Addiela looked in that direction and got a twinkle in her eyes as she turned back to call out to Neth. "One more place before we leave?"
Nethrida deadpaned at the spook house, then leaned towards Ryn "I've decided we're NOT going there..." she nodded with great confidence that the matter was thusly resolved.
Addiela smiled brightly at Neth. "It's agreed then."
Carneryn nodded softly "Ooooh we're going there Nethy."
Xanderian smiled, peering at the tent ahead. "It seems quite realistic.”
As the half dragged, half pushed Nethrida towards the tend, Ryn would feel a definite sense of anger and frustration emanating from the spook house along with.a single word repeating over and over...Palisades.'
Carneryn shuddered a moment "Wait... Maybe not..."
Addiela glanced over to Ryn and raised a brow in question. "Why not?"
Carneryn shook her head, trying to form words. 'Bad... Anger...'
Addiela sighed, 'Complete sentences perhaps?'
Xanderian tilted her head softly..."What troubles you unhooded Ryn?
Carneryn sighed quietly and looked at the elf. "Realistic is a good word for it."
Addiela looked skeptical, "We went through something similar during the harvest season in the Shire. It was nothing more than sheets or spring loaded goblin dummies... Things that would only frighten those that are truly afraid of “spooks”." Addie looked at Neth and grins.
Xanderian rested a hand on Neth's shoulder. "Don’t worry sweet Nethrida. My sister told me how you were affronted by spectral halflings. We will protect you from the hobbits now as you were then.”
Nethrida frowned deeply. "Not funny at all..." she murmured in subdued protest.
Addiela laughed cheerfully. "No, It was at least somewhat funny. Did you ever find the ghost sheet that I left in your wardrobe?"
Nethrida shuddered, 'I did... It is still there... I dont use it...'
Addiela raised an eyebrow, 'The sheet or the wardrobe?'
Nethrida scowled, 'The sheet. I just folded it down...'
Xan smiled. “Perhaps you no longer use the entire room?”
Addiela laughed after Xan's words and continued to taunt Nethrida lovingly. "To think, the brave knight is afraid of things that go 'boo' in the night... even elves that walk the island in the moonlight who just APPEAR to be spectres."
Carneryn tried again to get their attention, 'I mean it..something dark is in there.
Addiela frowned now as Ryn persisted. "You are certain something fell is in there?"
Xanderian had already started towards the barker for the spook house...behind him was a massive, lurid poster showing a hideous female ghost, covered in blood and terrifying fresh faced children. Across the top was written in red, "Behold, Lady Talia BACK FROM THE GRAVE!!!"
Addiela watched Xan walk toward the spook house and turned to follow after her. "I suppose there's one true way of finding out... and if there is something fell, it should be put to rest, no?"
Nethrida was still mumbling to herself, '... She moved in such an ethereal way... I thought...how could I know it was Calidis?'
Xanderian paid the correct number of coppers to the sneeringbarker. "No man along with ya ladies? Perhaps ya might want a swain along to hold onto..it is quite a shocker for some.”
Nethrida muttered her protests but followed after the rest not looking pleased at all with the outcome.
Carneryn says, 'This is a bad idea.'
Addiela smiled brightly at the man as she followed Xan into the tent. "We shall be fine, no worries.. but if you hear screaming it's most likely those two." She motions her head behind her to Ryn and Neth.
Xanderian held the curtain open. “Come my friends…after all we have faced, what could we fear?”
Nethrida hesitated but attempted to take Ryn's hand before making her way past the curtain.
Carneryn looked at Xanderian. “Seriously? Are you serious? What could we fear? Good lord have you no self awareness at all?”
As the flap of the tent closed behind them cutting off the light, the inside of the tent was ringed by pale red torches. In the center of the chamber formed by the heavy velvet tent was a table, on which rested an open book and a quill along with a small chest...a shadowy figure was huddled over the table, wrapped in what seemed to be moldy, wet satin which may have once been very expensive.
As the silence deepened, the figure turned and released a blood curdling wail. Her hands reaching up to dig her fingertips into her eyes, peeling the skin down off her face with the sound of tearing cloth...leaving her eyes lolling hideously from her ravaged face, against the blood streaked flesh beneath her face.
Nethrida flinched back, letting out a little shriek when the creature so suddenly wailed. She went on to cling onto Ryn, her eyes tightly closed. Ryn was clinging right back. Xanderian rested a hand on the hilt of Lovelorn by instinct.
As the four women recoiled by nature from such gore, the horrific shade stopped, looking at them in surprise. "OH...I am so sorry....” she said, her voice cultured through marked by a curious, old fashioned Gondorian accent. “I thought you were more children. Do any of you know a word that rhymes with Palisades?'
Addiela raised a brow toward the figure, and thought for a moment. "Shades?"
The figure screamed again, and just as they were all prepared to step back, she slapped her bleeding brow. "OF COURSE...what a ninny I am...Thank you ever so much." She began writing again and nods. "I have been working on that verse for AGES..."'
Addiela walked forward cautiously. "There's also accolades, downgrades, nightshades, old maids. What's the context?'
The figure’s flayed face smiled. "I write a love song in the classic style, a tone poem to apologize to my poor husband.' The ghost then looked at Nethrida and Ryn huddling and made a soft tsking sound in the back of her throat, "Forgive me, are you well? OH..I beg your pardon, I had forgotten I had my duty face on...." She calmly smoothed the skin of her face back into place.
Nethrida took a deep breath and shuddered. "Can... We go now...?" She asked with a quiet tone. “Perhaps there is a dragon that must be slain…or a kraken…or a nazgul? Sauron himself? Anything but this…”
Addiela glanced back at Neth for a moment and shushed her before looking back to the woman, "Forgive me but.. how old are you?"
The ghost thought for a moment, 'I...I am not sure...is Beren still Steward?'
Addiela turned and looked back to neth, mouth slightly agape now.
Carneryn seemed to recover a bit now but still clinged to Neth. "Addie... I meant it... There was a lot of anger here... I /told/ you Addie."
Nethrida 's eyes widened a bit "Beren... That was almost three centuries ago!" She gasped and went a little pale.
Carneryn nodded fervently, 'I TOLD you.... Why does no one listen to me…ever?"'
The shade read back over the current verse now looking like a normal woman in a soaking wet gown of antique cut..just a bit translucent. She cleared her throat and recited in a formal, almost comedic fashion. “As we walked along the Palisades, our footsteps silent as the shades....I would never stray from your fond caress, no matter how painful the duress...' She smiled and looked down. "I do hope he will forgive me...I have no art save my verse with which to appeal to him..and I am so uncertain of the best tone to take..'
Addiela nodded, 'Um... forgive me again but... How are you still in this realm?'
The ghost thought again, dipping her quill back in the inkwell. “Well, I have no clear idea....I...well...I am not even sure how I died...I think perhaps a sudden seizure…or a flux of some kind?'
Addiela sighed, 'A flux? I have no idea, but what holds you here when others are not so fortunate to stay? Even in that form?'
This at least the shade was certain of. “I must finish my love song...I have...well....450 verses to go for it to be a proper tone poem. I must earn my husband’s forgiveness...I must have frightened him so when I passed...especially after I was so cruel and weak-minded.'
Carneryn scruncheed her face up "That's... A bit much no?"
Addiela thought the same but held her tongue. 'And when you finish it?'
The ghost smiled. “Hopefully it will be enough to regain his care and love.”
Addiela stammered a bit, 'I'm... sure he's over it by now.'
The ghost shook her head and blotted the point of her quill. “How can he be until I am finished? I must beg his forgiveness for my suspicions and weakness in doubting him, when he was so good and charitable.'
Nethrida remained tense and on edge despite the calmer situation. She didn’t take her gaze off the shade. “But…what crime could you have committed that required such a punishment?
The shade paused, thinking back…”My poor husband, a veritable saint, took on a ward, a maiden abandoned by her parents...and her care and education was so important to him....she was his project. He said many times he would see that she was made a proper woman, come what may. Then, one day when I returned to our manse, I found them in bed together, I of course thought the worst...but he explained that she had been feeling poorly and required his warmth and the comfort of his skin...which of course was must useful when he lay atop her. I had the tongue of a shrew...I am so embarrassed o’er it now, but still he was patient with me, despite how bitterly the poor maiden wept due to my base insinuations.'
Addiela's jaw dropped. 'Uh...'
The woman was continuing. “ And considering the rich food of his bounteous household and his generosity...it made sense that she should gain weight...Yet still I was quarrelsome but he was so good and kind he suggested that we walk upon the battlements as we did when we had first met to calm the tempest of my nerves. He even was good enough to point out the distant ships on the sea...Then I must have had a seizure, or a flux...for I fell...leaving my foul suspicious hanging between us...I was a bad wife and perished as such, to my eternal shame.”
Addiela just stared, 'Oh dear...'
The woman wiped away a spectral tear with a handkerchief. “I still remember his face, looking down at me in as I fell, the shock quite draining the emotion from him....that poor, poor man.'
Addiela looked back and whispered to the others, "I've got to tell her..."
Carneryn went cross eyed for a moment and looked at Neth. “Were all women this stupid in the time of Beren?”
The ghost smoothed out the page of her book. “When I woke...I was before my composing book, pen at the ready. I had been writing more and more the last few months, almost obsessively every night...and I knew what had to be done...'
Addiela whispered soothingly, 'Might I ask your name? And the name of your husband?'
The ghost smiled, 'I am the Lady Talia...and my husband is...umm....I cannot remember his exact name....It started with an L, I am certain of that...'
Addiela glanced back at the others one more time, "She has to know.."
Ryn just shook her head. “She is not our problem…”
Nethrida pondered for a moment but had to end up shrugging. "I am sorry... I know not the nobility from nigh three centuries ago. I remember no Talia from the histories. She could be anyone..perhaps Ryn is right?"
Addiela finally blurted out to the shade, "I believe your original suspicions were right, Lady Talia." Xan put a hand on her shoulder to calm her and protect her just in case, but the shade seemed unaffected.
Lady Talia simply shook her head firmly..as she did so they noticed a serious wound on the back of her head, usually covered by her hair.
Carneryn stared in shock, and just listened as Addiela offered the shade a sympathetic look, "I am afraid that he murdered you to be with his mistress, lady. I would not have you spend an eternity writing a letter of apology to your murderer."
The ghost shook her head again, her voice growing hollow and dark. “He would not do such a thing....he is simply of an affectionate nature, especially to the young…and the female…and the inexperienced with men.'
Addiela was growing frustrated, 'You once saw the truth of the matter... Why do you not see it now?'
The shade looked Addie in the eyes, and for a moment she felt the Lady Talia’s emptiness and grief so clearly that she nearly wept. “Don’t you see….He made clear to me I was being unfair, that if what I accused him of was true, then our vows were a lie....and if my marriage was a lie...if he was unfaithful to me...then...what have I left?'
Addiela set her jaw, Xan still supported her with a hand on her shoulder. 'Your dignity, lady. Would you give him the satisfaction of not only treating you poorly while you were yet living, but also have you blame yourself and seek continuous penance for his wrongdoing in your death?'
Nethrida pursed her lips and scoffed. "Indeed. This swine has long passed from memory of Men... You need not feel pity for him any longer."
Addiela breathed a sigh of relief as Neth speaks up to help
However,the woman returned to her writing, mumbling to herself as she began the next verse..."Without the sanctity of marriage,,,and my task....what do I have left...I must....must complete my work….no matter what.'
Xanderian sighed to herself..."She is trapped...between worlds...she may have no recourse...
Addiela shook her head, 'There has to be a way.. we cannot leave her to this suffering.'
Carneryn shrugs a bit "I... Know when they're near... Not how to get rid of them."
Sensing out, Addie felt the stir of dak magic as the woman began to write. Addiela 's eyes immediately turned to the quill. "That's it.. that's what has her spirit bound…the quill and the book."
Carneryn raised a brow "Then we break then yes?"
Addiela was unsure, 'And what if it snares us when we touch it? What do we do then?'
Carneryn shrugged again "Well... What do you want to do?"
Addiela was firm, 'We have to set her free, right? I know the last spirit I set free didn't go so well...but we have to try.'
Xanderian thought for a moment. “This seems to be very old magic...I cannot imagine it is behaving as it was intended to. Could her husband have hated her enough to consign her to this for eternity?'
Addiela shakes her head, "A woman…Perhaps this mistress that her husband was involved with'
Xan tilted her head. 'What do you mean?'
Addiela sighed, 'The spell on that quill, it was cast by the hand of a woman. I can feel it.'
Nethrida frowned. "Jealousy..."
Carneryn blinked a bit, now committed. "Then how do we free this woman?Surely the husband and his lover are long dead and cannot break the spell.”
Xan nodded. “Indeed, and I doubt the curse would be broken simply by removing the quill or book...'
Nethrida tapped her chin in thought. "I am unsure. I must confess I am.. Somewhat out of my element..." She frowned, and then looked at the ghost. "Did... Your marriage ever become annulled?" she asked with a hesitant tone
The ghost scoffed as she wrote. “Of course not...how could I do such a thing and leave my poor husband penniless? Is there a word that rhymes with “Compensate”?
Nethrida tilted her head to the right. "Yet it was he who disturbed the sanctity of marriage...? By right the marriage should have been annulled..."
Addiela cringed at hearing that the woman was married for her money…memories of arguments with her mother calling back to her.
The Lady Talia looked at Neth.” It was my paranoia that caused any disturbance....I was at fault'
Xanderian, after having been slowly slipping around the ghost, could final peers over the spirits shoulder..."My dear ones..come look at this.
Straining the other three looked at the book while the ghost seemed to be concentrated on finding her rhyme. Written in the book was line after line, each one exactly the same. "You will remain at your desk writing, no matter what happens."'
Xan whispered. 'It seems the curse was meant to keep her out of the way so that the mistress could act as the lady of the house, and the lord’s bed… but when her husband felt the needed to kill her to silence her and keep the dowry..."no matter what happens" took on another meaning.'
Nethrida furrowed her brow and pursed her lips "Dreadful..." She muttered
Carneryn winced, 'Then... How can a curse like this be lifted?'
Addiela walked over to take one of the torches "We get rid of the object she is bound to?"
Xan out a hand on Addie’s, 'Wait, sister Addie...I have an idea...but I will need the quill and book. 'She will not like that....'
Addiela frowned, 'Must we have another talk about taking cursed items, Xanderian?
You say, 'I will take the quill...but you three must keep her off me for just a few moments...''I do not believe any of us are in danger from this curse, save for the Lady Talia. After all, the quill and the book have both been handled..how else did they come to this place?”
Carneryn nodded a little and assented "True I suppose..."
Addiela sighed, "Fine.. but only because I trust your judgment, Xanderian... your mystical, elven judgment."
Xanderian smiled grimly...trusting her judgement was not always wise. "Then are you ready?”
Nethrida tensed up a little, and all three nodded..
Xanderian nodded back....and moving with elven speed pulled the Quill and the Book from the shade and ran across the tent. Immediately the Lady Talia shrieked and transformed, now a monster, with the gaping maw and reaching claws of a sea hag, heading straight after Xan'
Addiela pointed behind the spirit and she feigned an expression of surprise, "Oh look, what a gallant lord!... Isn't that your husband, Lady Talia?"
Nethrida followed Addie’s lead, if a bit stiffly."And who is that hussy he is with!" she shrieked and pointed where Addie pointed.
Carneryn used the distraction to put herself between the spirit and Xan. "Neth, keep Addie safe!"
After centuries of writing and waiting old habits were clearly ingrained...and the creature stopped and looked where Addie is pointing. However the spirit saw no one, and wheeled back towards Xan, she must continue her work...'
Carneryn braced for impact still blocking the way to Xan while Addiela ran after the spirit and tried to grab at the soaked shroud she was wearing to stop her.
However the creature passes through Ryn, causing her to feel lightheaded and ill, and Addie's hand passed through the dripping shroud...'
Addiela looked down at her hand, grimaces at the residue left behind, and then continued to run after her.
Finally Xanderian finished what she ahd been frantically writing, and droped both quill and book to the floor a moment before the swa hag would have been upon her. The creature scooped up both, and looked at the book...then with a sorrowful sigh, faded away.
Carneryn staggered a bit and raised a hand to her head seemingly unsteady as the book fell to the ground again with a thud as if it were made of iron'
Nethrida looked around, 'What... Happened...Is she gone?'
Addiela nodded, 'Shall we... exit before that man realizes he's lost his attraction?'
Xan smiled. “For the children, I imagine a hobbit in a sheet will do just as well...'
Carneryn nodded. "Aye... Time to go." she said most certainly not feeling well and not exactly looking it either.
Addiela thought about that for a moment and then reached into her satchel to pull out a long cloth, which she then draped over the empty chair. "Do you think that shall pass? Oooh, wait...' She took out a charcoal pencil and drew a face on the cloth.
Finally they gathered around the book laying open on the ground, slowly dissolving into black smoke...on the open page they saw that Xan had crossed out "No matter what happens" on the last line...replacing it with "until your husband murders you, when you will go to your rest..."'
Addie nodded softly. “Hopefully that rest will be tranquil…and quite the opposite of what her husband and his mistress enjoy.”
Ryn nodded weakly, “Now can we go back to the others?”
Addiela smiled, 'Yes..but…OOOOOOH NETHRIDA.. scary ghost....!!!' and pointed at the sheet.
Nethrida flinched and flailed around at the charcoal face, then huffed "Not funny! Stop that!" Clearly a little startled.
Carneryn giggled softly as Xanderian smiled…and the quartet went back into the light, cured of love songs for the moment.
