Oct 24, 2010

The Prison

Once again I am posting an entry. I apologize for not having done it in a long while. I have been busy, with the coming holidays and all. But I will make an effort to post more frequently.

Stellas 25, 296 e.m.
Day 12,
To continue from where I left off yesterday:
I awoke in this cold, filthy cell, my companions surrounding me. Kyrainna was awake, which relieved me. I had been worried she would never wake again. Everyone else seemed to be in as good a condition as can be expected, their wounds treated and bandaged. Well, except for Daeroth's purple, swollen arm. He said he had refused to allow an enemy to treat a wound that they had inflicted. The pride of the knights I suppose.

Through the gaps in the bars I could see a wondrous, frightening world. We appeared to be in a vast, underground caver, lit by a blood red light from a source I cannot determine. Our cell rests on a large rise, some way above the main floor. Below us, a city of shadow demons spread out across the entire cavern floor. The houses seemed to be made of some sort of pure black stone., and appeared to almost be part of the ground itself.

The first thing we did, of course, was to begin a plan of escape. I cannot write that here, however, in case our enemies read it. Just writing that we are forming a plan is risky, but if these shadows can think at all, they already know we are.

Now, to move on to this day. Do you recall a few days ago when I wrote of my dream? The strangest thing happened; I had it again. It makes me wonder if it means something. One thing changed however. I was able to see a little more than last time. Not much, but a little. This time, I could tell that the things I mistook for boulders were really some sort of buildings. Still, I could make out little else.

Captivity here so far seems to blend into an endless blur of misery. It seems to stretch on forever, the only way to tell the hours apart is by the food they bring us. The cell is always as cold as the night, since no sunlight can reach it so far underground. While we are awake we constantly keep in motion to keep warm, and when we sleep we huddle close together to share what little body heat we have. The shadows gave us a single tattered blanket to share between us, but through unanimous decision we have given it to Kyrainna as she is accustomed to the warm elven woods, where there is never winter.

Our sleeping schedules are very different, more so that at least one of us will always be awake than for any other reason.Then again, when anyone is sleeping there will always be another asleep as well to share the warmth. At one point, when both Daeroth and I were awake, we had an interesting conversation.

The silence had become unbearable, a strange humming sound from below being the only noise. Daeroth's hard expression made it obvious that he wasn't likely to start a conversation himself, so I put aside for a moment my irritation toward him and said, "Do you have a family to go home to? When this is all over."

Daeroth glanced over at me, his blue eyes slightly warmer than the cold glares I usually got from him. "Yes, once I have brought you safely to your destination, I will return to my wife and daughter. They await me in our home in Sardale, with many of the other families of questing knights. Do you have a family?"

I shook my head. "No, the cousin that hired you is the only living relative I'm aware of."

"Right, your cousin." Daeroth looked suddenly nervous, but before I had a chance to ask what was wrong, he said, "So if you have no family, what then inspires you to return home?"

His question caught me by surprise. I opened my mouth to answer, but realized that I did not know what to say. How do you answer a question like that? "I don't understand," I said finally. "Isn't it enough that I want to go home, rather than question the cause behind it?"

He studied me for a long moment, then shook his head and turned away. That was the end of our conversation.

And this is the end of this entry.

Aigon Silverwind,
Confused

Oct 7, 2010

Prisoners

Hello again. Here is Day 11 for you. All right, just as a random question, how high would you rate Aigon's journal on a scale of one to ten, one being absolutely horrible and ten being perfectly wonderful? Just to see what sort of reactions I'm getting from this.

Stellas 24, 296 e.m.
Day 11,
Indeed we were hunted. The assassin was right. If we had only... But it doesn't matter now. We have been captured by shadows with blood-red eyes and burning skin. When one touches you, you are overcome by an unbearable cold, so intense it feels like fire. There is no way to escape from these demons.

I awoke in the night to cloth being pressed to my mouth to muffle any calls for help I might dare to utter. Roughly pulled to my feet,  the shadows grabbing me by the shirt so as not to cripple me with pain, I noticed Kyrainna unconscious on the ground. She had been on watch and the creatures were obviously taking no chances with us. My other companions were being woken up the same way I had been, but they remained visibly calm, as if this sort of thing happens all the time. This gave me enough courage to at least control my shaking and attempt to look unafraid.

"You are the bearers of the amystium?" one of the biggest demons asked, its voice like a winter morning, quiet and cold.

I may have been calm on the outside, but I was terrified in reality. I was in no condition to answer my captor, and so I was grateful when Daeroth spoke up, his voice remarkably steady. "You could say that. We carry the amystium and many other items to trade. May I ask why we were so rudely awoken?"

Ignoring Daeroth's question, the shadow that had spoken glanced back at a slightly smaller one near the wagon and hissed a few words in its own language. The other replied and shook its head. "Come with us." The big one said sharply in Common.

Several of the shadow creatures that weren't busy holding us began to relieve my guards of the weapons that they had apparently kept by their bedside while they slept. The rest began to search the wagon.

It didn't take long for them to find the pack of amystium, but when they tried to take it, an interesting thing happened. Light shot up the shadow's arm and it screamed in agony. It snatched its hand back and turned to glare at Len who was fighting to hold back laughter. "You. Short one," it said, pointing at him. "Carry pack."

Snickering, Len took the amystium pack and slung it over his shoulder. The shadows continued examining the contents of the wagon, though with less excitement, until once again they paused in their search. Pulling out this journal, they asked, "Whose is this?"

I summoned enough courage to murmur, "It's mine."

The creature's laugh was both a hiss and a cough. It handed me my journal and said, "Keep it. Maybe you'll be the one." I was also given an inkwell and a quill. I find this odd, but I'm not about to question it.They left the rest of the supplies, and the horses as well since they couldn't seem to control the animals.

While the shadows were herding us along, Kyrainna slung over Daeroth's shoulder, I noticed Kadon, Brilynn, Len, and Kayissa exchanging looks. They nodded very slightly at Zillan who then began to hum to himself softly. He kept this up for several minutes, ignoring the amused looks the shadows gave him. What happened next was so fast I barely was able to comprehend what happened. With seemingly no warning, they broke and shot for our captors, Len tossing me the amystium pack and Daeroth setting Kyrainna on the ground first. They were going to fight the shadows with their bare hands! Having seen them fight before, a spark of hope lit within me, but it died almost as soon as it was born.  As their naked fists met the flesh of the shadows, they fell to the ground, crying out in pain. Most of them attempted to hold in their screams, writhing and clutching the skin that had made contact, but Len and Zillan did not even bother trying. Their cries pierced me, and, I am ashamed to admit, a blind fury overtook me. Stupidly, I lunged at the demons, thinking that somehow, if I could end their lives, the screaming would end as well.

And then, I was down screaming along with them from the horrible, sickening agony. Apparently I have a much lower tolerance for this pain than my guards, for soothing darkness quickly engulfed me, ending the torment. I awoke in this cell, my left hand bandaged and the journal, the inkwell, the quill, and the amystium pack were beside me. My companions are here as well, in better condition than I.

I'll write the rest tomorrow. I can feel exhaustion winning over my fear.

Aigon Silverwind,
Prisoner of Demons

Oct 4, 2010

The Shadows

Once again I have another entry for you. This one is long, but it's more interesting than some of the past entries.

Stellas 23, 296 e.m.
Day 10,
We awoke this morning to the horses in a panic. It is a good thing we tethered them to a tree well away from our sleeping area, or we would likely have been killed under their flailing hooves. Kayissa, Kadon, and Daeroth were already trying to calm them when I opened my eyes, and Brilynn, Kyrainna, and Len were rising as I hurried over to help. The horses all ignored our efforts to sooth them, and after several moments of this, Kyrainna began to speak in what I could only assume was elvish.

"Alinatha kor isthae," she began in a clear, calming voice. "Terinno es taer orraino. Farith oris nalindilae eth. Taeroeth.... Taeroth."

Suddenly, it felt as if a weight I didn't know I was carrying was lifted from my heart. The horses calmed down, their muscles relaxing and their rolling eyes focusing.

"What startled them?" I asked Daeroth, who had been on watch.

"I don't know," he responded. "Whatever it was was gone by the time I got to the horses. I thought I saw... Nevermind. A trick of the eyes. It was probably a fox or some similar creature."

"What did you see?" I demanded. He seemed to hesitate, so I added, "It may be important Daeroth."

He finally relented. "I saw a.... a shadow dart into the trees. I really didn't see much of it, but whatever it was, it radiated more dark power than the Tysirian Forest."

Kyrainna shuddered and spoke a sharp word in elven. "Ternok! Do not speak of that place, even in passing. It contains the vilest of evils, and many of its creatures have eyes everywhere."

Daeroth looked almost ashamed. "I apologize my lady. But the evil around that shadow-thing was very great. It was gone so quickly that except for that aura I sensed, I might have assumed it just a trick of the light."

I thought for a moment and then nodded. "All right. Daeroth, you and Kadon go see if you can find any sign of this shadow man in the nearby area. Don't go too far though! Stay within shouting distance."

"Wait!" Len called suddenly. He seemed a little disconcerted as our alarmed eyes turned on him. "Let me go instead. Listen!" he yelled again as we turned away. "I am a thief after all, and I'm well practiced at moving about unseen. Chances are, if they go, the shadow creature will be frightened off before they even get close. Or, on the other hand, there's a good chance they could walk right into an ambush. My hightened senses would warn me of one before I got near it."

Even with this in mind, I was a bit hesitant. The cheery, clever halfling was really not all that responsible. He was at least twice as likely to get distracted by some interesting bird as to find the mysterious intruder. "I'm not sure that's a good idea...."

He scowled at me. "I know what you're thinking. That I'm irresponsible and too easily distracted. That's what everyone thinks. I guess it's true sometimes. Okay it's true most of the time. But how am I supposed to prove that I can do well if no one gives me a chance?"

How could I say no after that? So Len went on his own and Daeroth and Kadon both stayed.

The sun was nearly up so we decided to get ready to head out. Back at the camp we were greeted by loud snores. Somehow, Zillan had slept through the whole thing. Kyrainna gently woke him while the rest of us packed up. She got him breakfast and he sat down to watch us work. 

A short while after we had finished, Len appeared his small face unusually grim. "Whatever it was knew we would search for it. I couldn't find it, but it left you a message. I'll lead you to it. Zillan, you should come too, in case there are magical energies around it or something."

Zillan glanced regretfully at his half-eaten bowl of food and trailed behind the rest of us. Only Kayissa stayed with the wagon, claiming she had no wish to see this "message".

I am no tracker, but even I could easily tell something had been through this way. Some of the lower branches were broken and the foliage layering the ground was trampled.

"I suspected a trap at first." Len admitted as we walked the newly flattened trail. "Obviously it meant for us to come this way. But I searched the area thoroughly and there was no sign of a trap." The halfling seemed proud that he had finally proved himself capable of things like this.

Zillan suddenly slowed his pace. "There is something very wrong here."

Len nodded. "Up ahead. you'll see."

We broke through the bushes into a very small clearing, where we were greeted by a gruesome sight. There, all over the ground were the remains of several dead animals, burning with some kind of black fire.

"Come stand over here," Len called from the top of a large stone. "It gives you a better perspective."

Obediantly, I took my place upon the rock and looked won on the scattered bodies. "It's a skull!" I gasped, and indeed it was. Obvious from my elevated vantage point, the carcasses were organized in the shape of a giant skull.

"We have to get away from here." Zillan said desperately. "There are powers here that should not be trifled with!"

"I agree with the mage." Kyrainna stated, fear evident in her voice. "These deaths were not natural, that much even you should be able to tell. There is a feel of unmistakable evil around this place."

Brilynn smiled slightly. "It is too late for that. This evil hunts us, and no amount of running will change that. That is the message these rotting corpses contain."

"Unfortunately, I think she's right." Len said quietly. "I've been hunted before, through no fault of my own of course, and this right here is just the cat playing with the mouse."

I shook my head. "Either way, we need to move on. And quickly."

We returned to the camp and shared the news with Kayissa, then set out on the road. Miraculously, nothing bothered us while we were moving. Nothing except our own fears. Daeroth allowed me a rest from today's lesson and now I am going to sleep.

We'll see what answers tommorow holds.

Aigon Silverwind,
Hunted