| Heartwood Logs |
2000-05-26
| Heartwood |
| Realms |
Retired
| Reality Fault |
General Info
 |
Down the Well
- Her face has just passed zenith, banishing the shadows across
the top of the broken hill. For Roxanna it was a long, cold hike up the
bramble-choked rocks, pausing every now and then on a shattered, carven
stone. And when she finally reached the little compound, she could see
Anuje, Romana, and Brisa. Their attention was not at the tower or the
stables or the heavy wooden doors. Instead, in a little circle of broken
stone they carefully explore. A long, long length of rope is coiled upon
a flat rock. And they look, through shattered planks, into a dark and
so very deep well.
Roxanna says, "I see you found a well. Is this the one you've been going on about?"
Brisa glances up at Roxanna, then shakes her head, "Not sure, Roxy. It's definitely not poisoned... we can't hear any water in it at all in fact. Listen." She tosses a small chunk of shattered plank down the dark hole, her head tilted to listen herself. She adds, several moments later, "Did you hear anything? We haven't been able to."
Romana perches on a fallen log, her long legs swinging loose like a child at play. She looks down at the small bustle of activity, her attention snared away as Roxanna approaches. "Roxannas! Brisa found a hole, yes?" Brisa grins at Romana.
Roxanna says, "A rather deep one, it seems."
Brisa nods, "And I am thinking that it must be blocked somewhere because we have seen badger here, so there must be water somewhere... and here is an odd thing. Why is well dry? and is it possible the story changes over time, like Ballad of Jeminy's Hill changes?" She looks around thoughtfully for something very sturdy... a large boulder or somesuch.
Anuje looks up from the hole and waves to Roxanna. "Pull up a rock, Roxanna? You look tired."
Roxanna says, "I think I was getting used to riding. Now my walking muscles all hurt." Brisa grins at Roxanna's comment. Roxanna says, "How about a torch?"
Brisa says, "Don't have one, but Herself should light down a way. If I had one I would take it along."
Romana flounces off her log and pads over to the hole. She looks at Brisa, looks at the rope, then looks to Anuje, and then looks to the rope, and then she looks at Roxanna, then the to the rope and then, last and finally, she looks very curiously down into the broken hole. "What nows?"
Brisa says, "Going down the hole, Romishka. Want to see if I can tell why it's dry." And all about there is many things sturdy to tie too. Romana's fallen tree, huge blocks of tumbled stone. many choices for Brisa. She looks pleased at that. She wanders around, pushing and shoving some of the blocks of stone a bit, trying to select the best and most rooted one.
Anuje smiles at Romana. "How good are you at climbing, Princess?"
Shrugging her shoulders, Romana continues her intense peering. "Will find out, yes?"
Roxanna peers dubiously into the hole. "Better you than me."
Brisa looks up at that, "Umm... am not asking anyone to go down hole. Might be dangerous, and is my search. No one else has to."
Anuje shrugs. "Brisa. I'm a lot lighter." Brisa looks torn, thinking about that...
Brisa says, "Um... Anuje, I will lower you down if you wish, but... do not do this if you are at all worried?"
Turning, Romana looks at Roxanna and Anuje. "No one here say no to Romanas, yes?"
Brisa gives Romana a slightly confused look, "No?"
The tall girl stops then, her eyes blinking, for a moment shocked and hurt. "Romanas not go? Why?"
Brisa says, "What? Um... Romishka, what are you talking about? If you're talking about going down the well, well... Anuje is smaller than you, would be lighter, da? Easier to lower?"
Roxanna snorts. "You're not communicating again. You're welcome to go along, Romanas. She's just confused."
Anuje blinks. "Are we all going down, then?"
Brisa says, "Nyet! I cannot lower all down! I am strong, but that is ridiculous!"
Roxanna says, "One at a time."
Roxanna says, "Lower Anuje down, she's the lightest. The rest of us can follow by climbing down the rope with a harness in case we slip. It's the climb back up that worries me."
Brisa shakes her head. "I am thinking that is not wise. What will people do? Cling to wall while another comes down? Why all there? Well is not that big. Rope is not that long either... or that strong, I am worried."
Romana looks to Roxanna and then nods brightly. "Ooh, Romanas understand. Firstest, secondest and thirdest." Brisa rolls her eyes in amusement.
Roxanna says, "That assumes that there's anything down there to see besides the bottom of a hole."
Anuje grins. "Or if you could even see that."
Brisa gets a thoughtful look, "Romishka... do you have a small Friend who can fly down hole and look for us? Or who can make light so we can see?"
Romana swallows. And then she shakes her head. "If Romanas were to do that, Brisa, Anuje, Roxanna hurt, yes? Friends when let go are often... grumpy."
Roxanna says, "What's wrong with your light, Brisa?"
Brisa says, "Oh. Hmm... da, my light would do nicely. So, Anuje... do you want to do this?" She starts knotting the rope very securely around a nice, sturdy stanchion of boulders, then pulls her gloves on to prevent rope burn while lowering someone. Then she kneels on the side of the well, taking one last long glance down it... she holds her hands together, murmuring a quiet prayer... then brings them apart, releasing her little spark, which whirls around to dart down the hole and hang there, glowing. She stares curiously down the hole as far as she can see.
Anuje looks down the hole and answers quietly, "Yeah... I can do this." The starlight falls, and it falls. A carven stone shaft its dull blue light illuminates, polished stones. The deeper one gets the smoother they are until, almost at the very edge of the star fire's range, there is nothing bounding the well. Somewhere below the ground must open up into a very large space. And below, past a black rectangular block that pokes into the shaft, the well continues even deeper.
Roxanna mutters "Bozhemoi..." very softly.
Brisa nods, looking up at Anuje from her kneeling position, "Anuje... if you are worried at all you call, and I will pull you up very fast, da? It looks like I can lower you to that block. Can you there loop the rope around something for security, and others can come down one at a time?" She's already busily tying regular knots into the rope so she can easily climb it. "I will put spark on your shoulder, da? But please, do not wander into room until we all are there?"
Anuje nods slowly, looking down. "Da..."
Brisa smiles quietly at Anuje, then goes back to tying. She glances at the others, "Can you both follow on your own? I would like to go second in case of any danger?"
Anuje says, "...think it comes out in the Opal Archipelago?"
Brisa grins at Anuje, "We should find out soon!"
Roxanna says, "Should be easy enough. It's back up that'll be a pain."
Romana smiles and nods her head vigorously. "Will follow. Looks fun, yes?"
Brisa says, "Oh, if there is no danger I will pull you all up, Roxy." She grins wryly, "But if we have to go down again... then next time I bring Khari to help pull!"
Roxanna says, "Now THERE is a good idea." Brisa grins at Roxanna.
Anuje walks over to Brisa. "Okay. I'm ready."
Brisa says, "There, I am ready also. Anuje, you tie rope around your waist so you are secure and comfortable, da? and I will lower you down. Everyone else will just buckle belt around rope to go down. If you have gloves would recommend you wear!" Walking to the very edge of the hole, Romana watches Brisa and Anuje, intent and fascinated.
Brisa will double check Anuje's knots, more out of concern than any real belief that Anuje won't do a good job... Anuje ties a knot, but it's clear it isn't one of the things she's good at. It would be useful for everyday purposes, but you wouldn't risk your life on it. Brisa will quietly help Anuje tie the knot, if Anuje doesn't mind... something that can hold a horse should have no trouble holding a human, after all. Then Brisa braces herself carefully, one booted foot up on a sturdy bracing rock, wrapping an extra loop of the neatly coiled rope around her own waist in case a sudden brake is needed... then nods to Anuje. The little spark floats up to rest on Anuje's left shoulder, and Brisa starts feeding rope out as Anuje wishes. Anuje pulls on some doeskin gloves and climbs over the edge of the well. "If I let out a bloodcurdling yell?...That means there's a dragon or something living there." She grins weakly.
Roxanna says, "We'll keep that in mind."
Brisa chuckles, "Yells mean up, got it, kisa. So... go slow, stop whenever you want, take your time."
Romana smiles brightly and claps her hands. "Dragons!"
Anuje nods. "Okay... let's go." She holds onto the rope with both hands and looks down into the well. The wood creaks and rubs where the rope presses against it, as Anuje is slowly lowered into the dark... the rope goes slack as Anuje lands on the block. She calls up, her voice echoing, "I'm down!"
Brisa says, "Good! Loop rope securely around something for us, please?"
Anuje calls up, "Can you give me some slack, Brisa?"
Brisa carefully lets out a bit more rope. Roxanna offers Romana some rags to wrap around her hands for protection. Romana turns, nodding to Roxanna. "Pancakes!" She then looks and wraps up her hands exactly as Roxanna did. Brisa wonders why pancakes... but doesn't let her concentration wander.
Anuje tugs on the rope and calls up, her voice a little shaky, "Okay... ready!"
Brisa says, "You all right, kisa?"
Anuje says, "Uhm...yeah. It's quite a site. Some battle or something. The people here lost."
Brisa blinks, looking worried... then just nods, "I am coming right down, kisa! stay near rope, please!"
Anuje nods, looking around. "Don't worry about that..."
Brisa carefully ties off the rope so it's lightly taut between Anuje and the boulder, so it will be easy to climb back up later. She's glad Trys is there to watch over the rope, since Benny's still in with Lord Random. Brisa will lower herself onto the rope, carefully buckle her belt around the rope and herself, then go cautiously hand over hand down the rope. As she disappears from sight at ground level she adds, "Be very careful, please, da, Romishka and Roxy?"
A moment later Brisa's voice floats up the well shaft, soft and awed, "Bozhemoi!" She looks around slowly... then nods and calls, "Is all right, Romishka, Roxy! Can come down now!"
Roxanna says, "Romana? You want to go next?"
Romana nods and then scrabbles down the rope, an awkward and slow princess but certainly enthusiastic. She falls the last four feet, landing on the central stone unceremoniously. Blinking, she rubs at the stone's indentations and frowns. With a bustle Romana then crawls off and into the hall. Brisa is waiting on the central stone just in case... she puts her arms out to bracket Romana so she can't slide off into the depths, then just grins and lets her bustle happily into the hallway. Romana calls, "Readys, Roxannas!" Roxanna sighs and starts down carefully, harnessed securely to the rope.
- Down and down Roxanna carefully climbs, last of her
companions. Landing on the block is easy for it reaches out into the
very center of the well. Its surface is smoothly polished, with two odd,
vaguely cross-shaped indentations. One is almost the size of Brisa's
sword, the other just a little less than half its size. The edges of the
indentations are crisp and well sculpted. From here Roxanna can see the
room, a strange, strange place hall bathed in soft blue-white light...
The hall must have once been finely carven. A mural wraps all four walls of the perfectly square room. At this point all one can tell that it is a landscape with castles upon it. A carven wainscot finishes the room, set with runes of water, time and horse. But it is the flooring that sends chills up and down one's spine...
Shattered armor, broken swords, petrified rags left on savaged skeletons, bits of bone (soft pearly white) scattered like a game of marbles a child forgot to clean up.
Roxanna says, "This... is definitely not a well."
Brisa grins at Roxanna, "Nyeh, it is not only that."
Anuje nods. "Seems like there should be stairs."
Roxanna steps gingerly into the ancient carnage, looking carefully at what is left of the wall carvings, trying not to step on the ancient bones. Brisa waits 'til Roxanna's safely down and in... then curiously kneels to run her fingers around the sword shaped markings in the stone. One for an adult's sword... what's the other? For a child's sword? a dagger? Curiously she draws her own sword and lays it in the larger shape in the stone, to see if it fits. She wonders curiously if a particular sword-dagger combination amongst the fallen inside is needed for these indentations... and she also wonders how they stayed so sharp and crisp. It's not the same style of pommel or hilt, but the blade, the fine carving, the indentation fits as if one might cast a sword in one piece. The second one, the smaller one is almost like a dagger... but the stiletto blade is far too long. Like... it takes a while for Brisa to realize... like the daggers the Romany carry. Brisa runs her fingers gently and curiously around the indentation shaped like a Romany blade, her gaze wondering... then she quietly sheathes her sword and follows her friends into the hall, to examine it and the bodies with great fascination.
Anuje kneels down next to one of the skeletons and looks more closely, but definitely doesn't touch it. There is little to search for, among the ragged bodies. An age old, at least, they are. Tossed and turned, just little tiny fragments of the room's defenders... save that a little token Anuje finds, looped about a splintered vertebrae. It is a small pendant of a many-pointed star. The white metal sparkles like shimmering fire in the light of Brisa's little star.
Both Romana and Roxanna walk the mural. The battle scarred mosaics have aged well, and each castle scene, while composed of the same components, are certainly unique. All have a small keep or castle associated with them. But overlooking the first castle is a fortress. The fortress is a terraced ziggurat, ending in a square-walled enclosure with runes of water, horse, and time running around the edges... Anuje glances up and stands, carefully stepping over the remains to look at what the others are looking at. Brisa touches the mural of the ziggurat with gentle fingers, breathing softly, "Bozhemoi... the hill... that's why it felt so... regular while climbing it -- the hill is this thing!"
Three are set in the mountains. One, tall and snowcapped, the sun rising high above. The second lost amidst sable peaks, overlooking a narrow pass. The third, the one Romana is hypnotized by, has the fortress on a mountainside with a green sea below. The last view is just the fortress, on an island, in a narrow bay. Romana whispers, "...Caer Maiyin..."
Brisa whirls to stare in astonishment at Romana, "WHAT?!" She strides over swiftly to stare in astonishment over Romana's shoulder at the mural she's gazing at.
Anuje blinks. "This is Caer Maiyin?"
Roxanna says, "Caer Maiyin?"
Brisa looks half wistfully, half in frustration at the other pictures, "If only they were labelled! Directions! They could be the Port of Lys, or the Dall Gwynn, or the Starwatch Reaches or... or any of them! How am I supposed to find when all I have is teasing bits of pictures?!"
Roxanna steps gingerly over to join Brisa and Romana. "We travel, I think. Until we see more hills like this one, nyet?"
Brisa nods to Romana... then gets a determined look, "Da, Roxy, we can do this." She moves to regard each of the mountain keeps carefully and slowly, trying to see if one of them is Dawnview.
Reaching out to the small tiles to touch them, Romana nods. "This Caer Maiyin, yes? Remember I spoke, Brisa? Mountains, narrow road, Sea of Pearls?"
Roxanna ponders the pictures, staring at each one in turn, then returning to the mountain pass. "That one. It's got to be the Black Mountains. Chornyeh Godaya..."
Anuje looks at the pendant and then to Brisa. "I found something."
Brisa taps the one overlooking the narrow pass, "This one I know, I think... Dawnview." She blinks, rubbing her face... then looks at Anuje, "What did you find, kisa?" Anuje lifts the pendant into the light of the spark, causing it to cast sparkles around the room. Romana turns slowly, her eyes widening. Brisa draws in her breath sharply, gazing at the tiny pendant... then reaches out a gently reverent finger to touch it lightly. "Kisa... this you find, by right it is yours I think... but will you trade me something for it, please? This means a great deal to my Lady, I think."
Anuje glances at Romana and back to Brisa. "I suppose. Looks like it might be special to Rommicats too, though."
Brisa glances in surprise at Romana, "This have meaning to you also, Romishka?"
Romana whispers one word, so very, very soft. "...ironsilver..."
Brisa says, "It is?!" She studies it more closely, catching the pendant lightly in her hand, but careful not to pull it from Anuje's fingers, "I thought it was just lovely version of Herself..." She looks between Romana and Anuje, biting her lip... then says gently, "Anuje... I will not ask you to make choice." She lets the little pendant go, albeit a bit regretfully, takes a deep breath... then turns back towards Roxanna and the murals, "What is eh... Chornyeh Godaya, Roxy?"
Anuje swallows, glancing from the pendant to Romana and Brisa. "What would you have to trade for something such as this, Brisa?"
Romana puts her fists on her hips and pouts. "Only have two wheels."
Brisa smiles over her shoulder at Anuje quietly, "I do not have anything I could trade for ironsilver, kisa... I am only traveling warrior, not princess or Khorall."
Roxanna shrugs. "An old name for the Black Mountains... in an old song."
Anuje chews her lip, thinking quietly. But then Romana just shrugs and peers over Brisa's shoulder this time, as the three of them look at the hidden fortress overlooking the narrow mountain pass. Brisa also turns back and frowns thoughtfully at the mural. "Hmm... what was song, please, Roxy?"
Anuje says, "Brisa... when I meet your Lady, maybe I will want to make it a gift of my own." She walks back towards the mural to look at it with the others.
Brisa grins over her shoulder at Anuje and chuckles softly, "Kisa... I am thinking unless you also become Dayallan you will not meet my Lady... you will meet your own."
Anuje blinks. "Oh... that Lady..."
Roxanna says, "What, did you think she was talking about Khari?"
Brisa grins cheerfully at Anuje, "Da. Herself," then stifles a snort of laughter at Roxanna's words!
Anuje blushes a little at Roxanna's words and shakes her head. "No. I thought a noblewoman from her home." She runs her fingers along the necklace portion of the pendant and then slips it on over her head.
Brisa runs her fingers lightly across the mural, murmuring softly, "Chornyeh Godaya... doesn't that mean Black Mountains?" She grins at Anuje, "Nyeh, kisa," and goes back to studying the mural... "Maybe Starwatch Reaches? This here must be Dawnview..." she touches the castle with the rising sun on it lightly.
Roxanna hums a bit of an old ballad tune. "I never really learned that one, I'm afraid...I just remember the refrain was something about Chornyeh Godaya, the Black Mountains."
Brisa looks carefully along the murals to see if there's any writing on them in a decorative border or somesuch... no writings beyond the runes of water, time, and horse. In the center of each wall however there is a tall, square-topped portal, each set with a wooden door. All four doors are shattered, fallen, and beyond is a thick tangle of rubble and fallen stone. In the center of the room the well continues down farther. Anuje peers into the rubble of one of the adjoining rooms, aided by the light from Brisa's spark. Brisa takes a deep breath... then grins excitedly at the others, "Well! Now we go searching, da?" She pulls out a piece of paper and roughly sketches what they have so far... then looks up and eastward, "That one first? No, wait... to search the bodies first. Who was enemy? And what weapons or clothing are left?" There is not much but bone fragments and shreds of dust left, maybe a piece of spear shaft or the rusted length of half a dagger blade. Indeed it looks like whatever happened here it is as if a pack of keep ruffs played tug-a-war with the remains, for many, many, many years.
Pausing at the edge of the well, Roxanna glances down. There, far below in the pale light, there is something glinting white. Quite a distance down it is, a wink in the darkness. But just perhaps if all the slack in the rope at the top of the well were used one just might reach. Roxanna says, "We'll need another rope to get down to the next level. But... I'm thinking it will be worthwhile to try."
Brisa rises from her examination of the bodies, frowning thoughtfully, and paces over to Roxanna, to glance downwards. She shakes her head, "Easier to just have Trystan to let out slack in the rope, nyeh?"
Roxanna glances up. "You think it's long enough?
Anuje peers down into the depth. "Only one way to find out, right?"
Roxanna says, "Well, Benedict could probably come up with a couple, but he's buried in the library. We'll have to bring him down here tomorrow."
Brisa nods, then calls up, "Hey, TRYSTAN! Let slack out of rope please!"
Trystan calls down from above, "Mmf... oh-kay... these knots you tied are quite well-made... it'll..." the sounds of light scratchings filter down through the rocky passageway upward. "It'll be a bit..."
Brisa grins, then calls back, "Sorreeee!"
Trystan laughs as he calls back, "No... it's..." more struggling, "I'm glad they're so... sturdy, makes me feel safe for you." A few more measures of rope come haltingly over the lip of the well's topside. "I hope I can tie a knot of equal merit when I'm done..." A few more measures of rope coil haphazardly on the stone floor. Trystan calls, "There doesn't seem to be much more. I'm going to tie it back off now. All right?"
Brisa laughs, catching the slack and carefully feeding it downwards after she's untied Anuje's knot... once it's loose and dangling down into the depths she calls up, "You didn't untie original anchoring knot, did you?"
Trystan hesitates, "Hunh? What? Oh... no. I don't think so..." He calls down, "No. That one is still there, all big and mean looking. I didn't want to tangle with un-tangling that one.
Brisa does a firm twist of the rope around the central stone, then calls, "Trystan, I have the rope tight... come down to here, then we all go down one at a time, da?"
Anuje watches. "Was my knot good, Brisa?" She blinks and glances up. "Don't worry... I'll catch you!"
Brisa nods and smiles to Anuje, "It did a good job, kisa. Now we will all go down to the bottom. This time though I think I will go first... I am starting to worry about whether animals are still in here." She laughs at Trystan's comments.
A smattering of loose dirt and fine dust sifts down the length of the 'well.' "Ouch!" The rope creaks under Trystan's weight as he makes his way clumsily down the rope.
Anuje purses her lips. "Where did that badger get off to? They don't chew ropes, do they?"
Trystan lands gallantly, hands on his hips, "Expertly done!" with a smile to Anuje, "I'm almost sorry you didn't have to catch me.
Brisa grins, helping Trys down the last few feet, then glances at Anuje with a smile, "Nyeh, kisa, unless the rope is soaked in something they like to eat."
Trystan lets out a soft sigh through pursed lips, "Wow. Will you look at this place... This is the inside of a well?"
Romana frowns. "Badgers. Nasty."
Brisa nods, then pulls her gloves back on. She buckles her belt around herself and the rope, then nods, "Da. Now... I will go first, you all follow one at a time, da? Be very careful, please?" She lets herself out, swinging carefully and slowly hand over hand down the rope. Trystan leans carefully over the edge, watching Brisa descend.
Anuje watches Brisa descend. "You want the spark, Brisa?"
Brisa says, "Nyeh, will call if I need but for now you can keep, kisa."
Trystan gets sidetracked by the murals, the skeletons, and the carvings, running his fingers along the mural's surface, musing softly to himself. Almost absently he asks, "Do we have to watch ourselves for anything down here?" He amuses himself looking closely at a skeleton, then returns to the group, "Interesting, isn't it? that each one of us has one of 'them'," motioning behind him to a skeleton, "inside us?"
Anuje blinks at Trystan. "You think about things like that?"
Romana reaches down, and picks up a small hand sized fragment, one of the larger pieces remaining in the room. She looks at it, rubs her chin, and looks back to Trystan, "Romana thinks more in Romanas than here, Trystans..."
Slowly Brisa descends into the well, further down, further deeper. As she moves lower the walls are slightly damper, but that could just be warm air upon cold stone. Just before bottom there looks to be a side passage, an aqueduct once, but now permanently collapsed. As the Dayallan approaches the bottom, that's when she hits the rubble, broken tree limbs, petrified with age, broken stones. But worse the bits and pieces of shattered bone... Brisa's voice drifts up, awed, "Ooooh..." She pulls off a glove, steps over and just regards it... then gently, reverently touches the perfect horn with delicate fingertips. She chants a soft prayer to Herself to show her acolyte the Light and the Way... then quietly calls another spark so her friends can descend without worry -- and to light up her terrible, beautiful find. Softly, quietly she calls, "You can come down now... careful, please."
Anuje hears Brisa and glances down. "What's 'ooooh', Brisa?" She glances at the others and then takes to the rope, starting down carefully.
Brisa shudders in sudden, quiet horror -- how could someone slay a unicorn!? She swallows, then calls back, "Very old bones, kisa... one of my people's traditional mounts." She quietly and reverently sets the heavy, graceful skull back down... then just waits for her friends to arrive, kneeling in bemused awe in front of the ancient bones. Why did they not crumble to dust? Surely they are at least an Age old?
Trystan motions gallantly for the others to descend before he does. Roxanna starts climbing down carefully, her curiosity aroused by Brisa's 'ooh' even though she dreads the climb back out. Anuje gets to the bottom and looks at the bones. "Oh my... are those what I think they are?" Brisa nods silently.
After Anuje, Romana is an ungainly scramble, this time a little better than the first time. She scrambles through the block and brush, until she can look over the shoulders of the others. She blinks, she swallows, and she nods quietly. "Oh, Brisa." Brisa waits 'til everyone is there... then gently lifts the beautiful, fine equine skull... the ancient bone pearly white, from the long muzzle to the perfect horn rising from the middle of its forehead. As she turns it, its bottom portions can now be seen. The shattered bone, the splinters, a shard or two of metal flakes where the sword that cut off its head was chipped.
Trystan manages with some difficulty to not land on something that goes *crack* when he steps on it. "Oh, my..." he whispers, looking around.
Anuje glances at Romana and then back to Brisa. "Are there any even still alive?"
Brisa says, "Oh yes, kisa..." Her voice is soft, "Yes... they are... they are amazing. My mentor Poppy is companion to one. I..." She swallows again, then says, "To be the companion of one is the goal and fervent prayer of every Dayallan... but there are only three that I know of, today..." Trystan grows uncommonly quiet and introspective, his eyes playing off of the beautiful skull Brisa holds. She sets the skull down carefully and sits quietly for a moment, staring at the bones... then takes a deep breath and rises as if she's very tired. "Well... we have searching to do, da?"
The tall Easterner quietly whispers, "...so sorries, Brisas..." Trystan shudders and mumbles a soft agreement.
Brisa smiles a little ruefully at Romana, "Is no one's fault, Rommi... is just how things go." She points up the shaft, "See? Always there are more sisters... always. Is how we all stay free of the East, I am taught." Following Brisa's direction, Romana looks up. There, high in the sky, in the circle of light in the top of the shaft, cut off from all glare from Her light, can be seen the faint glittering of a handful of stars. Brisa turns, rubbing her eyes, and looks around. "Hmm... this maybe was where water came in?" She stands on tiptoe, trying to peer into the aqueduct shaft. The crushed rock Brisa investigates is a tight-packed mass of rubble. But it is, however, cooler than the rest of the wall about here. And save for the skeletal remains; companion and rider, bits of rib, shattered hip, split femur and forelegs... "Mm... will take more than us to clear and repair that. What next..." Brisa gently runs careful fingers through the bones of the companion, hoping to find something special, something to remember her by... maybe something to identify her with... but theirs are the only tale to tell here. Brisa carefully sketches in the new bits of information they have on her rough map, then looks around for another opening or exit. No other passage, no other way out, but back up.
Trystan looks to Brisa, "What are we looking for?"
Brisa says, "I don't know, Trystan. I did not even know my people used these stepped fortresses. Everything we find here is new to me." Trystan nods softly to himself... quiet about something. Brisa finally straightens and sighs softly. "Back up, I think. This maybe can be repaired... but it will take my sisters working together to do so. I will go first, and then I can help pull you up." She dusts her hands off on her tunic, then pulls her gloves back on... then quietly starts climbing up the rope again.
Anuje peers in the rubble. "Maybe I could fit..."
Brisa pauses, glancing over her shoulder down at Anuje, "Fit where, kisa?"
Trystan runs his fingers through the dust... idly tumbling bits of rock and dust through his fingers. Anuje shrugs. "In the passage. It's not all filled in. Just mostly."
Brisa hangs on the gently swaying rope, thinking... then glances back down over her shoulder at Anuje, "You want to try, kisa? I can send spark with you?"
Trystan looks up from his tumbling of tiny rocks, "I don't think it's wise to go somewhere where we can't get to you if you'd need help."
Roxanna looks at the bones, her eyes narrowing as she picks up a few of them to look more closely. She frowns, looking as fierce as she ever does, picturing the long-gone tragedy. Then she says, "Tie a rope to her, then we can pull her back if something happens. Umm...do we have any more rope?"
Trystan smiles though, looking at Brisa, "But you're the woman in charge, m'lady...?" leaving the question open-ended.
Brisa gives Trystan an amused glance... then nods and continues up the rope to the central stone. It is not a hard climb up the rope for her, especially with the knots she had tied in its length. She climbs up onto the central stone, then braces herself firmly, "Ready! Roxy, you come first, please?" Roxanna braces her feet against the knots and slowly caterpillars up the rope. Brisa also hauls Roxanna up slowly and steadily. She intends to haul up Romana next, then Anuje, under the principle that the lighter ones should come last, when she's tiredest... Romana climbs awkwardly to the top of the block, and literally has to throw herself into Brisa's arms to keep her from losing her balance. A hug, a giggle, and then she joins the others. Brisa grins and shakes her head amusedly at Romana.
Anuje nods. "Brisa, I think might be able to climb up on my own, so you don't have to tire yourself."
Brisa doesn't argue with that. She grins tiredly down at Trystan at the end and calls down hopefully to ask if he thinks he can climb up himself maybe? Trystan waits quietly as the others ascend, then climbs quietly up to the higher chamber. Brisa sits for a moment to catch her breath... Trystan climbs somberly out of the pit. Seeing the tired Brisa, he smiles, giving her a warm pat on the shoulder. Brisa smiles at Trystan, still catching her breath... then rises with a gusty sigh, "All right! Hallways now... eastern first, da?" Trystan seems to freeze... swallowing at a suddenly dry throat. Brisa blinks at Trystan curiously, "Trys? You all right?" Trystan walks softly over to Brisa, not taking his eyes from scanning the darkness, then leans over and whispers softly into Brisa's ear.
Brisa looks blankly at Trystan... then shakes her head, and whispers back, "Nyeh. What am I listening for?" She quietly rises, drawing her sword. Trystan motions with his hand urging her to lower her sword, still talking to her in a voice too quiet to hear, even in this dead silence. Brisa lowers the sword, but still looks around, wary and worried. Then she blinks in astonishment at Trystan, then just takes a deep breath and nods, listening carefully. Trystan's eyes narrow as he gestures into the darkness ahead of them.
Soft and quiet, soft and quiet are the words. Two voices, women's voices, somewhere, somewhere deeper in the rubble, deeper in the fallen temple. "...oh Mother... each night I pray..."
"It is fine, Allena... how could I not..."
Brisa straightens suddenly, her eyes bright, staring at one of the tunnels in shocked wonder. Trystan starts, his voice rising with surprise, "There! right..." he lowers his voice again. Anuje blinks, jerking upright. She glances over at Brisa and Roxanna to see if they noticed. Brisa strides very quietly towards the tunnel, a spark swinging wildly around to follow her. Roxanna is staring in the direction of the voices... looking extremely puzzled. Trystan skitters off after Brisa, "Wait! they're one of our..." Brisa glances over her shoulder at Trystan, holding a finger to her lips... then continues heading for the tunnel. She'll stare down it silently, studying it. Trystan stands quietly, hands dangling at his sides as he stops behind Brisa. Trystan whispers softly, though loud enough to be heard, "...I don't think it's bad..."
"...but every night... every night I hope... and then I wake..."
"...I would again do it, little gardener... how could I not..."
"...you didn't have to... it was our mistake..."
"...and you could have left too..."
"...I know... how could I and leave you... but... but..."
"...but what, Allena..."
"It hurts every night it hurts it hurts and hurts, I can't take it any more, Tashka..."
Romana stands frozen, a hand slowly rising to cover her mouth, sapphire eyes wide.
"...I know. Maybe this night you'll be lucky. Maybe this night they'll take you first..."
Brisa nods at Trystan's words. She sheathes her sword slowly and silently, whispering a soft prayer under her breath... then heads with quiet, careful steps down the tunnel. Brisa steps warily and slowly... she doesn't want to be surprised. And two steps are all one can take before the fallen debris is too tangled for travel. A small warren the tunnel had become; tree trunks, stone, broken rock, bits of doors. A net of shrapnel fills this corridor. Trystan, with a quick look back at the others, follows, his lips also moving in a sublingual, well-practiced prayer. Roxanna also follows, wondering what in the world they've discovered... Brisa frowns, thinking... then calls out quietly, "Who is there?" She pauses, listening carefully. Anuje follows quietly behind, slinking along one of the tunnel walls.
Trystan casts a look over to Brisa, looking and then following her lead, "...you're among friends..." He rubs at his cheek. "There's something... sounds like something scritching over the rocks on the other side." He begins to inspect the damage to the tunnel.
Brisa nods and glances around her, "Move back, kisa, everyone." She waits 'til folks are clear... then simply starts hauling branches, yanking things free, tossing them aside... she wants through this blockage!
Trystan stands back but offers, "Do you want any help... with that?"
Anuje tries to shoo the spark from her shoulder, preferring to be able to sneak if she needs to. Brisa nods silently to Trystan, saving her breath for tearing pieces out of the blockage. When she notices Anuje trying to shoo the spark away she wills it to above them in the tunnel, so they can see what they're fighting. Trystan lends his hands to the struggle with the debris. It very quickly becomes obvious that to dig one's way through here with one's bare hands would be a long, long affair. The rocks are heavy-wedged with an age of time. Brisa pauses suddenly, holding a hand out to get Trystan to stop too, and calls softly, "Verchovai Tashka? Tashka Korliss?" She waits, listening intently again. Trystan stops, wiping sweat from his brow. his panting echoing in the silence of the tunnel. Brisa glances at Trystan, watching to see if he reacts... his hearing seems better than hers. Trystan closes his eyes, trying to still the sound of the blood rushing in his ears... then looks up at Brisa, shaking his head softly. Brisa nods to Trystan, then sighs, staring irritatedly at the rocks. Finally she mutters something rude under her breath and turns, striding to the next tunnel to the left to see if it's as bad. She'll check all the tunnels so.
Trystan skips off after Brisa, sticking close by her, wondering aloud, "Do you think... that if there was that kind of debris coming down... that there might be a hole through to the surface somewhere?"
Anuje stays behind and pokes around, trying to feel if air is getting through from the tunnel and if there is enough room. The passage down the western hall looks tight, too tight for even Anuje. Indeed she almost gets stuck, her tunic ripping when she finally breaks free. Brisa says, "Don't know, Trys... but am hoping to find one tunnel not so blocked. Maybe all rooms can be reached by any tunnel... and we can just walk behind that debris over there by using a different tunnel."
Roxanna says, "You know those names, Brisa?"
Brisa says, "Which names, Roxanna? Allena? Nyeh... but am wondering if maybe I now do believe in ghosts." Trystan smiles, sniffing a soft chuckle. The southern passage, however, is much less tangled, the going is slow, but even Brisa can slip through. Brisa will slowly and methodically work her way through first. She has no idea if ghosts are hostile or not, and if she can pass then surely any of them can.
Trystan starts with concern, seeing Anuje almost get stuck, "-careful..." he whispers with genuine concern.
Anuje curses quietly and then moves back. "Where's Brisa?" Roxanna points down the hallway that Brisa has entered.
Trystan motions, "This way..."
Brisa's voice drifts over from another tunnel, lit by the spark, "Over here, kisa..." The rubbled corridor breaks into a longer one running crosswise to the right and left. This passage is much, much different. Perhaps five feet wide, it has a carven stone floor and walls, but no, no roof at all. Instead there is rubble and vegetation above, and every now and then the slightest pinprick of light. The tall walls are gruesome. They are chipped and scored, fire-stained. At the base of each wall there is a scattering of bones and decomposed cloth... while on the walls... on the walls, scattered here and there it looks like metal spikes have been driven through bits of bone, as if a person had once been spiked against the stone. Brisa stops, drawing her sword and staring around in horror.
From the right then there is a growling deep and a ragged, ragged scream. Trystan stops, his hands going out to his sides. Brisa gasps at the scream -- then turns and runs towards it. Anuje pauses at that. "That couldn't have been Brisa..." Trystan looks around... then trots warily toward where Brisa went.
Brisa yells over her shoulder at Trystan, "Come on! It's happening again, can't you hear it?!"
Roxanna is already moving, heading down the tunnel, following the light-spark. Trystan calls out as he steps lively, "Yes... *pant pant* I hear it!" Brisa slides her shield onto her left arm as she runs, crouching slightly, the spark darting ahead of her, seeking the chaos riders and the two women... even if they are just ghosts now... Trystan runs faster after Brisa, nimbly picking his way over the roughened floor.
"...oh gods... Tashka... Tashka, I..." There is a second horrid scream, dying in an choked and bubbling wail. Brisa runs, best she can, her star following her like her faithful steed. Running, crawling, her tunics ripping on branch and wall-driven spike, the rocks tumble, the clitter and clatter, until... until...
It turns...
Trystan mutters under his breath and pours it on, following Brisa at top speed. Anuje squirms her way through the rubble and after the rest of the group, running to catch up and help if she can, but quite, quite apprehensive, still remembering the feel of cold steel.
It is not a chaos rider. It is not a ghost. It is a fiercesome lizard, perhaps twelve feet long, a curling terror of green and brown scales. Its eight legs clitter-clatter over the stones and it tries to hiss, but it can't with a woman's torso severed and held clamped between its toothy jaws. And the woman seems real too, manacled to the wall in black metal bindings, her arms out stretched, her blonde hair all astray, her eyes empty and a swath of blood running from her mouth down her neck. And across the hall a second ravaged corpse hangs, this time a rugged woman with black hair. But there is less than half of her left, the other pieces scattered like tidbits to a rabid dog. She was obviously feasted on... first. Brisa pauses a moment, taking in the scene -- then screams in incoherent fury and charges the horrible thing, sending the spark diving at its empty eyes, trying to stab its mouth shut while it's full.
At the back, equally earnest, Romana pops her head over the stones and screams, "tchaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" and vanishes back beneath the rubble. Trystan gets out of the way of the real fighters, hovering protectively near Anuje, dagger drawn and in a bit of an oddly menacing stance. Roxanna stops dead at the corner and slowly backs away, trying not to attract the thing's attention, whether it's real, unreal, live, or undead. Trystan looks around, seeing only Brisa attacking that thing, and mutters something under his breath. Anuje rushes headlong trying to catch up with the rest. She ends up skidding to a stop as she bumps into Trystan and tries to see around him. She goes quickly pale at the ghastly scene. Trystan grrs paternally to Anuje, "Get back, luv... you really shouldn't be seeing this... safer back there..."
The hunting beast cannot scream, its mouth filled with carcass as Brisa's blade smashes down, an arc of steel driving through its neck shoulder. Through scale and muscle, strong muscle, for it almost pulls the sword from her grasp. It convulses, and there is a thick gout of black blood streaming from its wound, dousing Brisa as she retrieves her blade. It too strikes out, enraged, tossing the woman's corpse aside, a taloned claw slicing through Brisa's abdomen, drawing blood, a sharp bitter pain, but not enough to knock the Dayallan off her feet. Trystan, in a fluid move, throws his dagger, aiming for the creature's eye. Brisa dances aside, trying to get on the beast's back, where those taloned feet and teeth can't reach and she can hack at it more easily.
Anuje closes her eyes and mutters softly. A black mist seems to surround her for a few moments, growing closer to fit with her form and then disappear. Behind the rocks Roxanna can see Romana shake. The younger lady holds herself tight, eyes closed, and when they open she looks as if she is going to dart over the rocks to help -- but then she stops. One hand reaches up, to tap an amber earring. The beast turns, following Brisa's sweep, but is distracted by Trystan's heavy knife bouncing harmlessly off its head. Brisa then, a heartbeat later, can feel her sword part vertebrae as it is driven deep in its back. There is the cracking of bone, and both Brisa and her sword are tossed like dried leaves as the beast convulses. It shudders, throwing itself against one wall. And then it slides down, leaving a gruesome stain, dead.
Brisa rest, panting, against the wall for a moment... then pulls herself to her feet and staggers back over to the monster. She takes the sword in both hands, raising it over her head... then SMASHES it down, chopping the monster's head off... just as the unicorn was treated. Brisa kicks the head aside in disgust... then turns to look at the remains of the two women, still breathing hard, her face tight. Roxanna comes back as the thing dies, and tsks at Brisa, trying to get her to settle down and have her slashed ribs treated. Trystan runs to Brisa, putting his hand on her shoulder... "Are you alright?"
The two women hang in their manacles, just arms and heads and part of a torso hanging crazily, their center of balance and mass now unnaturally shifted. Corpses, still bleeding, still draining. Brisa blinks at Roxanna, then Trystan... then looks back at the remains. Her voice is tight, "We haven't stopped it yet. I... I'm going to try dispelling them. You should all get back... I don't know what will happen."
Trystan looks to the blood coming from Brisa's abdomen, glances to Roxanna and suggests, "You should sit down...?"
Brisa turns to stare at Anuje, "Lend me the Star, please, kisa?" Trystan holds up his hands... backing away... Anuje ends up standing amongst the gore as the fight ends. She glances up at Brisa as the words register -- and she takes the pendant off and hands it to Brisa. She starts to move a hand to her mouth as she tries to keep from gagging.
Roxanna nods. "That might work..."
Romana slowly crawls up from where she retreated. She sits there at the edges, just hugging her knees, and looks down. Brisa wipes her sword off and sheathes it, then shrugs her shield back onto her back before she accepts the pendant. She holds it carefully and reverently, resting in her palms as she takes deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She waits for everyone to move back, and she's caught her breath, before she starts. Anuje does move back, looking for a good place to lose her lunch and quickly getting out of that space. Trystan moves closer to Roxanna and offers for Anuje and Romana to stand close to them for moral support. Brisa frowns at a sudden thought... then walks over to gently touch the cheek of the dark haired woman. Are these ghosts right now? Brisa's fingers touch warm flesh. Warm flesh quickly cooling. Solid, real. Brisa sighs tiredly and sits on a piece of rubble, "Never mind... they are not ghosts. I do not think I can dispel them."
Trystan goes softly to Brisa... "But someone... put them there..."
Brisa tries touching the little ironsilver star to the dead woman, her voice dead, "I... don't know how to stop this..."
Trystan motions to Brisa's own blood, "And you need that taken care of too, luv."
Roxanna says, "Something very strange, this is. Where'd the lizard come from? Why'd they talk about lots of repetitions? Maybe we need to stay and stop the lizard before he eats them on the next cycle?"
Brisa sighs, looking up at Trystan, "Trys... this happen at the end of Second Age. Look... that is Tashka, who falls at defense of Bordertown, before the battle at Silk Creek. Over there, that is... one of the women of Bordertown. Allena."
Trystan scratches his head... "Then how are they real?"
Brisa says, "Every night, since the Second Age..." she puts her face in her hands, "I do not know, Trys... but every night... they are here..."
Anuje shivers and hugs herself. "Can you imagine?"
Trystan knows he's asking a dumb question... but he can't stop it before it gets out, "...how?"
From her quiet perch, looking down and away, Romana whispers, ashamed. "Hunting beasts pack lizards are."
Brisa looks up tiredly at Romana, "More of them? Down here? ...that... would explain the mess in the main hallways..."
Still looking away, Romana nods. "Four or five, big and little."
Anuje blinks. "Four or five more? Let's not stay here."
Brisa takes a deep breath... then rises and hands the little Star back to Anuje. She slides her shield back onto her arm and draws her sword... then stalks determinedly down the hall. "Then... I will find all of them here and kill them all. Then maybe this horrible thing will stop."