Isle of Refuge
Chapter 2

Copyright© 2015 by Tamalain

The dinner that night proved to be great success as far as the residents of the Refugee section of the island were concerned. Tamalain managed to avoid too much notice right away, but as the evening progressed a number of men did start taking notice of her. Her figure was the sort that made men want her, but her interest was for one she had not yet met. As the party started to wind down, she decided it would be better if she made a point as to what would happen to anybody that laid a hand on her uninvited. She had retrieved her armor and weapons from the bank by then and was fully suited up for battle. She walked to the center of the room and jumped up on a table. The walk was not without incident either. Several men found they needed stitches in their slashed hands for grabbing at parts of her anatomy.

"Quiet you lot!" She yelled. When the noise had dropped to a bare whisper, she continued. "Now, it has been brought to my attention that some of you here seem to think I and the other women on this rock are your personal playthings. That ends now." Several of the men shouted for her to stuff it and get the armor off so the show could begin. She took note of whom the yellers were. "Oh really, is that what you think, plan to walk with limps for the rest of your lives." She drew and aimed her bow so fast most hardly saw her move. In seconds, the dozen or so men fell to the floor with an arrow through each of their right knees. "You used to be rapist and murderers, until you took an arrow to the knee."

The majority of the crowd moved away from those she had knee-capped. They didn't want to get caught in the crossfire of the fight that they thought was about to begin. "Now, have I made my point? I hope so, no more warnings or second chances. Any male that enters the women's quarters will die right then and there. It is that simple." She jumped down and walked out of the dining hall, leaving a very disturbed male population behind. The councilor from Freeport stalked over to Murrar Sharr.

"You best do something about her and soon cat, or your pelt will be decorating my wall." He growled in a quiet rage.

"Don't try and threaten me human fool, I am loyal to neither state, I own and run this island as a courtesy to both cities. Now take the trash on the floor out of here. I note the men down are all Freeporters. You really need to teach them better manners human."

The councilor snarled, but turned and left. He didn't even make arrangements for the downed workers. Sighing, "Take them back to their barracks and call their medic to see to their injuries."

Another man, walked up, "I made the mistake of trying to cop a feel, her knife is lethal fast and sharp." He said, holding his wounded hand wrapped in a small towel.

"As it should be, she is an Arrowmark. The most deadly family ever raised in the Greater Faydark. Do not try her, for she will not give you a second chance. Now go see about that hand then return to your barracks." The worker did as he was told without argument. Sharr sighed again, wondering what other changes were in store for him and the other residents while she was here.


Tamalain entered the women's barracks to a standing ovation. She looked around at the other women in the room. She noted that most were humans, a few gnomes and dwarves present as well, no other Elven though. "None of you has stood up to them? A knife in the gut or nuts tends to send a message lady's."

"Yeah, then we get beaten the next day by the Freeport foremen. Count on it happening after tonight, the Freeport crew will get you for what you did. We will have a quiet night tonight, but only tonight."

"I guess you didn't see how fast I am. I am battle trained. I have combat abilities not seen in generations. I guess I'll have to teach them another lesson if they come at me. As I said, no second chances, the undertaker will be busy."

"Elf girl, several of them have enough training to be able to vanish. They are trained assassins, and very deadly," said a gnome, her voice quivering in fear.

Tamalain considered this new bit of information carefully, "Were any of those the ones I crippled," facing the gnome that had spoken.

"No ma'am, they stayed well to the side and silent."

"Everybody be still and silent a moment please." Once the room was quiet, she reached out with her senses and searched, and found what she was looking for. Eight figures in camouflage, all quietly watching and waiting along the back wall, she didn't give them a chance to move. Eight arrows flew, eight figures appeared, dead where they were. Her arrows had been clean heart shots.

"Is that all of them?" She asked, looking around.

"No, there is one more that we are sure of. He is the leader of the this group. He is fully trained and a sadistic bastard. He will torture his victim for as long as they last. He seems to enjoy hearing the screams of agony."

Tamalain knew the leader would come soon and she would be ready for him when he did. "Time to go a hunting I think." She said and vanished from sight. The women all quickly moved to the walls so to protect each other.

Tamalain slowly moved outside and kept her senses wide open, seeking this master Assassin. She could feel him, but not see him. 'He is using Invisible rather than camo she thought.' She leapt up into a nearby tree and waited. Unless he was special talented, he could not see her. She kept still and waited. After a few minutes she heard the faintest of scuffing in the tree next to hers. Slowly, she turned her head. She could see a displaced branch as a body settled into place to watch over the barracks.

Quickly, she was not impressed with his skills. He even talked to himself while waiting. "She has to come out in the morning, then I'll have her. This potion will enslave her to me for the remainder of her very short life." He went on for sometime in this vein, never bothering to check his surroundings.

Tamalain decided she would have to end this threat before it could go any further. She had drawn out a dagger and was ready to strike. Tensing her legs, she leapt from her perch to his, causing her camo to drop, but she proved he wasn't fast enough to block her attack. Rather than kill him, she cut his hamstrings. He lost his seat falling to the ground screaming in agony, unable to get up as his legs no longer worked.

She dropped quietly to the ground next to him and placed the dagger to his throat. She did not kill him right away as she wanted to ask a few questions. "Now, just from the look and fall, I can tell you are not a human. I see the tight chain around your neck as well. That alone tells me you are a Dark Elf either working for the insane queen, or d'Vinn. Which is it and why are you here inky?"

He spit at her and cursed her loudly. Tamalain knew she would have to hurry before anybody else came out to investigate the yelling. She acted quickly, cutting the chain around his neck, breaking his illusion form spell. "Now I ask you again," she placed the point of the dagger in a location that all males fear a woman with a knife being near. "Tell me what I want to know and I give you swift Grace, refuse and I will slowly feed you to the sharks."

"I was sent to cause discord and pain. I was doing quite well until you showed up. Now the Qeynos personal will get things back in order. Now do what you promised, the Freeport ambassador will torture me for being here. The Queen and D'Lere are on the outs, not even talking since the Ogre incident."

Tam nodded, "Good enough I guess." She heard a guard approaching. "May you go to your Gods in peace, or what ever it is they do to you." She quickly slit his throat so that he bled out in a minute.

She moved quickly back to the women's barracks to find the eight bodies stacked at the wood line. The women had pulled out the arrows and wiped them down as well. This Tamalain knew would make it harder to determine how they died. A quick look showed they had cut large areas around the penetrations to remove the distinctive punctures of the arrows.

A few minutes later, out of her armor and securing it, she was in her bed slowly drifting off to sleep on her first night on the Isle. She did sleep, and she dreamed, not a pleasant dream either. The place she arrived in seemed like her home in the Glenns, but not. The city was empty of Elven and had been mostly burned to the ground. Kobalds had moved in and looted what ever was left. Strangely, there were no bodies in the ruins.

A pleasant voice spoke to her, seemingly in her mind. "Our people all went home within days of your disappearing at sea."

Tamalain spun, but didn't see anybody.

"Don't worry, all is well dear, just know the your mission was only partially successful. There was a weapon that was unknown to all. A bone was taken from the spine and a whip was made from it. It is alive as was the armor, and is evil beyond reason. B'rill dealt with it child, but at a horrible cost. He will guard it for all time, a prisoner to a fate that was meant for you."

"No, how could that happen, how. I was sure I had all of it sealed, how, how did I miss it." Tamalain cried out in remorse. The scene faded and she knew no more.


Her eyes snapped open as the sun shining on her face woke her. The rest of the women had already departed for the day, their bunks neat and orderly. She proceeded to make her bunk to match the rest of the ladies. Her bunk finished, she saw her Armor needed a good wiping down after the previous night's escapades. It was then she remembered the dream; she froze in place thinking about what she had been told. She tried to remember details, but could not recall them, only that B'rill was forever trapped as a guard against an evil thing. She realized there was nothing she could do yet to try and help her old friend and mentor, escape that prison.

Once she finished cleaning her gear, she donned a light shirt and skirt for the day. She would return to the kitchen to see if they needed her help first. She made it halfway across the main compound when she felt a sudden shaking from below ground. Looking around, she saw smoke issuing from the lowest windows of the main tower in the center of the camp.

Tamalain figured that they could use some help in case somebody was trapped inside by a fire. When she arrived, a guard stopped her from going any closer. "Stay back miss, that damn Gnome did it again, blew up the basement."

"A Gnome, I know how to deal with him. Where is he now?" She was grinning at the thought of one of the inventive idiots blowing himself up.

"He's stuck in the basement. The main workshop is down there, but most folks are scared to go in because of the dangers involved with a tinkering Gnome."

"Ah, I see. I will go down and see what I can do." As Tamalain's grin took on an evil cast, she headed to a set of doors set low to the ground that led down under the tower. They appeared to have been blown open by the blast and the hinges shattered. Waving away some of the billowing smoke, she descended into a murky darkness. The basement was a typical stone walled foundation chamber, a mess. The majority of the smoke was coming from the spilled coals from the forge, so she found a coal shovel and scooped them back into the steel tank that was supposed to keep them controlled. With that out of the way and the threat of further fires abated, she called out, "Anybody alive down here?"

"About time you decided to ask you Elven bimbo, "a squeaky gnome voice replied.

"Well, if you are going to be rude, maybe I should just pour those coals on you."

"No need for that, just get this bench off me. It is hard enough to breath as is with the smoke."

Tamalain searched the jumbled pile of bench's until she found the little being. He was trapped under an overturned jewelers work station. She lifted it off, flipping it back upright. The Gnome crawled out of the space he'd been trapped in and slowly got to his feet. He looked up at her and whistled in appreciation of the view.

Tamalain looked down at him and said coldly, "Do that again and I will feed to the Forge, got that Gnome?"

"One, I am Dreak, head of the Crafting department, two, I whistle at whom ever I please, whenever..."

He stopped as a foot came down hard on one of his. His screech was impressive for his size. Outside, several of the staff had gathered by the door, they had a good idea as to why he was screaming in pain. Dreak had a case of wandering hands, and a penchant of playing look up the skirt if given a chance. "Yup, he did it again, this time though he is the one hurting," said one of the women.

"Now help me straighten up this mess before I stuff you in the fire, got it runt?" whispered Tamalain in a cold and deadly voice. She was getting more than fed up with the way males treated females around here by the minute.

"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am. I didn't realize you preferred going the other way is all." He said with an unpleasant sneer.

That took Tamalain a few seconds to work out, then seconds later she booted a screaming Gnome out of the basement without him ever touching the stairs. "I can't believe the nerve of that disrespectful little creep. I am not that way." She proceeded to move the bench's back where they belonged, and replace the mirrors and other items that had been knocked off of the walls. When she finished straightening up the room, she searched around for a supply of wood she could use to make replacement arrows with. She didn't find any, nor fletching. Not even a single Arrowhead was on stock.

"I guess I will be making a trip out to the woods today after all. I can't make anything without resources." She exited the basement and saw the gnome hiding behind a nearby tree. "Hey Dreak, where is a good place around here for descent wood?"

He tried to hide but failed as a passing woman kicked at him. "Go past the barricades, then just before the archway, go up the slope to the right. The woods there have a good supply of trees."

The woman that had kicked at him stopped and yelled at him, "Tell her everything you little creep."

"Alright already. Sheesh. There is a big spider's nest and a queen in there as well. Lot's of the eight legged monsters all over. Diseased deer too, careful of them, they bite bad."

"I can tell you are still not telling me everything Dreak, cough it up, now." She started towards him with intent to commit more harm. She was fed up with the attitudes she was seeing in the human's world.

"Tree ents, small buggers too. They have turned aggressive lately, won't let me or others gather the wood and plants we need. I had hoped to keep that quiet so to get you torn apart."

"I will deal with you later Dreak. Now, I need to suit up to deal with the bugs and dear if need be." She stormed off to the barracks to change into her armor, only to find that her storage chest had been broken into and partially looted. She closed the case and returned to the bank with it and stored it in her personal vault. She then started hunting for signs of the robbers.

The tracks she picked up proved easy enough to follow. A small out building seemed to be the destination, but she wasn't willing to take a chance on being ambushed. She activated camo and worked her way to the buildings backside. She reached the one window on that side and listened.

Squeaky voice: "I'm telling you this stuff is bound to her. Nobody else can use it. If it were a human style binding, I could break it. This is Elven, a type I have never seen before at that."

Deep voice: "We'll destroy it then. If we can get rid of her shit, we can kill her for what she has done to us here."

Middle voice: "I like the Bow, I will keep it just as a wall hanger. The little lightning bolts along the string are different."

Squeaky voice: Bad idea, it is bound to her. She will find all this stuff and we will die for sure."

Deep voice two: "The Overlord wants reports of any outlanders ending up here, this is proof of that. You say she may be able to track this gear?"

Squeaky voice: "There is a good chance, yes."

Deep voice two: "I will store these on the ship then. She can't reach it there."

Tamalain had heard enough at this point, so she snuck around to the single door. The one guard was looking around, but didn't detect her approach. She quickly stunned him with a chop to the neck then slowly lowered him to the ground. Re-engaging her camo, she slipped in the open door and quickly acted to knock all three men out. Only one, a heavy human had any time to react to her sudden appearance and striking. He started to draw a short knife, only to find his hand quickly pulled up and behind him with the wrist brutally twisted to the braking point. He dropped the blade, screaming in agony.

"Now you stupid man, I will give one chance to live, one chance only," she continued in a low whisper that sent shivers of raw terror down his spine, "or I will cut off your reason for living and watch you bleed out. Where is my gear, and who really hired you."

Over the next several minutes he spilled his guts, in more ways than one, he needed new pants afterwards.

Tamalain was not sure she fully believed him, so she tied him to a wall post and started in on the Squeaky voice. He had seen and heard all that had already happened, so he spilled everything he knew about the island and what the real reason for the group being there. She tied him to another post across the room from the first. She then started in on the first deep voiced man. He spilled as well. They each it turned out had been hired by different factions within Freeport, all at the order of the Overlord. They were to break the treaty with Qeynos over the Island and seize it.

The third man she tied to the center post across from the door. What she did next, she knew was crossing a fine line of civil behavior, but she needed to send a message that would stick. With some tools that were kept in the shed, she cut away all three men's pants. "Now, I am going to nail your sacks to the post, then just before I leave, I will cut you free and put a small dagger in your hand. I will then set the shed on fire, you see your choice here?" She proceeded to use some large staple like nails to attach the crying mens balls to the post. She knew they would not be able to just slide off of these. "Tell your Overlord I am not to be toyed with, ever. I have a debt too settle with him, as does every living soul on Norrath." She lit a fire pot and poured oil near it and left the shed.

Within a minute, all three men screamed and staggered out of the smoking shed, clasping their bloody groins, looking at her in absolute terror, "Tell him I am the one that even the gods fear, tell him I can and will destroy him if I choose to."

They staggered away without looking back. Tamalain quickly reentered the smoke filled shed and collected her gear and kicked over the smoke pot she had lit to create the illusion of fire, then the fire really did burn. Tamalain moved away from the burning shed then returned to the bank to secure her gear in her private vault. With this done she sought out Murrar Sharr and told him of the events since dinner the night before.

"Elven, you have both helped and harmed the situation here, yet I can't really fault you for your actions either. You will not be allowed in either city until you settle down and stop killing so indiscriminately."

"Sharr, I kill only as needed, not for fun, unless it is a dragon of course."

"Be it as may be, both representatives have asked that you remain her for at least six months to prove yourself to them."

"Six Months? I have to find a way home now. My friends need me."

Sharr sighed, "Come with me girl, you need to see this to understand why that is impossible for a while, and why we are cut off from the mainland again."

He led her around the bay to the lighthouse and took her to the top. He pointed to the telescope, "Look out at the ocean and see what has happened since the rock that destroyed your ship came down."

She looked out at the deep sea and gasped in disbelief. The seas waves had risen to several times the height of a ships mast. Now she knew she was trapped and why. When she turned back to Sharr, "I see what you mean, but one rock couldn't have caused this much chaos could it?"

"We had people watching once the first stone came down. At least ten more large stones have hit since your rescue. What is odd as how they came down, around the island. The waves are canceling out just before the shallows."

Tamalain thought about it for a minute, "I suspect none of this is a coincidence, my arrival, the assassins, Freeport agents, the Skyfall. No, this has a few of the gods fingerprints all over it. I'm to be a tool am I, well they had better be sure I know what is to be hammered or screwed before releasing me. I guess I am stuck here Sharr. I will try to keep myself in control, but I have not had an easy life." She went on to tell him her full history as they returned to the Village for the evening meal and a nights rest.

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