“How much longer… my patience wears thin!” Azelore Dotsk growled as he glared threateningly at his underlings, a scruffy score of men and orcs drawn from the armed forces of Zhentil Keep occupying Yulash he’d commandeered to serve his own needs, but he knew their absence would not go unnoticed forever. “There’s no way to tell my lord,” the squad’s sergeant replied. “We have no way of telling how deep it’s buried.” Turning away with a frustrated scowl he looked to distract himself with his latest amusement, stalking a short distance to the rumble of what once must have been a wall, and the woman huddled against it. A remarkable beauty, even with the morbid tattoos that marked her pale skin, only her fiercely blazing, blood red eyes gave away her demonic heritage, marking her as a tiefling; her only garment, a tight, harsh collar set with long, wicked, bladed spikes. “Well my dear, it looks like we have some time to ourselves,” he taunted, reaching under her chin to raise her eyes from the dirt to meet his, as they literally burned with barely restrained hatred. “What a shame we don’t have any privacy… not that any of them would care what I do to you right here in front of them.” “Once I’m free of this thing I will find you and rid this world of your evil,” Ysabel scowled with venomous malice. “Oh, my dear,” he smirked as he roughly seized her chin, “once I have the skull, your threats will be meaningless… and what makes you think you will ever be free again. I may only need your skills to reach the skull, but why would I let such a lovely creature go after I have it?” Pulling her chin free of his hand she glared at the Zhent wizard with a look that could turn a man to ash. Not only had his kind, and the equally vile men of Hillsfar, seized the opportunity to occupy her home, the once free city of Yulash, after most of it was reduced to ruins in a civil war while she was just a child, but he had entrapped her, enslaved her with the horrid collar, and then geased her to help him find an evil artifact hidden in the vaults below what was once an elven estate in the midst of the monster haunted remains of Myth Drannor. For as long as she could remember she had been shunned, treated as an outcast even in her own home due to her tainted blood, the sign of some nefarious act committed generations ago by an unknown forebearer. Then the war had robbed her of even that. She didn’t know if any of her family survived; she had by learning to steal what she needed, but now this loathsome man, who’s soul was far darker than hers regardless of her lineage, would use those skills to unleash an even greater evil on the world. “Perhaps I should pleasure myself with you a little,” he sneered with a truly evil grin, as he snickered at the murderous fury that blazed in her eyes, knowing that if she made any attempt to harm him the collar’s enchantment would not only stop her, but punish her severely… as it had previously. “I grow impatient with this delay and the relief might improve my temperament.” The rage that burned in her mixed with horror as he moved his hands to part his robe beneath his belt, seeking the ties of his breeches, but his foul intentions were halted when to sergeant cried out; “My lord, we’ve found it!” Snarling in even greater frustration, he looked toward the excavation site to see a portion of reinforced door had been revealed, even as his thugs continued to move more debris from it. “It seems you’ll have a little reprieve from that task my dear,” he smirked over his shoulder at Ysabel, “because it’s time for your other task to begin.” Then he focused his thoughts and commanded harshly; “Get up and follow me!” Moving like a puppet of flesh, compelled by the magical collar against her will, she awkwardly struggled to her feet and began mechanically walking toward him… but just then all hell broke loose! A torrent of flame erupted amid the warriors who still toiled to clear the partially buried door! ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Yes I'm still alive and kicking... and so is my computer! I've been working on the narratives for the remaining installment in this series, but got held up on a few, so I decided to start posting the ones I have done. Happy Halloween all!