Vala dropped another paper atop those already stacked on the leather cover near one end of the table. “That’s thirty-three, if I counted right. And this is my last roll.” She began rerolling the stack of papers she had just found that sheet in. “Guess that’s ‘roughly 30’ as the letter said.”
“I found no more in this last roll,” Lonetygr said, also rerolling some papers.
“Hope it doesn’t matter if they are out of order.” Except for the ten pages of what Vala had to assume was text of some sort, the papers had been scattered randomly throughout the rolls. Only those ten pages had all been together in one roll. “And if the pages are loose, too. I have no idea how to bind a book. I suppose a scribe would know, but I don’t have the time.”
She turned to face Lonetygr and deliberately put her back to the wall next to the door, uncertain how he might take what she had to say. “I won’t leave Jani in their hands any longer than I have to. Unless you can come up with a better idea, I am going contact them as they demanded and trade them this book for her. Now. I can get it back from them after Jani is safely away from them.” She casually laid one hand on the small stack of papers, hoping he couldn’t tell how nervous she was. “You’ve said that you want to keep it out of the hands of people like them. Are we going to come into conflict over this?” She watched him closely for some idea of what he might do.
Tygr let out a heavy sigh. “Don’t worry about me. I said I would do my best to help you. Go ahead and take the book and trade it for Jani. She’s all you’ve got.”
Tygr chuckled. “I’ll be following close and I’ll see if I can snatch the book back after Jani is away from them.” He tilted his head to one side then the other, rolling his shoulders. Stretching kept him flexible. In his profession flexibility was good. He told himself that she had no idea he was tracking the Tome down, so if he didn’t get it… he would only be disappointing himself.
The corners of Vala’s eyes crinkled up with her mask-hidden smile. She had not wanted to fight over the book. And she felt confident that, one way or another, one of them would be able to get it back from the Scarlets. She tucked the loose pages into the leather cover, then dropped the whole bundle into her pack.
“I’ll just go send that reply, then.” Her steps when she left the shop were much lighter than they had been for days, reflecting her relief and happiness that soon Jani would be back safe.
Vala’s mood sobered as she composed the reply to S. C. K. I. Too easily, she could picture the scarlets simply attacking her and taking the book, or kidnapping her, too, and getting the book, or a number of equally unpleasant scenarios. She tried to word the letter to imply dire consequences if they tried anything other than an exchange. When she was satisfied with the wording, she mailed the letter, then quickly ducked back into the shadows. Until the actual exchange, she’d need to be extremely cautious and stick to the shadows unless she absolutely had to step out of them.
Although it was getting rather late in the evening, she returned to Marrikka’s shop. The gnome gave her the usual delighted smile when she slipped through the door.
“Greetings! I hoped you would stop by soon.”
“You learned something from the box?” Vala couldn’t keep the eagerness from her voice.
“Don’t get too enthusiastic,” the gnome warned the young elf. “I didn’t learn much. The other mage only tried to scry for the briefest amount of time. But I did get a direction for you. Northeast. And not within the borders of Dun Morogh. Somewhere further out. I’m sorry there’s not more.”
“No, it’s fine. That’s more than I had. Thank you.”
Vala pictured a map of the Eastern Kingdoms, easily done since she had once studied one and so could see it almost as if it sat before her. A useful gift of memory. “Northeast,” she murmured. She imagined a straight line running that direction from Ironforge. Wetlands, Arathi Highlands, The Hinterlands, Eastern Plaguelands, Ghostlands, Eversong Woods, maybe the Isle of Quel’Danas would all fall along such a line. Yeah, probably Eastern Plaguelands. Lots of scarlets there.
The gnome abruptly peered into Vala’s eyes. “You need rest, dearie.”
For a moment, Vala let herself feel the fatigue that had accumulated over these last few days. Then she pushed it aside. “I know. And I will.” She deliberately failed to mention that, until this was resolved, she would only snatch some rest in bits, as she had earlier in the day. She didn’t feel safe trying to get real sleep anywhere right now.
Vala thanked Marrikka again and slipped out into the shadows in the Mystic Ward. She assumed that any response from this S. C. K. I. would come via the mail system. But it could be a while. She might as well try to find a secure shadow to catch some rest in. But where? She started her search for a place that would work.
She finally found a promising alcove, not too far from a mailbox. High up, hidden, and shadowed. She should be difficult to find there, and to reach if anyone did find her. Not the most comfortable of spots, but she’d slept in places like this before. Many times. She tucked herself into the small corner and settled down to get a little rest.
– – –
After a couple of hours of dozing fitfully, Vala checked the mailbox. Yes, S. C. K. I. had responded. With a mix of eagerness and apprehension, Vala tore open the letter, and then read it with some dismay:
Bring the book to the Ruins of the Scarlet Enclave, near Tyr’s Hand, to the small 2-story house tucked behind the large 2-story building south off the main circle of town. The trade will occur there at noon tomorrow.
Vala slipped deeper into the shadows to consider the implications of this meeting. Getting to the ruined town in time would be no problem. But the whole thing screamed trap. Not that she had expected otherwise. But so close to Tyr’s Hand made her nervous. And what form would the trap take? Once they had the book, they’d have no reason to want to imprison her. So the trap would be something intended to prove fatal. She sighed. What choice did she have, though? She’d just have to deal with it the best she could. And hope her skills plus the help that Lonetygr had promised would together be good enough to get her and Jani out alive.
How was she to get word to Lonetygr about the details of the meeting? She assumed that he would want to follow along. Of course, maybe he had already read the letter over her shoulder and she just hadn’t been aware of his presence this time. She shrugged and stifled a yawn. Something to figure out after some more rest. Probably should have set something up earlier.
She retreated into her shadowy alcove to get as much rest as she could before she would need to make her preparations, somehow contact Lonetygr to make sure he knew about the meeting, and then see about hiring a gryphon to fly to the Eastern Plaguelands.
Unable to find Lonetygr the next morning, Vala felt she’d just have to trust that he had read the letter when she was reading it. And would follow her to the meeting. Or…better yet, she stopped by Adalgar’s shop and left the letter with him to give to Lonetygr, in case he might think to stop by there. While there, she also changed back into her best leather armor, which she had retrieved previously from her bank vault. She grabbed a bit of food from Adal, who only shook his head at her and told her to take care. Then she hired her gryphon and flew off.
– – –
Sneaking through Tyr’s Hand was a bit of a challenge, but otherwise Vala’s journey to the Ruins of the Scarlet Enclave went smoothly. She easily found the right building. After dismissing her stormsaber mount, Vala circled the small house but found no one lurking about. The other nearby buildings looked equally deserted. And, after studying the roofs from ground-level, she doubted anyone was perched atop any of the buildings; none of their roofs looked solid enough to hold anyone. Nothing around to indicate what form the suspected trap would take. That did not reassure her.
After finishing her assessment of the area, she slowly approached the door of the small house. Oddly, it looked newer that the rest of the derelict building. It opened easily at her touch. And something made her suddenly think of Ironforge. Was that dwarven ale she smelled? Strange. She put it out of her mind as she peered cautiously into the room. The inside was very dark, little light filtered in through the grimy, board-covered windows. To her left, stairs went up to the second floor. A humming sound came from her right, from two devices sitting on the dirt floor along the same wall that contained the door. One was a sort of round platform that looked like one of those holographic emitters that the draenei used. The other, taller but not as big around, looked like a scaled-down goblin transmatter.
Vala moved forward warily, daggers in hand. The emitter crackled to life as she stepped into the room and the image of a stocky human formed above it. He was clean-shaven, with light brown hair, thinning a little at his forehead. His attire and insignia proclaimed him a scarlet commander. He wore arrogance like a second uniform.
“At least you are punctual, elf. I am Scarlet Commander Kenelm Isenham. It won’t hurt anything for you to know my name. You must be this Vala I’ve been hearing about from your sister.” He gave Vala an icy smile. “Where is the book?”
Vala didn’t bother to correct him about her ‘sister’. “I have it safe. Where’s Jani?”
“Safe,” he mimicked her. “And close. Put the book into the transmatter, and you will be with her very soon.”
“I don’t trust you and don’t believe you. Show her to me.”
“I don’t have her here with me. As I said, she is very close. To you. Sometimes, child, it’s expedient politically and personally to deal with adversaries. Even when you don’t trust and don’t believe them, you can still deal with them. You’d learn that, were you to continue along the path you’ve started in Stormwind.”
“You think that I won’t continue that path?”
He gave her a strange smile. Vala nodded to herself at the sight of that smile; that made it certain – they intended she not survive this. “Just put the book into the transmatter. You really have no option if you want to see your Jani again.”
Vala snarled. Unfortunately, he was right. She again glanced around the room, still seeing no signs of what the trap might be. That only increased her unease. She pulled the book from her pack and gingerly placed it in the transmatter, quickly snatching her fingers away. She didn’t trust those things to operate completely as intended. Several buttons on the device lit up, then the book disappeared. Moments later, the image of Isenham was holding the book.
“It’s not intact,” he accused after opening the cover.
Vala shrugged. “But it’s complete.”
He flipped through the pages one by one, and nodded. “So it is.”
“Now release Jani,” she demanded.
“You’ll find your Jani upstairs.”
So close! Without a second thought, Vala ran up the stairs. Jani sat on the floor, propped against the farthest wall of the single room. Vala froze for an instant, horrified at her cousin’s appearance. It was clear that Jani had been tortured.
Someone behind her! Vala started to turn, too late. Something crashed into the back of her head and she crumpled to the floor.
– – –
The Scarlet Assassin closed and locked the door behind him; at the same time he whistled shrilly. He dropped the girl’s pack against the door, and quickly stepped away from the small house. As the scarlet’s horse galloped up and he mounted, all manner of fire spells struck the dilapidated building from all sides, instantly setting the ale-soaked wood ablaze. The scarlet smiled at the sight and turned the horse’s head back toward Tyr’s Hand.
– – –
A sound like an explosion ripped through the darkness, which promptly tried to reclaim her. Something grasped her hand. Vala jerked upright, then immediately dropped back down as nausea swept over her. She fought off the darkness enough that she could see. Sort of. She coughed. Was that smoke? She tried to push herself up again, to stand, but nausea and the blackness at the edge of her vision forced her back to the floor. She carefully lifted her head. Jani now lay next to her, one arm stretched out toward her. That must have been the touch she felt. Jani opened her eyes and smiled.
“Knew you’d find me,” she whispered. “Always better at hide-an-seek than me. Bad men hurt me, Vala. But I didn’t tell.”
“Oh, Jani. I’m so sorry…”
“Sh. Alright now. You found me.” She sighed.
Vala reached for her pack, for a healing potion or bandages, something to help Jani, but her pack was gone. That meant her hearthstone was gone, too. She looked around frantically. The pack was nowhere in sight. Could they have taken it? Had she been out longer than the few seconds it felt like? She looked helplessly back at Jani and gathered her close. Tears soaked her mask as she saw the light fade from Jani’s eyes. “I’m so very sorry…”
At that moment, an immense fiery boulder smashed through the ceiling, narrowly missing the two girls. Burning bits of wood rained down on them. Vala tried to drag herself and Jani to the stairs.
They didn’t make it.
With a loud crack, a section of the roof broke free and crashed down atop the two elves. Something sliced deeply into Vala’s lower left leg just as the floor fell out from beneath her. She screamed.
Tygr waited impatiently as a crowd pushed through to see the Gryphon Master. He had to get to Tyr’s Hand on time. It was all going down soon. One way or another this mess would be settled.
“Hybernickle Hoppensprocket!” The gnome in front of him jumped up and down with glee.
“Where to Master Hoppensprocket?” The Gryphon Master asked.
“Well you see, I came all the way here from the depths of the Deeprun Tram and the Forests of Elwynn to deliver a basket of apples to the fruit vendor. When I arrived I remembered that I forgot to bring the apples so…” Hoppensprocket began to dig through his bags looking for something. Copper tubes and other junk clattered on the ground.
People in the back of the line began to grumble. “If I may.” Tygr used the opportunity to butt in. “I need to get to Light’s Hope Chapel. It’s an emergency.”
“Sorry Master Elf. The wee one was before you.” The Gryphon Master politely reminded him to wait his turn.
“Ah, here it is. My log!” The gnome squealed as he produced a small leather bound volume from his bag. “Not this one, or this one, hmmm, nope.” He began to flip through the pages very slowly, reading each one. “Not this one either, or this.”
Tygr almost hissed, ready to shove the gnome into the lava.
“Ah here it is! The apple lady is in Elwynn Forest! Silly me.” The gnome laughed “I will take one flight to Goldshire!”
“We don’t have any flights to Goldshire, Master Hoppensprocket. The closest I can do is fly you into Stormwind. It’s a short walk through the country past the city gates.”
Tygr hit the Gryphon Master with a left hook and snatched the gnome by his shirt. He hefted the gnome onto the saddle of the gryphon and pulled himself up into the saddle. Tygr’s heels dug into the bird and gave it a slap on the rear. Below the Gryphon Master was shouting for the guards.
“Where are we going?” The gnome asked in amazement as the gryphon dipped to the left as it headed out of Ironforge. “I have never been this far from home…”
“Light’s Hope Chapel.” Tygr patted the gnome on the head. “Well you are going there at least. I had a feeling you could use some excitement. The gryphon master there should give you a flight back.”
“Meep!” The gnome made a strange sound. “What do you mean just me?”
“I promised my help to-“ Tygr sighed, “a friend. I’m late.”
“Oh.”
It was a long flight. The gnome talked quite a bit once he got over his fear of being so far from home. He mostly talked about mechanical stuff. He must not have been too good at it because Tygr halfway understood what he was talking about. He was just getting started with his mother’s side of the family tree when they passed over the mountains into Eastern Plaguelands.
Tygr tossed his half eaten mana biscuit out into empty air, watching it drift towards the ground. “It’s been fun. Stay safe.” Tygr pushed himself off the back of the gryphon, the wind screaming past as he sped towards the ground.
With a splash he landed in Lake Mereldar. Soaking wet, he swam for shore. It took a few more precious moments to summon his talbuck, once mounted though, the large black war steed raced towards Tyr’s Hand.
Tygr winced and looked away as a bright light exploded in front of him. That’s where the meeting was being held. Out of the corner of his vision he spotted a dark spot mounting and racing towards him. He waited, was it Vala? Smoke began to rise as he the rider darted past at a full gallop. It was a scarlet assassin!
Tygr wheeled his mount around. “Damn fool of a girl!” He yelled as he gave chase to the assassin. It might be his only chance of getting the book. Hate blurred Tygr’s vision. The talbuck was trained in the battles of Halaa and knew hate well, it gave an angry snort and surged ahead. They were quickly closing the gap between the assassin and the assassin turned to look over his shoulder.
Another burst of speed brought them nearer the assassin. Hoof beats pounded the packed dirt road out of Tyr’s Hand. The assassin turned again, this time throwing a hatchet. The blade bounced with a clank off the talbuck’s heavy adamantite armor.
Tygr pulled alongside the assassin who reached down for his own dagger. Tygr leapt off the saddle, his large hand clamping firmly around the assassin’s hand, holding the dagger in place. Tygr’s other hand balling into a fist and pummeling the assassin in the face as they hit the ground hard.
Tygr rolled with the impact, catching a glimpse of his talbuck ramming and biting at the assassin’s horse, before he bounced again and rolled into a neat crouch. He drew his daggers and waited for the assassin to stand. But, the scarlet stayed down. His neck was broken.
Tygr could taste the blood in his mouth from a split lip. His armor was scraped up, but otherwise he was none the worse for wear. He whistled for the talbuck, arriving at the burning building a short time later. He tried the door. It was locked. He could feel the heat through his leather gloves. Damn girl!
“VALA!” He screamed over the roar of the flames, beginning to pull his lock picking set out of his pocket.
Vala jerked back from the soothing darkness, instantly aware of the weight of the broken burning boards atop her, the agony in her leg, the intense heat from the fire. Get free! Suddenly panicked, she pushed frenetically at the burning planks until she could pull herself free of them. She almost passed out again when her activities drove the large sharp fragment of wood deeper into her leg and tore the gash open further. She fought to stay conscious. Otherwise… She didn’t want to contemplate ‘otherwise’.
Jani?! Vala looked back wildly at the blazing pile of debris. A heavy beam lay across Jani’s body, along with most of what had been the roof. Ignoring her burns, trying to ignore the pain of her leg, Vala tried to shift the debris to get at Jani’s body. But the fire was too hot, even through the questionable protection of her leather armor. She couldn’t get a good grip on the pieces of wood, and her injured leg wouldn’t allow her to get leverage to shove the stuff aside. After several attempts to move the stuff, she could see only one of Jani’s hands sticking out from the burning pile. Vala choked on a sob as she realized there was no way she was going to get her cousin’s body out of there. She gently touched her cousin’s hand, her vision blurred with tears. More pieces of the rapidly disintegrating roof and second floor crashed down next to her, showering her in sparks. Got to get out!
She peered through the smoke and fire, disoriented. Door? Windows? There, to her right. The door. Fighting the pain from her burns and the gash in her leg, the darkness that constantly threatened to engulf her, Vala pulled herself across the floor to the door. She left a trail of too much blood behind her.
The door was locked – got to get it open! She tried throwing her weight against it, then pulling on the handle, hoping something might break free, but it was too solid, not yet weakened by the surrounding fire. And crawling back for a heavy board, assuming she could even swing it effectively, seemed a poor use of the time she had left. Not to mention that the door looked sturdier than any of the broken boards she might reach.
Vala laughed suddenly, although it came out more a desperate sob and quickly changed to a cough. What a way to test her lockpicking skills. She hitched herself up to a seated position against the wall beside the door – fortunately this particular section wasn’t yet burning – and dug a couple of tools out of her undamaged boot. She caught a glimpse of the mess that was her other boot and leg and quickly looked away. Get out first, then deal with injuries. She yanked off her torn and burnt gloves – the tattered remnants would only get in the way now – and began to work on the lock that she could barely see and that quickly grew painfully hot to the touch.
One ear twitched at a shout from the other side of the door. The roar of the flames and loud cracks of breaking wood nearly drowned out the voice, but Vala thought it was Lonetygr. Continuing to work on the lock, now almost entirely by feel alone, she yelled back, “I’m here!” Or tired to. Her voice came out more a croak than a yell, and the attempt sent her into a coughing fit. Even with her mask on, the smoke was getting to her.
As she fought to breathe, Vala felt the click of the lock finally opening. She pulled on the door. It swung partway open before it stuck on some of the fallen burning debris, which promptly sent flames shooting up both sides of the until-now unburned door. The flames also caught her unnoticed pack, which sat right at the outside, hinge-side, base of the door. The gap in the doorway was not quite large enough for her to slip through.
He had just set to work on the lock, trying to hear the metal click through the sound of the roaring fire inside when the lock popped open. The door quickly opened a bit, but not enough to step through. Flames began race up the outside of the door. He gave it a firm push but it was stuck.
Tygr backed away for a second noticing the pack catch fire on the ground. He kicked it away from the flames with his boot. It was Vala’s pack. Vala was in there!
“Vala!” Tygr yelled again. He rushed the door with a loud crack. Chunks of burning ash and smoke poured out into his face. He slipped into the shadows, pulling them about him like a cloak. The move shrugged the heat off him for the moment. It would only buy him a few seconds though.
His golden eyes darted quickly left and right. How deep was she in this hell? Then he spotted her laying on the ground. Tygr gripped her arm and dragged her through the door and away from the fire.
Her chest was moving. She was coughing and still alive. What was she doing in there? She should have waited for him. The fool girl could have gotten herself killed.
His eyes narrowed, his voice was rough, anger masking his concern. “What are you doing? Why didn’t you wait for me!”
“What do you think I’m doing?” Vala responded indignantly, then succumbed to another coughing fit. When it ended, she was able to finally take a deep breath. “I did wait! As long as I dared! They gave a deadline, you know!” She waved a hand in the general direction of the sun. “And I couldn’t even find you! You could have told me how to find you! ‘Sides, you said you were going to follow! Not that I should wait for you!”
“They wanted the book. They wouldn’t risk it over a deadline!”
“Well, how was I supposed to know they wouldn’t risk it?! You could have told me that – you’re the expert on these bastards! And why are you yelling at me, anyway?! You’re not my guardian, or master, or…or anything like that!”
“So they have the book! And Jani!” He growled.
“They have the book! I’ll get your damned book back, if it’s really that important! But I’m not stupid; they don’t have Jani! Not anymore!” She looked off into the distance, unwilling to meet his eyes. “She’s dead! Alright?! They killed her! They tortured her!”
“She’s dead? You’re sure it’s not a trick.” Tygr looked over her face, knowing it was true, then turned around grumbling something unintelligible.
“No trick.” Vala dropped her eyes and murmured, “I could only wish it was. I held her…” she choked back a sob, “…when she died! In there.” She gestured back at the burning building. “And what’re you mumbling about?”
Tygr turned back around. “I’m sorry.”
Vala glared at him, doubting that was what he had mumbled and trying to read the expression in his eyes, but her anger was already draining away. Then the tears started again. She ducked her head to try to hide them, and just nodded.
He truly was sorry. If he had made it on time, maybe they would all be alive. Or maybe they all would have burned to death in that building. He walked past Vala patting her gently on the shoulder. Without saying a word he scooped up her charred pack and went to watch the building burn to the ground.
((Continued in Part 4))