Lydia woke long after the break of day to the gentle touch of a young woman. She sat up, stretched and yawned, and looked at the young woman. This young woman was panicking. "Come quick miss." She said, her face covered in fear. "You won't believe… By Driess…" She then quickly ran out of the room, muttering to herself and hurrying down the stairs and towards the common room as the old door shut.
Lydia stretched again, 'It's too early for this.' She thought and stood from the bed. She cleaned the wrinkles from her black dress (she had changed to blend in) with a touch of magic, and walked out of the room. As she came down the stairs and into the bar area, only to see what felt like every person in the non-magi town turning and looking at her as she took step after step. "Good morning…" She said, cautiously. A plate of eggs and porridge was placed in front of her as she sat at a table, but it was obvious that even the girl who set it in front of her was shaking.
Old man Davith was the one who finally broke the silence. "Miss… You came with… with that man yesterday, right?" She nodded, because her mouth was full. "Then… then you knew what he was… right?"
She swallowed and then, nervous herself, replied, "And… What is he?"
"A dead raiser." The man replied, looking around. The others around him nodded.
Lydia raised an eyebrow, "How do you know that?"
"Look outside Lydia..."
The woman ate one more bite, then with her mouth full walked towards the door. She opened it and stuck her head out. Two skeletons with long spears walked down the street, and when she turned her head, another skeleton with two short swords was walking behind them. She pulled her head back in and shut the door behind her, before turning back to the table and walking, slowly and deliberately, back to her seat. She then put two more spoonfuls of porridge in her mouth, and swallowed hard. "I'm gonna kill that man." She muttered, after getting a small sip of water from a mug that the woman had brought to her seat.
"But… but he is one… isn't he?" Davith insisted, his eyes serious.
She swallowed. "Yes." She said at length.
The non-magi paused for a moment as Davith nodded, then cheered, shocking Lydia to no end. "Then the prophecies are coming true…" Davith said. His eyes were swimming with tears, and he wiped them off quickly. "Sorry miss Lydia. I swear I don't do it often." The woman nodded, her mouth half full and open in shock. It would be a small bit of porridge falling from her mouth that finally brought her back to reality. The men continued to cheer, and the innkeeper even gave everyone a round of beer in celebration.
Only Davith seemed to notice the woman wasn't cheering with the rest. "What's the matter my dear?" She swallowed, and just shook her head. He just laughed. "What? Did you believe all those stupid rumors the Wizards have been spouting?" He laughed a hearty laugh and sat across from her. "Don't believe a word of it. This land was once green, fair, and full of life. It shall be so again!" The men cheered his statement and a song broke out in the corner. Lydia, however, was not in the mood for celebration, nor was she anything but in a state of shock.
"I just…" Lydia began. Davith was patient. "I just don't know what to think. First they're extinct… then there's only one… then there's people who actually like them…"
"Of course! Why wouldn't we?" Davith said with a grin. After a few seconds of silence, the man continued, a little more somber. "Listen young lady. My family has been on the council or heavily involved with this city for thousands of years. While the stories of the… dead raisers… have faded in most of the world, we in Portal have never forgotten their love of the living, the non-magi, and the many benefits they gave to our ancestors."
"Love of the living…" The Druidess repeated, the disbelief evident in her voice. "Then why use the dead?"
The man frowned. "Why not use the dead? True, death nurtures the soil, and provides rejuvenation for life, but it is also true that the living must continue life. The dead will return to the soil, just as we all must my dear. Do not fret. What a Nec… they do is provide a use for the dead to aid the living before their eventual return to the cycle of the world. Driess blessed it himself."
"That… that I find hard to believe." She muttered. "But then again, I do not worship Driess."
"Oh…" The man looked her over. "Enchantress or Druidess?"
"Pardon?"
"Which are you? Enchantress or Druidess? I would hate to misrepresent you."
"Druidess."
"Then Dryassiad would welcome and indeed praise your decision to travel with the new Master." He smiled and looked into her eyes. "My dear woman… it is clear that you have no real knowledge of the real history of this city, or your own people." He stood. "If it wouldn't impose your ladyship, (for you're of high blood if I am a reader of people at all) I would love to take a walk with you. It will be more than safe enough you believe." She pointed to her food and he nodded. "When you are finished then. Though if the rumors are true, I think I'll take your eggs." He grabbed them and ate them quickly, not that the Druidess wanted them. "I think… you ought to know the history of the Davith family and Portal." He nodded, and walked out of the door and into the street beyond to wait for her, humming a happy tune that Lydia had never heard before. Lydia's eyes went back to her food, and her mind wandered down a great many paths. Soon, the piece of paper was out again, and more questions were added to it as she shoveled food into her mouth. She then quickly packed up the paper, quill, and ink, then followed the old man out the door.
"This was my childhood home." Davith said, his eyes focusing on a decrepit house that was missing part of the roof. "It was the second time that my father had been forced out of his home by the council."
"Looks like nobody has been living there for some time." Lydia commented, looking at the yard and the hole in the roof.
"Unfortunately, there's a family of six in there right now." Davith said, looking at the house with a frown. "The hole was created by a magi shortly after my family moved in, and there's been a force that blows up any attempt to fix the roof... This is the type of squalor and treatment that we have been living in for over 100 years. Ever since the magi took over the council all those years ago." He looked at the Druidess. "My dear daughter of Lords, would you ever allow your people to live in this level of squalor?"
"Never." Lydia said quickly, and then instantly her brain brought to mind the slums. The dedicated non-magi areas of the green, where the people… "Well…"
"So this is going on around you, and you've done nothing?" Davith shook his head. "No wonder there's movements to kill all of the magi."
"There's what?!" Her disbelief was obvious, but the man didn't even look fazed.
"Doesn't surprise me that you don't know. When was the last time you talked to a non-magi when you didn't have to?" Lydia thought… "It's been a while eh?" He chuckled darkly. "Seems like you have some supremacist tendencies yourself."
"But I'm not… I'm not…"
"Relax girl." The old man said, patting her on the shoulder. "Just because you haven't noticed before, doesn't mean you can't make it right when you get home, or even now." He smiled at her, and then turned. "Let's keep walking, shall we?" They continued their walk, moving closer and closer to the entrance that Lydia had walked in just a few hours earlier. Davith either didn't mind the silence of his companion, or his voice carried enough for both of them, for as they walked, he would talk about the town. Who's house belonged to whom, when that family and this family got run out of town, but as they rounded a corner on a street, it was then that the Druidess saw something that stuck with her and altered her perception even more than the old man's stories…
A woman was hiding in the alleyway ahead of them, cloaked in an old looking hood that she had pulled down over her clothes. She was looking both ways to avoid the skeletons. (While skeletons have increased senses during the night, it is during the day that they must rely on their normal sight, if they can truly see without eyeballs.) Once the woman saw that there were no skeletons around, and seeing the two of them walking freely, she quickly walked up to the two of them. "What in the hells are you two doing?" She hissed. "Hide you fools."
"What for?" Lydia answered. "The skeletons don't seem to want to deal with us, and we are just walking."
The woman shot them both with a look of confusion. "Doesn't matter anyways, stupid fools. Get me some food and water. Quick."
It was Davith who spoke up now, and with a great smile stated: "No."
The woman shook her head slightly. "I'm sorry… I thought you just told your betters 'no' you filthy non-maj."
"Non-magi, am I. But I'm not your slave."
"It's all you lot are good for." She turned her venom on Lydia now. "Are you just gonna let him talk back to his betters? Surely a fellow woman knows that you non-maj are there to-"
"Shut up, you Geez's whore." Davith responded, interrupting the woman with a look of anger. "I don't care if you are Magi or not, we're not your slaves, and I'd try to kill you if I was."
The woman now threw the cloak to the side and it revealed the bright emerald green clothes that she wore underneath the tattered hood. The clothing was a fine make, much like Lydia's own traveling clothes had been back in Woodstand. The dress she was wearing only went to her knees, and showed more than she meant to, as there was a long rip in it that went to the top of her hip. The dress and top was lined with silver and gold, and an emblem that held Lydia's attention. The Silver Petals of House Daisy. Lydia took a step back in shock. She had never considered that one of the major houses…
"Looks like the woman knows her place." The Druidess of House Daisy stated, misinterpreting Lydia's step backwards for her noticing a massive mistake and looking down her nose at the others in front of her. "Now shut up and-"
"Go to Geez." Davith interrupted, grabbing his staff and holding it in front of him. "You have enough in common."
"Shut up, you insect." The woman hissed, looking around again, but Davith was quick to take advantage of her distraction.
"GUARDS!" Davith shouted at the top of his lungs. "GUARDS! SURVIVOR! OVER-" The leaves that had fallen onto the ground suddenly wrapped around his face and began to choke him and blind the old man. He gasped and grabbed at the leaves, pulling some away, but they were quickly replaced with more from the ground and nearby trees. The Druidess from the House of the Daisy's eyes looked hard and long at the man, her magic pouring out of her in her rage. Lydia watched for a couple of seconds, completely in shock at the sudden turn of events. 'If I don't do anything, Davith will…' Then Lydia pulled on her own magic.
The glow from Lydia's magic didn't catch Davith's eyes, (non-magi can't see the glow like magi can) but it certainly caught the other Druidess'. "What in the-" Lydia didn't give her the chance to finish her sentence as two nearby trees lept on their roots and charged the woman from the House of the Daisy. The weeds at her feet grabbed her and held her fast. The ground itself suddenly began to swallow her and the weeds were simply helping to bury her little by little. The woman screamed and poured her magic into trying to take control of Lydia's trees, roots, and the dirt at her feet, but Lydia was by far more powerful than this pathetic excuse of a woman. Almost as quickly as the impromptu attack on Davith had begun, it ended with the Lady from the House of the Daisy getting a hard hit on the top of her head and falling to the ground, her head bloody and the rest of her body twitching on the road. According to Davith, after he had caught his breath and turned his attention back to the women, Lydia was still looking venomously at the other woman, but tears were streaming down her cheek. She was breathing almost out of control, and the moment that Davith touched her shoulder Lydia collapsed and began to cry. A screech of anguish escaped her, and she didn't stop her tears for quite some time. According to Davith, almost an hour.
That's how the Skeletal guards found the two of them as they came running just a few moments later. Kneeling, Lydia in Davith's arms as he just rubbed her long hair, Lydia crying so hard that snot, tears, and even a little drool mingled on the road beneath them and on the older man's clothes, and the fast cooling corpse of a Druidess in front of them.