Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 5

Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 5
File:Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 5 (lorebook).png Hint: Found through Durstin Tallow
Category:	Misc
Area:	Serbule Hills
Visibility:	Ghosted Until Found

Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 5 is a Lorebook found through a quest given by Durstin Tallow in Serbule Hills.

Content

Leeka began digging through her pack. Her left arm was no longer responding to her commands, and she suspected the worst was yet to come.

"Complete lack of discipline back there," said Heartseeker. She'd dropped it on the ground in front of her. "You should have just kept your pattern! One two, one two, you were doing great. Once you focused on only one, the other one tore you up. You let your desperation drive you. You lack --"

Leeka picked up the sword with her right hand and flung it down the hall, where it clanged loudly. She immediately went back to searching the pack. She had to find healing potions. Healing potions, where were the... finally, she found her last three potions, tied together and wrapped in cloth. She pulled the cork out of the first and downed the tiny vial of liquid. Her back suddenly released its tension and she sighed relief. The second potion brought her left arm back to working order. Her leg and shoulder still hurt, but with only one potion left, she decided to tough it out. She turned her attention to the pack. She could fashion new straps, perhaps...

"Um, Leeka, over here. A button."

Leeka went and retrieved the sword. She held it out and let it tilt to point at the button. It was another square stone plate, like the front door, but flush with the wall and harder to see. If she pushed it and more stone walls moved, any chance of surprising the people ahead would be gone. Impulsively, she reached out and pushed it with Heartseeker, and immediately the wall in front of her ground open.

The noise wasn't as bad, or as long, but it was still loud enough. She eyed the exits warily as the wall opened, but nobody returned to see what caused the sound. When the door was fully open, it stopped. Behind the door was a small stone room with corpses manacled by their hands. Two of the three were decayed beyond recognition. But the stink meant something had been alive in here relatively recently.

Then her eyes caught movement coming from the least-decayed corpse. Leeka stared at it, her eyes keen in the torchlight, waiting for the corpse to move. "Speak, corpse, if you can!"

The man raised his head. Elven ears stuck out of greasy long hair. "Help..." The elf's eyes were gray pits that almost glowed in the darkness. He wasn't an elf anymore. He was a --

"It's a vampire!" shouted Heartseeker. "Quick, cut his head off!"

Leeka snorted. "He's chained to the wall, and clearly can't attack. Why should I kill him?"

"He's not alive! He's undead!"

"So? He's harmless."

"Leeka, vampires are very powerful. This one has been subdued and imprisoned in here. Why do you think someone would leave a vampire in here? In the middle of the Blade Trials?"

She considered, stepped forward, poking the creature gently with Heartseeker. The creature's eyes tracked her, but only the head moved at all.

"Why are you here, vampire?"

"Heeelllpp," the elf said again, the syllables held so long that it sounded more like a groan.

"Sorry, monster, I may be stupid, but I won't free a chained vampire."

"Water..." groaned the elf.

"This is part of the Trials, Leeka." Heartseeker's voice was alarmed. "Think about... what are you doing? Don't!"

Leeka had dug out her waterskin and leaned down to pour some into the elf's mouth, skirting around his legs so he couldn't kick her. She poured a few mouthfuls and then stood back away.

"Why are you here, vampire?"

"They know you're coming," said the creature, his voice low. He moved his tongue around his mouth like he was figuring out how to use it. "They're waiting for you, Leeka."

"You know who I am?"

"I overheard them say your name. They've been anticipating you for a week."

"I will not ask again: why are you here?"

"Heh." The vampiric elf spit bloody water. "I was once a part of this trial. For a few centuries, I would lure the weak or the foolish to their doom by convincing them to let me drink their blood."

"Why would anyone do that?" Leeka asked, incredulous.

The elf tried to smile. "I can be very persuasive when I'm in good condition. But the last orc that took the trials... she chained me to this wall and tore out my guts. She left me to suffer for decades!"

The last person -- would that be Leeka's mother? It would be foolish to trust a vampire, but she still wanted more information. "Why has no-one freed you since then? They reset the other traps, right? Surely those priests of Melkar up ahead..."

"Melkar's not a fan of the undead," said Heartseeker. "This creature -- this vampire is from the original Trials, aren't you? You've been here ever since this place was the Blade Trials of Romast!"

The elf laughed. "No, I am not that old. But we had a pact with Romast that one of our number would always come here for the Trials. That pact remains unbroken even in Romast's death."

"But the priests of Melkar don't approve of you being here," said Heartseeker. "And they know if they kill you, a new vampire will come knocking on the door. So they just..."

"Yes. They leave me to suffer. Help me, Leeka. Please..."

"How, by killing you? Very well, if you wish to die," Leeka raised Heartseeker.

"No! I don't want to die! I meant... by feeding me."

At this, Leeka and Heartseeker both laughed. Leeka had never heard the blade laugh before; it was strangely comforting to know that it could.

"Why would I feed you, vampire?"

"If you give me but a few drops of blood, I shall break free and escape this place."

"Leeka," warned the blade. "If it sinks its teeth into you..."

"No, don't feed me directly. Just drip a few drops into my mouth. Just a few drops! Please! And I will leave. A new vampire will come to take my place. I have suffered much for your god, your Melkar. Please..."

"Melkar is not my god," said Leeka.

"Just kill it, Leeka," said the sword.

"How do I know you won't attack me?"

The vampire turned its head quizzically. "Why would I? I am not a mindless evil. I am a vampire! We have honor! Some of us, anyway... my name is Pelagast. Pelegast the Wise. Have you heard of me?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, no matter, since I can't prove who I am, anyway. But your sword can protect you from me. Can you not, blade?"

"No," said the blade. "I don't have my powers! That's why we're doing the stupid Trials!"

"You know how to ward against vampires. Teach her."

"What does he mean, Heartseeker? How do you protect against vampires?"

"There's lots of ways, but... oh. You mean with a simple protective circle?"

The elf nodded jerkily, as if he barely controlled his neck. "That is how the Trial is supposed to go: either I take over the aspirant's mind and make them a thrall, or the sword manages to protect them from me."

"But a simple ward won't last. And we don't have salt."

"Salt? Yes we do," said Leeka. "I brought salt to preserve what I hunt. So this is a magic spell?"

"No, just a ward. It will keep a vampire at bay for a few minutes. The fanciest one I know would last... maybe a half-hour."

"And then?"

"Then it'll overpower the ward and kill you."

"No," said the elf. "With only a few drops of blood I won't have the strength. I wish only to leave. And besides: the conditions of the Blade Trial prevent me from attacking anyone in a ward. That is how you are supposed to win the challenge, after all. You needn't use a fancy ward. Any ward will do... just a circle of salt."

"I'll use the fancy ward," said Leeka. She returned to her pack to fetch the salt. "Okay, sword, teach me."

"No! This is foolish! Do you think Melkar wants -- "

"Heartseeker! I have taken your counsel. I will continue to do so. But I make the decisions! We are doing this ward thing. Now."

The blade was silent for a moment. Then it began to guide her through the preparations.

A few minutes later, Leeka stood near the vampire in a circle of salt and sigils. She'd carved strange runes into the stone floor with Heartseeker's unbreakable blade. The ward was done.

"Open your mouth, monster," said Leeka. She knicked her wrist with the sword and then angled the blade toward the vampire's mouth. Then she let a small stream of blood run down Heartseeker and into the elf's waiting jaws.

First the creature's flesh took a more natural color. Then she heard bones crack and creak as they snapped into place. When his gray eyes turned greenish and he began to look like a mortal elf, she tilted the blade away.

"Can you leave, creature?"

Pelegast stood up, naked except for patches of black mold that covered his legs and groin. He pulled hard on the chains and they came free from the wall with a loud clang and a cloud of dust.

"I did not expect to be freed by someone on the Trials. You've surprised me. Thank you, Leeka. I hope you pass your Trials. Be sure to leave before the sun next sets, or those ghosts will return. And they're terrible company. Oh, and be careful ahead. They replaced my part of the Trials with a giant spider or something." He walked slowly, stumblingly, to the door, opened it, and left. Leeka listened to the chains from his wrists dragging on the stones. After a minute the noise was gone.

"Why did we do that, Leeka? Why?!"

"Because I kill for food, for safety, or for honor. I kill for all those reasons gladly, but I do not cravenly kill a bound prisoner. Nor-- " she raised her voice to shout over the words Heartseeker was beginning to say. "Nor do I leave a slave, unjustly imprisoned, to rot, just because I can't be bothered! I have honor, Heartseeker. That's a new concept for you, I guess. You should look into it."

"There's honor and then there's stupidity. These are the Blade Trials of Melkar, and Melkar's not one of those new-age gods who think it's okay to be undead. Melkar is pre-Dreva. He remembers the ravages of Zek. He doesn't even accept that the undead are--"

"Melkar is the god of Individuality, right?"

Heartseeker sighed, realizing where this was going. "Yes. Officially he's the God of Individualism, Self-Sufficiency, and Hunting for Sustenance."

"So I'm expressing my individuality. And really, if Melkar doesn't like the way I do things... well, he can smite me if he wants. Or he can go fuck himself."

She sheathed the sword. The backpack could wait in here for a while, she decided. She fetched the last health potion and a few spare throwing knives. She tore a bite off of her lembas brick and went to the next room.