Chapter 2: The bald woman

I had to rectify my statement after a few more glances around me. This was not the middle of nowhere. The place had definitively been the center of somewhere a long, long time ago. Was the ridge I had just climbed an ancient square wall? Could be. And were the four hillocks at the corners towers crumbled into dust. And was the woman sitting on the Slate, the sacred central stone of every Dome on every Keep? This place had housed the Legion, or I had been asleep in class. And I had not, the rods of the masters had seen to that.

But the woman now, she was something special. Not only was she showing disrespect to the Legion and their traditions and what-not by sitting cross-legged on the Slate, but she was the kind of woman that I never met in the dens I used to frequent when sneaking out of the Keep back home. The first thing I noticed as I tried to walk towards her the most proud and manly gait possible, was her body. It was the most succulent body I had ever seen. It appeared that whoever had created this being had stopped just short of making her fat, and then, as an afterthought, decided to make her curves even more generous. She wore a simple, coarse, undyed woolen dress to, I imagined, prevent the landscape around her from catching fire from being exposed to her mere nakedness. Her skin was dark, far darker than mine, and with a lovely golden sheen to it. Huge, black eyes she had, I noticed when I got closer, full of smile and tenderness and mischief. Her nose was cute and pointed, and her thick, red lips framed a impressive collection of shiny white ivory.

They say there are such things as succubi, female demons that prey on unwary, lone wanderers in the wilderness. I would have been more than ready to believe I had encountered such a one, except for one thing. She was bald. The evening sun was reflected off her bare crown I noticed as I came within ten yards of her. The woman made no move, she just smiled cryptically at me.

"So that's how you look," she said in a gentle and soft, yet teasing voice.

"Huh?" I replied.

"What's your name, stranger?" she added. Her smile was friendly, open.

I introduced myself. "And you?"

"Hmm," she mused. "What about Quaila?"

"Is that your name?"

"Why not?"

Why not indeed. I hesitated. There were so many questions that just begged to be asked, but where to start?

She resolved my dilemma. "What I am doing here? What this place is? And, most importantly of all, why are you here?"

"Eh?"

"Those are the questions on your mind are they not?"

"Yeah, how did you-"

"Because I can think. Now, allow me to answer. I am the Guardian of this place. And this place used to be Keep Eigon. As for what you are doing here, well that is for you to find out, I guess."

"Guardian? What do you guard?" Keep Eigon I had heard of; it had been razed by the Wyrm Zhar more than three hundred years ago. Some say Ulir himself came here to lay down quietly to rest, but apparently the ancient hero would have had more lives than a herd of cats if he were to have died at all the places who claim so.

"I guard..." She paused dramatically. "A mighty Sword!" She grinned enthusiastically at me.

"Er ... All right. You some kind of demon or fairy?" She was beautiful enough to be one, that sure was true.

"Something of the kind," she laughed. "I am very magical and very powerful, so you better show me some respect."

"Or maybe you are a human with too much time on your hands?"

"What a rude thing to say! Now I will certainly not tell you about the hidden chamber directly below this Slate."

I took a step back and considered the woman, Quaila as called herself. She stared unperturbed back at me. What was the meaning of all this? A strange, dark golden-skinned bald and beautiful woman telling tall tales to travelers? To hoodwink me? I had no possessions worth robbing, not even a proper weapon except my knife. Maybe she was a fairy, even though I considered that unlikely. And she guarded a magical Sword? I had dreamed of the sword with the black flames ... Maybe ... All right, I would play along. She seemed friendly, at least.