“Oh, No, Not Again...” - A Tale of Heroes - Scene 64: DeFrantis

It was the sound of lightning and its flash that awoke her. Immediately, low hanging smoke filling the room bit into her eyes and made them water. DeFrantis clenched them closed, then shook her head, and covered her eyes with her hands.

Her hands were heavy, and as she moved them she heard the clinking of metal. She looked down, and in the dim light she saw the shackles on her wrists, each attached to a separate chain. She stretched out her hands, and quickly the chains went taught, attached to something up above her head. She could only move her hands down to about her shoulder level.

She let herself breathe and instantly recognized the smell.  Mage’s bane! Again!

She felt cold, and shivered. The room wasn’t drafty, but it was obviously not heated, either. There was another flash in the window, revealing strong rains falling on the glass. Rain. More rain. The more things change... She remembered what had happened last time a heavy storm blew across the Wynne River meadows. She had been captured and locked away, just as she was, now. That was how she had met Antonerri.

Antonerri! Her head jumped up, scanning the room. Then she remembered. They had been separated back at the inn, the dark market, when the explosion had gone off.

As if on cue, another lightning strike illuminated the room, and she saw another figure asleep against the opposite wall, chained as she was. Karendle! You’re the reason I’m here. You’re the reason he’s not.

She had crawled across the floor of the dark market place, toward the bleeding and dying Karendle, and tried to save her, tried to use her shadow powers to keep her from slipping into the darkness of death. It had worked, but she looked up and saw the points of swords in her face. Someone was shouting at her, but she couldn’t make out any words in the chaos of the moment. Then something had hit the side of her head, hard.

She drooped her hands back against her shoulders, resting them uncomfortably as they dangled by the shackles. You’re the reason I lost sight of the children.

She took another slow breath, then coughed. The mage’s bane smoke made her dizzy. She hung her head. Her mind danced with images of life in the old abandoned chapel with the other street kids. Andrina was the youngest, at about eight, and the most playful. But she had gotten a little sick with the rains right before DeFrantis had left to steal some food.

She remembered when Tomanas, who was almost her age, had first told her of the offer to buy the children away. She had been shocked, but he had pressed. “They’ll be out of our hair, and we’ll have enough to live on for months! Maybe we can even get a real place to stay, and some real food!”

Now here I am, locked away again. I’m of no use to anyone. I’m out of tricks. I’m out of options. Maybe that’s just the darkness of the mage’s bane telling me what it thinks I want to hear. She yanked on the chains in frustration. They laughed at her with a jangly chuckle.

Or maybe it’s the truth.

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This continues the story of the heroes in Wynne, in Twynne Rivers, in the world of The Hero's Tale, Family Friendly RPGs. Here's more info on The Hero's Tale, and family friendly RPGing.


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