19th Letter Home: Being Close to Home

General Summary

Mother,
When I woke the next day, after resting for the night in a safe place that the dwarves found for us, Alyona sat in her corner, still, as if meditating. If only she had been.
Black goo dripped from her mouth. And she was very still...too still.
She sat, still, dead. Completely dead; she had opened one of the chests we retrieved and found it loaded with Glow. Next to her were a syringe and several empty vials.
Legs crossed, back straight. Head high. Black fluid dripped from her nose and eyes.
I sat and stared.
Aarik.
Now Alyona.
Vessyr was in a panic. At least, in as much of a panic as he could muster. It was early in the morning, and he needs time to warm his bones before moving too quickly. Given that, he was by her side, looking in her eyes, checking her pulse (none), and trying spells fairly quickly. “What can you do?” he barked at Baermak, who also tried spells, but nothing worked.
There were 4 empty vials next to her. Plus whatever had been in the vials and syringe we had recovered.
Alyona was gone.
Ingoria used her wand that detects magic, and she told us that Alyona’s hands were raging bright with magical energy.
We checked to be sure there were no obvious wounds; she had not been assassinated. Stunned, and running out of options, we pondered what to do. I watched Vessyr discussing with Baermak the likelihood of bringing her back, getting the dwarves, anything. He was quite intent. I sat, quiet. Almost as quiet as she.
Still in her pose. Eyes closed. Still. The stillness of death.
She had been here. But now she was not. And then she was.
As I watched, she opened her eyes, gurgled, spat, and coughed up a phlegmy wad of frothy black goo.
Her eyes were completely black, mother, completely black. But she seemed alive. She grabbed her grandfather by the collar and shouted something in Elvish, speckles of black sprinkling his face…and she disappeared in a shadowy mist, reappearing in another corner. Then another.
It was as if a door opened within her and she, as fast as you can blink your eye, disappeared into it. Then reappeared someplace else.
She blinked around the room several times until she finally stopped, exhausted, collapsing.
Vessyr and Baermak ran to her side. I sat, transfixed.
She lived!
They tried to clean her up, but she used very strong language, pushing them away, and tried to wipe up some of the black goo, just smearing it across her face. I watched as Vessyr tried to find out what had happened, but she wanted nothing to do with him and retired back to her corner.
Her original corner.
And he knew better than to press her.
He is not wise, but he is also not stupid.
We turned our attention to more pressing matters. Baermak had summoned a familiar, currently in the form of a raven. In the documents we retrieved from the mansion we had found a list of several dwarven underground locations and another list of names. Baermak sent the lists with his familiar to get it to Olden.
That’s when we saw the Sylvan encampments. A dozen. All around the city, and even within. And they were surrounding the inn where we had been staying before. Baermak's familiar scouted all of this, then went to the inn to warn them, but Olden wasn’t there, so he brought the documents back.
The familiar then checked on the mansion: it had burned to the ground, leaving nothing but piles of stone and the chimney.
The news warmed my heart, but did not satisfy my soul.
I recommended that we attack one of the more remote camps to create a distraction from the siege at the inn, which was an excellent strategic suggestion. It would buy our allies some time, and also draw forces away from the search for us. But the team seems to lack an appreciation for strategic vision. None of them had the advantage of training that you provided.
Alyona was in terrible shape still, but we knew it was best to leave anyway. The Sylvans would be both searching the city for us (Baermak’s familiar found a wanted poster with our likenesses) and executing on their plans for the Dwarven underground. And as they did that, they would get closer and closer to us. Every time they rounded up Dwarves (alive), they had a chance to learn of our location.
So we packed up and headed out.
Sneaking out of the town we avoided all contact with everybody, Baermak and I completely invisible. Baermak’s familiar could also be invisible...at will! So the two of us scouted from the air, communicating with Baermak, guiding him and the group around the patrols, having them pause while riders passed in front or behind, speeding through unoccupied intersections.
Eventually we got them to the beach and I easily guided them to a nice cove where we could relax and catch our breaths. Moving during the day was fraught, so we waited till dark and resumed our travels.
Being impossible to spot at night, I headed into the sky to scout ahead. The offshore breeze lifted me and I allowed it to take me higher, relaxing my wings and diving back down to the waves. I was anticipating home. So close! I skimmed the wavetops, spread my wings, and caught the next rise. The sound of the surf soothed my heart, and I could smell the sea deep within me. It reminded me very much of Aarik and the times we angered you so much by-
That’s when we heard a Sylvan shouting. I came back from my reverie and saw a Sylvan encampment below us: several archers, several soldiers, and a commander. I threw my focus on one of the archers as Ingoria ran towards them, dodging behind a large rock. I dropped the archer before he even rose from his meditation. One arrow.
Beside him was another archer; two more arrows and he shared his companion’s fate.
One of the soldiers ran up the cliff, as somebody shouted, “Warn the others!”
And mother, I understood it! I could clearly understand what he was saying! I had been paying so much attention, learning their words for us, listening to them talking. Ever since the mines and the first Sylvans I met in Yelahn.
And I understood them.
Vessyr charged forward, casting a web into their midst. His spider raced up beside him. Baermak followed, casting a spell on one of the Sylvans. His familiar flew up into the sky. Two of the Sylvans had run up the cliff, away from us.
They knew how deadly we were, and they knew better than to try to stand against us. Alyona sprinted up the cliff after them.
Ingoria chased them as well, shooting at the one who looked most like their leader and planting an arrow in his back. I shot him also, shifting my entire focus to him and landing two consecutive arrows in his back, right next to Ingoria’s. It was nice being able to fight from the sky!
One of them charged Ingoria, then teleported a short distance away. I could hear the rest of the team behind us, finishing off any Sylvans trapped in the webbing.
Baermak appeared below me, charging forward and shouting encouragement to me as the rest of the Sylvans retreated as fast as they could, scampering up the cliff.
Alyona sprinted forward, astonishingly fast, closing with one of the soldiers.
It was dark, so you might question my vision, but it was not so very dark that I could not see. And I know what I saw: shadows danced about her forearms and wrists, writhing and roiling, shooting forward as extensions of her arms, forming fists in front of her fists. She struck the soldier, but it seemed the shadowy fists were not quite corporeal enough to actually do damage. Perhaps they were for display?
They were certainly quite impressive!
The leader decided to fight, and our group closed in on him, but one of the others fled, so he’s the one I chased. He was running as fast as he could, not looking back. His heavy armor served him well, as my first arrow bounced off of his shoulder. My second arrow, however, found its mark! But he kept running.
Vessyr, sensing what I was doing, also gave chase, but the sand slowed him a little and he couldn’t both run and aim so well. He was probably able to do that when he was younger.
Again, Alyona sprinted, closing with the soldier I had wounded. Her shadowy fists this time connected, pummeling him to the ground. I’m not sure what she did differently, as the fists looked the same. It’s just that this time they actually gained enough existence to do the damage.
I guess.
She turned back to chase another one of the two remaining fleeing soldiers.
I heard behind me the battle against their leader, but I was focused on the soldiers running for help.
…except that the two soldiers were more seeking cover from my fire than running for help. This slowed them considerably and they were no longer the enemy requiring the most attention; glancing back I saw that Boris the spider was in pieces at the leader’s feet, and Ingoria had disengaged, a huge gash in her shoulder from his sword.
He clearly needed my attention; I put an arrow right through his neck.
As he fell I returned my focus to one of the retreating soldiers, spying a kink in his armor and landing an arrow in it. Alyona caught up with him as he stumbled and limped away, and used her shadow fists to put him the rest of the way down.
We finished the last guy and decided to quickly head out. There was another, bigger encampment up the way, and if they hadn't heard the warning shouts they would be checking in on this group soon enough. We made tracks as if we left the way we came in, then haphazardly covered them up, making sure they remained easy to find. I planted a trap, setting it only to trip for Sylvans, so it would look as if we were covering our retreat.
Then we headed in the opposite direction.
I found us a decent place to rest and we bedded down. Half way through our rest we spotted a pair of Sylvans on horseback, scouting. They were headed in our direction. We decided to let them pass. If we killed them, we would make our presence known. And our direction of travel.
If we leave them be, they return home safely to report no findings, reinforcing the planted belief that we headed in the other direction.
So we let them pass.
When we got up, Vessyr headed in to the nearest fishing village to find us passage home. Which he did. He is good for that kind of stuff.
He was with Baermak’s familiar, who relayed back to us that it was time to go. We waited a bit, so that we could arrive after dark. The team boarded, but I flew above, out of sight, waiting. When they were sufficiently far from land, I joined them.
The sailors were surprised to see me, but they kept their heads down and pretended not to stare. I don't know what deal Vessyr made, but it must have been a good one. The captain asked no questions, raised no concerns. He simply nodded, thought to himself a bit, and went about his business. Vessyr mentioned something to him about me being a guarantee of our safety. Hah! They sure do fear us, mother.
The sailors rested when we lost sight of land, which put us back on a regular day/night schedule. Just outside of range of the watch tower I headed in to warn the people of our approach. When I arrived I found that Pa’ark was still there. He had seen me off on my departure. We chatted, catching up, and I told him of our group. He was initially resistant to letting us approach, but I convinced him to allow us in under my escort. He flew with me back out to meet the party, and was clearly impressed with our…diversity. To think that I have been living with these strange people for so long...
As the team rode the boat to the beach, I asked Pa’ark if he had seen Aarik, and he had: about three months earlier. He had also seen Laarii leave about two months ago.
I thanked him and promised to share stories if he ever desired, over a beer.
And finally, finally! Finally we were home. We disembarked, thanked the crew, and started hiking. I helped them climb the cliff and guided them to a nice spot inside the bend of a stream to make camp.
Just seeing Sky Crest lightened my heart in ways you cannot imagine. Have you ever been away from home for so long? It has been so long! Being in the land, and so close to home. It even smells better here! I can smell the water, the trees, the land.
Everything is better here.
As the team sat around the fire I spent time at the river, watching the flow. Filled with fish, all swimming so diligently, just to stay in place. Aarik and I spent much time musing about the flow of time, and how quickly it passes. But I needed rest. I will dream of Aarik.
That night Baermak woke us suddenly; something was approaching from the river.
Alyona leapt to the top of the rock…froze, and started turning to stone.
A basilisk! How could we find one? I’ve never encountered one of these, nor has anybody else I’ve ever met. People always talked about them, but I thought they were simply legends.
I shot it, of course, but in avoiding its eyes I could not truly focus on it. Even still I landed two arrows in its side. But I couldn't really look at it...
That’s when two more appeared. The team unleashed on them, desperately trying to hit them without looking at them. People were swinging widely, only occasionally hitting, but still inflicting damage on them.
Unfortunately not everybody could avoid the gazes of three active basilisks. Ingoria stopped moving, the skin on her hand and arms slowly turning to stone. Baermak turned to help, and he too started turning to stone.
It is decidedly difficult not to look at your enemy, not even glance.
Alyona was able to shake loose, bringing herself back, blinking her eyes and getting her bearings.
The one close to me fell, and I turned my attention to the next. Even without looking directly at it, I still hit it, right in the shoulder. Vessyr finished it off while his granddaughter rushed across the camp to engage the third basilisk, quickly beating it to death.
But there was one more!
I turned to it, focusing as best as I could, since I couldn’t actually focus on it. Two arrows…but still it stood. Vessyr suddenly stopped moving, his gaze meeting its. A surge of panic coursed through me. This cannot be how our journey ends! I want to be home!
I turned to face the beast.
But Alyona struck it hard across the brow and stunned it. So it was unable to focus! It could not turn me to stone! I smiled. The fight was mine. I truly focused on it, killing it with a single arrow through the eye.
After we cleaned up and got ready to bed back down I chatted with Alyona a bit. She did seem to be herself, but also...she had been dead. Completely dead. And we had done nothing to revive her; she had simply...gotten better.
She seemed very calm. Very sure. Still herself, but more...still. Perhaps even more wise.
As I lay down for sleep I listened to the sounds of home. The whispered Che'ik night calls defining territory, insects seeking mates, small animals seeking shelter, predators seeking prey. It smelled...home. I am home.
I thought about the sailors and their captain. They fear us so.
If only the Sylvans did.
They should.
They will.
I will teach them.

Report Date

05 Nov 2022