VI - The Task

The mountainside manor was only about fifteen minutes away from the northern edge of the village. The trail turned narrow and mossy as soon as it diverged from the main path to the top of Mt. Visiga. Otheric helped Cassana climb up the steep stone landings that lead to the main gate. The drow opened it and welcomed the red-head in.

     Immediately, Cassana noticed the seven horses that were resting at the stable. "Who else is here again?"

     "You'll see."

     Cassana used to hang out in this manor alot when they were younger. But ever since she returned from The Tower earlier this year, she's only been back here twice or thrice. The place had started to run down. The flowers that used to surround the outer garden had all but wilted away and the entire courtyard was already covered by dead leaves. The water from the fountain pool remains stagnant, with insect larva taking the place of minnows.

     "You'll need to hire someone to maintain this place, now that your mother is gone."

     Otheric only replied with a smile. He opened the door, and led Cassana indoors.

     Inside the main hall, Cassana was taking note of the white linens covering the divans when a figure popped out from behind them. A small female fae-folk raised a dagger and pointed it towards her. "Who's the wench?" She asked with a squeaky voice.

     "This is Cassana, she's my friend." Otheric answered.

     The female drow hopped over the divan and went striding towards Cassana. From the other side of the room, another drow showed himself, carrying a pair of axes on his waist. The two were both clad in black leather armor. "Who are these people, Ric?" she whispered to her lover.

     "They are the ones who helped me find the artifact. I trust them, they made sure I came back here safe," the drow answered.

     Cassana gave the two a meek wave. The short boisterous one stood in front of her, and stared at her from head to foot. She swore she could smell what she ate for breakfast two days ago, but she tried her best to remain unflinching. 

     "Fancy hair. Is that real?" the drow asked, taking Cassana by surprise.

     "Uhm.. yeah."

    "How do you keep it that bright?"

     "Oh, I mix my own shampoo. I can give you some if you like."

     "Why? Does my hair look bad?"

     Cassana took a quick gander at the short drow's hair. Aside from a few frizzy strands and fly-aways, it looked decent enough, "No, it looks good. Except for the bangs though, I mean, it's kinda dated."

     "I knew it! I knew it! I knew I should stop cutting my own bangs!" the drow growled to herself and started stomping the floor in frustration.

     "The boss been searching for you the whole morning," the drow with the pair of axes finally spoke with a booming voice, looking at Otheric.

     "Where is he?" He responded.

     "He's in your dada's fancy room," the short drow answered. "Go ahead." She gestured to them both.

     Otheric walked towards the inner parlor, and Cassana followed behind. Stepping in, she immediately smelt a peculiar odor. Not because of what was always been in that room for years, but because of what was not there before. She looked at one end of the room and there stood another female drow, holding a painted hickory staff, with a gemstone on top. On the other side, another tall drow was standing still, she could see the handle of a weapon strapped on his back.

     But the one that made Cassana's skin shiver was the drow sitting in the middle. As soon as they stopped walking, he raised his head to face them, "Where you been? You said you'll bring the old man with you, the mapmaker?"

     "Yes, but unfortunately, he's no longer with us."

     The drow sat up straight and leaned back on the chair he was sitting on. What was painted on his breastplate immediately caught Cassana's aye: a black streak over a white full moon; she knew immediately what it meant. She looked to Otheric on her left, fighting back the fear that was trying to engulf her own body, and whispered, "What did you do?"

     He tried to give a reassuring look that was not so reassuring at all.

     "A shame." the sitting drow bellowed.

     "This is his daughter, Cassana. She can still help us." He turned to her, "This is Nymgos, he is the leader of the fae-folk who helped me. One of the leaders."

     Nymgos rose up from his seat and towered over everybody else in the room, his head almost reaching the eight-foot high ceiling. Cassana clenched her fist to stop her hands from shaking. The huge drow reached for the table in front of him, to the long painted box sitting on top, turning it to face her. "Do it then," he ordered.

     "Do what?" Cassana asked.

     "I was hoping your father could decipher the runes inscribed into the weapon. But now that he's gone, I figured you can do it as well." Otheric explained.

     "What? Why me?"

     "You have read all of your father's notes, haven't you not? I know he made the effort to hide them from you, but you can get your hands on them. Like how you took the map for this."

     "I only took the map to piss him off. I didn't really believe it would lead to an actual treasure. It was your father and mother who insisted on using it anyway, because that's what they do, they like the mystery and the risk."

     Otheric's face turned to that of despair, glancing back and forth between Cassana and Nymgos. The brutish drow moved close to him and spoke with impatience, "Can she do it or not?"

     "Look, big guy," Cassana blustered, "if you wanna talk to me, you talk to me. I'm standing right here." She planted her feet firmly on the floor to stop her knees from trembling. It took all the courage she had in keeping her eyes locked on to the hulking drow.

     Nymgos stepped sidewards and faced Cassana. He placed her jaw between his fingers and pulled her head close to him, "Well then girl, can you do it?" he asked, with condescension.

     "I'll have to see it first," she answered, after pushing his hand away. She stepped around him and leaned on the table holding the painted box. "Can I?" She turned to the drows in the room one by one before turning the pair of knobs that was keeping the lid closed. She took a deep breath and opened it gently.

     Inside the box laid an ornate weapon, no longer than five feet. From a quick look, Cassana could tell the handle was made of obsidian. A fine carving of wreathe with the shape of willow leaves twisted around the handle up to its arms. The upper and lower limbs, made of either holly or cedar, extended out from the handle to form an exquisite symmetrical arc that curved on its ends. A string made of sinew fiber stretched from one groove to the other, pulling the wood into shape, while seemingly emanating an ineffable hum.

     Cassana shook her left arm releasing the quartz bracelet from under her sleeves. She recited an incantation and a glow of light appeared on both of her hands and disappeared after a half-a-second. "It's protected against levitation spell," she reported.

     Otheric and Nymgos looked at each other, the former straightening his back with more confidence. A hint of a proud smile curled on his lips.

     Cassana rubbed the nugget on her bracelet and noticed that it had grown smaller since that morning. She glanced at the female drow on one end of the room, "You, mage, did you cast any spell on this?"

     "None that you should care about," the female drow answered, shifting her weight on her staff, smirking.

     "Can you give me an answer that isn't a crock of shit?" Cassana snarled. "I'm the one helping you here."

     The female drow looked at Nymrog, who gave her a nod of approval. "Only a spell to disable any curse or any harmful hex."

     "Did it work?"

     "Why don't you see for yourself?"

     She sighed. "I don't trust you ersatz sorcerers..." Cassana turned to Otheric and Nymrog while pointing, "take three steps back." The two hesitated, "do it," and then complied. She turned towards the mage once more, "ready a protection spell and release it when there's a backfire."

     "I can't do that."

     "What?"

     "I don't do protection. I only do harm."

     "Cute." She said sarcastically, "make sure to put that on your headstone." She braced herself and picked up the bow from its container.

     "Cassana-" Otheric tried to reach for her but Nymrog held him back.

     She stretched her legs and stood up. The bow's weight betrayed its size. She tried lifting it up to her chest, but a powerful force was preventing her from doing so. She waved her other arm and the quartz on her bracelet started glowing. She could hear a voice seeping into her mind. She could see an image. No, a memory. Her memory. Or was it?

     She was back in her room, in her bed. She was riding Otheric like earlier that day, she felt the bliss, the pleasure, the power. She ran her hands through Otheric's body, reaching up to his head. But instead of seeing Otheric's face, she saw someone else.

     She broke free of the memory. She looked around and she was back in the parlor. Otheric, was supporting her rear while the three other drows were surrounding her. She looked down to her wrist and the quartz on her bracelet had disintegrated into dust.

     "This bow is cursed." she declared. "Whoever owned this before, didn't want anyone else touching it, so..." she turned the bow to its side, revealing the runes inscribed on the wood. "This is the one you want deciphered?"

     "Yes." answered Otheric.

     "I can't promise anything, but I will need my father's notes." The three other drows looked at each other. Cassana placed the bow back in its container. "Nobody touches that thing, are we clear?" They all nodded.

     She closed the lid and began walking towards the door, but the drow mage stood between her and the exit.

     "Do you mind?" Cassana grumbled. Nymrog nodded to the drow and she stepped aside.

     Cassana exitted the parlor and tramped her way across the main hall, with Otheric closely following behind. "Byeeeee." the boisterous drow from earlier but she ignored her. As soon as she and Otheric were outside the gate, she stopped to take a breath. Several deep breaths.

     "What the hell, Ric? What the hell?!?" she cried, throwing out all the tension she held in for the past few minutes.

     "Can you let me explain?" her lover defended.

     "You know who they are, right?"

     "Yes."

     "Do you? Really? If you do, please, tell me who they are, say the words!"

     "Silver Moon Order."

     Cassana nodded. "You know what they do, right?"

     "It's not like that, they are not all bad..."

     "Not all bad?"

     "Everything they do is for the betterment of my people, please do see that. They are helping my kind."

     "What they do, the methods they employ, are doing more harm than help to the drows. They're fanatics. Extremists!"

     Otheric took a pause. "So we are back to being drows now?"

     "No, no," Cassana shook her head, "I'm not gonna let you provoke me."

     "I'm sorry. They saved my life. You are to simply decipher the inscriptions, that is all."

     "Didn't you even stop to think why? Why are they doing this?"

     "It is ancient, forgotten knowledge. Is that not what you have always wanted?"

     "How dare you use that against me!"

     "Cassana," Otheric held her wrist and tried to calm her down, "I will not force you to do this if you do not desire so."

     The redhead took one last deep breath. "I trust you, Ric. I do. So I need you to tell me one thing, and one thing only."

     "What is it?"

     "Tell me you know what you're doing."

     "I do." the young drow replied.

                                            ════════════════════════

     Cassana didn't even know how she managed to get back to the village on her own. By the time she arrived at the square, the town meeting was already underway. She looked at the platform and tried to listen to what Duke Owen's son was talking about but she couldn't focus. She glanced around and saw that the village elders were in complete attendance.

     Behind the Duke's son stood two new faces, the foreigner and the noble who she talked to earlier this morning. She tried to bring her mind to what they discussed just to distract herself from what happened inside the manor. The Sword of the Godslayer. She thought to herself. If my father had access to the artifact she just held, is there any chance that he might have had the Zephyrean sword as well?

     She remembered the first time she saw the map to that bow. It was three or four months after she returned from The Tower. Her and Otheric were already seeing each other by then, in secret because she knew her father wouldn't approve. Her mother was showing signs of getting well, and she wanted to get back at her father for... she couldn't even remember why. All she knew was she was pissed at him. Maybe for something that he did years before, she was no longer sure.

     One night, she swiped the map from his study and gave it to Otheric's parents. She lied about how she got it, of course. But Otheric's parents were excited to finally have a new adventure they can go to, they didn't really care if they find an artifact or not, they cared more about the journey and the experience. What's the worst that could happen? She wondered to herself that time. If there was no treasure, she would simply slip the map back, and her father would none be the wiser.

     Her thoughts returned to the present moment, realizing that the worst the could happen had happened. Five members of the Silver Moon Order, maybe even more, right at their doorstep. She knew from the news she was hearing inside The Tower, how dangerous their group was. She has heard of the cruelty and violence, hidden behind a facade of wanting freedom for all fae-folk, a facade of peace and prosperity.

     She glanced back up to Duke Owen's son, standing to deliver a speech on the platform. He had his retinue with him, his usual guards. She knew all of their names, and they all knew hers. She bet if she approached them right now, and told them that a band of marauding drows were encamped on the mountainside, they would all listen to her, and they would assault the manor and catch them, or worse, kill them all.

     She looked at the noble and the foreigner, Minos and Rei, was it? Someone as brazen as him would definitely get himself involved. Another source material for another set of tall-tales. That time I fought a band of raiding drows in the mountainside of Mt. Visiga. No, she could not get them involved. If they find out that his father had a map to an ancient, hidden, buried weapon, they will definitely not stop there.

     Though one thing had been bothering her since that morning. If they just wanted the Sword, and the sword was just a weapon, nothing extraordinary, no divine blessing or whatsoever, why even find it? Why not just create a fake one, and nobody would know. She dismissed the thought from her head, keeping it for another day.

     "Right, Cassana?" The ring of her name woke her up from her thoughts. She straightened her back and looked around the square. Everybody had their eyes on her, including Duke Owen's son, Minos and Rei. What were they talking about? She rubbed her neck.

     "Are those acceptable? Should we not be worried?" One of the villagers asked her. She fumbled for an answer, but nothing came to mind.

     "I will need a moment to think about it." She excused. She stood up and shuffled on his feet. "May I leave?" She told everyone. "Sire?" she told Duke Owen's son, while making a curtsy.

     She walked back to the inn having made certain of one thing. She will not, must not, let anyone know. If they find out Otheric got involved with the Silver Moon Order, that will be the end of him. The best they could do would be to lock him up in The Capital for the rest of his life. No, she must deal with this on her own. And she must trust him, trust Otheric.

     She was just going to decipher the inscriptions. That was all. Whatever they plan to do it with didn't matter. It was none of her concern.