[Carriac] Carriac awoke with a start as the first sunbeam of the morning lanced through the forest's leafy foliage and struck him in the face. As he opened his eyes, a sharp pain reverberated through his skull. "Ugh...." The elf reached a hand to his forehead. Where had this come from? Sleeping on the ground? Then he remembered the blackout - coming to himself with his hands on Mara's blouse...her ripped blouse. Carriac shuddered. The pain in his head intensified. He ignored it and got to his feet. The first thing he noticed was Traveler, standing watch a ways off, leaning on a carved staff. Staff? Had he finished the staff? He couldn't remember! He walked, gingerly, over to Traveler. [Traveler] "I uhh... stumbled over this last night. You seemed not to be sleeping too well. Uhh... I wasn't real sure if I should bother you or not. Carriac, I know we all need our privacy at times, but do you wanna talk?" [Carriac] The shaper was silent as he got close enough to Traveler to see the staff in better detail. The sight of it churned his stomach. The images were grotesque, even sordid. Horned beastmen - clearly demons -tortured and raped naked woman - and thosse were the tamest of the images. Carriac was unable to find words to describe the vileness of the thing. He had never seen this staff before, but he had a sinking feeling that if he could remember last night.... " W-where did you f-find that?" [Traveler] " A noise woke me up last night, then I heard voices coming from the wagon. I went to see what was going on and I saw you leaving the wagon. You said you were checking on Mara. You looked kinda weird and had a strange look on your face. I found _this_ near the wagon. Is this yours?!? Did you make this thing ?!? What's going on, Carriac? What happened last night?" [Carriac] " I-I don't remember what happened. I had another blackout. I don't remember!" The elf reached out an anguished hand and took the staff from Traveler. He sent his mind into the wood and gasped at what he felt. Trace emotions, lingering from its making, battered Carriac's psyche. The sheer power of the negative energy caused him to drop to his knees. It took several moments for the wood to respond to his call - as if it resented the harsh way with which it had been dealt previously - but the carvings eventually receded leaving a smooth surface in its wake. The negative emotions still remained, however, and Carriac was forced to drop the staff. [Traveler] He watched in amazement as Carriac seemed to struggle over the staff. A play of emotions ran across his face as he watched him transform the staff into a more wholesome thing. When he reached down to help Carriac, the elf pulled away from him. He watched as the man struggled to regain his composure. "Carriac, If this thing is going to cause you pain I can take it and put it away, if you like." [Carriac] He looked up sharply. "No! Don't put it away. Leave it out. As a reminder. There's something going on inside of me, Traveler. Something I don't understand, and something I don't like. I...I'm afraid, my friend. I'm afraid I'm losing my mind." He then looked towards their intended path. "Let's get moving," he said with a sense of finality, as if the discussion was now over, "The sooner we get to the Oracle, the sooner these fears can be put to rest." Carriac retrieved the staff with a slight grimace, then walked over to the fire and began throwing dirt on the embers. "We can eat on the road." [Traveler] Traveler helped finish covering the fire and looked to make sure they hadn't left anything of importance. It was a beautiful morning, and if not for his friend's foul mood, he would have looked forward to the ride. After they had been on their way a while Traveler began to hum. It was an old song that had been one of his favorites. He wasn't really paying attention to what was going on around him. The trees were drifting slowly by them. He could hear the sound of the river as it crashed through the rocks planted in the middle of it. Soon his thoughts turned to the previous night and his newfound abilities. He played with them for a while allowing his senses to be drawn into the surrounding woods. He could feel Mara's peaceful breathing. He could feel the tension in Carriac, much like a deer being hunted. He could feel the Birds flying around him. All around him was full of life and free. Then as he was becoming accustomed to this heightened sense a dark shadow, much like a bird, fell across the forest beside them. The animals that the shadow fell across seemed to quail. Traveler strained to see what caused the shadow, but could find nothing that could cause it. Bewildered he came back to normalcy and sat there pondering what he had seen. The shadow had chilled him physically, and he longed to be out of the shadows of the trees and in the full sun. There were several more miles before they finally came out of the tree-covered path and into the light. The whole time they traveled after that, a tense silence fell on them and was not broken till Mara woke some time later. [Mara] For the first time in ages Mara slept peacefully, with out a nightmare waking her. She felt the wagon bumping along and she slowly opened her eyes, wiping the sleep from each corner before yawning and stretching. Smacking her lips, she burped and ran her tongue across her dry lips, before smacking them together once again. ~That was not lady like~ Looking up, Mara saw the small Gnome and she made a face as the sun light struck her face. " You again? What do you want now? What time is it?" The small Gnome shrugged his small shoulders, before pointing. ~You're missing a button or two off of your vest. They are there, on the floor beside the bed. I...I didn't want you to trip on them when you stepped out of bed. And it's morning~ Mara's face twisted as she looked down and ran her hands across her new vest, and spotted the thin thread that once held the buttons in place. It was sticking out, like a thing hair, and the ends were frayed, as if the buttons were torn from her vest. " How..." ~ You...You might have snagged them in your sleep. Yes, that must be it~ The small gnome looked nervous as he quickly glanced over by the window, before looking back, his hand were by his chest as he ringed them around. " You're a little nervous today. What's eating you," and her stomach growled as she burped once again. "Hold that thought," as she pulled herself out of bed, and took notice that she was in the wagon for the first time, and that she Travelers cloak was thrown over her shoulder. " Did you bring me..." ~Not likely. No, it was the tall one, with the beard. He carried you in last night and covered you.~ Mara ran her hand along the cloaks length, before looking up, frowning. " He didn't try anything funny last night, did he?" Mara came up and almost pressed her nose to the Gnome's, and stared at him. "I remember...someone standing over me. I think?" ~N...N...No! He...he was a perfect gentleman. Th...They both were~ "Both," Mara asked as she leaned over and picked the buttons up, and ran them around in her palm. ~Y...Yes! Both of them. The bearded one carried you in from the camp fire, and the other one, the portly elf. He came in later...To check on you.~ Shrugging her shoulders, she stood and stretched, before scratching all over. Stepping up to the door, she threw it open and took in a deep breath, before stepping out into the mornings sun. But what she had forgotten, was that the wagon was still moving, and she fell smack dab on her face. Dust and debris flew up all around her as she started cursing in Elvish, as she heard the small Gnome sighing. ~Best hurry before they leave you behind~ Rising back up and spitting out a mouth full of dirt, Mara started brushing herself off as the wagon slowly moved on. Stomping her feet, she felt a rock that somehow found its way in her boot, and while she hopped after the wagon, she tried to pull her boot off. " Wait up you guys! Ahh Come on, you can stop!" Her voice was starting to get higher as she bounced, with one boot off and her foot up off the ground. "I'm hungry! Can't we stop to eat? Please..." As the wagon slowed, Mara was to busy trying to put her boot back on. As she turned to say something else, her nose struck the back of the stopped wagon, causing her to fall backwards. "That wasn't funny guys," she yelled out in a whinny voice, and started kicking the ground and beating her fist against the wagon. "Isn't anyone coming back here to help me up? And I'm still hungry you know," as if they had forgotten. No such luck. [Traveler] He grimaced when he heard Mara yell at them to stop. He turned to answer and he saw her in the middle of the road and all dusty. Turning to Carriac he said, "Better stop the wagon. Your charge seems to have left our company rather hastily." Carriac stopped the wagon and coaxed the animals to back up. Traveler expected for him to jump down and go see about her. When he didn't he said, " You going to check on her or not? " [Carriac] Carriac sighed. " She's a big girl. She needs to learn that she can be responsible for herself. I don't need to be jumping all the time just because of some whim she needs taken care of that very instant." [Traveler] " Oook, I will." Not sure of the change in Carriac, he jumped down to check on their ward. " What happened? You ok?" [Mara] " No! I bumped my nose," Mara whined as she rubbed her nose, looked down at cross eyed. " You didn't have to stop so quickly you know! I wasn't that far back," and she crossed her arms and kicked the wagon with her foot. "And I'm hungry too," she said in a whispered voice after looking up into Travelers Steel gray eyes. "Can we pull over and get a bite to eat. Please?" [Traveler] " Well, we're not going to stop till we get to the next town. All we have is some hard tack, jerky, and some water. That'll have to do till then. Why don't you come sit up front with us and enjoy the day while we can?" [Mara] Mara started to pout, until Traveler offered to seat her up front. " Oh! Can I? Please! That sounds so much like fun. But do we have enough room for all three of us up there," as she made her way around the front of the wagon and stood there, biting her lower lip as she waited for Carriac to slide over. [Carriac] The shaper climbed down from the wagon. " As much as I enjoy your company, I think I'll let the two of you ride alone for awhile. I didn't sleep very well last - bad dreams. If you don't mind, I'll just borrow your mattress for a short catnap." Without so much as a backwards glance, he walked quickly to the rear of the wagon. [Traveler] As Carriac hurried past them, Traveler gave him a scowl, but he didn't notice. He walked to the front with Mara and helped her up to the seat and jumped up and sat next to her. He grabbed the reigns and started them once again.' [Mara] Mara jumped back, and watched as Carriac jumped down, a scowled look on his face as he headed to the back of the wagon, and watched as the wagon squeaked and shifted with Carriac's weight, before being helped up by Traveler. " What's eating him? Was it something I said? Or did?" [Carriac] Carriac climbed the steps into the wagon. He closed the door firmly behind him and then rested his bulk against it, fighting back the feeling of despair within him. He hadn't been able to look at Mara. He tried to repress the image of her torn blouse from his thoughts, but the uncertainty over his actions of the night before pushed it back. What had he done? Carriac began calling out to the ghost in a desperate gamble for answers. He might not like what he heard, but he had to know. "Moiran. Moiran, I know you're here - you can't go anywhere. I need to speak with you." When the gnome failed to appear, Carriac resorted to more extreme measures. "I could always start breaking things...." ~Now, now, th-there's no need for violence. I'm here!~ The little ghost floated into view in front of the elf. His form wavered a bit, as if he were unsure of the wisdom of appearing in plain sight. Carriac sighed. "I'm not going to hurt you, Moiran. I couldn't harm a soul." ~That's not what it looked like last night!~ Moiran blurted out. His hands flew to his mouth. "That's what I want to talk to you about, Moiran. I want you to tell me everything that you remember from last night. Leave nothing out. I promise, I won't hurt you or your things. I need your help." Carriac settled down on the bunk and Moiran began to talk. [Traveler] "I wouldn't be surprised if your incessant talking hadn't finally drove him crazy." [Mara] "Oh! I see..." Mara stayed quiet, as the wagon lurched forward rocking up and down as they made what felt like a snails pace towards the next town. But she only stayed quiet for a short time. " Traveler," she called out, and waited for him to turn towards her so she could read his eyes. "Thank you for putting me to bed last night, and covering me up with your cloak. I was a bit chilled, after the bathe," and she blushed as she looked away. "It was nice to sleep without any nightmares coming on," and she pulled her eyes down as she rubbed her thumbs together. " I think the cloak helped," and she blushed. She sighed and started watching as things around her slowly passed by, before she spoke again. [Traveler] " It was no problem, Mara. Any decent person would have done the same thing." [Mara] "Traveler?" [Traveler] "Yes..." [Mara] "Do you think Carriac is upset with me because I'm always hungry? Or did I say something or do something wrong last night? Do you think he was jealous, seeing me with your cloak drapped over me last night?" [Traveler] " I don't get the impression he's the jealous type. Though, I don't understand his mood right now." [Mara] Slowly she glanced back, expecting Carriac to be standing beside her, but all she heard were muffled voices, coming from inside the wagon. " The gnome told me that you had placed me in bed, and that Carriac had checked on me," and she reached into her vest pocket and pulled the two torn buttons out, and quickly placed them in the palm of her hand. Her movements were so swift, that she doubted that Traveler even saw her hands move. She wanted to ask him how the buttons were tore off, and of the shadowed figure standing over her as she slept. But she bit her lip and placed the buttons back, remembering to ask the Gnome for needle and thread later. "Traveler?" She waited for him to turn towards her once more with a deep sigh, and her smile changed to a soft frown. "Do you think I talk to much? I mean I can just shut up until we get to the next town if you want me too." [Traveler] " You don't have to keep your mouth shut, but at least give me a little time to think. I don't remember much about who I am, and there's been alot that's happened I need to think about. I can't think if you're going to constantly be questioning me about something. I just need a little quiet time to think, OK?" [Mara] Mara nodded and closed her mouth, sighing as the road looked to go on forever. She tried to keep her mind off of her hunger, but she could hear her stomach growling over the sound of the wagon, and she knew she was disturbing Travelers train of thought. "Traveler?" [Traveler] "WHAT!" he said a little louder than he intended too. [Mara] Mara jumped and held back tears, as she bit her lip while Traveler yelled, and she waited until he had calmed down just a bit, before lacing her arm around his and leaning her head into his shoulder. "I'm sorry...I was just going to ask if I could have some hard tack and water. I'll be quiet, I promise," and she wiped a stray tear on his sleeve and pulled her arm back, leaning away from Traveler, and just spent her time looking at the things that went by. "I didn't mean to upset you too..." [Narration] They rode in silence for more than an hour. They were passing through some beautiful country now. The forest thinned and eventually gave way to a land of rolling hills. Tall plains grasses blanketed the surrounding countryside, cut at uneven intervals by swaths of wildflowers of every imaginable color. The sun smiled down warmly as bees flitted from flower to flower. Butterflies were tossed about ever so gently by a soft, warm breeze. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Yet there WAS a shadow on the ground. Mara missed this as she forced Traveler to stop to go running through the flowers. She spent several long minutes trying to decide which ones would look best in her hair, but when Traveler called out impatiently and reminded her how hungry she was, the elf settled on picking a few of each. She wrapped a long blade of grass about the sizable bundle and skipped back to the wagon. She thrust the bouquet in Traveler's face, urging him to take a good strong whiff. There were several minutes of sneezing before the wagon was once again on its way. As they moved along the long plains grasses were replaced by cultivated fields of wheat, oats and barley. They came upon a well-traveled road and decided to follow it. An hour before noon they crested a hill. Looking down, they discovered a small town on the banks of a swiftly flowing river. The river seemed to cut the town in half, with equal portions on each of the north and south banks. [Mara] Mara spent the time back on the wagon nibbling on the hard tack and drinking most of the water as she watched the landscape around her change before her eyes. She never knew that something like this existed out side of the forests edge, and for a bit she was unsure if she was on the same planet. The flowers she had picked, when she stopped the wagon to run through the fields were laying by her side, tucked away to keep Traveler from sneezing any more. But she would still glance over and picture him sneezing, his beard bouncing up and down as his head shot back, then straight down as he sneezed. That mental picture made her giggle, and she was getting some strange looked from Traveler. She had one arm around his once again, she dug deeper into the burlap bag, searching for anything but the beef jerky that she kept pulling out. After some time of pulling out nothing but jerky, she sighed and placed the bag back under the seat, before leaning into Travelers shoulder. " I never knew that all this was here. Oh I remember seeing the small patch of field by my home, but I didn't know that it was this big, and it changes so much the deeper we go," and Mara looked up. "Where did all the trees go? I was told that the world was covered with trees, but there are none as far as the eye can see." Taking a deep sigh, she slipped her arm out from around Travelers, before leaning away. " I miss the forest! The smell of the leaves, the sound of the wind, the whispers of the trees," and she picked up the flowers and smelled them once again. Pulling a dandelion from the group, she stuck it under Traveler's chin and laughed. "Oh! You like butter," and she placed the flower under her chin. "Do I?" Giggling when Traveler glanced over and nodded, Mara bit her lip and smiled. " I like honey better. When we get to the next town, could we buy some butter and honey? Maybe some fresh bread or..or those fancy looking rolls with the white stuff on top. Oh wouldn't that make the day just fly by..." Mara stomach rumbled and she held her arms to her belly, and started to say something, but stopped and dropped her head. She saw Traveler, as he glanced over and smiled, or the hint of one, before he snapped the reins. Soon they came to a crest in the road and Mara stood up, and started hitting Traveler and beating on the wagon at the same time. "Look! A town! And it's big! I'll bet it has some great places to shop and look around. I still have a few copper coins. Can we stop and get supplies? I want to stop..." and she was forced back down. Pouting, she crossed her arms and turned away from Traveler, before she started mumbling to herself. " I bet if Carriac was here he would stop. I bet he would stop and let me shop too. He's not an old meanie like some people. I could spend my coppers for some of those fancy rolls too. And I wouldn't share them with anyone that was mean to me," and she glanced back, before looking away. They made their way towards the town, and Mara soon became quiet. Before long they were just on the outskirts of town when Mara felt a sudden chill run up and down her back. Placing her hand on Travelers arm, she looked into his eyes as he turned towards her. " I sense something..." before she started beating on the wagon with her fist. " Carriac! You best get up and get out here!" She was not taking any chances and she wanted him out of the wagon and up next to her. " I would feel better if he was up here too. Ok?" [Carriac] Carriac's conversation with Moiran had been insightful, if not entirely awe-inspiring, and he and the gnome had worked on something that they felt would help matters should such an occurrence repeat itself. Much relieved, the elf had fallen into a peaceful slumber. He awoke when the wagon stopped. "Hmmm. I wonder where we are." He was reaching for the window when Mara pounded on the wagon. Her words were muffled and he couldn't understand them. Carriac threw open the shutters and poked his head out. "What's wrong? The wagon isn't on fire, is it?" he said, chuckling to himself at his joke. The nap had done him a world of good.
(to be continued...) |