Chapter 2 - The Fortress

I turn towards the prisoners. "Oh, forgive my manners. I am Xadira Liadon. Are you all members of Aelar's troupe?."

From the cart you hear the traveler, "That was definitely not excellent. I mean righteous show and all, but this is not what the Stallions stood for. Never." He seems to be talking more to himself than anyone in particular. He still holds Aelar's lute slung across his back.

Aelar allows his troupe to mourn Talia for a moment before working his way over to Bill, "You said you could do something to help, right? Tell me what it is."

Huh, Bill says, seemingly forgetting everyone was there for a moment, Oh yeah, elfy dude. Please, set her in the cart, and behold, he gestures his hands out wide, more for theatric flair than any practical purpose.

After you set her body in the cart he flings a large canvas tarp over her, so only her profile can be seen. You probably won't want to watch the process, it isn't exactly pretty. He pulls up the lute and starts to play a few notes, then tweaks one of the tuning pins again. He then begins to play a song that sounds so completely foreign. The tone of it is dramatic and inspiring, but somehow woven with pure dread and a slight kiss of death. Being a bard yourself, Aelar, you know how music can be woven with magic, but you've never heard it like this before. You've never heard this style of music.

A breeze starts to surround the group, like a whirlwind is sweeping around everyone. Bill picks up pace with the song and the wind gets more intense. There is a comfort in the breeze, but also that slight hint of something else. Not exactly sinister, but just...something.

The wind sweeps hair and dust up in a flurry and even the heavy canvas tarp begins to ripple. You can swear you see a shuffling of movement underneath, but with the fluttering of the canvas it's hard to tell. Bill stands in the driver section of the cart and suddenly jumps over the back of the seat and lands in the back of the cart as he strikes a strong chord. The sound of the lute seems to be coming from everywhere at once. Then suddenly it is over, and the wind ceases. Everything is quickly as calm as it was before.

"Now, dude, check it out", he says with a smile as he slides the tarp off of the body of Talia and you see that her deep wound is completely gone. It's as if it was never there, and you notice also how the chest, where the wound was, rises and falls. She is breathing. A moment later her eyes flutter open and she shrieks out and crawls backwards quickly in the cart. She stops in a moment and looks around, confused.

"What, where...but...", she manages to say and then turns to see Aelar sitting there at the end of the cart. She scramble across the back of the cart and nearly tackles him over. Aelar! You came for me, I knew you would! I knew you wouldn't let us down! Alanna, I told you!, she says as she grabs on tightly to Aelar.

Aelar holds on tightly to Talia for a moment and he is unable to get the smile off of his face. After a few moments of holding her he pushes her back just long enough to lean forward and kiss her passionately. He doesn't stop holding and kissing her until someone interrupts them.

Ignoring the scene in front of me, I turn towards Bill quizzically, attempting to discern just what has transpired here. Some form of necromancy? No, that can't be it. Curious.

"What have I just witnessed?" Ütés wonders, mouth agape as Aelar embraces the suddenly very much alive Talia.

"Excellent!" she blurts before quickly covering her mouth with her hand.

"Where did that come from?"

"They were looking for you. For what purpose? Are you an apprentice of Rufus the Mad?" I blurt out questions as soon as they come to mind.

The smile on the face of Bill suddenly turns downward, Rufus, that's a name I haven't heard for some time. he stares off a bit in the middle distance before turning back to you.

I guess you could say we were his apprentices, or he was ours. Time is a little crazy like that. They kept me here by order of that back stabber. Unfortunately, without my axe I'm not much more than you see before you. Just an old dude who has parties a bit too hard over the years.

"Without your... axe?" I study his face to see if he's telling the truth. Or, perhaps, to detect whether madness has taken him.

"Where are you headed now? Are you... searching for the axe?"

Yes, it may be my one key back to my home. The instruments here, they simply do not possess the power needed to travel back, Bill says. He has sort of just been staring whist fully into the middle distance.

"Very well. I'd like to learn more about this magic you wield. It's quite fascinating! Ütés, Aelar... Aelar! Oh dear. Perhaps we should leave him with his betrothed." I look uncertainly between my four traveling companions.

"Leave him? No, but we should give him a little time. Actually I could use a little myself to recover a bit."