Xandilif and Finchley practically tumbled into the Rusty Barge, followed closely by Eduwiges. The Champion slowly looked around the room, pausing to pick up a liquor bottle laying next to the dead barkeep. “Another corpse, so I assume Ane went this way. If she keeps leaving bread crumbs like this, tracking her will be too damn easy.”
Eduwiges snatched the bottle from the elf and took a long swig, her head ached and she was angry and frustrated. “Tracking be damned, I just want to find her, twist her head off, then go find Xanderian and Calidis and go home…sorry Neth, but its true.”
Nethrida was not really paying attention, however, staring down the stairway exposed by the sliding booth. Beside her were Addie and Ryn, while the mutt Sneeze barked and growled down into the darkness. “My sister went down this way, apparently followed by Ordan. If I had known about all these secret passages all over town my childhood would have been much more interesting.
Addie shrugged. “We are wasting time…now that you three are here, lets go!” and the blonde woman gripped her staff and ran down the stairs, followed by the rest of the company, everyone now resolved to see this through once and for all.
At the bottom of the stairs, a dark, cave like passage stretched out before them. Behind, a dull thud and snap could be heard as the booth slid back to block their retreat and locked in place. Ryn glanced at Nethrida. “I thought you had broken that mechanism….”
Nethrida gripped her sword a little more tightly. “I thought I had too….”
Edu nodded and started off. “No place to go but forward…just the way I like it…”
After a few minutes, they reached a large archway, beyond which the cave expanded out into a large, darkened chamber. The scents of water, stone and spices quickly surrounded them. At the archway they found Ordan waiting for them anxiously. “About time you all stopped by. I didn’t like the looks of this, so I figured it was better to wait, let the big armored ones go first. I have never seen the bazaar dark like this…”
Xandilif raised an eyebrow. “The Bazaar?”
Ordan nodded slowly. “Yeah, the heart of the Undercity that I told ya all about. Not much that you can’t buy, borrow or steal in the Undercity Bazaar, but it looks closed for business. Have never seen nor heard of that in all my years.”
The Banshee reached up and swept SilverWand off her back, and stepped forward. “Well, let’s see what the holiday is….” As she walked through the chamber, followed by the others, torches along the edges would spring to life as they passed. She looked back at Addie. “Your doing?”
Addie just shook her head and gripped her staff more tightly, Sneeze walking beside her, whimpering softly with his tail down.
In the slowly rising glow of the torches, they could see a ragtag assembly of carts, booths, and tents filling the cavern, all of it floating on what seemed to be the man-made island that they were walking across. Beyond the island, the soft lap of still waters could be heard, and from the shadows along the walls it seemed there were many different portals into this central space.
It was the kind of place that at a different moment they would have each delighted in exploring, but for now, all that interested them was standing in the center of the island. Annedyl, looking calm and self-possessed, smiling…waiting for them.
Ane waved brightly, dressed in a sumptuous gown that she must have claimed as the fiance of the new Mayor…before he died of course. When she spoke, her voice was no longer Annedyl’s, but not the harsh voice of Mans either… the tones were warped and difficult to place but they all felt they had heard it before. "I thought you may have lost your nerve...a shame about poor Roric. However, ambition is so often the downfall of men, is it not?.'
Finchley stared at Ane, brows furrowed but clearly not shying away. "We ain't lost nothin'. Give Ane back. You don't need to be here anymore."
Nethrida took a few steps forward. A brave move, given she was unarmored having left most of her gear back at the camp. She pointed her sword forward "We beat you at Kheledul... We drove you back in Minas Tirith. I've come to reclaim my sister from your clutches, Mans! I know she's stronger than you could ever be, wretch! Fight back Anendyl! For our home!"
Carneryn stepped forward next to Neth defiantly. "Go back to the shadow and trouble my dreams no longer."
Though she wanted to pierce Mans with every barbed word she can think of off her sharpened tongue, Addie stayed silent for now, Sneeze by her side. Her eyes looked to and fro across the Undercity, almost expecting another ambush of the undead. She could still feel the shadows all around her, deadening her heart, and she was slowly beginning to dread what was to come.
Xandilif looked around the space as well, apparently getting the same sense of doom that filled Addie. "I got a bad feelin about this...
Eduwiges stood beside Lif, sword at the ready. She looked at the jewels on her sword, which were glowing with a brighter intensity then she had ever seen. She arched her back, stretching, 'What next, Lif?' she asked while glaring daggers at Ane.
The Banshee gripped the bound leather hilt of SilverWand a little tighter. “I wish I knew…and I wish I knew where all the people went. This place should be bustling from the look of it. City square upstairs was empty too.” She raised her voice. “Did you kill them all, you little bastard? Linhir Ripper huh? That sounds like a step down from your previous titles.”
Ane smiled and bowed adorably in Xandilif’s direction. “So concerned for the last born scum, Revenant? Well, you always have loved the hopelessly, helplessly mortal such as this moppet who faces me so bravely while her hands shake. Did you think I have not been watching her, she-elf? As for the folk of Linhir, fear not, they are not harmed. I simply told them to give us some privacy, Linhir local and Blood Eye smuggler alike. I saved a few to light that bonfire, to make sure the local girl and her companion wouldn’t miss the conclusion of this drama, but they should all be hidden away safe and sound as I had no further need for more souls.
Turning to face Nethrida, Ane smiled more broadly, the dark fire of Mans of Kheledul now clearly in her eyes. "There, there Nethrida of Linhir, there is no need for such dramatics. I am done with your precious sister, and to be honest, I have a ship to catch and she will just be a burden. However you may tell your friend Carneryn that I know nothing of her dreams, perhaps she should not eat so heavily late at night. Now I must go…but lest you think I leave you nothing to play with, let me introduce you to why I have led you down here to this glorified tomb...I have been gathering them for a long, long time and they have been dying to meet you...'
Suddenly both Addie and Ryn screamed, hit with a wave of darkness, agony, overwhelming sorrow and pain...suddenly neither could breathe, and could barely think....'
Ane continued however, as the torches around them began to burn black. "A shame the Ringtinker and the Tragic Sister are not here, but then, they have their own problems soon enough....for now, it is time to open the gates. Each death, each sacrifice over these last few weeks was to power the spells that have gathered and trapped these wanderers here, and you have left them all over the lands you have travelled. Some have come a long way to join us today.”
The air grew hazy and heavy, as slowly materializing out of the shadows came fell spirits of every variety, perhaps 100 or more. The dark power pulsed around them, surrounding them. Spirits took form, and slowly out of the anonymity of death faces appeared, some vaguely familiar, others very familiar indeed. Agdarom the Viper, Thunar, Arralyn, countless others.
Eduwiges stared around them, her mouth open in horror. “In Bema’s name..I know some of these…they are all villains we have slain….is that even possible?”
Ane laughed, the sound sweet and horrible. “Of course it is possible, they have come for their vengeance...as has this special little guest. I have kept her here in this world with no small amount of power, to fuel your nightmares Revenant, and to feed her sense of loss and betrayal at your careless hands.”
Ane stepped to the side, and moving in front of her was one small spirit, a little girl....'
Xandilif simply stared….and whispered, her voice barely there at all. “Tris…you should not be here…why are you here….”
The shade looked at Xandilif, eyes wide and weeping, face alive with grief and grief alone. "Leef....why did you leave me all alone in the dark...why? You promised me…you promised us….'
Finchley went pale at the sight of the small girl spirit and immediately tried to step in front of Lif. "It's not true Lif," she whispered. "You didn't leave her."
Xandilif stepped around Finchley wordlessly, eyes wide…stepping towards the tiny spirit, she dropped to her knees before her. “Tris…forgive me…I…I couldn’t…couldn’t save you…”
As that played out, Nethrida's confident anger was quickly slapped aside as her eyes widened with dread, and she shrank back a few steps, looking around her at the assembled spirits, their icy cold forms moving closer menacingly. "T...This is..." She stammered a little, her resolve faltering.
Carneryn's sword had clattered to the floor and she followed it not long after gasping for air, she curls up shaking in agony as her light turned that sick dark crimson it had a couple of times before. The malevolence of the spirits had undone her.
Addiela planted the bottom of her staff into the ground and held on to it with all her might even as her body started to weaken; though she was clearly struggling to breathe and her teeth were clenched in pain, her eyes burned with a defiant fire - she refused to let herself fall in front of Mans... not again... She glanced around at all the fell spirits and the despair was overwhelming, seeing Xandilif apparently surrendering to the shades was the last straw. The sharp pain in her chest told her it was over and she believed it; even so, she would die standing and with her last breath in opposition to Mans.
Eduwiges watched the gems flair bright hot off of Badu Druit, then go black with a pulsing darkness. 'Oh Elbereth Gilthoniel!' she cried out loud. 'By Bema! you shall not have us!' she held her sword up and prepared to guard Xandilif's back to the death, even as Finchley struggled with the urge to run up to the Champion and pull her back.
Xandilif stared at the little girl, kneeling so their eyes were level. Each looked deep inside the other, whispered words to low for anyone else to hear as the shade of the little girl seemed to flow like smoke around the elf, tears running freely down the Champions pale face, as she murmured, to herself as well as the girl. “NO...I did not abandon you in the dark….you were dead before the dark....I did not leave you anywhere Tris....I took you with me…you have always been with me..with us…” Her hands moved off the hilt of SilverWand to the blade, the keen edge cutting deep, blood pooling beneath her hands as the angry little shade seemed to flow into the blade.
Ane smiled. “Such a touching reunion. Well, I will leave you to the rest of your fun, as I no longer need this puppet, I will leave it here...as I said, I am late to catch a ship. I doubt you will survive long, but if you do....I am sure we will meet again. In the meantime, be content that your dead shades will see your friends Xanderian and Calidis again. I will use your shades to kill them. For now...farewell until next time.'
Suddenly Ane jerked as if abruptly coming awake from a nightmare, her eyes clearing. and full of confusion and fear. She stumbled forward a few steps towards Nethrida, her arms reaching out and then swooned, collapsing just like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The control of Mans was gone.
Nethrida moved to her fallen sister, despite the menace of the shades all around them. Suddenly, as the girl Triss and the blade fused, SilverWand gleaming like a torch, two bright to gaze upon. Each of the company, trapped by the advance of the dead, felt something sucking at their very lives as if it would swallow them whole, using their existence to restore its own. The selfishness and cruelty of a child merged with the eldritch power of the ancient blade, pulling their very souls out of their bodies and shredding them. In the raging power of the moment the shades would seem to falter and step back, replaced by tall, dour men of Numenor, in whose eyes was death and resolute, ancient evil. The first of them spoke in a strange language, but all understood their words. “Yes…let Aritirial return to us across time, Blade of Ages, the child’s greed and foolishness shall restore its purpose, its true nature….and we will live again....it shall be as the Lich promised, with the lives of these mortals we shall walk again.”
Through the agony it would be clear that the shades were truly there just to hold the company in place, a trap prepared with the sacrifices by the “Linhir Ripper”, while the strange ritual destroyed them.
Xandilif, The Last Guardian of Caerfella Redoubt had lost control of SilverWand for the second time in their long association, through the unknowing willfullness of the child Tris, and now the blade was feeding on all of them, gathering power to restore it’s original master to life.
The company had never felt anything so horrible, or terrifying, or unstoppable. It was as if they were being sucked through time and space and devoured........but suddenly, a voice rang out.
“NO….” Xandilif the Banshee, Champion of the Azure Faithful rose up off her knees, trembling, and raising SilverWand above her head, slammed it point down into the wood of the Island on which they stood, struggling to force her will over the blade and the little girl’s shade both. “Even if it kills me…you will NOT do this again! No one will use Triss this way…not Mans, not Old Agon….NO ONE!”
Suddenly, as if it had never been, the agony filling the company ceased and the air was filled by the sound of other voices screaming, hundreds of voices, the voices of the damned. The Shades seem to shimmer...and began to explode, their lives, so carefully gathered by Mans, shattered and sucked in the voracious blade...Xandilif redirecting the blades voracious hunger.
With an inhuman shriek, the spectral figures of ancient Numenor faded as well, forced back into their unquiet graves by the power of SilverWand, now back under the elf’s control. They howled that they would one day have back what was rightfully theirs as a an icy wind swept their voices away.
Xandilif swept the blade up and out of the floor, holding it aloft again as it burned with unholy power drawn from the shades, breaking the spells and rituals so carefully weaved by Mans. Blood ran from Lif's eyes as she sank down again, the little shade reforming in front of her, crying in terror. Ghostly arms wrapped around the elf seeking comfort. The champion whispered to her softly. “There, there…no more tears. Mans, the beast that ordered your death, has held you in his fist all this time, to torture us both but that is all past now. I have dreamed of you…dreamed of you every night. Now I know why, but it is time for it all to stop. I miss you…I grieve for you…but I release you Tris...I release you now...."
The blade suddenly released the gathered power as the tiny spirit expanded...and sighed as it began to dissipate, filling the chamber with peace and light. Xandilif murmured soft words that no one could hear and was answered by a voice like the fluttering of wings. It said “One day…you WILL kill the bad fish…I know you will…” and Tris was gone, once and for all.
Standing unsteadily, still holding Silverwand in both trembling hands….Xandilif the Banshee wept like a lost little girl and fell to her knees once more.
Nethrida had pulled her sister into her embrace as the screaming began, and now she frantically checked to see if she was still breathing.
Annedyl’s eyes fluttered open. "Neth....Neth....mama? where is mama?”
As the company struggled back to their feet, Finchley immediately turned to drop down by Lif and wrapped an arm about her, using her free hand to try and wipe some of the bloody tears from her face. She swallowed back how utterly sick she felt from whatever that was that she had just experienced. What she couldn’t swallow back was her obvious concern and slow building panic. "Lif?"
Eduwiges looked around, stunned, then looked at the others and took a deep breath. She swore and sheathed her sword, making oaths to herself as she looked for a way out.
As the air turned normal again, Addie looked down and did a quick check to make sure that her body was still whole- she'd have to do the soul evaluation later. Her legs wobbled, still not having fully regained their strength, and her heart was still skipping beats as she leaned heavily on her staff to hobble toward the end of the platform in the same direction Ane had previously been, before mans deserted her. "Coward!!!!! All you do is flee!!!" She wondered where this ship she was going to may be, but that was a concern for another time.
Carneryn came to coughing and sputtering, she pulled herself to her knees and started crying "I-I'm sorry..." she whispered inaudibly, but it was unclear whose forgiveness she was looking for. From that entire ordeal, she remembered one thing…that the voice she had heard in her heart back in the camp…had apparently not been Mans. Then who?
Ordan shook his head..."I don’t know what that was, but I do NOT want to do that again...this way...there is a passage up to the Mayor’s office beyond that arch there...I used to use it to slip down and buy pipeweed.'
Nethrida let out an immense sigh of relief and hugged Ane tightly "It's over... It's over now... The nightmare's passed...we’ll go find mama and papa both." She attempted to soothe her weeping sister, before looking at Ryn and helping her to her feet.
Xandilif gripped FInchley tightly, struggling to get to her feet, her face still streaked with blood, her voice weak and broken. "We have to get out of here Babygirl....Mans is gone, who knows where or how…but this nasty little trap he set is broken, no more Ripper. We need to get out of here…and find Mans.”
---
Meanwhile, Several miles down the post road, an old woman made her way slowly up from the nearby stream, having finally managed to wash the blood and brain from her wrinkled hands. A plain silver ring with a blood red stone gleamed on one hand as she waved to a passing cart feebly. A farm family, father, mother and two children, off to market, were happy to help a poor old woman stranded on the road.
The old woman smiled gently at them all. '"You are so sweet to help a stranger dears, I am just in a hurry you see, my ship is due to leave Pelargir soon" explained the husk of what was once Ynnabeth of Linhir. She settled into the back of the wagon, sitting with the children.
"Oh and is THIS your little girl, my dear...why she just looks good enough to eat." The old woman smiled slowly, patting the child's fair head, feeling a bit peckish after all that hard work.
