Amanita (Act I)

Template:Amanita nav When I laid eyes on the palisade, I knew it would be trouble. But trouble was what I was looking for. I was out on assignment, looking for nobody knew what. All we knew was that a lot of crazy Vizjerei had come wandering out of this part of the world the last few months. A sorcerer having a sudden fit of madness and destroying a house isn't strange; the location was the strange part. There was nothing out here but farming villages and old monasteries, nothing sorcerers would go crazy over. Nothing out here a sorcerer could want, unless he was looking for cheap land with a view of the neighbor's cow. But our higher-ups don't like not knowing, especially with sorcerers. They can be real bastards when they want to, throwing sparks and dazzle with one hand so you don't see them pull a demon out of their hat with the other. Something around here caught their collective eye. A lot of them came looking for it, and it did a number on them.

A lot of us junior members were sent out to look for the whatever-it-is; field training, they called it, seasoning. I figure I'm spicy enough, but what the hell. It beats meditating. Going along the mountains was easiest, and as likely as any other way, which is how I found the palisade. A few dozen people were inside, but they didn't look like they were sorcerers: their thoughts were confused and sad, some angry, most more than a little scared, but no one was thinking of magic. I probably had no business in there, so I went inside.

There were a lot of women in there. That ruled out their being sorcerers. Sure, there's supposed to be some order of female mages hiding in the eastern jungles somewhere, but no one's ever seen them. Would killing one of them be harder, I wonder? I probably couldn't count on the outfit to distract them. These women were all armed, mostly with bows. A female archers unit? There were a couple of men, older and a lot more prosperous-looking. One, you could tell, was dripping with money -- sure, he wore brown pants and a plain tunic, but you don't buy a ring like the one he had on his left ring finger second-hand. His hair was a plain brown, cut in a standard style. A not-too-long beard gave him a very paternal look; his was a face you could trust. Obviously the man to talk to.

"Greetings, stranger!" he started off, with a smile I could have poured on pancakes. "With all the troubles, I'm not surprised to see one of your kind here."

My first instinct was to lock down: had my thoughts leaked? A man couldn't possibly have the training to read my mind... he looked surprised, and stepped back. "Oh, I'm sorry! I hope I haven't offended you. I saw that you're armed, and you must know how to defend yourself to cross this country alone. I merely assumed you were a roving mercenary! We've had a few come by, you know."

Damn, I thought, relaxing. He relaxed as I did. This guy didn't need any training or study or meditation to tell what I was thinking. He looked for flickers in my eyes, or changes in the pace of my breathing. And he was good at it. My guess was that he was either a gambler or a merchant, neither of which had any use for a company of archers. "Guess you caught me," I smiled my dumbest friendly smile. "Yeah, I hire out as an archer. It's just something I do, I'm not really proud of it. My name's Amy."

He shook my hand, and smiled, nice and polite. He knew I was lying, but calling me on it wouldn't be friendly, and he would always be friendly. Had to be a merchant. "I am Warriv, leader of this caravan. You'll be in rare company here. The world doesn't see many women archers, outside of these Rogues."

The Rogues! The Rogue Sisters of the Sightless Eye, famous for their archery and a male-free lifestyle. I don't know where my brain is some days. "Oh, um, yeah, I was coming here to visit them. These are the Rogues?"

He didn't hide his surprise at my ignorance; his eyebrows slowly crept up his face, almost hiding in his hair out of sheer embarrassment. "How many cohorts of female archers have you met? Ah, you're confused because you expected to find them still in their monastery."

I nodded, still dumb. Men talk a lot more if they think a girl is dumb. I doubt it fooled him for even a minute, but it's important to keep up appearances. "Yeah... I thought they were, I mean, further up in the mountains."

"Therein lies a sad tale," Warriv shook his head. I instantly felt his sadness and concern. He was good, too good, maybe. "I don't know all the details, but a great catastrophe has overtaken the Rogue sisterhood, and expelled them from their monastery. When I came with my caravan, I found them by this river, trying to set up camp. If you're at all interested in the Rogues, you should speak to their leader, Akara. She's the one over there."

I've done better; it would be hard to do worse. Warriv may not read minds, but I still felt like I'd told him everything he wanted to know without ever opening my mouth. A mage with that kind of talent could be dangerous. Most don't know how; they only read books, and never between the lines. You can tell them anything.

Before I found the leader Warriv wasn't, someone else stopped me. She was a redhead, with a rather narrow forehead and more height than is considered attractive. Her nose was small and sharp, her upper lip a shade too long and her mouth more than a shade too wide. Her armor fit the body she had well, and her knuckles were callused. "All right," she said, "who are you and what are you doing here? You can lie to Warriv, but you can't fool me."

Lady, if you think I fooled Warriv, you don't know him very well. "My name's Amy... well, Amanita, but that's kind of formal, isn't it?"

"We both know the Rogues are the only women's military order in the world," she went on, standing a little straighter so I had to look up to her. I obliged. "No man's army would hire a woman." She smirked, looking me up and down. "At least not as an archer."

"Yeah, I know!" I whined. "I can't get anybody to hire me. I can barely afford clothes! I need new arrows and all I got was 3 gold to hunt deer in this one town, and they even tried to get out of paying me that!"

The smirk didn't go away. She thought she knew something; I was tempted to look and see what, but that would spoil the surprise. "Can't afford clothes. Look, I can guess what your 'business' is. You'll find no customers here. All the men ran when the monastery was attacked. But know this: we Rogues are warriors. We are proud of who we are, and do not tolerate those who humiliate their own kind for the sake of a few coins."

She was over my height, maybe 20 pounds heavier. She had armor, and a sword. Anger and frustration were rippling off her mind like foam out of a boiling pot; she wouldn't need much excuse to use the sword. If anyone needed to be told where to go, it was her, but that might start something I wouldn't walk away from. "Can I talk to someone else?" I said. "I don't think we have anything to say to each other."

When she saw I wouldn't leave, Red let me talk to Akara, the Rogue priestess. Akara was an old woman who kept herself shrouded in a cloak, the hood over her face. While she didn't say anything, she was thinking the same thing Red was. There was more in her mind, but I didn't go looking. Don't look when you won't like what you're going to find.

"Warriv is correct, young girl: a great evil has overcome our monastery, and none of us know its cause. It all happened on one horrible night. Those of us who survived awoke to find ourselves being slaughtered -- by our own sisters."

"Sudden fits of madness?" I asked.

Her shriveled fingers fluttered out like dying butterflies to grip the edges of her cloak. "I fear something much more sinister. Their eyes were full of what I can only describe as evil. Other creatures had entered our monastery as well, fearsome beasts of hellish disposition and murderous intent. Most of our sisters were killed while still asleep, and I sometimes wonder if they were the lucky ones."

"No, they're not. The dead have no luck at all. Have you had any sorcerers come to your monastery recently?"

"Many have come and gone, as they always have. Our monastery is built across the only pass in this part of the mountains, and many travel this way to and from the east."

"Did any stay for any length of time?"

"None who seemed in any way unusual. The madness came without warning, and we saw nothing which aroused our suspicions."

"Then you should have been more suspicious. Merchant caravans go through your pass. Did any of them bring anything you kept in the monastery?"

"Many things, none of which were out of the ordinary." Tension edged the old woman's voice. "Young lady, every sleepless night I have meditated upon the events which led to our monastery's downfall. If a gap lay in our defenses, either physical or spiritual, I cannot see it any better now than I could before."

"That's why we need more evidence. Just before the --"

"Child, nothing happened which had not happened a thousand times before. We had many visitors, some new to us, others very familiar. If you wish to aid us, I am grateful, though I must have some assurance that I am not wasting what little time remains to me. You ask many questions, but would you be willing to risk your life on our behalf?"

"Yes," I said, happy that I didn't have to lie for once.

"There is a place of great evil near here, where our enemy is massing for an attack on this very camp. Out on the moor, the dead walk, and formerly harmless animals viciously attack any and all they see. In a cave there, you will find our enemies gathering. If you can find this cave and slay all who fill it, I will feel you can be trusted with more information."

"You have more information?"

"I may." A smile put in a reluctant appearance on her prune-like mouth. "But if I do, it is buried amongst the thousand insignificant facts of daily life. Opposing the hellish forces who have taken our monastery will demand skill and courage. If you show me you have these qualities, I will be more willing to sit for your interrogation. For now, I am afraid your manner and appearance do not inspire confidence. Now run along. I shall speak with you again when I am more able to take you seriously."