The War-Torn Sample

         The soft hum of the lightning rail coach speeding over the conductor stones was soothing to Tessa. She sat alone in her cabin, absently twirling her golden hair around her finger. The sky was darkening as the sun set, its light turning the clouds at the horizon brilliant reds and oranges. The light from the window lent a glow to Tessa’s fair skin, a glow that only enhanced her beauty. She was once thought to be one of those most beautiful women in Passage, a fact that brought endless amusement to Tessa since she looked just like her twin sister, Velana. Now, the haughty noblemen thought her beauty diminished by a thin scar that ran just below her hairline; a souvenir from The Last War.
Tessa thought back to the days shortly before The Last War tore her away from home. Things had been simpler in those days. She spent much of her time with Velana. Together they had a reputation of being willing to try anything once, and had often indulged in pastimes that many considered beneath their station. But what did those others know about Velana’s and Tessa’s station? Tessa and Velana weren’t nobles. They didn’t have most of the day to sit around relaxing; they had to work to survive, so they took their pleasures when and how they could get them.
         The sisters weren’t a pair of harlots, but they had their share of lovers in those wild days. Velana spent a lot of time teasing men and Tessa spent a lot of time seducing them. They rarely took the men to bed, but pretending they were highly desired noblewomen helped to deflect much of the horror that was part of their daily lives during the days of The Last War. Velana and Tessa were very skilled at crashing the parties of nobles, and did so every chance they got. It was all in fun. They never sought to cheat anyone out of their money or possessions; they just wanted to feel what the fine life was like. One of those parties changed their lives forever.
         That was where Tessa met Tomas d’Jorn. He was a minor noble in House Orien, and so very handsome. She fell in love with him so quickly, and so completely, that when he told her that he was going to fight in The Last War, she couldn’t bear to be without him. So, Tessa went with him and fought by his side. Thinking of Tomas brought painful memories back to Tessa, but she couldn’t help herself. She closed her eyes as tears slid down her cheeks, slipping off into sleep and into a familiar dream…
         The battle had raged on and on, until combatants on both sides fought only because stopping meant succumbing to sheer exhaustion and death. Rivers of blood flowed throughout the battlefield, pooling around corpses and collecting in depressions caused by the hulking warforged titans as they lumbered across the plains, smashing anything that didn’t wear the colors or standard of their army. Tessa had just finished dealing with a particularly pesky elven necromancer, her blade still dripping with his blood. She was looking around for something to staunch the flow of blood from a gash across her midriff (courtesy of the necromancer) when Tomas screamed something at her. Time seemed to slow down as he shoved her into a blood-filled gully. The foul liquid splashed all around her, drenching her clothes and hair. She looked up and saw him begin to dive after her as a blinding flash filled the sky. Tessa shut her eyes against the light and clapped her hands over her ears as a deafening roar rolled over her. Then, she lost consciousness when a heavy weight slammed down on top of her.
When Tessa came to, she wondered if she was dead. Deciding that death couldn’t be as painful as she was feeling, she pushed the mass off from on top of her and pushed herself up. She reached up to rub her head. Most of her hair had been burned away and what was left was blood-caked and scorched. Her midriff burned from the noxious mix of liquids that her wound had been soaking in. Looking around the gully, she noticed that everything was very quiet; her own movements sounding extremely loud to her. That was when she noticed what had been lying on top of her: Tomas. Crying out, she clutched at his body, but the charred skin only sloughed off in her hands. Between sobs, she vomited out everything that was still in her stomach.
         When the heaving subsided to the point that she could move again, she clawed her way out of the gully. The pain of vomiting had caused her to quit crying for now and she knew she had to focus on her survival until she found out exactly what had happened. A shape stood over her as she climbed out of the gully, casting an imposing shadow over her…
         “Tessa? Tessa, wake up!” Velana shook her sister gently. Tessa awoke with a start.
         “What is it? I was sleeping.” She sat back up and rubbed her eyes. Tessa’s clothes were soaked with sweat, clinging to her body. She was trembling slightly. Her sister was sitting next to her, dressed in a leather outfit that accentuated her legs and left little of her upper body to the imagination. Her hair, the color of spun gold, was pulled back into a braided ponytail reaching down to the small of her back. She wore a dagger at her hip, to discourage lechers who didn’t know when to stop touching. Velana and Tessa looked so much like each other, they could often pass for one another, and often did in their wilder days.
         “You were sobbing again, and crying out for Tomas.” Velana put her arm over Tessa’s shoulders. She’d entered a bedroom many times over the last couple of years to find her sister reliving that day Tomas died. Each time, she felt completely helpless as her sister cried herself back to sleep on her shoulder.
         “I’m sorry, Velana. I just can’t get the image of him out of my head. It was more horrible than anything you can imagine.” Tessa shook her sister off and stood up, stretching. “This time was different though, I started to climb out of the gully.”
         This was new. Normally, Tessa never got that far in her dream, she’d just start screaming when she saw Tomas’s charred corpse. Velana looked at her sister with concern, “What do you think it means?”
         Tessa sighed, “Probably nothing. I don’t remember much of that day, other than Tomas’s death. But I do remember Breaker helping me. I was pretty badly wounded, as you can imagine. I was lucky to survive, most didn’t that day.” She reached over and locked the door to their cabin, then drew the curtains by the door shut. She began to undress.
         Velana looked at her sister, “I wish I’d been there with you.” She pulled down their pack and started to rummage around in it. “What do you want to wear?”
         “I’m glad you weren’t there, Velana. As painful as it was to be separated from you, I’m happy only one of us lost her soul to that damn war.” She tossed her clothes in a pile on the seat and smiled at her sister. “I don’t care; just give me something comfortable and dry.” Tessa looked down at her naked body. It used to be so smooth and flawless. Going to war had changed that. She still had a flawless complexion, but now it was marred with scars. She ran her hand absently along a scar that ran across her torso, just underneath her breasts, a present from the elf necromancer she had dispatched just before that terrible explosion.
         Velana handed her a blue dress with a low-cut neckline and a slit up the side. It had gold trim around the edges and a small eagle embroidered near the midriff. “With this dress on, you could get any man in Passage.” Velana began to take her own clothes off, deciding that her sister couldn’t look like she’d just come from ball unless she looked the same.
         Tessa chuckled as she shook her head. “We’re not in Passage, ‘Lana. I want something more practical. Besides, I haven’t had any man since Tomas died. Come to think of it, I haven’t been to any parties since then, either.” The thought of most of the men in Passage made Tessa cringe; a lot of the nobles that she knew were lecherous vermin who had more mistresses than wives. She had no desire to become one of those mistresses…or wives for that matter.
         She put the dress Velana had handed her back in the pack and selected a comfortable pair of breeches and a loose-fitting shirt. Velana frowned as she continued undressing and paused, unsure whether she wanted to change clothes now or not. Tessa pulled her doeskin boots on and slipped a knife into the top of her left boot. Velana finished undressing and grabbed the brush the sisters had brought.
         “Well, whose fault is that? I asked you to come to one just last month, but you were too busy moping.” Velana ran a brush through her hair while she talked. She sat back down and pulled the pack over to search for something suitable to wear.
         “I’m sorry ‘Lana. I know it’s just not the same if we don’t go together. I’ll try to stop moping so much when we get back. I think I’m getting better.” Tessa sat down next to her sister and put her arm around Velana’s shoulder. She hugged her sister and kissed her on the head. “Thanks for being here for me. I love you.”
         Velana blushed slightly, “I love you too, Tes.” She pulled out a red dress that could barely be called clothes. “Do you think this is too immodest? I feel like teasing Aerik tonight.”
         “You’ve never cared about being immodest. Why do you tease him so much anyway? I’d think you would have gotten enough of that while I was away”
         Velana frowned slightly and put the dress back in the pack, picking a more conservative black dress with red lace trim. She stood up and put it on. “We tried for a while, but the truth is, he loves you, Tes. He’s totally smitten. He has been since the wedding. Every time we were together, he’d pine for you, despite the fact that we look exactly the same.”
         Tessa sighed. She’d been aware that Aerik was smitten with her, but she’d always thought it was lust, not love. Even now, she wasn’t sure that Aerik really loved her. “He’ll never be happy pining for his brother’s wife. Did he think to make an adulteress out of me?”
         “I don’t know. I don’t think he’d ever betray his brother. And now that Tomas is dead, I think he feels obligated to look after you. Yet, he still wants you desperately. Seeing you obsess over his brother still tears him up.” She stood in front of Tessa while her sister helped her lace up the dress she was putting on.
         Velana looked over her shoulder at Tessa and smiled. She enjoyed teasing Aerik, she hadn’t had a good heart-to-heart talk with her sister in over a year. Tessa looked into her sister’s eyes, “You never answered my question, Velana. Why do you tease him then?”
         Velana shrugged, “It’s fun. Sometimes I hope things will go too far and maybe he’ll get over you. Not that I want to have a long, meaningful relationship with him, but I just hate to see him mopey and depressed. He needs a good woman to take charge and make him straighten up, and I’m just not the woman to do it. I like to have more fun than he can handle.”
         Tessa chuckled, “You always were the wild one. Aerik tries so hard to be aristocratic. He may be a blue blood, but he’s spent too much time ‘slumming.’ I know this much: he doesn’t have a chance with me. I think of him as a brother, not a potential lover. He needs to get over me. Maybe this trip will help.”
         “Stranger things have happened.” Velana replied. Inside, she was jealous of Aerik’s preference towards Tessa. She’d never admit that to her sister, of course. She sat down next to Tessa. Her sister looked at her, her face as serious as she’d ever seen.
         “You remember when I came home from the war?” Tessa asked.
         Velana nodded, “Yes, you walked through the door dirty, your hair all tangled and knotted, in that ratty-looking armor. Breaker was with you…and Tomas wasn’t.”
         Tessa sighed, “Yes, I…” she stopped as a knock at the door interrupted her. “What is it?” she asked the door.
         A gruff, guttural voice answered. “I have something for you, mi’lady.”
         Tessa looked at Velana and motioned her to step away from the door. “Just leave it outside then. We’re trying to sleep.” Velana moved over to the window and sat down, trying to look casual and unconcerned. Tessa let her left hand hang loosely at her side and moved toward the door.
         “My instructions are to place it in your hands. Please, open the door.” Tessa heard a thump outside the cabin.
         “I’m sorry. I’m not able to open the door at this moment. Come back later then, if you must give it to me personally.” She heard the man grunt, then leapt back as the door shuddered under the impact of his body slamming into it. Velana stifled a cry and drew her dagger. Tessa did likewise and stepped further back from the door, putting herself between it and Velana.
         The door burst open under a second impact and a large, hairy man stood in the doorway. His eyes were sunken deep into his face and had a slight reddish tint to them. He was the most ugly person Tessa and Velana had ever seen. His teeth, nose, and his pointed ears belied his half-orc heritage. His nose was upturned and he smiled, his sharp teeth glistening yellow in the light of the cabin. The half-orc wore dirty leather armor and carried a wicked bladed axe in his clawed hands. His beady eyes darted from Tessa to Velana and he noted their daggers.
         “Now that’s not a very nice way to greet a courier. My instructions are very specific, ladies. I’m to deal with you personally.” He raised his axe and brought it down towards Tessa in a sweeping overhead arc. She dodged to the side and tried to slip past him. His axe embedded itself deeply into the seat, but he caught Tessa with his free hand and threw her roughly back toward Velana. The sisters went down in a heap.
         The half-orc tried to extract his axe from the seat while half-heartedly directing a kick at Tessa. She grabbed his leg and pulled, trying to put him off balance. He staged and let go of the axe. Velana extracted herself from under Tessa and pushed herself up. Tessa rolled over onto her stomach and kicked out at their assailant, catching him in the groin. He inhaled sharply and let fly a roundhouse punch at Velana, hitting her square in the cheek. Velana shrieked in pain and went back down in a heap, blood streaming from her nose and a bruise blossoming quickly under her left eye.
         Velana threw herself up and away from the half-orc, drawing her dagger. He scowled at her and said, “Now it’s just you and me, missy. Let’s have some fun before your sister wakes up.”
         “Vile creature, you’ll have only my corpse!” Tessa screamed and stabbed him, her blade deflecting off a rib and succeeding in slicing into his chest. He growled and backhanded her. She fell to the ground, sprawled on top of her sister.
         The half-orc clutched at his chest and prodded each of the women in turn. Neither budged. He reached down and grabbed the front of Velana’s dress. Just as he started to yank on it, a great weight slammed into his back. He grunted and stood back up, turning to face this new threat.
         “You will not harm them further.” Breaker stood calmly in the doorway, hefty a large mace. He stared expressionlessly at the half-orc, his mithril-covered body gleaming in the light from the cabin.
         The half-orc stared right back at this construct that dared interrupt his work. He launched himself at Breaker. The warforged brought his mace up and bashed the half-orc in the face. The would-be assassin staged back, his nose crushed. He spit a tooth out at Breaker. The tooth bounced off of Breaker’s chest, the bloody spit leaving a trail down his torso.
         Breaker swung his mace again at the half-orc’s head. It connected with a resounding crack that split the beasts’ skull open. He collapsed to the floor, blood and brains leaking out of his ruined head onto the floor. Breaker stepped over the corpse, dropping his mace at the doorway. He yanked the half-orc’s axe out of the seat and tossed it casually out of the door. Then, he carefully picked Tessa up and laid her across one of the cabin’s couches. He then did the same with Velana. He checked them for signs of life. Satisfied that they were indeed alive, he turned to his former opponent and checked the half-orc’s body for anything that might give a clue to his identity and purpose.
         Velana groaned and tried to sit up. The room spun about her head. Breaker looked up from the half-orc. “You should take it easy, Velana. You have had a nasty blow.” He pulled some papers from the half-orc’s pouch and kicked his body out of the doorway. He went over to Velana and cradled her head gently in his hand as he helped her to sit up.
         “Tessa…where’s Tessa?” Velana held her cheek where the half-orc had struck her. She sniffled a bit and looked around the cabin, tears clouding her vision.
         “She is here. Unconscious, but alive. It appears she injured your assailant before being rendered helpless.” Breaker tore a piece of Velana’s dress off near the hem and dabbed gingerly at the blood on her face.
         Velana sniffed and tried to smile weakly at Breaker. She’d never seen him act compassionately or tenderly toward anything or anyone. “Where’s Aerik?”
         “He overindulged in ale. He rendered himself unconscious.” Breaker turned his attention toward Tessa as she stirred. He handed the rag to Velana and helped Tessa to sit up. Velana held the piece of cloth to her nose and closed her eyes. The pain was unlike anything she’d felt before. A few nobles had struck her out of frustration in the past, but no one had ever hit her before with the intention of actually causing bodily harm or death. Breaker reached over and tore another piece from Velana’s dress.
         “Stop that! This dress was expensive.” Velana clutched at the ruined hem and pushed Breaker’s hand away from her legs. Breaker handed the cloth to Tessa and opened up the papers he’d taken from the half-orc.
         “It is good for tending wounds, but impractical for combat,” Breaker said as he leafed through the papers. He stopped at one piece and read it intently. “It seems your assailant was named Atok. His papers list his residence as the dock area of Passage, but he only recently boarded this train in Stariluskur. They do not tell who his patron was, or give any clue as to who could have hired him.”
         Velana looked at Breaker, “We’ll have to contact House Orien in Vathirond, then. They need to know that someone is out to get us. I have a feeling this trip is going to get a whole lot more dangerous and going to the Mournland isn’t going to make it easier.”