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 Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 4:46 pm
__Part 42
Getting into the main fortress was, by far, easier said than done. The Curithian soldiers were posted at every entrance, and turned away those who would seek entrance either with courtesy or at the point of a sword. Julian, mostly recovered from the nearly catatonic spells the mere sight of the soldiers sent him into, glared from under his cloak hood. They had circled the fortress proper until they'd reached the cliffs that dropped into the sea, and doubled back until they reached the cavern-pocked stands of rocks the ruins sat on. There didn't seem to a way in that the Curithians hadn't found first.
"I figured there'd be tunnels, or secret passages or something," Julian remarked to Jeddeth, watching the guard changeover from the main courtyard. The sound of their clanking armor and murmurous voices made his head feel fogged, and he hated himself for the weakness of it.
"There are," Jeddeth said worriedly. "But the Curithians have found all of them, or nearly all. They must have coerced the priests into ******** all of them?"
Jeddeth nodded absently.
"This place is ancient beyond most mortal telling. I do not know the full scope of it. Few do, outside Nahedathal and his private counsel."
Julian's mouth twisted.
"The Amalgamated?" he said, scowling at the memories of the collective counsel that had hounded his steps and forced his hand in terrible decisions too many times during his slavery. Jeddeth made an assenting noise. "Those ******** aren't still alive and sputtering, are they?"
"No. They were either thrown into the sea, or they killed themselves out of fear for what the rebels would do to them."
Grinning savagely, Julian had the grace to only laugh with slight vindication. The sharp clank of armor forced the evil dormant memories to shifting again, and he gave a sudden shudder. Jeddeth's bony hand gripping his shoulder and steadying him.
"Easy, easy..."
Julian shuddered again and shook his head slowly, trying to clear it.
"Why does that keep happening..."
Jeddeth shrugged.
"Increased sensitivity. Mistress was burned by iron, when in your world it would do nothing to her at all. You are in your real home. Your body...and mind...is responding thusly."
Julian's mouth twisted again.
"That doesn't make a lick of sense," he said tartly. Jeddeth chuckled hoarsely.
"I know. But it sounded all mysterious and full of wisdom, didn't it?"
"Not even slightly."
"Jealous."
They fell silent for a while. Night had fallen and they had made camp, and Julian watched the stars as the others slept. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. He felt a sudden rush of bitterness that this was probably the only time he'd ever get to see Azhumn for what it was, not the black, icy cold ruin he'd been confined to for so long. His home was no longer a welcome place to be. He'd been lucky, very lucky, that the Ularna hadn't recognized his face. He clutched the lead Ularna's gift to him, running a finger absently over the flat of the scimitar blade. He'd never wanted to belong so badly in his life. Tears stung his eyes unexpectedly, and a rush of loathing as he looked over at the ruins.
"All your fault," he breathed, hatefully. He would never belong here. This was more home than Rijan had ever been - a feeling of rightness that went straight to the bone. And it would never be his. He buried his face in his hands and could have wept.
"...Nahal?"
Startled, Julian looked up. Crow was sitting beside him, looking up at him curiously. Her yellow eyes caught the starlight and had turned gold.
"I'm alright," he said tiredly. "Just kinda moody."
Crow grinned hollowly.
"Emo-kid."
"I resent that."
"You know I'm right."
"Shaddup."
"Dork."
"Dweeb."
Smiling slightly, Crow nestled against her brother and rested her head against his shoulder.
"Jeddeth was watching the guards," she yawned. "While you were being emo. It says we can sneak through during the next changeover."
Julian felt a thrill of excitement and terror both shoot through him.
"And we'll be ready," he said.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 6:53 pm
__Part 43
The changing of the guard was timely and rigidly precise, and left only a five minute gap between squadrons to race through the sprawling courtyard and into the gaping maw of the main gate. With one or two people, it would have been highly risky at best. With a group of five, it was just ridiculously conspicuous and tempting fate.
"Ready?" Jeddeth whispered hoarsely, watching the retiring squadron march in orderly rows back to their main camp, passing by the fresh retinue of soldiers.
"Nope," Crow said cheerfully. Julian said nothing, his hand gripping the Dhev-Anak with white knuckled tension and eyes glued on the looming gateway.
"Alright....on three. One, two...three! Go!"
Herding the others in front of it urgently, Jeddeth steered Liam, Rabid and the siblings towards the unguarded gate. They stuck to the shadows, and avoided the hassle of trying to force the gigantic main doors open by ducking into the shadows of a hidden corridor, a servant's entrance on the far side of the courtyard. It led into a lightless antechamber, and from there Jeddeth lead them into a maze of icy corridors that let out finally into the main hall. For all the time it took, they were standing just inside the fortress, looking up at the gigantic bronze-bound door from the inside.
"Well, then," Crow said, her breath fogging slightly.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 6:55 pm
Rabid and Liam were silent, the latter of the two looking about in paranoid curiosity.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:01 pm
Looking around with hated familiarity, Julian's eyes slitted and his expression darkened horribly. The inside of the fortress was ruined grandeur, oily black stone carved from the living rock of the mountain the building sat in polished until it shone mirror-bright. The moldy tatters of pennants and banners clung to the walls, colors faded and patched with spots of bilious green. There was no light that didn't filter in from the great cracks in the ceiling, though torches jutted from the walls in sconces, waiting to be lit. Jeddeth attempted to take one from its sconce, and the ancient wood disintegrated into moldy splinters.
"Hnf," it said in annoyance. Crow snorted.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:03 pm
"I'd offer you my lighter, but I'm pretty sure everything would go up in a blaze if I tried to light it," Liam said reassuringly.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:09 pm
"Maybe it would be best not to tempt fate with fire," Jeddeth agreed, dropping to all fours and ambling ahead. "I can find the way."
"Which way is that, precisely?" Crow asked. Jeddeth gave a dry chuh.
"To visit your grandfather," it said, glancing sightlessly over its shoulder at her. "Down in the bowels of the ruins."
"Yay."
She glanced at Julian, and couldn't help but shiver at how mask-like his face had become. His eyes burned, looking at something only he could see. She wanted to grab him and shake him, to make him come back, but she found she was almost afraid of what would happen if she did. So she left him be, and fell into step beside Rabid and Liam.
The path was winding and irritatingly complex. Many parts of the fortress had simply caved in, though there was recent damage and more than once they found mangled Zheh Hakin bodies; once, Crow tripped over an abandoned Amalgamated's mask, a pretty thing worked in silver that had the gruesome addition of an iron dagger planted between its ivory-inset eyes. Signs of rebellion were everywhere, deeply disturbing to see.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:12 pm
Rabid had been staring at the floor, looking incredibly depressed as they continued on...although at the sight of the mask she quite literally hissed.
"Shhhh..." Liam said to her, reached for Crow's hand.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:22 pm
Crow shuddered, nose wrinkling at the stench of the iron, and grabbed tightly onto Liam's hand. Jeddeth backtracked and picked the mask up, examining it before throwing it off to the side. It spun across the floor and struck the wall with a mournful clang.
"Cowards," it muttered in distaste, creeping back to the front of the group. "Mewling, spineless creatures. No better than the priesthood, and hardly any higher than They-That-Watch."
Julian stirred for the first time in ages, the mask of his face shifting into something living again.
"Are they..." he began. Jeddeth gave a bitter laugh.
"Would you like to see?" it asked. Julian turned ashen, but his voice was firm.
"Yes."
"Then follow me."
The black stone gave way to warm, rough red, like sandstone. A familiar wooden door, that bore signs of terrible damage haphazardly repaired, now lay down the corridor, broken cleanly in two. A stink of old blood filled the long hall, and a sticky coating of brown flooded from the chamber. Julian didn't go in, though he stared wide-eyed.
The elevated, vast basin that had held the pool of black water was overturned. There were scorch marks on the walls and ceiling, and many burnt bodies. But the shrine was overturned. The basin had been shattered, its contents splattered around the room.
"They're dead," Julian said, not quite believing it.
"Yes," Jeddeth replied simply. "They are."
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:25 pm
Rabid followed unwittingly, and it took her a moment to realize where they were. She snapped suddenly, stumbling backward and clapping her hands over her mouth as she screamed. And screamed. And screamed.
"NNGH!" Liam groaned and clapped his hands over his ears.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:28 pm
Rabid's screams echoed and echoed, until the unearthly pitched notes rang from the dead silence of the vaulted chambers. Julian jolted as though he'd been struck, and stumbled back to her.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice a purity of regret and panic. "I'm sorry!"
Crow, who'd had no such misgivings about entering the room, spit on the blood-drenched floor and left it with her face as expressive as stone, pupils paper-thin slits. Jeddeth alone among them was calm, waiting patiently for its wards to collect themselves.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:30 pm
Liam looked on with brief curiosity, shrugged, and then went to grab Crow again. Rabid had dissolved into hysterical tears and she pushed Julian away from her, rushing down the hallway with no idea of which direction they were meant to be going in.
And then she stopped abruptly and fell to her knees.
"That must've been the place, then."
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:38 pm
Stung at the rejection, Julian's face shifted back into its mask-like state, head bowing and shoulders hunched. Jeddeth looked up at him and stood close beside, murmuring gently in Azhumnian. Crow, blinking at Liam as though only then realizing he was there, said nothing. Her lips parted, but no sound emerged. She looked away.
"Come," Jeddeth said, hoisting Rabid up bodily and guiding her along with long-suffering patience. "We would of had to pass it anyway. Come on."
The siblings marched as though to their awaiting deaths, neither showing any expression at all - though, Crow clung to Liam like a shadow, not wanting to leave his side for an instant. The red-rocked corridor phased slowly into the black stone, growing rougher as they descended further below the fortress. The sounds of living rock, unexpected vents of steam and dripping water, greeted them. The broken grandeur of the fortress was left behind as they walked, and after an hour when the untouched morbid richness of the family tomb popped up unexpected, it was surprising.
"The hell is this?" Crow said, voice grating.
"Catacombs," Jeddeth said, pushing the stone door open with effort. A rush of freezing air came out to meet them, chilling them to the bone.
Crow managed a derisive snort.
"How stereotypical," she said dryly. Jeddeth regarded her blankly.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:48 pm
Liam and Rabid, who had calmed considerably, hung back and held hands, looking like the world's most awkward couple as they followed the group, frightened and paranoid.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:56 pm
Whenever Crow heard the word 'catacomb', the image that came to mind was always a cramped, mouldering tunnel with skulls that leered from cubbyholes and shallow shelves in the walls that held the partially-clothed skeletons of the dead. The cathedral-like cavern they entered, lit from below with bluish-white light she had to admit was beautiful, effectively dashed her usual mental image to pieces.
The path was a half-natural, half built arch that connected the two sides of the cavern. Below the bridge, clear as glass so that one could see all the way to the bottom, was what looked like a small lake. The water was brilliant aquamarine, faint ripples across its surface sending inexplicable light that shimmered and slithered on the stalactite-encrusted ceiling. The graves themselves dotted the cavern walls, marked with a prettier version of the too-familiar eye symbol, all curving lines and sweeping spirals rather than jagged slashes.
"...huh," Crow said, eyeing the statues that held vigil on the bridge in curiosity.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:58 pm
"Hm?" Liam asked and followed Crow's gaze, "Huh. Cool."
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