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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3367725" data-attributes="member: 143">The “Doomed Bastards” in the Dungeon of GravesBook 3Chapter 111UNFINISHED BUSINESSDar turned as the knock sounded on the weathered wooden door.  Before him, on the tussled blankets at the end of his bed, lay a pair of leather packs, each bulging with gear.  The rest of the room was in disarray, but it was a nice room, comfortable with old but quality furnishings.  The fighter, even in a clean shirt of black silk and with hair and beard that had seen a recent trimming, looked out of place in it.  Valor hung at his side in its scabbard. He continued putting items into the second of the two packs.  The knock sounded again. “Come in,” he said, without turning. The door opened, and Allera entered the room.  The healer looked far better than she had when they’d found her in Rappan Athuk, although her hair was still extremely short, a faint white fuzz over her scalp, and there were still hints of gray scars on her skin where the unholy sigils had been burned into her flesh.  There was also something haunted in her eyes, a look that showed that what she’d experienced in the Dungeon of Graves was not something that could be healed as easily as her body.“You are leaving?” she asked.Dar closed the cinches on his pack.  “Yeah.  This place... it doesn’t agree with me.”“Where are you going?”“Don’t know yet.  After what happened, anywhere’s starting to sound better than Camar, though.”“If he’s right, then no place is going to be safe.”“Not my problem.”“No, I don’t suppose it is.”“Where’s your little friend?”Allera waved a hand.  “Around.  Since we’ve gotten back, he spends most of his time invisible.  I think he’s a little overwhelmed by Camar.  In some ways, he’s an ancient soul, wise... but in others, he’s like a ten year old.”“He’ll look out for you, though.”Allera walked over to the bureau, and put both of her hands on its surface.  “I thought... I thought you would have come to see me earlier.  To... to collect on the debt I owe you.”Dar didn’t respond.  She turned to face him, but couldn’t quite lift her eyes to meet his.  “Unless... I know I don’t look as I did.”  Almost unconsciously, she drew her arms into her robe, holding them tight against her body. Dar’s jaw clenched.  “Are you going to talk to me?” she asked. “Look, what do you want me to say?  That I was wrong?  That I insulted your honor, called you a whore?  Do you want me to apologize?  Damn it, Allera, I’ve never tried to hide what I am.  I’m a no-good bastard, you knew that from the first minute you met me.”“I just want you to say what you feel...”“What I feel?”  The fighter chuckled grimly.  “Yeah, that’s rich.”  He turned and loomed over her, his body trembling slightly.  He spat words at her.  “I don’t feel.  Anything.”  He turned away from her and walked across the room. “I don’t believe that.”“Your life will be better off without me in it,” he said.For a moment, there was only silence, as neither of them looked at each other.  “Take... take care of yourself, Corath,” she said, softly.  Then she turned and left.</blockquote>

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