Back to Page Five
-----Raven turns to see Sol advancing on the sleeping woman. Raven starts to quickly walk towards Sol, "Sol, the battle is done. Sol!?" Raven sees the look in his eyes and then starts to run towards Sol.
-----Paying no mind to anything but the sleeping woman and far from hurrying, Sol offers no resistance as Raven tackles him to the ground. Sol drops his blade as he collides with hard earth. As he begins to viciously struggle with the Ranger, he makes eye contact with Raven upon which all the tenseness in Sol's body drains away. Previously harsh eyes turn uncertain, "R-Raven? What the...?" Sol stutters. "The others?" Sol suddenly jerks in Raven's hold, trying to twist away, trying to see how his other friends fare.
-----With concern on his face Raven says, "Easy there now. We lost Gabe, but everyone else is okay." Raven pauses, "What's wrong Sol? What came over you that would have you kill this defenseless woman?"
-----"Gabe...? Dammit. Don't worry, I'm okay now. I'm not going to kill anyone defenseless." Sol replies carefully. "Um...can you let me up?" He doesn't seem to be willing to meet Raven's eye.
-----Raven pauses, "You’re okay now, but what was going on before? Do you fall under the spell of battle rage?" Raven gets off Sol, "If you do, I'll take note to keep an eye on ya in battle." Raven offers Sol a hand up, "Although, the look on the dark witch's face was priceless." Raven gives Sol a slight smile, "Let's get these two tied up and then search the area."
-----Sol gladly accepts the hand up, "I'm no barbarian berserker, if that's what yer sayin'. I don't want to talk about it now. Later, if yer still interested." Sol begins to help tie the followers of darkness up. More than once, he casts a furtive glance at Sarah.
-----Raven gives Sol a smirk, "That’s not what your girlfriend said." Raven then moves to tie-up the other dark foe. Raven quietly chuckles the whole time he is working.
-----Sol and Raven move quickly. Soon Sol has the dirty-haired girl tied up and finds quite a lot of interesting items on her. First under her cloak she is dressed in dark leather armor. The short sword that she dropped when she fell to Thalog’s spell seems to be excellently made. Sol finds a dagger attached to her belt. As he examines it, he sees an emblem on the blade’s handle. The emblem is round depicting a black disk on a field of dark blue. Beside the black disk she was carrying, Sol finds she was wearing a plain silver ring on her right hand and concealed a vial of dark inky liquid in a pouch.
-----Raven and Thalog enter the cottage. As Raven ties up the frizzy-haired man on the floor by the front window, Thalog mumbles about how his Quarterstaff should be used for kindling. He finds an unrolled scroll lying by the unconscious man’s feet. On a table, he also finds what appears to be a thin journal book and two scroll cases.
-----Seeing the scroll, the mage becomes silent and takes it to the table to read. With intense concentration, he reads the scroll and what else is on the table and in the scroll cases. He is oblivious to what is going on around him, lost in a world of knowledge.
-----Sadly the furnishings of the cottage make it look as though the dwelling belonged to a family rather than the evil worshippers of the Dark.
-----Outside, Rand looks over Sarah as he tries to gently move her away from Gabe. Sol keeps an eye on the girl as she begins to stir in her bonds. Heiros lies still on the ground apparently dazed from Raven’s attack.
-----Rand suddenly looks up at Sol and asks, "Where’s Zentil?" As they look around, the forest seems empty except for trees and the Dark mass at the bottom of the hill.
-----Sol looks as if he's trying to remember, "I recall Zentil running near me, but...I stopped paying attention somewhere down the hill. Maybe he's still affected by the spell."
-----For obvious safety reasons, Sol moves cautiously over to the unmoving Heiros and checks on his bonds.
-----Raven says, "I’ll go look for 'em. Sol, you better stay here...you know just in case. Oh ya! I'd like to take a look at that short sword when I get back." Raven readies his bow and starts to walk over to where Zentil was last seen.
-----Sarah is staring into Gabe’s eyes. She says, "Rand...do me a favor. Tear up my spell book. I really messed this up...I may as well have just stabbed Gabe in the back myself. I'm not cut out for this kind of stuff..." Sarah breaks from her mumbling and hugs Gabe tighter. "He only died to protect me...he wouldn't have died if I hadn't charmed him...I've got to go home..."
-----Rand looks over at Sol, while answering Sarah softly, "It’s not your fault, Sarah. You must rest while I heal you."
-----Sol approaches and in comforting tones says, "Come on Sarah. Let Gabe rest now...he's earnt it. Come inside."
Go to Page 7