Kira's Journals

Journal,

Well, it seems we've been roped into something bigger than we originally thought. It turns out that Markham, Arvid, Sallah, and Hound were all part of the Tolwyn protectorate. Oh, I should probably explain who all those people are.

Thrak and Gir came back from asking to see Brik, and told us that he actually hadn't gotten to ask. Grond was not awake yet, and he was the only one who could give permission. Not long after they returned, a group of three people entered the village, and by the way they were greeted by Markham, it did not bode well for us, or Brik for that matter. There was a very gruff and gnarly looking dwarf, a creepy looking elf that sent shivers through my wings, and a human that looked and acted more like an animal. He was so much like an animal in fact that the dwarf had him on a chain like he was a pet.

We were standing nearby when they arrived and were formally introduced to the group of travelers by Markham. They were Arvid the dwarf, Sallah the elf, and Hound the human-dog. Hound was a special case and a special pain in the neck, but I'll get to him later. Markham introduced the group as the horror trackers he spoke of earlier. By the look of them, they knew what they were doing, and had a lot of practice doing it. At this point, Thrak asked again if Grond was awake. We were told he was and that we could see him now.

As we entered the great hall, we found Grond sitting in his chair again, and Markham quickly went to join him. The horror trackers were introduced first and welcomed by Grond, and then invited to rest and eat before examining Brik.

Then we were addressed. Thrak asked once more to see Brik, preferably before he was subjected to examination by the horror trackers. When Grond asked why he was so eager to see Brik before the examination, I could feel Thrak tense up under me. He was so frustrated he was shaking a bit. It was all I could to keep my wings from quivering. Thrak said, through gritted teeth, that he may be able to convince Brik to perform his craft for them and render the need for an examination unnecessary. Grond agreed to let Thrak try to talk some sense into Brik, but also said that the horror trackers should take a look at the murder scene and see what they could find in the mean time.

After the newcomers had eaten, we all went to Sharn's house and watched the trackers go to work. Actually, it was more like Hound did the work, Arvid held the chain, and Sallah just stood around. Hound circled the training area and the house, inside and out, sniffing as he went. The only reaction out of him came when he reached the blood stain at one end of the training arena. He sniffed the spot and winced a bit, but other than that, it didn't look like he found anything.

At that point, we all left the house and moved to the town square, where Markham ordered the guards to bring Brik out of his holding cell. Brik was brought forward, looking bleary-eyed and weak. It seemed that the whole town had turned to see the conviction or salvation of Brik, depending on what happened in the next few moments. The guards steadied Brik on his feet and Thrak moved forward to support his brother. Brik was standing there, staring in the face of his brother, with all eyes on him. It was quite the moment. He was holding his head high, though obviously barely able to stand on his own, facing whatever fate may come with every shred of his pride and honor intact. I'm sure Thrak was relieved to see his brother finally, and even happier to see sanity in his eyes.

I stayed back in the circle while Thrak had a few words with his brother. No one could hear them, they were speaking to softly, but anyone could tell what they were talking about. Brik refused to lower himself to performing his craft like some circus animal just to prove his innocence. His honor was whole and untouched, and he was going to keep it that way.

Thrak stepped away looking defeated, and Arvid, Sallah, and Hound stepped forward. Arvid gave a tug on Hound's leash and began the examination. Hound sniffed, and prodded, and scratched. The whole crowd that had now gathered was absolutely silent. It seemed like even the birds stopped singing just to watch with undivided attention. I almost think everyone was disappointed to see that the only noise Hound made was the slightest whimper audible only to those with the most sensitive ears. Seeing that nothing could found from this examination, Arvid and Hound pulled back, and Grond gave his official pardon and apology to Brik and Thrak. The astonished crowd dispersed and left our group and the reunited brothers alone in the square.

We were making our way back to Thrak's mother's house when he took me aside and asked a favor. Of course I was ready to do it, no matter what it was. Thrak said that he had feeling that this was not over, and I shared the feeling. He asked that I follow Markham and his tracker friends back to the great hall and keep an eye on anything they do. I was on my way almost before he could finish asking, and found the smoke-hole in the roof where I could perch so that I could see everything that went on in the hall. I watched all through the rest of that afternoon and into the evening, but it wasn't until almost dusk that something happened, but what a something it was.

My attention had waned a bit, and I was playing with the moths that had begun dancing around my head, when I heard the too familiar cry of someone being stabbed. I looked back through my hole in time to see Sallah pulling his short sword out of Grond's back. Somehow, right then, I got the feeling that they were going to pin the gruesome murder of the village elder on me and my friends. I just wasn't sure yet why.

As Grond's body fell to the floor, Sallah cleaned and sheathed his sword. I watched all of this as if it was in slow motion. Arvid took Hound's leash and led the way to the front doors with Markham and Sallah close behind. They walked out the front and closed the doors behind them. Obviously they had been planning this for a while. I followed them to the front of the hall and sat on the roof above the front doors where I could continued watching them unnoticed. They walked just as leisurely as if they had just done the most natural and mundane of tasks, which made me wonder if they weren't horror marked themselves.

They continued to walk away from the hall and stopped about one hundred feet out. They paused for a moment as if waiting for the storm to start, then Arvid gave a tug on Hound's chain and muttered something to him. Instantly, Hound let out the loudest cry I think I've ever heard. It was impossible for anyone still inside the village not to hear it. Hound was just going berserk and kept crying and howling until people started running out of their houses. Some of the first people I saw, thankfully, were my friends running toward the hall.

The killers turned toward the hall so that they would be sure to be the first into the great hall. An idea hit me at that moment and I zoomed back over the roof and through the smoke hole, stopping them in their tracks as I came eye level with them. They looked completely dumbstruck. I only said three words to them; “I saw everything.” The looks on their faces were absolutely priceless, but I didn't have time to enjoy them.

Markham pointed the finger at me as people began entering the doorway to the hall. It must have looked perplexing to them. All they saw was an angry little windling and four people pointing at her looking half confused, half guilty, and half very, very angry. Sallah was the first to act though. He took out his sword and swung at me, slicing a bit of my leg. I knew I couldn't face all four of them alone, so I escaped back up through the smoke hole and flew over the front of the roof just in time to see my friends pushing their way through the crowd into the hall.

I pulled out Valor and flew in behind Gir and Pern with the rest right behind. Sallah escaped to the back of hall, looking for a way our most likely. Arvid drew his weapon, and Markham began casting his magic, trying desperately not to get caught. Markham almost got to cast his spell when someone hit him hard and he went down. I didn't see who it was, because I was going after Hound. Not because I thought he was a danger to us at the moment, but I think he would have been to a lot of other people if he had been able to escape. Fortunately, Brik grabbed him by his collar before he could get out of the hall.

I turned around just in time to watch Arvid get hit hard and hit the floor, the last to fall. Gir was standing over the bloody remains of Sallah in the back and Markham was lying stone cold on the floor. With Arvid unconscious, it was easy to transport him to Brik's former holding cell to let him come around. Malorrin hurried to Grond's side to see if there was any chance of saving him. Fortunately, Sallah's sword was slightly off its mark. We found Grond unconscious, but still alive. Malorrin called for someone to bring him his kit so that he could save the elder, and tried to stop his bleeding in the meantime.

After a few minutes we were able to clear the hall of spectators and put Markham's and Sallah's bodies to the side of the room. We searched them and found nothing more the a handful of silver. Hound was still in Brik's able care, but with all his squirming, I did happen to notice something of interest. At the base of his neck was a tattoo that was unfamiliar to me. I showed Thrak and he recognized it, though he said it was over six months ago that he had seen it. He seemed to have a moment of inspiration and checked the two bodies. Sure enough, he found the same tattoos on Sallah and Markham, in the same place. The tattoo was the front view of a dragon's head with a sword plunged down through it. Know that it was impossible that this was a coincidence, we questioned Arvid once he came to.

He said that this tattoo represented the Tolwyn Protectorate, a group of adepts that have sworn to rid the world of the influence of horrors. The thing is, they do that by taking down other adepts. This made no sense to me at all at first, until he explained that the Protectorate are different from regular adepts. He said that members of the Protectorate use methods of protecting themselves from the influence of horrors, while regular adepts risk becoming horror marked by recklessly drawing on the raw magic from the astral plane.

Markham had come to this village to convince its people that all adepts were corrupted by making up the story about the horror and Brik killing Sharn when it was really Sallah who had snuck into the village and killed him without anyone knowing about him until he showed up with Arvid over a week later.

So, we had finally found our anti-adept group that Fellidra Jer had warned us about. Somehow I knew it wouldn't take that long. We plan to travel back to Urupa once we leave here to report to her and see what she thinks we should do next. I just don't understand Arvid's thinking. He and the Protectorate are basically sentencing adepts to death. Why would you do that when you can just teach them better ways to draw on magic? Or even better, band together with them and kill the horrors outright? I just don't get it.

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