Continued from S3-3-4: Durg, hunt leader of Org (Portrait). A foul stench assaulted her as she awoke with her head throbbing and her mind fogged with pain, but two things became horribly clear; she was still in Troos… and she was still alive! But as her eyes fluttered open, Brytag was suddenly unsure of either, or anything else, for stooping over her was a tall, slender man with inhuman, but strikingly handsome, features and eyes that blazed with cold, blue hellfire. Although she had only seen his like in the frescos that adorned the Enclave and illustrations in ancient texts within its library, she instantly knew he was of Tumbru’s blood… a Melnibonean! “By Xiombarg’s mercy… Tumbru!” she breathed in awe, her emerald eyes wide with astonishment and her face aglow with joy. “Daeron,” Syn replied, surprised by her reaction, and reference to another Melnibonean blood-line, but instantly entranced by her exotic beauty. “I am Daeron Syn of Melnibone… and Xiombarg is not known for its mercy, even to its fateful.” He commented, noting the markings on her steel bands about her wrists. “Why would you think that I am of the house of Tumbru?” “I am Brytag, of the Enclave of Tumbru” she replied, still shocked from the unexpected turn of events, “whom westerners call the warrior-priests of Chaos.” Looking beyond him, she saw two others, a handsome, fair-haired man with a well trimmed beard in a rich red tunic, who stared down at her with a roguish grin, and a darkly beautiful woman with a well toned, but shapely, form, garbed in tight fitting soft leather armor. Then she flinched when her eyes landed on the degenerate man-beast Durg, but she sighed in relief and relaxed as she noticed the dark pool formed by his sickly blood as it leaked out of his prone, lifeless body. Looking back to Syn, she smiled with true gratitude, knowing that he had saved her from a fate far worse then death! To be continued on S3-3-6: Brytag, Warrior-Priest of Chaos (Portrait). Stolen from her home in western Anakhazan as a child, Brytag was raised by the knights of Tumbru, known as the warrior-priests of Chaos in the western nations, at their Enclave in Phum. Taught only the most amoral and depraved ways of Chaos, warping her into a merciless killer as she grew into a stunning beauty, she spurned Slortar, patron of the enclave, and swore her soul to Xiombarg; much to the displeasure of her hedonistic superiors, who sought to draw her in their wanton debaucheries. However, when dispatched to Anakheera to sow discord between the ruling clans of Anakhazan by seduction and murder, she learned that the ways of the Enclave were not the only ways of Chaos. Spurred by long repressed memories of her childhood, she sought to escape the Enclave, but knew that there was no where she could hide in the east. In desperation, she fled through the hellish tunnel under the Ragged Pillars into the west, holding true to her oath to Xiombarg, and knowing that one day the knights of Tumbru will find her. Rescued from enslavement by the Orgen in the forest of Troos, Brytag has kept company with the renegade Dragon Lord Daeron Syn and his companions on several occasions. Schooled in the wilder and often more potent sorcery of the east, which even he could not fully comprehend, as well as the art of assassination, she is formidable foe to those her cross her, but a loyal and steadfast friend to those who earn her trust. The fifth installment in the third "book" of my Stormbringer characters' adventures. Thanks for looking... Hope you enjoy! Comments and suggestions always welcome and appreciated!