laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

Kailee sighed as the group closed around her.

"Kailee, this is Lericanin, Alister, and Avion," Tia introduced as they eyed her in turn.

"There has to be some sort of gate in the doorway," Elsea finally interrupted as they studied the portal and Kailee finally looked beyond the taller girl to see a stone hallway and several doors beyond flanked by dimly lit mountains and the river gorge below that she had always known. Anush said such magics existed.

"Come on," Lericanin instructed. "We should get out of here."

As they all retreated back into the hallway, Kailee stole one last look around and then followed Tia into the dank, musty tunnel as Avion brought up the rear. As she scanned their armor, weapons and demeanor, Kailee gripped Tia's hand a bit tighter. She had never allowed herself to be this trusting before with strangers.

"Umm, everyone," Avion called quietly which prompted all of them to peer back over her shoulder in awe. Kailee turned and noticed through the doorway that they had just entered, the forest was now replaced by a grey room of flagstone. Her brow furrowed as she wondered if their gate had suddenly closed and left the room that had originally been there.

"Can someone explain that?" Avion wondered aloud as she glanced to Tia.

Torchlight glinted off of small bluish stones inset into the floor and caught Kailee's attention as Elsea moved around them and knelt in the doorway. She watched as the brunette had apparently found the same thing and began prying at it with her dagger.

"Found something that looks like an inscribed marker," Elsea informed as she popped the smooth, rounded protrusion and stood to show the others. "Tia, you're more familiar with this sort of thing," she mused as she handed Kailee's companion the rock.

"That's exactly what it is." She eyed Kailee sympathetically. "You've been living in there your whole life?"

She nodded, wondering what was in the mage's mind.

"What's that symbol mean," Lericanin asked as he pointed to the etched rune.

"It's been used for the illusion that was in there," Tia returned.

They all stared at her quietly.

"So," Elsea began. "You're saying that someone put Kailee in there and had her trapped in this illusion that even smelled like a forest?"

Tia nodded as she placed the rock into a small pouch hanging on her belt as Avion closed the door.

"And you're saying that you've been in there your whole life," Elsea reaffirmed.

Kailee nodded as she studied the hazel-green eyes and sharper features of the attractive archer whose defenses seemed to lower a bit.

Lericanin and Alister finally led the group down the hallway as Kailee stole a glance into a doorway on the left as they passed. The spartan bedroom felt familiar somehow and she began to wonder if her real parents lived here as she began to process the group's discovery. Amidst years of dust and spiderwebs, she knew that this underground complex had been the home to many individuals as they strolled through a ransacked dining room and into a large study. Burned books and furniture littered the once stately room and she began to fear that whoever may know her true past may be gone. She pushed those things out of her mind as she sighed gaining Tia's attention as boots reverberated off of another long hallway now lit by a torch which Avion retrieved.

"How old are you," Kailee asked.

"Sixteen, you?"

"Anush told me I was seventeen recently," she answered quietly as they ascended a stairwell and exited into the daylight. Kailee's eyes scanned the ruin of some large building now open to the blue sky which seemed to burn her head and arms a bit. She looked around and soon noticed the blackened bodies lying beyond the rubble in the tall grass.
"Who were they?"

"Priests of Arhus," Lericanin informed as he headed towards them, unshouldered his round shield and picked up a shovel.

Kailee turned to Tia," Who's Arhus?"

"He's the deity of justice and war, supposedly," she added under her breath as she led Kailee towards a large oak and sat down. Elsea kept them both in her sights as the grave digger was joined by Alister and Avion.

The soft burning slowly dissipated as they watched the solemn occasion which Lericanin finished with a prayer in the sight of the lowering sun. Afterwards, they all headed through the thick woods to a campsite where other men worked and ate around two large wagons, their horses tied to a tether soon became agitated. Kailee stopped at the sight of the others.

Tia stopped with her, "Don't worry, these men are part of a merchants caravan, they won't hurt you. I promise."

Reluctantly, Kailee walked into the camp bordered by a wide, fast flowing river. From the other side, she could see workcrews on barges finishing a section of the wooden frame.

"What are they doing?" she asked.

"They're building a new bridge. The old one was wooden and had been destroyed by bandits a month or two ago. A mage in that camp is using his magic to create one of stone," Tia informed as they approached a third wagon and rounded to sit near the rear wheel. She glanced to Kailee who still had not let go of her hand and sat right beside her. "So I take it that this Anush was your...?"

Kailee eyed her new friend. "My what?"

"Was he related?"

"No. He was my friend and teacher. He taught me how to read and write and also how to survive in the woods." Kailee looked away as emotions began to well. Turning her attention to Lericanin as he gathered meat and began to cook helped stave off the tears as Avion sat nearby with Elsea to her right. She smelled leather around Avion's chest and wondered why the narrow strip was there underneath her shirt.
"Have you been wounded?"

Avion shot her a confused stare. "What?"

Kailee motioned to her own chest. "Were you hurt?"

The thin scout eyed the rest of the group nervously and Kailee realized she had uncovered something that she should leave alone.

"No, I'm fine. Alister, you need some help over there," she offered as she rose and escaped the attention of her companions who then studied Kailee.

"Who were those hunters looking for when we found you," Lericanin asked as his concoction began to smell fairly good.

"I don't know," she defended. "I never did those things they said. I never even went into their town, Anush said that those people would kill both of us."

"Did he say why?"

"Anush followed Sater and those people didn't like that."

Lericanin's thick eyebrows shot up. "Really. And who do you follow?"

Kailee noted the nervousness of the tattooed fighter as he set the large spoon on the rim of the pot. "I don't need anyone else. I survive on my own. Anush tried to explain what he believed but, it just seemed like a waste of time to me."

He nodded and quietly attended their dinner again. Kailee could sense that she still had a lot to learn about her new companions as she studied the red circle over his brow. Centered was a black shield over crossed yellow spears.

"What's that mean?" she finally asked him as she pointed to her own forehead.

"That's the symbol of Arhus, my god. That signifies who I'm devoted to and that he leads my steps."

"Did he mark you?"

Lericanin smiled. "No. But I'm proud to let everyone I know who I serve, especially the enemy before they die."