The Hard Road: Distant Early Warnings

The world weighs on my shoulders
But what am I to do?
You sometimes drive me crazy
But I worry about you
I know it makes no difference
To what you’re going through
But I see the tip of the iceberg
And I worry about you…

lyrics from Distant Early Warnings as performed by Rush

Lyssa couldn’t believe what she was seeing at first. It didn’t register in her mind that it was Andar who was standing there. Rage filled her slowly until, it boiled over. In just seconds she sprinted across the room, pulling two small daggers from her boot and lunging at the nearest man. She stabbed one of the blades into his knee, trying to bring him down to her level.

Shani acted quickly, darting between two men as she hurled one dagger at a third, skewering his eye. With a swift motion, she took out her rapier, parrying the incoming blow that swung her way with ease. The second man was knocked down, having the wind knocked out of him, as the pale elf showed signs of a strength she had never shown before. She seemed to bull her way through, knocking both men aside with her shoulders, then parrying attacks as her companions engaged in battle with the others in the room.

Once it became a full blown fight, the shouting started. Some yelling for guards, others simply yelling in pain. But among all of it, one of the men had enough sense about him to kick the chair out from under the drow, leaving him swayin from his noose, the life being choked out of him.

As both Shani and Lyssa were doing just fine on their own, Ari’s gaze quickly fell upon the hanging figure. Instinctively, he sprinted behind the man who had kicked out the chair and skewered him through the back, the acidic end of Ari’s spear exposed from the man’s stomach. As the man’s screams became a gurgle, Ari quickly unsheathed his longsword, cleanly cutting the rope that the bloodied figure was being choked upon.

The drow hit the bloodstained floor with a thud. His body lay limp and motionless. No rise and fall of his chest. He was not breathing.

“You stupid sons of bitches!” Lyssa screamed as she stabbed the one she tackled over and over again. She didn’t care where her knife landed, she only cared that it hurt. A lot.

Once Lyssa was satisfied that the man wasn’t going to move anymore, she moved swiftly over to the next one. Not wasting any time stabbing him over and over again, she removed her rapier and stuck him right in the stomach. Those that did fight back, were quickly cut down. Lyssa lost her focus when she looked over at the motionless lump, but was quickly reminded when a fist came flying at her face. Using her height to her advantage, she ducked passed it, kicking the man towards Shani.

“Ari! Is it him?!” She screamed over the noise of the fighting. Her voice was filled with anger and fear. Deep down she prayed that it wasn’t him, but in her heart, she almost felt that she knew it was.

As the left over from Lyssa rolled toward Shani, the man somehow managed to regain his footing, and lunged toward the pale elf. His arms wrapped around her, and pinned down her arms. Shani acted instinctively, turning her lithe fighting form to something else. Dirty street fighting. She slammed the back of her head into his face, not knowing what she’d hit, but grinning as she heard the wet bone crunch of his nose as it shattered. The sudden pain that filled him loosened his grasp on her, and Shani let loose on her attacker. It didn’t take long as well placed swipes of the rapier, followed up with a swift kick or two, brought the man to his knees. Shani didn’t let up, stopping only when her rapier had put an extra hole through his head. Her strong thrust sending the piercing blade through his skull.

“Aye, it’s him!” Ari shouted as he briefly examined the drow’s body. He couldn’t quite break the news to them just yet, but that thought was cut out quickly from all the fighting. He spun about to get a quick survey of the carnage, only to see one last man, out of all those that were massacred by Lyssa and Shani, alive.

The young man stood near the center of the room, looking over his dead cohorts, then to the ones who caused the carnage. He heft his sword in his hand, weighing his options. Taking but the briefest of moment of consideration, he plunged his blade into the chest of the drow, dead or not, he was ensuring they would not get the drow alive.

Instinctively, Ari’s foot met the man’s face, dead on, forcing him back away from the drow, dazing him for a moment. Several streaks of blood formed on the man’s face, where Ari’s nails had scratched. Lyssa screamed as she watched the blade plunge into Andar’s chest. Her hand clutched the rapier hilt tightly as she walked towards the last man.

“Did you enjoy that?” She asked him darkly. It was clear that she wasn’t the same as before, Lyssa was drifting towards instability. “Did you like taking his life?!”

“He’s just a bloody drow, I jus’ did you a favour…”

Shani sighed and stood beside the man as he answered. “Ya obviously ‘re too dumb ta unnerstan what Eilistraee means ta some, do ya.” She took a step closer and kicked the man in the side, adding to her speech. “Punk.”

Lyssa held her hand up to Shani. “He’s mine. He took [i]my drow[/i] from me.” Lyssa glared dangerously at the man. The man simply stared at the trio. He knew his fate was sealed, and made no attempts to run or stop anything.

“Just a bloody drow…” she said as her lips curled in a sneer. “Did me a favor, did you? DID YOU EVEN THINK THAT MAYBE HE HAD A FAMILY?!” With that her fist swung out, catching his cheek. “Shani, Ari. Get Andar out of here now.”

Recoiling from the impact of the hin’s punch, he turned his attention to her and spat on her, her words and sentiments meant little to him. It was a drow and he killed it, as far as he was concerned, he’d solved one of the world’s problems. When he spat on her she replied with a backhanded slap, the tiny wedding band leaving several imprints on his cheek.

“Did you ever think that maybe his wife would come looking for him?” She said as she leaned down to whisper in the man’s ear. Smirking at her words, he wound up and slugged her in the jaw. The blow landed solid, reeling her back a bit. Her eyes became darkened, hard and cold as she looked at the man with a bloodied smile which made her look maniacal. Shani stood by having sheathed her blades and retrieved the thrown dagger. At the point of the punch, she clenched her fists and scowled, but held her ground. This was Lyssa’s show. She didn’t need to add to it.

“Then ye can kiss ‘is bloody corpse. Yer as wrong as ‘im!” he shouted at her.

“Get Andar out of here,” she said to Shani and Ari again. “NOW!”

Ari and Shani offered a brief glance at each other, then toward the fallen body of the drow. Ari sighed heavily, walking over to Andar’s body, not even paying much attention to the Halfling’s rage. Shani moved quickly, as she took the blade that rested in Andar’s chest and then picked him up, holding him in a fireman’s carry. Ari silently slipped over to the spear’s new sheath. He placed a foot on the dead man’s back, then ripped the bloody spear out and through the body. He quickly caught up with Shani, moving ahead to make sure no one else would be coming back down.

While the hin was distracted, he swung again, aiming once more for her tiny jaw. Lyssa was on guard for this one and quickly moved out of the way. Having enough of this she pulled another dagger from the depths of her armor and slammed it into his shoulder. Screaming out in pain, he continued his unarmed assault, swinging wildly at the hin. With each movement, she lashed out with the dagger, piercing his hand.

“You’ll die here,” Lyssa told him in a frighteningly calm tone.

“Ha! Ye little bitch,” spit flew with the man’s words, “ye can join yer ‘husband’ in death!” And he lunged with outstretched hands for her throat.

“Don’t fuck with me!” Lyssa screamed as she kicked him back, throwing all her weight into the kick. “You took him from me, so now I’m going to return the favor and destroy you.”

The man smirked as he continued his attempts at attacking the hin. His movements were becoming laboured, as the pain of his shoulder, and the loss of blood began to take hold, but he was unrelenting. Lyssa pinned him down, slamming her dagger into his other shoulder as she sat on his chest. She pulled another dagger from her armor and held it to his throat.

“Don’t move anymore, alright.” She snickered. “I promise you won’t die today.”

Again, the man reached for her face, this time with an open hand, grabbing for her jaw. The dagger flash by quickly as she stabbed his forearm before it could reach her face. He winced, and quickly brought up his other hand to repeat the same task while her dagger was in his arm. Lyssa pulled another dagger out with her free hand and growled as she pierced his other arm.

“I told you to stop moving.” She said bluntly. “If you don’t this game will continue.”

Even with all the daggers in him, and the blood loss, he kept trying to get at her, using ever last bit of strength to grab at her face. Sighing heavily, she lifted her fist and brought it down on the man’s face. Lyssa hoped that the blow and the pain from the daggers would be enough to knock him out. The man’s eyes rolled in the back of his head after a moment. Lyssa stood up, pulling her daggers from him.

“Just a bloody drow my ass,” She muttered as she searched around the room. Lyssa eyed the rope that Andar was hanging from. Her heart ached as she recalled the memory. Using the chair, Lyssa tied the length of rope back to the bit that was hanging down from the ceiling. Then she worked the rope into a small noose.

“You want to hang something…” She growled as she worked. “Then it will be you that hangs.”

The small hin adjusted her belt slightly, moving to lift the man. They had tortured her husband, they were no better than drow from the Underdark, who tortured and killed millions of people. Lyssa set the man in the chair and positioned his hands above his head, slipping the loop around them and pulling it taut.

“Now we’ll see how you like it,” Lyssa said with a slight laugh. She rumaged through her pack and pulled out a deep green potion bottle and a small thing of smelling salts. Lyssa waved the salts under the man’s nose until he woke.

“I told you, you weren’t going to die today,” She said when he woke with a start, Lyssa chuckled softly as she watched him struggle to get free. “Now open your mouth and drink this. It will heal the damage I did.”

Lyssa held his nose to force his mouth open, which she then poured the liquid down his throat. While the healing process took place, Lyssa looked around a little more, her eyes falling on a whip. Her lips curled into a smile as she picked it up.

“Payback is a bitch,” She said as her eyes drifted back to the man.