Shadows Within

Hey Horde FTW, I hope you like Weird Al...

~Put down that chainsaw and listen to me
It's time for us to join in the fight!
It's time to let your babies grow up to be cowboys
It's time to let the bedbugs bite!
You better~...

Yeah, I'm gonna shut up now.

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"Kladerin, may I speak with you for a moment?"

The rogue looked up at the forsaken, confusion on his face, then shot a glance to the shaman at his side.
Shyla nodded, gathering the parchment in her hands, and stood, exiting the room with a few quick steps.
Elarien shut the door with a quiet grace, and placed herself in the now vacant seat. She sighed, frowning for a moment, before she began.

"What happened out there?" she finally asked, her dead face void of expression.
For the first time, she saw guilt streak across the human's face. "I..." he began, pausing to compose himself. He steeled his face a bit, replacing the guilt with worry before resuming. "I don't know... well, I do know... um, sort of."
The warrior sat, still stone-faced, waiting for an explanation.
"I lost control," he told her, "and I take full responsibility for any damage I may have caused."

The guildmistress decided to break her silence. "So it would seem. You never told me what you could do," she stated with a very grave tone.
Kalderin flicked his eyes away for a moment. "Because I don't know what he's fully capable of doing," the rogue said with a tired, rueful sigh. "And I think that was the tip of the iceberg, so to speak."

Shyla was waiting in the inn's common room with the others. Dagor was leaning his dead bulk against the frame of the main door, the faint glow of his empty eyes scanning the room with indifference. Fronai busied himself with his engineering plans, shuffling through page after page of schematics and plans with the speed of a trained professional.
Then she saw her dear brother by the remnants of the fire, still glaring at everything that came by, as he had for the last two full days. He had long since extinguished the once large heap of blazing wood with nothing more than a furious look, channeling his trained cold magic into the very heart of the blaze and choking the fire out.
The shaman fidgeted, then walked over to him and sat on the bench beside him. The silence between them was far more tense than usual; Shyla never was very good at talking with her brother.
Then again, so did most everyone else.

All she did was open her mouth, and the mage was talking in their native language.
"Don' even staht, sistah," he growled.
The trolless sighed, fully expecting him to explode in her face before this was done with. "Bruddah... choo know 'ee didn' mean to do it, mon."
He deepened the glare, causing the wood to split along its side. "Das' bullshit. 'ee damn near set'choo into a coma, an' den tells me dat choo ain't wort de dirt fom de groun'."
The troll snarled, forcing the words out of his mouth. "Ah don' take dat from nobodeh, especially from some arrogant lil' human bitch."

"Damnit, Rajas," his sister retorted, "de man wasn't 'imself! Choo saw it well as Ah did!"
There was a brief flicker in her brain when she realized that her mind had elevated the rogue's title from the usual call of "boy."
Rajas must have heard it as well, because he turned to glare directly at her now, waiting for her to open her mouth again.
"Deah's sometin' inside 'im, mon. Sometin' evil."
He blinked once, working his jaw from side to side. "An'?"
"An' i's not 'im!" she said in a harsh whisper. "If choo 'ad any ideah what 'ee's tryin'; to put up wit-"
"Ah don' ceah what 'ee 'as in 'im," he muttered back, seething with rage, "an Ah nevah will! An if 'ee does ANY'TIN to ya evah again, Ah will personally see 'is ass DEAD!"

Shyla wasn't sure if she wanted to scream, cry, or punch something as her face began to contort with the same monumental anger that every member of the Taris'Thae line saw as both blessing and curse. The shaman was well known by any Darkspear to have a far better handle on that particular trait than any before her.
On most occasions.
She finally settled on latching her hands onto her brother's wiry shoulders and give him a shake that was much more firm than she intended.
"Choo TRY it an' Ah'll beat'cha FOOKIN' FACE IN!" she shouted square into her older brother.

The trolless took a deep breath and lowered her voice, but refused to let go. "Now, in case choo tink Ah'm doin dis outta any love for de man, don'. Ah done been tol' by da spirits demselves to 'elp'im, Rajas, an Ah am not backin' away from what de tell me. Now Ah don't wan'choo ta like Kalderin. Ah don' tink choo evah will."
She let herself give the mage a bloodshot glare that she had been saving for years. "But if choo go an fuck aroun' with 'is head any moah dan what 'ee's got righ' now, Ah'monna pay choo back in spades."

The mage didn't show any shock at all; he just glared right back at her, and they stayed like that for several minutes.
A troll priest who was present gave Fronai a terrified look and shuffled over to him.
"'Ey, mon... she wit'choo?" he asked.
The orc looked puzzled. "Yeah. Why?"
With a loud gulp, the priest said, "Please don't let'er keel me."

Heavy steps broke the familial match of wills as Elarien poked herself low enough down the stairwell for her sharp whistle to be heard. As one, the three guildmates and Dagor glanced up to her.
No words were spoken; just a quick jerk of the head, and the group followed her up without any question.

She waited until everyone was up the stairs and led them into the rogue's room. The human still looked a little shaken, but choked it back pretty well.
Elarien took stock of the group, just to make sure that everyone was there, and began to speak in a hushed tone.
"Allright, people, here's the deal. This little incident, along with what you;re about to hear, does not leave this room. Understood?"

She waited for the nods, keeping both eyes on Dagor and Rajas. Even they agreed, though showed hesitation.
Elarien turned her eyes to Kalderin, who swallowed hard and stood. She knew he didn't want to do this, but it would keep the others from being caught unaware, thus proving less dangerous later.
"What happened to me in the Craig..." he trailed off for a moment, unsure of what to say or how to say it. The human's mouth opened wordlessly a few times, then he drew a breath and readied himself.
"Simply put, I have a demon bound to me. An eredar, to be exact."
Shyla was surprised, and did her best to look it. She already knew, of course, but she didn't think it was an eredar.
She glanced at the others, having no surprise at Fronai's shocked gape or Dagor's utter apathy. Her brother looked off to onde side, arced his eyebrows in an "oh my" expression for a second, then turned back to the rogue with his face a blank slate.
""ow bad, mon?"

Shyla's whole body tensed up; Rajas had just dropped into "threat assessment" mode.
"I'm not sure," the rogue replied in earnest. "I do know that I need to stay away from large sources of arcana, though."
"Hmm. Any ahdeah what it can do throu' choo?"
Kalderin shook his head. "The hell if I know, Rajas. Technically, it's limited by what my body is capable of, but with my corruption..."
He left the statement at that, looking around the room with obvious distress.

Elarien appraised the situation with her cold, tactial "battle mind." Any piece of this situation getting out of hand right now was more than she needed.
"Now, like I said," she began, her voice still calm and quiet, "you tell no one about this until his problem is sorted out, or there is no other choice in the matter."
"Any why should I bother with that?" the other forsaken scoffed.
The guildmistress shot him a heated glare. "Do it and I kill you and everyone you tell."
For as uncaring as he was, Dagor wasn't an idiot. "Fair enough," he said, knowing that for all of her kind and open ways, she would not hesitate to do so if she needed.

"I'll be keeping my ears open for ways to help him through this," the guildmistress told them. "If any of you want to as well, be my guests. Just keep it low-key, okay?"
The definity that she issued that final sentence with meant the discussion was over. One by one, Kalderin heard the group file out of the room, until the oly person he knew would have stayed remained.
"'ey," Shyla said in her softest voice, walking up behind him, "choo okay?"
He glanced over his shoulder, his body shaking just a little. "Not really," he offered, managing the slightest of smirks.
The shaman sighed and pulled a pair of chairs out a the table. She didn't need to do her usual "pat the desk" to get him to sit down this time.

Part of her must've still been fuming at her brother, because the rogue picked it out in an instant.
"What's got you in a twist?" he asked as he pulled the parchments from earlier to him.
"Rajas does, mon," she told him. "'ee was bein' all pissy 'bout wah'choo did when choo weren't chooself, yah?" She had to draw a breath to steady herself. "Den 'ee sta'ts askin' round wit'choo like choo a monsta or sometin'."
"I can't say I blame him."
Shyla felt like she'd been struck in the face with a very fat kodo. No specific part, just like one had fallen from the sky and landed on her with all the grace of a suicidal zepplin passenger.

The trolless opened her tusked mouth a few times, looking for all the world like a hooked fish. What with the look of utter indignation on her face, the human thought it was best he explain himself.
"Well, he already doesn't like me," he explained with a calm voice, even though his shoulders slumped a little. "I'd rather that they're ready to stop me if I lose it again."
"wai'taminnit, they?" Shyla stammered.
The rogue nodded. "Yeah, they. Fronai was giving me the evil eye, too."

Her left eyelid started into a haphazard twitch as she processed the information.
In hindsight, Kalderin thought, perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut.
"Look," the human began again, "he has a very militaristic mind, quick to find the best way to defend others." He locked her gaze as quickly as he could, trying to emphasize the point. "Again, I would not want them to be unprepared if I go off the handle. That could get somebody killed."
Shyla gave an angry snort and turned away, but visibly calmed by a small margin. The rogue sighed, turning his attention back to the sheets on the table.

Several minutes passed in silence.
"Can Ah ask choo sometin', mon?"
The crystalline eyes glanced up from the paper, waiting.
"Dere be a pahty o' sorts goin on tonight in Crossroads." She tilted her head at him. "Choo mind showin'?"
The young man shrugged. "I havn't anything better to do."
Shyla gave a small smile. "Good to know. Now, wherah were we?"
She laid her hands on the table, intent on getting a little more knowledge before anything else happened today.

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