Shadows of the Lithilium

Frengton had always had an unsavory reputation, known to be the home of more than one rouge and outlaw trying to evade the grasp of justice even before the Lithilium came out of hiding and started systematically disabling human governments. Frengton had been one of the first regimes to fall, though no one was really sure why it was targeted since it wasn't really a hot bed of political power. With the loss of centralized leadership to enforce and make laws all kinds of petty slum lords rose up to take their place. Within a few weeks it became risky to even walk around the town without some kind of protection. There were muggings, kidnappings, and every other kind of unspeakably evil acts that you could imagine. In fact, if Tealith's business in the town wasn't so important she would have never come within a hundred miles of the place.

Tealith had only been a part of the fledgling human rebellion for a few months, but she was the only one in the meeting who had been willing to volunteer for this mission. Tealith didn't blame the others for not wanting to do this, she didn't really want to be doing it either, but she also had nothing left to lose and more reason than most to hate the Lithilium. The day when that Lithilium had burst into her family's home was burned permanently into Tealith's memory. She knew that she would never be able to rest until she had avenged her family's death and eradicated the Lithilium scourge.

Continuing down the dingy street Tealith wound her way through the people bustling among the erratically spaced haphazard buildings. Frengton was one of those cities that had been around for hundreds of years so the architecture was incredibly varied. In many places the buildings were built on top of, or right up against each other. With newer buildings sprinkled randomly among and on top of the older ones. The random way in which the city had been constructed made it a difficult city to navigate without becoming lost, but Tealith wasn't concerned about that; the people she was looking for were sure to find her.

A few minutes later, as Tealith turned one of the many corners on the busy street, she noticed two people following several yards behind her. One of the men was tall and thin, with messy blond hair and clear blue eyes. The second man was much shorter, and a little on the round side, but Tealith's practiced eye could tell that he was quite strong. Both men looked young, probably not much older than Tealith was herself. They were walking slow enough to keep their distance for now, but Tealith could tell that they were tracking her.

Nervously looking around for a way to escape Tealith began to steadily increase her pace, and the men behind her did the same. Really nervous now Tealith finally spotted a narrow alley a little ahead of her on the left side of the street and she hurried to reach it before the two men caught up to her. As she crossed the street the two men followed, the crowed parting around them like a stream around a boulder. Tealith reached the alley and hurriedly slipped inside. She was halfway down the alley when it became clear that this was a dead end, but it was too late to go back out to the street now.

Dropping all pretense of nervousness now that she was out of sight of the street Tealith continued walking until she was about two thirds of the way down the alley, and then she turned around and waited. It didn't take long for her pursuers to join her in the alley, both of them now sauntering at a casual pace. Watching them Tealith realized that maybe they had wanted her to see them when she did, hoping of course that their presence would drive her into this alley. If so their trap had worked perfectly, except for the fact that they had caught far more than they bargained for.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Tealith told the men calmly.

"That's our line!" The shorter of the two men protested.

"Good. Then you know what happens if you choose the hard way."

For a moment the tall blond looked nervous, but then his eyes got hard with anger. "Your bluffing! You just want us to leave you alone," he said.

Tealith shrugged. "I guess there's only one way to find out, but now you called me a liar and that means my honor is at stake here as well."

The two men had not stopped walking towards Tealith, and they were now just two yards away. The shorter man stopped, and the taller one followed suit.

"What do you think Arath?" The short man asked his companion, "shall we do things the easy way, or the hard way?"

"Well Greth, I usually prefer the easy way, but I get the feeling that our new friend here isn't going to cooperate with us."

The short man, apparently named Greth, sighed and shook his head in mock sadness, "You're probably right about that."

Tealith almost rolled her eyes, "Look, I don' have all day." She said, "Can we please just get on with this so I can get out of this miserable town?"

"Be our guest!" Greth said, "If you'll just leave all of your valuables right there on the ground we'll let you be on your way, and no harm done."

"No, that won't do at all." Tealith countered, "How about you take me to Durgin, and I won't have to rearrange your features for you." She tilted her head thoughtfully and then said, "Though it might be an improvement over what you have right now."

"Why you little!" Greth exclaimed as he lunged at her. Tealith easily dodged his off balance attack and grabbed his arm, using his own momentum to spin him into the nearby wall. He hit face first, and there was an audible crack as he made contact. As he slid to the ground Tealith let go of him and stepped back looking at the blond, who the shorter man had called Arath.

"Did you want to do this the hard way as well?"

Arath glanced at his partner, who was rolling onto his back now, clutching a bloodied nose. For a moment Tealith was hopeful that he wouldn't insist on backing his friend up, but then his eyes got that same steely quality to them as before and he took up a fighting stance. His form was sloppy, and Tealith could tell that he'd never really had to fight anyone before in his life. He was cautious after seeing what had happened to his friend though, and only made small feints at her. Not wanting to give the other man time to recover while Arath stalled, Tealith launched an attack of her own.

Using his uncertainty and lack of proper training against him she rushed Arath, easily blocking his attempted blows to her head and torso, she brought her knee up and forward hard into his groin. It wasn't a very kind thing to do, but then neither was trying to rob helpless women in dark alleys. Arath immediately crumpled to the ground and Tealith put her foot on his throat.

"Now, are you gentleman ready to take me to Durgin, or do I need to knock some more sense into you?"

Greth, who had a thick stream of blood still flowing from what looked to be a broken nose, looked at Tealith, down at Arath writhing in agony under her foot, and then back at Tealith and reached the intelligent conclusion that he and his friend were way out of their league with this girl.

"We'll take you." His shoulders slumped as he said it, and Tealith could tell that it hurt his pride to be beaten so soundly, especially by a girl.

"Excellent!" Tealith took her foot off of Arath's neck and stepped back to give him some space to recover.

Once Arath was breathing semi normally again, and Greth had managed to stanch the bleeding from his nose, they led Tealith back out onto the main street. As they walked along the street people cleared out a space in front of them, just like they had when Tealith was heading for the alley. It saddened her to see so many people so obviously afraid of what might happen if they even accidentally angered a member of one of the gangs that now ruled the city.

Arath and Greth led Tealith through a complex maze of alleys, houses, and main streets until they reached a building that looked quite old and, like most of the old buildings in this city, it had other dwellings built on and around it. Arath knocked several times quickly, paused for a beat, and then knocked slow and hard three times. After a few seconds a portion in the middle of the door slid open to reveal a thin piece of steel with holes poked in it. A voice from inside asked for a password, and Arath leaned in and whispered something through the steel. The door opened and Arath, Tealith, and Greth walked through.

Inside the door was a dark hallway and a brute faced man with a thick torso, beefy limbs, and features that showed his rough lifestyle. His nose was bent in three places, and there were scars all over his face.

"What happened to you," The man asked Greth.

"It doesn't matter," Greth muttered.

"Don't tell me this little girl beat you up!"

"I'm not talking about this right now."

They left the door guard laughing as Greth led the way to the end of the hallway and then turned left into another hallway, this one slightly better lit. At the end of the hall was a sturdy wooden door where Greth paused for a moment and looked at Arath who shrugged and motioned for him to proceed. Greth took a deep breath and opened the door to reveal a large dining hall. The space was much larger than Tealith would have guessed looking at the building from the outside, but then she realized that they must have combined the older building with one or more of the new ones.

The room was filled with Durgins followers sitting around large wooden tables playing games of chances and drinking. These men were the dregs of humanity, and the smell of the room made Tealith sick to her stomach. As Greth strode out into the room several of the nearby men started to point at his nose and whisper. When they saw Tealith following behind him several of them started to actually laugh out loud, some of the more intoxicated ones actually falling out of their seats they were laughing so hard.

On the wall opposite the doorway there were several windows, all of them set high enough up on the wall that it would be difficult to reach them. In one of the window sills was a small rat faced man cleaning his fingernails with a long knife as he casually surveyed the scene below. The man dropped gracefully to the ground when Greth was still only halfway across the room. Greth immediately stopped walking and Tealith did the same behind him. Arath moved past Tealith to stand next to his friend, and then They all just stood there waiting as the rat faced man moved toward them.

The room had fallen silent almost as soon as the rat faced man had moved, and Tealith wondered if this was Durgin. She had tried to gather as much information about the man as she could before starting on this mission, but she hadn't been able to find much. Most of what she had found was conflicting as well; no one it seemed really knew anything about Durgin. Her full focus returned to the room and the small man in front of her as he spoke.

"What have we here," he asked. His voice was much softer than Tealith had expected, with a calm soothing quality to it that seemed at odds with his exterior.

Arath and Greth stood in awkward silence for a few seconds, then Arath spoke up. "This woman asked to see you, sir."

"Is that so? Well by all means let her see me then!" There was a friendliness to his voice that Tealith found much more disconcerting than any anger or brashness would have been.

Arath and Greth moved aside, allowing the mans shrewd brown eyes to sweep over Tealith. He looked her up and down, his gaze lingering long enough to make Tealith uncomfortable.

Unable to stand his scrutiny any longer Tealith asked, "Are you Durgin?"

The man smiled revealing a mouth full of blackened and missing teeth. "At your service," he said with a mocking bow. "And you must be the girl I heard about who's here from the 'resistance.'" Sarcasm dripped off of the last word like honey off a comb, but Tealith knew better than to let it upset her.

"Yes. So you must have heard why I've come."

"Perhaps," Durgin shrugged, "But please do continue. I'm interested to hear it from you directly." As he said this he gestured with his hands in a strange manner.

Tealith opened her mouth to reply with the reason for her trip to Frengton, but as she did so her head began to feel cloudy and it became hard for her to keep her thoughts clear. Struggling to focus and not reveal to much of her purpose there she felt herself losing her balance and had to focus on righting herself. Dazed she looked around as the stupor of thought began to clear she saw Durgin nodding sagely.

"So you want my help in stopping the Lithilium. I should have known you people in the resistance would come up with something crazy like this. Tell me, how exactly do you plan to overthrow the Lithilium?"

Before Tealith had a chance to respond he continued, "These are gods you're talking about. They're far stronger than we are, far faster, and far wiser. They bring us liberation from the oppression which we have lived under for so long. And how do many of us thank them? By turning around and trying to kill them!" Durgin grew more and more animated as he spoke, gesturing around the room as he made each point and finally finishing with an accusatory finger aimed at Tealith.

Tealith had heard the stories about Durgin, but until this moment she hadn't believed most of them to be true. Now, looking into his shrewd eyes burning with a calculated rage, she could believe he was capable of everything that people said of him and more. Tealith was careful not to let her nervousness over what might happen next show; she had learned a long time ago that the best thing she could do in this situation is give durgin what he expected to see.

"Be that as it may, I'll stick around for a little while and see if I can convince you otherwise," she said with a shrug.

Durgin gave her another of his crooked grins. "Very well. Arath, I would like you to take care of our... guest," Durgin looked Tealith over one last time, his eyes lingering just a little too long as he deliberated over the last word.

Arath nodded curtly. "Right this way miss." Arath grabbed her arm and marched her to a table in the corner where no one else was sitting. He all but forced her into a chair, and then took his own seat across from her but between her and the only door to the room. He folded his arms and leaned back a little in his chair. They sat that way in silence for a few minutes, Arath's steely eyed gaze drilling a hold into Tealith.

Finally growing tired of the inaction Tealith started to ask Arath questions, hoping she might learn something that would help get her out of this predicament. She started by asking, "How did you get involved with Durgin's crew here?"

Arath just stared at her, but Tealith was willing to wait for an answer. They looked at each other for several seconds, and then Arath finally looked away with a grunt. Tealith was about to ask him again, when a large slightly overweight man drunkenly wobbled over to the table and tried to kiss Tealith. Turing sharply Tealith brought her hand up and slapped him across the face, using her momentum as extra leverage. The slap sent the man reeling backward, and he almost lost his balance. Once he had recovered from the shock of being hit by a girl Tealith could see the anger build in his eyes.

Quickly sliding off of her chair Tealith got ready to defend herself. With a roar the drunken man charged, his arms outstretched to grab her. Tealith deftly stepped aside at the last moment and, as his own inertia carried him past her, delivered a swift jab to his jaw. Tealith saw his eyes glaze over as he fell to the floor. By the time he got there he was completely unconscious. Tealith spun around as she heard someone begin to slow clap behind her. She had to search the room for a moment before she realized that it was Durgin who was clapping.

Almost as if on cue the rest of his thugs began to laugh, and a couple of the big guys buddies came and drug him out of the room. Tealith looked around the room again, waiting for someone else to make a move toward her, but everyone just turn back to their own tables, several of them still chuckling as they did so. She looked at Arath and he waved her back into her chair, a big grin on his face. Tealith moved around the table so that she could see more of the room before sitting stiffly on the edge of her chair.

"No ones going to try and do anything to you now," Arath said, the laughter still audible in his voice.

Tealith just looked at him in confusion. Her experience had always been that if you hurt one person in a group of men like this then you usually had to deal with at least one or two more of them before they would leave you alone.

Arath sighed, shaking his head. "For starters no one else really wants to get knocked unconscious today. But more importantly Durgin clearly approved of the way you handled the situation, and that means that anyone else that tries something with you might well end up on the wrong side of Durgin. That's not a nice place to be, in case you haven't figured that out yet."

Tealith nodded slowly, Arath's explanation making sense to her. "If you're all so afraid of Durgin, why are you here at all?" She asked him.

Arath shrugged. "It's all I've ever known I guess."

Tealith was taken aback by his answer. "How long have you been here?"

"We've only been in this location for about six months. I've been involved with Durgin since I was probably about eight."

"Eight years old!" Tealith couldn't contain her surprise.

"Yep. My parents were killed when I was five, and they were the only family I knew. I lived among several other orphans in the castle for a few years, and they were kind enough, but then the Lithilium came and eliminated the government here, so we all had to find somewhere else to go. Me and my friend Greth ended up here with Durgin."

"I'm sorry about your parents," Tealith said softly, "I know how that feels. My parents were killed by the Lithilium when I was eight."

"I hardly remember them anyway," Arath said casually trying to shrug it off, but Tealith could see the emotion in his eyes as he remembered them.

"Help me escape." Tealith told him suddenly, "You can come with me to the resistance. We need all the help we can get."

Arath actually laughed at that. "Are you kidding me! No one at the resistance is going to want me around, even if I did want to get involved in your hopeless cause."

Tealith frowned at that. "It's not hopeless," She said firmly. "We may not know how to beat the Lithilium right now, but we'll figure it out!"

Arath shook his head, the laughter still shining in his eyes. "Maybe you would, but I don't think the Lithilium will let the resistance survive that long."

Tealith wanted to argue with that, but she really didn't have anything she could say. Besides, right now Arath was her best chance of getting out of this mess, so she tried a different tactic. "So you want to spend the rest of your life here as one of Durgin's thugs?"

The laughter faded from Arath's face as he assumed a mask of indifference. "Why not, I'm doing just fine here. I have food, a place to sleep, what more could I ask for," he said, his voice cool.

"Security. Being able to make your own decisions without fear of what might happen to you," Tealith snapped back.

"Who says I can't do that now? Even if I can't," he continued before Tealith could respond, "I told you no one at the resistance will accept me." There was a finality to his tone that was hard to ignore.

Exasperated, Tealith gave up on trying to convince him to join her in escaping. "Fine. Have it your way then," She said her voice full of the frustration she was feeling.

They sat in silence for a while longer, then as the late afternoon late filtering through the windows began to fade Tealith announced that she was tired. Seeming surprised by her sudden declaration Arath told her to wait at the table while he ask Durgin where he should take her to sleep. Returning after a few minutes Arath gestured for her to follow him as he walked back out of the main hall and back into the narrow hall that led to the door. They walked down this hall, past the hallway leading to the front door, and then wound there way through a series of twisting passages and redundant turns.

Tealith was sure that they were trying to disorient her so that she couldn't find her own way around in here, but she was expecting that and was careful to memorize the way they had come. Arath finally led the way into a small room with no bed, no windows or light of any kind, and only a small mat on the floor.

"Sweet dreams," Arath said has he shoved her inside and shut and locked the door behind her.

With the door shut the room was almost entirely dark, lit only by the sliver of light seeping beneath the door. Tealith felt along the door, looking for a keyhole but finding none. Apparently the door could only be locked or unlocked from the outside. Frustrated, Tealith slammed her palm against the door. With some of her anger released she turned to examining her cell. It didn't take her very long to make her way around the entire room and confirm what she had seen when Arath first opened the door; The room was completely bare except for the mat on the floor that was apparently meant to be a place to sleep.

Resigned to her fate now Tealith sat cross legged on the mat and closed her eyes, let her muscles relax without going to sleep, she knew she would need to be awake in case someone came calling on her during the night.

Sure enough, after what felt like an incredibly long time Tealith heard a key turning in the lock of her door. Springing to her feet Tealith moved to the side of the door so that she was out of sight of someone standing in the doorway, and so the light spilling into the room from the hall wouldn't blind her. The door squeaked slightly on it's hinges as it swung open, and Tealith held her breath waiting for her visitor to enter the room.

"Tealith," the voice was no more than a whisper, and Tealith was surprised when she realized it was Arath's voice.

"Tealith, come out here we have to hurry!" Arath's voice was urgent, and Tealith quickly weighed her options. On one hand the door was open, and she wasn't likely to get a chance like this again, but on the other it could be a trap. Deciding that she would rather take the chance that it was a trap Tealith stepped into the light from the doorway.

Arath stood alone int he hallway, nervously looking around, clearly worried that someone might come around the corner at any moment. As soon as he saw her he put a finger to his lips and motioned for her to follow him. They made their way quickly along a much more direct route to the main hallway leading to the exit. As they got close to the final hall Arath led Tealith into a small room to one side of the hall and handed her a cloth bag.

"Here, put this on," He told her.

Tealith quickly did as he asked, the soft fabric slipping easily over her head. Once the bag was in place Arath grabbed her by the arms and placed her hands behind or back as though her wrists were tied together. Apparently satisfied with how she looked Arath led her back into the hall and marched her toward the door. As they got close, Tealith heard the voice of the same man who had greeted them when they arrived earlier in the day.

"What are you doing Arath?"

"Durgin asked me to take care of someone for him, but it's a sensitive issue so he didn't want it done during the day. You know, prying eyes and all that," Arath's voice was calm and natural, as if breaking prisoners out was something he did all the time.

The door guard huffed, and Tealith could hear him muttering, "Why doesn't any one tell me these things? Just once I'd like to know ahead of time that there is something that's going to go down. But no nobody cares about poor Jalthan he's just the door guard." He kept muttering as Tealith heard the lock click and the door creak open, and he was still muttering when Arath led Tealith past him into the street..

They walked for several minutes, twisting and turning to insure that they were out of sight of Durgin's lair before Arath took the hood off of her. Once the hood was off they increased their speed until they were all but running through the streets. IT was only a matter of time before their escape was noticed, and they both wanted to be as far away as possible by the time that happened.

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As Tealith finishes her story I look over at where Arath is sitting staring into the depths of our fire. It was hard for me to imagine him as a hardened criminal, but I knew better than to judge him based solely on appearances. Besides, the way he had broken me out of my imprisonment at the resistance hideout certainly fit with the story Tealith had just related.

"Alright then. So I shouldn't expect a warm welcome when we get there?" I was trying to lighten the mood a little with some humor, but the others didn't seem to get it.

"No, we will certainly not be welcomed when we arrive. And to make matters worse the last Intelligence we received from a member of the resistance stationed in Frengton said that Durgin has finally finished subjugating all of the other bands of thieves, so any one who enters the city pretty much has to answer to Durgin."

Tealith wasn't painting a pretty picture, but there were a couple of things in her story that gave me hope that we would be able to get what we want in Frengton, and get out of the city as well. I can only hope that Durgin hasn't changed much in the last ten years.

"Well, it sounds like we have our work cut out for us tomorrow, so we had better get some rest while we have a chance," I say.

Tealith nods, but neither her nor Arath make any move to go to sleep. Shrugging I walk a few paces away from the fire and wrap myself in my bedroll. Just because they want to be tired tomorrow doesn't mean I have to be. It feels good to be on the verge of doing something besides walking, and I quickly fall asleep.