Journey Into the North

Finn opened her eyes what felt like mere seconds later to the sounds of an argument. She sat up sluggishly; she must have turned over in her sleep, as she was now facing the cave's open area. Henry was sitting up, but drowsing, so she must've slept longer than it felt. As she moved, she bit down on a small moan. She hadn't gone through half the beating that Seraph, Henry, Adrian, or Sirloaz had, but she was still awfully sore.

She only remembered the sounds that had woken her up when she heard a melodic female voice give way to an angry--and familiar--male voice. Valin! She should ask him how Seraph fared... she stopped herself suddenly. Not that she cared about that pompous idiot. If he was stupid enough to get himself stuck under a thunderstorm of stones, that was his bridge to buy.

Still... she levered herself up and, wincing, trudged over to where the two elves were arguing. Carmenia looked aghast and livid, and Valin--well, Finn wasn't willing to tempt his temper at the moment.

"Ye won' slit 'er throat a'cause ye en't no villain, Valin," she said coldly, sitting down between the two. "An' as we en't pressed fer food yet, there's no need ta go killin' our mates, ken?" She gave him a significant look, then turned her gaze to Carmenia before either could speak again. "I's Fionnabhair Chant, scout and guide 'straordinaire o' the Blackwodes. Ye can call me Finn.

"Reckon ye en't been intraduced round yet, eh? Tha's Valin, as ye know, an' that there's Sirloaz somethin'-or-other. Tha's Tan'quin--'e's a druid, methinks--Alden, Ursa (who talks, ken... keep tha' in mind or yer in fer a nasty shock), Cyrus, Adrian, Henry, an' this 'ere's Seraph."

Carmenia seemed disoriented, having her argument broken into so abruptly and nonchalantly. "Thank you, Finn," she said; her voice was perfectly polite, and a little cold, but apparently when she was sore Finn was more forgiving than usual... she chalked the other woman's chilliness up to Valin's close vicinity.

Finn just nodded, then looked around. "Oi, Valin, whassay we work a' t'at wall, eh?"

The warrior, still looking vaguely thunderous, glowered at her. "Speak plain, girl."

She raised an eyebrow. "As ye will, yer majesty," she said, mocking a bow until a strained muscle made her sit back up straight abruptly, wincing. "What. Say. We. Work. A'. T'at. Wall. A wee bit? 'Ventually we'll 'ave to leave, fer food an' water... an' whatever 'appened t' our 'orses?"

Carmenia glanced at the girl with messy hair named called Finn. Carmenia had been arguing with Valin, an elf like herself, when Finn had appeared and started talking.

But Finn was talking an entirely different language. What was she to do? She noticed that the girl was nodding slightly towards each person in the room.

She's introducing me to them, Carmenia thought with relief, well, at least I'll know how to answer, and she replied the way she knew was proper.

As the girl addressed Valin speaking her native tongue, Carmenia retreated into the shadows and examined the people around her.

There was the talking bear, Ursa, who she immediately had a dislike for after that clothing comment he had made. Yes, she had heard that. But perhaps it was true, for as she looked down at her torn clothing she sighed.

Trying to resist the temptation but failing, she grabbed a dirty bag that didn't look like much, and hiding in the shadows of the cave, sneaked farther into the cave.

Looking over her shoulder confirmed that no one had seen her, and she walked a little ways before being satisfied that no one would venture farther unto the caves tunnels.

She stepped out of her torn clothes, leaving the clean, scanty slip underneath still on, and opened the bag.

Reaching in, she took a silk Elvin shirt out and rubbed the smooth fabric tenderly. She slipped that on, and reached in once again, this time pulling out feminine silk pants. She put that on also, shivering now in the cold, damp air.

Suddenly the memory of grabbing the bag before tending to the others wounds haunted her, and she bowed her head with shame, her cheeks flushing a light pink. It was wrong of her to think only of herself, but there was nothing she could do about that now, and it was only right to put the clothes to good use.

Besides, she could used her torn clothes for more bandages. She put her ragged clothes in the bag and closed it. Hopefully no one would comment on her slightly better quality and non-ripped clothes.

If they did then she would simply say that she had kept them with her, which was true. She had done nothing wrong. Even so, she felt ashamed to be so vain, thinking only of herself, for she knew that she was beautiful, even for Elven standards.

Returning to the large cave cavern, she saw that she was not missed and sat in the caves shadows, watching the mesmerizing fire's flames.

After the cave in Adrian sat relaxed every muscle concentrating on the points of injury. His mind focused on nothing but injuries he had substained. After he had healed himself enough, through meditation, went over to Henry and called forth his ability to heal. He knew that most wounds never fully heal. Slowly Henry wound started to close. Henry winced as the wound slowly sealed. Adrian had never used so much power on one spot. He started to breath raggedly as he tried to carried on to heal Henry.

Henry wound closed completly. Adrian sighed. He had exausted himself so much in healing Henry but Seraph needed help. He walked over to Seraph. He took a deep breath and summoned forth his powers resting his hands on Seraph body.

The room at large--cave at large, rather--ignored Finn's query about the horses, but apparently getting out for food and water wouldn't be too big of a challenge since she soon spotted Carmenia retreating outside with a dirty old bag hugged against her. A few minutes later she returned, better dressed. Good thing for her, too; Finn, small and dirt-streaked as she was, posed no temptation to these men, but Carmenia was beautiful even for an elf, and sooner or later they'd all be healed. And in Finn's experience, healthy men had only two things on their minds, and both involved phallic symbols.

She snorted and sat down against the wall near where Henry lay. She, like her only female counterpart, soon became entranced by the light of the fire that Tan'quin had since lit; her attention was only drawn away from it when she saw Adrian limping over to Henry's side. She looked over interestedly. The Paladin hadn't been much of a presence so far during the journey, and as little as she liked some of them (her eyes slid to Seraph's prone form involuntarily), Finn preferred to know something of the people she was among. Especially as so many of them were well-armed men. Tan'quin seemed relatively harmless, she already knew and trusted Alden (and by association, Ursa, at least to a certain extent), Cyrus seemed a decent-enough fellow, and as little as she trusted him Finn had nothing to hold against Henry (yet)... but Sirloaz, Adrian, Valin, and Seraph? She wasn't sure how much she trusted them, never mind liked them.

From where she sat, she couldn't see much of what was going on, but after a few minutes she saw Henry flinch, and Adrian sat back, looking exhausted. Curious, she sat backward and peered at the pair as best she could. What she saw was almost more than she could believe. Frowning, she looked away, shook her head, and blinked repeatedly. When she was positive her eyes were clear, she looked back. Henry was sleeping peacefully, and... healed?

She'd heard rumors of the Paladins' healing abilities, but hadn't believe them. Now... well. She didn't have much choice, did she? Still wide-eyed, she followed as the weary Paladin made his way over to Seraph's side. He seemed to take a few moments to collect himself (surely that job on Henry had taken a lot out of him), and then reached out to lay his palms against Seraph's torso.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then, a strange expression crossed Adrian's face, which paled and became drawn. Finn watched, suddenly horrified, as his veins became visible beneath suddenly marble-like skin, purple and swollen and pulsing terrifyingly... "Adrian?" she said, climbing to her feet and moving over to them. "Adrian!" He didn't answer her, his face contorted into a frightening sort of rictus. "Adrian!"

Why wouldn't he answer her? Why did he keep staring down at Seraph's body like that? She hadn't seen much of Henry's healing, but she was pretty damn sure the Paladin hadn't reacted like this....

Her eyes fell to follow Adrian's gaze, and a small, terrified sound escaped her throat. Shadows crawled across Seraph's skin, looking bizarrely similar to the words in her father's books and yet incredibly dissimilar, at the same time. They radiated out from the skin beneath Adrian's hands, darkening and growing thicker and longer and even more convoluted the longer the Paladin touched the nobleman.

"Adrian!" When again he didn't reply, Finn backed away from the horrible sight and ran over to where the others were. "Sum'fin's happenin' an' I en't sure it should be," she said, unwontedly pale, wringing her hands and glancing over to where Seraph and Adrian were.

An involuntary roar issued from my throat as my broken ribs began to mend themselves, using the Paladin's life force as fuel to do so. The sheer amount of pain was enough to snap me back to consciousness.

When it dawned on me what was taking place, I grabbed both of Adrian's wrists and wrenched them from my chest. The strain on my ribs and my injured wrist was excruciating, but I wouldn't allow Adrian to be harmed on my account.

The paladin immediately fell onto his backside, staring at his hands and breathing raggedly and with much effort. I stared down at my chest and was horrified--the Banic Runes had returned. Tiwsted characters of all sorts radiated from the places Adrian's fingers had touched my chest--Dwarven numbers, Elven words, and Common letters, all twisted about to the point that they were near unrecognizable. Without thinking, I grabbed my shirt, which lay nearby, and threw it over my head, covering the pagan markings of Bane. My wrist and ribs hurt like they'd taken a beating in the Nine Hells, but I would survive.

It was only then that I noticed the ten pairs of eyes staring at me. Everyone had a similar look on their face--shock, mostly. Adrian looks terrified, Finn horrified. The latter almost made me blush, and I cursed myself for allowing myself this moment of weakness. This was why I never allowed myself the convenience of a common life. One moment of weakness, for me, could spur mobs armed to the teeth with makeshift weapons and armor--and it had, in the past.

I ignored the looks as best I could, and pulled myself to my feet. I grasped my ribs in pain and stumbled over to Adrian, who was still staring at his hands.

"Look at me, Paladin," I growled, putting ahand on either side of his face. He didn't respond. "LOOK at me, damn you!" I shook him slightly, and he flinched, as if awaking out of a dream. The veins in his face had diminished back to their normal size, and his skin paled back to a healthy, if flushed, pink.

"I'm okay--" he stammered.

I released him and looked back to the others. Nothing was said, though I saw a couple hands resting on sheathed weapons. Cyrus took a step forward, and I insticntively took a step toward my piled armor and pulled my longsword from the pile.

"Not another step...friend. Stay away from me."

Cyrus hesitated, before he returned to his post.

Alden watched and instinctively he reached for the jewel. He felt it and frowned. He took it off and looked at it.

It had definitely changed. Where it had been the size of a pearl, it had grown to have a teardrop form. It glowed brightly and Alden felt fearful, without knowing why.

He said nothing, but put it away in a pouch in his flight webbing.

Finn was shaking. Finn didn't like it when she shook. It usually meant something very, very bad was either happening, had happened, or was going to happen.

Weel, sum'fin' bad did 'appen, dinnit? she reasoned with herself, taking a deep breath as Seraph lurched towards the pile she'd made of his armor and grabbed his longsword, swinging around to face Cyrus. She fell back a step even as Seraph warned the dwarf off. No one else in the cave seemed to be moving, held still by the shock of what had just happened. Finn glanced towards Adrian, who was looking shaken but otherwise healthy once again.

Moving slowly, she backed away another step, freezing when Seraph's eyes flickered to hers. Her gray eyes, wide with horror, looked away, and she felt blood crawl into her cheeks. She didn't look up to see if he'd looked away--hoped he had--and turned half away, keeping an eye on the situation over her shoulder. When someone finally stepped forward to confront Seraph about what had happened, she turned her back fully and half-fled to the far shadows of the cavern, where she threw herself down into the dirt and tucked her knees against her chest, hiding her face in her trembling arms.

What was happening to her?

Carmenia was stunned. Things had happened so fast, she barely had time to react.

The symbols, on Seraph's skin, were mystifying. Some were in elvish, some were not, but she didn't have time to look very closely when he had slipped on a shirt.

Now Finn had fled deep into the cavern and was probably crying. No one else was moving.

Finally, after standing for what seemed hours she calmly went off to look for Finn. She found her huddled in the corner.

Carmenia was not sure what to do. Should she comfort her? Hardly. She barely knew what to say to her, they had so little in common.

She finally decided that words didn't matter, and sat down next to her, placing a warm hand on the girls trembling shoulder. They sat in silence.

Valin, with his sharp eyes recognized immediately what had happened. It was the Markings of Bane. Bane would mark his chosen warriors with tattoos of this sort, that imbued the used with supernatural, if horrific, powers. However, since Seraph was also the Templar of Falthyr, these tattoos only exposed themselves when the two Gods were quarrelling over whom he was to serve, which also hinted at a dangerous road ahead.

The others had finally left Seraph alone after many long minutes of intense scrutiny, and he was setting about redressing himself in his clothing and armor, when Valin walked over to him, and lowered his voice, saying
"I saw the Bane Markings, Seraph, and I know what they mean"
Seraph retorted, "Then you know that I cannot control them, and that it is an omen of bad tidings for this entire party--and why I must leave you all immediately"
"I know of know such limitations. As you are also the Chosen Templar of Falthyr, surely he is fighing for your possession as well, as we can see most of the markings are already beginning to fade," Valin said, pointing to the fading tattoos, the only bit remaining being crudely written Elven "The Chosen Warrior" Seraph looked down to see, and chuckled venomously.
"Aye, Falthyr will fight for me, but who shall win? And that does not mean that there are any less ill-tidings forth for this party if I remain a part of it," Seraph said, slapping on heavy gauntlets.
"Aye, that there isn't--but you don't have to leave, Seraph," Valin said. Continuing,
"You can fight it Seraph! Don't you see? Until the tattoos fail to fade, your destiny is not sealed! You can make your own destiny! You have the power! And, we need you here. Who knows, staying with this party in the face of such extreme circumstances may just increase your favor with Falthyr?"

Seraph looked at him long and hard, then said to Valin somewhat incredulously
"How is it that you know about the Marks of Bane, Valin?"
Valin replied, rather nonchalantly, though in hushed tones,
"I am an Elf, Seraph. I know many things beyond the conventional knowledge of even the most learned human or humanoid. I know much more about this land, and all the other ones, than anyone could possibly imagine. Stay with us, Seraph. I am not a leader as you are. In order for us to stay alive, this party will need my cunning, your leadership, and all of our swords. Stay"

Seraph just simply stared for what seemed like forever at Valin, before turning and walking deeper into the cave.

When Henry woke, the pain was gone.

It was replaced by a constant stiffness, his flesh feeling like inflexible metal. He tried to move but hislegs refused the command.

He did however manage to sit up and take in the cave. There was something of a commotion, if that wasn't an understatement -- Seraph was somehow conscious and standing, Finn was hiding, and the rest of the party was looking like they'd just seen a ghost. Henry looked at Seraph and realised they had.

"What-" Henry said, then coughed. "What's goin' on 'ere then?"

Cyrus grunted. "I don't have a god damn clue, laddie. But I'm glad to see yer awake. Adrian gave yer a good working over, and that Dwarven brew will 'ave helped too."

"I thought Seraph got crushed? He looks ... good for a crushed man."

"Some black magic I ain't ever seen before in all my days. Seems Seraph there somehow ... I don't know ... sapped the lifeforce from the Paladin and it healed him."

"Bad time to wake up, eh?" Henry joked.

Tan'quin was neaby. "How's the wound?"

"Better."

The conversation ended. The rest of the group were looking like living corpses. Seraph had retreated to a solitary position, and Valin was looking unusually angry. Alden was looking down into his pouch strangely, and a radiant glow was emitting up into his face.

Henry shrugged. "I'm bloody hungry, alright. Anybody got any decent food around 'ere?"

Adrian was shaking in the corner his mind so confused. He was so sure if Seraph hadn't woke up he would of died. He remembered resting his hands on Seraph and remembering how exausted he was, but he had swore an oath as a Paladin. Then nothing. Adrian sat away from others, if this what was going to happen when he tried to help. Then why should he? Cyrus walked up to Adrian "Ya okay lad?"
"Adrian shrugged "I don't know, i thought i wanted to help people...
Cyrus looked at him "You never had exprience aside from out here with us have you?"
"Well i did, but it didn't turn out right. Do you still trust Seraph he almost killed me?"
"Yeah but he didn't, but makes me thinks and worry if he safe.
"Also kid why didn't you tell us you had healing powers before?"
"They're really exausting to use, and i never used them on serious wounds till now.
"Ach well just checking up you did look very scared."
Adrian shrugged and begun to meditate. Relaxing every muscle in body till all of his body was at peace.

When she felt a slim hand alight on her shoulder, Finn didn't even need to lift her head to know that it belonged to the she-elf, Carmenia. For a moment she stiffened, but then gradually relaxed and found herself strangely comforted by the other woman's wordless presence; most of the feather-headed biddies in Sedgeley would've talked her ear off about their own problems. No, that was a lie: they wouldn't have even considered coming near her. Why would they? Finn was the wild girl, half savage with bits of moss in her hair and her clothing and face always dirt-streaked from her work in the mountains.

Soon she heard Valin and Seraph speaking, then movement further back into the caves; not long afterward, Henry's voice and those of Cyrus and Adrian broke the silence. A few minutes later, Finn felt like the world had come to a standstill again, and lifted her face from her arms. She turned dry eyes onto the elf and nodded her gratitude. A quick survey of the cave told her that the person she'd heard passing them must have been Seraph; everyone else was accounted for.

"Di' Seraph go tha' way?" Finn asked Carmenia in an undertone, indicating the passage further into the caves. The elf frowned for a moment, apparently trying to decipher Finn's thick accent, but soon her brow smoothed out.

"Yes," she said. "Not too long ago. He said something about leaving, but that one--the elf--" she pointed in Valin's direction, and Finn supplied his name. "Yes, Valin. He pleaded with Seraph to stay. Said you needed him."

For a moment, Finn's face darkened with a scowl. How did Valin dare think she was so weak she needed Seraph's protection? But then--oh. Carmenia had meant all of them by 'you,' not just Finn.

He was right, though. They did need Seraph--at least, the Seraph who hadn't had demonic-looking shadows crawling all over him--and badly. Much as she hated to admit it, he seemed to be the group's leader. "What di' Seraph say?"

Carmenia shrugged gracefully. "Nothing. He left without speaking another word."

Finn's habitual grim expression deepened into a troubled frown. "'E did, eh?" She rose, not bothering to listen to Carmenia's reply, lost in her own thoughts. What exactly did that mean for the rest of this gods-forsaken expedition? What would they do without Seraph? Better yet, what would they do with him, especially after that display with Adrian and the shadows? She surpressed a shudder at the memory of the Paladin's veins, swollen and purple beneath his marble skin....

"Reck'n I fancy a bi' uv'a walk," Finn mumbled as a valediction. Again without waiting for Carmenia to respond, she found a splinter of wood a hands-width or so longer than her forearm and lit it in the fire. She didn't meet anyone else's gaze as she forged past them all and deeper into the caverns.

It was dark and wet and dank, and Finn, used to free air and soft dirt beneath her feet, found it more than a little intimidating. After the flickering firelight from the front cavern disappeared around several turns, she stopped, holding her makeshift torch forward. "Seraph?" she called, then made a soft sound of disgust at how weak her voice sounded. Somewhere not too far ahead, she heard something--no, someone; she was sure that was the sound of fabric against metal--moving. "Seraph?" she called again, her voice only somewhat more confident.

"Here" sirloaz said offering Henry a bit of smoked meat he had saved.
"thanks" he replied ripping into the meat ravenously.
"so, how is it?"
"its quite tasteless, but it gets rid o' your hunger nicely" he said as he quickly finished it off. Sirloaz just sighed.
"I mean the wound."
"oh that, its better stopped bleedin, seems healed; doesn't feel like it though, stiff." he said running his hand across the bandages as he picked up his crossbow checking for malfunctions.
"Whats the point of carrying that sword of yours if you never use it?" Sirloaz said bluntly not much caring for a battle of the wits.
"I use it" Henry replied defensively.
"Yea sure, stand up" Sirloaz said standing up casually drawing two of his daggers. Henry stood up eying him carefully. "draw your sword and attack me" he said as Henry stifled his surprise and questions. "Don't worry, just attack, lets see those skills of yours." Henry drew his sword taking a defensive stance, making an upward slice followed by two quick thrusts, each slapped away by sirloaz's daggers. Seeing an opening Henry lunged, quickly stepping to the side sirloaz proceeded to hit him on the hand with the flat of his blade making Henry drop the sword. "Pick it up and try again".

At the sound of Finn's voice, I felt my knees nearly buckle. Apparently, her fear was outweighed by her curiosity. Unfortunately, I was in no mood to deal with her. I continued on, doing my best to ignore her calls. If there were any creatures in this tunnel...they were certainly aware of our presence.

I walked another fifteen paces, and on the sixteenth, my foot felt not the rough stone of the cavern, but empty space. I uttered a surprised curse, then fell headlong into the previously unseen hole in the ground. When I didn't immediately hit another section of ground, I reached up and behind my head in an effort to grab hold of the ledge I had fallen from. My palm scraped gravel, and I clung to the edge of dear life.

Silently, I cursed myself for being so careless. It was happening more and more often, lately. Slowly, it dawned on me that the hand I was gripping with was my bad arm. I tried to flex my back to pull my other hand up, but to no avail. And my grip was quickly loosening.

Footsteps. Not particularly loud, but loud enough for me to hear in the silence of the cave. No doubt she had heard my fall and my shout.

"Seraph? Seraph!" she continued to call my name, and at the rate she was moving, would fall into the hole, as I had.

"Not another step, woman!" I hissed to her. The footsteps stopped, almost directly above me. I saw her had peer over the ledge at me, dimly lit up by the tiny torch she carried.

"What're ye doin' down theah, then?" she asked.

Whatever he was doing, it couldn't have been comfortable. When I realized he was dangling by one hand, I dropped the torch, cursing, and got down on my knees to help. The little flame, there more for my comfort than anything else (it was too small to cast too much light) sputtered for a moment and then died, extinguished by the dust and gravel its fall and my footsteps had kicked up. I only hesitated a moment, then, and reached both hands down. I'd touched him before throughout our journey, when I'd been riding pillion behind him and such, and nothing amiss had happened... maybe the incident with Adrian was just a fluke.

It wasn't like I could just stand there and let him dangle, anyway, and running back to get help would take too long. "Grab 'em!" I ordered, stretching forward as far as I dared, given the fact that I knelt mere inches from the edge of a (seemingly bottomless) hole. That probably explained why my stomach felt knotted and my lungs were tightening so much that it was becoming difficult to breathe.

My eyes, still night-blind, couldn't follow his movements, but I heard them well enough, and after a moment I felt the skin of his hand brush none too gently against mine. I jumped and might have yelped, but put it out of my mind and instead grabbed his larger hand with both of my abominably petite ones.

He didn't wait for me to start pulling, but began to haul himself up over the edge; it sounded more than a little painful, and I remembered then Carmenia mentioning something about a broken wrist. Biting my lip, I threw all my weight backwards act as ballast. Perhaps I overcompensated, because when he finally made it over with a muted groan, we both sprawled backward into the gravel, breathing hard.

There must have been a lack of oxygen back there or something. It's the only explanation I can think of for why I felt so giddy.

"Don'... don' do tha' 'gain."