“Hey!” She managed to cry out as she started to leap out of the chair, but a strong male hand grabbed her around the mouth while another pulled her back down into the chair.  

 

Aurei tried to bite the hand, but he moved to keep his fingers away from her teeth.   She glanced around and found the piercing red eyes of a Drow staring at her.

“Shh!” He whispered in common, “Be still, Duchess; we really aren’t supposed to be here, and your scream will make that very complicated.   We’re here to help you.   I’m going to release my hand; if you want your Aunt to live, you won’t scream, okay?”

She nodded and he let her go.  She jumped to her feet.

“Who are you?”

The Drow male straightened up; he was very tall, well over six feet, and handsome.   He smiled, “We’re family.”

Aurei spun around and found the female over the bed now standing with her hands on her hips, looking at her with an amused look.   She was a Drow woman, absolutely beautiful with her long flowing silvery-white hair which hung to her waist and sparkling red bedroom eyes.

“Sophia!” Aurei said in amazement.

The girl seemed surprised to hear her name, but grinned prettily.

“Hello, cousin.”  She said, and then turned to her companion, “My goodness, she DOES look like me, doesn’t she?”

“I told you so.” The Drow male replied.

Aurei turned to the male, “So you would be Khord?”

“Yes, that’s me, Duchess.”

“How did you two get in here?”

Sophia sighed, “Through rather risky magic, Aurei.   I’m afraid I scared poor Khord to death.   You see, teleportation spells are very dangerous when you’ve never been to the location previously.    But I knew I had to get here to save Mother.”

“How’d you know?”

“Oh, I check on her from time to time; she doesn’t know about it, and don’t you dare tell her, either!   It ruins my ‘bad girl’ image!”  She laughed pleasantly.   “You don’t get any sound with the device I use, but usually you can figure out what has happened if you watch long enough.   I’ve been watching both of you for several weeks now, ever since ol’ Eleazar so heroically rescued the two of you.  I must say, you really are a charmer if you won the heart of Eleazar so quickly.   I could never get him to even notice me, and believe me, I tried.”

Aurei suddenly felt very jealous.   Sophia saw the expression and laughed again.

“Oh my, you’re jealous!   Goodness, girl, don’t worry, I am not interested in mister goody-two-shoes.   Until you came along, I thought he was incorruptible.”

“You are really Zeatt’s daughter?”

“Of course I am, silly, and your double first cousin.   Our fathers were brothers too!   You’re suspicious of me, aren’t you?”

“Can you blame me?”

Sophia smiled, “No, really I can’t.   I’m sure Mom had plenty of terrible things to say about me and that doesn’t help, does it?”

“She didn’t say any negative thing about you.”

“Really?   Well perhaps it was your boyfriend.   I’m sure he mentioned how much of a s**t w***e I was, and how I slept with Mages and wizards to gain power.   Don’t believe everything you hear, Aurei, much of it is bogus.”

“Sophie…” Khord murmured.

“What?”

“Phraseology - remember?”

The sorceress sighed in frustration, “Sorry, Aurei, I forgot, we’re here in the Stone Age not-“

“Sophie…” Khord again warned.

“Oh, alright; what am I supposed to do - speak in Old English?”

“She doesn’t even know what that English is; you’re going to get in big trouble if you aren’t careful.”

Aurei watched them banter back and forth about things she did not understand, until finally she cleared her throat.

“Uh, excuse me, but what about Matron Zeatt?  Can you help her?”

“Well, not here, I’m afraid.   That’s why we came here.  I need to get something for her from… some place… where I can help her.”

“Some place?   Where do you mean?”   Aurei asked her cousin, who seemed somewhat annoyed at her question.

“You don’t need to know, Cuz.   But on the other hand, maybe it wouldn’t hurt.   Khord, dear, you stay here and run damage control for us.   I’m going to take our dear cousin with me to Flux.”

“Sophie, you know that will certainly get you in trouble!”

She shrugged, “I usually am in trouble any more, so what difference will it make?”

“Sophie-“

“Don’t worry, we will be back in under an hour, trust me.”

“What am I supposed to tell someone who comes in while you are gone?”

“Well think of something; you’re a smart man, figure it out.   I doubt they’ll come barging in during the middle of the night, but lock the door if you’re worried.”

“Uh, where are we going?”   Aurei asked nervously.

“It would take too long to explain, Aurei, and as they say in some worlds, ‘seeing is believing’, so come on and I’ll show you.”

Aurei stood up, very hesitant about the whole thing, but Sophia didn’t seem to notice.   She took her hand and pulled her away from the bed.

“There is only one portal to Flux, so we’ll have to walk a few blocks, but it’ll give you some idea of the city.  This is going to seem very strange to you, so just stay close to me, okay?”  

“Where is this city located?”  Aurei asked, but the Drow Sorceress was already chanting a spell and a moment later the room faded from view and slowly a dim blue light appeared in front of them, which almost immediately became something like a doorway that they both were sailing towards.   With a sudden jump and a slight stumble, she and Sophia were standing in a place that nearly overwhelmed Aurei’s mind.

Reviews

[Elina]

"Her leather boots’ high heels..." This may sound a little better "The high heels of her leather boots..."

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, it sounds so much better your way; apparently I sometimes use unconventional wording when common wording would be much better.

[Elina]

I'm constantly doing the same thing...and then I look back at it later and think, "What on earth was I thinking?"