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[Arcana]

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Author's note - these events transpired just before Arcana passed leadership of the Order of the Silver Leaf to the elf-maid Anariel

Arcana rode through the forest on a rare outing with her young daughter, Morrigan. The little girl sat in front of her in the saddle on her solid, aging warhorse, Bear. He wasn't much use in a fight anymore, but she could count on him not to spook. Absently, she reached down and corrected her daughter's grip on the reins. "The leather goes between your pinkie and ring finger, sweetie," she said. Morri did her best with her stubby toddler fingers, but soon forgot and gripped the reins with her entire fist once again; she was too excited over their outing to concentrate on much else. Mother had promised her they would see a unicorn today!

The noble unicorns were just as marvelous as had been promised. In high spirits, Morri pleaded to be taken to see a dire wolf. Arcana considered. The Meer had driven off the dire wolves from Lakeshire since the end of the Juka wars. She'd have to travel near the savage encampment to be assured of seeing one. It might be too dangerous for the girl. But Arcana seldom spent long periods of time with her daughter, and the child's pleading and a mother's guilty conscience soon won her over. Bear was aging, but still swift enough to carry them away from any danger that should arise, and Arcana also had her longbow.

...

"Eww, stinky," exclaimed Morri as Arcana dismounted and landed ankle deep in swamp water. A nearby ridgeback looked up from chewing its cud and made a brapping noise at them. "Ugly," Morri added. Arcana agreed and began leading her horse through the low-growing vegetation. It wasn't long before she found the tracks she sought; canine paw prints as wide as her hand. "Hold on tight, Morri," she cautioned and led the horse after the tracks.

After a short while, the tracks led them out of the swamp and onto firmer, more open ground. Arcana sensed that the animal was near and firmly told Bear to stay. She took a few steps forward and without prelude, a large, shaggy dire wolf steped out of a stand of ferns. A low, menacing growl rumbled in his throat, and his hackles stood on end. But Arcana instantly began speaking to the beast in a confident voice and manuvered to stay just out of range of his powerful jaws, but also between the dire wolf and her daughter, in case this didn't turn out well. Fortunately, Arcana's talent with animals won the day and soon the wild dire wolf was licking Morrigain's face as tamely as any domestic dog.

After a while of this fun, Arcana sent the dire wolf on his way and mounted Bear behind her daughter. It was time to head home. Arcana, assisted by a sleepy Morri, pointed Bear toward the more open ground as a route back to the mountain pass that would take them back to the moongate. It was a bit longer and passed closer to the savage encampment, but it would keep them out of the humidity and insects of the swamp.

They'd cantered only a short way when disaster stuck.

Arcana barely registered the flash of painted skin in the ferns before the bola wrapped Bear's legs and took him down. Years of fighting had honed Arcana's relfexes enough that she was able to throw Morrigan clear of the falling horse. But it happened so quickly that she was unable to clear the saddle in time herself. The bola had caught Bear in full stride, and he went down hard. Arcana had one leg over his neck but the other caught in the stirrup and carried her down. She felt her caught leg break as Bear's shoulder landed on it. The horse's remaining forward motion carried her over his body and clear of further injury, but the force of the fall knocked the breath out of her body.

Bear quickly got to his feet only to be speared by a savage. Arcana heard his neigh of pain as she lay face down in the dirt, gasping to fill her empty lungs and fighting unconsciousness. Her daughter's shrill scream of terror instantly cleared the fog from her mind. She staggered up onto her good leg and turned in the direction of the scream, at the same time desperately looking for any sort of weapon and despearely lamenting that she'd tied her bow and quivver to Bear's saddle.

If she'd had her bow, she might have saved her daughter's life.

Arcana had turned just in time to see the savage's spear plunge down into her daughter's chest. The little girl's scream for her mother stopped like the sniffing of a candle flame. Arcana's agony of heart was cut mercifully short by a spear butt to the back of her head.

She landed on her back with a grunt of pain and looked up at the descending spear point with resignation. To her shock - and even a slight twinge of dissappointment - the direwolf leapt across her narrowing field of vision, bodily crashing into the spear-wielding savage. She heard a gread deal of shouting and snarling... and then nothing at all.

...

Arcana awoke, free from pain, to the kindly face of a gypsy healer. She took a breath to ask, but the elderly gyspy woman answered her first. "She's over there," the woman said softly.

Arcana rolled over and jumped to her feet, fought down a wave of nausea, and ran to the prone form lying at the foot of the Shrine's ankh. She fell to her knees beside her daughter's still body. The gaping chest wound was mercifully covered by a sheet and her eyes that were just like her father's were closed, but Morri's chill, bloodless face left no doubts that she was dead.

"Some pilgrims found you," the gypsy said with great compassion. "There was nothing we could do. Her spirit was too young, too lightly bound to the body to bring back."

The words barely registered with Arcana. She choked back a wordless sob. This was all her fault. Dazed, and scarecely aware of what she was doing, she gathered up the small body - it was so light - and walked into the Shrine's nearby moongate. She then found herself at the Shrine of Sacrifice - her family's patron virtue.

Arcana rarely prayed. But this day she did. But whatever gods there were kept their silence. Arcana threatened and damned them all, but there was no answer, no sign of anything at all.

She buried her daughter with her own hands and sat before the grave as the sun set.



There were unicorns near the shrine. Morri would have liked that.

She hadn't cried in many years, even as she and Robert, her husband, had slowly drifted apart into their current estrangement. A single tear ran down her face and landed in the fresh earth. She was too angry to cry further. How could she have let this happen? Why must these so-called gods punish innocent Morrigan when it should have been she who died. She had been ready to die. She would have killed herself then and there, but some spark of pride left within her cried out that it was weak and shameful, so she stayed her hand.

No god or goddess had ever answered her before; Arcana supposed it was no surprise that none answered her now. What good were the Virtues when all they required was blood and pain. Damn them. She was a pathetic mockery of a paladin. She stood and ripped the ankh on its chain from around her neck and flung it at its larger mirror image at the Shrine. "I've sacrificed enough for you."

[Sir Robert]

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Not much later...

Sir Robert rode, with a smile and a song on his lips to the moongate outside of Trinsic. It was a nice day, the sun shining warmly and he felt up for some adventure. Of course, usually that meant for him to go to the ratmen caves to defeat some of their mages. It was something the Dodo in his hat grudgingly accepted, knowing that it was more a test of skill than anything else, as the very same ratmen mages seem to come back and come back and come back. Sir Robert must have killed some of them a few dozen times already.
The entered the moongate and appeared at the Shrine of Sacrifice in llshenar. Even though there was no real need Sir Robert looked around, knowing that sometimes something nasty might wander over to a shrine, or being lured by an adventurer fleeing for his life. But nothing like that lurked here, but something WAS amiss. With a frown the young man looked aorund, and scratched his beard. The Shrine seemed alright, unmarred and.. ah.. there it was, a small silver glint. Sir Robert dismounted from the image of the Great Dodo and leaned down. It was half hidden in the dirt. Gold maybe? the duke thought and picked it up. It was a silver ankh pendant on a broken chain. It looked familiar to the man, as he removed the dirt from it.
"WARK!"
He turned around to the sound, not having noticed that his companion had jumped from his hat. He saw dodo at the graveyard, looking at something, looking incredibly sad. The bird turned his beak to his human companion and "told" him to come closer.
Sir Robert felt a surge of dread course through his body, but he had to know what disturbed his dodo that much. He went closer, saw that his companion was on a fresh grave, as small one even. Then he turned around and he saw the stone. His knees gave way and he dropped heavily.
"No, that cant be.." He barely registered Dodo jumping into his arms and almost mechanical he patted the bird. Somehow giving comfort to his compassionate feathered companion soothed him as well.
His lust for adventure for this day was gone. He went to the nearby Meer village, but they couldnt tell him anything. So he continued to walk around and ask questions. Later that day he found a few gypsys who told him what they knew. He thanked them and left Ilshenar, heading to Riverrun near Vesper, trying to find Arcana, cursing himself for not being the husband and father he should have been. If only he had tried harder, if only he would have been with them.. if only...

Days later.
Sir Robert hasnt slept well, hasnt been able to sleep well the last few nights. He still blamed him for the death of his daughter, knowing that it wont never stop. If only he could have found Arcana...
He looked around at the bedroom, finding it suddenly too large, and looking at the now forever empty room of his daughter pierced is heart. He could not help, could not bring her back, but maybe remodelling this part of the Wandering Wisp might help him.
_________________
Reality, the refuge of those who fail in RPGs

Though this be madnes, yet there's method in't

[Arcana]

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"Send this to Trinsic for me, old friend," Arcana said, handing the letter to Gurti, "... and tell Robert anything he asks." The woman had been a family retainer since she was a girl, and was unquestionably reliable. It had been painful in the highest degree, but she had told her everything about Morri's death. Someone had to know, and she could not face Robert, not like this and after all this time.

........

Dearest Robert,

I left Trinsic to rediscover myself... and what I have discovered, I have found to be... wanting. There has been a terrible accident. Our Morrigan was killed. If only I... I blame myself. Forgive me, it is too much to write of it. Gurti at Riverrun will tell you everything. I burried her at the Sacrifice Shrine in Ilshenar. I thought Morri would have liked that. *a small smudge appears, perhaps from a tear*

I'm sorry for... for a lot of things. I won't ask you to forgive me. I can't come back to Trinsic. It is my own cowardice, but I couldn't bear to face you and the Knights. I'm not the woman I thought I was. I'm not the Lady all of you believe me to be, and I cannot bear to break their hearts as well.

~Arcana

............