IceAndWave/ShadowsAndTears

Shadows and Tears

In which a young heart is broken, foolhardiness engaged in, and a dangerous secret discovered...

The 15th Day of Descending Wood, Realm Year 763

Later, after, Oriel lies snuggled up to Sian, a contented smile on her young face. "Mmmm..." she murmurs, and strokes Sian's hair. Sian, for his part, lies on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

The innkeeper's daughter props herself up on her elbow after a little, her hand on Sian's chest, "What's wrong? Wasn't I good?"

"Hrm? Oh no... not at all." He smiles, moving his arm so he can stroke her side lightly. "You were wonderful. Sorry... I just can't forget what that face looked like." He shivers a little, just at the memory.

"Oh..." she shivers, "It sounds horrible."

"It was." He pulls her in to rest against him, comforted by her warmth. "I... I can't help but wonder if my love is like that, right now. It was a shadowland creature that took her."

"Oh no!" Oriel hugs Sian tightly, "Have you looked for her at all?"

"I was told that I can't."

"I'm sorry..." she curls up against him.

"Mmm." He rests his arm about her again, still wondering. "I don't know... if she is in there, then she's probably dead already, so it can't hurt to look. And if she's not, well... I find out some more information for Otori."

"In where? You're not thinking about going to Demor's stand, are you?"

"Maybe. I don't know."

"At least wait for sunrise and go with the soldiers," Oriel holds Sian's arm tightly, "People who go to the Stand at night sometimes never come back."

"I'm a Dragon-Blood, remember? Not just a regular person." He smiles slightly, one hand trailing down between her legs. "As you've just found out."

She giggles and shivers happily, "Mmm..." then leans in to kiss Sian's chest.

Sian kisses the top of her head as she does. "I wouldn't be going until later... even I'm not stupid enough to try and spend almost an entire night in there."

"Don't go at all. Please!" Oriel holds Sian tightly, "Stay here, with me."

Sian sighs a bit, rolling onto his side to embrace her. "I can't stop thinking about it, Oriel. If you saw what I saw, you'd be worried about your love too."

"But if you go, I will..." she whimpers.

"You will...?"

"Nevermind..." Oriel shakes her head and kisses Sian's neck, "If you have to go, you should go."

Sian frowns a little. "You will what, Oriel?"

She whispers, "... worry about my love."

Sian just looks at her, a little stunned.

"You should go," she says, and slides out of the bed, "I need to check on a few things before tomorrow, anyway." Oriel pulls on a robe and slips out of her room.

Sian puts out a hand to stop her... but she's already gone. He sighs, and hauls himself out of bed, finding his discarded clothes and dressing, before returning to his room. He sneaks in as quietly as he can, retrieving his javelins and such and similarly sneaking out, down towards the shadowland.

The Legion patrols around Broken Back are relatively easy to avoid, since they are far more interested in looking for things coming towards the town than heading away. Once out of the light of the town, the landscape is almost totally black, the ever-present cloud cover blocking all but the faintest hint of Luna's light.

Sian eyes the approaching area carefully, stopping as close to the boundary as he dares, and settling down to wait for an hour or two.

The air this close to a shadowland, this close to the Underworld, is unnerving. Smells that Sian didn't pick up before now wash over him, funereal incense and burned petals can be tasted on the wind, and the sound of voices raised in eulogy hovers just on the edge of hearing, on the boundary between reality and fantasy.

Sian remains stoic throughout, pulling a cloth out of his pocket and cleaning the ends of his javelins, watching the icy tips glint lethally.

Ahead of Sian, within group of hills that comprise the shadowland known as Demor's Stand, strange blue and green lights dance over the faded grass, reminiscent of cold fireflies, twinkling amongst bushes at night. Only the hills of the Stand are bare, there are no bushes.

Sian watches the lights for a little while, occasionally glancing at the moon, before shrugging to himself and shouldering the sheath, starting off down towards the cave.

The shadowland, unwelcoming during the day, is almost palpably hostile during the depths of night. The air feels gritty and Sian's breaths come quicker and shallower, as if he were climbing a tall mountain. The pathway to the cave is relatively easy to find, tens of thousands of soldiers' bootprints make for an easy trail.

Sian walks slowly and steadily, eyeing the area in case of zombies, or worse.

The mouth of the cave is utterly black, a lightless void into the depths of the Underworld. A low moan emanates from it, and a wind blows from it, carrying the smells of death and decay to Sian's nostrils, and strange chittering sounds to his ears.

Sian shudders, but keeps walking, the image of Aia's face in place of the tortured boy's driving him on.

The cave swallows him up, a breeze going into the hill as the Exalted enters the passageway, accompanied by a low, almost submliminal moan. Mere feet inside, the blackness of the tunnel swallows up any view of the outside, leaving him in a bubble of absolute darkness that seems to visibly resent the feeble light cast by his lantern.

Sian takes a moment to let his eyes adjust, and hoping that they actually will... this darkness is creepy.

Sian sighs a bit in relief when the cave comes into focus (but only a little, the sight is not exactly pleasant). He starts to search among the remaining caskets, hoping that a certain catgirl does not occupy one of them.

Every footstep he takes echoes too loudly, and the wind blows down the tunnel, sometimes in, sometimes out, with no rhythm that can be detected. The blackness abates somewhat as Sian enters the chamber he visited with Venia, Otori and the others earlier that day.

Of the twenty-five caskets that occupy the room, ten contained the green, slightly luminescent fluid that held the corpses, and of those six (now five) were occupied. None of them are Aia.

Sian would be relieved, but the scary variety of agonized expressions are not conducive to him feeling any sort of positive emotion. Having searched here, he decides to hunt down the corridor Cassia found earlier.

The corridor, more of a roughly-hewn tunnel, leads down further, presumably into the depths of the Underworld, a place spoken of rarely and then only in whispers. The darkness that fills it claws at the light cast by the lantern, and a powerful gust of wind makes the light gutter and almost go out.

Sian shields it with his hand, turning his head away from the wind to protect his eyes as well. Does he want to continue? Well, not really... would coming here be a waste if he didn't? Yeah. He sighs, and continues on.

This tunnel is colder and damper than the previous one, leading deeper into the Underworld. The walls seems to move with the gusts of wind that blow through, almost as if the ground itself were breathing and Sian were walking down its throat.

Appealing... not. He continues anyway, hoping that this wasn't one giant mistake.

The tunnel ends abruptly and without warning, leaving Sian standing in a bubble of light in a vast open space. The pathway stops even more suddenly, leading to a vast drop-off into the Dragons only know where far, far below.

Sian almost steps over, but the sudden feeling of emptiness makes him pull his foot back just in time. He lifts the lantern, trying to see down.

The rock drops down straight as far as the light lets him see, which isn't far. The lantern does reveal a narrow ledge leading along the wall of this open space, although the almost tangible blackness of this place doesn't allow the light much purchase.

Sian hmms a bit as he considers, and shrugs, starting to walk along the ledge. He knew it would be dangerous.

The ledge is rough, crumbly and just over a foot across, and more than once a piece falls off the edge into the Abyss below as Sian walks past. The darkness around Sian becomes almost physical, a force pushing against him, resisting any further entry.

Gritting his teeth Sian forces his way on, an angry snarling sound resonating in the depths of his mind as if the very air resents and hates his presence. Ahead, just visible through the murk, a pale yellow glow seems to come from the rock wall, shining out through an opening.

Sian slows as he approaches. Light in this place means life, or unlife. Either way, he needs to be cautious.

A cave, hacked out of the black dry stone, is the source of the light - a clear, unwavering citrine glow emanates from the mouth.

Sian carefully looks around and inside, hand over his shoulder and grabbing the tip of a javelin, just to be ready.

Inside the cave is a scene of startling mundanity, were it not for the details. Several desks are lined against the walls, which themselves hold numerous shelves, all filled with various brik-a-brak ranging from small statues to little scraps of paper.

Except that, in this place, the desk appears to have been made from bones somehow bent and forged into shape, the statues are likewise osseous in character, and the paper has a character that suggests tanned skin rather that wood fibre.

Sian initially just blinks at is, but as the items come into focus he grimaces. Nasty people. Looking behind him to make sure no-one is about, he slides around the corner, holding both the lantern and a weapon warily.

The cave appears to be empty, or at least devoid of any visible inhabitants. Peering further around the corner reveals a pit in the stone floor from which a small green fire can be seen, merrily burning away despite not having any fuel. Scattered around it are the charred remains of scraps of... "paper", scrawled on in a dark red ink that is very reminiscent of dried blood.

Sian picks one up, grimacing again, and puts it into his pack for later study. He starts to look around the room properly, wondering if the thing the Empress wanted is here, or if the corpses and their caskets are it.

The room appears to have been hastily emptied, containers and document holders (nicely cut from thigh bones), are strewn about the cave, and the pyreflame in the corner together with the many pieces of writing suggest someone was destroying a large amount of documents in a hurry.

One thing was missed, however. On a hidden shelf under one of the desks (the shelf is a reshaped pelvic bone) is a small red box, quite large from the front but very thin - and with a powerfully complex seal on the front of it. The whole thing appears to have been forged from red jade, and the warm glow from the alloy lifts some of the chill from Sian's heart. That is until he recognises the box and seal. The jade construction is a holder for highly secret diplomatic documents - if not opened with the correct key it destroys both itself and its contents. The seal is that of the Scarlet Empress herself.

Sian is rather relieved to find something so reassuring... until he sees the seal. Wow. You know, this might just be why we're here, yeah? He studies the lock for a moment.

The yellow light that fills the room comes from a large crystal set into the ceiling, the warm light generally at odds with the sepulchral feel of the rest of this place. A glance at it reveals a darker side to the light, since there appears to be something trapped in the crystal, and it is that that creates the light.

Sian hrms at this, pulling his pack around so he can slide the box into it, and reaching up to see what's inside the crystal.

A number of figures that appear almost human are within the crystal, swirling around each other, trapped in their prison of transparent stone. A very faint, almost inaudible sound comes from it.

Sian takes a last look at the room, noticing nothing else that could be useful, and removes the crystal from its setting. He shoulders his pack again, letting the sheath rest firmly between it and his back, and steps out of the cave once more. He looks at the crystal, and with a mighty throw, sends it to smash against the opposite wall.

The crystal shatters into a thousand pieces, the fragments glittering in the light that lingers for a few seconds before the spirits trapped within it depart, taking on shape and form as they shoot past Sian and into the depths below.

Once the light has faded, the oppressive, aggressive darkness presses in further, surrounding Sian with a sense of malice.

Sian shudders, a sudden cold coming over him, and he starts to march determinedly out of the place, having found all he wanted to. And thankfully, having not found someone he half-expected.

The darkness doesn't seem to hold as many horrors, or as much force, as it did previously, and although it continues to snap at the light from Sian's lantern it is unable to assail his mind, determined as it is.

Sian marches up the corridor, coming back to the main chamber, and out.