She led the way in silence away from the great rock, taking the mercenary down to the forest floor, where her footfalls were nearly silent. She seemed to revel in the greenness of it all, stopping occasionally and drawing deep breaths with her eyes closed in pure contentment. Vambran tried to do the same, though it was hard to appreciate the beauty of the moment when there was so much going on, and so little time to resolve the cascade of events that seemed to be falling all around him.
The thought of running never seriously crossed the man's mind, for he would not leave his companions behind, and he knew that she knew it. He did consider the possibility that he had been led out away from the others so that he would not be a witness to some dire fate for them, but he did not see the druids as being so devious. If they had wanted to kill the other five Crescents, they would have done so.
"You are wrong, you know," the woman said, turning to the lieutenant at last, a hint of a grin on her face. Vambran shook his head, not understanding her, but she added, "I have been to Shining Arrabar."
That had been the last thing the lieutenant had expected her to say. He waited for her to explain.
"I went there once, perhaps twenty summers ago. Your Lord Wianar and I were not seeing eye to eye over the encroachment of his population into my woods. I explained to him that, regardless of whether or not the elves had departed toward Evermeet, the humans would not be expanding into the Chondalwood."
Vambran gasped. "You!" he said, dumbfounded. He remembered the incident she spoke of clearly. He had been six years old, and there was a celebration taking place at the Generon. He could not have cared less at the time, but the festivities were to honor a "new era in expansionism." Right in the middle of Lord Wianar's speech, a woman dressed in verdant green clothing had hopped onto the stage and warned him against encroaching into the forest. Vambran still remembered the final warning: If death is all you can understand after all these years, feel free to pursue the matter. He had only learned later that the woman was Shinthala Deepcrest, a hierophant druid infamous throughout the Reach.
The realization that he had tongue-lashed one of the most powerful members of the druidic order back at the great rock gave Vambran serious pause. "You," he repeated, barely able to breathe the word.
"Yes," Shinthala said, obviously pleased with the reaction she had garnered from him.
Vambran, flustered, mumbled and stumbled over his words for a moment before managing to get out, "I was simply trying to make you see that you do not know me, my heart, and to make judgments about me based solely on your preconceptions is a dangerous fallacy. I meant no disrespect, Elder Deepcrest."
Shinthala waved his explanation away. "Of course you did," she said. "But I deserved it. Do not fret, Son of Arrabar. I find your passion, your dedication to your ideals, refreshing. And you remind me that I should not label all others by their outward appearances. I offer apology for losing my temper before." She turned then and walked on for a while, allowing Vambran a moment to gather his wits.
When he caught up to her again, Shinthala said in a troubled voice, "Tell me why the killing has begun to grow worse. Edilus thinks that someone is trying to draw the Emerald Enclave into your wars through viciousness and butchery. I say it is simply the nature of soldiers to fight until one side or the other is dead."
"I say that Edilus may be right," Vambran said, to which the woman paused and turned back to him, one eyebrow raised.
"How would you know this, Son of Arrabar?"
Vambran smiled. "Though my soldiers and I are not here of our own volition, we are here nonetheless. I believe that others who have worked against us-against me-back in Arrabar manipulated events so that my unit might be caught up in the midst of the chaos spreading through these woods. I believe they are also in some way responsible for the more vicious turn of affairs here. They scheme and plot for coin, and destroy anyone and anything that stands in their way."
Shinthala grunted and looked to some distant, unseen point. "But the scheming and plotting has gone on since the beginning of time," she said, sighing. "What would make this any different?"
Vambran shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "Though I was trying to find out not so long ago, back in Arrabar. Perhaps I can renew my quest here in the Nunwood," he suggested.
The woman laughed. "Again you suggest a pact!"
Vambran shrugged again. "I don't think we work at such cross purposes that we couldn't join together to put a stop to these events. My alternatives do not seem to be all that promising," he added wryly.
Shinthala laughed again. "That is true, Son of Arrabar." She turned to him and drew the slightest bit closer. "Then again, you might find that the alternatives are not so bad," she said, staring at him with those emerald eyes. She brushed his arm with her fingers. "There are many kinds of pacts to be made," she said, running those fingers up to his cheek.
Vambran blinked in surprise, caught totally off guard at her advances, but before he could respond, she turned and continued her casual journey, running her hands lovingly along the bark of tree trunks she passed along the way.
Several steps ahead, Shinthala glanced back at the soldier. "Don't look so surprised," she said. "Every woman has her needs, and you are easy on the eyes; that is certain."
Vambran found his voice and replied indignantly, "I may have a great need to be released, but I'm not willing to trade my favors for it. I'm not a trollop on the streets of Arrabar, you know."
Shinthala turned back on the lieutenant and snorted. "Is that what you heard? That I was offering a deal? Bed me, and I'll give you your freedom? You must not think as highly of me as you showed before, then. Do I seem that desperate to you?"
Vambran blushed, regretting his words. "Forgive me, Elder Deepcrest," he said, trying to smooth things over. "I-"
Shinthala's anger fled as quickly as it had come. She dismissed his apology with a wave of her hand. "No," she said. "You grew up in the city, as you so passionately explained to me earlier. I should have realized you would read my advances as politic. I should be the one apologizing, for putting you in such an awkward spot." Then her smile softened, became somewhat sad. "I desired you from the moment they brought you before me," she said, blushing. "I do not often act on such impulses, especially with soldiers who destroy my forests, but there was something… urgent… about you, and it sparked a fire in me." She looked down, then, staring at the ground between them. "I felt torn, angry with myself for experiencing such feelings. That is why I was so harsh before." Shinthala took a deep breath then, as though gathering her courage, and returned her gaze to Vambran's. Her voice was tremulous. "I would share your bed, but only if you were drawn to me as I am to you, and only for its own reward. I do not play those games, warrior, regardless of our current situation. That is not my way." She turned and hurried along the trail again then, hiding her face from his.
Vambran pursed his lips in thought, then caught up to the woman and took her hand firmly in his own, stopping her and turning her to face him. She struggled to meet his gaze, and he saw that her emerald eyes glistened. "Then you flatter me," he said. "And I have not said no," he added.
Shinthala regarded him thoughtfully, seeming to study his eyes. She smiled, and he wanted to kiss her. "I am a simple woman, Son of Arrabar, and we have met under remarkably complicated circumstances. I don't know what the future holds for either of us, but sometimes the simple pleasures help make the complicated things clear." Then she began to stroll once more, her movements decidedly more lithe than he remembered.
"Vambran," he said, catching up one last time. "My name is Vambran."