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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 1684547" data-attributes="member: 63">Episode Three: Dreams of the Dead, Section IThe predawn glow from beyond the mountains seemed best for viewing the blade.  In this light, the gentle sphere of the pommel was marble, a dim gray, almost black.  The hilt, wrapped in deep purple velvet, stitched with tarnished silver wire, was worn ever so slightly where the wielder’s fingers would hold it.  The guard felt like ivory, polished, smooth except for slight lengthwise cracks.  It too was nearly black, charred perhaps, curving gently down above the knuckles, gently upward over the wrist, capped on both ends by black pearls.“I’m sensing a definite motif here,” David muttered, holding the scimitar carefully, the curved, three-foot weapon almost as tall as him.The blade was the most remarkable, its trailing edge marked with sharp angles and harsh black lines, its cutting edge a graceful crescent of sharpened white diamonds set into the weapon’s metal.  The flat of the blade felt as smooth as any steel, but it was completely dark, appearing from even arm’s length to be coated with some manner of powder that kept any light from reflecting from it.Sunlight broke the horizon, and all of the subtle colors and textures of the weapon melted away to black.  Try as he might, David could not force himself to see the violet of the hilt, the faint iridescence of the pearls.  In the hiding gleam of light, it was perfect, black upon black.“What do you think?” Allar asked.“It’s probably Elvish.”  David handed it back to his old friend.  “But I’m just guessing that because it’s too pretty to ever work without magic.  There’s no identifying marks, no great magical aura, nothing to really distinguish it at all.  Whoever made it, they weren’t the boasting type.”“The dark Elf said it had belonged to the Tundanesti that was in the group she knew.  She said his name was Dentalles.”The name hung in the air, as if Allar expected David to recognize it.  After a moment, David shook his head.  “You can’t think it’s that Dentalles.  He was an Elvish prince.”Allar shrugged.  “He went on pilgrimage, what, fifteen years ago.  Never came back.  The divinations said he had ‘fallen in the land below.’”“How do you know that?”Allar was suddenly nervous.  He rubbed the raw, magically-healed flesh over his mangled left arm.  “You remember that, um, group I joined up with a few years ago?”David nodded.  Allar had grown up under the care of David’s caravan after having been rescued from the flaming ruins of his real family’s village.  Always slightly uncomfortable among the short Jispin, Allar had left when he was sixteen, trying to find a place first among the humans of Kequalak, then with the Tundanesti Elves.  David had as a favor to his uncle set out to find the young Allar, eventually coming across him among a group of Tundanesti hunters outside of the city of Nacaan.  From what little David had seen, the hunters were zealously devoted to defending Tundanesti traditions, and they encouraged all of their number to fervently believe what they were doing was right.Allar had not even been a young man at the time, but he had been convinced he had found a new family.  David had tried to persuade him to leave and return to the caravan, where people knew and cared for him, but in the end it had been none of David’s doing that had made Allar leave.  It wasn’t until later that David learned why, but Allar left the hunters soon after his first encounter with the Taranesti Elves.  Confused at his own actions, Allar had fled far south to the Nozama capital of Lyceum, and David went with him.  Eventually they became friends, and Allar admitted that he had killed a Taranesti man on his hunt.For the past eight years, he and Allar had been together, and though originally David had been certain that Allar would return home, four years ago they were hired as bodyguards for the Elstrician noble Harlan Gucci, then later promoted to ‘adventurers,’ and now David wondered if he and Allar would ever return to their home in the Tunda Mountains.  And if they did, David could only hope that Allar would not fall in with the same group as he had before.“What about them?” David asked.“Part of the reason we were supposed to be searching the tunnels,” Allar said, “was for clues of where the prince had vanished to.  Of course, only one of the old group ever actually went very far into the caves, so we never learned anything, but. . . .  I don’t know.”“What do you want to do?” David asked.“We’re going to take this home.”  Allar slid the scimitar into the sheath that had held his old sword, now lost somewhere in the flooded sinkhole.  “They’ll probably hate me if I bring it back with word that Dentalles was friends with a dark Elf, but maybe if we’re lucky it will convince them what they’re doing is wrong.”David drew in a surprised breath, and lay a considering eye upon his old friend.  Rather than let on that he was pleased, however, he said, “We’re two mountain ranges in the wrong direction for that.”Allar smiled. “Oh, you know where we are?  We should wake the others and tell them.  Can you go find the dark Elf?”David nodded.  “Alright.”As Allar staggered away to wake Lacy and Babb, David gathered up his still-soaked clothes and slipped on the overrobe for at least some decency.  Grimacing at the clamminess of the robe, he headed downhill, following the direction he last saw Tri’ni going.  Down the mountainside slightly, he spotted her standing on a rock, trying to reach a low branch among a copse of trees.  She was squinting at the brightness of the newly risen sun, and making an ill-aimed swipe at a branch, she lost her balance and fell.David came up to her as she pushed herself to her feet, favoring her right arm.“Good morning, Tri’ni.”She nodded weakly, then pressed her back to a tree, standing in its shadow.  “How much brighter will this get?  I can’t really see.”David shrugged, and was about to reply when he noticed she was missing some of her clothes.  She still had on her vest, boots, and gloves made of the strange violet and black hide, but she had on no pants, and her vest was open enough to reveal that she wasn’t wearing anything beneath it.Looking down at his feet, David said, “You’re going to sunburn if you keep your clothes off.”She grimaced and moved to sit in the tree's shadow. “What do you mean?  No one ever told me the light would be that hot.”David blew a frustrated sigh.  “Where are your clothes?”“I was trying to get them.”  She pointed up into the branches of the tree, and David glanced up to see her short pants and top draped over a branch ten feet up.David shifted uncomfortably.“Relax,” Tri’ni said.  “I’m not running around naked on purpose.  But the clothes were wet and uncomfortable.  I can’t imagine you’re enjoying having those sopping robes on you.”“Yeah, well.  Yeah.  So, do you need help?  Help getting your clothes down?  We’re, um.”David shook his head to himself, then took a calming breath.  He stuck his hand into a moist pocket of his robes and pulled out the appropriate talisman, and a few moments later the wet garments were drifting down to the ground, supported by invisible force.“So, yeah.  Just get dressed, and come over with the rest of us.  We’re planning where we’re going next.”“David, I can’t see you. Don't run off.” She stood and peekd at the sun, then winced. “Were you serious about the sun burning me?  And how can you see in this light?”David sighed and looked away, waiting for her to dress.  “Whenever you’re done, just give me your hand.  I’ll lead you back.  The light won’t hurt you.”Tri'ni chuckled quietly. “I’m still reeling a bit from coming to the surface.  You know that I’m completely relying on you four, though.  I have no idea where I am, or what I can-”Suddenly she paused, then began speaking in Taranesti for a moment.  David glanced over to see her retying the fragile necklace Lacy had placed the translating spell upon.  A moment later, Tri’ni sighed.“I need to learn the actual language, not rely on this thing.  I love magic, of course, but I get confused when I look up, and I know that those are ‘clouds,’ even though I don’t really know what they are.”“Are you regretting you came up here?” David asked, smirking.  “It’s not too late for Allar to go back to disliking you.”She grinned.  “Are you crazy?  A lot of people don’t even believe the surface exists, and those that do dream getting a chance to see it.  Plus, there’s the fact that the Trillith would have tracked me down if I’d stayed below.  I like it here, even if I can’t see anything.”She reached out uncertainly with her hand, and David took it with a smile, pulling her after him.Soon they were gathered together near the edge of the sinkhole they had climbed out of half a day earlier.  Babb, Lacy, and Allar had stripped off their heavier clothes or armor, and they looked rather ridiculous in their underclothes.  David sat Tri’ni down in the shadow of a large rock, and then he addressed them all.“It’s probably not worth the effort of drying your clothes.  We’re in the Stormset Mountains.”“What’s that?” Babb asked.David smiled, proud to have the chance to explain. “A lot of storms drive down from the north, hit these mountains, and get caught in a semi-circular mountain formation, causing it to rain all the time.  The valleys west of here are very fertile from the constant rainfall, even though they don't get much sun for most of the year. “Last night I took a rough read of the constellations and was able to place us at about the right latitude, and I knew we were definitely in the Otdar Range, not the Tunda. I could be a little more certain exactly where if I took some time and made a makeshift astrolabe, but we’re somewhere on the eastern border of Tennas, at least a hundred miles north of Gresia.”Babb glanced over at Tri'ni, who had a confused expression. He laughed. “Don't worry. I don't know what he's talking about either.”David frowned. “If we head west, it’s two hundred miles to Palesi, the capital.  We could hopefully catch a ship there, swing down to Seaquen, then back to Elstrice.  It might take us a month or two, but it will actually be faster than if we were still in Kequalak and tried to make the distance on foot. Is that simple enough for you?”Babb grumbled. “Back to that first part. You’re saying that for the next few days, we’re going to be slogging through rainstorms?”David nodded, smiling.“I don’t mind so much,” Tri’ni said.  “That one last night was like nothing I had ever heard of before.  Are they common up here?”Allar replied, “Common enough.”Tri'ni smiled slightly to Allar. David was glad to see his friend was no longer giving the girl trouble.“So,” Allar asked, “What are we going to do about our new fellow adventurer?  Anyone here know how Tennae feel about dark Elves?”No one answered.“We'll worry about that later," David said. “If nothing else, we can pass her off as Kohalesti."Lacy said, “She should be fine. The Tennae do have a few monsters of the night, but they're all very pale from what I remember. You don't like snakes, do you?"Tri'ni shrugged and shook her head.“We need to find a town soon,” David said, trying to get their attention back on him. “Our supplies are low, even I want some new clothes, Allar’s going to need three different splints, and his arm needs long-term rest.  I got my chin torn open on a rock, but it only hurts when I talk. Any other noteworthy injuries?”Lacy pointed to her arms. "I got a few splinters when the dragon tore the tree in half, but I've healed them."Tri’ni grimaced and pulled off her gloves, revealing raised veins and purple mottling.  “Thankfully it's gotten better since the Trillith died. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t hurt much.  It actually feels pretty good getting some light on it.”Allar just lifted his left arm. The tooth marks from the dragon were still visible, and it would take more magical healing skill than Lacy had to repair all the damage.Babb snorted at Allar's wound, and held up his own hand.  “Broken fingers.  Two or three ribs.  This nice semi-circular series of matching puncture marks on my chest and back.  And yeah, I also got that weird veiny thing from the dragon breathing on me.”“You’ll live,” Lacy said, smiling.  “So, David, how far is it to the nearest town?”David took a deep breath and began to explain. *    *    *Three days later, David glanced out the second-story window of their host’s house, pondering the lonely white spire that poked out of the trees a mile away in the valley to the west.The town of Ventnor had been slowly shifting eastward, fleeing the expanse of the haunted Ycengled Phuurst generation after generation since before modern history.  The people of Ventnor were too superstitious to cut down the trees of the old forest, rumored to be home to uneasy Elvish ghosts, so every few decades they simply abandoned their older buildings and relocated a safe distance from the dangers of the wood.David opened the window for a clearer view, and he nodded.  The spire that survived was not white, but polished metal, ages old, and marked with the remnants of what had once been a cross surrounded by a ring of feathers.  The symbol of the Angelican Church.  Dressed in his new, dry robes, David pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the cross beneath the fabric.  David made up his mind, and headed to talk to Allar.Downstairs, the elder Valheur was sharing steaming cider with Babb and Allar, the old man’s deep voice rambling on in Tennae as he told a story for his own amusement.  No one in the city spoke enough of any language David and the others could understand, but they had not been inhospitable.  A younger husband and wife pair were chatting with their five-year-old son in one corner as they beat and folded piles of blankets.  Sitting with Lacy in another corner, away from the windows, Tri’ni was making humorous faces at the five-year-old while she practiced speaking what little Lyceian she had been able to actually learn since coming to the surface.David waved as he came down the stone stairs, and the young boy suddenly shouted and ran over to Tri’ni and Lacy.  He pointed at the ground at their feet, and before the women could react, the husband ran over and stomped on the floor.  The man’s boot heel snapped the spine of the slender serpent the boy had been pointing at.“Caneb om drankur,” the man laughed.  He shooed his son away and picked up the dead snake to dispose of it.“I thank you,” Tri’ni replied, her accent pronounced.  She smiled at the boy.The boy cringed and backed away.  “Nocheb lud, dadder.  Om drankur au nocheb lud.”The father looked displeased, and he pulled the boy away, saying something chiding.  Lacy and Tri’ni exchanged glances of concern, but the elder Valheur looked over to them and waved a hand dismissively.  He laughed, and everyone relaxed.David headed to the table to sit beside Allar, noticing Tri’ni tying her translating necklace back on.  David had to stand on the bench, but he was greeted by a newly-poured cup of cider.  He nodded a thanks to the man and took a sip.“Allar, I think I know where we can find some more information about your sword.”Tri’ni came up then.  “Dentalles’s sword?”David nodded, somewhat nervous.  “I think there’s an old Angelican church in the woods out there.  I could perform a more accurate divination on the blade if we could clear away any impurities.  With luck the old church should have a font to generate holy water.”Allar stared at David dubiously.  “David?”“What?”  David drew himself up haughtily.  “Do you not want to come?”“I’ll come,” Allar said, looking down guiltily.  “You’re right.  I do need to follow through on my promise.”Babb bent his head near to Tri’ni.  “You understand what they’re talking about?  Maybe I could borrow that necklace of yours.”“No clue.”David frowned at the Geidon and the dark Elf.  “The church is probably abandoned, but I feel Allar needs to spend some time in prayer.  I know the rest of you don’t share my beliefs, but we did just barely survive our last ‘adventure.’  We should all take some time to consider how our lives have been affected by this.”Allar shrugged and look to the others.  His tone was apologetic.  “I promised him I’d go.”Babb shook his large horned head.  “If you feel so troubled by coming out alive, go ahead.  I can’t tell what they’re saying, but I’m pretty sure people here think those woods are cursed.”In the corner of the room, Lacy nodded.  “They have a fence keeping people from going that direction.”“Don’t worry about us,” Allar said.  “It’s probably just fear of Elves.  It’s an Elvish forest.  I’m part Elf.  It’s an Angelican church, and David’s family is Angelican.”David glared at Allar.Allar added, “And, um, so am I.”“Can I come?” Tri’ni asked.“No,” Allar said quickly.  “Stay here and practice your Lyceian some more.”David smirked.  “And see if you can learn some Tennae, too.”Tri’ni, slumped against the table unhappily, sighed meaningfully, and then sat up straight.  “Actually,” she said, “I do recognize a few words here and there.  Entras – she was with Dentalles and Cloin, and Javin – she was from around here, I think.”“Excellent,” David said.  “You can thank our hosts for us while we’re gone.  I’m going to get my things.”Lacy stood up and walked over, concern on her face.  “I’ll go with you, if that’s alright.  It’s not my church, but I could find something to pray about.”David looked up at the tall woman, then over to Allar, wavering about how to reply.  Allar reached out with his hand and touched Lacy’s sleeve to get her attention.“Lacy, honestly, you wouldn’t want to go.  We’ll make sure we’re back before sunset, if it’s monsters you’re worried about.”Lacy frowned.  “If you really don’t want me to go, then-”Tri’ni waved for her to sit down.  “Lacy, I would still like to practice a bit more.”“Oh, alright then.  I guess you two should be careful, just in case.”David nodded to her in thanks, then glanced at Tri’ni in confusion.  He thought he had seen her smirking back to him, but she looked completely uninterested now.  David started for the stairs.  “I’ll make sure to bring Allar back safely.”“Don’t cut yourself on the sword,” Babb called, laughing.Allar laughed back, then drew the scimitar and swung it lightly at Babb’s cider cup, intending to knock it into the Geidon’s lap.  Instead, the edge of the blade slid through the cup.Allar stopped in surprise, lifting the sword cautiously.  The top inch of the cider mug came free from the rest, lying on the flat of the black scimitar.  The sword had cut through the cup with no resistance.Coughing nervously, Allar tipped the sword and dropped the top of the cup on the table.  The elder Valheur man picked up the wooden ring and held it close to his eye, disapproving.Allar shrugged sheepishly and moved to follow David.  To Tri’ni, he said, “See if you can apologize for me.  Tell him we’ll get him a new cup.”David and Allar slipped up the stairs to their rooms, and a minute later they were out the front door, heading toward the woods to explore the old church.</blockquote>

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