Assassination

[Meldawen]

Eledhe dodged around several trees, nimbleness lending her speed to rival the lumbering beast, and hoped fervently that Feuer had the sense to take advantage of the distraction. Not that she couldn't have done it by herself, but her scimitar still lay inconveniently by the fire. Eledhe carefully edged round a few trees, eyes fixed on the advancing cerberus, and made a dart for the firelight.

[RaistlinMajere]

Denaris considered depriving her of a weapon, before thinking better of the notion. Where was the entertainment in watching an unarmed woman being butchered by a deception of her own mind? Even illusions could kill if one truly believed.

Thus the cerberus obligingly gave ground, shaking its heads and sending saliva spraying in all directions. It almost seemed to grin as it watched Eledhe pick up her scimitar. Denaris decided at that moment to test her wits. With a flash of his hand, the cerberus vanished and reappeared twenty feet behind her. This time the leviathan offered no mercy. Fangs bared, it lunged for the diminutive figure by the fire. Said diminutive figure was much too agile, dancing nimbly out of its way. Lusty and bloodthirsty, the cerberus then made a very peculiar transformation.

It sprouted wings.

Graceful swan wings, a sight that clashed starkly with its bulky girth. At this point Denaris decided that he'd dropped enough hints. Dispelling an illusion even with acknowledging it was a difficult affair, for there was always a part of one's mind that doubted despite all rationality. But if Eledhe didn't have the confidence to conquer that doubt, she might as well kill herself in the denial of the cerberus dining on her entrails. There were many mercenaries in the world, and Denaris would simply have to choose another more capable of defeating the Archmage's magical prowess.

[Meldawen]

The swan wings had, indeed, been a rather revealing hint. Eledhe slowed, scimitar glinting in the firelight, and tensing to move if it should come closer - you could never be too careful - scrutinized the beast suspiciously. She muttered a few syllables under her breath, hand outstretched toward the thing, and even as it drew closer remained where she was.

If it was an illusion - and Eledhe was suspicious that it was - what would normally be a crippling attack from those glistening fangs would hurt her less than a mosquito.

[Ven]

ah i am a bit late and i forgot to read the last page... sry have to edit
Feuer wasn't very happy with this animal. It was disturbing his dinner. Which included a somewhat side dish, if you could call it that, of pistachios, which currently some are roasting in the fire.

The beast had better not disturb the fire [yes i know im asking for it aren't i]

Feuer finished chewing, Eledhe had given him enough time to do that, and drew his sword. His sheath he left alone, it would be used at more dire times.

Watching the shruiken hit the animal, Feuer added 2 of his own to the beast's collection. Feuer grabbed some fire from the fire in front of him, regretting the loss of heat his roasting pistachios were getting , and, one hand alight, walked toward the animal, prepared to slide into the time stream. But then the stupid animal sprouted wings, and Feuer, being around the Duke for a long time, had no doubt at all what that was.

He sighed.
Must Dee (yes D.E. has now become dee) e such a pain?

and some people thought he was a pain in the neck.
Not so, dee just has to be vying for the honour and glamour.

slipping into the time stream, Feuer flew (figuratively) at the beast, his sword glowed, sensing magic very near, and chopped through the creation as though it had never been there.

Feuer threw off the bit of fire he had on his hand down on the ground, not caring if it his anything flammable (sry treehuggers out there), and sheathed his sword.

He loved his sword.

without a word he sat back down at the fire, and, seeing his pistachios are fully roasted, started eating them as though nothing had happened

[RaistlinMajere]

[Dee... you haven't forgotten about DB have you?]

Clapping sounded from the bough of Denaris's favorite tree as he levitated downwards. He was genuinely grinning as he recalled the prowess of both mercenaries - they were more efficacious than he could ever have hoped, and Pistachio Man sitting by the fire did have quite the remarkable sword. Black robes fluttering about him, he landed and complacently strode over to the campfire, more or less inadvertently knocking over Feuer's plate of pistachios.

"Oh, very good! An excellent evening recreation, isn't it? I was in desperate need of evening entertainment, and you disappointed me not. We shall repeat this whenever you decide to bore me to death, like you've done the entire day today. Really, try using the wet maneuverable object in your mouth. It may make the world a more agreeable place." He beamed warmly at them both, then continued in the same infuriatingly pleasant voice, "The Archmage can conjure illusions a threefold more credible than that cerberus that just dropped in for tea. Keep in mind that illusions are as pestilent as the true entity if you allow them to deceive you. For instance, had you truly believed the cerberus could kill you, the infinitesimal voices in your head would have efficaciously engendered the same effect. But never fear, for there is a fundamental secret to identifying an illusion. Illusions are conceived of utter domination of one's own mind and spirit, initiated by a glance or a simple flick of the wrist. On the other hand, spells must be recited or cast by hand, no matter how potent the caster. Do not forget this."

Having finished his dinner sermon of the day, Denaris sat down and stared woefully at his smashed ration of dried fruit before salvaging - with considerable difficulty - another portion from his thoroughly spooked horse's saddlebags.

[Ven]

[no i haven't, but i cant say DB very well, since apparently Isaac will not make a comeback... and you have your Pistachio Man anyway]

[oh, its on! knock over my pistachios, will you?]
Feuer said nothing except throw a glare at Dee for (you know what it's just gonna become D from now on, Dee's too much to type, compared to D.) knocking over his pistachios, no matter he had all he wanted this evening.

"Maybe if the wet thing in your mouth that produces so many wonderful, flowing, eloquent speeches would open itself to the world once in a while in conversation, we wouldn't have such dreadful boredom so that you would have to conjure up little furry animals for us to slash open.," Feuer replied cheerily, not at all annoyed. "Oh, yes, by the way, thank you for the very useful information that you have provided for us pitiful mercenaries. we would have NEVER guessed what an illusion means, or WHY it's called and illusion. Not at all. You did well, very well, my employer, to teach us the fundamental basic knowledge known to about everyone in the world who has a brain about illusions. I wondered before, what IS an illusion, exactly? Is it a real, hungry, slobbering cerberus that is able to kill you? or is it a real, hungry, slobbering cerberus that's able to be slashed open by a plain old sword any day without reistance? or is it a real, hungry, slobbering cerberus that just loves to be different and sprout wings? At least i know now that's a real, hungry, slobbering cerberus can knock over plates of roasted pistachios in an effort not to eat them."

Realizing how many words it required, Feuer fell silent, and he went to Taan, took off the saddle, brushed him down, and sat down to sleep -slipping into the time stream.

This was how he usually slept, this being a way that he could cheat time, in a way. He would get the same amount of sleep in half the time.

Sounds like a good deal.

[Meldawen]

Eledhe surveyed Feuer dispassionately while he was making this altogether wordy and rambling speech, and upon its conclusion shrugged and wrapped herself in her cloak to curl by the fire. Really, the mage's test had its reasons, some of which she would have agreed with, so he did not merit a caustic comment - merely Eledhe's customary apathy and a mental note to watch that one in the future. Though still her fellow mercenary had gleaned little respect from his companion - Eledhe's respect was rare and unwillingly given in any case.

[RaistlinMajere]

Denaris chuckled as he considered Feuer's eloquent and essentially interesting speech. He'd surrounded himself with quite the passionate companions, with the notable exception of the female. The easy grace of her movements that day had piqued his curiousity. Not to mention the faint, tell-tale slant of her cobalt eyes. He'd lived among dark elves long enough to recognize the signs when they popped up under his nose. Neither was she ugly like most humans, he reflected upon cursory scrutiny in his peripheral vision. Her spitfire personality was just an added bonus. Must take note.

But Denaris never mingled business with pleasure, so he pushed Eledhe to the back of his mind. The evening's fun was over. Now to business. Drawing his black hood over his head, he glanced back at his resting companions before silently melting into the night. A velvety shadow among shadows, he stepped lightly through the serried foliage, his strides taking him far from the campfire. He arrived at last to a creek, swift and pure from its mountain source.

He didn't have to wait long. Presently the air seemed to ripple as it formed a vortex, consolidating into the slender form of another elf. Ambrodil Cyrrin'us, Fourth in the Council, folded his hands in his black robes and greeted Denaris with a curt nod.

Denaris's greeting was slightly more expressed. "Dear Ambrodil! I've missed you so," he exclaimed with questionable sincerity. His fingers worked at his sides, weaving an intricate pattern in the air. He dropped a cone of silence upon their conversation for precaution. He hadn't ascended to Second in the Council by recklessness.

"I've warned you before and I will warn you again," Ambrodil began in taut tones. "The Archmage is no fool. Be wary of overstepping your ambition." He raised a sardonic eyebrow. "But it appears you have fodder to spare."

"They are a capable pair," Denaris admitted, a touch of uncharacteristic solemnity creeping into his voice. "You saw them? You witnessed Padrone?"

"A fine specimen," murmured Ambrodil in return. "And an even finer sword. Does he know?"

"The sword is of elven make - inimitable. He may have a grasp of its capabilities, but he hasn't a clue of its full potential. I do not intend to display my full hand on my first move. Padrone's survival is paramount, as is the Archmage's ignorance of the sword. I simply intend to... test the Archmage's defenses." It was Denaris's turn to raise an eyebrow. He made no hostile moves, but his green-eyed gaze alone could impale. "There comes a time in one's life when one must consider the available options. Do you utilize the asset so generously offered you?" A mirthless smirk touched his lips. "...or do you forsake the promise of power for the illusion of security?"

Ambrodil's lip curled in a sneer. "You know where I stand."

"Then I may trust you to continue carrying out my instructions?"

"Explicitly." He raised his hands as though to cast a teleport before lowering them again. "The Fifth, Third, and Seventh in the Council are departing to a summit in two nights. The Eighth and Tenth will not be present either. If there ever is an opportunity, it is that one." With a swiftly spoken word of magic, he vanished.

Standing alone by the creek, Denaris couldn't help but helplessly grin. Ambrodil's loyalties lay with the winner, but ever would he double deal before the climax of the tempest. Like any wily dark elf, he'd secure his own life on both sides before leaping into the storm. And that was where Denaris's artful bribery came into play. As long as he kept offering the subtle temptations of power, Ambrodil could not refuse.

Of that he was guaranteed.

---------

The bridge was gone. Cut and torched, it dangled uselessly over the unmercifully sheer ravine.

With a melodramatic sigh Denaris dismounted from his most hated mare and went to examine the damage. The ropes had not been sheared off cleanly. Instead they sported frayed edges that suggested a pulling action of brute strength. Considering the territory upon which they traveled, it didn't take long to determine the culprits.

But then again, Denaris had never been fond of beseeching authorization, and hulking mountain giants were no exception. What a way to start out the morning.

He unconsciously let his searching gaze roam over the scraggly, vertiginous mountain slopes. He saw nothing of threat, which also testified nothing as he was no ranger familiar in the laws of the land. A frigid wind whistled among the spurs and distant snow-capped peaks, bringing with it an all too distinct scent reminiscent of rotten eggs. Not even humans smelled that bad.

"I believe we have attracted uninvited attention," he called over his shoulder at the two mercenaries.

[Ven]

"rotten eggs again," Feuer muttered as he descended from Taan. The stallion didn't move, well trained as he was, but Feuer knew that Taan would fight just like a warhorse when needed. He'd seen to that while training the horse.

Feuer scanned the surroundings. most of the surroundings looked fine.

except for that rather big stick sticking out of a bush. Bushes didn't have sticks... did they? or was it some type of blasted elven oddity? Never the less, Feuer pointed it out to the other two, in case they had missed it.

Without a word Feuer slipped back off the road and up the side of a slope. Unless some big creature came charging down at him, and it was unlikely since Feuer chose a narrow place and if anybody was above him they'd have be the same size as him or smaller to not fall off. He doubted that any creature in these mountains were the same size as him.

With a gesture a warm ball of fire came to Feuer's left hand. His right hand he left free to unsheathe his sword. He enjoyed the warm embrace of the fire as it got hotter and hotter as time went no slowly -oh so slowly.

The ball of fire expanded. Feuer's whole fist was enveloped in the warm embrace of the burning fire.

Let the giants eat this.

[RaistlinMajere]

With bland curiousity Denaris turned from the ravine to glance at Feuer. Pyromaniac as well as Pistachio Man. This was getting better and better. The scent of rotten eggs was escalating in intensity. He prepared to cast a levitation spell. The least he could do was get all of them on the ravine's other side before -

Thump. With a sigh of defeat he slowly turned around. The mountain giant was twenty feet tall, armored in leather. A fairly terrifying maul hung over his broad back. His bare arms flexed with ripples of muscle as he glared down at them. "HUMANS!" he roared.

"And elf," Denaris amended helpfully.

The giant flicked him a glare that could have melted the snow beneath them. He flexed his titanic fist as though relishing the thought of squeezing a scrawny elven throat. Temperamental, indeed. "We have you surrounded," he continued in a gravelly rumble. "We do not suffer intruders!" With a bellow that shook the mountain peaks, he raised his maul.

... and Denaris was spellcasting faster than one could say "oh dear heavens."

[Meldawen]

Eledhe had almost instantly disappeared into the nearest modicum of cover and was muttering under her breath, shurikens out, while her eyes flicked unerringly over this new threat for a way out. Her movement were sure, quick as a flickering flame. They were increasingly marking her as not entirely human - something she was not used to having people notice, and would have been startled to learn that they were.

Indeed, some of her success she put down to her lineage - and not her human lineage. But only some. Anyone could become skilled at a mercenary's trade, provided they trained long enough.

[Ven]

A fist of fire changed, a channel of flame slithering out of the grasp of Feuer's fingers and formed a ring around it. One ring split into two rings, two rings split into three. Feuer loved the fire.

With a maniacal (sp? it looks wierd) smile, Feuer leapt off the slope, his fistful of fire expanding to to something resembling a flat disk. of fire, that is. Feuer drove the fire into the giant's leg - there was no higher place he could reach unless he climbed up the giant. Ignoring the giant's roar of pain Feuer slipped into the time stream, he just had a great idea.

He climbed up the giant, movements inhumanly quick, and hung by onne arm around the giant's neck. A ball of fire enveloped that arm.

[RaistlinMajere]

The giant clutched his neck and roared with abject terror. Terror morphed to defiance as, refusing to die, he gyrated desperately to fling Feuer off. But fire seared down his collar, up his chin, and before it even began to quell, Denaris's ice jet sliced clean through charred skin and bone. The giant's rather giant head came tumbling off, coming to an impeccable stop before the flustered dark elf. A loose tendon flopped from the giant's lacerated neck onto Denaris's finely stitched boots. "Lovely," he muttered in disgust.

All hell broke loose then and there. And no, the ticked off wizard had nothing to do with it.

"GRORT'S BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS!" The mountaintops quaked as voices bellowed from the slopes surrounding them. Towering leviathans against the chaste snow, more mountain giants appeared on the high mountain spurs, well out of arrow range. Uttering communal roars, they lifted rocks.

Well, perhaps the ticked off wizard had had something to do with it. An infinitesimal something. Barely worth notice.

Denaris looked up and fancied the sky going dark as boulders of frightening size arced through the air. Barking out a spell, he erected a force field, deflecting the first barrage with an impact that shook the stone beneath them. The force field wavered; it wouldn't survive many more barrages. Beckoning the mercenaries, he made a dash for their horses.

[Ven]

Feuer didn't need urging to gett off of the giant's headless body and run for Taan. Still in the time stream, it didnt require much time. Feuer dropped his torso close to Taan's neck, and had his sword out deflecting and chopping a boulder or two here and there, which made his hand sore, and keeping Taan moving to avoid the boulders.

This he hadn't expected. He thought giants were solitary creatures. Who fought one another when they saw each other.

Apparently he has to rethink that opinion.

"You know, Dee, it might be a good idea to get us to the other side, like we planned to go. " Feuer shouted, "See? sometimes staying to a bad plan to begin with could be a good idea!"

He was starting to like this mission.

But the elf shouldn't know that.

[Meldawen]

"Good or bad idea," said Eledhe sharply, ducking instinctively and needlessly as a boulder whistled overhead, "we need movement. Now."

And having said as much, she turned and thrust out a hand, already muttering inaudible words. The bridge that dangled uselessly in the yawning abyss behind them had been severed completely in only one place, and as her lips moved, the far end rose to hang suspended in midair. The other still limply adorned the broken rocky edges of the canyon.

A boulder struck the force field with a noise that made Eledhe uneasy. She forced herself to the concentrate. Now the other end rose - now the rope ends were knitting - and forcing out the last energies needed to complete this Eledhe again ducked reflexively. "Whenever we're ready!" she screeched urgently, scrambling to catch at the halter of her alarmed horse.