Trouble on Candlepin
May. 8th, 2022 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kimurhoChapter 1: Border Scry
Samhain
A dark room deep underground
Something woke me. A sound perhaps? I lay with my eyes closed, breathing even, mimicking sleep as I strained to listen.
Nothing. Nothing moving. No sense of another living soul in the room. The still air carried no alien scent to my nostrils.
Deeming it safe, I opened my eyes. I might as well kept them closed for all that I could see in the absolute darkness of the room. With that, I knew where I was. It was Samhain-tide; the turn of the year from old to new; when visions come to those who see; those with the gift of Sight. I lay within the sacred space of the scrying chamber, my mind open for warnings of what was to come.
I closed eyes again and focused inward, seeking what might have disturbed my slumber, spinning out the memory of emotions into solid thoughts.
A taste of action, mixed with fear. Scent of home ... trees? Not home, but like home.
Somewhere this side of the Border.
The sound of geese flying overhead.
No! Not geese; hounds. Yes. Howling, a sense of danger.
Hunting me? Or who I had been in dream-state. The latter. There was nothing to indicate that this was personal to me.
What came before? Follow the thread back.
Snow. Heavy snow, can't see the road. Something ... animal? A deer. Surprise, fear. Why fear?
Walking. Had I been walking earlier? No, don't lose the thread. Walking. Tired, frustrated. Snow falling, trees all around. Following. Who? A doorway - opening to lights and music and confusion all around.
Once again I opened my eyes, the flashes of dream-vision caught tight in memory. Now to string the thoughts together into a cohesive whole that would keep.
Sometime when the snow flies, a door will open into a Faerie knowe. The intruder will escape the Dance to become prey for the Hunt.
I lay a little longer, trying to pull more details from the dream fading as quickly as the morning mist on a sunny day. Once it was gone, it would be gone forever, except what I had retrieved here and now. I had to be careful not to imagine details to support the apparent narrative. Seers who did that quickly lost their powers.
Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes to the darkness once again and pushed the covers back. The ShadowCat, a slight heaviness against my leg, shifted in protest. I shushed her gently, sitting up and looking around.
The scrying chamber was round, not that I could distinguish that now; its walls covered with webs depicting the Borders of our territory. The webs had been the careful work of years; they represented maps of the locales where the Borders touched; each one woven of threads coloured with dyes gleaned from the minerals and plants that grew nearby; each one embedded with beads of stone or wood or crystals either originating from the locale, or otherwise imbued with the anima of the lands on this side of where the Border stood.
I saw nothing at first. Closing my eyes, I cleared my thoughts of all except the prayer of clarity.
My chest hurt.
A sign I was pulling too much life-force for the Sight. A sign that whatever was coming, it was not to be in the immediate future.
I placed a hand on my breastbone and turned my gaze once more around the room.
I almost missed it. A faint glow. A gleam that only caught the eye because of the uttermost darkness of the chamber.
A small smile of satisfaction pulled at my lips, but I wasn't done. Not yet. I had to locate the exact source of the disturbance; had to identify what portion of the Border was fraying.
I turned my legs to rise.
The ShadowCat gave a sniff of displeasure. I hushed her again.
"Shhh ... Shhh ... Go back to sleep. You're all right." Despite my words, I wasn't surprised to hear the faintest of thumps as she jumped to the floor.
The chamber was empty except for the pile of bedding in the centre of the room and the webs that covered the walls around. Even so, I walked carefully toward the gleam of light that had caught my eye. Even now, the ShadowCat sometimes left little surprises on the floors at night. And I didn't want to walk face-first into the wall or stub my toes on it.
I stopped a short distance from the spot and studied the glow closely, gleaning what information the colours could yield.
It was dark and muddy; not pure. A mixture of shades. A mixture of influences?
Moss-green ... that wasn't bad; exactly. It wasn't good, but it wasn't necessarily bad. The Dancers?
Dark orange, now that was bad. And was there a hint of black in the mix? No, not quite black but definitely dark enough. Goblins, perhaps? One of their High Lords with pretensions beyond their state?
I relaxed, letting out a deep sigh, thinking I had teazed out all the tangles. The ShadowCat butted her head against my shin. Absently, thinking more about the scrying results than what I was doing, I lowered a hand to caress her round head. She purred.
In that moment, I caught the smallest hint of a gleam of gold. I blinked with surprise, raising my hand and it was gone, disappeared into the muddy mixture of hues.
I waited a few moments longer, waiting to see if it would return, aware of the chill of the floor, the shiver of cold in the air.
Only the same muddy mix of hues.
I placed one finger on the source of that gleam, then I raised my other hand and called forth a candle's worth of fairy fire. The pale grey-green light illuminated the web, allowing me to see the threads of which it was made.
I stood before the southwest wall of the chamber, where the web depicted a mountain region, some two days journey away by foot. A studied the lines and curves of the web, memorizing them. When I was sure I had it fast, I retrieved the dream journal and a pencil and returned to copy the turnings of the threads of the web-map upon a clean page. Then I sat upon the bedding and wrote all that I recalled of the dream-vision.
When I was certain I knew the lines and curves of the spot, I retrieved the dream journal and a pencil. I recorded what images I had from the dream-vision and then copied the threads of the web-map upon the facing page, circling the site of the glow. Tomorrow, the Dragon and I would study the Mortal maps to identify where the danger lay, but that was on the morrow and the dawn had not yet broken in the world above.
I returned the journal to its spot beside my bedding, extinguished the foxfire glow, and lay down once more. For an eternity, I lay, eyes open in the dark. I was aware of the ShadowCat settling down once again by my side. I listened in the dark, straining my senses. Not another living soul was in the chamber beside me. The wards kept even the smallest of vermin out.
Not another living soul, I thought, my eyes growing heavy with sleep.
The ShadowCat hadn't been alive for years.
Chapter 2: Reports
Samhain
A dark room deep underground
Something woke me. A sound perhaps? I lay with my eyes closed, breathing even, mimicking sleep as I strained to listen.
Nothing. Nothing moving. No sense of another living soul in the room. The still air carried no alien scent to my nostrils.
Deeming it safe, I opened my eyes. I might as well kept them closed for all that I could see in the absolute darkness of the room. With that, I knew where I was. It was Samhain-tide; the turn of the year from old to new; when visions come to those who see; those with the gift of Sight. I lay within the sacred space of the scrying chamber, my mind open for warnings of what was to come.
I closed eyes again and focused inward, seeking what might have disturbed my slumber, spinning out the memory of emotions into solid thoughts.
A taste of action, mixed with fear. Scent of home ... trees? Not home, but like home.
Somewhere this side of the Border.
The sound of geese flying overhead.
No! Not geese; hounds. Yes. Howling, a sense of danger.
Hunting me? Or who I had been in dream-state. The latter. There was nothing to indicate that this was personal to me.
What came before? Follow the thread back.
Snow. Heavy snow, can't see the road. Something ... animal? A deer. Surprise, fear. Why fear?
Walking. Had I been walking earlier? No, don't lose the thread. Walking. Tired, frustrated. Snow falling, trees all around. Following. Who? A doorway - opening to lights and music and confusion all around.
Once again I opened my eyes, the flashes of dream-vision caught tight in memory. Now to string the thoughts together into a cohesive whole that would keep.
Sometime when the snow flies, a door will open into a Faerie knowe. The intruder will escape the Dance to become prey for the Hunt.
I lay a little longer, trying to pull more details from the dream fading as quickly as the morning mist on a sunny day. Once it was gone, it would be gone forever, except what I had retrieved here and now. I had to be careful not to imagine details to support the apparent narrative. Seers who did that quickly lost their powers.
Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes to the darkness once again and pushed the covers back. The ShadowCat, a slight heaviness against my leg, shifted in protest. I shushed her gently, sitting up and looking around.
The scrying chamber was round, not that I could distinguish that now; its walls covered with webs depicting the Borders of our territory. The webs had been the careful work of years; they represented maps of the locales where the Borders touched; each one woven of threads coloured with dyes gleaned from the minerals and plants that grew nearby; each one embedded with beads of stone or wood or crystals either originating from the locale, or otherwise imbued with the anima of the lands on this side of where the Border stood.
I saw nothing at first. Closing my eyes, I cleared my thoughts of all except the prayer of clarity.
My chest hurt.
A sign I was pulling too much life-force for the Sight. A sign that whatever was coming, it was not to be in the immediate future.
I placed a hand on my breastbone and turned my gaze once more around the room.
I almost missed it. A faint glow. A gleam that only caught the eye because of the uttermost darkness of the chamber.
A small smile of satisfaction pulled at my lips, but I wasn't done. Not yet. I had to locate the exact source of the disturbance; had to identify what portion of the Border was fraying.
I turned my legs to rise.
The ShadowCat gave a sniff of displeasure. I hushed her again.
"Shhh ... Shhh ... Go back to sleep. You're all right." Despite my words, I wasn't surprised to hear the faintest of thumps as she jumped to the floor.
The chamber was empty except for the pile of bedding in the centre of the room and the webs that covered the walls around. Even so, I walked carefully toward the gleam of light that had caught my eye. Even now, the ShadowCat sometimes left little surprises on the floors at night. And I didn't want to walk face-first into the wall or stub my toes on it.
I stopped a short distance from the spot and studied the glow closely, gleaning what information the colours could yield.
It was dark and muddy; not pure. A mixture of shades. A mixture of influences?
Moss-green ... that wasn't bad; exactly. It wasn't good, but it wasn't necessarily bad. The Dancers?
Dark orange, now that was bad. And was there a hint of black in the mix? No, not quite black but definitely dark enough. Goblins, perhaps? One of their High Lords with pretensions beyond their state?
I relaxed, letting out a deep sigh, thinking I had teazed out all the tangles. The ShadowCat butted her head against my shin. Absently, thinking more about the scrying results than what I was doing, I lowered a hand to caress her round head. She purred.
In that moment, I caught the smallest hint of a gleam of gold. I blinked with surprise, raising my hand and it was gone, disappeared into the muddy mixture of hues.
I waited a few moments longer, waiting to see if it would return, aware of the chill of the floor, the shiver of cold in the air.
Only the same muddy mix of hues.
I placed one finger on the source of that gleam, then I raised my other hand and called forth a candle's worth of fairy fire. The pale grey-green light illuminated the web, allowing me to see the threads of which it was made.
I stood before the southwest wall of the chamber, where the web depicted a mountain region, some two days journey away by foot. A studied the lines and curves of the web, memorizing them. When I was sure I had it fast, I retrieved the dream journal and a pencil and returned to copy the turnings of the threads of the web-map upon a clean page. Then I sat upon the bedding and wrote all that I recalled of the dream-vision.
When I was certain I knew the lines and curves of the spot, I retrieved the dream journal and a pencil. I recorded what images I had from the dream-vision and then copied the threads of the web-map upon the facing page, circling the site of the glow. Tomorrow, the Dragon and I would study the Mortal maps to identify where the danger lay, but that was on the morrow and the dawn had not yet broken in the world above.
I returned the journal to its spot beside my bedding, extinguished the foxfire glow, and lay down once more. For an eternity, I lay, eyes open in the dark. I was aware of the ShadowCat settling down once again by my side. I listened in the dark, straining my senses. Not another living soul was in the chamber beside me. The wards kept even the smallest of vermin out.
Not another living soul, I thought, my eyes growing heavy with sleep.
The ShadowCat hadn't been alive for years.
Chapter 2: Reports
