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[Shining Light]

If it hadn't been for his magical healing powers, she felt like she would have died of loss of blood.
Now, however, even in the purple-green mist that clouds her mind, she feels a sense of clarity. Impending something happening...
It will be soon...

Edited by Shining Light, 28 March 2005 - 05:06 AM.

[Deva]

(Thought it might be interesting to do something from the perspective of Veltek, rather then Bethal? isn?t really moving along the plot very much, but never mind?)

As Veltek stumbled blindly on, he became aware of a high, silver laugh, coming from somewhere behind him. He spun round, eyes full of fear, and dread. How could the painted girl pursue so fast, and with such carelessness? Why had he not been able to defeat her?? Then, as the laugh became clearer, he recognised who it belonged too. It had been her laugh that he had first noticed about her? it made him think of diamonds trickling through fingers, of a winter breeze whistling through an ice- encrusted mountain range. With a sharp intake of breath, he gazed frantically around him.

And then he realised it was not coming from around him, but from within him. He suddenly felt faint, and stumbled, clutching a tree trunk for support. The laugh quietened, then ceased altogether. Instead, he heard a murmuring. Words gradually became discernible, amidst the shining peals of laughter

?Veltek? Veltek?

Veltek growled, and dug his nails into the side of the tree trunk, eyes tightly closed.

?Leave me, witch. I no longer? no longer feel anything for you. I am numb to you.?

The laughter resumed, but it was now mirthless.

?Now, now, my love? you and I both now that isn?t true??

Veltek did. He knew that for years and years after losing her, along with his humanity, he had longed for her. Longed for her to be there. To be his guidance, as she had always been. But slowly all his love for life and its joys had faded. He was left an empty shell, with nothing but his dark thoughts.

[Shadowhawke]

Elandir walked silently, as only an elf could. Grace flowed in his movements, and Bethal longed to talk to him. But there was still a coldness to his aura that chilled her, and she wondered miserably at how everything had gone wrong.

Well, I guess I went looking for an adventure. I just didn't really expect it to come at me so soon... It's strange. Only a few days ago, I was just trying to find the inn, and then I became caught up in all of this. Drow, Drune, Elves... I barely had time to get used to being the Painted One before Ephisillia changed everything, and now I'm just normal again. But I have to kill Veltek, don't I...?

Suddenly, she was pulled from her thoughts when she walked straight into Elandir's outstretched arm. She fell back, biting back a cry of surprise as he shook his head frantically. "Shh!" he hissed. "We're getting close!"

"Close to what?" she whispered.

"Veltek," he muttered back irately. "Can't you hear him?"

[Shining Light]

The moaning startled them, the wretched voice wailing in its despair.
It could not be.
It can't be.
It is...

[Erephine]

"This way" Elandir said in a hushed voice and led her to a small crack in the seemingly solid, rocky cliff beside the path.

What seemed but a small crack soon widened into a small tunnel, slightly descending. Veltek could now clearly be heard, his voice throwing echoes through the now perfectly circular tunnel. The tunnel opened into a wide hall, and they hurried towards the entrance, if only to get rid of the eerie, distorted sound of Veltek's voice. But it wasn't... his voice...

Bethal was certainly prepared to expect anything, but what they saw made her jump nonetheless. A single beam of light illuminated the centre of the hall, and a cowering shape stood in the bright light, seemingly trying to flee from the light but unable to. Bethal blinked. It was... Ehphisillia. Or was it Veltek? She tried to focus, but found herself unable to see anything clearly... Calm down... It wasn't Ehphisillia. So it had to be Veltek. But it wasn't Veltek either. It was both. As if they had both taken the same place, a horrid combination of both in one. The figure cowered as if in terrible pain, moaning, occasionally letting out a shriek of pain.

Slowly, cautiously, Bethal approached the shaking figure. Elandir was not far behind her, and she could feel his presence behind her. It was but now, mere steps from the centre of the hall that they were noticed. Veltek... Ehphisillia... Something altogether different... spun around, a glowing pair of orange lights searching the walls... searching... and finding her.

"You" the creature hissed, and a strange shudder ran through its body

"Talk to me... Ehphisillia" Bethal said

Twitching and writhing, the shudder was there again, and for a moment she could clearly make out Ehphisillia in the strange swirl of shapes and forms. The creature seemed to sway for a moment, and finally the disfigured mouth formed words...

"Not... safe... I've made a mistake, Bethal.... mistake..." The voice was hoarse, and it was evident that the words were formed with great difficulty.

"What? What do you mean?" Bethal exclaimed in fear

"Not.... Veltek.... Go--" Ehphisillia gasped and the voice trailed off into nothingness

A burst of light turned the hall into a ghostly red light, and when it was over the body was shifting again. Only much faster this time. It seemed to grow in size, and shudders ran through it like spasms. It was a horrible sight to behold.

"Trapped... for so long." A booming voice exclaimed triumphantly. "Mark my words, mortals, I have returned. And this time, I shall finish what I started."

A faint red glow started forming around the rapidly changing figure, and although it could barely be seen it seemed to be blinding in intensity.

"Elandir" Bethal whispered, and quickly spun around.

Elandir was lying unconscious on the ground. Time seemed to crawl to a stop as she turned back towards the centre of the hall. And then it leapt at her.

[Shadowhawke]

She screamed.

It echoed throughout the hall like a knife cutting through water in ferocious intensity, but then, finding nowhere to go, nothing to aim at, sinking into the blue depths. It rebounded around the mouldering rafters, echoed around the space inside, and was so purely instinctual Bethal almost didn't even realize she was screaming.

The creature did, though.

Whoever it was, whatever it was, it shrieked with her, matching her in perfect counterpoint as it clapped its hands across his ears. She ran back to Elandir and dragged him out of the hall, stunned at the reprieve.

But then she heard a thundering from inside, and knew the... beast? was running. Was running at her. And she cursed, because Elandir was weighing her down.

Leave him behind.

"What, no!" she cried out, not knowing who it was.

Leave him behind.

"Who the hell are you?"

Leave him behind!

The voice almost sent her to her knees, reeling, but she stood up again, grimly.

"No."

Lugging Elandir into a sitting position and with a strength born of terror, she hoisted him upwards and began to run.
The ground trembled behind her as she did, each footstep quaking into her bones.

The hunter had become the hunted.

[Erephine]

The world was spinning and turning, and it took her a couple of moments before she realized she was running deeper into the caves rather than back out. An unpleasant sting tore through her heart. She was running... straight into uncertainty.

The weight of Elandir slowed her down, but even so she ran swiftly, through the ever winding and crossing tunnels, following bends and turns; entering small side tunnels - always feeling the beast behind her... coming closer, and closer. A remote memory flashed in her mind, and reminded her of the dream she had dreamt back at Feldepost's. And the noise wavered so she could clearly hear the horses... chasing after her, the hooves resounding in a thousand echoes throughout the small tunnels of solid stone. She remembered each facet, each detail with such intensity that it was almost more real than her surroundings, and more than once she almost tripped, losing her focus. There was... a battle of some sort... death... unspeakable intensity of death...

And yet she ran on, and still it was closely behind her... She began wondering how she - like this - could possibly still be faster than... whatever it was that was chasing her; but given the situation, she had little ambition to follow that line of thought. Small colourful specks began flickering and dancing in her vision, and she felt herself drifting into a numb drowsieness. Stone and rock were flying past to her sides as she ran, the ground under her feet still trembling under the assault of thousands of hooves beating in an unholy rhythm.

Suddenly the tunnel widened again, and she could see they had reached another circular hall. A quick realization almost made her choke.

There was no exit out of that hall. They had reached a dead end.

She swore and stopped dead in the middle of the hall, frantically searching for an exit she might have missed on first sight. There were small cavities in the walls of the high hall, each of the same size, thousands, and thousands of small pits in the walls, rising to heights beyond which she could see; but no way out other than the gaping black hole through which she could hear the thundering noise approach.

Carefully she put Elandir back to the ground, and in the same moment... it... broke through the small tunnel, rocking the hall with sheer force as the stone shattered and the entrance almost collapsed. Bethal screamed as she saw who... what had just entered the hall. Even through the distorted colours, the tears, through the shaking shudders, there was no doubt. It was...

Slowly, almost regally, the skeleton glided towards her through the empty hall, the empty eye sockets blazing purple again. Instinctively the sensation of age beyond comprehension formed in her head, and she knew... she could see the decades, the centuries... the solitude, the mourning. Scorched pieces of flesh were all that was left on the withered bones. The memory of Feldepost's surged up her mind, filling her with panic and fear. The stone under her feet seemed unnaturally warm, and the air seemed to crackle with electricity as the figure approached her. Quickly she looked away to break the connection that was already tearing at her again, and as she did, she realized another thing. The holes in the walls... were graves. Hundreds and thousands of graves.

[Shadowhawke]

She screamed.

With pure fear, she staggered backwards, back towards the skeleton, until she regained her senses and stumbled to a stop, shaking in pure terror. She felt her mind go into overdrive as the scent and aura of pure death surrounded her. Choked her. Threatened to cut off her bloodstream forever, until she lay down in the arms of the loneliness that cloaked this place, and joined the forever spinning wheel of darkness.

No.

It was the surge of survival, the pure base instinct within that wrenched her out of her terror-induced stupor. She faced the skeleton, knees trembling, but her voice strong.

"I will not die," she stated calmly.

He? She? It? stopped about three metres in front of her, and then slowly raised the head that had been obscured by its downward angle. She stared defiantly into empty eye-sockets, and then, with a thundering WRENCH felt her consciousness merge with that of the skeleton's.

And they screamed in unison once again.

Purple fire poured from the skeleton to stream through the gap between them and dance around their bodies; one a living, breathing human, one a rotting corpse. Images flashed with stunning speed into her mind. The brightness of the sun. The darkness of the moon. The treachery of the Underdark. The Empire of the Drune.

The rising skies have spoken,
You are the last to come,
The last of line unbroken,
Of starlight, moon and sun

The Painted One, the Hunter,
The Stealer of the Breath,
The lightning and the thunder,
The Bringer of the Death...

She didn't know how long she was bound in the mindlock with the skeleton, reliving memories, chanting in an ancient language a prophecy that was so old it had never been written. But she did know when it was broken. She heard a sickening 'twang!', and felt the arrow pierce her side for a second, before the link was broken and the pain was gone, and Elandir hauled her roughly upright, his bow miraculously appearing in his hands again as the skeleton shifted itself upright.

Oh... my...

[Deva]

Meanwhile...

Deep within the Underdark, Veltek's young apprentice, Adreuk, paced backwards and forwards, his hands twisting nervously behind his back. What had happened to him? He paused momentarily, his red-black eyes fixing on the ornate adamantine candle holder on Veltek's desk. It was shaking. Quite ominously, infact. Licking his lips, and brushing his silver hair back behind his ears, Adreuk tried his best to assume a dignified and intelligent pose, in case this mysterious movement was an announcement of his masters return.

The shaking became more drastic - indeed, it felt as if something was tunnelling it's way up through the floor of the cavern. Adreuk skipped backwards until he was against the wall of the cavern, nervously. White curls of steam began to rise from where he had been standing, and an intense, still heat took hold of the room. The young Drow was scared now. He knew Veltek's style; he liked to make an entrance, but this was excessive even for him... just as he though this, with a deafening crunch of shattering stone, mingled with the anguished wails of Veltek, as he rose, seemingly intact, from the stone itself.

Adreuk fell to his knees jabbering vague statements of subservience, as Veltek stalked around the room, shaking and cursing all the while.

"You! My worthless, snivelling apprentice." Veltek jabbed a slender finger in Adreuk's direction. "You must find a way to rid me of this...THIS!" Adreuk stared at him, blankly, but recoiled as Velteks body suddenly jerked forward, into a heap on the floor, his thick white hair obscuring his face. Adreuk stumbled foward to help, but just as he extended a hand to touch his master, Veltek's form began to glow - a steady, pulsing, white glow. And then it faded. In Velteks Place, lay a Drune Maiden, wearing Velteks robes, beautiful face turned towards Adreuk, baring an expression of deep confusion and fear.

Adreuk felt a hand on his shoulder... he was still transfixed by the pale Drune maiden, and did not turn. Not until he heard a voice - a voice he recognized. "It looks like we have our first hostage, doesn't it? And to think - the war hasn't even started. Yet."

[Erephine]

[Edited to remove hideous typoes! Aiee... it hurts to look at them!]

?Y-... you?? she asked almost breathlessly.

It took Adreuk a moment to realize she didn?t mean him, but rather the figure behind him. With a cold chuckle he removed his hand from Adreuk?s shoulder and stepped into the dim light.

?Why, I could ask you the same question... my love.? Ziirahasi said, smiling coldly.

***

Bethal staggered back a few steps, holding her head, still somewhat addled by what she had just experienced. When she looked up again, she and Elandir were alone in the room. Where just a moment ago the threatening shape of the skeleton had towered, a small heap of scorched bones was all evidence of what had just happened that remained. Well, at least this time there was some evidence to prove she hadn?t merely been hallucinating. Her mind was still trying to make sense of what she had seen... what she had felt.

?Elandir? she murmured and took a step towards him, but he stopped her.

Questioningly she looked into his face and gasped. His eyes, normally of an icy blue, were black, so dark that even the reflection seemed to be swallowed up in their darkness.

?Bethal-? he started, but she interrupted him.

?Y... your eyes? she merely said

?I... it has happened again, hasn't it?? he said with a hint of desperation, discarding what she had said ?You should... run... it is... not safe to be here for you.?

?But.... but why?? she asked

His eyes were slowly clearing up again, a mix of dark purple, with spots of blue beginning to shine through again.

?This.... thing you have been seeing...? he said slowly and paused

?... Yes??

?I believe it draws its power... from me.?

He cast down his eyes.

Slowly, Bethal took a few steps back from Elandir, contemplating what he had said. If in fact this... hunting thing was... He had fallen unconscious when it appeared... wait... the warnings to leave him behind? Had she carried the hunter with her all this time?

Just as he had been unconscious the last time... The realization hit her suddenly. It hadn?t been the ghoul?s poison... it had been the skeleton assuming control that had put him into the state he had been in!

But where had Elandir been when it had first appeared to her?

Why, he had been sleeping in the inn...

Edited by Erephine, 23 October 2005 - 11:22 AM.

[Shadowhawke]

"No."

"What are you talking about?" Elandir demanded. Dark began swallowing the blue again as desperation merged with anger. "It will come again. Go!"

Bethal pressed a light hand to her side where it had begun to ache. The pile of bones on the floor of the cave seemed innocent in death. But the power that had been touched...

"How old are you, Elandir?"

"What?" he looked bemused. Light blue ventured out once again, and his skin became pink once again where it had been drained white. "I don't understand..."

"That... that thing... It's ageless," she whispered. "I can feel time. It's not... whatever you think, I don't think it's... evil."

He shook his head and backed away from her. "You don't understand. It's killed. Again and again and again and again..."

His voice became a low whisper as he stared at the skeleton. "And it will come back. It will always come back when I..."

As he degenerated into mutterings of fear, Bethal looked into him and knew that he had never learnt, never known what had happened, never realized what he was, what it was. With the insight gained from that mind, however, she did.

The dark caves were beckoning. That one image the skeleton had shown her through all of it. The cave, the home of the drow. And the war that was stirring.

"Elandir," she said gently. "It's not evil."

"You don't understand!" he cried again.

She sighed, and closed her eyes. There would only be one way to explain this.

Elandir spasmed as she began, his body jolting with surprise.

********************************************************************

I am an age, I am a being, I am time...

I am the one that was murdered so long ago...

Foul treachery...

You...

You...

You are my descendant...

Elandir Nor'thewesst of the ancients...

I was the partner to the Painted One...

I died for her... for the betrayal of the other...

Always...

Years, time, pass...

Deaths, killings...

Necessities.

The time is coming, Elandir. You cannot fight it.

Open your mind.

[Deva]

As Bethal finished, Elandir closed his eyes, a look of understanding passing across his face. Bethal stopped, watching Elandir and his reaction closely. He was standing so still, and so silently, that Bethal reached a hand out to his shoulder to check if he was alright, but just as the tips of her fingers brushed his armour, his eyes flickered open, and he smiled at her with a strange brightness that Bethal did not associate with her stoic elven companion.

?I think I?m finally beginning to understand, amarillis.? Elandir?s smile widened, then faded, as he peered around the cavern. ?We must leave this place ? return to Gelrandir. He may have some? some answers.? And without another word, Elandir grasped Bethal?s wrist firmly, and began striding purposefully into the mouth of the tunnel from which Bethal had entered the cave, not long before, injured, panicked, and carrying the limp body of this now seemingly uninjured elf.

?But- wait! Wait!? Bethal jerked her hand away from Elandir, who looked positively hurt, as he turned to look at her.

?What? what answers will Gelrandir have? What do you mean??

?I think, amarillis, we have been tricked into becoming pawns of people much greater then us. I do not think our encounter with Drune was coincidental, indeed, far from it. I am also inclined to believe that our own meeting had been planned? But there is not enough time to explain now. Come.? And with that, he grabbed her wrist once more, and headed into the maze of interconnecting caves, with an oddly purposeful gait, Bethal noted, considering they had absolutely no idea where they were or which of the tunnels would lead to daylight.

Edited by Hishi, 30 August 2005 - 03:52 AM.

[Shadowhawke]

(Despite my trepidation at continuing on here, I think I'll try. . This story has been dead for far too long. Let us all continue the tale! )


Each step that they took added to Bethal's growing trepidation. Elandir's every stride spoke of the sudden purposeful determination that had gripped him. She didn't dare to speak, didn't dare to ask anything, didn't dare to break this sudden atmosphere of unreality.

So he did it for her.

"Everything," he said as the sunlight grew closer. She followed his gaze and saw the cave entrance, and blinked. How long had it taken them to get there? How long had it taken for them before, running away? The time didn't add up...

"Sorry?" she blinked.

"Everything," he repeated patiently, as if explaining it to a young child. "Everything we've done has been manipulated."

"And you think Gelrandir...?"

The elf shook his head. "No, it's not Gelrandir. He's a pawn as well. But he has answers that he doesn't even know about. It's all in his mind. That's why he never explained it all fully to you. He's forgotten himself. Or rather, something's made him forget so that he unwittingly does what it wants him to do."

"That sounds ominous," Bethal said warily.

"We'll be careful, amarillis," he flashed her a quick smile to reassure her. It lingered for a moment before his determination pushed his set face back to the fore. "We'll have to be."

Oddly enough, that gave her a strange sense of comfort. She quickened her step to a stride until she was walking next to him, filled with a confidence she had no right to feel. He seemed to pick up on those vibes however, and the smile returned.

"Let us finish this."

"Yes, let's," she echoed him.

Somehow, their hands slipped into each other, and they continued.

[Erephine]

"How could she possibly affect him this much?" Ziirahasi asked, with an almost scared tone in his voice

Adreuk shrugged "You know... the two of them...."

"Don't remind me of that, fool." Ziirahasi spat and turned his head in disgust.

Adreuk bowed apologetically and turned to leave the room, but Ziirahasi held him back. Time was of the essence, now, and he knew he would have to act soon, unless everything was to be lost. Besides, he couldn't help but feel amused at the pathetic figure that was Adreuk. Nervously, he began pacing the room, as he evaluated the new situation. He tried to keep a calm head, but his anger was raging like a storm. Suddenly he stopped, and leaned on the table with both his fists tightly closed. He would have to think...

"This is going to change everything..." he muttered "... ruin everything... we cannot wait. Not this long."

"Unless we find a way to restore Veltek, we're forced into passiveness, my lord. We need him as he needs us... Only he could possibly have the power... that would be.... necessary..." cold sweat trickled down Adreuk's forehead as he tried to calm the enraged Drune, "Anything else would only be suicide, my lord... you know... he... is here as well. We cannot fight him... "

Ziirahasi sighed.

Everything he had so carefully planned was falling apart right in his hands. Why... why did Veltek have to fail on him, why now? Personally, he couldn't care less about the disgusting Drow and his.... his.... irrational feelings, but he also knew Adreuk was right. He was powerful... and someone they could not replace. They needed him, willing. He needed to think it his plan, as it were... Desperately he went through every possible scenario, trying to find a solution. There just had to be a solution...

"How is.... Veltek?" he finally asked

"We still have to keep him.... safe.... in the dead magic zone." Adreuk swallowed hard, "You will understand... after what happened last night..."

Wrinkling his nose, Ziirahasi stopped him with a sign of his hand.

"Yes, yes. I was informed... A waste of... precious resources. I do not wish to be reminded of that... incident."

Without even taking notice, he had started pacing the room again, almost furiously. Adreuk had in the meantime slowly retreated as far as he could, until he stood with his back against the wall. It never was good sign if one of the lords was this furious... With a shudder he thought back to Veltek's only too regular violent outbursts.

He jumped with a start, painfully hitting his head against the stone wall as Ziirahasi suddenly stopped dead again, looking straight at him with a piercing gaze. Slowly, a smile crept on his face. Involuntarily, Adreuk shivered again. With the elegance and natural grace of the Drune he walked towards him until he stood directly in front of him.

"I believe..." he said slowly, stressing each syllable "There is some good, to this situation, after all..."

"Y-... yes, my lord?" Adreuk stammered, ignoring the dull pain in his head

"Our unfortunate problem..." he smiled again "Might very soon become our greatest blessing."

"What.... what is it you have in mind?"

Ziirahasi turned and walked a few steps away from Adreuk again, who took a deep breath.

"That... is none of your concern." he finally said "But I do need you to complete a task for me."

With the last words, he spun around again, and with renewed fear, Adreuk almost cowered against the wall again.

"Anything.... anything you ask my lord..."

"Quiet." he replied mockingly, "I know just how eager... you are to help."

Slowly he walked towards Adreuk again and bent down to him.

"The girl." he said, almost a whisper, "Bring her... bring her here."

[Deva]

Adreuk nodded fervently, bowed so low his white hair brushed the cavern floor, and swiftly retreated from the room. He was still wide-eyed and shaking like a leaf, stunned by the strange events he had just witnessed. Ziirahasi collapsed nonchalantly into Veltek's chair, rubbing his brow, with a throaty growl. Things were not working. He knew what he had to do. He swept up, suddenly.

He would need the help of the Drow. They would be all to happy to destroy the Drune... harness their magical secrets themselves... and they had the power that would be needed to do so. Ziirahasi grinned inwardly at his own cunning - it was perfect.

Now all he had to do was somehow arrange an audience with the matron mother.

***

Bethal looked down at their hands, a little self-consciously, a rosy flush on her cheeks. She remembered her innocence and naivete - back when she was just 'the fletcher's daughter'. But now... now everything had changed. Father was dead. All she had left of him was his sword; it hung at her hip now, a pleasantly grounding and familiar shape and weight, reminding her of him. The weather-beaten skin, the kind, warm eyes, the smell of oiled wood and dove feathers. He had never wanted her to grow up 'too fast'.

And now, despite all the bloodshed she had seen, the horrific visions, the darkness, the shadows that seemed to gather around her and Elandir, she still felt like no more then a love-struck young woman. Which was what she was, she realised, as she looked at Elandir. Sensible, Sullen, Handsome Elandir.

Her thoughts were interrupted, however, as her and Elandir rounded a corner, the small, run-down hut of Gelrandir looming into view, and sure enough, there he was, standing at his window, gazing into the distance. The pasty face surrounded by the un-washed mop of jet hair. He looked even more gaunt and half-starved then the last time Bethal had seen him, and his eyes were ringed, as if he had lost sleep.

He squinted at them at first, and then, as he discerned their shapes, his face lit up, and he rushed to the door to greet them.

[Shadowhawke]

"You're safe! You're safe!"

He half-choked as he scrambled to sit them down, reassuring himself that they were all right. His sallow skin flushed with colour, he finally collapsed in his own chair and looked expectantly at them, waiting for an answer. Any answer at all. While they sat silently, however, wondering where to start as they gratefully clasped the warm drinks he'd somehow managed to fix them so quickly, his eyes flicked from Bethal to Elandir and then back again, and then finally settled on Elandir's face.

Well, well, well...

Finally, he broke the silence for them.

"You're safe," he repeated wonderingly, and then a smile spread across his features. "And also in love, I see."

"Huh?" Elandir's jaw dropped. He turned to see Bethal blushing furiously by his side, and felt his own cheeks grow warm. What? When? he thought desperately. When did I...? Aaah! I don't have time for this!

There is always time for this.

He pushed it away. Not now... I don't want to think...

Elandir Nor'thewesst was in love.

Elandir Nor'thewesst...

He jolted. Bethal was still blushing. Gelrandir was staring at him keenly, with more than a little black dilating in his irises. Elandir felt the pull again, the pull of foreign and yet natural magic surrounding him in its embrace.

"There is more."

It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, there is..." the elf faltered to a stop then, and their eyes locked...


Bethal was instinctively aware something was wrong as she swam back from the love-induced haze she'd found herself in. Both of her companions were frozen, staring at each other with an intensity she had never seen before.

"E... Elandir?"

Suddenly, both the wizard and the elf were propelled backwards with an inhuman shriek. She ran to Elandir instinctively, but he gestured towards Gelrandir with a mute plea. She turned, just in time to see him mouth in horror.

"They're... they're coming for you..."