• She leaned against the large trunk of an old oak, hiding in the shade of its branches. The sun didn’t bother her so much anymore, though her long sleeved robe made it incredibly in tolerable in the summer heat. The sun would always have some effect on her but as the magic of her birthplace faded from her body the sun burned less. Her guide was late! If it had been in the under dark she could have killed him on sight. However this was not the under dark and she had to push those thoughts from her head. Pulling the hood of her cloak over her head she shifted her weight before her ears caught the rustle of the branches. Plop! On the other side of the tree trunk now stood a tall figure. “I can’t believe it…you’re who? And you want me to take you where? You must be a crazy fool!”

    “You know what I ask for. Don’t play games will you take me or not?” She said standing up right so that she was no longer leaning against the rough bark. With one hand on the hilt of her tanto she used the other to reach back and produce a pouch. “I plan on paying in full and then some.” Without a second thought he reached for the pouch and poured the perfectly cut rubies into his hand. He let out a long whistle before speaking again.

    “They may kill you on sight.”

    “I really don’t care…however if you are not up to it then I will return to the hopelessness of the under dark.” She said with a strain in her voice. Her time with other civilizations taught her how to deal with men. Her guide hear her light foots steps start to walk away.

    “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.” He was now leaning on the side of the tree. Watching with piercing blue eyes as she turned around to look him in the face. Veldrin studied him now. He was so much taller than her, a good 74 inches by her guess. His hair was long and black as the tunnels she had came from. Too keep it from his face he had tied it at the base of his neck. His armor was also black which made his tan skin an even darker hue. “Besides, I want to see what the elves will do with you. Who knows they may kill us both on sight. My name is Arael.”

    “Veldrin.” She spoke her yellow eyes meeting his intense gaze. After a moment’s pause she smiled and tossed him another pouch of some more precious stone. “Let’s go.”

    “Yeah yeah yeah. Hey keep that damn hood over your head. If I am seen with you before your big debut then my reputation will be ruined.” He said tugging at the cloth over her head. As he expected she had pulled her weapon on him but he easily stopped a full draw with his arm in the way. “Please don’t. I would hate to have to kill you before I get a chance to bed you.” He was teasing her, trying his charm out on a drow. However Valdrin refused to budge under her perfect drow appearance.

    “I see you like challenges.” She said and eyed him with those watchful yellow eyes from under that old hood. “No male has ever pleased me.”

    “Oh! Then I shall convince them to keep you alive Milady drow.” He smiled at her, another attempt at charm. “Let’s start off.” He strode past her in only a few steps for his longer legs, and as he passed she noticed his ears. They were not elf, or human, or orc, but somewhere between two races. Making a memo to herself she turned on her heals and followed.

    “What manor of being are you, Abbil?” She asked as she caught up to his pace. She would not follow any male other then of course her masked god. Arael wagged a long finger at her.

    “You aren’t fallowing the rules, Veluthe.” He couldn’t help but chuckle out loud as she scowled at him. Elves and Drow had two different languages and he would push her to stop using her terms without explaining herself by simply using his. “A question for a question and my first one will be what Abbil is and I will assume yours will be what Veluthe is.” She was still for a moment and that is when he caught sight of that long tail of hair flung over her shoulder. He had not seen many drow in his 50 years of life but she was by far the prettiest he had ever seen. After a pause she nodded.

    “Comrade.” A single word. She wasn’t much of a talker. He would blame that on her upbringing, drow females didn’t often like to be lead by males. Arael planned to teach her take his lead, something deep down in him told him that this was going to be HIS drow.

    “Veluthe is beautiful. I thought it fitting.” He said placing a hand on the small of her back. She stiffened and stopped mid step giving him an evil drow glare.

    “Hands off!”

    “Ask nicely.” He taunted her. If she had no other choice but to have to hire this man as a guide she would have killed him from the beginning. This male knew how to push all her buttons, some of them being the right ones to push.

    “Please resist touching me.” She rephrased herself and sighed before taking steps in the direction he had been leading her. “Next.”

    “Oh you remembered my rules! Okay Veluthe...” Another glare and he smirked. “…Why are you on the surface?”

    “To please my god.” Short, simple, and anything but sweet. “What are you?”

    “Not an elf, and not human.” He resisted the urge to lead her by placing a hand on her back, perhaps lower if he really wanted to push her. “What god?”

    “Vhaerun.” This time she was the one to smirk. She knew that her short answers irrated him to no end, just as his endearments irrated her. That smirk was all he needed, all he needed to know that he could push her a little more. His hand landed on the roundness of her bottom in a light smack. Veldrin growled deeply wanting to pull her weapon and be every bit as blood thirsty as her people were supposed to be.