Bedside Manners

[The Catacombs, beneath the inn]

Neesa had never been more afraid in her life. Behind her, a handful of Te'nakh'nor were crouched, waiting for the lights to go out, and in front of her floated a ghost. Neesa knew what the Te'nakh'nor wanted, but the ghost was an entirely different matter. Neesa's fingernails scraped across the damp stone floor in a futile attempt to escape.

"Pl-please, n-no…"

The ghost floated towards her, feet mimicking the act of walking through the air. As the form grew clearer, Neesa could tell that the ghost was a woman, not much older than herself. The apparition stretched out a hand in her direction, bidding her to stand.

Obligingly, Neesa stood on her shaky legs and watched the ghost, her fear mixed with fascination. The ghost floated through the air towards the end of the tunnel, beckoning. Rather than loose her light source, Neesa followed. The Te'nakh'nor were mere steps behind her, finding some comfort in her shadow. Neesa did not dare to look back. She kept her eyes on the ghost and only the ghost, fearing the spectre might disappear at any moment. As if understanding Neesa's concern, the female ghost only smiled mysteriously.

They traveled through the maze of passages at a fast pace, the Te'nakh'nor always following. The ghost seemed to have a good sense of her direction. Neesa wondered how long she had been down here. The style of dress the wraith wore was old-fashioned, perhaps a little older than Neesa's own, out-of-date dress.As they walked, Neesa grew to trust this ghost. The lonely expression on the dead woman's face was so familiar: a sad longing and loneliness. Every once in a while, the ghost would glance back and smile encouragingly at Neesa.

Gradually, Neesa noticed a pattern on the floor. Her own footprints in the dust.

"Wha' a fool I was, th' trell was 'ere f'r me ta falla' all along."

As if sharing those sentiments, the ghost gave a mock giggle. They reached a deposit of dead bodies, and the ghost paused, pointing.

"Is tha'… your body?"

The ghost sadly inclined her head. The corpse was quite old and was entangled with another corpse of equal age. At first glance, the second corpse seemed to have been dumped on top of the first, but a quick examination showed that was not the case. The two corpses were holding one another, locked in a deathly embrace. Understanding dawned on Neesa. "Your lover…" The ghost nodded again and pointed.

Neesa nearly lept for joy when she saw what the ghost was pointing at. In the dim, eerie light, Neesa could see the faint outline of the stairwell. She looked at the ghost, her eyes filled with admiration.

"Oh, thank ye, thank ye so verra much," Neesa said, here eyes moistening. The ghost motioned for her to hurry as she began to fade. Neesa ran for the stairs, the Te'nakh'nor behind her still cowering in fear at the disappearing ghost.

As she ran, Neesa imagined she heard words being spoken. "This is no place for the living," the voice said. "Hurry now--my work here is done." Though she was not looking back, Neesa could tell that the ghost was fully gone now as she pounded up the stairs in the darkness. She slammed into the door at full force.

Neesa turned and bolted the door behind her as four small bodies thudded on the other side. In the darkness, there was little the creatures could do. They were solid and could not pass through the door. They were locked in there for all eternity with the dead bodies.

In the darkness of the inn, a small voice said, "Neesa?"

He had waited for her.

Certain that she had gone into the basement and died, Daerinnid had been holding a silent funeral watch for his lost follower. He was on the verge of sleep when he heard something pounding up the cellar stairs. For a moment, he thought it to be Neesa's killer, come to finish the job, but it was Neesa. He was even more confused when he heard sounds on the other side of the door.

"Te'naaak'noa," she explained, panting heavily.

"What!?" he exclaimed, leaping to his feet as Neesa sank to the floor. The trapped creatures cried out horribly and set their claws into the door, but the door held. Now the reason for the metal plating on the reverse side of the door was apparent. Some mischief-making Te'nakh'nor had found their way into the inn and become trapped in the darkness. The innkeepers at the time had been smart enough to prevent them from escaping. The tactic was rather brilliant, and Daerinnid took note of it. Certainly it would come in useful at some point. Daerinnid suddenly remembered Neesa. "Neesa, are you hurt?"

"Jus' a li'l," she mumbled, Daerinnid used the door to steady himself as he crouched down beside her, then brought his hand to his face, horrified. The door was coated with her blood.

Without waiting for her consent, Daerinnid grabbed Neesa by the arm and helped her to her feet. Though walking obviously caused her great pain, she did not cry out, and the tears on her face were old and nearly dry. It took some effort, but Daerinnid managed to half-carry Neesa up the stairs and to one of the other bedrooms, recalling that the blood in his room made it an inappropriate place in which to treat her wounds.

The room Daerinnid chose had not been used recently, but it was clean and quiet, and that was all he needed. Neesa carefully slid onto the bed, her back facing upwards so Daerinnid could examine her wounds.

This was Daerinnid's first exposure to actual wounds made by Te'nakh'nor. He was not likely to forget it. Claw marks crisscrossed Neesa's back, painting a red lattice on her fair skin. The wounds were dirty and would have to be cleaned. Daerinnid followed one of the bigger gashes with his finger, tracing the seemingly impossible loop that one inventive little hand had made. There were four distinct sets of hands at play here; one sported seven fingers while another had only three. A third set had a split nail, evidenced by a sort of double furrow.

"Here, wait just a moment, I'll go get some water."

"'Kay," she answered to his retreating form. His footsteps could be heard clearly as he stomped downstairs and back. The door clicked and he returned to the bed with a washbasin and rag.

"This will hurt," he said simply, taking the wet rag and pressing it gently against her back. Neesa hissed as the cold liquid burned her skin. Daerinnid peeled away strips of her dress from where they were stuck to her back as he washed the area. He knew that the act of peeling the cloth hurt her, yet she did not call out or even cry. Something in that cellar had changed her, but for better or worse?

When at last he seemed content with the cleanliness of the wounds he left her without warning and returned a few moments later with a jar from his pack. Neesa turned and watched him from the corner of her eye, suppressing a giggle as he struggled with the oversized cork on the container. It came loose too suddenly and forced Daerinnid to step back in an attempt to keep his balance. Rather than start laughing, Neesa turned her face away and buried it into the pillow, biting her lip at the humor. Daerinnid would have been rather upset to know how funny he looked.

Completely oblivious to Neesa, Daerinnid took a handful of ointment and began to spread it on her back. The ointment was cold to the touch and forced Daerinnid to work quickly as his fingers turned numb. Neesa let the numbness dull her pain and gave a small smile.

"Daer?" He only grunted in response, but Neesa continued. "I jus' wanna say… be yoursel'."

"Huh?" he replied, slowly coming out of his trance.

"Ya c'n stop pretendin' 'round me, I don' care."

"Neesa, I don't know what your--"

"Ya do," she protested. "Ya allus try to look like yur bein' good an' all that, bu' it's okay. You c'n jus' think o' ya'sel' firs' like ya wan' ta."

Daerinnid shook his head. "Nonsense. You're just imagining things." Neesa sighed at his reluctance to admit his charade, somehow not surprised. Clearly he had never expected his ploy to be discovered by some farmgirl he thought to be far stupider than himself.

Yet as he pulled up a chair to Neesa's bedside, Daerinnid would never forget what she had said.

"Get some sleep, Neesa. I'll be right here when you wake up."