The Wind's Voices

[Haze]

Keely blinked owlishly at his expression, thinking He looks like he think's I'm mad. And then he said it.

With each question and pronouncement her gaze became colder, and steelier than it had ever been before. Her fingers clenched around the hilt of her sword - her safety blanket, squeezing so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her eyes narrowed, her mouth drew in, and then it was enough.

"Don't you dare speak to me like that," she hissed ferociously, leaning into him "I do not need someone to tell me what I should or should not be doing. And don't you ever ever[/b] speak his name again, do you understand me?"

His words stung, and she found that fury stole her words. Fury, and heartache. It had seemed so real. So, so very real. She felt hysterics rising in her throat, and she arose, turning her back on Theon.

"He is... was... my husband." Her voice had softened, and cracked. "He died, two months and two weeks ago. Excuse me, for wanting to believe that he was still here." Her head dropped, and her arms rose to wrap around herself, just like he'd found her. Her next words, were barely a whisper. "I... I was mistaken."

[Lion]

Theon didn't expect the fury she let loose on him and he visibly softened and he swallowed on a dry throat.  He wanted to apologize quickly, but he knew that he was as right as much as she was.  He'd told her, warned her repeated.  Even thrown his own body at her to try and stop her from making this grave mistake and now look where they both were now.  Maybe he was the fool for following her down here, after all anyone else would have just left her to her own devices after she got dragged down.  But something in him told him to help her, help her despite everything in him that made sense.

He waited until she was done and he furrowed his brows in thought at the sound of her cracking voice.  "I apologize," he said.  "I didn't know.  But that still doesn't excuse it.  You should have thought, you should have—Well, I suppose now it doesn't matter what you should have done.  We're stuck down here now.  And we'll have to find our way out of here.

"Your mistake got us in this mess.  But I want to help you get out of here.  Will you let a complete stranger...a madman even, help you?  I have no reason to want to, nothing you could possibly offer me, but if I can make one small difference in the life of another, perhaps that might make this world a better place.  If we let everyone fall around us, everything falls apart.  Please."

Theon outstretched a hand for her to take, hoping that she might forgive him for his mistake, and that she might work to fix hers.

[Haze]

"I got us into this!?" Keely was incredulous as she spun around to face Theon. Her mouth set into a sharp, cool line, and she stalked over to him, the best she could. She was limping a little - the creature's claws had dug in real good. Her back was sore too, she realised. A dull  nagging pain, lower down. That must have been from the fall. She did hit the water pretty hard.

Standing face to face, she looked up into Theon's face. He was a very tall man - almost an entire foot taller than her. He was quick with his weapon too, she'd worked that out back in the valley. Appraising him, she looked down at the offered hand. Her eyes darkened, and looked back up up at him. "Fine." She said shortly, "We'll work together. If we don't, chances are one or both of us will die. I'm sorry I got us into this trouble." The last sentence was said tinged with sarcasm, and she turned on her heel away again, leaving him to retract his hand.

She cast her eye about the cavern, settling for a moment on the tunnel the creature had run down. "Do you know what it is?"

[Lion]

Theon may have looked like a madman, a fool even, but even the most rejected of society had some sense to them.  He could not blame her in her treatment of him, could not say that she wasn't right in her own way for the feelings of mortals held them so strongly that they often always swayed their decisions.  Perhaps he was no different in this aspect.  Perhaps there were feelings in him that he was yet to remember and surely if he'd loved another as strongly as she had seemed to, he might have ended up in the same situation.  Yet he could not be sure.  There was a time and a place for philosophical contemplation, and trapped deep down in an underground cave was not the place.

Theon peered down at his hand in silence, only nodding when she did not take it.  His violet eyes inspected the flesh of it, as if it felt so foreign to him, inspected the crude lines and scrapes and cuts as if he was seeing them for the first time.  And perhaps he was.  He clenched his hand into a fist, his knuckles cracking as he did so.

He straightened when she asked about the creature, or demon, or whatever it was.  He looked down the same path.  "I do not.  I know only that it is evil and should be banished from this world.  Nor do I believe this place is what it seems.  Though maybe you don't feel it, there's a bad energy here, negative.  I feel more tired, more drained than usual.  Whatever that creature is, it is unnatural and we'll have to destroy it, before it claims more victims foolish enough to fall in its embrace.  It seems to have some psychic ability to know how to draw people in, to control or draw them somehow."

[Haze]

Keely only nodded at his explanation, eyes still watching the darkness. He was right, they did have to kill the thing. Not only were they in it's territory, anyone who passed by would be at risk. It had been a long time since she'd ever really feared for her life. Not since the day she slew her step-father. Even then she hadn't been terribly concerned. It was his life, or hers, simple as that. Now, she had the memory of Jaycel to honour. He would never have wanted this for her. For him to put her in danger. For her to give up so easily. Or for her to turn down the help of a capable soldier. Her hand drifted over her sword as she reflected, her stance relaxed in thought.

She turned around very slowly, eyes squinted, peering around the cavern, her gaze finally falling upon her new companion, appraising him properly for the first time. Yes, he was tall, but he was also very handsome. He had an air of mystery about him, and while she could demand respect from the look on her face, to tone of her voice and the set of her diminutive body, he could demand just with his presence.

She'd treated him badly, she thought. But then, he shouldn't have snuck up on her. Old habits die hard, and she would always be the kind to act first, and ask questions later. It had got her through 23 years of life so far, won her many fights, surged her through the ranks of Mordecai, granted her many arrests.

She put a hand to the small of her back and grimaced slightly. It really was quite sore. Keely wasn't the kind to admit to pain, even to herself, and a frown formed beneath her auburn curls. Rubbing gently, she sighed and said "Do ye think that means we have t' follow it? Or Do ye think we can find another way?"

[Lion]

Lohengrin felt like it was vibrating against him and Theon pulled the sword from his sheath, knowing it was better to have it out already in case he needed it than not to had pulled it out all too late.  Theon looked around them then and way up at the opening above them that was far too high to be scaled easily.  Then glanced back at the way the creature went.  "Our only option is pursuit."

But when he looked at her again, he frowned.  She didn't look well.  "You don't look good.  Is something wrong?  Are you the one that's hurt?"  Theon stepped toward her without her permission and laid a hand on her lower back, taking the liberty to feel there of his own accord.  "There's something the matter here isn't it?  I saw you touching there.  If you are not well, perhaps it is better if you remain here."

[Haze]

Keely followed his gaze upwards. "Aye, that's what I feared," she sighed, pushing hands through her curls. She too, drew her sword, and held it loosly, the tip dragging slightly on the ground.

He put her hands on her, and Keely jumped away as if she had been shocked. "What are ye doing! Dinna touch me!"  She scowled at him, but cautioned herself to stay calm. If they were going to kill this thing, she couldn't kill him.

"Nay - I must have jist hit the water harder then I thought I did." She gave as explanation. "And ye canna take on that thing by yerself. Ye need me jist as much as I need you, y'ken?"

His keen awareness to her uncomfortable, but he was right. There was something wrong... maybe she'd pulled something. But she was still standing, she could still lift her sword. And she would fight.

She began to head towards the opening, lifting her sword in a defensive manner. She could feel magic around her, and her eyes narrowed at the sword. That was where it was coming from, but there was nothing she could do about it. "Y'ken I'm Mordecai?" She asked, glancing back at him.

[Lion]

Gods be damned!  She was so sensitive!  Theon didn't understand how she could be so mortified by a simple touch of inspection, it wasn't like he slid his hand down any further.  He didn't think of it in terms of invading personal space.  Instead he thought it more like how a doctor would inspect a patient for a serious injury.  She took everything so personally and Theon only furrowed his brows at her in irritation.  

"I don't believe you're all right," he said flatly.  "But if you think you can fight effectively as bashed up as you are, then don't let me stop you.  Aye?  Aye."  Theon stepped away from her though and began starting down the tunnel, knowing time was of the essence and the longer they waited and talked, the further and further the creature departed from them.

Theon lifted his sword as the weapon lighted his vision.  He glanced back at her.  "What?  No, I do not 'ken' what a Mordecai is.  Will being a Mordecai help us kill this creature?"

[Haze]

"I'm nay bashed up." She retorted hotly "It's jist a niggle." She followed him into the tunnel, "And I'll be a damn sight more effective than ye'd be by yerself."

She had an irritating feeling that he was mocking her speech as he repeated her phrasing. If he wasn't careful, she was going to knock him over the head with the butt of her sword. Pursing her lips she shook her head in disbelief as he mentioned that he didn't know what a Mordecai was.

"Mordecai, it's an elite force in Connlaoth's military. I'm a Captain, ye ken. Mordecai have this ... gift. We have the ability to shut down magic. Not all magic, mind, " she cast an eye towards Theon's weapon, "Like your sword there. I canna shut that down, fer it's an inanimate object. But, if this... thing has a kind of magic, and uses it, well, maybe I can be helpful there." She cocked her head to peer at Theon. "No to say I'm not going to be useful, anyhow." She said before he could say anything more about her condition, which was getting decidedly worse.

"Do ye have a plan?"

[Lion]

Theon didn't believe her, not one bit about what she said about being a Mordecai, but in him was set a small niggling fear that perhaps she was right.  Often the things most refused to believe ended up being right after all.  He wasn't a man that trusted in magic and he didn't know if his own gifts were of a magical nature.  He didn't know anything beyond what he knew he could do and it troubled him greatly.

He looked at her with searching eyes.  "I'll take whatever you have to offer.  I do not, but we'll just have to deal with whatever it is that this ...thing throws at us," he said plainly and nodded.  He began down the tunnel, passing by more remains of human bones.  The amount that lingered here almost surpassed what was possible to his imagination.  How could so many people be taken down here in this cave?  How could so many people be fooled?

At that moment, Theon's brained burned as another vision struck him and he immediately fell to his knees, leaning on Lohengrin for support.  Images of people slaughtered, children taken from their homes, men and women taken down here in carriages, people falling to their deaths, passed before his eyes, almost too much for him to bear.  Theon groaned again as his vision changed to other people chanting, worshipping before an altar as a sacrifice was made in honor of whatever lurked down here.  Then the vision changed at last to a desolate temple as soldiers and warriors raided it, killing whatever worshipped here...and the creature, it escaped deep underground.

The vision left him with another strike of lightning to his brain and at last he stood up.  "This is no ordinary monster," he breathed.  "People used to worship this thing..."  He continued walking as the tunnel finally expanded until a huge cathedral sized room piled high with mounds of bones.  As they passed into it, Theon felt the rumble of rocks as boulders began to crumble from the ceiling above the entrance they passed through.

"Keely move!"  Theon yelled as he took his hands and shoved her away, dodging the collapsing stonework just in time.  "Damn, that was close," he murmured.  He climbed to his feet and dusted himself off.  As he did so, there was a clanking and rattling around them and he watched as a skull rolled on by him, a skull that rolled up a pile of bones and on top to perch itself on the shoulders of a skeleton that stood there and screeched at them.  Just then more skeletons began to rise from each pile of bones.

"Spoke too soon!"

[Haze]

Keely watched as Theon dropped to his knees. Within a moment, she was at his side, her hand on his shoulder. "Theon?" She didn't understand what was happening. Was he hurt? He was groaning and holding his head. When he finally looked up and spoke, Keely felt a pit in her stomach begin to grow. This was bigger than anything she's ever encountered. She followed him as they walked even deeper.

As he threw her, again, out of the way she was about to yell at him. She realised very quickly though, that he had just saved her from being crushed. She sprung to her feet, eyes suddenly very alert. The place was like one giant trap.

That head. Did it just?

Yes, it did. The bones around them were moving, forming into bodies. Keely felt her stomach heave. This was not just bigger than anything she had encountered. It was worse. She ran to Theon, and stood with him, back to back. "I think ye did." She answered needlessly, eyes darting between the Skeleton Soldiers that had formed a circle around them.

 There were easily a dozen, if not more. And each and every one of them had a sword. Some were rusted, some small, and some looked like new.  Keely took a deep,  calming breath. She could feel her muscles beginning to coil, like a cat ready to pounce. She felt a familiar rush go through her and her face set. "Theon, " she said slowly. "Good luck."

With that, she launched herself into the first Soldier. It raised it's sword defensively, and Keely ducked beneath it, her feet moving skillfully around the creature. From behind it, She brought an elbow down onto it's shoulder, and it fell apart under her. Keely blinked. "What?"

Then she caught a flash of silver at her right. She pirouetted, lifting her sword just in time to deter a glancing blow. This skeleton's face sneered at her, head moving jauntily in some macarbe taunt. Keely didn't hear the ferocious growl spill from her lips, and she continued to hack down the Skeleton.

It was an odd sensation, feeling pure bone beneath the sword, and no flesh. Keely brought her sword high above her head, and brought it down on another, and then another Skeleton. She had time to look around and see that Theon was dealing to his fair share too.

Just then, She felt fire blaze through her shoulder, and she dropped to the floor, rolling from the next onslaught. The Soldier held a bloodied sword in it's hands. She couldn't get up fast enough, and as blow after blow rained down on her, all she could do was dodge. She managed to flick her wrist in a wide arc, her sword catching the creature's ankles. As it lost it's footing, literally, Keely clawed her way back to her feet, and kicked at the Skeleton's head. It popped off with a thunk. She looked around her, the opening had suddenly fallen very still.

[Lion]

Around them skeletons rose ready to block their way.  There must have been a pass out behind the pile of bones, but Theon was far too occupied to worry about getting out.  They were surrounded on all sides to make things worse and he felt  his heart knocking against his ribs.

He only nodded at Keely's wish of luck and with Lohengrin in hand, he began the assault of his own.  The sword gave him complete freedom of movement and while he was on the defensive, he moved so quickly, so fluidly, the slashes of skeleton blades appeared as if they couldn't touch him at all.  He parried a large one on his left and ducked a slash to his head.  Theon arced his sword down, cleaving into the shoulder of the thing, only to have it collapse into a pile of bones at his feet.

He clashed with another to his right, blocking and twisting around as if he were a part of the wind itself.  He slashed downward only to his blade locked at the hilt of the skeleton.  The perpetual grin on the creature's face only made him grimace as he kicked the skeleton in the chest, knocking the bones askew and making them fall apart almost too easily.

The skeletons too were fast, and seemed to have been possessed with the souls of the disciples that once lingered here.  Theon found himself face to face with the last of his own half of the skeleton soldiers and he gave ground to the thing as it stalked toward him.  The skeleton wielded a claymore and struck it quickly down on him.  He blocked just in time, but the force of the blow made him falter and kneel on one knee.  He struggled against it before thrusting it up and away and stabbing into an empty ribcage.  The skeleton glanced at him with almost a mocking grin.  But Theon only grinned back as he swiped upwardly and cracked through the ribs and knocked off the head, the skeleton falling in it's own pile.

Theon was coated in a cold sweat and he looked over at Keely.  He stood and noticed she was bleeding.  He rushed to her and knelt by her side.  "You're bleeding.  Here let me bind it for you.  Hold still," he said.  He took off the clasp of his cloak and cut off a long strip.  It was mildly wet and he wrapped it underneath her arm and over her shoulder.   The wrapped it several times and knotted it securely.

[Haze]

Battle consciousness, and real time consciousness are two completely different realms. In battle, her eyes were always set on her opponent. Nothing ever broke her. In battle, she saw and heard everything with crystal clarity. Every ring of swords, every arcing sweep. In battle, she moved gracefully, always knowing where to put the next step.

 Coming up slowly, Keely looked around her. She felt her keen, focussed vision fading. The echoes of bones crashing in her ears. Her skin felt clammy as sweat cooled. By the time she was back in the present, Theon had finished wrapping her shoulder. She'd forgotten about that. She nodded her thanks to him, amber eyes still a little vacant, and made to stand up.

 A brilliant burst of colour broke into her vision, as a pain across her middle took her breath away. She instantly rolled into a fetal position, sword clattering onto the ground. Her knees were pulled up tight to her chin, and she moaned. She'd never felt pain of this kind before. What was happening to her?

In in the place she had been sitting, was a smear of blood.

[Lion]

Theon smiled at her at last when she thanked him for binding her wound.  For once he was tired and the work of the battle was getting to him.  The adrenaline that had driven him to destroy now seeped away as he moved to help her.  She tried to stand and he moved to follow her.

All of a sudden she was on the ground, doubled over and his gut grew cold instantly.  "Keely!" he exclaimed, and rushed his knees beside her.  "Keely!"  His arm went around her and he leaned over her.  "What's wrong?"  he asked ineffectively.  But out of the corner of his eye he saw something red on the stone ground.

He was horrified at the sight of the blood, but he didn't panic yet.  As he looked back, her noticed her clothes trousers were stained as well.  "Oh gods, Keely....   You're pregnant...aren't you?"  The question hung in the air with a great deal of heaviness, but he didn't leave her side.  "You're going to have to take off your trousers.   You're going to have to trust me.  Please.  Now's not the time for anger."

[Haze]

Pregnant? The word registered through her hazy mind, and she shook her head. "No, no.. I'm not. I'm not pregant." Then her eyes flung open. "Oh gods. Jaycel..." Her face contorted into agony, as the truth dawned on her. Jaycel had left her with one last gift. One last precious piece of him. A gift that was now leaving her. He would be altogether gone now. There would be no chance of ever seeing his smile again.

"No!" She wailed, the understanding rushing throuh her. Drawing in on herself further, she slipped a hand between her legs as if she could stop it all from happening. She continued to sob and grieve, knowing that the few, small pieces of her broken life she had managed to piece back together were now crashing down around her, and splintering into thousands of pieces.

As his request hung over her, she stared at him with half-crazed, half-vacant eyes. What was the point, she thought Just leave me. I don't want to do anything. "Just let me die." She sobbed, but even as she did so, she uncurled herself, laying flat. The sobs that racked her body jolted her shoulders from the ground. But she could do no more. She was incoherent, and unpresent in her shock.

[Lion]

Theon held onto her, remaining calm despite everything that wanted to recoil in his own horror.  He may not have remembered who he was or why he was here, or why he knew what he knew, but he was not naïve and knew that she was having a miscarriage.  It was the only explanation that he could think of.  Either that or she was stabbed down there when she wasn't looking.

Theon laid out his cloak underneath her mess where she laid herself out.  "Keely, I'm not letting you die!  Not today!  Let me help you, please."  Theon tried to communicate to her.  But he did so whether or not she liked it.  She might kick him, might scream at him, claw, bite, stab him, and he would let her so long as he could help her.

He reached for the clasps of her trousers and undid them slipping them off her roughly as the blood made it difficult for the fabric to move on its own.  "You're not gonna die!  Please!  Just hold onto to me.  You'll have to let it out!"  He undid her boots and pulled them the rest of the way.

Theon dipped an arm underneath her head and tried to cradle her body to him as she was wrapped in her sorrow.  "Please don't die.  Please."

[Haze]

Keely had lost herself. She didn't struggle, only a little, as she felt his hands skim over her stomach and to her belt, but she stilled, a small part of her knowing that it was the truth. The baby couldn't stay. It had to go. It was already going. As he lifted her, and cradled her in his arms, Keely began to quieten. Her body still shook with sobs, but even these began to subside. Everything inside her was locking down. She stayed that way for a very, very long time.

"It'll bleed for days," she finally said hoarsely, pulling away from the man's comfort. "My mother lost three bairns. I remember." There could be no comfort for her now. Not now that everything that had ever been right and good in her life had been gone. Her entire face shut down. There was no expression. If Theon had known her before, he would have recognised it. Maybe he even would now. Keely had fallen into her deepest hell. Alone. So alone.

With mechanical movements, she tore a strip away from her shirt, balling it up into a wad. Her unseeing eyes drifted to her discarded trousers. "Turn away please." That voice was so hollow. When he'd done as she'd asked, she fixed herself up the best she could, and stood slowly. Her knuckes scraped at the ground as she picked up her abandoned sword, and sheathed it.

"Lets go."

[Lion]

Theon did his best to cradle her amidst her tears, to comfort her in the only way he knew how.  She was exposed and where any other man might want to take advantage of that, he didn't.  He just wanted to help her, to let her calm down and take whatever anger, rage, pain she had inside out on him.  He could take it, take whatever she had to give him.

He was silent and let her go when she pulled away from him.  He knew that tone.  He could only help her so much.  Where she was hurting now, he couldn't do anymore for her.  She would have to take care of that on her own.  He could have said he was sorry.  He could have said he knew were important to say at a time like this, but he couldn't find his tongue.  He was glad it was lost at this moment, because there was nothing too say.

She told him to look away and he did.  And stood up as she steadied herself.  He glanced back at the mess on his cloak and left it there.  "There's always more cloaks," he murmured.

With that he took his own sword and lead the way this time and stared ahead at a gate in front of them, constructed of the same bones of the skeletons they'd just fought.  What was there to say now?  After all that?  He looked at the lock that barred the gate and stuck it with Lohengrin's edge, which severed the metal with a spark and pushed the massive gate open.  The tunnel was now clearly man made, rounded out from the stone and with candles to light their way.  But at long last he fell back to walk by her side.  "You didn't know did you?"

[Haze]

Keely walked slowly, aware of how uncomfortable she was feeling. Her arms were wrapped around her middle, as if it was the only thing keeping her together. She felt tired, worn out, as if every step was weighted, and her gait showed it. Her tears had dried, leaving her eyes red, bloodshot and empty.

The deep heartache that had wrapped it's cold tentacles around her was something of a comfort. If this was all, this dull aching, she could deal with it. She would slip into it's waiting arms. She would give in as the darkness consumed her. She would take it as penance, for every wrong thing she's done in her life. She didn't deserve happiness. Whenever she'd found something even remotely like it, she became vulnerable. The walls were already rebuilt now, taller and stronger than they had ever been before. No one was going to break through them.

It took her a long time to answer. She shook her head slowly, "No. No I didn't." Keely refused to look at the man, for while she was too caught up in her own sorrow, she knew what had gone on hadn't been a pretty sight. She didn't want to bring herself out of the hazy fog she was sitting in, but in an effort to make conversation, she mentioned the candles.

"They're lit." She gave her head a nod towards one as the passed, frowning a little. It was odd, wasn't it? That there were lit candles inside what had been a gated tunnel. Her frown deepened. It seemed that there was one thing that was going to draw her out from her depression, and that was danger. "Why are they lit, Theon?"

 A cackle, a scream, a growl - a sound that was indeterminable. It sounded far away, and there was nothing yet in the tunnel.

"It's jist one thing after another," she said through gritted teeth, sword already at the ready. She didn't know what they were about to walk into, but she knew it wasn't good.

[Lion]

No, it wasn't pretty.  In fact, if Theon was sploshing over the edge with drink, he would have gone right out and said that it was terrifying.  More terrifying than the demon that drew them in here, more devastating that losing a limb.  In a way, perhaps it was like losing a limb, a piece of you that you can never really feel whole without it, not again.  The wounds of any bodily vessel would heal with time, but the scars always remained.  And those were scars that could be covered over with mortar and stone of a hollow heart, of a cold cavern, but should they ever decay or erode with the tides of time, they would always remain.

Theon put the matter behind him, and would not speak of it anymore.  There was no need to bring it up, and through the confusion of who Jaycel was and what made him so important, all of that was cleared away in an instant and he made a vow at that moment.  He did not know the man who fathered her child, but for reason should he leave her behind?  Perhaps he might do some small deed in helping her, watching over her if he could.  She didn't need him, but he knew that the numbness of the aftermath would fade in time and he felt there ought to be someone there to walk with her, even if that someone was a madman.

She spoke of the candles and he glanced at them.  "Curious," he murmured, and drew his own blade as a result.  He paused for a moment and reached out to touch the wax.  It was still cool by touch and he glanced back at her.  "Recently as well.  Whatever passed through here isn't as adapted to the darkness as I had thought.  We should hurry."

Theon picked up the pace as the tunnel begin to incline further downward.  The rocks here were drifting down as well, and the path was starting to become steeper.  Deep roots were growing out through the rockface above them and from them large heavy vines that weaved in and our through the cavern ceiling.  But as the ground became steeper suddenly, Theon lost his footing on the loose rocks underneath them.  He slid down hard on his bottom and back and scraped down the incline.  "Shit!" he seethed as his bootheel suddenly dug into the edge of the tunnel wall just before  the path before them fell into a massive chasm that extended for miles far below.   "How in the hell did that thing get across this!?" Theon breathed as he gazed with wide eyes across the depths.  "Better  yet...how are we going to get across?"  The chasm stretched for at two hundred feet across from them with a ledge barely visible on the other side.