Role

Chapter 2

The scent of briny sea air intermingled with the distant clamor of Hamsah's
busy port, dimly heard through the dense morning fog that had crept its way
into the city. Standing on the Street of Guilds, Unalethekai grinned to
himself and muttered a brief prayer to the Storm for Strength as he watched
Alzinghul, Ikda, and the duergar thief Yashemsomething advance down the
crowded lane towards him.

"Keep behind me, lass, and don't let that orc get his teeth into you. This is
goin' to be rough" Una quipped to Illian, who hovered in the air over his
shoulder.

Then, they were upon them. Bracing himself for the impact, Una met the Orc's
charge with his own shoulder, waiting for the duergar to step out of the
shadows. Nothing, in his opinion, is more dangerous than the evil you don't
know. Or can't see. He barely felt the knife sink into his side, but it was
all the opening he needed. He struck out at the thief, nearly taking his
black, greasy haired head from his shoulders with one blow before the
bilge-rat turned up its tail and fled.

Striking the thief had cost him precious time, and having been so long from
dry land, he was feeling stiff and rusty. Combined with Ikda's constant,
powerful blows that nearly crushed his platemail with every strike, Alzinghul
was bashing the beast of a Paladin into the ground, slowly but surely. Too
late, he thought to retreat, and uttered a prayer of recall, and the dark had
begun to close in when suddenly a screech of fury filled the air as the
golden eagle plummeted down from the low clouds that hung like smoke over the
city. Padwei had arrived. His love. His savior.

The eagle landed on his shoulder, and life flowed into him. As gravely
injured as he had been, a cut away from death, the cost of Padwei's
altruistic prayer nearly killed her outright. Almost simultaneously, Una
staggered to his feet and dissapeared, transported a few blocks away to the
temple from the prayer he had already uttered.

"Padweiiiii!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, nearly shaking the
foundations of Hamsah's ancient temple with the thunderous roar even as he
sprinted back to the fight.

He could hear the shrill warnings of Illian as he approached the melee. "Take
off! Take off!" she screamed at the eagle, who was being crushed beneath the
weight of orc and fire giant. Too late.