Hunted Part: 4 10/2005

Padding along the cold wet stone floor Lucian moved from shadow to shadow as a ghost. He had been here before and knew his way well but details had changed and movement often caused his heart to stop as suddenly as his body.
Ahead he saw the stairwell leading upwards towards his goal.
Torches set in sconces lit the area in front of the stairs but flooded the stairwell with inky darkness. Making sure no prying eyes were about he sprinted the short distance towards the steps. At the last instant he noticed something moving towards his head. Moving too quickly he couldn't stop nor drop to avoid the blow so he raised his arm defensively.
Flinching his head away he saw sparks as a heavy blow landed against his arm and glanced off of his skull. He felt a sharp awkward pain in his forearm and heard an audible snap from a bone breaking as he fell to the side. Rolling as best he could he still managed to flop like a rag doll onto his side.
He lay there a moment trying to be aware of the world around him as lights danced before his eyes. He was aware that his attacker was stepping from the shadows and prepared himself for a fight.
"Lucian?" a female voice spoke with surprise. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" the voice belonged to a somewhat curvy lady wielding an impressive and very hard staff. She wore simple clothing consisting of pants and a large billowy shirt. Her bare feet showed her toes as they scrunched and wiggled in anger or excitement.
"What's wrong with me? I'm pretty sure you broke my arm." Lucian retorted. He remembered her now...but wasn't entirely sure due to the dancing sparks and ringing in his head.
"Hmm. Well I WAS trying to kill you so I suppose things could have turned out worse for you." the lady leaned on her staff and shook her head in disapproval. She seemed honestly disappointed in her failure to kill him.
"It's nice to see your taste in clothing hasn't changed much. But let me see if I can't do something about that arm so you don't cry." She reached her hand out while stepping forward.
"That's alright. I can tend to it myself. I've picked up a few things since my last visit." Lucian retorted.
As he cradled his wounded arm he closed his eyes and began to speak softly. Soon it seemed as if his arm were becoming hidden in a shadow that grew deeper and darker until at last his entire arm was hidden in a black inky cloud. As his words finished he shuddered and with a soft *whoosh* the cloud of darkness flew apart leaving his arm whole and healed.
The lady whistled a longish low note of appreciation. "Wow. Dark healing magic huh? I guess you did learn a thing or two." she leaned on her staff and stared at him. "Yer not very good at it if you can't even care for all those cuts on your chest and stuff. How's about we get those taken care of...and maybe find you some pants or something? Lunch is soon and I want to keep my appetite."
Lucian smiled at her playful jibes and pulled himself up to stand. "You know what Devlin? It's good to see you again....and I might just take you up on those offers."
With that he swayed over towards her, the room spinning. His last thought before watching the hard stone floor rush at him was that perhaps his head had been struck harder than he first thought.