Mari sat on
the ground holding her maltreated side, tears of laughter and hurt in
her eyes.
"Just a little helper for your little guests, boy. Do you never
take a bath? Don't worry, I'm alright and by the time we get to the
Abbey you have to get that stuff out of your hair - unless you want to
become - bald?"
Trying not to grin too broadly, Mari clutched at his outstretched hand
and hauled herself back up on the horseback.
Ah, now it smelled better but the little body she was holding on to was
very tense and she felt his anger.
"Aw, come on, boy, a little contact with water and soap won't kill
you? And we have to burn your clothes. Don't worry, I've got a fine
linen shirt and leather breeches afterwards for you in my backpack; old
and worn - but warm and clean. Is that a deal?"
The boy kept silent... Mari sighed, leaned her body against his and
focussed on her burning side, trying to soothe it with blue - and in the
back of her mind she tried to sort out what was wrong... something she
couldn't quite figure out... something about this boy...
"Hmm, how come he knows Feraila?" she thought idly, wanting to
fall asleep.
Fenrik's world was slowly coming into focus. His memory returned in bits
and pieces. He remembered being on a pilgrimage, headed south toward the
City of Vordasto, and then farther south to ... to where? He couldn't
remember.
Someone had attacked him shortly after he had crossed the chasm
bridge, but the details of the attack remained a mystery. That bridge,
he recalled, was named "Pilgrim's Bridge" and it crossed the
chasm called "The Scar of Disgrace".
In his mind, these names were spoken by his sensei "Mistress Li
Nu".
So, he deduced, I am a monk -- or at least an acolyte -- and I am
schooled in philosophy and the martial arts. And, I am on a pilgrimage.
With no further thought, Fenrik arose from his meditations and
resumed his pilgrimage -- although, he was still unclear as to where
that pilgrimage might take him.
----------------------
No more than an hour passed before he sighted a steaming pool of
water set back some distance from the road. He welcomed the opportunity
to drink fresh water and bathe in the warmth of the natural jacuzzi. It
refreshed his body and his spirit. He washed his linens and his woolen
cloak, and scrubbed his wooden sandals. The hint of sulfur in the waters
promised to rid him of any pests that might have sought a home on his
body.
Thus, reinvigorated, he wrung his garments dry and headed southwest,
across a now-snowy meadow toward where he knew Verdasto rested in the
forest.
Halfway across the meadow, Fenrik tripped on something beneath the
gathering snow drifts. It was heavy like a log, but resilient like a
fallen deer's carcass. He brushed the snow away to examine it.
Before him, an elf lay still as death and white as the snow, but
Fenrik felt that the life force had not left him yet.
"A hot bath will do you good." he said to the limp elf, as
he hefted the man across his shoulders and made a beeline back to the
hot springs.
“Bath? Didn’t she know that made you sick?” I thought.
“Besides,” I mused to myself, “I didn’t dare bathe with the
chance of someone from the army coming to where I was bathing. Boy,
would they have been shocked!” I giggled to myself. “But, gee, new
clothes?” That was almost as good as that "sweet" one of the
cooks in camp would sneak to me when no one was looking.
I felt the girl leaning into me, and thought I heard a groan.
“Damn! She did hurt herself when she fell.” I thought. "I would
NOT feel guilty! She shouldn’t have snuck up on me like that!”
I slowly slid my hand behind my back and felt the “warmth” coming
from her ribs. “Ah, not too bad – just strained and bruised. I can
heal that without too much of a drain.” Having learned my lesson, I
told her rather gruffly “I’m going to try to make your ribs feel
better. Okay?”
No! we should stop, or at least the horses, they need rest in this
coldness. I will look for our food for tonite.
Dulartus decended from his horse and dissapeared in th woods.
He had it hard to find, any animals as they moved deeper into the
forest by the cold. At the time Dulartus was convinced he wouldn't find
anything, he felt that the ground beneath his feet was soft, he took his
sword and dugged out 2 rabbits, who woke up and desperatly tried to
escape, but Dulartus had allready tied both up and trowed them over his
sholder.
While he was heading back to the horses he noticed small vibrations
on th ground, as if in lots of horses riding not that far. He stopped to
confirm his observations, wich he did and he ran back, " we got to
hurry he yelled at sight of the group, enemy troops are not far look at
your horses, they have noticed it to. Dulartus tied his pray to the
horses belt leaped on his horse and said "go go, quickly".
Mari startled, the boy spoke to her:
"Hmm, whazzat?" She drowsed sleepily. "Oh, help me with
my ribs? Don't worry, there's no time for that. Mr. Muscles is right,
we're in danger, I sense lots of horses coming into out direction. Ah,
wait a sec..."
She leaned over and addressed Eandrae:
"Could you please put an invisibility spell over us all, Eandrae?
You know, the one with mist, fog and silence?"
The old woman looked at her with raised eyebrows, Mari blushed.
"Yesyes, I know, it's a spell for the advanced ones - I wouldn't
want to mess it up right now by trying, pleaaaaaaasssse?"
"And if the Archmage knew I had copied this secretly, she would've
probably broken my bones," Mari thought grimly. "Gah, why go
through all that trouble and learn for years if it goes faster?
I need to reach the Abbey really fast now, Godess knows how long I'll
keep the cave location in my mind? I've got to draw it down, really
quickly," she worried and looked nervously over her shoulder,
trying to figure out how near the enemies were.
I hated to leave my lair, but I knew it would be defended. I wanted to
stop the evil that I sensed before it even had a chance to come near my
lair. I heard, Drakonis, in my mind saying he was coming. I smiled, as I
thought of him, always the one to run ahead of the others to meet the
challenge head-on. He was bold, but not foolish. It would be good to
fight by his side.
“I sense the evil coming from this direction - I sent him all that
I had dreamed. I fly swiftly, catch me when you can.” I smiled again,
knowing it wouldn’t be long before he would be with me.
I had to fly low; the clouds above were ominous – seething and rolling
with wind currents and lighting bursting from one cloud to the next.
Normally, I loved to play in the storms, chasing thunder as it rolled in
the clouds and trying to outrun lightning as it danced between the
clouds. This wasn’t normal; and I had no time to play.
I watched the ground and looked for wildlife in the forests that I
traveled over. Every wild thing had already gone to ground, sensing the
coming storm and the evil that followed it.
. . .
My tummy rumbled, time to eat… My last food had been a cow I had
eaten before I left the lair two days ago.
. . .
A dragon’s sight is very keen and I noticed a disturbance up ahead.
A small band of travelers were being followed closely by a band of
soldiers. It was none of my business; I had more pressing battles to
fight… I felt a unique thought pattern from the small group in
front… “Wait! Was that Eandrae? What was that olde witch doing out
here?”
“Eandrae! You olde witch! What are you doing here?” I had to
‘lower’ my mind voice to an acceptable level so that I wouldn’t
hurt her when we talked. “Do you need some help? I’m hungry!” I
grinned. We knew each other from long ago and I had many fond,
‘girlhood’ memories from when I would shape change and we would go
about together. “Eandrae,” I mused. “She must sense the evil,
too.”
Flying as fast as his wings could carry him he flew. Sensing the evil
precence and the call for help from his Queen he knew something was
wrong. Slowly and steadily he gained on his Queen just hoping to get to
her in time.
Fenrik wasted no time. He knew the elf was nearly frozen to death, but
he didn't want the elf to die from shock if he was heated too quickly.
The hot spring pool was long and shallow, so one end of the pool was not
as hot as the other end.
Fenrik formed a plan in his mind: "I'll risk putting him in the
cooler end of the pool. Then, I'll check him for frostbite and
dehydration."
Fenrik was a sturdy man with muscles trained for endurance and
hand-to-hand combat. He had been ignoring the gnawing hunger in his
belly. Now, although he had only carried the elf 160 meters, or so, his
body complained more loudly. He felt light-headed and his vision
narrowed to a small circle directly in front of his eyes. He recognized
these as symptoms of fatigue and fasting too long.
As he lay the unconscious elf in the steaming shallows of the
jacuzzi, Fenrik tried not to step into the pool. His cape was encrusted
with ice on the outside from the steam rising from the pool; his linens
were soaked with sweat on the inside from his selfless labors.
"Fortune smiles upon you, Friend Elf," Fenrik mused,
finding no evidence of frostbite or wounds on his patient. Fenrik cupped
water in his hands and held them to the elf's lips; at length, the elf
sipped and swallowed, then again.
"There's a good fellow!" Fenrik praised the elf. "I
must leave you for a short time, while I find us both something to fill
our bellies."
Fenrik stood and stretched his limbs, then disappeared into the
drifting steam fog in search of sustenance. At first, his footsteps
crunched the ice-covered snow in time with the elf's heartbeat. The
footsteps faded until they became silent, while the elf's heartbeat grew
increasingly stronger.
There!!! . She did it again . It seemed that Mari was more then just a
girl, she knew to much for being ‘normal’ . Eandrae decided that she
should talk with her as soon as possible when they arrived the abbey .
Maybe she was a waitress in the halls who picked up something from the
lessons given to the apprentices . It was impossible that she was one of
those apprentices , she was too impulsive and it seemed that she
wasn’t very conservative also . Brigham would never accept such an
apprentice , and especially not after her . For a short moment Eandrae
felt a little sting . Bah she didn’t had time for being sentimental ,
there was this girl who needed to learn a lesson , it was her fault that
she felt those good hided feelings so this self-complaced girl had to
pay for it .
“You seem to be advanced enough to do this so I think I’ll let it
up to you girl “ said the witch while she tried to hide her smile .
“Ha , nobody fools around with me” and at the same moment as she was
thinking she heard a voice inside her head she almost had forgotten .
“Well well if that isn’t the always hungry Queeny “ answered
the old witch back . “ There is actually really something you could do
and I guess that you’ll also find some food during this mission, of
course only if you didn’t get to plump *grin* “ . Eandrae explained
the dragon were she could find the enemy troops . “Take care my friend
, we still need to chat about the past years so I don’t want you to
get injured . And if you’ll search for us afterwards try to use your
mind instead of your eyes and ears cause we’ll spell an invisible
spell “, with these words the witch left the mind of the dragon and
went to Mari to see how she was doing with her spell .
"Sadistic old bitch," Mari thought viciously. "Good,
I'll show her." She slided down the horseback, fumbled in her
backpack and thankfully found the old parchment, one of those scraps she
had been able to save before her Archmage had chucked her out of the
school.
"Here goes - hope it works..." Mari took a quick look at her
notes, took a deep breath and raised her arms. She focussed on the
ground, searching with her inner energy for water, for moisture and in a
slow upward move she drew it out of the ground into the air surrounding
the group. With the Encircling Rune she drew a globe of mist around all,
and gleefully felt her hair getting damp. The Rune of the Outer Circle
thickened the moisture and formed a pea-soup like fog. The Rune of
Movement pinned both, fog and mist, to the groups purposed proceeding.
And now came the most difficult part: the Rune of Silence. Mari
concentrated, she knew, a small mistake in her waving finger could cause
the Rune of Sound, a sheer catastrophy. No, no time to have a look at
the parchment, her focus would have been broken. Drawing this Rune
slowly, fog and mist seemed to thicken around the horses hooves and
humans feet, muffling every sound. Good, and now for the last: The Rune
of Time, keeping up this spell for about half an hour.... Mari lowered
her hands and staggered a bit - and she felt pride! Hah, an advanced
spell as an apprentice. Looking around for approval, she saw Eandrae
striding up to her..
As Fenrik put another wild onion into the sleeve of his cloak, he
mentally calculated the nutritional value of the herbs and tubors he had
gathered. "Almost enough for a healthy broth," he thought to
himself.
Razor sharp talons beneath huge, silent wings snatched him from the
snowy ground. The impact of the talons on his body knocked him instantly
unconscious, as they pierced his body then clamped together in an
unbreakable clenched fist. By the time the captor landed on a rocky
outcropping in the Forbidden Mountains, Fenrik's lifeless body had
frozen solid.
Fenrik was free. An essence, in former life known as Fenrik, was
floating in a Nowhere, the Unnamed - not thinking... not feeling... just
being... total freedom... peace... calmness... no pain... finally! no
more pain...
Tug ... tug ... tug ...
The essence woke up and felt a gentle tug from a silver thread that
was attached to it and led out of the vast Nowhere, to a Somewhere.
Tug ... tug ... Pop!!!
The essence felt the silver thread go slack, then quickly vanish
entirely. "I'm free! I am truly, finally free!"
... and the essence, once known as the Pilgrim Fenrik, passed into
the Beyond, on a new pilgrimage: to seek Eternity.
As DQueene flew toward the small group of soldiers following in the wake
of her friends’ group, she sent Eandrae the image of a winking eye,
and smiled:
“Of course, old friend, I think I’ll have that snack!”
I felt the magic from my friends' encampment, a little rough but
definitely strong! If I hadn’t had that connection with Eandrae I
wouldn’t have known where they were any longer.
I swooped down over the soldier in the lead and my talons sank into
his body. I dropped him to the ground from high above the treetops and
heard a satisfying ‘splat’ as he landed on two other soldiers in his
band.
As I circled over Eandrae, I suddenly felt as if I’d been punched in
the stomach and I was falling! “Eandrae, watch out! I can’t stop!”
I felt the “change” just before I hit the ground. “Ooof!” All
the air was knocked out of my lungs when I hit the ground. I leaned up
on my elbows and looked at my nude elfen body lying in the new snow.
I looked at Eandrae and said: “Well, I guess that’s what I get
for running around as an elf so much. Did you feel what they did? It
felt like this,” I sent her an image of magic twisting into mine and
changing it. It felt “locked” and until I understood and could break
their “lock” I was stuck in this body. “Damn, damn, damn!”
Suddenly, I remembered Drakonis was on his way and must be warned
before the same thing happened to him! “Drakonis!” I quickly sent
him a mind picture of what had happened to me and how to block such an
attack on him. “You are the strongest now, we depend on you.”
I suddenly became aware of eyes watching me closely, and looked up.
“Keep your eyes in your head warrior! “ I scowled: “You’d think
you’ve never seen a naked elf before!”
I smiled at the two girls, “Hope you have some extra clothes, its
damned cold in this form.”
The Tale of the Ancient Staff of the Elements
Ages ago, long before the elves and dwarves came into the world,
Before the dragons first hatching, and Light first bathed the world in
glory,
The Elements sang their song.
Their blended voices echoed through the Void
Giving birth to stars and lands and seas.
The song was whole and pure, for it combined all of the elements
Into a full-colored tapestry of sound, and light, and life.
Fire, Earth, Air, and Water played the harmonious chords,
While Spirit sang the melody, to tell the story of all things.
The sixth Element, now hidden from all minds yet seen by every eye,
Was Chaos, who sang the counter melody and sings it yet this day.
Why are no two flames just alike?
Why is tomorrow a mystery?
Why is each soul unique?
Why isn't there just one History?
------------------------------
When the first dragon saw its first sunrise
A tear of joy fell from its jeweled eye.
That first tear became the glowing gem
Atop the Ancient Staff of the Elements.
Six spokes were grown, not carved, beneath a spiral shaft
As tribute to the Elements, and that First Seen Day.
The Staff became the symbol of the Dragon Mother
Passed from generation to generation in Faith and Reverance.
Ages passed, then came the dwarves in their rock-hewn cities,
And a friendship formed between dragon and dwarf.
While dragons ruled the skies, the dwarves ruled all below;
And they met to share the land between and celebrate Life.
But, Chaos' tune could not be ignored. Things changed.
Friendships soured, wars were waged, peace came and went and came again.
Why must we struggle?
Why must we fight?
Why does the day
Turn into night?
------------------------------
The Staff was lost when its bearer fell, and true to Chaos' plan
The memory of its origins faded into legend and disbelief.
From time to time, the Staff found a new bearer
And served each bearer well.
But over time and usage, Chaos's song was always heard.
The Staff passed in and out of history, its legend lost in Time.
Dragon legends are said to be as old as Time itself
And "Dragon lore is law!", 'tis often said.
But even dragons, though long of tooth and longer of memory,
Can not recall those Ancient Times when the Staff was their Mother's.
How long is time?
How true is legend?
Is there some truth in a lie?
When will we see
Things as they were
Through the first dragon's eye?
------------------------------
From "Lullabies My Mother Sang And Stories That She Told",
by Tanj Enroot (the famous bard)
After hours of constant flight Drakonis felt cramps starting to begin in
his wings but he knew he had to press on ....
Suddenly after a few more minutes of him pressing on there was a
harsh pain in his mind and he knew someone wanted to enter his thoughts.
Becoming a bit disorientated he sensed the intruder was friendly and
someone he knew. At last the intruder made itself known. It was his
Queen trying to contact him. Sensing something was really wrong he let
down all of his mind defences and let her enter.
"My Queen I am on my way, What is the matter?" She send him
the image of what had happened and the way how to counter the spell and
he knew he had to hurry for lives was in stake. After the image she
withdrew from his mind.
He started flying as fast as his wings could take him flying high as
not to be noticed... Starting to feel the presense of his queen he knew
he was near. Then suddenly he spotted the soldiers she was talking
about. He was bold but not foolish and knew not to rush into a fight.
Setting down on a cliffside which would give him a vantage point to
observe the soldiers he started to contemplate the best way to defeat
the enemy....
I was gaping down at the naked elven lady when her words registered, at
least the word ‘cold’. I jumped off the horse and grabbed the horse
blanket off the Appaloosa and threw it around her shoulders.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “It smells a bit like horse, but at least
it’ll keep you warm!”
I glanced at everyone else and whispered: “Can we go now? Before
her,” I nodded at Mari, “spell wears off?”
I offered my hand to the elven lady on the ground: “What can we
call you?” When she just looked at me with amusement sparkling in her
eyes, I said: “Do you have a name? It’s easier to talk to someone if
they have a name.” I was totally ignoring the fact that I hadn’t
told anyone my name, they hadn’t asked so I hadn’t told.
She accepted my hand to pull her up, and said: “You may call me
DQueene; it is a ‘nickname’ I’ve gone by for years and is much
easier to say than my true name.” Once she was standing she approached
the horses, humming an oddly soothing tune to the horses. She glanced at
me with a wicked gleam and said: “I like the smell of horse, it’s
quite delicious.”
With that she mounted the Appaloosa and glanced at Eandrae and
winked: “Come on, old woman, let’s go before we have to fight.
Drakonis will delay the soldiers while we ride.”
I looked at the old woman and DQueene and thought, “Well, they obviously
know each other! And who in the world is Drakonis?” Just then, I heard
some more screams from the woods behind us. Screams just like I had
heard just before this lady fell from the sky. Screams of sheer terror!
“Come on! Let’s ride while we can.” I mounted the black and
held out my hand to Mari. “Now, wouldn’t be too soon!”
"Errh... yes, of course." Mari grabbed the boy's hand, let
herself be pulled up on to the horse and still kept staring at the not
more nude elf. She shook her head, trying to clear it.
"Dear me, there's a wee bit of too much action going on here,"
she muttered to herself.
"Now, DON'T forget the cave location, don't forget the cave
location..." she murmured on and on, concentrating her mind on how
to draw it. Holding her bag between her teeth and one hand she
feverishly searched her bag for the badly drawn map showing this part of
the country.
"Uff, found it, lucky me!" She was relieved and then
remembered:
"Boy, what's your name, by the way? And do you know WHERE
Erendirill is now? I have something very important for him. Oh, I'm
Mari, if you don't know by now..."
It was really fascinating listening to her talk to herself as she got
settled behind me on the horse. Not only was she having a conversation
with herself; I wasn’t sure I hadn’t just heard her answer herself
too. Something about a cave and a map… and then she asked my name and
where the elf was. “Huh? How should I know where he is? He was off
after the lady, and she’s up there.” I pointed to the northwest.
“My name is Shana.”
I looked at the others in the party: “Shall we go?” Without
waiting for a response I started the horses going in the direction the
old women had headed us earlier in the day.
-----------------------
DQueene glanced at her fellow travelers and kicked the horse in her
sides to follow the two girls. She sent her thoughts winging to the
skies: “Drakonis, we ride now. Be careful and follow when you can.”
“Eandrae, what have we gotten ourselves into? Do you know what
comes?” I looked to the north, “I sense great evil and must go there
soon. It must be stopped before it threatens my Lair. Will you come with
me?"
Sitting there looking for a weak link where he could expose the soldiers
and gain a upper hand in the battle, he contemplated the best way to
attack. Then his Queen entered his thoughts again and told him that they
were moving out.
With this news he saw his chance. He spread his wings and shot up
into the sky, gaining speed rapidly. The soldiers was to busy following
the group that made their way to the abbey and with their backs turned
to him he saw the weak spot. He swooped down on the unsuspected soldier
and sunk his claws deep into the soldiers back pulling him into mid air.
Then shouts went up from the soldiers and they formed a defensive
circle. He then circled around and dropped the already dead body of the
soldier on top of the rest of them.The impact scattered the soldiers.
Then suddenly he felt the spell of which his queen talked of and as
fast as he could countered the spell. The counter spell which he sent
was succesfull and the soldier who sent the spell dropped dead on the
spot, eyes rolled up into his head.
Some soldiers with bows started shooting at him and one arrow pierced
him in the wing but it didn't bother him, he had gained the upper hand.
With another swoop he picked of two more soldiers and then there were
just three soldiers left clumped in a bunch petrified of this dragon
bearing down on them. Drakonis jsut then opened his mouth and a burst of
flame erupted and scorched the soldiers.
The fight was over, with the knowledge his queen sent him and his
boldness and planning he won. The soldiers that followed the group was
dead. With some effort he contacted his Queen "My Queen all of you
are safe now, the soldiers are dead. I will try and follow you but I am
wounded and I need someone to take care of my wounds".
That was all he sent and slowly he started following them....
Vuldaran carries the Ancient Staff of the Elements now, and has become
its rightful bearer.
The elemental spirit that accompanies the Staff is aware of a
continuing responsibility:
quote:
(forgive the translation, but elemental spirits don't think or talk
like you and me)
my duty is primary
my survival is secondary
bearers come and go
the Ancient Staff endures
my duty is to align the Ancient Staff with its bearer
only the bearer of the Ancient Staff can wield its powers
my duty to the staff endures for one thousand years
my duty is almost completed
when my duty ends the bearer will be transformed into an elemental
spirit
when my duty ends the bearer will have this duty for the next one
thousand years
duty is primary
survival is secondary
Although there has been a lot of discussion about wheter or not there is
a place between dreaming and being awake, Elendirill was certainly
somewhere, and he wasn't dreaming nor awake. He didn't know if it were
his eyes telling him that his environment seemed to build in a gray
landscape. All he saw was greyness, and large cold rocks. Other cold
creatures passed by with enormous speed, and he was standing amongst a
mass of people all rushing by, having the same coldness as their
environment in their eyes ...
There was a shift ... Distant memories seemed to tell him something
about something that happened just moments ago ... but it didn't matter,
and the memories were gone.
He didn't know if it were his eyes telling him that the forest he was
in, seemed more dangerous than he was used to. Normally he could feel
something when he was near any kind of organism, even if it was just a
vague impression. Here he didn't feel anything ... Suddenly he heard a
noise, it was getting louder and louder. The ground started shaking,
tree were moving more then they should be, but the noise they were
making got lost in the total sound of thunder. The sound got so loud
that it was you could actually feel it pressing on you from all sides
... that's when Elendirill saw a cloud of dust covering the entire
forest, for as far he could see ... Something was getting closer,
something was getting closer fast !!! Elendirill started running, but he
couldn't help looking over his shoulder. It were the same kind of
animals he saw before, but they seemed to look more primitive. The ones
he saw when following them to the camp seemed to be doing orders for
someone, and they were wearing clothes and armour. These beasts just
looked savage in everything they did. The were running so close to
eachother that sometimes one of them just threw himself on the other,
they started fighting but the ones behind them just trampled them ... it
was like they were comming after him !! He started to run even faster
when all in a sudden there was a wall in front of hime, all was lost !!!
There was a shift ... He didn't know if it were his eyes telling him
that Feraila was sitting on the bench outside of their hunting cabine. A
smile came over his face, something deep inside seemed to scream that
something was wrong, but that didn't matter, Feraila sat there, and she
was happy. All he wanted to do was put his arm around her and tell her
how much he missed her. That was strange, he was here, at home ... and
she was here too, but for some kind of reason he seemed to miss her more
than anything in the world. When he finally sat down on the bench
besides her, he could feel the wood of the bench. He remembered exactly
the day when he made this bench for her, with the view on the little
pond behind their tree, with it's branches almost touching the water,
like they made a game out of it to get as close as possible without
touching the surface. Feraila's flowers were looking beautiful as ever,
and the beauty of the flowers seemed to be reflected in Feraila's face
... He looked at her, he felt in awe of such a beauty, he felt like he
should bend his head and lower his eyes ... but he didn't have to ...
she seemed to love him ... and again the feeling something was wrong,
just a second there was a shade crossing Feraila's face, just a second,
and afterwards she was smiling again, not a sign of pain ... or fear ...
Where did he get this thoughts ... A flash ... Why was he so cold, and
wet ... why was he sitting in their pond ? ... Where was their tree,
where is Feraila !!??!!
Elendirill woke up
Kegger is a well-rounded caretaker. By that, I mean that she is as wide
as she is tall. Her smile is as big as her heart, and she loves to share
both of them. Her only child, Floradell, married a young man in Verdasto
some twenty years ago, and Kegger's husband, Cotton, passed away the
same year. That's when she came to work at the Abbey as Caretaker.
Her duties include cooking, tending the herb garden, and acting as
liason for the monks for all visitors to the Abbey. The monks labor
under a strict vow of silence and obedience. According to the tennets of
the order, only the Abbot may speak. But even that is rare, and is often
unintelligible due to his strong Kvyord-n'Kentkodmian accent and a
severe stuttering problem. So, Kegger greets visitors, announces
gatherings, and the like.
On this particular day, Kegger spent most of the morning baking her
irrisistable wild onion and rosemary bread. All of the monks (save one)
were spending the week on the nearby glacier, sitting vigil for the Week
of the Holy Martyrs.
The monk who stayed behind, Illillitl the vintner, was bed-ridden
with a chronic hangover that had lasted these past three years. True to
his vow of obedience, however, everyday he crawled down the four flights
of stone stairs to the wine cellar to perform his sacred duties.
Usually, the other monks would carry him up to his bed after he had
spent his last drop of energy.
The Abbot was not in the Abbey, either. Two weeks ago, he was
summoned to an unexpected and secretive meeting of the region's highest
ranking clergy. While away, Brother Arnu was minding the afairs of the
Abbey. That did not entitle him to speak, however, so Kegger was more
"in charge" than usual. She liked it that way. Her way was
almost always "for the best" (as she described it), so
"why not speak up?" And since there was no one around to say
otherwise, Kegger was in an even more congenial mood than usual.
... Until an odd assortment of folks rang the Abbey's door chimes
just after midday ... .
meanwhile...
Elvendragonwhateveryouare? hop on the spare horse we have since mari
isn't riding it, you do know how to? do you?. anayway we'll should speed
up I'll ride in front, Boy you'll ride the last. don't fall behind!
Dqueen, Have you seen the abbey from up in the air? Doesn't matter how
far we should hurry.
Dulartus took off, forcing the group to follow him quickly...
some while later Delartus noticed the horse where Mari and the boy
where riding on getting tired of the extra weight. He slowed down a bit
until he was riding next to them. "your horse is getting tired,
Mari you're willing to change and ride with me? hmm actually it will be
better if you rode with Eandrea, to keep you warm." The group
stopped anyway.
DQueene spoke up quickly through chattering teeth: “No, No! I have
been through here before. The abbey is just over that little hill up
there. Come on!” She kicked her horse in its sides and took the lead.
It was only moments before they were ringing the chimes of the Abbey.
The door was opened by a little round woman.
"Mistress Eandrae, we've been expecting you!" the cheerful
voice of Kegger called through the peep hole in the great iron-clad door
of the Abbey.
"Will you vouch for these, er, ... 'folks'?" Kegger
continued. When Eandrae nodded, the sounds of chains and cranks held the
promise of that sturdy door unlocking and opening soon. The whites and
greys of the clouds, snowflakes, and snow-covered ground stood in stark
contrast to the warm breeze and blazing hearth of the Abbey's Entry
Hall. On that warm breeze was the unmistakeable smell of freshly baked
bread, making every mouth water and stomach grumble.
"Who's your stout friend?" Kegger asked Eandrae, gesturing
toward Dulartus. As she wiped her hands on her apron and fussed with a
stray hair that toyed with her eyebrows, Kegger beamed an honest,
motherly smile to each member of the group. Though no magic was being
used, everyone was caught in the Caretaker's spell.
Introductions were made briefly, then it was decided that Dulartus
and Shana would take the horses, donkey, mule and Elmo to the stables
behind the Abbey workshops to feed, brush, and bed them down for the
night. Meanwhile, the rest of the group (DQueene, Mari, and Eandrae)
were given a quick tour of the domestic quarters of the Abbey's ground
floor: the kitchen, pantry, storehouse, visitor's quarters (3 rooms with
2 beds each), the bathing room, Calderia (the Entry Hall with the
blazing hearth), and a cozy little sitting room.
Without batting an eye or acting like there was anything out of the
ordinary going on, during the tour, Kegger had somehow found a warm,
hooded robe and handed it to DQueene. Likewise, when Mari showed an
interest in the quills and inks in the sitting room, Kegger produced a
sheaf of parchments out of a nearby cupboard.
Two things stood out as unique:
