Marked by Darkness 'or' Of Warts and Men

"Ho, a saucy wench." her abductor chortled. "Your foolish holy man cannot help you now. You have been marked by darkness, little one, and from now on you will serve it's purposes."

"Never!" Tarsa snapped, to angry to wonder what he meant. But the dark- cloaked one was already walking away, yelling for someone.

"Sol! Sol!" he shouted. "Appear at once!"

A small hunchbacked man stepped from the shadows. They exchanged a short whispered conversation, of which Tarsa could only make out the words "Carry out your mission", spoken by Dark-Cloak to the one called Sol. Then Dark-Cloak stepped into the shadows and dissapeared. Tarsa blinked. Had he really vanished into thin air? But there was no time to ruminate. Sol was approaching, dragging a strange boxy red contraption on wheels. Tarsa finally got a good look at his face - it was small, red and puffy, with an ugly large nose and huge black spectacles over his eyes.

"I'm really sorry about this." Sol said, his voice shrill, whiny and nasal. "I'm sure you're a nice lady and all."

He unchained her from the wall and pulled Tarsa toward the red contraption. She squealed and thrashed, but the cords around her wrists and ankles were sound.

"Oof!" Sol whined, finally dumping her into the cart. "You're a heavy one for your size. You really shouldn't struggle. Life is always easier when you don't struggle."

He picked up the rope tied around one side of the cart, and started wheeling Tarsa further into the torchlit cavern.

"Who are you?!" Tarsa cried. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't introduce myself. My name is Sol. I know all this must be uncomfortable for you, but please try to relax. I was told they wouldn't try to hurt you."

"Hurt me?! This is bad enough! I'm being carted like a stack of hay!"

Sol stopped, apparently out of breath. "Oh, I'm tired. My back hurts. You think you have problems? I slipped on soap - a bar of soap - and sprained my back. I was in pain - so much pain - simply agonizing, horrible, tortuous pain. Do you know how painful that can be?"

"I'm really sorry." Tarsa said with as much sympathy as she could muster. Maybe this Sol could be swayed somehow.

"And my wife and son were there, and they just laughed. There I was, writhing and crying in this awful, awful agony, and they just laughed at me. Do you have any idea what it's like to lie there in horrible pain, and to have your own flesh and blood laugh and mock and throw things at you like that?"

"It must have been terrible." Tarsa said. She surprised herself by actually feeling sorry for this pathetic, whiny little man who seemed to be in so much pain.

Sol picked up the rope and started dragging Tarsa again. "Oh, just horrid. And I also have these terrible warts all over my ass and genitalia. Would you like to see them? Maybe with your healing powers..."

"N-no!!" Tarsa squealed. "Please, kind sir, I have no training at all in proctology..."

"Oh, but are you sure? These warts, they're really red, and bubbly, and sometimes they pop. Do you have any idea how much it hurts me when the warts in my ass explode? It's just such god-awful pain."

"M-maybe the priests at the town could help you." Tarsa shuddered. "If you would just take me back to Agear town..."

"Why, what do they do there?" Sol enquired. "Do they use boots?"

"Well, they have, um, laying on of hands and such."

"Really? They don't use a boot?"

"Huh?"

"They don't take a boot to it? I heard somewhere they use a boot - you know, just kinda boot me in the ass real good, kick the warts down there. Cause they're really painful warts. Sometimes I wake up screaming, cause these warts keep popping down in my ass, and it's just awful, awful agony, so much I just would wish I would die. And my back - oh, it hurts like a bastard. I thought maybe the priests could maybe kick me around a little bit, chant a few spells, maybe boot me in the ass a few times. Would they do that?"

"I-I don't know." Tarsa said weakly. Sol had carted her out of the natural caves, and into a manmade, torchlit corridor, strange black and red glyphs shining on the walls. Suddenly she recognized the place.

"T-this is the Sanctuary of the Seal!" she gasped. "This is where the Horns of Valmar are sealed! Why are you taking me here?!"

"Mister Melfice said if I took you here he would boot me in the ass." Sol said, a glimmer of hope in his voice. "And he said he would straighten my back out. Are you sure this is the right place? I'm in so much pain."

Melfice? It must be the man in the dark cloak, Tarsa decided. Her mind reeled in terror. Why was she being taken to the Seal? This was where the Ceremony was to take place, two weeks from now. But a contingent of priestesses was necessary - she certainly couldn't do it alone, and not when she was bound hand and foot for some evil purpose. Suddenly Melfice's words rang in her mind: "You have been marked by darkness, and from now on you will serve it's purpose".

"Sol!" she cried. "You have been tricked! To go any further is certain death for us both! You must turn back!"

"What? No!" Sol whined. "Mister Melfice said he could slap me around. I'm very insecure. I need protection. He said he would slap me silly and boot me in the ass."

Tarsa fell back into the cart hopelessly. This man was obviously insane, in addition to his other problems.

"I can boot you in the, uh, ass." she finally volunteered. "If you would just free me..."

"You have very small feet." Sol sniffed. "Your little shoes couldn't kick my warts. I'm very insecure. Anyway, we're already here."

Tarsa gazed wide-eyed at the huge chamber they had entered. The walls were decorated all with the same black and red glyphs, but one's attention was immediately drawn to the center of the room. An elaborate sigil glowed on the floor, surrounded by four floating orbs, each several times the size of a man's head. But tendrils of darkness were twined around each one, showing the extent to which Darkness had begun to invade - or perhaps escape from - this place.

Sol pulled Tarsa from the cart and began dragging her toward the glowing sigil on the floor. Near-hysterical with fear, she kept trying to bargain with him. "I know this guy called Fred - he could kick you around all you wanted! He could slap you around real good." Sol seemed unimpressed. Inwardly Tarsa was very angry at Fred - for all his talk, he had not been able to protect her. Or maybe... maybe he was on his way? Tarsa's heart skipped a beat when she pictured Fred racing through these corridors to save her. Would he really ever come?

"There." Sol said, dumping a squirming Tarsa in the middle of the sigil. "Now what did Mister Melfice say? Stay in the sigil? Or stay out of the sigil? I can't seem to remember. Oh, dear..."

Suddenly, both he and Tarsa screamed as a thick dark mist bubbled forth from the ground to envelop them.

1. 'Oh God I'm in so much pain!!!" Sol shrieked, Tarsa's screams next to him echoing through the chamber.

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