View Single Post
Old 01-18-2023, 08:36 PM   #14
Terquem
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Idaho Falls
Default Re: The Fantasy Trip inspired Fiction, The Tower

Chapter 2 part 1

It was not difficult to get a fire going. Alan arranged enough wood within the fireplace to make a comfortable but not large fire and placed the rest of the wood he gathered on the stone floor that extended to each side of the fireplace to a few feet. The five travelers, one by one, retrieved their packs, which they had left on the stones outside of the tower where the stairs climb to the door on the first floor. The door was closed and latched, again, and the group gathered around near the bottom of the stairs inside the tower.

“If you have cloths you can change into, and get out of your wet garments,” Lisa said, “we can check to see if there are empty rooms on the second floor where you can change in private. I have some light cord in my pack, and I will string a few lines of it up near the fire where we can dry what you are wearing.”

Alan took the torch and raised it above his head. “I’ll go up and scout it out. If I find it is safe, I’ll let everyone know.”

“I don’t like stairs,” Princess Tewelden said as she explored away from the group looking at the walls that made a small, enclosed area under the stairs. “There is a door here. Where does this lead?”

“That is the door to the storage room under the stairs and then to the stairs down to the cellar,” the Tower said.

“So, it is true,” Fairlyn said. “There is a presence here that is aware of us, can hear us talk and can speak.”

“I am the Tower,” the Tower said. “You do not need to be afraid. I cannot see you, so your privacy is safe. I cannot read minds, but I can hear you and I can feel your presence, well –”

“Thank you,” Lisa cut off what the tower was about to say, “we appreciate your warnings.”

Alan’s voice came from the floor above, “There are three rooms on this floor and another stair going up. Two of the rooms are empty and have working doors. The other is full of furniture, but it looks like most of it has been smashed up a bit.”

“I’ll change in here,” the Princess said, standing by the door to the storage under the stairs.

“I’ll change with you,” Fairlyn added.

“Then it’s the second floor for us,” Lydia said, and lead the eshians up the stairs.

As they were going up, Gwenna turned and looked for Lisa. When she had made eye contact with Lisa, Gwenna said, “I’m adopted. We’ll hurry and be down as soon as we can. Then we’ll explain everything.”
Lisa was able to fasten two lines of cord from rings set into the stone walls where torches might have been used when someone lived in the tower. Wet clothes could be placed over the cords to dry in the warmth of the fire as the room became cozy and comfortable.

Alan managed to find four unbroken stools on the second floor and brought them down the stairs. He placed them in a semicircle around the fireplace, and sat on the floor, cross legged. Lisa sat on the stool closest to him. The princess reclined on the floor, her lower body coiled around her, and Fairlyn and Lydia took two of the other stools. Gwenna sat on the last stool and her husband sat in front of her on his knees. One stool remained unused.

“What do you know of Cidri?” Lydia asked when everyone was settled.

“I’ve not heard that word before,” Lisa replied. “Is it a disease?”

“No, not at all,” Lydia said.

“I know of it,” Alan said, nodding his head. “It is a following, a cult, madmen. I went to, I was involved with, some, some people who came into conflict with a large group of the followers of this cult, an army of them. On the northwest coast. In the Barony of Hulde. We were hired by the Baron’s men to defend a castle in the port town of Krandalton. We managed to defeat them, drive them off, but at a great loss. We saved the castle, and nothing else that day. The people who believe in Cidri believe in doomsday.”

“That’s almost it, but not all of it,” Lydia said.

“So, Cidri is some sort of God, or Deamon?” Lisa asked.

“It’s a world,” Fairlyn said. “The followers of Cidri believe our world, Eysturlun, Beauvingia, Ibalnd, even the whole of Hamth is not what we think it is. They have been told, by someone and we don’t know who, that the world is bigger than we know. They have been told the world is Cidri, and Cidri is literally hundreds if not thousands of worlds connected by the gates. They believe in a people who once existed, called the Malorians –”

“Mnoren,” Princess Tewelden interrupted, “they believe in a people called Mnoren, who created Cidri and who control the world and all the magic in it.”

“This is something I’ve never heard of, and I’ve met with travelers from all over, as far away as Evhon and Kijzta,” Lisa said. “What makes them dangerous? I imagine that if they were a threat to other folks, then I might have heard of them. This conflict, Alan, that you mentioned to the north. This is in Vologna, yes? Not in Drasbia, I’m sorry, the free lands of Ibalnd.”

Lydia said, “They grow in numbers and then they lose faith when their predictions of catastrophe don’t come true. It is a strange cult. Most of the time you wouldn’t consider them dangerous. I’ve heard they were in the north, and I know of the battle you talked about, Alan. You were there?”

“I was.”

“I heard,” Lydia said, moving to the edge of the stool and grasping the sides tightly in her hands, “no one survived that battle, on either side, but one man who is not a man at all, but some kind of revenant who walks the world and everywhere he goes, death follows.”

Last edited by Terquem; 02-01-2023 at 06:59 PM. Reason: minor editorial corrections
Terquem is offline   Reply With Quote