With a heavy heart the time has come to pen down my thoughts and fears regarding the situation regarding Addie and sweet Nethrida, as matters are rapidly reaching the point of no return. I am torn between many options, and felt my faith shaken from an unexpected direction.
Following my recent reconnaissance to Kheledul (See Twin Towers Part 1), I returned to the cottage haven shared by Addie and Nethrida filled with concerns and questions. More and more Dourhand gather about the walls of the port and a high ranking emissary of the Guild of the Unsealed, a master necromancer called Urech, seems to be leading the Angmarin contingent recently arrived in the city. I have heard of his name and history before, and an concerned that he is taking a personal interest. I wonder if the Guild was behind my Cyndwin's disappearance? If so, I burn with a desire to make foul Urech divulge all his deepest secrets to me before he begs to join his countless victims in oblivion. Beyond that, I witnessed the arrival of a Blood-witch, a powerful Morrival who seemed to come from the Stained Court itself...that would seem to lend great weight to the words of Lomiphell regarding the plague that is behind all this mischief. The presence of such a powerful servant of shadow is a danger in and of itself, for she sensed my watchful presence quite easily.
For such figures to be involved in this matter, then that which Lomiphell related to us about the new Plague being bred by The Stained Court was only part of the story. We thwarted their plan to have Addie and Nethrida bear the poison stones, yet still our foes gather.
As I rode up to the cottage, I came upon dear Addie seated upon the stoop. Attending upon her were the Lady Ahmo and a friend we had made but recently, a maid of Rohan called Eduwiges, whose white blonde hair, powerful frame and martial demeanor speak readily of her heritage. She is so like my Cyndwin in manner and spirit that she found immediate favor in my eye. At first I had hoped the trio were taking the air contentedly, but I immediately sensed that friend Addie was deeply troubled, and had been awaiting my arrival.
I greeted the esteemed Lady Ahmo and dear Eduwiges, and will pause to state here that the Lady Ahmo had graciously forgiven me my stubbornness of the day before and had abandoned her hope to move the women to Lindon. I was greatly relieved to be back within her gentle favors and kissed her hem in gratitude.
As soon as I had settled, Addie unburdened her soul, and explained to us that she had had a fell dream, which she described thusly...:
"I saw the stone that masked woman showed to us, they had one with them, the dwarves.. Everything was going well until we approached what looked to be a spire where they were meeting. Then time stopped.. the throbbing in my mind, the blurred vision.. then searing hot pain as blood poured out. As I looked around me.. all of you were on the ground, holding your own fatal wounds.. then all was dark."
Feeling my blood run cold as her description raised a specter in my mind, I bid her to describe the spire in her dream, and she said:
"There were stairs leading up to doors, a stone building on either side. In the middle there were two small green obelisk shaped pillars on the ground, here the crowd was gathered. In the very center and on the top of the building was the spire, also green and stone. It came to a point and looked as though it had a crown near the top."
Looking into her frightened eyes it was all I could do not to stagger backwards, and looking at the Lady Ahmo and dear Eduwiges it was clear they did not know the significance of poor Addie's description. Closing my eyes I saw clearly every time I had walked past those spires, slaying any Dourhand who crossed my path. The first time I had gazed up at that sickly green crown I had seldom felt more alone. On two occasions I battled while feeling the deep, throbbing power of SilverWand near at hand, fighting back to back with my sister, pursuing Mans of the Dourhand to his darkest dungeons...the last time, I sought Hawke's freedom from Agdarom the Viper, fighting beside Audea, Love's Blade and the ranger Braichanar (see Bird on a Wire).
The feel and look of foul Kheledul shall never leave me, like a blight upon my very soul...yet Addiela had never had the misfortune of beholding it with her waking eyes. She had certainly seen it however in her dreams. This dream.
That realization was frightening enough, but her description of her doom, "the throbbing in my mind, the blurred vision.. then searing hot pain as blood poured out"...I had heard those exact words some years previously in the darkness outside the Prancing Pony, speaking with a scarred, terrified girl...and suddenly, as if some vile switch had been thrown within my mind, I KNEW what we faced. We faced a doom unlike anything I expected when first I stepped forth to save friend Addie and her companion from some local villains.
I realized then that all three were staring at me, the fear in their eyes now likely mirroring my own. Regaining myself, I looked at friend Addie who sighed, clearly disturbed by my reaction, "I seem to be a bringer of ill thoughts lately.."
I shook my head 'Nay dear one....You do not bring them, they are sent by others...but as for Kheledul...your dream may hold many clues to what we must do and may tell us what they hoped to accomplish with their plans"
Clearing my suddenly arid throat, I sent my mind back and told a story I had been afraid to give voice to for some time.
"Some years ago...I met a woman in Bree known to me as Cilyniton who had been enslaved by the Dourhand for all her life, yet somehow she had found the strength to finally escape her captivity and seek out the freedom of Bree, which she remembered from her childhood. While escaping, she stole an object she did not understand but that seemed to be of great importance, and a level and type of power she had never experienced."
The others stared as I continued, my words growing slower and darker as I spoke, as if black clouds were surrounded me. "We became close, but soon after we became friends, she grew panicked, and the power of this object caused her to grow more and more distraught as it preyed upon her mind. I believe...I believe people died at her hand in Bree, out of her panic and confusion, until she fled without word to me." She had come to the decision, in explained in a note she left, that she could not bear her existence and went to take final vengeance against the Dourhand who tormented her still. I sought to pursue her, but it was too late, she was gone, and I had pressing duties which called me elsewhere, so I asked Xandilif to bring her back."
The mention of my sister the Banshee caused both the lady Ahmo's and Addie's eyes to widen.
"My sister did indeed hunt her, for SilverWand sensed the horrible power and malice of this object that Cilyniton bore, and that ate away at her sanity...and SilverWand feared it, and drove my sister after it like a burning brand."
Eduwiges was growing uneasy, and asked, 'What does this item have to do with what is happening now?'
I continued, unable to stop now. "When the Banshee finally ran Cilyniton down, she was able to make common cause with the mad girl over their mutual need for revenge upon the Dourhand, and upon Mans specifically (see Encounter at Ost Barandor). Cilyniton confessed to her that she had taken to calling this object The Spike for so it was, a sharp shard of black stone that she had wrapped a rag around to form a makeshift hilt. She would not show it to Xandilif, but she was willing to describe what it did. She said when used as a weapon, the person struck by it became confused and seemed lost, moldable and helpless. When that had happened, she gained the ability to make them do as she wished...even to die as long as she held the Spike." (For more about The Spike, see Word to the Wise)
I looked away, unable to face the trio. "She described their death....they held their heads in what she called "throbbing" pain, and lost the ability to see....and then bled from the eyes and ears, and died. They perished in just the way friend Addie has described.'
Eduwiges took a shocked breath and I knew my meaning was clear.
I faced them again. "What if it were not truly a weapon in and of itself...but a part of a greater device. What if its power is connected to this plague...that makes people confused and lost..what if then the wielder of this spike could control them and make them die in this manner, sending the power from the Spike to these black stones, and through the power of the Spire of Kheledul kill people in the thousands, in the tens of thousands...what if they could deal a wound to the West that would never heal?'
Ahmo's voice had grown cold. 'Where is this spike now?'
I looked away again in shame, for I had feared answering that question. "I do not know. Cilyniton fled from the Banshee and through the dark power of that device was able to drive even the Champion of Dol Amroth back and make her escape....and was never seen again....I must assume the Spike eventually returned to its masters. Her abuse and torture at the hands of the Dourhand and the Angmarim had broken Cilyniton. She was beyond our aid and love and now I fear she is dead in her vain attempt to seek vengeance alone. Perhaps death was what she sought all along."
I looked at Addie. 'I believe this may be what you had seen in your vision, dear one..and we must strike to avert this doom. I have seen them erecting strange pillars around the Spire of Kheledul, I have seen the arrival of a dread Necromancer and an emissary of the Stained Court. I believe that the stones you and Nethrida were not the only ones to be sent..but simply the last. What if this plan has been boiling for years, slowly gaining potency. What if there are more of these stones, already in place, awaiting the power of the Spike to awaken them and spread feebleness and death through the kingdoms of Men? If we cannot stop them before this weapon is put into action, I fear what will happen to the free peoples."
I squared my shoulders, feeling the power of my own words. "We must strike and secure this Spike, and destroy it in the name of Cilyniton and all those who resist oppression and darkness."
I saw all three women nod in resolute strength, and so plans began taking shape for a daring raid against the forces arising in Kheledul.
But now as I sit in the darkness across the path from the cottage, awaiting the arrival of my sister from Seregost to tell her the painful news I have gleaned about Cilyniton, I have not the strength to pen the words regarding that plan, and the involvement of friend Lore in their particulars. This will wait for dawn. For now I do now know what to do with myself.
After our council, to cheer poor Addie, she and I along with the elder one called Enthan went forth to do some pleasant shopping and gather equipment to construct a "Battle Crutch" that Addie might use to lay waste to her foes, incorporating a retractable blade and perhaps a crossbow and a runestone to light flasks of flaming oil that the crutch could launch like a catapult...or at least something similar
While on this mission we fell to speaking of matters of the heart as women are wont to do when at ease with one another, and my passion for dear Cyndwin and noble Hawke and others who I did not feel it right to name came up. She marveled at what she thought was most strange regarding my romantic entanglements and how they could each happily embrace the situation. She then spoke after some coaxing of her promised mate in distant Rohan and why she felt duty bound to await him rather than accepting Masin's suit, and why she found the kindly or amorous touch of others to be deeply troubling and off-putting.
Moved by her plight as we arrived back at the cottage, I then stated that perhaps it was simply the touch of men she found difficult, and I would be more than happy to lay with her if she would prefer womankind. This caused a reaction I had not expected, and she fled in horror into the cottage as if I had drawn my sword against her. When I pursued her to understand her fear and upset, she screamed at me, started in frightened rage that I should not "dare to crawl into her bed" and then turned her face from me in anger and what seemed little less than revulsion.
I was stunned. I had known for some time that the Sons and Daughters of Numenor tended to have few lovemates, or at least felt that they SHOULD have few lovemates, but this was more then I had ever witnessed. Did she truly feel I would be so vile as to sneak into her blankets like a thief and seek to steal such a thing from her? Could she who I have spoken with so many long nights, who I have opened my heart to, who I have bled to defend think me such a monster? How could she understand me so little? No...that is not the question that rips me in two...that question is How can I understand HER so little. Do I truly understand ANY of them? I closed my eyes and heard my mother's voice, the last time I dreamt of her..."You spiteful child, that is not a path that is a madness!" (see A Moon Like Telparion II) Was she right? Have I gone mad?
Unable to bear her disgust, I went forth to see to the cottages defenses and await my sister. Even now I see her approaching, bearing what appears to be a moving sack. As she had promised, it seems she has brought us someone to speak to concerning the Stained Ones plans. How can I tell her of this? I cannot face her scorn, or her smug statement that she had told me so..she always tells me so.
I must steel my heart now to the business at hand and cease my weeping, though I have never borne one I called friend so badly misjudging me, or thinking me so horrible. I have given her my oath to protect her alongside my sweet Nethrida and I shall do so, even if it now breaks my heart. I pray to Elbereth that Nethrida does not hold me in the same contempt, despite her loving words and deeds. That truly would drive me from these lands.
...But this is not love..or friendship any longer. The Spike is out there. This is now war.
