FINAL REWARD: PART XVI
by: Taliaferro Erucolindo
As Kiren and Taliaferro crept up the stairs to Crush's private tower, they heard voices drifting down the passage. Both Elves knew enough Dark Speech to understand the conversation, but they looked at each other in shock at what they overheard...
"You must see to it that ALL of the flyers are placed in the forest, your..."emminence"..." said Ambassador DVinn. "Doing this will break the Elf peoples?" came Crush's dull-witted reply. "Yes," dripped the Teir'Dal ambassador's response, "it will make them fight against their own friends....it will divide and conquer their fragile Alliance...." "Emperor Crush! This will be our chance to fulfill our destiny to RULE the Faydark Forest!" came the excited voice of one of Crush's Oracles. As the two Fier'Dal crept up the stairs and caught sight of the trio, Ambassador DVinn handed a rolled up scroll to the Oracle. "I have written the instructions down. Perform the spell I have shown you, and they will be revealed. This will be a dagger in the back of our mutual enemies, and the simple minded among them will fall for it!" Kiren looked at Tal and nodded, then from around the corner, began to cast a spell of ensnaring upon the Orc Oracle. "WHAT MAGICK BE THIS???" exclaimed the Oracle, as vines snaked up out of the very stones of the tower to entangle his feet. With a faint grunt of recognition, Emperor Crush looked up to see a nearly naked Fier'Dal Warrior charging at him! The only thought through Emperor Crush's mind just before Tal's blades pierced his heart and throat was simply, "Oh no.....not again...." As the Orc Emperor fell, Kiren attempted to land another snaring spell upon DVinn, but the wiley Teir'Dal leapt free of the grasping vines. Bounding to the window of the tower, then looking back with a sneer on his face, DVinn leapt from the tower window towards the ground below. The Orc Oracle began to cast a spell that would poison Taliaferro, but before he could complete the incantation, a bolt of lightning, at Kiren's command, shot through the window and electrocuted the hapless Orc. Quickly, Kiren grabbed the rolled up scroll from the dead Orc's hand, as he and Tal both dove out of the tower window in pursuit of DVinn.
.......
Moments before, DVinn hit the ground noiselessly, using skills honed for centuries as a Rogue, and immediately hid behind some stacked barrels, waiting for the pursuit that was doubtlessly coming. "Damn!" thought DVinn, "I must recover the scroll at all costs! The scroll contains our plan to turn the Light Alliance against itself by posing as members of the High Elven kingdom and spreading false propaganda. If the truth gets out, then the blasted Elves might eventually realize that they've been played for fools!" DVinn's thoughts raced, "These damned members of Giliath Lang have already escaped the trap that Tarina laid for them in Nektulos, and now they're on the verge of spoiling MY plans as well! What in Hate's name does it take to be rid of these people?" It had been planned so carefully, recalled DVinn: The imposter posing as King Tearis Thex, tricking young impressionable elves into thinking he represented the Dal kingdom, the propaganda against the Alliance, the conflicts instigated between the Elves and their allies. Everything was so close to working! He had spent months coordinating other deceptions, using slow-minded racists among all of the Light Alliance races. Many had been fooled in the Elven kingdom, and also among the Humans, the Barbarians, the Erudites, the Halflings, the Gnomes, and even the Dwarves. So many had bought into their cunningly forged lies. Unfortunately for DVinn, a few veterans, like the members of Giliath Lang, as well as others, like the noble Elven Royal Guard, the First Dwarven Brigade, the Judges of Norrath, and several others guilds around Norrath, weren't being fooled. Now, they stood a chance of gaining proof of the deception. DVinn knew that he must recover that scroll lest the truth be known. As his mind settled on a plan, DVinn rushed forward and dove into the moat, just as the two Fier'Dal landed roughly on the ground underneath the window.
.......
"Which way did he go?" asked Tal, looking about, trusting that his magic bracer would reveal the Teir'Dal to him, even if he hid. Kiren looked at the ground, then started off in the direction of the moat. As the two Fier'Dal neared the edge of the water, DVinn surfaced halfway around the moat and began to climb silently from the foul water. Kiren turned to Tal, "As much as I'd love to stay and kill that blight on the face of Norrath, we've GOT to get this evidence to General Jyleel!" "Aye," nodded Tal, "let's get out of here, but walk slowly, and see if you can pick up his trail." As the two turned to leave, DVinn began to sneak up slowly behind them. Seeing that the Ranger held the scroll in his hand, DVinn knew that one quick strike....one single thrust through the back, would mortally wound the unarmored Fier'Dal, and allow him the chance to grab the scroll and escape while the other tended to his fallen comrade. "That's why Dark will always prevail over Light," thought DVinn, "they CARE so much for each other! It makes them weak, it makes them vunerable, and it gives those of us who embrace HATE the upper hand!" As DVinn moved closer and closer to the two Fier'Dal, he lined up the perfect backstab. Just to the left of the spine, between the shoulderblade and the vertebrae.....a quick stab, then a yank to open the wound further, and the poison on his dirk would do the rest! The two were walking slowly, peering at the ground, giving him the perfect target! He moved closer and closer to the Ranger's back, knowing that this blow would be one he remembered forever. The perfect kill....so close.....so close....as the two Fier'Dal neared the cave entrance....DVinn lunged foreward for the killing blow!
"NOW!" shouted Tal, and Kiren spun out of the way of DVinn's killing thrust! In a moment of shock, DVinn stumbled past his intended target, then felt two burning cuts slicing deeply into his midsection, as Taliaferro whipped his blades around in parallel slashes through DVinn's chest armor! Crying out in shock and surprise, DVinn's final words were choked off in his throat, as Kiren completed his spin, bringing the Morin blade around in a full arc, slashing cleanly through DVinn's chainmail collar, as well as the Teir'Dal ambassador's neck. DVinn's body fell out from underneath his head, which spun in place for a mere instant, before landing on the ground next to it's former body! Kiren and Tal laughed at the corpse of their long-time adversary. "Now I know why you like that spinning slash so well, it's great for decapitations," laughed Kiren. "Aye," responded Tal, "and you did that as well as any Warrior, my friend." The two looked around at the shocked expressions on the faces of the younger adventurers gathering around them. "I guess he didn't count on us being able to see things that are normally invisible," said Tal, shrugging as he tapped the Bracer of the Hidden on his wrist. "Or on the smell that moat left on him," added Kiren, waving a hand in front of his nose. Smiling at the crowd gathered around them, Kiren shouted, "There's a Dwarven Ringmail Tunic on the corpse of Emporer Crush, in the castle tower! First one there can have it!" The two laughed out loud at the near stampede of young adventurers that charged toward the castle.