Instinctively she knew that those words held the story of her life.  And her death.  They were locked away from her just like her past.  For Cediena, her past consisted of Tether’s Dell and nothing more.  No childhood, no parents, no story.   Her fingers traced the delicate patterns on the wall.  Was this a rider followed by hunting dogs?  And here was a woman standing before what looked like a crack in the wall, great monstrosities pouring forth in a horde of bodies.  Did she raise her sword in defiance or jubilation?

“I can stare at this all day and all I will have gotten is hungry.  Time to leave.”  Cediena glanced up at the hole, the cool light of evening filtering through.  Had she really spent the whole day down here?  She shook her head and climbed carefully onto the open tomb, her feet balancing precariously on the edges.

The jump was not as difficult as expected.  Easily reaching the rim of the hole, Cediena pulled herself out of the womb of the earth.  The irony was not lost on her.  She chuckled lightly and stretched.  Then she turned away from her place of rebirth and found the rhaksha.

Or rather, she found what was left of them.  The creatures had been torn to pieces.  Had it not been for the intact skulls, sightless eyes staring into eternity, Cediena would not have been able to discern that these had ever been rhaksha.  Now they were little more than meat.  The four heads were lined in a row facing the tomb as if awaiting her return.  The body parts were scattered before them.  She imagined the heads speaking to her: “Look what we have for you!  A feast of fresh meat for the newly reborn!”  She was no longer hungry.

Cediena looked away, feeling the gorge rise into her throat.  Closing her eyes she steadied herself, and when she could she breathed deeply.  Distantly, she realized her mistake as the smell of death wrenched her gut.  She stumbled to the side and vomited.

Empty, she crawled away from the site of the massacre and when she was far enough she fell upon her back, breathing deeply, the cool evening air soothing her burning throat.

Something had killed the rhaksha.  But what?  She knew they had been right on top of her, just moments from discovering her hiding place within the sarcophagus.  She had heard them, felt their hot breath fouling the still air of the tomb.  Then she had put the amulet around her neck.  After that, she remembered nothing.  It was like waking from a dream, and not being able to remember what startled her awake.

She stood up and cautiously approached the remains, her eyes searching the ground for any record of what had occurred.  Cediena was no Ranger, but she could discern the clawed tracks of the Rhaksha crowding around the entrance to the tomb, chips of rock scratched out in their eagerness.  But something had distracted them.  Bending down near the tracks she soon discerned a different set of tracks.  Larger.  Like dogs.  Or wolves.  Big wolves.

Cediena frowned.  She had never heard or seen wolves in these woods and it seemed a rather unlikely coincidence that they would have migrated here just in time to save her.  Unless, she thought, a pack had been displaced by the rampaging rhaksha horde and while fleeing came upon the small group that had pursued her.  That made some sense but did not ease her worry.  Not only must she be wary of rhaksha, but now murderous wolves were lurking about.  She stood up quickly, her eyes scanning the trees, but no eyes stared back.  At least, none she could see.

Time to move on, before I spook myself to death.  Again.  While the whole world was open to her, Cediena’s current options were somewhat limited.  Tether’s Dell was her first destination.  If anyone were still alive, she would find them.  Perhaps together they could make their way to one of the big cities.  With one last glance at the rhaksha, Cediena turned and headed back to whatever might be left of her home.

Tether’s Dell lay a smoking ruin in the heart of the valley.  As Cediena made her approach from the forest, her heart fell.  Black smoke curled lazily from buildings that still had something left to burn.  The rest with collapsed roofs and empty windows like hollow eyes sat quiet witness to the destruction.  Vultures circled above slowly as if wary about landing to feast.  Or perhaps they were waiting for someone to die?  A small bit of hope rose in her heart and she clung to it.

She ran the rest of the way to the town, stopping at a collapsed section of the palisade to clamber over the shattered wood.  But as she cleared the blockage, hope died.  The vultures were not waiting for death to take one of the townspeople; they waited for several rhaksha laggards to finish their meal.  Quickly, Cediena ducked below part of the wall that had fallen inward and peered through a ragged gap in the wood.  The rhaksha had not noticed her; so intent were they on their meal.  She looked about but did not see any more than the four feasting in the town square.  Four rhaksha.  Just four.

Shouldn’t be a problem for an immortal Kohan, she thought.  Yeah, maybe I can blind them with my candlelight spell.   Could I be any more pathetic?  Kohan are supposed to be powerful leaders, not helpless amnesiacs stumbling around like simple Mareten.  She blinked.  Well, that was rather arrogant.  Where the hell did that come from?  Just my luck I was probably a real bitch of an amulet wearer.  She shrugged.  Worry about personality adjustments later; find weapon now.

The smithy was on the other side of town and the rhaksha were between her and it.  Her best bet was to find one of the fallen militiamen and borrow one of his weapons.  A spear, a bow, even a pointy ragged rock would be helpful.  Then she noticed the fallen watchtower.  Perhaps the good captain has something better.

A quick glance at the rhaksha confirmed they were still busy.  One of the vultures attempted to share and the four rhaksha were jumping about trying to swat the squawking bird from the air.  While they were distracted, another vulture landed and plucked an eye from a corpse.  The rhaksha were incensed.  The vultures, however, began to enjoy this new game.  Thankful for the chaos, Cediena crept from her hiding place and jogged lightly to the broken tower.

There was not much left of the tower; four broken posts still stuck from the ground, the torn ends reaching towards the sky like supplicants.  But there was no mercy to be found here.  The magefire had burned both tower and men and those that survived the blast fell to their deaths when the thing collapsed.  Blackened and charred wood littered the ground.  The burnt remains of a militiaman lay impaled on his own broken spear.  A quick survey garnered a small knife and a handful of coppers.  Cediena thought for a moment about taking his skullcap, but changed her mind when it looked like the helmet and head were well and truly bonded.  She would not get one without quite a bit of the other.  Her stomached quailed but she forced it back under control.

Under the remains of the tower roof rested the body of the captain.  Broken shingles were scattered around him like raindrops.  His eyes stared sightless in disbelief at the darkening sky.  Carefully lifting away the smaller remnants, Cediena uncovered what she could of Jon Drevel’s body.  While his skin was blistered from the burning magefire, the captain’s armor had protected him enough that he survived the blast.  Whether he died from the fall or hours later, she could not discern.  Though she had had no love for the man, she hoped death had come quickly.

With enough of the debris cleared from the corpse, Cediena found what she was looking for: a weapon.  Or, more precisely, she found a sword.  She pulled it from his clenched hand.  No sooner than her fingers closed around the hilt was she suddenly overcome with dead certainty that this had been her sword in another life.  The weight and feel were familiar.  Like home.  The blade was long and slim with a slight curve.  No woodchopper was this sword.  As fine as the shining steel was (for it was not even blemished by the fire) the hilt was exquisite.  A sculpted wolf head joined blade to pommel.  Each hair was so carefully and lovingly rendered, Cediena fancied the head was alive.  Rubies set the eyes ablaze with a look that was at once fury and grim determination.  The blade sprouted from the mouth just like a

Wolftongue

The word sprung to her lips without thought but as she knew the blade was hers, so did she know this was its name.  As a small smile curled the corners of her mouth she became aware of two things.  One, the vultures were no longer squawking and two, there was something perched on the debris above where she crouched.  It was breathing heavily.  Which explained the sudden stink.  Rhaksha!

Cediena leapt back as the beast sprang.  It landed upon the captain’s corpse and leered.  Transferring Wolftongue to her left hand, Cediena spun in a neat pirouette that caught the rhaksha in the neck.  The still grinning head flew over the fallen tower and bounced loudly on the gravel street.  A chorus of infuriated roars accompanied the rush of the three remaining rhaksha as they scrambled over the broken wood.

The lead rhaksha leapt, snarling and clawing as it hurtled towards the lone woman.  Cediena sidestepped as she reached out with her free hand, catching the rhaksha by the throat.  It’s fury cut off in mid-air, the beast could only stare in fear as the Kohan’s grip tightened with a snap and tossed it back into its brothers.  The third rhaksha was bowled over in a tangle of arms and legs but the fourth jumped over the living obstacle and charged on.  Cediena sidestepped again as if following the moves of a court dance; were there such that involved blades and beheading.  But this time she underestimated the length of her adversary’s reach.  Sharp claws tore through her breeches and into her skin.  Suddenly, a deep menacing growl rose out of nowhere.  So feral the noise that it took Cediena a moment to realize that the sound was issuing from her own throat!  The hesitation should have killed her, but the rhaksha was surprised as well.

The woman recovered before the beast and her blade slid smoothly into the rhaksha’s breast.  Dead, it slid off her sword.  She looked up to see the last rhaksha free itself and after a brief look at the Kohan, blood dripping from her sword and hate in her eyes, the rhaksha turned and ran.  Cediena took a step to follow but burning pain shot through her leg from the wound.  I don’t want to chase that thing!  I’m hurt, I’m hungry, and I am damn tired for someone who just “woke up.” But she knew she couldn’t very well let it get away.  If it made its way back to the horde, Cediena would have a lot more problems than a scratched leg and empty stomach.  Kohan she might be, but taking on the heart of Amon Koth’s forces was a sure way to end her brief career.  And if she were somehow remembered in the history books she would probably be relegated to a footnote about a foolish young Kohan who had tossed herself willingly into a meat grinder.  So, despite the protests of both body and mind, Cediena ran after the fleeing rhaksha.