The binding of Shrinto

While Castor still lived in Tau, he and Timwid the Dwarf would go on many a small adventure down the twisting caves that riddled the coast. Late one evening, a storm brought wreckage of a pirate ship to the shore, and Castor vowed to search the caves for gold. The two of them wove down the dripping, slippery tunnels, finding nothing but scraps of wood and the occasional mangled corpse.

Down and down they went, until their path was blocked by a raging stream, swollen by the storm. Timwid began to wade across, and Castor was about to follow when shapes erupted from the water and dragged Timwid below, and away down the stream. Castor waited to hear his friend call out in reassurance, but the only sound was the roaring of the beck. Castor swallowed nervously, gripped demonchaser (his sword) tightly, and jumped into the frothing water.

For a second, the torch on the floor of the cave threw orange light through the water, but quickly it sputtered out, as Castor struggled to take a breath in the darkness. As the stream tossed him, and he lashed out at nothing, Castor began to panic. The cave was death, that same dark, cold panic, that gripped you and claimed you, and blurred the line between the world and the endless black of the long sleep.

But it did not take him. Castor's lungs were aching when he saw a dim blue glow, and he flailed towards it, finding air in a small cavern. Four figures stood in the cavern, three furiously fighting. A drenched Timwid was fighting two pirates. She parried and slashed with Wyrvenheart, moving with a force that neither pirate could match. Yet blood flowed from her shoulder, and Castor could see that she was weak, and he realised she would have been attacked before she could leave the water. He did not have the same problem, and dived into the fight full of the adrenaline from his panic.

The two of them fought back to back, their movements in tune despite the suddeness of the situation. The blades flashed in the dim blue light that shone from between the hands of the fourth person in the cavern. They were small, smaller than Timwid, and cowered next to a rock with fear. Castor could not see their face.

When at last the pirates fell, Castor and Timwid turned on the figure. "Who are you, whose side do you stand on?" The figure shivered, and stammered "Shrinto. My name is Shrinto. I wanted to be free from those pirates, but... I needed your help. I can conjure things, like my light, but knew I could not fight them alone."

"Did you make the stream take Timwid?" asked Castor. The silence from the gnome that stood infront of him spoke volumes, and Castor raised his hand to strike her, but Timwid pulled him back. "Wait, Castor, she only wanted to help. I don't mind a good fight if it's to help someone out, you know that." Castor grimaced, but had to agree. He turned to the gnome again, and the rage in his eyes had turned to cold resolve. "You owe us, Shrinto. You owe us help out of here, and much more besides." The gnome nodded hurridly, and looked up into Castor's eyes.

Briefly, Castor felt she looked into his soul. Her eyes were deep blue, and looked at him like she was taking in every detail. When she spoke again, her voice was bolder. "Castor of Tau, I pledge to aid you and guide you, teach you and entertain you, protect you and fight for you, until you free me from my binding. For too long I have drifted without purpose, and I owe you a great debt."

The silence that fell after she spoke continued for several minutes, as Castor looked down and Shrinto and thought. At last he nodded in agreement, and the three sighed with relief. And the gnome Shrinto told them the first two of her names: Yalti the wizard and Quenta the coward.

Whenever Castor fell unconcious from that point on, he would feel the stream around him, the darkness, the water trying to creep into his lungs. He would feel that and be afraid, and remember Yalti Shrinto.