| This was all too confusing to figure out. Rain glanced at her surroundings, as cold and lifeless as they had been before. At that very moment Rain decided she should see someone to interpret the vision she knew of an old woman who lived in the woods. She was a seer. There were people who were afraid of her, but rain wasn�t. The woman had helped her once. Maybe she would do so again� -End flash back- Kiejii put his hand on rain�s shoulder and motioned for her to keep quite. �Someone�s coming,� he whispered. He quickly moved and extinguished the candles. They sat in silence listening in the gloom. There were footsteps approaching. Someone had followed them. The footsteps moved slowly toward the door. Rain and Kiejii drew their weapons. Rain realized she had stopped breathing and forced herself to do so quietly. They heard faint voices behind the door. One man was yelling at another. The one closest to the door yelled something incoherent and strolled away from the door. The voices drifted off into the night as the two men walked away. Then all was silent in the dingy little room. Rain and Kiejii let out the breath they�d been holding. Kiejii lit the candles once again and motioned for rain to continue. -Flash back- Rain knocked on the outer door to a small cottage. She had been traveling for days, without a horse, and was weary from her travels. Set back in the middle of the Lost Forest in a clearing devoid of all life. The clearing was a perfect circle of dead and lifeless things and around that circle was one of thick vegetation. The house had no color except for the grayish pale color of the dead wood. There were no flowers or grass, or any other type of plants in or near the vicinity of the cottage. Smoke was billowing from the chimney curling up to join the clouds indicating that someone was home. A frail woman answered the knock. Opening the door to only show her face. By the looks of her face rain could tell that the woman didn�t take to her years well. After seeing Rain�s friendly face she opened the door wider to invite her inside. She looked to be over a hundred. To see that she was standing was a little miracle in itself. She walked with the help of a cane carved out of deadwood. Later Rain would realize, after looking closely at the cane, that there were intricate carvings on it in some sort of language; it looked to be. �Do come in child, I�ve been expecting ye,� the woman said in a soft lilting voice and a grim face. Her smoky gray eyes looked as if they could pierce a man�s soul. Rain smiled and entered the cottage, feeling as if she were walking into the underworld itself. The house was graced with a few shelves and sparse furniture. The shelves contained, what it seemed to be was animal carcasses and bones. Also they sported intricate carvings that seemed to be carved out of the bones. The only furniture was a blood red rug in the middle of the room, and a fireplace to one side. The woman motioned for rain to take a seat on the rug while she went into one of the back rooms to fetch something. After taking a closer look at the shelves, Rain obliged her and sat cross-legged on the rug, feeling as though she was sitting in the underworld itself. The old woman hobbled back into the room carrying a small leather pouch with something inside. �This be for you child. Do not open in unless ye are in grave danger.� Rain had to ask, �why?� �Because child, it will cost ye greatly when ye opens it. Ye must have no other option to take.� Rain agreed seeing as the woman would offer her no more information. She placed it into a pocket of her cloak, saving it for later. The old woman smiled kindly, �What be your name child?� Rain realized foolishly that she hadn�t told the woman her name, �Rain, my name is Rain.� �Oh I remember ye. Well dear one, my name be Annalyn, be sure ye remember it this time.� Annalyn sat down in front of Rain Indian style. �Now child, tell old Annalyn why you be comin� to see her.� Rain told Annalyn everything she could remember about the vision, leaving out no details. When she was finished Annalyn stood up and hobbled outside. �Child stay ye in here. I�ll be gone a short while. Do not alarm yerself if it takes me a long time, I�m an old woman and these ol� legs here aren�t doing so well. It is necessary that I do this.� With that said she hobbled off into the darkness, closing the door behind her. Rain sighed. Upon hearing her stomach growling announced to the empty room, �I�m hungry.� She looked around noticing a door off to the right, hoping for luck she headed for it. When she opened the door it was not what she�d been hoping for. A grimy old kitchen greeted her. It looked as if it was rarely used. As she was hunting through the cupboards looking for meager scraps of food, she mused to herself and tried to figure out how the woman ate anything. �That�s probably why she�s so frail,� she mused out loud. Finally she got enough scraps to makes some soup, very meager soup that it was. While cooking it she came across some salvageable bread. She then sat down and ate heartily while studying her surroundings. The house was neat and tidy but a majority of the furniture looked as if it had never been used. Cobwebs hung about the place. It seemed as if the old lady shared her home with numerous vermin. Hours went by and Rain busied herself with cleaning the house as a favor to the old woman for helping her. Soon is was midnight and despite what the woman said, Rain started to worry. �What if she got attacked by something? She has nothing to protect herself with�� Rain started for the door, determined to find and help the old woman. When she approached the door, the knob turned and Annalyn entered. �I told ye not to come after me. And yet ye were going to were ye not?� �I was worried that�s all,� Rain insisted. �Oh well, what�s done is done. It�s a good thing I came back when I did.� Rain stared at Annalyn, �Why?� �Some sorts of creatures are tracking ye. I went to find out what they were but I couldn�t get close enough. Come child, I will tell ye what it is that ye must do to defeat them.� The woman led rain to the center of the room and again they sat. �I know naught of what hunts ye, but it does. Ye must be careful. I also don�t know what ye�s vision means. Something is keeping me from figuring it out. You, child, have to find out for yeself. Ye must go into the Castle Of the Dead and steal ye a magical artifact. It is the only thing that will aid ye in your journey. There are some other magical artifacts there as well, but you mustn�t touch them. The castle is well guarded. Many beasts roam the castle grounds. Ye must steal only this artifact and nothing else. If ye do it means a sure death for ye.� �What is this object I must steal?� Rain inquired. �It is called the Rod Of Isis�� |
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