Thank you LT
here is the story of how Zack and Delisha teamed up... their bios are in RolePlaying
Silently entering her tiny room, Delisha stretched out on the bed, careful not to awaken the blonde boy sleeping on the floor. Once she was comfortable, Delisha let her mind drift back, remembering the time she’d first met her new “roommate”. More than a month had passed since their first encounter.
Delisha was singing for her supper at the Crossroads Inn; a packed house that night; one show only!
Before she began to play, some soldiers entered the inn carrying an injured comrade. In a comfortable chair, at the front of the stage, they placed a blonde haired, comatose boy. Slack jawed, his eyes closed, the young soldier sat motionless as Delisha began. Soon her strong, nimble fingers were twisting and bending her lyre strings making them cry out in mournful, harmonic discord… and then she was singing… her deep, melancholic voice resonating throughout the packed pub.
Suddenly, to the total amazement of all those in the tavern, the comatose blonde soldier literally jumped up out of his chair. Spinning around, facing the rest of the patrons, the now wild-eyed warrior began to laugh - a spine-chilling, evil laugh, that sent some customers screaming for the door… others, including his fellow soldiers, drew their swords in fear, not knowing what to expect! Delisha quickly packed up her lyre and slipped out the back; she wanted no trouble here.
As the fates would have it, however, trouble found the young bard two days later, as she was setting up camp for the night. Out of the lengthening shadows, four big men moved in quickly, surrounding her, leaving no chance for escape.
“Well, what have we here?” The toothless leader grinned. “A lonely little bird in need of some company for the night” The other outlaws laughed and hooted, eyeing her up and down.
“My friends will return any moment,” Delisha lied.
“I don’t think so darling,” the leader chuckled, a big, meaty paw reaching out. In an eye-blink Delisha’s boot-dagger was in her hand slashing out, finding its mark!
“OW! Screamed wounded man, quickly withdrawing his bleeding hand, “Why you little…”
“So, the pretty bird has teeth,” chuckled one of the other assailants, also reaching out to touch.
“Leave me be!” Delisha snarled, spinning around and slashing out again, avoiding the grasping hand. Suddenly without warning, a hard fist from behind knocked her to the ground. Gasping for air, she closed her eyes, preparing herself for the worst… hoping they would at least leave her alive.
But before a single hand touched young Delisha, spine-chilling laughter filled the night air. The violent sounds of clashing blades and screams of pain filled her ears. Hot blood splattered everywhere; pumping fresh from deep, death wounds. Suddenly the fighting ended, and the young bard heard only the sound of her own heavy breathing.
Slowly opening her eyes, Delisha found herself nose to nose with the young blonde soldier from the Crossroads Inn, his eyes wild, a weird, unholy smile reaching from ear to ear.
“Please…please don’t hurt me,” the young bard stammered, pleading for her life.
Smiling wider still, the crazy-eyed boy reached down and picked her up, his strong arms lifting her little body almost effortlessly. Delisha was too terrified to even scream, and again she closed her eyes, preparing herself for the pain. But it was not pain that made her eyes fly back open in shock and disbelief, but the strange and eerie feeling caused by an icy-cold tongue licking the blood off her crimson splattered face.
The young bard’s mind was reeling out of control, “What in the Nine Hells is happening?”
Several minutes later, when her licking captor was finished, the crazy boy set Delisha down on her feet, and then he quickly dropped to one knee. His head bowed low.
“She who owns my soul,” rumbled a voice of deepest, darkest malevolence, “Sing for Zack!”
Delisha stood shaking in stunned silence, unable to even breathe, much less sing. The blonde soldier slowly raised his head looking up at the young bard, his dark eyes pleading, begging pools of madness.
“Please, my mistress”, his dark voice pleaded, “Sing for Zack, feed me with your sad songs!”
Delisha took a deep breath, and began singing one of her haunting melodies. Shaking nervously at first, the young bard slowly regained composure as her deep, rich voice filled the night. Back in control, Delisha watched and was amazed at how her music soothed and relaxed the young boy. Zack now lay stretched out on the ground, eyes closed, his body limp and peaceful. The young bard sang non-stop for the next half an hour, then stopped for an instant to listen.
The moment she heard crazy Zack snoring, Delisha slipped off into the darkness.
Less then a week later, little Delisha was deep in trouble again. Following a rumor she’d overheard in some backwater tavern, Delisha snuck into the old graveyard in search of a magical harp supposedly buried along with its owner. Slipping silently into the crumbling crypt, Delisha followed the twisting passageway deep down into the ancient mausoleum, cautiously traversing the cobwebbed-filled corridor until it came to a dead end.
“A dead end?!” The thief-turned-bard quickly stripped off her backpack and began looking for any hidden levers or secret doors. Totally engrossed in her search, Delisha did not hear the sounds of the approaching undead until it was too late.
Unearthly moans and the sound of shuffling feet from behind set Delisha’s hair on end. Spinning around quickly she caught only a brief glimpse of the zombies closing in on her, before their horrible stench forced the young bard to her knees retching out of control.
The undead were all around her. Their icy fingers sending waves of unbearable pain into her tender flesh. Fighting hard just to remain conscious, Delisha slashed weakly at the rotting creatures surrounding her, trying to drive them back, but she could not. The young bard fell limp to the stone floor, warm food for the hungry undead.
Yet, when Delisha regained consciousness a few moments later, all the zombies were dead, hacked into little pieces, and the crazy boy Zack was leaning against the wall cleaning his sword. Noticing Delisha had awakened; the blonde-haired boy smiled his wide demonic smile and spoke.
“She who owns my soul,” rasped his dark voice again, “Sing for Zack, feed me with your sad songs”.
No hesitation this time, Delisha’s deep, heartrending harmonics echoed throughout ancient catacombs soothing and calming the young soldier. Mesmerized by her dark enchanting melody, the crazy boy sat down, his back against the wall, and was soon fast asleep.
“This is the second time this crazy boy has saved my life this week!”
Delisha trembled; the stark reality of her situation sent a cold shiver through her tiny frame. Back in Port Slather she had always been alone, she needed no one, she liked it that way, however, out in these new harsh lands of Talus...
Beginning another song, Delisha’s mind whirled, measuring the pros and cons of teaming up with the crazy, young soldier, Zack.
“HE’S OUT OF HIS MIND, SCARY CRAZY!”“I will not survive on my own in these wild, new lands”.
“NO… REALLY! HE’S CRAZY!”“He will never cheat on me, or lie to me, or hurt me, or treat me bad, ever!”
“You know he’s crazy, right?”“He’s gonna follow me and watch out for me anyway”.
“But he’s crazy!”“He asks only that I sing to him… nothing else does he take or expect.”
“OK… But he’s crazy”“He loves me with all his black soul and has already saved me twice”
“Crazy as a freakin’ loon!”“He is a strong and powerful fighter, who will protect me with his life!”
Three days later, the young Bard, Delisha and her Blackguard companion, Zack, stepped off a boat in Peridotia and took a room at the Challenger's Inn.
) Love stories are okay, as long as Harlequin books would publish it and not Larry Flint.
) Love stories are okay, as long as Harlequin books would publish it and not Larry Flint.
