From Life into Legend }{ open

[laraine]

Raine blinked as Deraj suddenly vanished and a open pathway emerged before her. She saw him hit the ground, then stand back up and dust himself off.

"Nice job!" She grinned. "You found a secret passageway!" She looked through the passageway and saw the river. "Wow, I didnt know that the desert had a river underground. I wonder if the water is good. I am getting rather thirsty."

[deraj]

They moved down the passage and to a cliff overlooking that mysterious underground river. Deraj looked about the massive tunnel and took note that the walls were actually hewn. Great columns supported a vaulted ceiling. It seemed of a completely different style than the place where they had stood only moments before. The stone here was much darker than that of the last tunnel system.

He moved near the edge to get a better look at the surging waters. He slipped on the damp stone, hit his neck right below his head, and fell unconscious into the raging torrent.

[laraine]

Raine watched Deraj fall into the water and she ran after him, jumping from the edge and into the water after him. She got to the surface and started to swim around looking for him. "Deraj! Deraj?!" She called. Diving back under the raging torrent she swam with the current. Looking from her right to her left, she looked for Deraj and finally spotted him.

She got to him and took him into her arms. She surfaced and inhaled deeply. "Deraj?! Deraj you okay?" she tried to lean in to see if he was breathing, but another wave of water smashed against them. She cried out, holding onto him tightly so he wouldn't be washed away again. Opening her eyes, she looked around frantically for land.

"Hang out Deraj....I'll get us to safety.." She wrapped one arm around him and used the other to swim. Keeping him above the water she tried to swim with the current to find land.

She swam for what it seemed like hours. But she finally found a piece of land, a column that was broken and the flat surface was pushed up against the wall. On the column was sand and other debris.

Taking this chance, Raine swam to the temporary safe spot, against the current and somehow managed to push Deraj onto the stone. Breathing hard, Raine grasped the edge. She pressed her forehead against the sand and just lie there, breathing. Finally she pulled herself onto the land and fell onto her back. After a minute or two of resting, she sat up and looked over Deraj. "Deraj?!" She reached to feel for a pulse.

[deraj]

Deraj could sense what Raine had done for him but he could not draw enough power to will his body to move. He worried that she would discover that his body was indeed lifeless. He panicked to no avail. His lifeless but now eternally youthful form lay on the silt embankment.

[laraine]

Raine reached for his neck and touched it gently. Then her eyes widened and she stumbled a bit back. Her hair was dripping wet and she nearly lost her breath. "He...he's dead.." she whispered. "I don't understand...no..maybe he just drank in too much water...if I get his heart started up again.."

Raine nodded and went over to him. she crouched over his lifeless form and closed her eyes. She leaned in to do CPR on him. She breathed air into his lungs and then tried to press her hands against his chest to start his heart.

"Please wake up Deraj..."

[deraj]

He couldn't feel anymore but he could tell that she kept trying to get his organs moving. He could hear her frantic voice. He felt horrible but there was still nothing he could do aside from listen to Raine's reaction to the fact that he was dead. Something must have shifted out of place when I fell. Suddenly he grew weary and lost consciousness completely.

[laraine]

Raine finally gave up. She cursed and pulled away from Deraj, collapsing onto her back nearby. She slammed her fist against the sand and put her arm across her eyes. She couldn't cry, not now. She had to find a way to escape.

Yet when Raine tried to sit up, she felt all her strength leave her. She fell back down into the sand and the debris.

"I'm sorry Deraj.." she whispered, before she herself passed out.

[deraj]

Deraj twitched and managed to open his eyes with some effort.

“Good, I thought you’d never wake up.”

He quickly discovered that he was bound in such a way that he could not move his head but he instinctively surveyed the poorly lit room as best he could. A few candles were set in niches along the three stone walls he could see and there was some kind of table to his right. There were smaller objects on the table that seemed to reflect the warm light of the candles. It seemed that he was bound to a chair. The voice he heard echoed off of the walls of the chamber so he was unable to tell where the source was. However, there was no doubt that the voice was female. He was separated from Raine and As he went to speak he found that his jaw was also bound.

“As you have probably discovered you are completely immobile. All you can do is watch and listen to what I have to say. I have you how I want you.” She giggled. Even under these circumstances, Deraj found it attractive and he hated himself for it. She gently placed her hands on his shoulders. He could smell her perfume and feel her hot breath on his neck. His eyes opened in alarm. I can sense!

She laughed at his reaction. “Just wait till you see what else you can now do. And don’t worry about your little friend... She is safe for now.” Her tone, however, was unconvincing.

[laraine]

I cant hear the water anymore....

Raine slowly opened her eyes. As she tried to sit up, she realized her hands were bound behind her back. She tried to move her arm and winced as pain tore through it.

"Where...am I?" her voice echoed around her in the darkness. She shivered as a cold wind blew across her skin and the stench of mold and decay entered her nose.

Her clothes and hair were soaked, which caused the air to be even colder than normal.

What happened? I remember saving Deraj.....Deraj?! She looked around frantically for Deraj's body.

Its gone.....he's gone.... Vision becoming blurry, her eyes closed and tears slid down her face.

Not again....not again.....why does everyone around me die? Every person I begin to trust and care for....Why am I still alive?

She collapsed back onto the ground.

It's not fair, I didn't even get to know him.....Maybe...I really am cursed....Deraj....I'm so sorry...it's all my fault your gone...

"Raine, I don't believe you are cursed!"

She slightly smiled. "Maybe you were wrong...."

A sudden scraping interrupted her thought. She sat up instantly.

"Who's there?!" She called.

[deraj]

After an eternity spent with this mysterious woman playing with his hair and giggling, she sauntered into his view and sat down in his lap. She was as tall as he was and slender. She wore a tight fitting black dress. She brushed her long black hair out of her youthful face and over her shoulder. She then crossed her long legs and threw her slender arms around his neck. She wasn’t an unattractive woman. There was no sign of age in her long face or in her movement. Her movements reminded him of a cat, graceful, deliberate, and silently powerful. As if relishing in the fact that he could neither act nor speak, she merely sat and smiled at him with an unsettling predatory gleam in her hazel eyes.

“I would ask pardon for my lack of conversation but you don’t seem to be much help in that respect either.” She laughed at her own joke but Deraj was unamused. She continued, “It’s just that it has been so long since I’ve had company out here. For a place that was once a bustling center of commerce, it sure is dead now.” She gave another playful smile and looked into Deraj’s grey eyes for any hint of amusement.

Deraj thought, Under any other circumstances, I might actually enjoy the company of this woman but as it is… I can’t move, woman!

She broke into another round of laughter at his obvious disdain. “Well, I think I’m doing good enough as a hostess. You two show up in my city unannounced, steal from my deceased hubby, and make a mess of the place.” Her serious tone was betrayed by her still playful expression. “I couldn’t stay mad at someone has strong and handsome as you though.” She stroked the side of his face with her long black fingertips. “You are one handsome specimen,” she said, almost to herself. She looked him up as if she weren’t looking at a person but a work of art. “You were in long need of some repair when I found you.” She playfully shook her index finger at him and in the tone of one who gently reproaches a child or novice she said, “Magic is no substitute for some manual body work. It’s a good thing that I found you when I did. My late husband’s poor attempt at absolution,” She flicked the crown that Deraj still wore and a pleasant ring echoed in the chamber,” is only superficial. There was a lot to repair underneath.” Her eyes opened in a suggestive manner. What has she been doing to my body and what has she done with Raine?

She lightly slapped him on the shoulder as she blushed, “Don’t worry about my honor, when you get as old as I am, there isn’t much that I haven’t seen before. As for your friend, she is well taken care of and safe so long as she stays put. I can’t have her interrupting while I finish up your final touches. You don’t want me to slip when I’m wiring your nervous system back up, do you?” She laughed again as she leapt up, walked over to the table and picked up some kind of gilded ornamental knife.

[laraine]

Raine looked around, but all she saw was darkness. Unnerved, she twisted her arm and hand through her bonds. Finally she got her arm in the position she wanted and concentrated. Red energy formed in her hand and licked at her bonds. They started to tear and eventually broke. She pulled her arms free and got to her feet. She was sure she heard the scraping noise to the right. Taking a few unsteady steps, she was prepared to fight whatever was before her. She was alone again, so she couldn't depend on anyone.

The energy still lingered on her hand, ready to strike if the time came. Another step.

Scrape.

"Who's there?!" She demanded again. "Show yourself!"

Suddenly a glowing figure appeared before her.
Raine opened her mouth and let out a squeak. She jumped and ran behind a nearby column. She peeked from behind it. "Geez don't scare me like that!" she said, angry. "If you're a ghost just say you're one!!" She looked at the ghost, and realized it only showed a skeleton. "Who are you? what do you want?" She walked up toward it and it pointed to the left. A corridor nearby lit up with torches.

Raine grinned. "That's a cool trick you have. You want me to go down there? Is it the way out?" The ghost did not speak, but Raine shrugged and walked down it. At another fork, the ghost appeared again and pointed to the right.

"You're quite handy, where were you when we were lost in here before?" Again the ghost did not speak, but Raine merely shrugged and went the way it told her to go. She wondered in the back of her mind where it was taking her.

As she walked, she noticed the air getting warmer, and noises were getting louder. She thought she could hear faint laughing. She looked to the ghost. "Please don't tell me you're taking me towards that..."

The ghost pointed to another corridor that lit up. " I feel like I'm in a never ending maze.." Raine sighed, but went down the path.

"You know, the least you could do for me is talk, or maybe show some skin. That skeleton look is kind of freaking me out." Raine commented, not used to all this silence because of traveling a bit with Deraj.

But I guess I'll never see him again...will I?

As she finished that thought the ghost appeared once more and pointed to her left. She looked and saw a doorway into a room. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

[deraj]

As small as she was, it surprised Deraj that she had moved his body with such ease on to what he discovered to be an impromptu operating table. She was less playful now that she was working on his body. He lay on his back on the operating table. He had no idea where she had put his armor but he could still feel the weight of the crown on his head.

The pain was excruciating. It was a good thing that he could still not speak. He was beginning to regain some motor function though.

Before he could reach a scalpel, she slapped his hand and it went limp once more. “Unless you think you can put yourself together, Deraj, I wouldn’t advise that.” Through the pain, he still wondered how she had learned his name. Somehow she spoke as the thought entered into his mind. “Your friend mumbled in her …sleep. Which reminds me, I’ve yet to introduce myself. Forgive me.” She laughed and straightened herself up as she nonchalantly sat on the table next to his naked body. “Empress Camilla at your service.” She winked at him and then went back to her work.

The pain lessened as she progressed. He did not know if he was merely under some spell that disallowed his movement or what. He could not feel anything open or loose in his head or neck areas. Deraj did not like being naked and completely at the mercy of a mysterious woman who hadn't yet revealed her intentions but he didn’t get the feeling that this monarch of the damned was exactly evil, no more than he was himself.

[laraine]

At first it seemed as if the room was empty. But she heard someone's voice, a womans. Raine leaned into the room and saw a woman standing over a operating table. On it was somebody. But Raine couldn't see the face clearly and leaned more to try to see the face. All of a sudden she slipped and landed hard on the ground. "Ow..." She got back up and walked inside, more than likely now the woman realizing that Raine was there. As Raine walked foreword she saw Deraj's face and she ran towards them. "What are you doing?! Stop it!"

[deraj]

Deraj heard a Raine shaped thud on the flagstone. Then came her familiar voice, “Ow” He feared for her life. His hearing was heightened now and he could hear her shuffling about in the darkness.

Camilla gave a frustrated sigh and forcefully sat down her tools. She had begun to sweat and her scent, that Deraj was becoming all too familiar with, hung about the air. Her hair was in a mess as she leant down to Deraj, “Now you see what I have to put up with. You can’t get good help even when they are summoned and bound to perform a single task.” She turned around a hot, sweaty, frustrated mess and blew hair out of her face.

"What are you doing?! Stop it!"

Raine ran at them. Deraj was unable to speak or move. He could only look in terror as the scene unfolded in front of him. Camilla waved her arm and light poured forth from the grating of an oubliette underneath Raine. Camilla tilted her head to one side and waved as the grating slid back.

[laraine]

As light pooled around Raine, she stopped. Her eyes looked afraid as the grating under her suddenly slid back, and a opening beneath her appeared. She let out a cry as she fell through the hole and reached for Deraj.

She vanished from his sight, falling for what seemed like forever. She frantically tried to grab a hold of the sides of the stone and moss covered shaft. But she only succeeded in scratching up her hand. Finally the walls opened up around her and she hit the ground with a hard thud.

She winced, the impact had hurt her body. Her side hurt and she pressed a hand against it. As she looked at her hand again, she saw blood. The impact had reopened her wound she had gotten the time she met Deraj.

Clinging onto the ground, she dragged herself up against a nearby wall and leaned against it. She panted, trying to control the pain she felt all over her body.

"I need....to get out of here..." she winced and tried to pull herself up. But the pain caused her to fall back down.

"It's no good...what's she...what's she doing to him..."