Mists over the Musarde, Chapter Four

[ewancummins]

Wat's cabin

Alain hears footsteps coming towards him. The dog ceases its racket.

[Wat's voice]

''Alain, here is your sack, and your mug, too.''

Wat presses the two items into Alain's groping hands.

''Jon is worried about the others...''

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

"There, that should be holding it," he says as he finishes applying the balm. "It is not looking too serious, but we must be keeping an eye on it in case I am wrong. So that scorpion, you are thinking it emerged from the world you saw in the mirror?"

Dorgio raises an eyebrow when he hears the owl hoot. "Maybe I am being superstitious again, but I am remembering the owl from your dream, Norzak."

He then looks around at the gathering darkness. "We should be leaving soon. Let us be taking these books to a safer place, and see if we can be learning how to put Wolutha to rest. And we should be regrouping with the others soon, as well."

He purses his lips in thought. "Van Diecks, we should bring what is left of him back to the raunie. We may have failed them, but perahps they will be taking some solace in seeing the body of the killer." His eyes grow tight. "Assuming he is the killer."

[steveflam]

"Yeh, I be agreein with ye, Dorgio. Mebbe we should get back to Al and the lad soon. Dun want em ta worry. I did see an owl in me dream, yeah. A bear too if me memory is right."

[Adam]

"I didn't see a scorpion, but I observed what I presume to be a group of Incabulite cultists performing the ritualistic interment of one of the children into this pit." He arches an eyebrow dryly, "Perhaps the Plague Lord is not so fond of eavesdroppers."

He gestures back towards the keep. "Let's go get the wretch's body and be gone from this place."

[ewancummins]

Making your way back to the dungeon, you recover the bloody remains of Gaston Van Diecks. Bundling these in a stained and motheaten tapestry from the ruins, Cirdan is able to rig up a simple travois by retrieving two dead branches from the edge of the surrounding woods. Dragging the corpse behind him, the knight heads out the gate and down the hill.

Dorgio has already wrapped the old books- which proves a wise precaution, for rain begins to fall even before your party has exited the fortress ruins.

The downpour grows in strength as the afternoon slides into evening. The light of the sun is ebbing low as your little band moves across the ring of wasted ground about the keep, and under the cover of the forest. Here, amid the trees, the failing light is so dim as to fool one's eyes into beleiving that deep night had already come. At least the trees provide some shelter from the storm.

Trudging through the murky, damp woods, you walk for what must be over an hour. Now and then, one of you may chance to hear hoofbeats or the jangle of harness and tack- but no rider or mount may be seen. After a weary march, you all see it up ahead: the light in the window of Wat's cabin.

The woodsman must have spied you coming, for he opens the door wide and fairly shouts-

''Come in, quickly now, friends! ''

[Lord Skybolt]

As Wat lets the other members of the party in to the cabin he mutters a under his breath to activate his mug for water . And then takes food out of his trail ration bag for some thing to eat .

[ewancummins]

The cabin

Once everyone is safely inside, Wat builds a fire in his stone hearth. His two hounds take up spots near the fire and go to sleep.


''I have some food for us all to share, friends. It is not much, but it will sustain us for the night. Jon has filled waterskins, so we have enough to drink.''


Wat motions to the back of the cabin, where Jon is resting.


Wat sits down on a chair carved from a treestump, and asks-

''So, what happened at the Witch-Hold, after Jon and I brought Alain back to my cabin? Did the witch re-appear?''

[steveflam]

"No she didn't. But we got the bastards body." Norzak refrains from metioning any word about the mirror to Wats. He moves over to where Jon rests and leans up against the wall, observing the resting lad. "Ye awake?," he asks the resting Jon.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Once everyone is settled in, Dorgio moves near Alain. "Your eyes. Have they recovered at all? There are prayers that may be of help. Perhaps the Morninglord, he will grant me that boon."

Then, turnign to Wat, he says, "I am sorry we are involving you in this, my friend. But I am thinking, perhaps we are close to putting things right here. Is there anything you are knowing about the witch? What happened when you were caught?"

[ewancummins]

''The witch? Well....my father always told me that she was the ruler of the land, long ago, when men were greater in number and the trees less. She was a wicked woman, cruel and mad, and her sins brought the wrath of the gods down on the land, so that plagues killed the people in great numbers. ''

Wat continues to talk as works on the hearth-fire. He prods a smoldering log until the fire breaks through it and sends tongues of flame and a puff of woodsmoke up the chimney.


''That is why we must not gather too close together, but each family must live apart in its own place. The punishments of old were passed from one human to another, and so were worst where men gathered in numbers, close together. The Moot is sacred ground, and the plagues will not strike folks there, so long as the rites are honored. ''

He sits down again, and stretches his arms over his head.

''What else? Ah...there is the tale of the Rider-in-Iron. My father said that a warrior riding a great horse, and wearing a suit of iron armor, served the Witch. The Rider would roam the country at night, hunting for souls and flesh. If he caught anyone outside, he'd carry that one off to the Witch-Hold, never to be seen again. I have never seen the Rider- but I do not travel at night unless I must, and that is not often, friends.''

[Lord Skybolt]

"No my eyes have not recovered . As if they would seemingly recover from one night of fitful sleep from the curse of a ghost-witch !!!" Alain pauses in his eating to reply sarcastically to Dorgios question .

[ewancummins]

In the wake of Alain's outburst, both of Wat's hounds waken and begin to howl.

[Adam]

Bennedict is busily unbundling the books in the corner, resigning himself to another sleepless night of reading by candlelight. He perks up however at the tales from Wat.

"Rider? I had heard of a knight that the witch ensorcelled during her fall. Do you know anything else about him? For instance how one would avoid getting picked off by him in the night?"

[ewancummins]

Bennedict is busily unbundling the books in the corner, resigning himself to another sleepless night of reading by candlelight. He perks up however at the tales from Wat.

"Rider? I had heard of a knight that the witch ensorcelled during her fall. Do you know anything else about him? For instance how one would avoid getting picked off by him in the night?"

Wat calms his dogs before answering Benn's question about the Rider.

''Eh? Well, there is an old tale of a young hunter living in my grandfather's day who saw the Rider up close, and yet lived to tell the tale. This boy, Rollo, had fallen asleep in a deer blind, and awoke after sundown. He was too frightened to take to the ground and try to find his way home in the night, so he made ready to wait for the morning light, nestled in his tree like a sparrow. ''

Wat pauses in his half-told tale, taking a long drink of water from a skin.

[Adam]

Bennedict eagerly flips his notebook open and begins scribbling.