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Message: <blockquote data-quote="drnuncheon" data-source="post: 436806" data-attributes="member: 96">The road to Utrish's cottage leaves the village far behind, and it would take a normal dwarf quite a long time to travel down the dust-caked path to her destination - but, then, Ahoke is no ordinary dwarf. While her legs may be short, her energy is boundless, and the combination eats up the mile-long walk in short order.The cottage squats sullenly ahead, half hidden beneath sickly trees that cling feebly to their few remaining leaves. A grey streak of a cat dashes across the path, embarking upon some mission known only to its feline mind, and Ahoke can see the occasional glint of moonlight from other eyes in the gloom.Coming closer, the cottage proves itself to be inhabited by a mighty worker of magic indeed: the outer walls are covered in strange sigils and charms unfamiliar to the dwarf: chalk runes on the walls, lumps of fur and feathers dangling before the windows, and paint daubed on in hex-marks above the door.From somewhere there is a faint bang, as of a window shutter being blown shut.Ahoke grumbles as she hikes out the mile. "The things that I do for people that I don't even know," she mutters to herself. After striding a few more yards, she adds, "The things that I do for Harvester and Sen-Jyu for that matter... and for nothing too." Her words, bitter though they are, lack any true anger.Quickly enough, she comes upon the cottage. After pausing and looking at the strange runes for a moment, she shrugs, and then moves up to the cottage's front door. She draws back her fist, and knocks firmly on the door three times. The cottage sits impassively, unmoved by the impact of dwarven fist - as is its presumed occupant, apparently, for there is no answer.Ahoke frowns at the door, and then tries to open it.The door swings open easily, revealing the interior of the single-room cottage. Eyes flash in the gloom as their feline owners prowl about the place - easily a dozen or more. One arches its back at Ahoke's presence, hissing a warning, while another sits beside the back door and emits a piteous yowl.The house is not quite ransacked, but mussed - as if someone had been rapidly searching, or perhaps packing. Whoever it was can't have been gone long: a cup of tea, still faintly steaming, sits on the table, and the embers of the fire continue to glow.Ahoke frowns at the cats. "Oh, hush," she says to them. She steps back out of the cottage, closing the door behind her. And then starts searching around in the yard for traces of where the former occupant may have gone. The hard, caked ground surrounding the cottage does nothing to reveal the presence or passage of anyone - but as Ahoke's eyes flicker over the treeline, a movement in the shadows catches her attention. Too big to be one of the cats...Ahoke swivels her head to look at the movement in the shadows, and then runs at the woods with a speed that one does not associate with a dwarf. She does approach, however, with the subtlety that one would associate with a dwarf. Although she is not brandishing either great club or stone axe, both are readily accessible.There is a sound of indrawn breath, and the shape begins to hustle away at top speed - which, sadly for it, is only about half that of the approaching miniature juggernaut. Scrub brush and brittle brambles give way before Ahoke's charge, the thorns going unheeded by the barbaric dwarf as she bursts through directly behind the stooped form of an old woman, leaning heavily on a crooked staff, and with a sack slung over her shoulder as she hobbles away from the cottage.The old woman turns as Ahoke breaks through the plant life, and her wizened features freeze in momentary panic before she raises her staff. "Halt, dwarf!" she quavers. "Or all manner of curses be visited upon ye!"Ahoke does slow to a halt, and grins at the old woman. "I don't mean you harm," she says. "No need to run away from me. It's not as if I'm from the /South/," she says, as if this should be reassuring.Ahoke can see the old woman's eyes widen a bit more as she interposes the staff between them. "From the North, across the Shoulders of Samrahn," she says, standing as if rooted to the ground by whatever oracular force flows through her. "With one who serves those who are gone, and one who does not understand what it is that he serves. You will not find what you seek in Bellhold, chieftain's daughter, nor will you find it in the Steeple. Turn east, to Blasingdell." She staggers, leaning heavily on the staff, and looks up at Ahoke fearfully. Apparently the dwarf's reassurances meant little to her.Ahoke's eyes narrow to dangerous little slits, and she folds her arms across her chest. "Then why are you so frightened of me," she growls to the old woman. "And besides. I came to talk to you about something that /does/ affect the area. The people that live here."Utrish looks away. "The dreams will end within the week," she mutters. "I can do nothing more, say nothing more. Already some begin to mutter that I caused them, and it will be my death if I remain here."Ahoke stares at the old woman unflinchingly. "Why can't you say anything more? Because you don't know? Or because you don't want to? I don't think you caused them, but if you know what did and aren't doing anything, then you deserve that death.""I did not cause them," the old woman says. "Nor do I know what does." She shudders, even though the biting wind has lapsed."But I fear it."Ahoke sighs then, nodding. "As do I, wise woman. As do I. What was the prophecy that you gave concerning the headaches? I didn't hear about it until the mayor was telling the entire town."The wizened woman's gaze turns to Ahoke once again. "The dreams will end within the week. There, I have said it three times now - first to Phillippa and twice to you - and what I speak three times is true." Slowly her head droops, to study the leaves at her feet. She shifts the sack on her shoulder, and a black cat detaches itself from the darkness to twine about her legs. "If I stay here I will die," she repeats wearily. "Do not make me ask again."Ahoke hmmphs. "Asking you people to elaborate is like trying to milk a he-goat. If you fear death so much, then go. I do not plan on clubbing you to death, for your cowardice."Utrish nods, and turns - but then slowly turns back. "Speaking the future is a dangerous business," she states. "For too much knowledge is as deadly as too little. I will not be back this way until the dreams are gone."Ahoke nods. "Good travels. Hopefully the death that you seek to avoid is not waiting for you in the trees." She turns, then, and starts to tramp her way back through the brambles, towards the witch's cottage, and ultimately, to the road.</blockquote>

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