Chapter 2

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.