Ilmen'lindor - A new one in town

[Artemisa]

((Arranging it a bit around here to make more sense.... ))


Clenching his fists again he looked down at the amulet he once so proudly wore, now laying on the ground covered in dirt. The usual vague light from the rose quartz disk was missing and the tall elf stepped it mockingly deeper in the mud. In just a week his life had changed so drastically. But maybe he ha felt it coming and just ignored the signs, welcoming the changes. His last journey had been a big success, though his church ment the oposite. Looking at his hands reminded him about the pain after digging up several graves. How could those fools say it was wrong to fight evil with evil? He had only brought back thieves and scum to help him clear out that last crypt. He couldn't understand their logic. And the look in his wife's eyes when he had told her, proudly, how he had dismissed yet another evil away. Not even she understood...And then there was this depressing darkness looming around him. He could feel that his God had abandoned him now, but also how his new master took a harder and harder hold over his mind. At last he could carry out the command from someone who would appreciate HIS ways of doing things.

The small rose quartz disk easily crunched under his foot and he smiled widely at the sound of it. Straightening his back he took a deep breath while wrapping a black band of cloth around his fire red hair. Only one small task remained. His children. They had dared to take them away from him. HIS children! It hadn't been too complicated to find their location though. A bit logic thinking and help from his new allies had pointed him to Waterdeep.

"So they thought their aunt could keep them away..." a smile curled up his lips again and he laughed.

[Artemisa]

"She will understand. She will know." he closed his hand around some odd shaped coin and smiled. The sun and warm breeze played around with his deep red hair, whipping it around his elven face and covering most of his bronze features. The once so friendly emerald eyes stared emotionless at his closed hand. The smile had only touched his lips and nothing more. He wasn't planning to actually meet them. Just drop off his litte coin he had gotten made. It was far from remarkable, just about a half time bigger then the standard coin and both sides were covered with a symbol. No magic was weaved in the metal, not even a little glow. It was just a simple coin. But for his children it could perhaps be more. A direction, a marker into their future. He was unsure about the boy, but he knew his girl would not let him down. So anonymously he planted the coin, well wrapped inside a black piece of cloth, where he knew she would be the first to find it. Only time could show if his five weeks with observing and planning would be a total waste, or not.

60 years later the girl flipped the same coin to choose her direction. It didn't lead her too far away, but at least it was away.

[Artemisa]

Standing at the top she looked down at the lifeless body at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh it wasn't your fault, sweetheart." a strangely familiar, yet unknown, female voice spoke softly inside her mind. The presence of this voice had become more frequently as of late, but it didn't bother her. The voice calmed her down and especially in situations where she'd normally panic.

"He deserved it. Think about all the girls he caused pain - his Death was not in vain..." The voice changed from soft to harder, forming a song in her head.

"But the cruelty...And wont I be charged for murder?" Her own voice could hardly be heard, not even loud enough to be a whisper.

The other voice laughed. "But sweetheart. You keep forgetting it was an accident. Don't let this get to you, my dear. You know what he was trying to do."

Backing away from the stairs the young elven female went back to her room and locked the door behind her carefully. Shuffling over the hard wooden floor she pulled out a chair and stared into a mirror. The melody formed in her mind again and softly she sang...

"In our sleep it keeps up awake
- the darkness in our mind.
When awake it torments us so
- a darkness in our hearts
And when Death come can it set us free?
- from the darkness in our souls"

"There you go, sweetheart, there you go. Never let such trivial affairs trouble you. Let the trouble flow away from your mind with your melody. This is already in your past now. You can't keep living in the past, my dear."

"You are right..." the female continued to the mirror. "It is already in the past now."

The following morning she woke from someone knocking at her door. Throwing a cloak over herself she went to open it and greeted the man on the other side. It was the innkeeper. They had barely met, but she remembered him from the night before when renting a room.

" 'scuse me, miss, appologies for waking ye up so early, but there seem to 'ave been some accident 'appening right outside yer room door last nite 'n I be wondering if ye might 'ave 'eard anything?"

"An accident, sir?"

"Yah. Only an accident. Some drunken lad looks to 'ave tumbled down the stairs. I told 'im to slow down his drinking last nite..." the old innkeeper shook his head and sighed. "Well anyways...some other guests saw the two o' ye going upstairs togeter last nite 'n I figgured maybe ye've 'eard something."

"Ack poor man....Unfortunately I never got to know him. It is true that we went upstairs together, but I was to tired I had to go straight to bed." Pulling her cloak a bit closer she hid her torn up nightshirt from him to see. No need for the old innkeeper to start thinking about it.

The innkeeper chuckled. "Dun think ye should so sorry, miss. This lad was known for getting too drunk 'n treating young misses like yerself badly."

Placing a hand on her cheek the young elf gasped shocked. "Oh my...I guess I should concider myself lucky then, Sir. He appeared to be such a gentleman."

"Yah, missy." he placed a light hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "No need to worry 'bout the tha' anymore tho'. 'n I'll talk to the law 'round 'ere for ye. No need for ye to be sitting 'round 'ere for days waiting for 'em to question ye 'bout a lil' accindent, now is there?"

She looked up and smiled gratefully to him. "Thank you, Sir. But if anyone need to question me, shouldn't I stay around then...?"

"Nah miss. No need for tha'. Ye just 'appened to 'ave the room closest to 'em stairs anyways. 'n accidents 'appen."

"If you are sure, Sir..."

"I'm sure." He smiled broadly to her, showing a set with yellow, crocked teeth.

"Well then..." she smiled politely back, hiding a frown of disgust. "I should start packing. My journey is not yet finished."

" 'ave a good one, missy! Hope ye enjoyed yer stay despite this lil' incident."

"Ah, but of course." again she smiled, pushing a few red hairs away from her face. "And thank you. I will try my best to forget this horrible accident. Goodbye, Sir, and many thanks for you hospitality."

"Yer more then welcome, miss. If ye ever find yerself in these parts o' Waterdeep again be sure to come by 'ere. With yer angle voice ye will alwats be welcome to perform 'ere 'n stay for free!"

In under an hour she had left the Inn and was back on the road again. Flipping her coin over and over again she let fate decide her direction.

[Artemisa]

Curled up like a ball she sat in front of the fireplace in the cosey inn. The icey winds outside had blown straight through her thick dress and hood so the biting cold still made her limbs ache in pain as she slowly felt the heat from the fireplace spread around her like a warm, caring embrace. But instead of a salvation it felt suffocating and forcing. A few lonely tears escaped the corners of her eyes, though she didn't feel sad.

The sounds in her mind started to form into melodies, untill that strangely familiar voice started to speak, again, as soft and alluring as always.

"Sweetheart, sweetheart....What have you done?"

"I didn't do anything." she replied, yet no one around her could here it, or even see her lips moving.

"You know you did something wrong. You know it."

"No."

"Yes. You did."

"I did not! He started it!"

"Nonsense and you know it. It was your fault."

"I...."

"Yes, YOU."

"Be quiet...just..be quiet...sshhh..."

"He is right. You are weak."

"Be quiet I said! I think you need to...shut up. Yes. Shut up. I never expected Jandor to actually do it, or..I did. No, I didn't, but just..maybe. I...have to find the other part..." she opened her hand and stared at a bended piece of metal that could resemble the half of a large coin. The images painted on it was still there, though unless one knew what it had been of no one could see what it was anymore except from the green and black colours on one side and the purple and black on the other. Gingerly she scraped away the purple and black paint, revieling another layer under it of green and black like on the other side.

Finally she had had enough of the uncomfortable heat and got up from the floor. Strangely she longed to get outside again to the biting cold.

The winds were blowing like before and the white snow almost made the dark night seem brighter. Crawling on the ground she started her search in the snow. It had to be here somwhere, the other part. She just had to keep looking.

"Starlight twinkling with the snow
in soundless rhymes sang by the crow.
Please now let me find the coin
let again the parts forever join.

Starlight twinkling with the snow
lead the way with your soft glow
Leave a hint, make a sound
let the coin again be round.

Precious winds, blow it here
make my eyes see it clear.
Precious twinkle send a ray
that will lead me on the way

Precious winds blow him here
take away this last one fear...."

[Artemisa]

She watched the door for a few long moments. In the hallway outside she could hear how his footfells slowly faded away and the complete silence took over. This night the silence felt worse then the night before, and the night before. The last few days was mixed together as one big mess inside her head and she found it hard to concentrate about anything. She sank down into the bed, her hated long red hair flowing around her, with an almost empty winebottle in her hand.

How had the journey started again? Why had they ended up in that place? And why had they not seen animals in there?

She knew for certain they had left from Redmist. Or almost certain. Certain enough. She had lost the sense of direction about 500 meter away from Redmist, but quietly, as always, she had followed her companions and their direction, confident that they would not lose the path as well. They had too many times reassured her that neither a ranger or a druid loses track that easily in nature. And that day they even travelled with a second druid.

Somewhere along the road they went down. The clear water next to the steep path was what she remembered the best. Beautiful sun rays had played over the blank surface and made it sparkle, captivating her attention completely, and before she knew how she found herself standing in a grove. The athmosphere felt magical and as she closed her eyes new tones ringed inside her mind, pressing on to form melodies, but she was rudely interrupted by the shouts of her companions who had spotted a group of huge, fizzling creatures, that she later got told was lightning elementals.

From here her memory got blurry again and all the wine had not exactly helped her remember it more clearly. Just glimpses of scenes from inside a tower, smoke everywhere making her eyes weep and burns, fires....Commands, shouting. More fire. Almost mechanical she had fired arrow after arrow on all creatures approaching. At some point she even thought it was a dream, it all felt so surrealistic, like she just observed the whole event without the will to controll her own actions or moves. And in the middle of it all she could see him suffer. The ice in the middle of an ocean of flames. How out of place he looked like here and she saw him struggle, but she didn't know why. His sentences shifted so strangely and his movements were not the same.

Later Ravenna mentioned a demon that had casted some foul spell over Jandor. She had not understood him, but she understood it was bad. And for the first time in her life she wished she had power. Much power. More power. The will and power to help him. In the flow of words coming from her mouth she must have mentioned something useful, for Ravenna urged her to try a chant on Jandor that might be helpfull, though he was unsure.

Laying in the bed she blinked a few times. For perhaps the first time in her life she had felt usefull. She had managed to do something that Ravenna couldn't do, and something that Jandor couldn't help himself with. It was still all a blurr, but the feelings were there. She had pressed her warm hand against his cold forehead and chanted to remove a curse and it had worked.

Pouring in the last drops with wine she sighed contently and closed her eyes. Her hopes had been to press out a new melody while thinking back on the journey, but only old ones came back to haunt her mind. Though this time she didn't mind and didn't resist.

"Golden rays playing with white
in a deadly soundless dance.
Warmth and cold displaying might
a hypnotic, dreamfull trance.

But in a blissfull state of mind
the difference matters no more
Sun and Ice together entwined
each other they will adore.

A dangerous game to play
for the Ice and his need for cold
when the Sun's caring ray
touches, and his heart unfold

A dangerous game to play much
for the Sun and her rays of heat
when the Ice' loving touch
pauses her very heartbeat

Yet together those two will stay
to continue weaving the dance
The most deadly ballet
the core of theur very romance.."