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It had been a full five minutes since the last time anyone had spoken. The only sounds that came from the tavern were those of the owner in the back of the tavern, preparing for the night’s business. Thanka occasionally appeared as he moved from room to room, but otherwise everyone’s eyes were focused squarely on Seline.
Seline’s eyes greedily drank in every single detail of the battered leather tome that was clutched in her hands. Her fingertip traced the outline of the imprinted hand again and again, as though in shock and disbelief. Occasionally a small chuckle escaped her, but beyond that she ignored those around her.
Finally, Ramadeur cleared his throat. “Seline…”
“Shh!” Seline held up a hand, still looking at the book. “Do not break the moment.”
“Brother.” Rhandi rolled her eyes and stood up. “I’m going to get more mead. Anyone else need or want any?”
To’ng shook his head and stood as well. “Wouldn’t bother me in the least. Beats sitting here.”
Rhandi glanced at Ramadeur. “How about you?”
Ramadeur shook his head. “I’ll be fine.” He watched the two of them walk away before he returned his attention back to Seline. “You know…”
“Shh!” Seline’s hand was still in the same position as before. “I’m almost there…”
Ramadeur raised an eyebrow and glanced at Thanatir, who shrugged. He sat back and frowned, watching Seline carefully.
Finally, after another minute of silence, a slim waft of essence appeared at the end of Seline’s finger and drifted down almost lazily to the book in her hands. The tendril lovingly rubbed up against the cover, and the cover began to hum and glow with a bluish tint. After another moment, the burnt and crisped edges of the book began to repair themselves rapidly, and pages that had been destroyed or torn out appeared beside the book and forcibly made their way into their respective places.
Finally, Seline dropped the book with a gasp and sat back. The book thudded to a halt on the table, newly restored to almost perfect condition. The handprint on its cover remained, however; tarnished, blackened, and completely unaffected by Seline’s repair.
She wiped the sweat off of her brow and sighed deeply. “Now… now I’ll take that mead.”
“Impressive.” Thanatir picked up the book and inspected it carefully. “It’s doubled in volume at least. Does that binding return the lost text as well, or just the pages themselves?”
“I do not know yet.” Seline accepted the warm mead from Ramadeur and drank heartily. “It depends on how the tome was initially constructed. Hinton was a powerful spellbinder; likely he constructed his written works correctly, so there’s a good chance at least some of the pages have returned as they were.”
Thanatir thumbed the edge of the book to open it, but gaped in astonishment as Seline sprang forward and snatched it out of his hands. “Hey!”
“Do NOT try to open a spellbinder’s tome, drow!” Snarling with fatigue, Seline sat back again, the book grasped tightly in her small hands. “It is very likely that, now that I’ve restored it back to nearly its original condition, any traps that Hinton might have placed on it to prevent unauthorized reading might have been returned to their original conditions as well.”
“Meaning I could have blown up the place and everyone inside.” At her nod, Thanatir chuckled. “We wouldn’t have had to worry about anything further in life if I’d done so, at least.”
“A lot of innocents would have died, Thanatir. Remember that your actions always have consequences.” Ramadeur bent forward. “Will you be able to deactivate the traps, Seline?”
“I highly doubt so. However, I might be able to get it to recognize at least my touch, so it wouldn’t react to my opening of it. I don’t know.” Seline finished off her mead and winced. “Nasty stuff.”
“Not many of us can afford wine, you know.” Ramadeur frowned. “How long will it take to bypass it?”
“A few weeks at least.”
“A few weeks.” The paladin shook his head. “We will have to have left by then if we want to assemble more of these books for you.”
“More?!” Seline sat up with an astonished look on her face. “You don’t mean… well, of course, if one survived, it’s likely more did… by the deities, could they all be pieced together… I could stop this war right in its tracks…”
Bemused, Ramadeur glanced at Thanatir. “I take that to mean that you’ve reconsidered my request?”
Seline snorted. “The only way you’ll keep me and my guards from accompanying you is if you restrain me now.”
“Your… guards?” Ramadeur raised an eyebrow again.
“I’m not going anywhere without someone under my coin watching my back.” Seline smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay me. I just want every damn tome we find that even remotely belonged to Hinton.”
“If only to bring an end to this, then it’s agreed.”
“Good.”
* * *
Metal rang against metal as the human continued to drive the drow backwards time and again. The human laughed merrily as he slammed the flat of his broad axe into the side of the drow, sending him sprawling.
“This is too easy, Komiyan! Have you been out of practice that long?”
Komiyan picked himself up from the ground with a snarl, absently licking at the blood on the corner of his mouth. “Do you ever shut up, Marius? We’re supposed to be sparring, not trying to kill each other!”
Marius chuckled. “Aw, I hurt your feelings. Here.” Laughing, Marius swung the axe in a vicious circle, low to the ground.
Komiyan sprang straight upwards, the axe passing by just underneath his legs. As he did a cartwheel in midair, Komiyan’s twin short swords slashed downwards, slamming into the axe as it passed and sending it flying off to one side. In an instant, both swords were crossed and pressed up against Marius’s throat, a slim trickle of blood oozing out from where the edges touched skin.
For a long moment, Komiyan’s breathing was the only sound as Marius’s eyes went wide in surprise. Then Komiyan chuckled and pulled his weapons back, sheathing them in one smooth motion. “I believe that one belongs to me.”
“Aye. Dammit.” Marius rubbed at his neck with a wince. “Did you have to draw blood? That’s going to itch in a few days.”
“You split my lip. I figured blood for blood was fair.” Komiyan walked over to Marius’s axe and hefted it. “Gods, how you can use this thing is beyond me.”
“Beats trying to use two swords. Damn elves.” Grinning, Marius took the axe from Komiyan and motioned toward the hallway. “Feel up for anything to eat? I’m starved.”
“Aye.” Komiyan fell in step beside Marius, but before they could leave a man entered the room. The man was short and squat, with wiry facial hair and a mane that hadn’t seen the end of a comb in months. He was filthy, and his beady eyes peered over his massive nose at the drow and human before he spoke.
When he did speak, his voice cracked constantly and sounded like it was only reluctantly leaving the comfort of the lungs it used to inhabit. “Mistress Seline says yer to come to her chambers.”
“Can’t it wait, Powel?” Marius tried to walk past the greasy human, but Powel blocked his path.
“No! It cannot wait, Mistress has paladins in attendance!” He sneered at Marius. “She commands, you must go!”
“Bah.” Marius kicked at Powel in annoyance, but the man easily dodged his kick and skittered off back into the hallway. “So we’re summoned. Lovely.”
Komiyan shrugged. “I don’t mind, maybe it’s for something interesting. I’ve been getting bored waiting for something to happen, anyway.”
“Aye. Let’s go.”
* * *
_________________
 
Casper "Komi, I need pick up lines in Drow, like... fast."
Komi "You have such lovely eyes, please don't kill me nice lady?"
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