Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3648012" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 211MORNING IN CAMARThe latest storm had passed.  Sunlight slanted in through the single window set high in the wall, but it wasn’t powerful enough to remove all of the frost that covered the outside of the pane. The room was small and comfortable.  The fire in the tiny hearth had died during the night, but the fearsome cold of the morning air outside did not make it into the chamber.  The furnishings were a bit sparse, with an old armoire next to a small table that supported a few miscellaneous items, including a slightly cracked vase full of winter roses.  The room was dominated by the large bed in the center, piled high with blankets. The mound of coverings shifted, and Dar came into view as he rose, groaning as he stretched out the night’s stiffness from his muscles.  He looked around for a moment before he saw Valor hanging in its scabbard from the bedpost, where he’d left it the night before.  His fingers brushed the scabbard; the blade shifted slightly. “Allera?” he called.  He started to get up, but paused at the sudden kiss of cold as he’d drawn back the blankets. She appeared in the doorway.  The healer wore a white robe of soft fleece, the fabric gathering at the crook of her elbows.  She carried a mug from which wisps of steam rose.  Her hair hadn’t grown back fully, but it was long enough now so that it looked merely short, covering the gray scars left from the wounds from her captivity at the hands of the cult of Orcus. Dar grinned.  “That for me?”She came over to him, and offered him the mug.  He took it eagerly, but as he looked into it frowned.  “What is this?”“Herbal tea.”Dar’s frown deepened, and with a soft laugh the healer took her other hand out from behind her back; it held another mug, this one full of strong coffee.  “Ah, that’s more like it.”  The fighter drained half of the scalding liquid in the mug in a few swallows, and let out a pleasant sigh as he faded back into the bed.  “You are an angel, woman.”She smiled, and sipped her own tea as she sat down on the bed next to him.  But after a moment, she turned away, looking out at nothing, toward the window. “Are you all right?” She nodded, and turned back to him.  “I’m sorry.  I just...”He out his coffee down on the small shelf beside the bed, and touched her arm.  “I hope you do not regret last night.”She looked up at him, and smiled.  “No.  No, not that.”“Good.  Because it was pretty gods-damned overdue, if you ask me.”She raised an eyebrow.  “Oh?  Because of my debt?”“You are never going to let me live that down, are you?”She took his hand in hers. “I guess I’ve changed a lot,” he finally said. “We all have.”“No, this is different, I think.”  He glanced at the sword, hanging easily within reach.“It is just a weapon,” she said.  “You are still what you are, Corath Dar.  Maybe a little less selfish.  A little less coarse.  A little less crude, a little less...”“Ah, enough compliments, I think,” he said, leaning back in the bed.  He grimaced slightly and flexed his arm, the new one that Allera had regenerated back for him.  “Still a little stiff?” she asked.  He raised an eyebrow.  “Well, now that you mention it, yes.”She giggled as he reached for her.She spilled her tea, but by that point, neither of them really cared.</blockquote>

Verification