Chapter 1 Secrets in the Dark

His crimson eyes easily cut through the darkness, allowing him to sharply focus on the bizarre scene that was unfolding in the cavern directly below him. A stray thrall had ripped the throat out of its illithid master letting the wretched creature's lifeless form drop to its feet where another illithid body already lay. A young human child stood over that body pilfering it for trinkets and items of importance, she quickly moved onto the new body, nearly before it hit the ground.

The human child's ability to maneuver through the underdark was impressive. No ordinary human would have been able to negotiate through the pitch blackness with such ease. The drow scout estimated her to be around seven or eight years of age, and for a species of lesser intelligence her ability to survive beyond a day in the underdark was nothing short of a miracle.

He recognized the thrall from an illithid trading caravan he had witnessed in the lower tunnels a few days earlier. It was the only thrall of orc biology in the caravan. The child though, did not look familiar and he didn’t remember seeing any children amongst the captives. He carefully studied her and paid particular attention to the way the thrall moved, it was very apparent that it was not acting of its own accord. She had to be controlling it, but how?

The drow figured her to be wielding a magical device of some sort, one that was powerful enough to easily destroy two illithids. It made sense, but as much as he wanted to get a closer look, he felt he already allowed himself to get too close-dangerously close. His gaze fell onto the illithid bodies, as he wondered what this child could truly be capable of.

The drow shook his head at the notion of a human child besting a pair of illithids. There were few denizens of the underdark who dare challenge them. Most who did, found themselves on a slave chain awaiting their doom. It was the lucky ones that were traded to the drow where their torture would be less severe than what they would endure with the illithids-unless of course, they found themselves in the hands of one particular drow.

The scout thought of his own master and what he frequently did to the captives he acquired. He was known to regularly trade with illithids for human specimens along with other living specimens, drow included, furthering his own research and amusement. He inflicted such pain on his victims that most begged for his mercy and pleaded for a quick death.

He recalled the last time he witnessed his master removing a brain from a human who was fully awake and aware. There were a few times he heard the screams of drow females echoing throughout the caverns of the Bregan D'aerthe headquarters as they suffered the most  horrific and ritualistic torture. Mostly though, his master’s need for stimulation came from capturing illithids and what he did to them was utterly indescribable. Momentary chills ran the course of his spine as the scout realized a fate far worse than the one illithids could promise and it came at the hands of his own master.

He brought his attention back to the small human child. Horror gripped him as he watched her methodically remove the brains of both illithids. She jabbed some sort of sharp instrument in each of the brains and placed them in a pouch at her side. She motioned to the thrall who came obediently to her aide, picking up both bodies and heaving them into a large web strung across another opening to a tunnel behind them.

A large spider, eager for the free meal, quickly wrapped her dead victims in a cocoon of gossamer. The arachnid would have them well devoured before any illithid search party would come to reclaim their remains. But without their brains the scout wondered if the illithids would ever be able to know what happened to their counterparts. She was a clever little girl, very well trained indeed, but by whom?

He watched the thrall and the child make their way into a far cavern all the while slipping back into the blackness from where he was perched. He took comfort in thinking he could find some peace to slip into reverie before resuming his trek toward Luskan carrying with him ill news from his recent scouting expedition. His mind wandered restlessly, first about the news he was not looking forward to sharing with his master and secondly, images of that human child were causing him additional discomfort.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Valas, Valas Ozzl’Hune, wake up!” a soft childlike whisper stirred Valas from his reverie, “Valas wake up.” The  scout awoke abruptly noticing a tingling numbness in his limbs and head. A sudden rush of panic fell over him as he realized he was no longer alone. Instinctually he went to reach for one of his Kukris only to discover he could not move.

She was right there in front of him, that human child, staring at him with some sort of awkward amusement. Her head was slightly cocked to the left, up-close he could see how unkempt she was. Her dark hair was snarled and matted, framing her face were several strands of braided hair with strange glass beadwork woven in. She leaned in toward him which revealed two distinctly different colored eyes hiding behind her messy locks.

She moved even closer still, cocking her head oddly, bird-like, while reaching toward his face with her hand. She placed it gently on his cheek as she sat back on her heels studying him. She seemed intrigued by the paleness of her skin against the blackness of his own.

A soft smile crept across her face, he began to prepare himself for whatever assault was to come next. Her smile quickly faded swallowed by a look of deep sadness.  She suddenly pulled back from him, curling up against the rock slab wall of the cavern nook he had hidden himself in.

Valas, was still unable to move and couldn’t see where the thrall was, but already felt his survival instincts kicking in. He began strategizing possible ways he could escape however it was now obvious to him that she was not wielding any magic-it was worse than that. She was using psionic powers, the tingling sensations through his body and predominately in his head were a dead giveaway.

Valas understood how terribly unstable psionic energy could be when wielded by someone of little experience or one with emotional weaknesses. None of the magic trinkets he carried with him could harness the devastating effects of psionic energy. He kept his eyes focused on her waiting for her next move, but nothing happened. She sat with her back up against the wall, her head now hidden in her knees sobbing softly.  

“What do you want with me?” he questioned, shocked to hear his own voice. She hadn’t taken that ability from him which potentially left her vulnerable. A slight wave of relief washed over him, as Valas was a seasoned professional when it came to conning and deception. The ability played a pivotal role in his survival all these years in the underdark and he wasn't above manipulating a child, especially in these dire circumstances.

She looked up, directly at him, wiping her tears with her hands, which were so dirty, streaks of grime now marred her alabaster face. Her face held soft features with large eyes, a face that resonated a naive innoncence not common in creatures of the underdark. Innocent, however, she was not, no matter how sweet of a face she wore.

“I don’t want to hurt you, it’s not my intention, Valas Hune. I knew you were here in the darkness, I knew you saw me,” her voiced trailed off and as distant look haunted her eyes, “You can help me.”

“I can help you? How? Why?” The fact that the child knew who he was already had him wondering what she was up to. He was, after all, a drow, and from experience he knew to trust no one.

“You are going to the surface and that is where I must go. There are humans on the surface and I can be with them. That was where we were heading before the illithids came. You'll help me Valas, because you have a decent soul. I know this. You understand what it means to survive and the lengths one must go in order to do so.”

“I saw what you did earlier, you and your orc thrall, and you think I am going to take you and your friend to the surface? I think you are pretty capable of surviving on your own. You and the thrall killed two illithids with ease. What do you need with me and how can you expect me to trust you?”

Sadness consumed her face once again, “I didn’t mean to kill those illithids, I didn’t want to kill them, but they are bad. They were going to hurt me. The illithids want me dead. Dead the way they killed my father, when all we wanted to do was get to the surface. Please, you must take me to the surface. You can trust me, as long as you trust yourself not to hurt me. I'll swear an oath to any God you wish, please take me to the surface Valas, please.” She pleaded as tears welled up in her eyes again, her shoulders shuttered under the weight of the sorrow that was washing over her. 

They wanted her dead or did they want her dead? Valas carefully considered her statement, the choice of wording, and the possible implications of it before he prodded her with more questions. He was now just as curious as he was suspicious.

“Why were you and your father down here?” Valas asked with new found interest.

“We were k-k-kicked out of our h-home when I wa-was three,” she stammered between gasps of air, “my p-people said I was b-a-ad and they didn’t want someone like me a-a-round. They didn’t like what I can do, they said I was d-d-dangerous”

Her eyes went cold with her next statement, “They told my father if he didn’t allow them to kill me then he had to take me far away. He promised my mother before she died, that he would never let anyone harm me.”

Valas hesitated with his next question, not sure if he really and truely wanted to know the answer,“Exactly what is it you are able to do?" 

She brought her index finger up to her mouth to gently hush him, “That’s a secret, I cannot tell. Especially now after what has happened to me.”

The underdark was certainly as far away as any human could get. Her father, due to his daughter's inherit abilities, must have sought the help of the illithids and things didn’t work out as he hoped. She looked sickly, like she hadn’t eaten for days, her skin was alabaster white with a greenish tinge, due impart to all the filth covering her. Valas couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of pity for the girl.

“You can move now, I trust that you won’t hurt me.” she said with a hint of a threat laced in amongst her words.

She shot him a quick look that told him it was best he did not challenge her trust, “I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to follow you to the surface. I know that is where you are going. Please take me there. Will you let me follow?”

Valas shook the numbness out of his arms and his legs, “If I say yes will your friend be coming along with us?”

His response rang loud in his head, where did it come from? The pit of Valas's stomache filled with despair at the realization he still wasn’t entirely in control of his own self. He had no intentions of letting this child follow him or go anywhere near him. Suddenly this realization was quickly dispelled by a deep rooted feeling of sympathy. The feeling, so foreign to Valas, that the intrigue of it stamped out any attempt he had in wanting to shake it from his very soul.

“He is useful, he can help us in case there is unforeseen danger on the way,” she said abruptly, she yawned, changing the subject, “I am tired now, I would like to sleep. Is it alright if I sleep here next to you?”

Before Valas could object she was fast asleep on the cold stone floor. He found it curious that he no longer felt threatened by her. That feeling was replaced with a deep seated understanding. He felt a warmth within him and a desire to stay by the girl while she slept. He couldn’t fathom why he was feeling this way or why he even cared, it was as though he was detached from himself –like he was outside of his own body looking down on this situation- completely and totally removed from his formal self.

The feeling was so alien and yet, so comfortable, that he leaned back against the stone, slid down into a restful position. Without anymore hesitation he found the peace he needed to slip back into a light reverie. As he drifted he could hear the heavy but rhythmic breathing of the thrall just outside the cavern nook, and he didn’t seem to mind at all-so unusual he thought to himself as the final grip of elven sleep crept over his body.