Sufferance Ch. 07

D'Shea was going to be angry with me but I didn't care. My mind still seemed to be quivering from my time in the store room, and I had to find the Duergar since I knew where they'd be. Jael wouldn't survive for long in that place; it was an unrealistic test.

"You'll work with Panagan," Rausery said finally. "We'll start the hunt early. I can send you both to within a klick of where we dropped her. You'll take care of any grey dwarves that threaten the recruit but she's still not to be captured by you until she reaches the sentry point of the City. Nor is she to be guided. Understand?"

I nodded agreement. It wasn't ideal with Panagan being my only back-up, but... "I understand, Elder. I'll do it."

Rausery called the two Leads back in and instructed Qivni to retrieve Panagan immediately. "Tell her to bring her bow."

I looked at Jaunda, who casually folded her arms and took a comfortable stance, making it apparent that she intended to stay near me. Rausery let her, and I wondered at that. I watched my Lead for gestures, if she needed to ask me any silent questions, but she made none.

It did not take long for Qivni and Panagan to enter. The younger Sister went straight to her Elder at a gesture, while Qivni actually got in my face.

"Whatever you're up to," she murmured with narrowed eyes, "let me make this clear: Sisters do not kill each other, or let each other die on a mission, and that's what a hunt is. The Nobles and the armies do that. We don't. Understand?"

"So long as Panagan does," I replied, feeling impatient with the threat. That hadn't even been on my mind. "It's up to her."

That was when I realized Rausery had just finished instructing Panagan about something in sign langauge, and I'd missed it thanks to Qivni. That was fully intentional, I knew. Good back-up. I glanced at Jaunda, who was staring intently at Rausery and ignoring Qivni, but from the way she was leaning I knew she didn't have a good view of Rausery's hands. The Elder soon gave her attention over to D'Shea's Lead, however.

"Tell D'Shea I thought it absolutely necessary to send Panagan and Sirana early on their hunt. If she wishes to discuss it, she knows where to find me."

Jaunda smirked and nodded. "Yes, Elder."

"You two will leave now," Rausery told us, pulling out a small, abstract object which she set inside the chalk design on the floor. "Stand next to that."

After we'd obeyed her, each of us glancing at the other, she continued, "Make sure the recruit lives past the initial threat but do not claim her, or otherwise guide her, until she reaches the sentry point. *If* she does. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Elder," we answered.

"I look forward to the reports."

It was a little different from the portal that I'd seen the Priestess open, but it was confirmed for me that, even if Rausery didn't research magic the way some others did, she could still use it.

There was a flash and a lurch which left me momentarily disoriented, but soon my other senses kicked in and I could smell raw rock left unmolded and a hint of water and moss. A soft thrum from the deep warmth beneath us sounded familiar and seeped into my bones, and the energy waves that defined the shape of the caverns and all its features around us soon became clear as a crystal pendant for my eyes. There was no light at all, and the shock of quiet coupled with that feeling of empty expanse took a moment to fully settle in.

Then both of us crouched down with high rock on two sides of us, silent and still and all but invisible to anything else that might be here as long as we had our cloaks on. I could make out the larger outline of Panagan's bow and quiver on her back and wondered how good her aim was.

Rausery had said we would be within a klick of Jael, but I didn't know which direction exactly. While the area felt familiar, the features were not, and we could wander around for a while missing our target. I looked at my partner in this venture, who was at the disadvantage for not knowing fully why we were here. She only had her orders. She looked around and I knew she did not find the place familiar at all.

Yet I was supposed to let her win this hunt.

It occurred to me that Rausery might know if I "threw" the competition. Would she care? I had no way to know. I knew Rausery was constantly trying to peel back D'Shea's layers of intrigue but I didn't know how much she already knew, or what she even did with the knowledge, given her talk about each of us playing our roles.

With that thought, I signed to Panagan, *We need to find the nearest water source. She would be there.*

She nodded. *I was told we do not compete for her until the grey dwarves are dealt with and the initiate is out of the area. We are a team until then. Is that so?*

I gestured an affirmative and smiled without showing teeth. *Good to be clear.*

As it turned out, Panagan knew signs for finding water better than me. That coupled with my previous knowledge of the area, it combined to bring us to a certain low-based cavern in less than an hour. We crouched again, choosing a place low-profile and defensible, and I indicated a particular hole leading to a long tunnel higher on the cavern wall.

*She'll come through there, if she hasn't already.*

*We must confirm which it is,* Panagan replied with an annoyed slant to her hands.

She moved forward and I had to admit, when she found the subtle signs of a bare-footed, two-legged creature about the size of a Drow and barely a few hours old, I was impressed with her tracking skills. That had to be one reason Rausery was so willing to send just to two of us: I had the overall map, Panagan had the experience of detail.

It wasn't lost on me that this was how D'Shea and Rausery worked together as well: one strategist and one tactician. It wasn't a far leap to credit Rausery with that being her intention. I wondered whether Panagan would ever get it.

*She's ahead of us,* my tracking expert proclaimed. *We have to catch up.*

*She woke much sooner than expected,* I commented.

*I'll track, you tell if we're following a similar path you once took.*

*If she's tired or disoriented, she will,* I wagered. *I took the downhill path, least resistance.*

*We'll see.*

I made no comments or corrections as Panagan led the way for the first half hour, and many memories—some clearer, others more murky—resurfaced in my mind as we travelled. We were going essentially the same way I had before, with only a few divergences that still brought us back to that main tunnel that would lead to where the Duergar had been tapping the stone.

I noticed that the rock in the area did seem to be vibrating with a higher wavelength than I might've noticed before. As we continued, a low hum began to flow through my head and into my teeth, and it became irritating and distracting. I didn't know whether to focus on it or try to block it out, and my hesitation must've shown.

*What's wrong with you?* Panagan signed, her hand flashing quickly. *Step more quietly. We're closing, she's just up ahead.*

I raised my hand to reply, hesitated, looking at the odd pulse in a few spots within the rock, and finally signed, *Psionic energy.*

My Sister just stared at me. She clearly withheld a vocal scoff. *You can't know that.*

I shrugged. *Duergar, then.*

*I see no sign.*

*They didn't come this way, we're not following them. We're just getting nearer.* My signing was insistent.

Panagan paused this time, asking me directly, *Are you a mage, like D'Shea?*

I could easily lie just to get her to take my direction, but I didn't know how that reputation might affect things back at the cloister. Gossip was always interesting and I didn't want different kinds of tests coming my way that I had no way to back up.

*No, I'm not a mage. I was given something to sense them. Temporarily, for this mission.*

She seemed to accept that because she looked irritated that she hadn't been told. It would work for now.

As the hum got stronger, I started focusing on it more, relying on Panagan to guide me forward closer to Jael. That her physical signs for our recruit and my very abstract one for the Duergar were consistently going in the same direction was not encouraging. Were we already too late?

To my dismay, I could feel exactly when we had come to the place where I'd killed the Duergar.

I recognized the place, too. I could see the pile of rocks I'd mounted on top of his body; they had been partial scattered by scavengers and there were no tools, no cloth, no bones even. Everything was gone except for a few old blood stains that marred the natural patterns of the stone, as if someone had splashed opaque dye onto a bed of phosphorescent moss.

One side of my head started to hurt so badly that I was nauseous. I smelled the scent of the dwarf, felt the oil on his skin, heard again our grunts in my ears as we struggled, as we coupled. I stopped to put my hand on the stone, trying to stay upright, as I felt again the wide, short prick piercing and stretching my body, ramming itself in again and again. I wanted it; I was so angry, so disgusted and horrified that I needed it so, that it should feel so good. I hated that I knew he grown to enjoy it despite the magic trapping his mind and his gift, hated that he planned to do it again to another Drow. He had spurted inside me, bitten me, my back was scraped raw against the rock to which I was pressed. I was bleeding.

It felt so real...

Someone twist my ear and I hissed.

*Silence!!* Panagan signed right in front of my face. *What's happening? You're not acting right.*

*We need to... move past this point,* I replied, starting one determined step farther down the tunnel. "Need distance.* I fumbled for the sign language. Panagan didn't understand and I silently snapped at her, *Psionic backlash! Get me away from here!*

She was wary and confused by the demand, but took my upper arm in a hard grip and started dragging me farther along. Almost immediately I began to feel some relief of the pressure and I gestured, *Yes. Away.*

She kept me moving when I might have sunk to my knees as the presence in the tunnel pressed down on me. I was shaken and trying hard to get those memories, those sensations which I had felt a year ago back under control. It was easily as bad as the first time I'd worn the Feldeu with D'Shea; I couldn't have described anything as it was in the present in that tunnel; I was entirely inside my head. Panagan could have taken anything from my belt or pouches and I wouldn't have been aware.

Eventually my physical sight did clarify and my mind calmed down, and I wondered whether it had never been that any Duergar were up ahead as it had been that particular, haunted spot. Panagan allowed us to stop so I could catch my breath and she stared hard at me as I quickly checked my weapons and belt to make sure all was in place.

*What happened?* she asked again. *You're better now?*

*A psion died there,* I answered truthfully enough, too tired to think of a better story. *The death-energy lingers.* I smiled ruefully and added, *Not sure I want to volunteer for another of these potions.*

Panagan nodded, and if she doubted what I'd said before, she believed me now. *And up ahead? I can hear sound, distant, but more than one body.*

I pulled out my waterskin and took a swig, rinsing my dry mouth before swallowing, took a few more breaths, and tried to concentrate past a still-throbbing head. That hum from before was still there, and it was still in front of us, even as it was also behind us. I was not experienced enough with something like this to be able to tell if it was connected to the living or not. That was why I needed Panagan's solid senses to back things up.

I nodded. *It's ahead, too. Could be grey dwarves, could be something else.*

We both knew without signing each other that we had to speed up significantly.

Luck was with us in that we came to the next opening with the high-ground advantage and it was easy to survey from a low crouch. We could see several squat bodies moving around the base of a surprisingly tall, bulbous boulder, and atop it was the lithe form of a female elf. She did not have clothes on and was crouching on three points of contact, gripping a trembling short sword in her right hand.

Ah, there was our little initiate. And the Duergar had definitely found her.

Jael had gotten herself trapped atop that stone, though given the rough shape she was in and the new blood I could make out glowing more brightly on her body, she was fortunate to still be alive.

Panagan nudged me. *Which are psionic?*

Good question. I looked back, trying to tell a difference between the energy folding around the short, hairy bodies. There were six total, with two that looked different somehow, though it was subtle. I was taking an educated guess, but a guess nonetheless.

*Hatchet and pickaxe,* I answered, identifying them by their weapons. The other four held large axes or dwarf-sized swords of impressive make. They all wore well-made armor of metal and made a lot of noise.

This wasn't going to be easy.

*Some bend energy as camouflage,* I continued. *We outline them if they start to fade.*

She nodded once. *You engage, I'll cover.*

*Why, thank you,* I signed sarcastically.

*I have the bow,* she smirked. *You are melee. You get close and outline, I shoot outlines.*

A loud yelp caught our attention and as we looked up, I saw one of the Duergar was holding on to a rope with both hands. The other end was somehow connected to Jael's leg...

"Barbed hook," Panagan said aloud with a hiss, tensing and clearly wanting to rise and nock her bow.

She was right; I had to move now.

"Cover me," I murmured. "Bright light only as a last resort."

I surged forward down into the hollow where Jael was resisting being pulled off the rock. She landed with a loud scream of pain as my boots hit the cavern floor.

Panagan waited until I was within distance, when my stride made enough sound to cause one to turn around, before she fired. I had to admit it was a beautiful shot, lodged in the armpit as he'd raised his arm. I finished him with a slim stab into the throat with my thinnest blade. Metal armor or not, there were weak points. One down.

"Faeriluci," I growled, flinging a string of magenta magic toward three other targets and outlining them for Panagan just as they all turned to quickly grasp the new threat and shouted dwarvish curses at me as I exchanged my dagger for the short-distance crossbow pistol.

One major benefit to this fight: the Duergar did not have any ranged weapons right to hand, but Pangan and I did.

My pistol was ready with only one shot, but I was pointblank and a squeeze of my hand sent one I thought might be psionic reeling back with a tiny poison-tipped arrow biting into his bearded cheek. He'd be paralyzed within ten seconds, fifteen if he really fought hard. Eventually his lungs would seize and he'd suffocate. Two down.

Then three when Panagan pierced one outlined in harmless pink light with a poisoned arrow of her own.

The one who held the rope hooked into Jael's calf was farthest from me, the only one remaining who was not outlined, and also possibly the other psion. His milk-white eyes gleamed with energy, as did his teeth as he gritted them; they were all I could make out in his dark, bald head.

The others wore helmets. This one didn't. I really didn't like that.

The two glowing dwarves bellowed something unintelligible at me and I evaded their attacks, drawing them away from Jael and trying to give Panagan a clear shot. I nearly missed the large stone slowly lifting by itself off the ground, preparing to be hurtled through the air as if thrown by an invisible giant. It was aimed at the archer causing the most damage while being out of reach.

"PANAGAN, DOWN!" I yelled so loudly my voice almost broke and I finished it up with a desperate gesture, "LUCINITRE!"

A single bright light lit up the entire cavern for two seconds, centered on the two dwarves in front of me. Roars of pain and surprise sounded at the same moment I heard the harsh bang of stone colliding with stone. I took that as a sign that my Sister hadn't been hit directly, but I wouldn't know for a while if she was still in the fight.

I couldn't see anything; I had to close my eyes and try to ignore the blotchy spots behind my eyelids, and continue fighting that way.

The two Duergar were trying to flank me; their confident movements told me they could blind-fight, too, but fortunately they didn't have my dexterity. I took the few seconds I needed to strain for any sound from Jael while I dodged out of reach of the axes held by short arms. Where was she?

*Come on, make some sound!*

I heard the drag of a rope and that had to be good enough. I removed a spare steel dagger from my boot—the one that wasn't pre-poisoned, because I didn't need Jael pricking herself in the dark—and I knelt low to the ground to toss it in her direction. It skittered and bounced along the ground and stopped about where I thought she was.

I already knew she was very good fighting with two weapons and if she had her wits at all intact, she'd scissor the thick rope that held her first.

I heard her grunt as she reached where the dagger had landed—*Good girl*—and I evaded the two blind, magenta outlines once again to get closer to the psion this time. I plucked a powder bottle from my belt and threw it in the general direction of the bald-headed dwarf. If I hit him or the ground around him at all, I would be pleased.

"Vahsist—!" he exclaimed, not knowing at all what was on him, dusted all over his armor, before he was forced to cough some of the irritant out of his lungs.

It would give Jael time, but sadly I could not use a poisonous inhalant on him. Why? Because after him, I heard her cough as well. Then I hacked once. Good thing I wasn't trying to hide.

Finally there was a whistle in the air and a grunt behind me as Panagan took down another of the fighters. Only one remained when I heard the "shink!" of two blades crossing each other and a body rolling farther away. Jael must've freed herself at last. The bald dwarf cursed, coughed again, and turned toward the escaping Drow.

I ignored the glowing, teetering outline of the lone axe-wielder and went instead for the psion, the most dangerous. My sight was slowly recovering, which meant his would be, too, and even if Jael could stand, it wouldn't help her once he could focus with those blank, white eyes on her.

He must have heard me because something that felt like a stone golem's fist struck me directly in the chest and I staggered backward, stunned and unable to breathe while the Duergar continued coughing on itch-dust in the dark. I heard an arrow clink off of the armor of the final outlined dwarf and, knowing Panagan had missed her aim, I had no choice but to dive awkwardly to the side as his axe struck the stone beside me, chipping it with a spark of energy. Jael suddenly screamed somewhere I couldn't see her.

*Did he get her?* When I heard her groan the next moment I knew she still lived.

The pressure inside my head made a sudden, urgent attempt to build and I strained to stand against the psychic attack while trying to stay out of the way of the swinging Duergar with only half my senses working.

Damn it, they were ganging up on me. My crossbow pistol wasn't reloaded and I'd dropped it after the mind-fist had hit me anyway. My volatile poisons would affect me as well as the Duergar—range wasn't an option.

As much as I did not want to go toe-to-toe with a dwarf's axe with my brain being addled by another, I didn't have much choice. I drew a pre-poisoned dagger from my boot; all I had to get was a scratch on this one. Time would do the rest.