[While on a rescue mission gone crazed, a holy warrior and a rogue fight bandits, demons, and the urge to rip each other's clothes off.]
The mission, rescuing a princess, could be going better.
Séa is an earnest paladin, honest and gullible. Tash is...
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A crumpled pile of wizard robes snored on the settee. Mingled giggles sounded from the passageway to the bedroom. Tash stowed her iron strut underneath a plush chair, the same plush chair under which she had earlier stowed the decoy lever arm. Next, she whipped over to a shelf on the wall where an hourglass sat. Moonstone and amethyst gems dotted the top and bottom rims of the ornate device. She attacked the precious stones with the point of a dagger.
When she glanced up, Séa hovered near. In the knight's bland face and gray eyes Tash expected to see anger or hurt. Or, even worse, pity. She saw none of those things. The knight appeared at peace. Acceptance? A fluttery sensation tickled inside her gut. Her hunched shoulders relaxed. I think I'm fighting against my own constructed vision of how a paladin works. Séa just doesn't conform to that.
Tash made sure her voice came out gentle. "Séa?"
"Mm?"
"I cooked up a plan to try." She held a moonstone close to her eye for inspection. "In a few minutes, after I harvest some ... low-hanging fruit." She dropped her loot into a belt pouch. "Can you go see if more of your armor is repaired? And then get Zorexis and Dooch both. We're heading back to the windlass, and we should keep an eye on them."
Séa said, "Sure thing, Tash," and sauntered into the next room.
The rogue returned to her thievery. After the hourglass, there was a jeweled mirror. Some moonlight-pale emeralds encrusted an ornamental bowl. As she tucked the last of them into her pouch, Séa returned, resplendent. She wore her helm, gauntlets, tassets, cuisses and also her right-side pauldron and a vambrace. But instead of dented and dull, they shined as never before. Tash blinked. She cleans up well. She may have started out as a pig farmer who prays, but she'll leave here a hero. If we ever make it out, that is.
Two demons and a princess followed in the knight's wake. The paladin announced, "Here we are. We left the rest of my armor in the circular room."
"Who's hungry?" screeched Dooch.
Princess Chantelle speared him with a glare. "No one!"
Ghomarck stirred. "Whazzat? Urg."
Zorexis cleared his throat. His smile could sell water to a fish. "If we're escaping now, I'd like to discuss a plan to try to make it out alive. I do have some influence here, you know. I can help."
Tash strolled to a chair and bent to retrieve the iron strut. "No need, at present. We're trying the wheel again, as soon as Master Ghomarck of Liria is up to travel." She handed the strut to a bemused Séa.
She's always patient and never in a hurry. She always seems to have time enough. And I always feel like time is running out.
The wizard used the arms of the settee as crutches to achieve erect status. Once on his unsteady feet, he brushed at his robes. Not a single wrinkle in the fabric paid attention. "I'm up, I'm up. The windlass, is it?"
