GLRP E&H Thurisaz: Ill Winds, Part II
Title: Ill Winds, Part II
Author: Prospero Faenis
-+* Two *+-
The bolt slid back and he opened the door only enough to permit his slim frame to slide through into the hall, drawing the door closed behind him. He held the latch in his hand. "What is it?" His eyes went to Timlyn. I saw Timlyn shrug very slightly and roll his eyes.
Without warning, I pushed Remar aside and barged into his room. The bed, I could see now, had been moved so that he could climb upon it to open the only window in his room, a small round one in the upper left corner. The only stool in his room was rickety and would not support his weight. On the desk sat an inkwell. In the inkwell, a blue-black feather. This caught my eye immediately. All of our quills were white. Wolpur made them from chicken feathers. There were no papers on the desk, but there were ink smudges on Remar's fingers and a small one on his nose. I opened the small desk drawer and found a hastily rolled bundle of parchment. Some of the ink was smeared and looked fresh. I glanced over the symbols and words of a daemon language.
"Remar," I asked softly, "what is all this?"
Remar rudely took the papers from my hand. "Those are mine. I will thank you for excusing yourself from my room and refraining from rummaging through my things."
Timlyn was in the doorway, watching with wide eyes. His lips parted as if he might speak, but he held his tongue.
I cast a stern gaze on Remar. "When you joined the brotherhood, was it not made abundantly clear to you that everything we have belongs to us all - be it material possessions or personal turmoils? We house no secrets here. I want to know what this is about, Remar."
Finding his voice, Timlyn said quietly, "You have to tell him, Remar. Perhaps he can help."
"Help?" I asked, my anger abating and giving way to concern. "Are you in some sort of trouble?"
Remar shook his head. "It is not me. It is Asep. He needs my help."
I was more confused now than ever. "Who is Asep?"
Remar motioned for me to be seated on the stool as he sat on the edge of his bed. "When I was a boy, my friend Asep and I found a cave. I dared him to enter a small opening. He took the dare and never returned. No trace of him was ever found. I have never stopped trying to discover what happened to him. In our library, I found a book on divination. As I was reading it, there was a tapping on the window. I moved the bed so that I could look outside and a raven flew in. The bird circled the room once and a feather landed on my desk, then the bird was gone. As I lifted the feather, my hand seemed to be moved by an unseen force. It dipped the quill into the ink and these words and pictures appeared. Each night, the raven comes and brings a feather. More words, more pictures. And look at this," he said, shuffling through the parchments and holding one out to me. "It says his name right here. ‘Help me, Remmie. Asep.' He is trying to help me find him."
I remembered no books on divination in our collection. I asked to see the book. Remar laid it before me and I gave it a cursory glance. This was something dark, something evil. We would never permit a book of that nature in our collection and I told him so. "Did it not seem odd to you that a book of this kind would be in our care? We destroy books like this. We don't collect them."
"I want to help Asep," Remar said flatly. "And I will."
The fluttering of wings above our heads made us all look up. A raven perched in the window. It turned its head this way and that, as if it were watching and listening to us with complete comprehension. A shiver traced its way up my spine.
"I cannot permit this," I told him, rising to my feet and mustering all the authority I could inflect. "We do not deal with evil things in this manner. It is against our beliefs. It is contrary to who we are." I made a quick wave with my hand, hoping to scare off the bird. Instead, it flew in, diving toward my eyes as it screeched. It seemed to be attempting to drive me from the room. I ducked down and Timlyn put an arm over me protectively. "That bird is a harbinger of doom!" I sputtered.
The raven lighted on Remar's shoulder, regarding me with its piercing eyes. A black feather fell into Remar's lap. He tried to hide it in his sleeve, but it was too late. I demanded he hand it to me. My hand touched it and I felt myself pulled to the desk, my fingers plunging into the inkwell. Ink splattered across the desk and wall. I watched in horror as words filled the page.
"It is too late. It is too late. It is too late. They come. They come for you. Selmatet will claim you all."
Remar and Timlyn rushed to my side to read the parchment as the bird flew up and out. I did not know if it was my imagination or if it were so, but I thought I heard it laughing.
Outside, the wind picked up and the trees began to wail. It whistled over the casement and into the room, swirling and chilling the three of us as it blew out the candles in Remar's room and scattered the parchments. I felt them press against me in the dark.
Something wicked was on its way. There was no mistaking it. For the first time in years, I tasted the bitter bile of fear rising in my throat.
