by Saphyre Myrddin
The Prophet Elder dons her new Darkana ice skates at the edge of a secluded pond near her cavehome. The white leather skates glisten in the bright moonlight as the snow falls this chilly evening. Sqweeky hangs on tightly to the shoulder of the prophetess' heavy cloak as she slowly steps onto the pond. Saphyre's hood slips off, revealing her spikey cropped hair, looking like a large blue pixey. Her eyes are wide with wonder at the hard ice beneath her feet. Step by step she moves with a glide. Sqweeky flaps her tiny wings trying to keep her balance.
"We can do it, ma petite!" Saphyre grins at her little pet. Ever careful when out alone, the Darkmoon Prophetess conjures up her enchanted sword and shield to follow close by. Dancing around the pond, she glides gracefully, lifting up a leg with perfect balance from one end of the pond to the other. Her arms move outwards slowly, helping her keep her balance. She is the image of beauty as she twirls and glides like a dark angel. Her long winter gown and cloak keep her warm without hindering her movements. Snowflakes fall, adding to the romantique atmosphere of the frozen pond. The young enchantress skates swiftly, playfully, turning and swaying expertly. She feels so happy to be back home again. She finds herself blushing and giggling as she thinks about Kneelan. Her heart swells with pride at all the fine work he is doing for Darkmoon. She hopes her brothers and High Lord will allow him to court her, if Kneelan asks. Will he ask? Saphyre pouts, biting her lower lip then shrugs. "There's no hurry. We have all the time in the world, ma petite." she giggles softly again at Sqweeky.
Another twirl and another leg lift, the young prophetess glides closer and closer to the center of the pond. Tonight, her heart is full of love and life is good. There will be plenty of time for hate and killing tomorrow. It is, therefore, unfortunate that Sqweeky doesn't share her feelings. Panicking, she flutters upwards landing on Saphyre's head, gripping her short hair and inadvertently scraping her scalp painfully.
"AHHHH!! SQWEEKY!!" Saphyre screams, coming to a stop and trying to shoo off her pet. She frantically waves her hands at it. Sqweeky squeaks and flaps her wings wildly as she tries to hang on even tighter. Suddenly, the graceful ice skater loses her balance on the slippery ice and falls flat on her backside with a hard THUMP!
Crack! Crack!! Saphyre manages to get Sqweeky to finally let go of her head. The tiny bat flutters to the hilt of the enchanted sword hovering nearby. The young prophetess' dark eyes grow large at the sound of the ice cracking.
"Uh oh.. " she mutters softly, looking at the cracks in the ice growing all around her.
Crack!.. craaaack! CRAAAACK!!
Quickly throwing up her hands, she reaches up for the enchanted shield, barely managing to put both mittened hands to the top edge of it just as the ice gave way underneath her.
"Higher!! Vite! Higher!" she screamed as her legs hit the cold water before being lifted up above the broken ice. Now would be a good time to have her Levitate spell memorized but Saphyre left her spellbook in her haversack back at the embankment of the pond. Hanging from the side of her pet shield with her legs dangling only inches from the icy water, the Prophet Elder cursed to herself. Sqweeky squeaked while she sat comfortably on the magic sword hilt, watching Saphyre trying to lift herself up to get an elbow over the top edge of the shield.
"Tu seras potage quand je suis finis avec toi, Sqweeky!!* Tis all thy fault I fell so hard here." Saphyre threatened. Grunting, she pulled herself up higher and higher and threw her elbow over the edge. Looking down at the broken ice below Saphyre rested for a bit and saw that the ice all around the area wasn't very thick at all. She looked around for a way to out of this mess.
After a couple of minutes she looked at the shield and carefully pushed herself onto it so that she could sit on it while it still hovered. As the full moon shone on the romantic snowy pond somewhere in a secluded area of Nektulos, Darkmoon's Prophet Elder sat on her shield, cloak keeping her warm, gazing at her haversack yards away... ...feeling dumb.
"Allez, Sqweeky! Go find help. We are nay too far from Neriak. Allez! Depeche-toi! Shoo!! Shoo!"
Saphyre yells at the wide-eyed bat peering down at her from its hilt perch. It takes several tries but after much pushing, the little bat takes flight into the snowy night towards the forest. Saphyre watches it flutter away, unsure if it understood its mission. Her eyes fill with worry, not for herself but her little pet. Looking over towards the embankment several yards away, Saphyre rocks her magic shield, trying to get it to move towards it. Sighing deeply, she thinks of what spells she knows at the moment. She has Color Flux, Shalee's Animation, Choke, Shielding, Invisibility, See Invisible, Strength and Sanity Warp memorized. She couldn't think of any way they could be used to help. Looking around the surrounding areas, the young prophetess keeps alert of any danger. Her eyes keenly survey the darkness all around her, watching for any movement. Pulling her cloak tightly to keep warm, she waits and sings a Teir'Dal love song softly. Time passes and her eyes begin to grow heavy with sleep. There is still no sign of Sqweeky or help. The shield and sword continue to hover over the broken ice below. Saphyre fights to stay awake, singing and praying like a dark water nymph. Raising her large dark eyes up to check the surrounding area once more she spots what seems to be a hunting party of halflings marching by. It is at that same moment that one of them sees her, floating in the middle of the large pond.
"LOOK! What is that!?" One of them warns the others.
"Uh, oh..." Saphyre frowns and prepares herself for a confrontation. She watches several armed halflings cautiously test the frozen pond, slipping and gliding to come out towards her. Her concern disappears as a thought comes to her. A smile appears as she watches them coming closer and closer. It is difficult for them to see her as she is nothing more than a dark silhouette, floating mid-air with the bright moon at her back. They can't even see the prophetess' ruby lips part to form an evil smile as they head for the cracked ice before them. If only she could cast Charm or even Mesmerize right now. Her wishing was futile for nature was to do the job for her tonight. One by one, they fall into the icy water as the ice cracks and welcomes them into the murky depths below before they can escape. Saphyre smiles wickedly as she watches four of them bob in the freezing water, crying for help. Despite the darkness of night, they know her now to be evil incarnate; blue and beautiful.
"Demon waif! Ye will die this night!" cries an older one who manages to back away in safety. He prepares to cast a spell.
"I think not!" Saphyre glares angrily at him, lifting her arms suddenly to cast a bright green spell that hits the halfling elder so powerfully, he flies backwards several feet towards the embankment. Sanity Warp left him laying on the ice, delirious and incapacitated. Saphyre studies the two remaining halflings standing at the embankment.
This gives her an idea.
Part Two
The Prophetess of Darkmoon eyed the two remaining halflings and spotted a druid. Saphyre didn’t know how powerful he was but she was a sitting duck out here and had to take a chance. Saying a quick prayer to Innoruuk and preparing for the worst, she taunts the other two who have now concluded she was a danger and needed to get rid of her if they are to try to save their drowning friends.
“I may be standing before thee soon, Dark Father, unless thee chooses to help me this night.” Saphyre whispers to herself. Then her mind thinks of Kneelan. It could be days even weeks before her body is found if she doesn’t survive this. “If Innorruk wills it, I will come back, Bien-aime”
“Heathen!! Defiler of all the is decent and good! Feel my power!!” cries one of the halflings. Alerted, the enchantress grabs the edge of her enchanted shield and pulls up on it hard, tipping herself over to its side again, hanging behind it to take the blast she knew was coming. The druid halfling raises his arms and casts his most powerful spell, Stinging Swarm. Millions of tiny glowing “bees” in a brightly colored beam of light appeared from the halfling’s finger tips, streaming towards their target. Saphyre hangs behind her protecting shield and bracing herself, she prays that her idea works.
The impact of the spell wasn’t that strong but maybe that was even better for slowly, Saphyre felt herself being pushed backwards away from the center of the pond. She turned her head to look behind herself, looking for her haversack. It was working. She was heading for it as wave after wave, the magical swarm pounded the shield while the sword flew out to attack the halfling. Suddenly, she felt the “bees” begin to sting her face. She screamed in pain but held on as another wave, more powerful, blasted her shield, sending her ever closer to sturdier ice and her haversack.
“YEEEAHHHHH!!!!!” Saphyre screamed. The pain seared her like fire. She couldn’t hold on anymore. Dropping to the hard icy floor, she got to her feet and skated as fast as she could to her haversack. The shield flew to join the sword to ward off any further attacks from the druid.
Ifuritta spied the winsome enchantress Saphyre. Her pixie hair the first clue to her identity. Smiling she drew one of her bone shafted arrows and took aim. The barbed arrow flew towards its prey, sinking painfully into her flesh! The archer's victim howled in pain and looked about. "Damn!", hissed Ifuritta under her breath.
The halfling cursed and jumped about, her partner peering into the night to find who or what attacked them. A second arrow answered the first and the wounded halfling slumped to the ground near the icy water's edge. Ifuritta muttered to herself, "I guess I just don't have the range to reach her...".
The remaining halfling looked to his dazed elder, still under the enchantress' spell and decided to do the honorable thing and defend his kin! Drawing a small blade he waited for the killer to face him. "Come out you fiend, face me if you have honor!", he yelled.
Ifuritta stalked to the waters edge, her ruby eyes seeming to blaze with fire. The halfling's feet carried him and his honor away to safety, at least until the next time he crossed paths with a Tier'Dal. Ifuritta smirked and pulled her bow again, aiming carefully at her intended target. The barbed arrow flew true this time and with a TINK! nailed the enchanted shield, almost spilling the enchantress into the frigid water below.
The enchanted guardian came quickly to its mistress's aid and sped towards the attacker, Saphyre holding on as best she could. Laughing, Ifuritta ran home to Neriak to get some much need supplies, "My hunt has only begun, mistress, and you are not my prey this night..."
Cursing most unladylike, the enchantress quickly finds her haversack and while many of the swarm still attacks her, she desperately tries to get her skates off. Unable to see, she falters, feeling dizzy from the stinging pain that even begins to penetrate the layers of clothing she wears. Slowly, she pulls off her skates and feels for her boots inside the bag. She can hear her pet fighting the halflings as the sweet sounds of the dying in the icy pond cease. Her heart swells with pride at her success. The Dark Father will be proud of her. "For thee, Oh Lord of Darkness and Hate," she thinks to herself as a final wave of stinging "bees" attack her.
Covering her face against the haversack, her hood over her head, she endures the stinging until it finally subsides. Groaning in agony, she tries to keep conscious. She doesn't know how long the stinging lasted but she
noticed she no longer heard from her pet. Raising herself slowly, she looks over in the direction of where the hunting party was last scene.
The enchanted shield and sword fly after Ifuritta. Saphyre looks puzzled. "What is going on?" she thinks. Now was not the time to try to figure this out. Swiftly putting on her boots, she eases herself over to the edge of the frozen pond. It was quiet with no sign of her pet nor the halflings.
Reaching into her haversack, she finds her glowing globe. She tries to find her pet and discovers it is now chasing after one of the new disciples, Ifuritta. Frowning, Saphyre wonders what was happening.
"What in Innoruuk's name did she do? She is either a very bad shot or we have a traitor in our fold. I think I better find Morgaene and tell her of her disciple's actions. That little she-gnoll posing as our disciple has some explaining to do!" Saphyre swears to herself. Anger grows at the sight of the fleeing warrior racing towards Neriak.
The Prophet Elder grimaces again from the pain of the stinging attack. So much for a pleasant night of ice skating. Another curse escapes her ruby lips as she slowly pulls out her spellbook to memorize her Levitate spell. Using the necessary batwing, she casts it upon herself. Checking her glowing globe one more time, she remembers that her pet's spell breaks when she casts Invisibility. In doing so, she stops her pet from pursuing the disciple. Now invisible, Saphyre cautiously floats over to the center of the pond. Looking down at the hole in the ice, she smiles wickedly at the peaceful silence of dead bodies still clinging to the ice.
"Praise Innoruuk!" Saphyre softly says to herself. Her heart fills with a passionate desire for more killing. Her body screams for attention, both healing and mating. Saphyre licks her lips and winces over the pain. She puts her mitten to her cheek and sees she is bleeding. She is glad Kneelan is nowhere around right now. She would forget about proper protocol as a lady.
Drifting slowly to the embankment, the enchantress looks up at the starry sky above. Snow flakes fall on her scorched face, soothing it temporarily. Her cave home was not far away so the prophetess slowly heads for it…alone but very much alive.