The Spirit Who Walks
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 12:00 am
Lannia toiled in the kitchen with Mara, placing the final touches on a menu for a little get together. She finished just as Vala and Ronja arrived. It was going to be pleasant night in spite of her many worries these days. She was really looking forward to it.
Donnel was still in a coma. Linela was in trouble up to her eyelids that neither she nor Derik had any idea of how to fix. Marius was still out there, toying with them. There were people she didn't know that knew all too much about her. Tonight that could be in the back of her mind. Tonight she would eat, drink, and enjoy family.
They were laughing, enjoying food. It was going well when a very shaken Mara came up the stairs. She told the group some not-so-nice men were below and wanted to speak to them. Lannia and Derik told Vala and Ronja to hold upstairs for the moment. They went below to investigate.Â
Heavily armored men, one wielding a huge greatsword, were waiting for them. Diplomacy was of no avail. They were Marius's men, but they ignored her, and spoke to Derik instead. They told him they were there to collect as on the death of the grisly torturer, the one who had been present at the raid on Derik's home, Copperglen.Â
They were unarmored and unprepared. They only had clothes for the gathering. Derik always had warwake, but Lannia had only her hunting bow. Her thoughts as she was struck down next to Vala were...
"No please... Not my family... Not again... Please don't kill them."
The leader sneered and spoke of unworthy opponents. Heavily wounded as she was she rolled onto her side and tried to draw his attention.
"You come into our home and attack us without even our armor on and say that?" She hissed, "You are a bloody coward!"
He ignored her... Utterly, waving his men to the exit. For all his talk of dead men, he seemed to have no intention of actually killing them. Derik, bloodied and holding a gut wound shut with his gloved hands laughed for whatever reason. The door clicked shut, and she dipped into what was left of her strength to call upon her goddess to heal her friends with a Mass Heal.Â
The tension in her soul did not even begin to ebb until she saw each friend rise; Sirion, Ronja, Vala, and her beloved Derik.
Then she just felt naked... She looked around her home, where she'd felt safe, where she'd been protected, and she felt exposed. Those men just mopped the floor with some of the strongest on the Coast. Could she attribute all of that to surprise?Â
Suddenly, she was seeing it again... Her home in flames, and her grandfather incinerated before her. He was the man she always thought was invincible, and Marius took him just like that. She tried to shake the image as her blood boiled in her veins, but could not so she went upstairs.
She put on her full kit, and warded herself to the gills. Derik came up a bit after her. She prepped to ward him but he stopped her. He was not in his kit. This was his home and he was not going to be afraid here. She only stared. They argued for a good long time. In her head was that image over and over, of fire and her grandfather's corpse, mixed with every attempt she had made on Marius's life. Every failed attempt.Â
She was the shaman. The one who's will kept breaking her enchantments. Her kind heart would not allow her to remain his tool. Yet... She failed... Time and time again... 23 attempts... 23 failures...
If she had killed him, he would not have been around to order the attack on Copperglen. If she had managed to get herself killed, his attention might never again have found Derik. Now Derik was killing Marius's men for their hand in Copperglen, and Derik was married to Marius's favorite plaything.Â
Marius was all but ignoring her in these latest encounters. She didn't need to explain it. He was confident he would retrieve her, and the rest was a show for her benefit. Picking fights with her love, with her family, and leaving them bloodied? He was telling her, "You are never safe. I will come get you, and I will kill everything you love when it pleases me."
The fire... The fire kept burning in her head...
She bit her lip bitterly at how useless she had been down there. The thought that those men were going to take her back had all but paralyzed her. She excused herself from the argument with her husband and went fishing. She bowed her her in shame as she walked past Vala and Ronja, diligently scrubbing the blood from her floors.Â
She wielded her fishing rod like a weapon. What a sight; her in a full kit of armor viciously swinging her bait out over the full length of the pond. It worked though. Soon she had a stringer full of beautiful golden trout. She hurled it again, completely over-shooting the lake.Â
She looked at the rod, and her hands were suddenly small. She saw the fire again and she finally realized that for all her exploits and training she was scared. She was terrified. Her grip tightened on the pole until it snapped, and then the rain started. She drug herself back to the inn drenched and still clutching the broken rod.Â
Inside the inn was near spotless. One of the rugs had been rolled up and put aside, probably too bloody to salvage. She looked around in a bit of a daze, then looked at her broken rod which she placed by the door. Numbly, she offered to cook the stringer of beautiful, delicate trout as payment for their efforts.
Her movements were almost mechanical. She made an old, simple recipe that crisps the trout's delicate skin and keeps the meat whole. She brought out clarified butter with herbs and garlic with it. It was not fancy... But it was darn good, home-cooked food. It was meant to be comforting and satisfying. By the looks on their faces as they bit into it, it was just that.
And then she confessed. She told them everything. She told them how she'd failed every time to kill Marius because every time she tried she was six again. She would flinch or hesitate because she was that little girl taking aim on her monster; the monster that burned her world. She was never enough, could never be enough, and the world would fade to black and the real nightmares would begin.Â
Ronja and Vala stayed on the couches, gaurding the door. The crew of the relentless storm would be helping to guard them now until Marius was taken down. However, in Lannia's mind the damage was done.Â
He will come get me when ever he pleases... My world will burn... And it will be all my fault...
Donnel was still in a coma. Linela was in trouble up to her eyelids that neither she nor Derik had any idea of how to fix. Marius was still out there, toying with them. There were people she didn't know that knew all too much about her. Tonight that could be in the back of her mind. Tonight she would eat, drink, and enjoy family.
They were laughing, enjoying food. It was going well when a very shaken Mara came up the stairs. She told the group some not-so-nice men were below and wanted to speak to them. Lannia and Derik told Vala and Ronja to hold upstairs for the moment. They went below to investigate.Â
Heavily armored men, one wielding a huge greatsword, were waiting for them. Diplomacy was of no avail. They were Marius's men, but they ignored her, and spoke to Derik instead. They told him they were there to collect as on the death of the grisly torturer, the one who had been present at the raid on Derik's home, Copperglen.Â
They were unarmored and unprepared. They only had clothes for the gathering. Derik always had warwake, but Lannia had only her hunting bow. Her thoughts as she was struck down next to Vala were...
"No please... Not my family... Not again... Please don't kill them."
The leader sneered and spoke of unworthy opponents. Heavily wounded as she was she rolled onto her side and tried to draw his attention.
"You come into our home and attack us without even our armor on and say that?" She hissed, "You are a bloody coward!"
He ignored her... Utterly, waving his men to the exit. For all his talk of dead men, he seemed to have no intention of actually killing them. Derik, bloodied and holding a gut wound shut with his gloved hands laughed for whatever reason. The door clicked shut, and she dipped into what was left of her strength to call upon her goddess to heal her friends with a Mass Heal.Â
The tension in her soul did not even begin to ebb until she saw each friend rise; Sirion, Ronja, Vala, and her beloved Derik.
Then she just felt naked... She looked around her home, where she'd felt safe, where she'd been protected, and she felt exposed. Those men just mopped the floor with some of the strongest on the Coast. Could she attribute all of that to surprise?Â
Suddenly, she was seeing it again... Her home in flames, and her grandfather incinerated before her. He was the man she always thought was invincible, and Marius took him just like that. She tried to shake the image as her blood boiled in her veins, but could not so she went upstairs.
She put on her full kit, and warded herself to the gills. Derik came up a bit after her. She prepped to ward him but he stopped her. He was not in his kit. This was his home and he was not going to be afraid here. She only stared. They argued for a good long time. In her head was that image over and over, of fire and her grandfather's corpse, mixed with every attempt she had made on Marius's life. Every failed attempt.Â
She was the shaman. The one who's will kept breaking her enchantments. Her kind heart would not allow her to remain his tool. Yet... She failed... Time and time again... 23 attempts... 23 failures...
If she had killed him, he would not have been around to order the attack on Copperglen. If she had managed to get herself killed, his attention might never again have found Derik. Now Derik was killing Marius's men for their hand in Copperglen, and Derik was married to Marius's favorite plaything.Â
Marius was all but ignoring her in these latest encounters. She didn't need to explain it. He was confident he would retrieve her, and the rest was a show for her benefit. Picking fights with her love, with her family, and leaving them bloodied? He was telling her, "You are never safe. I will come get you, and I will kill everything you love when it pleases me."
The fire... The fire kept burning in her head...
She bit her lip bitterly at how useless she had been down there. The thought that those men were going to take her back had all but paralyzed her. She excused herself from the argument with her husband and went fishing. She bowed her her in shame as she walked past Vala and Ronja, diligently scrubbing the blood from her floors.Â
She wielded her fishing rod like a weapon. What a sight; her in a full kit of armor viciously swinging her bait out over the full length of the pond. It worked though. Soon she had a stringer full of beautiful golden trout. She hurled it again, completely over-shooting the lake.Â
She looked at the rod, and her hands were suddenly small. She saw the fire again and she finally realized that for all her exploits and training she was scared. She was terrified. Her grip tightened on the pole until it snapped, and then the rain started. She drug herself back to the inn drenched and still clutching the broken rod.Â
Inside the inn was near spotless. One of the rugs had been rolled up and put aside, probably too bloody to salvage. She looked around in a bit of a daze, then looked at her broken rod which she placed by the door. Numbly, she offered to cook the stringer of beautiful, delicate trout as payment for their efforts.
Her movements were almost mechanical. She made an old, simple recipe that crisps the trout's delicate skin and keeps the meat whole. She brought out clarified butter with herbs and garlic with it. It was not fancy... But it was darn good, home-cooked food. It was meant to be comforting and satisfying. By the looks on their faces as they bit into it, it was just that.
And then she confessed. She told them everything. She told them how she'd failed every time to kill Marius because every time she tried she was six again. She would flinch or hesitate because she was that little girl taking aim on her monster; the monster that burned her world. She was never enough, could never be enough, and the world would fade to black and the real nightmares would begin.Â
Ronja and Vala stayed on the couches, gaurding the door. The crew of the relentless storm would be helping to guard them now until Marius was taken down. However, in Lannia's mind the damage was done.Â
He will come get me when ever he pleases... My world will burn... And it will be all my fault...