Onward, to Blazing Posterity!

[the Black Pig Inn, somewhere in Keska]

Perhaps it was that he left some want of the innkeeper's daughters unattended to. Surely he had been courteous enough towards them, though it was perhaps this courteousness which caused the problem to erupt in the first place.

Whichever the case, Daerinnid was rather unceremoniously jolted awake as his defensive alarm was triggered. The pains he had taken in constructing his alarm system were proven to be more than simple paranoid caution. In the seconds after the book touched the floor, Daerinnid sat upright in his bed and slung a vial of liquid across the room, striking the invader squarely on the head. The vial shattered, as it had been constructed to, and a hissing purple liquid covered the offender's face. She never even had time to scream.

In an instant, Daerinnid realized who it was and what he had done. Thankfully, the girl who had previously been known as Manny was unaccompanied. Running quickly over, he was disgusted to find it was too late. The purple liquid had already entered her system, and she was dead. The resulting fumes were quickly filtering into the surrounding air, so Daerinnid quickly poured a white powder over the aqua mortis to nullify it. Just to be certain, he covered his nose and mouth with a strip of cloth.

Working quickly, Daerinnid grabbed the body's arms and began to drag her towards where he knew the nearest window to be. He was on the second floor, but he managed to prop the window open and shove the body out, watching as it fell into the trash heap below. It was a shame, really, for judging by Manny's attire, she had intended the visit to be a friendly one. Daerinnid had no time to dwell over the fact as he retreated to his room, intent on devising a plan.

It seemed obvious that the poor innkeeper and his family could not be allowed to live. They were more or less honest folk, but they would quickly realize who had killed their daughter. The matching purple stains on her mangled face and the floor of Daerinnid's room would be sure of that. That left Daerinnid with little choice in the matter: he would burn the house.

Fire was not an obsession for Daerinnid, but he admired how well it cleaned things up. If a household were murdered, people would be terrified of a murderer running loose, but if the house were burned, people would most likely attribute the deaths to a hearth fire not properly tended or a misplaced candle.

Of course, the burning of the house depended on the conditions around it. It had been getting hot, so there were bound to be flammable grasses which could pose a threat to the surrounding area. Burning a house was one thing, a forest or grassland fire quite another. Forest fires intruded upon the realms of forest spirits and elves, and Daerinnid preferred not to deal with those creatures.

Mentally cheering his luck as he sat in his room planning, Daerinnid recalled the cleared area around the inn. It meant he could burn the house and would only have to worry about stray sparks. First, he would need to gather materials.

Quietly, hoping nobody had heard the crashing of the book (and they doubtless would have investigated by now if they had), Daerinnid shuffled his way down the hall. His aim was to find as much flammable oil as possible, but the sound of a voice stopped him.

"Ay, mebbe I'll get lucky," the young voice said. Unable to resist, Daerinnid peeked through the lit crack of the door and into Neesa's room. The girl sat in front of a mirror, brushing out her golden hair. She was speaking to her reflection as she did, a rather touching conversation about her sister. "Mebbe I'll be the one in bed wi' that 'andsome young man, 'stead o' that tramp Manny. Neesa, you're th' purdyiest one, ya are, so why's it Manny gets the men? She's too forward, if'n ya ask me."

So Neesa intended to visit Daerinnid as well, though not for a good twenty minutes, by the looks of it. She was still wearing her undergarments, her dress laid neatly on her bed. It was a shame that she would spend so much time dressing up with the intention of being undressed, only to…

Suddenly, it struck Daerinnid. The solution was almost too perfect. Quickly, he fled from the door and slid down the stairwell, careful not to alert anyone in the house. A quick search located a large store of oil for lamps. Daerinnid "liberated" the oil, pouring it out onto the floor. He continued to pour a trail up the stairs, careful to leave enough room for a hasty escape. He made sure to saturate the entrance to the innkeeper's room, where both the innkeeper and his wife lay snoring. Finally, Daerinnid returned to his room to wait.

The wait was not long. Daerinnid cleared the fumes from the purple liquid out of the room and set it up to look as if he was enjoying a late-night book. He purposefully left the door open a crack. There was a soft rapping at the door.

Preparing himself, Daerinnid called softly, "Come in." Neesa timidly pushed into the room, her long blond hair cascading over her pale shoulders and onto the full bodice of her simple blue dress. Her brown eyes twinkled faintly in the flickering candlelight, and Daerinnid pretended to be surprised by her arrival.

"I'm sorry, mista Daerinnid, but I was wonderin'…"

"You look stunning," he told her in a sincere and honest manner. As if on cue, a pale blush colored her cheeks. Neesa nervously fingered a lock of her hair as she took a step forward. Daerinnid pretended to be an honest young man and patted the area of the bed next to him, beckoning for her to approach. "Don't be afraid, fair maiden, I don't bite."

"Oh, I'm not lookin' f'r bitin'," she answered playfully. He smile in response.

"I'm sure you're not."

Careful of her posture, Neesa did a passable imitation of a true lady's walk and seated herself next to Daerinnid on the bed. "I 'ope you won't find it too forward o' me," she said cautiously, "but 'as my sista been in 'ere?"

"No, not at all," he lied, staring sincerely at her. "Not that she can compare with a beauty such as you."

The practiced giggle was artificial, at best, but Daerinnid was well accustomed to such faked displays, being a master himself. The charade would last a few minutes longer before the plan was to be carried out. When she finally finished pretending to be amused, Neesa said, "Good. I'm glad."

Now was Neesa's turn to shine in her role. Batting her eyelashes, she leaned forward against Daerinnid's chest, her hands fluttering over his thin frame. "Oh, mista Daerinnid," she sighed, "you must be so lonely travelin' on th' road! Oh, how I wish I could … comfort you." As she spoke the last words, she ran her fingers in a little circle over his collarbone. "Just… one… nigh--"

The alarmed look that suddenly hit Daerinnid's face stopped her performance. Daerinnid quickly turned away, as if searching the room for something. "Is anythin' th' matter?" Neesa fretted, worried that her advances had failed.

"Shh! I heard something! Wait here, Neesa -- I think someone is downstairs!"

The perfection to which Daerinnid said those lines was truly amazing. The mix of concern and worry for Neesa's well-being, the bravery, the fearlessness, and the excitement. In that instant, Daerinnid was the greatest any hero could ever hope to be. Motioning for her to remain where she was, he crept quietly outside of the room and down the stairs, where a candle was waiting.

Daerinnid set fire to the oil and rushed upstairs. He hurried back to his room, earrings dangling in his ears as he said to Neesa: "Te'nakh'nor! Shh--don't make a sound! We have to escape!"

Neesa, obviously on the verge of screaming, covered her mouth as the fire spread upstairs. Daerinnid crossed the room in two strides and scooped the poor girl into his arms, shouldering his pack in the same motion. He had already collected a good portion of the coins in the house, and everything was ready to go. Daerinnid carried both Neesa and his pack out of the room. The girl was so frightened, she covered her face with her hands and never noticed how the fire was not spreading onto the path Daerinnid walked. By the time they were out the front door, other parts of the house had caught fire and the entire first floor was ablaze. Daerinnid set Neesa down and yelled, "your sister!" Neesa screamed something unintelligible in response and tried to follow Daerinnid's finger to where he was pointing.

"What?? What??" she screamed.

"She jumped out of the window!"

Snatching Neesa's hand, he pulled her forward to where they could see the trash pile. Manny's body was there, lying on top of old vegetables and spoiled meat. Neesa was completely distraught, and as Daerinnid pulled her away again, he offered her the reason for her sister's death.

"Her back--" he breathed heavily, partially due to smoke inhalation, "--she must have broken her back in the fall. There's nothing we can do. Wha-- it's them! The Te'nakh'nor! They're escaping over the ridge!" Daerinnid's finger pointed in the general area of the hills. Neesa, no matter how hard she tried, could not see anything, but her teary eyes accepted Daerinnid's word as true.

Quietly, remorsefully, Daerinnid gripped Neesa to his side, embracing her. "Oh, Neesa, I'm so sorry."

The show was far from over, and the next turn it took was decidedly not in Daerinnid's plan.

A fiery figure ran out from the house, fire streaming from its body. Daerinnid was shocked by its appearance, so much so he dropped his heroic charade for a moment and simply gawked in openmouthed disbelief. Neesa never noticed, she was so consumed by grief. While a shocked Daerinnid struggled to regain his own composure, the figure--the innkeeper, he realized--came barreling towards them. Less than twenty feet away, he stopped, his clothing burnt to nothing, his skin practically nonexistent, and collapsed.

It took another five minutes for Daerinnid to close his mouth.

Only then did he remember the danger of the grasses. "Neesa!" he hissed, his true voice lacking heroic qualities. "The fire! We can't let it spread! If it does, who knows how many lives could be endangered? Neesa, you have to be strong! I know the pain of losing one's family, so we have to survive! Survive, Neesa, for your family and all your future generations!"

The timing of the speech was poor, but it was the best Daerinnid could manage. He dragged Neesa with him and began stomping on stray sparks. It took a few moments, but soon Neesa was stomping with him, determined to survive this ordeal.

Eventually, the fiery inn died down to smoldering ashes, and Daerinnid lay down on the dry and scratchy grass, exhausted. Neesa lay panting beside him, her breaths ragged and catching in her throat. She crawled onto Daerinnid's chest and collapsed on top of him. Daerinnid wanted to get her hair out of his face but lacked the energy to do so. Instead, he simply stared skyward as the first rays of the sun brightened the clouds overhead.

"Daerinnid?" Neesa gasped. "Am I… Am I really purdier than my sista?"

Groaning, Daerinnid closed his eyes and wished for it all to end.