Bait and Game

The young priestess sighed whistfully at the iron kettle on the fire as she absently twirled a lock of her raven hair around her finger. She tried her best to look tranquil and innocent as the two horses shifted uneasily beside her; but inside her mind was anything but still. She was cursing the Ranger who had happened to find the expensive animals and who had also decided to simply walk off in the darkening twilight to leave D'anna sitting alone with them in their excessively well-lit camp. It was a situation she had seen many times already in the few short months the two had been travelling together so she understood it well enough even though not a single word had been said.

She had been demoted to 'bait' once again.

With a worn rag she removed the boiling water from the flames and set the kettle down gingerly beside her to give it a moment to cool. She highly doubted she actually had enough time to drink tea, but then, the motions of preparing it as she had a thousand times before relaxed her so she did it anyway. It wasn't long however before the loud, cocky footfalls she had been expecting could be heard heading straight towards her. There were two of them.

D'anna tried her hardest to squeal when they appeared at the edge of her camp, sinister and grinning as they approached with weapons drawn. Her exclamation of terror still sounded a little forced, but she had been working quite hard on it and having improved over the last time, she was proud. It fooled the two men, anyway, who exchanged glances.

"My my, but you are tiny up close." Said the slender one with scars on his face. D'anna had recognised them from the portraits at the office and gave the kettle an inconspicuous tap with the spoon she held in her hand as signal before dropping it in mock terror. "We have been watching you and your friend all afternoon."

"We never imagined you two would have given us such a perfect opportunity." Continued the second man; much larger, taller, and with a thick dark beard on his face.

"She will be back any minute!" The priestess stuttered, feign tears forming at the corners of her eyes, "Please don't take Miss Muffy and SilkenTail!"

The two large men raised an eyebrow at each other and the priestess cocked her head, a bright red blush forming on her cheeks.

"I named them when I was only a toddler." She admitted with a twitch and the two men simply shrugged their shoulders and tightened their grips on their weapons once more.

"We saw her leave only moments ago. Going to catch dinner, she said. I don't think she'll be back any time soon. I think we have plenty of time to negotiate, you and we." The first man replied back with a grin.

D'anna attempted to play the part of the innocent girl, but she had become so used to this, so accustomed that it was hard to even do that much anymore. This was the way it always went. She knew Shaelynn wasn't far. On occasion she heard the woman intentionally break a twig or call out as a bird to reaffirm to the Priestess she was ready to strike. But D'anna was the one who would determine when that would be; it was part of the deal the two women had made.

Shaelynn told her this was the way they were going to survive. They were going to live off the money provided by hunting those who hurt others. D'anna had agreed, until they had found out one of the men they had slain had been completely innocent - his head put up for sale by someone with money who had simply not liked that he had fallen in love with their daughter. After that the Priestess had refused to help any longer, until they struck their deal. D'anna herself would personally interview every bounty before Shaelynn was allowed to hurt them; to ensure they were truly guilty of their crimes. So far since that day every other had been more that deserving, but still she found it was her duty to give them the benefit of the doubt.

"Negotiate?" She repeated, wiping tears from her eyes as she recoiled from them as they took a step closer.

"Come with us willingly and you won't get hurt." The large second man laughed.

"I thought you wanted the horses! What would you want with me?" She gasped, forcing her bottom lip to tremble as she fell backwards, pushing herself away.

"Here's how negotiation works, little girl: We are bigger than you, stronger than you, and we have swords. We get anything we want, and in this case, we want everything. You. The horses, and whatever is in that pack beside you. I'm sure after a few days we could come up with a few really good uses for a pretty thing like you. Any questions?" The scarred man clarified.

"I... I am a Priestess!" D'anna objected in believable desperation, "Haven't you ever been hurt before and hired a Priest or Priestess to heal you?"

"Yes." The large man replied quickly, "I lost my bleedin' arm once - took three whole rubies to get that bastard to grow it back for me. Good for nothing Chanters cost a bloody fortune to h..."

The two men looked at each other once more and D'anna took a deep breath waiting for them to reached the conclusion she desperately hoped they would. Perhaps they weren't thieves and murderers at heart, maybe they were actually merchants, entrepreneurs without an opportunity. Maybe they would cease her unspoken offer to patron the Priestess instead and make a decent living off of providing her room and board for a percentage of her income from healing the wounded. Maybe.

"Tie her up quickly and grab that bag, there's gotta be a Dragon's hoard worth of treasure in there!" The first ordered, and D'anna sighed. With a shake of her head she whistled as the large man ran towards her. He didn't even have a chance to hit her with his pommel as he intended - they were dead before they could even realise what was happening.

===========

Their real camp that night wasn't far away, but it was dimly lit and comfortable. The Priestess sipped her tea as Shaelynn cleaned her arms and armour. The two had nothing at all to talk about, so for the first few weeks after they were first introduced, they had said nothing at all to each other. They didn't want to talk about their past, they didn't want to share their feelings or dreams, and they certainly didn't want to reflect on a future which seemed so cold and uncertain.

But after those weeks the silence seemed overpowering, so D'anna created a game which Shaelynn began playing instantly and honestly seemed to enjoy. In order to break the silence D'anna had started to ask, as a child would, 'what is the word for _____'. And slowly from this nightly practice she was gaining a rather large Common vocabulary. It wasn't a serious discussion, it didn't require either to say something they weren't comfortable saying, and with an entire language at her disposal the questions didn't stop coming and she never repeated herself.

"What is the word for grass?" She asked, and Shaelynn would give a rough-hewn smile as she translated the Elven word into Common for the young Priestess.

Some time would pass as D'anna dutifully memorized the word completely, storing it away in the dark dusty passages of her left-brain before asking another.

"What is the word for bubble?"

But as the night progressed, despite the conversation and the pleasantness of the evening, D'anna's mood turned somber.

"What is the word for how you feel when you believe you will never be happy again?" She asked, and Shaelynn immediately dropped her weapon beside her and instead of her customary smile she glared at the Priestess who had just broken the rules of the game.

"Despair." Shaelynn replied with a growl before she forced herself to take a deep breath and be a little more forgiving towards the young Priestess who hadn't had the time to distance herself from everything she had lost yet. She reminded herself how she was, so soon after. "Have I told you the story of the Priestess who despaired yet?" She asked a little more lightheartedly. D'anna shook her head slowly.

"No." She gave a soft reply and Shaelynn settled herself in her seat, brushing out her lap and clearing her throat before continuing.

"I was told this story when I was really young, by a friend of my Father. He said there once was a beautiful Priestess so pure and devout any man who looked upon her would fall on their knees before her in prayer. But her heart wept each day as she writhed internally in deep despair. One night in her turmoil she glanced towards the east, fully believing the sun couldn't possibly rise again against such unending and ipenatrable darkness... And it didn't. The sun did not rise that day, or any day after. It never rose again. Many screamed in lament as animals went crazy, crops withered and died, and people starved or succumbed to depression and brutally ended their own lives.

D'anna stared at the woman in shock, abashed by the obvious lecture. Of anyone, the Priestess certainly recognised a cautionary tale when she heard one and felt embarrassed now for her selfishness. Opening her mouth to apologise, Shaelynn gave a half-smile and shook her head before cutting her off.

"The man who told me that was a great warrior, almost as good as my Father himself. And even though he didn't care for sweets at all, I know he always carried a piece of candied honey in his pocket. Can you guess why?"

D'anna shook her head slowly and Shaelynn continued, "He said it was to give to any beautiful Priestess he met with a sad smile; to lighten her heart and to keep the sun in the sky. He figured one day a tiny piece of candy could well make him savior of the whole world." Shaelynn paused then, reaching into her own belt-pouch and pulling out an identical piece of candy. Motioning for D'anna to extend her hand she dropped it onto her palm with a sad, but for once entirely genuine smile.

"When I was a little older, my father clarified the story to me. He told me it wasn't the Priestess' despair which caused the sun to stay set and wrought the suffering onto the people: The sun had stopped rising years before because of the despair of everyone in the land torn by plague and poverty. For nearly a thousand days it had only ever been the faith and unwavering belief of the Priestess alone which had ascended the sun beyond the horizon and brought light to everyone each day."

"I..." D'anna still didn't know what to say, but Shaelynn was wearing an expression she had never seen before, and it made D'anna ache for her.

"The only light this war-torn and weary world has lies in people like you who are able to dedicate themselves entirely to the belief that the darkness will never last forever. If you stop believing, Priestess, there is nothing at all left for the rest of us to pray for."

"I understand." D'anna finally replied, giving Shaelynn a sympathetic nod. "I am sorry."

"Don't be sorry. You're young. It's hard not to be dramatic at your age, trust me. I was there once." Shaelynn patted the Priestess patronizingly on the shoulder and D'anna rolled her eyes.

"You are not great much old than me." She replied back with a huff and Shaelynn tilted her head.

"Are you crazy? I am six times older than you!" The Ranger countered, picking up her weapon once more and returning to rubbing the spots off the blade.

"What? No..." D'anna objected firmly, shaking her head adamantly and Shaelynn actually chuckled.

"Of course I am. How long do Elves live anyway?" Shaelynn asked absently and D'anna thought about it for a moment.

"We do not die with age; but most leave this plane around aged 300 year."

"I am going on 25 years old now, and if I am really really lucky I could maybe live to see 80. That means I am 30% of the way through my life. You are 16 and will stay here until you are roughly 300, that means you are 5% through your life. That makes me six times older than you." Shaelynn replied triumphantly and D'anna set her tea mug onto the ground, forhead creased in thought as she tried to figure out how Shaelynn was able to prove what she did with numbers. But it was more than obvious she simply couldn't understand the math and eventually after some growling and objecting the Priestess simply huffed and gave up.

Another half-hour passed in silence before, bored, D'anna lay on her bedroll and resumed her language game.

"What is the word for shameless?"