Tender Mercies

"How'd you manage that?" Kelnozz's friend, a short human warrior dressed as a gladiator asked.

"Not as easily as it should have been, the two of you need to bathe and stay downwind next time!" He replied. "You nearly made me lose the kill, and we would have then gone hungry tonight."

The other warrior, a giant of a man called Nordan, laughed loudly and said, "If not this deer, then another we would have found! You worry too much, Kelnozz, let us eat!"

Kelnozz scowled good naturedly at the gruff barbarian. Pompey knelt down and began to dress the deer.

"Do we camp now or continue to the tower?" Pompey asked, trying to determine how he should deal with the meat.

"The wizard's domain is half a day distant still," Kelnozz said, already surveying the area they were in for a good campsite.

"Aye, it's settled then, we camp!" Nordan said happily, pulling out a skin filled with mead and draining half of it in one pull.

The three companions started a fire, spit the carcass, and roasted it while setting up the rest of their camp. The sun set as they began their meal.

"Do you believe the townsfolk?" Pompey asked after they finished their meal and sat quietly.

"About what?" Kelnozz asked.

"That this wizard is protected by demons?"

Kelnozz shrugged. "What difference does it make?"

"I just like to know what I'm going to be facing," Pompey grunted, irritated by the casual attitude Kelnozz held towards such powerful beings.

They lapsed into silence for a time, and finally the silence was broken by the snoring sounds coming from Nordan. Kelnozz smirked while Pompey shook his head in continuing disbelief at how easily his companions dealt with things.

"I'll take first watch," Pompey offered, figuring he wouldn't be sleeping for a while.

Kelnozz nodded and lay down on his own bedroll. In seconds he was asleep.

They moved out the next morning. Already 3 days out from the town of Sanctuary, they moved more cautiously now. Ahead lay the demesne of a powerful wizard said to plague the inhabitants of the surrounding lands. Fortunately, the only civilized lands nearby belonged to the people of Sanctuary; a rough and hardy lot to be sure.

"Are the priests right?" Pompey asked during their midmorning trek. "Is this wizard truly trying to summon a being able to lead a force of darkness aimed at dominating the world in his name?"

"He's a wizard, who knows what he wants," Nordan said gruffly, his distaste for wielders of magic showing.

"They believe it, and more importantly, they are paying us to deal with it, which is something we need after that incident the two of you got us into when we met that merchant caravan."

Nordan chuckled and Pompey sighed at the memory. "Yes, they cheated at cards better then we did."

Kelnozz shook his head disapprovingly and walked on in silence. The other two followed suit. Another hour of walking had them fording a stream, and as soon as they set foot on the opposing bank all three of them felt the change.

The air became colder, and a chill ran down their spines. The chatter of insects and birds dropped off abruptly, leaving them in eerie silence in an otherwise bright and cheery day. Kelnozz motioned for his friends to wait behind while he scouted ahead.

Chafing at the caution, the two warriors waited while the dark elf sneaked ahead. Their wait was not overlong, though the fifteen minutes seemed to be hours. Kelnozz returned and motioned them to quietly follow him. Preparing their weapons, they followed the quiet rogue as he slipped through the increasingly dark and foreboding forest.

Ere long they hid in the underbrush at a tree line where the forest ended and the clearing that the tower stood within began. The tower stretched up roughly 60 feet into the sky. A plain oaken door bound in iron stood at the base of it, with a sculpted statue of a horrific creature on each side of the door. The statues resembled a cross of something that was half vulture, half man. Pompey suppressed a shudder as they examined the tower and it's surroundings.

"You know that those statues are anything but statues, don't you?" Kelnozz asked.

Nordan grunted and Pompey nodded his head yes, though in truth he had no idea.

"Any other ways in?" Pompey asked, hoping the magic in his spear was enough to pierce the hide of the magical guardians.

Kelnozz shook his head and stood up to prepare for the conflict. He drew his twin long swords and waited for his companions to join him. "We must strike quickly and true, for the wizard will no doubt know of our assault as soon as it is begun. Nordan you take the door, Pompey and I shall defeat the guardians."

Before anyone could respond, Kelnozz was off. Pompey cursed and set off after him, lowering his spear at one of the guardians. Nordan let out a war cry and joined them.

As they neared the tower, the statues shimmered and came alive. Their flesh faded from a stony gray to a pallid white. They both screeched loudly, brandishing lethal looking claws.

Battle was joined. Kelnozz deftly avoided the razor sharp talons and let his swords bite deeply into the demonic guardian. Pompey used the length of his spear to keep his assailant at bay, swinging it back and forth to keep the creature from closing. Nordan ignored them both and swung his hammer at the door.

The door shattered in a magical explosion under the powerful onslaught. Nordan staggered backwards a few steps from the force of the explosion. Shaking his head, he shrugged off the effects of it and plunged into the tower.

Kelnozz cursed at Nordan and adopted a more offensive role against the demon he fought. The demon was able to slash twice at Kelnozz in this way before the magical blades the elf wielded found a home in it's ribcage. The creature screeched weakly and dissolved into smoke, dispelled back to the hell it had been summoned from.

Pompey took an opening he had and plunged his spear into the bowels of the demon he fought. It howled in rage and agony and grabbed onto the shaft of the spear. Pompey pushed forward, certain it would try to rip it out. Instead, the demon pulled on the spear and pushed it's body forward, impaling it even deeper but bringing Pompey closer. When Pompey realized what was happening, he dropped the spear and struggled to pull the gladius from his belt. The guardian was to close by then though, and it's talons slashed down at him, cutting him deeply on the arm and latching onto his shoulder.

Kelnozz ran inside to find another shattered door and a entry room beyond. To the side a stair case wound around the outer wall of the tower, leading up. Seeing some blood stains along the wall, Kelnozz knew Nordan had gone this way. He followed quickly, taking the steps two and three at a time.

The next room up was a living quarters and study. Great book cases lined the walls, filled with arcane texts. The stairs continued up, and now the sounds of battle came from above. Muttering oaths under his breath, Kelnozz continued up.

What awaited him was a surprising sight. The wizard stood behind a podium with scrolls stretched across it. In front of him lay a summoning circle with a pentagram engraved upon the floor within it. The wizard was chanting and a white glowing portal was slowly taking shape within the circle.

"Kill the wizard!" Nordan shouted.

Kelnozz's attention switched to Nordan and he saw that he battled against a terrible foe. A demon with 6 arms, a cruel and wicked looking weapon in each hand. The upper body of a well proportioned woman and the lower body of a snake. The demons tail was in fact wrapped around one of Nordan's legs, immobilizing him effectively.

Obeying his wishes, the elf dropped one of his swords and drew a dagger from his belt. Flicking his wrist, he smiled vindictively as the wizard jerked back from the impact and stuttered his incantation. The look of pain on his face disappeared as he realized what had happened. He struggled to regain control of the spell, but it was too late. The magical energies took on a life of their own.

Reclaiming his sword, Kelnozz hacked at the tail that his friend was caught up in. In a spray of black ichor, the tail was severed and Nordan free. Howling in barbaric glee, he charged forward, swinging his hammer without abandon. Kelnozz leapt beside his friend and joined the attack, driving the wounded demon back and finally backing it against a wall. Using coordinated attacks, they beat past the 6 deadly blades it wielded and struck again and again, until the supernatural being was weakened enough to allow them to strike a blow that dispatched it back to the abyss from which it came.

"You fools! You ruined my spell and caused all of us to die! But I will make sure you die first!"

Both of them spun about quickly to see the wizard raising his arms. Blood flowed from the dagger still impaled in his belly, but this time the spell completed as intended. A searing beam of fire shot out from each hand, striking each of them and driving them back as the tried to escape the agony of the spell.

The wizard began another spell, knowing that the invaders still lived. Before he could finish it he jerked forward. The arcing electricity that had begun to gather around his hands instead began to flow down into the wizard. It made him spasm and convulse, finishing off the job of killing him. The magical electricity arced up the metal shaft of the spear transfixing him and entered the hands and body of Pompey. Pompey was blown back by the force of the magic and slammed into a wall before crumpling to the floor unmoving.

The magical summoning in the middle of the room continued to grow and pulse. Nordan finished rolling around putting out the flames on his furs and proceeded to help Kelnozz take off his nearly red hot chain mail. Once free they watched the rogue summoning, both of them injured but ready to fight again. Pompey remained motionless, with neither of them certain if he still lived.

The light continued to grow brighter, and soon they could see a humanoid shape outlined within it. With a final brilliant pulse of energy the light receded and the standing figure collapsed to the floor.

When their vision cleared, they saw that what had been summoned did not appear to be a ferocious demon. It did not have the looks of a bloodthirsty minion of hell. In fact, it looked about as harmless as a kitten. What it appeared to be was a wet and naked young women only recently come into her prime. Her magical origins were nearly confirmed when they looked at her though, for her form seemed beautiful above and beyond what was mortally possible. Long flowing black hair graced her head and a figure the Gods would be hard pressed to recreate. She rolled over and groaned as she opened her eyes. They saw that the only hair that appeared on her body was on her head.

"What manner of being are you?" Kelnozz said, eyeing her warily.

Nordan was speechless, finding the object of beauty something that nearly separated his wits from his body.

The summoned creature looked at Kelnozz in surprise. She looked at her surroundings and quickly jumped to her feet and tried to back up. When she reached the edge of the circle, however, she was unable to retreat any further.

"What are you?" Kelnozz asked again, taken back by the creatures defensive behavior.

The girl frowned, and opened her mouth and made a noise. Neither Nordan nor Kelnozz could understand her, however. At that time the girl seemed to realize that she was naked. Her arms quickly sought to conceal herself, though obviously it did little save make her look more appealing.

"Wait here," Kelnozz told them, not caring whether the girl understood or not, and went downstairs to the wizards bedchamber. He poked around very carefully, mindful of magical traps, and found a spare robe that was the wizards. He noticed the magical runes and insignias on it and shrugged, figuring it was better then nothing.

Returning he found Nordan staring lewdly at the girl, who looked increasingly uncomfortable. "Be ready," He warned, and stepped towards the circle.

Scuffing his foot across the line of powder that formed the circle, Kelnozz broke the circle of protection. He advanced upon the girl, his stance ready to spring away in a second if she threatened. Gingerly she reached out and took it from him, retreating beyond the circle to put the podium between herself and them before she quickly donned the robe. When it was about her, she shivered briefly in spite of the heat in the room.

Less self conscious, she spoke again, "Who are you?"

Kelnozz was surprised that he could understand her this time. "Nay lass, who are you?"

She realized they were the ones holding the weapons and in control of the situation. "Um, I'm Alesha. Alesha Koronski."

"Are you a demon?" Nordan asked, his mind free to work now that it wasn't preoccupied with her nudity.

"A...demon?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes, a demon... a being from the abyss, summoned by the wizard to lead his armies to conquer the world," Kelnozz said, his eyes narrowing as he examined her.

"No... no, I'm just a girl. I was taking a bath and my little brother was being a brat and trying to get in the bathroom. He finally picked the lock and opened the door up quickly, it hit the sink and my blow dryer fell off and I was terrified that it was going to fall in the bathtub and electrocute me and I.... And I would die... is that what happened? Am I dead? Is this Heaven? Or...the other place?"

Kelnozz raised his hand to try and stop her talking. Once started, she didn't appear to want to stop.

"Nay girl, you are not dead. This wizard," Kelnozz kicked the wizards corpse, "was trying to summon a great demon or devil when we intruded upon him. We stopped him but not early enough, instead his spell went awry and it appears to have conjured you instead."

"Um...a wizard? Magic? Where am I?" She was clearly having trouble absorbing everything told to her.

"Where are you from that you know not of this place?" Kelnozz interrupted.

"St. Petersburg. Florida."

Kelnozz and Nordan looked at each other for an answer. Neither had one, so they turned back to her.

"This is Belurian, two days northwest of Sanctuary," Nordan answered.

"Nordan, check on Pompey," Kelnozz said, remembering their fallen companion.

"Where on earth is Belurian?" Alesha asked in a small voice.

"This world is known as Viconia, not Earth, though the earth is indeed beneath us."

"I'm not on Earth anymore..." The girl collapsed to the ground, fainting from the sudden shock of her situation.

"Some champion of evil," Kelnozz muttered as he went over to her and made sure she wasn't injured. He picked her up easily and carried her over to where Nordan knelt next to Pompey.

"How is he?"

Nordan looked up at Kelnozz and shook his head. "The demon wounded him badly, perhaps enough to kill him, given time. But the wizards magic made sure of it."

Tightening his jaw, Kelnozz nodded. They left the tower then, leaving it as they had found it, plus two corpses. Outside the tower they noticed that the evilness in the ground and air had abated with the death of the wizard. Figuring themselves safe, they set up camp outside the tower as night was fast approaching.

Alesha woke soon but stayed mostly quiet, huddling within her new garment. Finally she said, "What's this... um... this place, what's it like?"

Nordan looked to Kelnozz and shrugged, indicating the elf should field the question. "What do you mean?"

She forced her gaze away from the fire and looked at him. "What are you? I've seen black people before, but never like you. Your eyes... your ears... they're different."

Kelnozz smiled, "I'm a dark elf. Pretty average for my race. There are no elves where you come from?

She shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. "What else is there here?"

Kelnozz tipped his head to the side, trying to think of how to answer her. "Well, there are dwarves, halflings, orcs, light elves, ogres, giants, trolls, lizardmen, dragons, and the list goes on and on. Most anything you can think up has existed here at one time or another."

"I feel like I'm in a bad movie," She muttered, staring back into the fire again.

Kelnozz chuckled at her tone, even though he had no idea what a movie was.

"Kel, how come we can understand her now and she us?" Nordan asked, finishing up with cleaning the rabbits they had snared for dinner.

"I think it's that robe I found for her. See the sigils on it? I believe it's a wizards robe."

"Should she be wearing it?" He was spitting the first rabbit.

Kelnozz shrugged.

"Jesus Christ! Quit talking about me as if I'm not here!" Alesha snapped, jumping to her feet.

"Who?" Both men asked, looking around quickly.

Alesha's stopped pacing and stared at them open mouthed. "Jesus Christ, son of God," She whispered, afraid to hear their response.

"Never heard of him," Nordan said, finishing the last rabbit and beginning to roast them.

"Which God?" Kelnozz asked, trying to be a little more calming to her.

Her jaw snapped shut and she closed her eyes tightly. Finally she took a deep breath and said, "I need to take a walk and get some fresh air."

Kelnozz frowned but Nordan said, "Be wary, it should be safe around here, but some other minions of the wizards may still be about."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. Look, I'll be fine." With that, Alesha walked off into the darkness of night. After a few moments, Kelnozz scowled and rose to his feet as well.

"Where are you going, the rabbits are almost done," Nordan said, scowling at what he knew was the answer.

"I'll be back, I'm going to make sure she doesn't get herself killed."

Snorting, Nordan went back to spinning the conies over the fire.

The girl had stepped on rocks and sharp twigs several times so far, leaving her feet sore and bleeding. She sighed when she came to the quiet stream that marked the edge of the sorcerers lands. Sitting on the bank of the stream she let her feet dangle in the water to soothe them.

She had no idea where she was or what was going on, but she did have to admit that it was very pretty here. Not to mention much cleaner. Even the air smelled cleaner. Colors seemed more vibrant and she just felt more alive then she had before.

Still, she was terrified of what was happening to her. Not only was she stuck with two strange looking and acting men, but they had both seen her naked! Not even her boyfriend had seen her like that before.

The black one was nice at least, but he looked so odd with those high cheekbones and pointy ears. A black Spock! She giggled briefly at the thought of it. She always hated that show, Star Trek, but her father had watched it enough she knew that Kelnozz looked like a Vulcan. Except for his eyes. In the light they looked only a little odd, being lavender in color. But when it had gotten darker, they had almost seemed to glow with an inner light.

Then there was the other one, Nordan. She had known his kind before. A bully and a brute, he used his strength before what little mind he had. And when his mind did come into play, it was often his other head that did the thinking.

The thing that really upset her was their response to God. She'd always been rather borderline on religion, but she had been baptized and believed in God. If they didn't know about God, then she was even more alone then she thought possible.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a shuffling in the brush on the other side of the stream. Looking up she saw it move and then first one figure came out, then another and another. Finally a full eight figures stood on the far shore, considering her. They were roughly her height, a few inches shy of six feet, but all were stocky. One of them stepped forward into the moonlight and Alesha felt her breath catch in her throat. It had a face that was a cross between a man and a pig, with emphasis on the snout.