Eldritch Thoughts

Iridescent Dreams

"What's the big deal with the sun?" Xalastik asked. Rock raised an eyebrow at the gnome, who just looked up and shrugged his shoulders. "It's really not all that special when you get down to it."

After a short moment of mild shock, Rock began to chuckle to himself. Why would he know? he told himself. His entire species lives underground.

The girl had answered while Rock was amusing himself. "I'm a druidess. It's where we get our power. I would have thought even a gnome would know that if it was traveling with a druid."

"Druid? None of us are druids," Xalastik said. Rock tried to hiss him to silence but it was too late. Kezia gasped, Ammdayan sighed, and Rock clenched his fists to keep from strangling the gnome. Xalastik looked around, puzzled. "What?"

"Crystal mage," Kezia spat. Ammdayan massaged his temples.

Matt knelt down in front of Xalastik and, grabbing his shoulders, pulled him very close. "I don't suppose any part of your education in the Order included why the Ocillans hate the Iridians."

"Well, sure. It's because they think of the crystal mages as evil necromancers who shackle the souls of the dead and bend them to their nefarious will." He looked placidly up at Matt who seemed to be waiting for him to make the connection. "Why would she have though Rock was a druid, anyway?"

The islander sighed. "Because of the animals. They do that too."

"No we don't!" Kezia exclaimed. "We do nothing of the sort. Live animals choose to follow us of their own will. They are honored and respected, not enslaved."

"Do you want out of here or not?" Rock interjected before she could go on.

The druidess's mouth snapped shut into a hard line. Squinting her eyes, she tried to stare down Rock. He stared back, letting only the smallest amount of impatience creep into his gaze. Eventually she shook her head and said, "I don't like it, but I don't think either of us does. I want out and you want your friend. You take me outside then I'll lead you back to your friend, then we all get out of here, deal?"

"How do we know you won't run off once you get your power back?" Ammdayan asked her. Rock looked at the cleric from the corner of his eye. Ammdayan seemed to hate the young Ocillan even more than she hated the Iridians.

She touched a hand to the crystal in her choker. "This is a slave collar. The crystal lets the Telir keep track of where I am. They send guards out if I wander too far."

Rock noticed Ammdayan's scowl lessen some and assumed that the cleric was wondering the same thing he was. I wonder why she doesn't just run now. There's no guards between here and freedom. She'd make it out easy. Of course, he countered, she doesn't know that. Letting the bear's crystal drop to the floor, he reached out his right hand and, without difficulty, drained the crystal beacon in her collar of all its light. The lifeless crystal shattered to dust and vanished before it hit the ground. "Now how do we know you won't run off once you get your power back?" Rock asked, and, smirking, called the bear's crystal back to his hand.