Sky lets out a weary sigh as his eyes return to normal. He seems surprised to see Keehar and gratful that Blodwen stayed
:It's over, for now anyway. It seems I owe you yet again friend hawk, and yet I do not know your name. And this fledgeling as well it would seem. Thank you both very much.:
Once he knows the hatchlings are safe, he settles down to rest, but not sleep.
Sky lets out a weary sigh as his eyes return to normal. He seems surprised to see Keehar and gratful that Blodwen stayed
:It's over, for now anyway. It seems I owe you yet again friend hawk, and yet I do not know your name. And this fledgeling as well it would seem. Thank you both very much.:
Once he knows the hatchlings are safe, he settles down to rest, but not sleep.
:I am Blodwen. And this fledgling is Keehar. When the greater battle comes, we will watch over the chicks for you. You need not worry for their safety.:
:Thank you Blodwen, and you Keehaar. I hope I won't need your help too much more. You can leave to stretch your wings I don't wish to keep you here when you would prefer flying. I can understand the boredom of watching eggs and hatchlings. I'm just going to place a ward and sleep.:
*He raises his wings and a mighty wind flows through the Eyrie. Strangely, it does not disturb those in the Eyrie or their nests.*
:Oh, of course. Here little hawk, take this, it will help you fly."*Sky grabs a stray wing feather from his nest, and somehow manages to attach it to Keehaar's leg. He then settles over his hatchlings to fall asleep.*
Lynora-Jill flies to the Eyrie, landing silently on the main balcony.
"Grandfather. You have done well. All appears to be in readiness. I will spend what time I have left speaking with any here who wish a moment of my time. It is the least I can do for those who are willing to sacrifice their lives in this battle."
"As you wish, child." He hesitates. "You know I would take your place if I could."
"I will go and tell the others that you are waiting."
Unseen and undetected by the wards, a cloaked figure floats silently in the Eyrie. It notices LJ talking to some of the Eyrie's inhabitants and floats slowly to her. When it is close enough, it lays a hand unnoticed on her shoulder. LJ begins to fear what will happen to all who live in the Eyrie if she dies. She fears for the lives of those she knows and loves. She is fears for JH because she hasn't seen or heard from him n a while. But, strangely, she fears for her own life. With so musch fear to feeds off of, the cloaked figure releases a luagh nobody hears. As it leaves the Eyrie, several of the young ones within the Eyrie who sleep begin to nightmares of their own worst fears coming to life.
LJ staggers under the weight of so much fear. She sinks to her knees and covers her face with her hands as the tears come unbidden.
And then she is swept up in memories, seen both from the perspective of JH and her own. Their first volleyball game. Their first kiss. Dancing at Club Calistria. Enclosed in their own little world as the plants curtained them off for privacy at the Oasis.
"I will not falter, my love," she whispers. "I will not fail you."
She stands, drying her tears. "I am sorry," she says to the eagle that she had been speaking with. "I am not sure what came over me."
When the chicks begin to scream with terror, she rushes to them to see what is wrong.
:Lady, I don't know what to do. They all woke up with nightmares at once.: The overwhelmed Blodwen is trying to comfort a dozen chicks and fledglings all at the same time.
LJ sits down in the middle of the room, gathering as many of the young ones around her as she can, and begins to Sing, a Song of Peace, and comfort, soothing their fears and her own. When she is done, she settles them back into their nests and walks outside.
"Grandfather, there is something wrong. Something got through the wards. There was a terrible feeling of fear. First I felt it, and then it affected the young ones. I don't know what it was, but I am going to take a few minutes now to strengthen the Eyrie's defenses."
She flies up to the top point of the Eyrie and adds the notes of the Song of Peace she sang for the chicks to the wards around this place.
Occasionally the vibrations of a dwarven hammer burrowing in the mountains can be felt beneath the eyrie.
Having finished adding more protections she flies down.
"Grandfather - "
"Yes, I know. I can feel it too. Something is attempting to burrow into the Eyrie."
He sighed.
"I wish that your young man was here. He would be able to sense what is moving through the earth."
He glances over at her, alarmed at his faux pas.
"I am sorry, child. I should not have said that."
Most of the vibrations seem to have stopped now, apart from a few of the ones more remote from the eyrie...
"I understand, Grandfather. There are so few subjects right now that aren't awkward."
She pauses.
"They seem to have stopped - no perhaps only slowed down. I do not like this. We can ill afford a vulnerability in one of our few strongholds just now."
With a crash and crumble of rock, the vibrations halt altogether, and a party of a dozen dwarven dignatories in cloaks and hats emerge from the mouth of a new tunnel onto the valley floor. One of them makes some sort of spell-casting gestures, then unfurls a large scroll.
Several creatures move forward, feathers bristling, but LJ gestures for them to stay back.
"I know not who they are or why they are here, but I do not believe they are evil. You are not to attack them."
*Sky, who had just managed to get his hatchlings back to sleep, takes his hybrid form and jumps down to land between LJ and the dwarf with the scroll. His bow is drawn and an arrow nocked.*
"First my hatchlings have nightmares and now dwaves break into the Eyrie? By the Winds what is going on?"
*Sky, who had just managed to get his hatchlings back to sleep, takes his hybrid form and jumps down to land between LJ and the dwarf with the scroll. His bow is drawn and an arrow nocked.*
"First my hatchlings have nightmares and now dwaves break into the Eyrie? By the Winds what is going on?"
"Sky!" she says sharply. "I have just told the others not to attack. What sort of message does it send if my herald disregards that?"
"I've yet to attack mi'lady, but if you wish I shall put away my bow. I was only worried they were the cause for the fear the young ones felt."
*Though his bow has been shouldered, his claws and talons still gleam. Sky will defend his new home*
"I've yet to attack mi'lady, but if you wish I shall put away my bow. I was only worried they were the cause for the fear the young ones felt."
*Though his bow has been shouldered, his claws and talons still gleam. Sky will defend his new home*
"Sky, the fear came from elsewhere, and I had banished most of its effects before we noticed the vibrations caused by these ones tunneling into the Eyrie. Being prepared is good. Being wary and willing to defend your home is good. But you must learn to give people the benefit of the doubt. When you believe the best of people they will usually live up to it."
She turns to the dwarves, the wind amplifying her voice so that they can hear.
"Why have you come here?"
These dwarves do not appear to be carrying any visible weapons, although some have spell-component pouches, and others have the gnarled fists of those used to fighting with their bare-hands.
The dwarf with the scroll flinches slightly at Sky's intrusion, but proceeds to read from it anyway, his magically enhanced voice ringing from where he stands on the valley floor to the nests and bridges up above.
'Let it hereby be known, to those present, that the goddess known in her mortal guise as "Lynora-Jill" is suspected and accused of the most heinous of crimes against the dwarven peoples – chiefly that she did murder seven thousand, eight hundred, and thirty nine dwarves in the Citadel of Arnblast within the past twelve calendar months, also that she did cause much grievous injury to other dwarves in the Citadel of Arnblast within the past twelve calendar months, also that she did cause much damage to property of dwarves in the Citadel of Arnblast within the past twelve months, and finally that she did also commit an act of regicide in the Citadel of Arnblast within the past twelve months, when no notice had been given nor accords of war reached.
In consideration of these many and terrible crimes, the dwarven people and His Majesty, King Berholm II of Uthaz Ydgraf, call for the immediate surrender of said suspect, that she may be held in custody and in due time placed on trial, according to dwarven law and tradition, for the hideous crimes of which she stands accused.'
He rolls the scroll up and looks around calmly before announcing: Divinations have revealed her to be here. If she has placed the inhabitants of this place under any kind of duress, we stand ready to liberate them from her yoke.
A large black bird swoops down and lands in front of the dwarves, towering over them.
:You will not harm the Star Song.:
"Enough! Hlawiith, return to your nest! Now! I gave you orders not to attack these dwarves."
Reluctantly the starhawk takes to the air, flying back to his nest.
Lynora-Jill steps to the edge of the balcony. The dwarves should be able to get a good look at her. If there are any there who saw her when her body was possessed by GDK, she looks quite different, dressed in a chain bikini rather than a tight-fitting leather body suit, hair flowing free rather than pulled tightly back, her snowy white wings that she did not have then extended ready to take flight at any moment. There are other differences, but they are too small to notice at this distance.
"I did not commit these crimes that you accuse me of. In the normal course of events, I would gladly submit to a trial knowing that I am innocent. But I currently have an appointment that must not be missed. If I am still in a position to be able to answer these charges after that, I will, but I doubt that there is anything you can do to me that is worse than what I already face. Small comfort, but it's all I have. Your timing is unfortunate at best. We are preparing for war. There is an army of undead on the move and we must stop them."
To the starhawk:
We will try her. In her absence if necessary, if she will neither give herself up, nor any here giving her shelter will give her up. The spokesman for the dwarves looks back at the starhawk. There is all-but-damning evidence that she destroyed Citiadel Arnblast. Less lawful races would doubtless take it upon themselves simply to pronounce guilt and proceed directly to retribution.
Even despite the destruction she is suspected of having inflicted, she is being accorded the same right to a trial under dwarven law as if she had put munhum-seeds in a neighbour's tobacco barrel.
One of the delegation produces a pendulum on a string, wound with some sort of hair, and lets it hang free. After a few moments, it unerringly starts to swing back and forth in the direction of the balcony where Lynora-Jill is standing.
The Spokesman calls up to the balcony.
If you will not give yourself up goddess, and these others will not hand you over, you will be tried in your absence. You will forfeit any right to speak in your own defence.
A djinn appears behind the dwarf.
"The goddess has agreed to stand trial, sir. You are arguing to no purpose." He speaks politely and carries no weapons, his only adornment an amulet with a spiral galaxy pattern.
"But you have come at the wrong time. The Lady and all who could testify on her behalf are committed to another course of action. There is a terrible army of undead led by a Servant of the Black marching towards us even as we speak. They seek to snuff out all life. The Star Song must be there to face them, lest we all fall. To demand a trial now is a farce, and no different than simply declaring her guilty and demanding retribution. Those of us who are left after will cooperate with your demands because that is what the goddess has agreed to. But right now we have mere hours before all who serve Life march to war."
A djinn appears behind the dwarf.
"The goddess has agreed to stand trial, sir. You are arguing to no purpose." He speaks politely and carries no weapons, his only adornment an amulet with a spiral galaxy pattern.
"But you have come at the wrong time. The Lady and all who could testify on her behalf are committed to another course of action. There is a terrible army of undead led by a Servant of the Black marching towards us even as we speak. They seek to snuff out all life. The Star Song must be there to face them, lest we all fall. To demand a trial now is a farce, and no different than simply declaring her guilty and demanding retribution. Those of us who are left after will cooperate with your demands because that is what the goddess has agreed to. But right now we have mere hours before all who serve Life march to war."
Perhaps if a suspect with a reputation for trickery and treachery accused of murdering thousands of your kin said something about it not being convenient today because of a need to fight a war against a horde of devils, you might be inclined to take her at her word and say 'of course we will wait on your convenience, whatever best suits you ma'am,'. He fights back his obvious anger.
I will spend no more words.The delegation makes ready to go, back into the tunnel.
LJ swoops down and land in front of the dwarf. She holds out a large white feather with a silver spiral galaxy pattern on it.
"I will die tomorrow. I am sorry for your loss. I did not cause them, but I understand why you think I did. I will explain later if I can. If I come back from the land of the dead, you can use that feather to summon me. I will stand trial as you request. But I cannot miss this particular appointment with death. I am sorry you do not like to hear that. But it does not change the truth. If I do not return from the dead you may call on Sunny Godhead, Alaina, Jack Hammer, Angel, PlantJack, Kobold Cleaver, Azuri'ith, Devlyn, Allura, Acme Robot, among others mostly belonging to the Jacks to tell you the truth of what happened."
She turns to leave, and then turns back.
"The real irony is that you already have your justice and you don't even realize it."
With that she flies back to the balcony. Any attempts to touch her or attack her are blocked by shields of wind.
A debate breaks out over if the feather is a trap, and whether or not it should be collected anyway, as evidence...
In the end, it is collected using a pair of tongs, dropped into a sack, and the dwarves disappear back into the tunnel.
Moments later, the chants of a cleric pull the rubble scattered around the tunnel mouth back up to close it off, and there is an absence of dwarves once again above the ground in the valley.
Occasional clatters or knocking sounds come ringing up though, through the rock.
A nondescript human woman, of average height, in plain dark clothes (cloak drawn tightly about her, hood pulled up over her face), with little remarkable about her (although her basilisk leather boots are both highly expensive and highly practical) arrives at the place where visitors to the Eyrie are accustomed to wait. She requests an urgent meeting with 'someone important', stating she has 'information which might be worth purchasing'.
A celestial eagle brings this message to LJ who focuses her attention on the visitor for a moment. After a brief conference with her grandfather, she nods. The elder air elemental approaches the visitor.
"I am Azuri'ith. You have information?"
Yes. Regarding activity by someone who wants to give your grandaughter a nasty jolt. You have been given discretion to negotiate payment?
"Yes, I have. I would pay quite handsomely for information that will help to protect her."
Someone whose minions recently planted some bad-luck fetishes around the Sanctum of Sunny G has been contacting cultists of the the late unlamented Goddess of Dangerous Knowledge at the bazaar. If you want the rest it will cost you five hundred electrum pieces.
Azuri'ith nods and says something in Aurun. Five smaller air elementals arrive with small chests.
"You may examine the payment if you like."Each chest contains one hundred electrum pieces.
Seeing that the dwarves have left, Sky reverts to his elven form. Drawing paint from his belt pouch, he draws several sigils of protection on the floor. When he is finished, he waves his hand and the sigils fade from sight. He then returns to his nest, opting to climb instead of flying to it. When he see the hatchlings still asleep, oblivious to what happened, he smiles and pulls a flute from his pack. He begins to play a soft tune that floats throughout the Eyrie and eases the young of the Eyrie in to a deeper restful slumber, while calming the adults. Everyone either dreams or remembers high places and soft breezes, calm air and windstorms.
Seeing that the dwarves have left, Sky reverts to his elven form. Drawing paint from his belt pouch, he draws several sigils of protection on the floor. When he is finished, he waves his hand and the sigils fade from sight. He then returns to his nest, opting to climb instead of flying to it. When he see the hatchlings still asleep, oblivious to what happened, he smiles and pulls a flute from his pack. He begins to play a soft tune that floats throughout the Eyrie and eases the young of the Eyrie in to a deeper restful slumber, while calming the adults. Everyone either dreams or remembers high places and soft breezes, calm air and windstorms.
:You play beautifully, Herald.:
Blodwen tilts her head.:It seems to me that it would be very strange to be without wings. It does not bother you?:
She examines the contents of each chest, casting a speedy and professional eye over the contents.
Very well then. They will shortly be mounting a raid on this location from under cover of invisibility, using brooms of flying. They will be flying in in three groups of six, each carrying pebbles with silence spells on which they will discard at the last moment before they attack. They have been briefed to cry out propaganda - which they believe to be true - to the effect that if your grandaughter dies, it will restore their mistress, as she rises phoenix-like from Lynora-Jill's corpse.
The one behind this plot does not believe that these fanatics will succeed in assassinating your grandaughter - his intention is to sow seeds of doubt in your grandaughter, on the eve of a major confrontation, making her fear for her own safety and the consequences should she die in it.
"Thank you for your information. I will put it to good use." With that he nods to the woman, and flies off.
When he is away from the spy he begins to give instructions to the elementals, preparations against this invasion should the information prove true.
When his song is finished, Sky puts his flute back in it's case.
:I'm a lycanthrope. Most of my life I went without my wings so I could enjoy the company of normal people. Then I found my a tribe of dire were-eagles like myself and they let me stay with them. One day I heared the shamanness of the tribe playing music on her flute. It entranced me and I asked if she would teach me when she finished her song. She asked me if I could see all those who were listening. When I looked around I could see calm and peaceful spirits had gathered around us. She took me as her apprentice when I was 13 and taught me much about the spirit world and Nature. But I cherish the music she taught me most of all. I always thought it was hilarious that I learned to play a wood-wind instrument...:
Sky has gotten that far-away look in his eys as he remembers his days with the tribe. He reaches into his pack a second time and pulls out a much different flute, one crafted of rowan wood and adorned with mithral inlay.
:I could show you what my tribe looked like if you want, I could show all who want to see.:
When his song is finished, Sky puts his flute back in it's case.
:I'm a lycanthrope. Most of my life I went without my wings so I could enjoy the company of normal people. Then I found my a tribe of dire were-eagles like myself and they let me stay with them. One day I heared the shamanness of the tribe playing music on her flute. It entranced me and I asked if she would teach me when she finished her song. She asked me if I could see all those who were listening. When I looked around I could see calm and peaceful spirits had gathered around us. She took me as her apprentice when I was 13 and taught me much about the spirit world and Nature. But I cherish the music she taught me most of all. I always thought it was hilarious that I learned to play a wood-wind instrument...:
Sky has gotten that far-away look in his eys as he remembers his days with the tribe. He reaches into his pack a second time and pulls out a much different flute, one crafted of rowan wood and adorned with mithral inlay.
:I could show you what my tribe looked like if you want, I could show all who want to see.:
:Yes, I would like that very much, Sky.: she says eagerly. Blodwen seems eager to learn more about him and his kind.
(edited, spell corrected)
Riding in in tight formation, under cover of invisibility spheres and individual magical silences, a dozen and a half fanatics loyal to the memory of the Goddess of Dangerous Knowledge approach the eyrie, on brooms of flying. They finger the vials of alchemists fire and the poisoned daggers at their belts, members of each group of six glancing at one another for reassurance.
The fanatics are attacked by air elementals, each of whom have their own magical silence. Anyone watching would see the sudden inexplicable formation of several whirlwinds.
"Grandfather, who are those people and why are we attacking them?"
"They were sent here by an enemy to sow confusion. I posted guards to deal with them when they arrived. Landbound creatures should know better than to attack the air. Gravity always wins."