Luskan: The veiled city

[Soleus Blackthorne]

" Fall back..Fall back"

Soleus's general yelled for a retreat when they were so close to having the orcs and goblins defeated. Already one of the Darkthorne generals had fallen before Soleus's hammer and that left one Darkthorne leader in charge of this army. The body of the one who fell before Soleus was engulfed in flames sent out by his hands as the troops ran past him. There was no sun in Luskan only cave walls, a city over a empty, black chasim. The city was in ruin when they found it and was slowly falling into more ruin from the war. The Darkthrones had taken up refuge in two caves one formerly a dungeon of some sort and the second a maze. They'd captured some of the snake women in the maze and made them into new soldiers. This was not good since Soleus's side had no reasources to pull on for soldiers, besides his golems.

The healers of Soleus group were kept in the city even while in battle. The archers and catapults struck from the city while the infantry and calvary struck on the ground. Magical explosions lit the scene around Soleus as he stood in his armor with his black hammer in one hand and the darkthorne blade in the other. Two eath golems stood behind Soleus acting as his personal bodyguards. He would not let this battle continue for anymore years, it'd already taxed his men and their sanity. Though they did not age while within Luskan they dead, and death in a trap was animalistic. Soleus charged forward towards the army, his frost shield killing off the enemy which got in his way. Before him stood an orc general who fired at Soleus with his crossbow striking Soleus in arm.

Soleus still determined continued forward while the orc reloaded and fired again. This time the bolt struck him in the leg bringing him down to his knees. Soleus looked up and the air around him wavered with a sudden pulse of energy. His visage became distorted as the distortion moved forward quickly slowly taking on form. It appeared like a ethereal tear drop slowly taking on form as it flew towards the orc general who was reloading. As it came closer it elongated into a solid black spear and pierced the chest of the orc general. The golems picked up Soleus in their arms and began to carry him back to Luskan. The battle was over for now, but soon as always it would continue. They were short on supplies and would soon have to face the horror of starving to death, besides just dieing in battle.

" I will kill you..every last one of you..my people will be freeeeee.." Soleus shouted as the golems fled towards the gate with him. Once the gates shut behind him, his generals looked to him questionably. For he'd ignored the order to retreat and nearly perished in his lust to end this battle. Had he fallen the people would have become demoralized and crushed beneath the next attack. Soleus sighed and nodded towards them, " I know I'm like my father always wanting to end the battle swiftly to lose less....it will not happen again, but we shall win this fight." Soleus laid down against the nearby building his wounds bleeding while he awaited healing. The healers knew he wanted his men healed before himself, he could last.

[gem_sherbrooke]

The cell she was in, was only 6 feet by 4 feet at most. the cold stone walls were thick and damp the far beneath the ground. It was day 6 of her interment here, waiting for release, waiting to discover who kept her and why. She tried to keep moving in the small cell, counting out the steps repeatedly but still the time dragged. it was only the once a day meal of watered down juice and stale bread that told her of the days passing

 The healer was careful to keep the dark cell picked up. using the small hole in the corner for what is was intended. She pushed the damp old hay that made her bed in pile to one side so as not to step on it and further trample it. What she didn't know was that she was deep in the caves near Luskan.  She licked her dry lips feeling the weakness of not eating these passed days wash thru her. Had she seen herself, she would understand why. She was filthy from the muck and mildew of the cell. her hair was matted and her face smudged. Her lavender blue eyes looked weary. her clothing  in ruin. She sat again on the straw dozing to pass the time

Her name was Gemriana Sherbrooke and unknown to ehr she was kept her because of her healing skills they could be used here and not for the attacking army.  She dozed off and on for the next hour, sounds of rats scurrying in the darkness outside her door, waking her intermittently. She raised the hem of her simple dress, once blue now brown and stained, and wiped her face with it. She stood, her hand slipping out in the darkness to the stone wall she knew was there, using it to steady herself from the dizziness that swept over her. She needed to get out of here before she was too weak to try. There was no window in her room, the slit in the outer wall having been filled in with mortar and stone years ago. She moved again to the small hole in the floor. there was remnants of an iron grate over it. She grabbed the grate and tried pulling it with all her strength again, repeating what she had been doing off an on for 6 days now.....

Gem grimaced knowing what the hole was really for and ran her finger along where the iron gate met the stone. She worked for a while, picking at the old crumbled stone, and grabbing at the grate pulling. At last she felt what she hoped for, there was movement in the grate. She worked harder, concentrating even more as she kept working at it...again she pulled and with a sudden movement, the rotten mortar released the grate. She fell back wards at the sudden movement, hitting her head again the wall "ow" she said as she thumped. Despite the stink, she moved closer to the hole and leaned in listening for what she suspected was below...a cistern and tunnels of slimy water deep below

Gem bit her lower lip and slid her legs into the hole, lowering herself as much as she could until she could no longer hold on. Death by cistern was surely a better option then death by starvation. With that she let go and slid down the excrement and slimy mold covered hole, sliding down the tunnel until it opened onto a giant pool of foulness below. She went head under then when she came up, retched several times. She tried to catch her breath and retched again, not that there was anything in her stomach to vomit. As she hoped, here was a slight current, ever so slight that lead south, though she didn?t realize it...she began to follow the current, hoping that it lead to freedom

Gem, as she swam in the cesspool, from time to time, she would grab the slimy stone wall to rest then continue retching again and again.. The foul river  seemed to become more and more water filled, less and less excrement. Finally she found the end, the place where the sewage drained into a shallow river...There was one major problem. bars covered the stone exit to freedom......

She leaned her head against the bars as her hands gripped them, tears of frustration fall down her dirty face ...all this way to be stopped by bars again. "DAMN IT" she shouted out loud, knowing she was likely the only one that could hear it....sobbing she stood there, hearing the sounds the battle beyond..

[Soleus Blackthorne]

Soleus had drifted off to sleep, while asleep he dreamed of things he could not understand. In his dream he had seen a woman, a cell, and a river he had awoke startled. Not sure as to what the dream meant for normally he had no dreams here. This place had long taken his dreams from him for he knew they were useless. Soleus however now felt that this dream was trying to tell him something. The only source of water in the town was the well which went down to an underground river. A river...if his dream had been correct they and there was a tunnel below leading to the remaining Darkthorne hideout... They could travel down along the tunnel and finish the battle once and for all and be free of this retched place.

Soleus laughed, but it was only a dream, he couldn't really believe a dream could he? Soleus noticed his wounds had been healed and the men were honoring those that had fallen recently.

" Gundar come help me rise.." a large bald man in black armor walked over to Soleus helping him up. His family had the ability to regenerate, but that ability was dampened here. He'd found many of his bloodborn abilities to be useless here. As if this place dictated the laws of one's life as well as time. Gaia's cradle was said to be in one of the caves here. Gaia a goddess, Soleus had wanted to find this goddess to heal his father. Now he just wanted to be free from this place to see the sun and moon once again. Smell the fresh air and feel the breeze upon his face, to see trees and...home. Soleus walked over to the bodies which were covered and knelt down before them.

" I am sorry my brothers and sisters, but I am proud of your sacrifice today. Each of these people had a name and a life just as each of us does. They were willing to lay their lives down so that we could continue our's. That is an act in and of itself that deserves our tears and laments, I shall see you all on the other side."

Soleus watched as the bodies were lifted one by one and placed upon the eternal burning flame of Luskan. The flame was located just in the center of the city a large circle from which fire errupted. They knew not what purpose it served before their time, but since their arrival it had been used for much. Soleus was sad and angry for he'd led more people to death and still had not defeated the Darkthornes. He took his black hammer in hand  and walked off his golem bodyguards following him. Walking over to the gate he hit the wench which opened the main gates and walked out. Touching the ground with the hammer he began to summon more golems as many as he could this time. Arrows from the darkness began to hit the ground around him.

The people in the town ran towards the gate yelling for him to come back in. But he would not listen, more golems rose finally blocking the arrows which came dangerously close to him. The people watched their leader's madness unfolding as he summoned up a good twenty golems. Standing Soleus looked to the golems and gave them their mission, to hunt down the Darkthorne leader and destroy him. Turning he went back inside as they set out on their mission. Walking into the town he stoped by the well and looked down. He remembered his dream of the tunnel and the women, he swore he heard something. Turning to Gundar he said, " lower me into the well..." Gundar looked at him like he was crazy.

" I said do it!" Soleus climbed up on the well placing his foot in the bucket, he'd have to see if there was anything he could swing to below. Checking the rope to make sure it would hold his weight he nodded for Gundar to lower him. Slowly he began his descent towards the river below hoping his strange dream was true.

[gem_sherbrooke]

Gem stood leaning agaist the bars, resting her head against the old metal. Yet this metal didn't look as old as the metal grate covering the privey hole in the cell. She tries grabbing it and shaking it but it doesnt budge.

Stepping back she looks at the opening studying how it attaches to the rock outlet into the river.  Maybe, just maybe she could use her skills  to move the rocks.  Concentrating and looking at the stones, she pictures them moving....but nothing happens. Unknown to her, the strange place and her current deteriorated condition prevent her innate telekinesis from working...

Taking a deep breath, she shivers....She'd die of cold in the river if she didn't dry off and find warmth.  She looked around the opening for a ledge or something to get her from the water....again nothing...

Picking up a rock from the river bottom, her desparation takes over...She starts to bang the rock against the metal.."Help meeeee!"

[Soleus Blackthorne]

Soleus looked to the right and left of him finally noticing a ledge which he could stand on. He began to swing the rope back and forth finally finding purchase on the ledge. Almost slipping he looked down to the water below a small walkway led down to some underground cavern. They'd never investigated far down here because of the strange tribe of semi-human beings which lived down in the sewers. They didn't side with either the Darkthornes or the Blackthornes so they were left alone. However they still were unknown to him and the others. Soleus's powers were weakened in Luskan which he didn't like. Something was dampening the powers of all the beings here, almost as if it were keeping some sort of balance.

Soleus heard something in the distance, it sounded like a voice. Someone was down here and crying out for help as well as clanging on something. Something metal, was there some sort of prison down here or was his imagination getting the best of him. " Hello? is there anyone down here?" Soleus found his footing on the slippery stone and made his way down. Into the labrynth he went, he stopped and knelt down to touch his hammer to the cold black stone. At first it resisted his attempt to summon a golem which was strange. Finaly he tried again this time adding his own power into the summoning. A black rock golem began to rise up from the stone floor it's eyes glow with a bright purple light.

" Who has awoke me?" Soleus stumbled back, for never before had any of the golems ever spoke. Soleus was shocked, the golem looked to him with eyes which told of life and intelligence. This was no ordinary golem, or was it even a golem? " What, who are you?" Soleus said to the golem with a confused look on his face. The golem looked around and said, " Has the great halls of Luskan fallen to the corruption which has plagued us for so many years?" Soleus was confused he had only heard through old books of Luskan's history. A proud race of elemental knights had once guarded this place protecting Gaia's home. They had been destroyed by some evil elements which had found their way here. " Luskan has long been fallen dear golem.." Soleus said as he regained his footing and looked on into the darkness.

The golem looked to him confused, " Golem? why dost thou call me so? I am Ertos once a great warrior whom protected this city for many years before the corruption spread into our fair city. I was betrayed by my own countrymen and fled down here only to be slain. I....I sense it now....the stone I inhabit...something has happened I'm alive again..or somewhat. How did you do such magic for one whom does not show to hold such powerful magic?" the golem said looking at his stone hands. Soleus didn't know whether to be insulted or to disregard the golem's words as madness. " I'm not quite sure as to how your soul was placed into the golem I was summoning...apparently this rock is magical...it might explain the dampening of everyone's powers. I think my family used such rock once long ago..hmm this must be where they got it from."

Soleus had almost forgot the voice he'd heard calling for help, he looked to the golem and said," Pardon me golem, but someone was calling for help moments ago...can't you hear the banging metal sound in the distance?" The golem turned and shook his head, " let us go help then, I sense my destiny has somehow become bound to your's." Soleus didn't mind having a new friend such as the golem, but if he encountered anymore surprises like this he might decide to turn back and bring more men. Soleus found his way with the golem to a place where the river ran into a barred tunnel. Someone was on the otherside banging something against the bars. Soleus held up his ceremonial Blackthorne dagger and summoned up a simple light spell into the dagger watching it flicker.

His magic was very weak down here and the spell almost fizzled out on him. He applied more power to the spell which was more then one would have to use just for this simple of a spell. " I'm Soleus Blackthorne and this is...err Ertos my companion, who goes there?" He looked towards the bars seeing a female figured illuminated in the gentle glow. Strange he didn't know any of this was down here.

[gem_sherbrooke]

She stopped banging the rock against the metal bars that were her newest prison. Had she heard something? or was it mearly echos in the tunnels, teasing her with the thought of rescue. .  Was she starting to loose her mind, she wondered.  She banged again against the bars, this time in a simple pattern.  Anyone eharing it would know it was intentional and not just the sounds of falling rock.
After the passing of several minutes, she hears somthing outside...what she can't be sure.  so she bangs harder this time calling out "Can any one hear me!?" Despite the banging she hears the drawing of a sword, that distinct sound that only a sword leaving it's hilt makes.dropping the rock she takes a step back from the grate, blinking at the soft magical glow of  sword...
"I'm Soleus Blackthorne and this is...err Ertos my companion, who goes there?"  
Gem blinks as she tries to under stand the words...Blackthorne? Had he really said Blackthorne?...."I am Gemriana Sherbrooke, ally to the Blackthornes"  Would he beleive her? Would he think this a trap? She had no idea that where she stood could mean the end to the war at last.  That an escaped prisoner of the Darkthornes might cause their down fall....... Was Soleus related to Rebecca, Reeese and the others....To her as if only 2 months since she had seen them, but oddly something told her much more time had passed for them.  Where she had been during the passing was a mystery even to her....Even Reese wouldn't recognize the thin, pale filthy prisoner as herself......
"M'lord, Please, let me out...can you open the grate?"

[Soleus Blackthorne]

Soleus looked off into the darkness with some hesitation as he pondered her words. Ally to the Blackthornes, here of all places could this be a trap? No if it was the Darkthornes they would have already tore down the grate and attacked the city while they slept. The Darkthornes were easy to predict and this was not the kind of trap they would spring. The tribe which lived down here was not likely to use a trap either. They tried to avoid the surface dwellers at all cost so it must be true. How could an ally of the Blackthornes end up here, though he hadn't seen the outside for so long. Perhaps things back home had changed? When he left Reese and Rebecca and the others still ruled, but that was coming to an end. An invasion force like none other had attacked and his father became injured by a Darkthorne blade.

Soleus had fled with his father trying to find a way to heal the damage done. Only to kill his father by bringing him to this cursed place and not getting him the help he needed soon enough. Though the Darkthornes were to blame for that henderance. " I don't know how an ally of the Blackthornes came about finding their way down here...but I'll have you out in a moment." He'd be ready just in case something did happen as he turned to his new companion. " Ertos can you open the grate?" The golem moved forward and plunged into the water which came up above his knees. With a small effort he grabbed the bars and began to bend them looking in to the woman the golem said, " Do not fear me I am here to help you" The bars groaned finally snapping from the pull placed upon them.

Soleus only hoped he had made the right choice by letting this person go. Once he got her back up to the city and had her wounds tended, food and drink brought to her, and maybe a bath from the smell of this place. Then they could talk more and he could better understand how she came to be here.

[gem_sherbrooke]

Relief washed over her like a wave as the Golem stepped forward to pull at the grate. The noise of his efforts echoed into the tunnel from which she came.

"If you are truly a Blackthorne then I do not fear you...yet"

She climbed out ofthe river whole and stood a few feet from the odd pair of men.  Now that she was free and standing just feet from them, her petite form was clearly visible.  

"thank you m'lord Blackthorne, I am indepted to you for saving my life"

She look at her self and then at them chuckling at the state she was in "Not exactly a prize at the moment" . Her clothing, stained we and torn hung on her curves.  Her usual cloak, daggar and medicine bag were all long gone as were her shoes.  

"How is it that the Blackthornes are here? and where exactly is Here, m'lord?"

As the man started to move back in the direction he came, she followed him as she spoke......

[gem_sherbrooke]

OOC I will be offline Feb 26 thru March 6th visiting Mickey Mouse with the kids. Gem/Deb

[Soleus Blackthorne]

Soleus laughed, " I could ask you the same thing, but then I'm guessing it's fate that brought us together. As for Blackthornes being here, I'm the only one here besides two of my cousins who act as my generals. I'm not sure..I might be the only one left alive in the realm itself. I've not seen my family in sometime, nor can I remember how long we've been trapped here. I brought my father Desmond here for he was wounded beyond our capabilities to heal. I'd heard of this place through legends, it was said to be a timeless place. Had I studied the legend more maybe I would have come across it's true qualities. Oh yes it's timeless, for you do not age here, but death is still here. My father's last breaths were taken here as was many of my loyal soldiers."

Soleus held his head down low as he recounted this memory and tale. Ertos the golem spoke, " Our legends once told of a race like yours Blackthorne that came here when Luskan was still young. They sought aid against a dark enemy whom had followed them to this land. Perhaps fate has tied us all together for it was that same dark evil we fought. In the end the scales were set to balance once again and the memory of those fighting was wiped clean. Those creatures in the dark tunnels that are half man are the evil which has become primitive like the beasts of the wild." Soleus looked back to the golem now thinking more on his situation.

Turning back to Gem he spoke again, " Here is Luskan city in the mountain veil the gate before Gaia's cradle were life began. Were a lone Blackthorne noble and a Darkthorne army have been battling for years. But that might soon end now, for you must have come from somewhere? The tunnel you came down were does it lead to? While I'm asking where did you come from and how do you know of my family?" Soleus was very curious about his new companion Gem, for it had been years since he'd seen someone new. Especially someone whom knew of his family and might hold the secret to winning this battle.

[gem_sherbrooke]

As they walked, Gem listened to her rescuer, trying to concentrate as best she could given her current condition...
"..I brought my father Desmond here for he was wounded beyond our capabilities to heal. ..."
"Desmond?? Desmond is your father?"  She stops walking and looks at Soleus, "How is that possible? How can he have a son your age when he had no childen a few months ago?" As the golem tells the legend, Gem studies the noble's features...yes he had the Blackthorne look about him but...It had only been a few months since she and Desmond were engage, then he dissappeared.  after a few weeks she began her search for him, traveling about the realms trying to find him. Yet it was as if Desmond has been swallowed by the ground itself.  And some how the fates were playing a game with them...Desmond's son...
As Soleus questioned her she looked into his eyes for a moment then looked down thinking.....
"Tis a long tale I think M'lord Blackthorne, starting long ago for most but only months ago it would seem for me....I would ask that questions wait until I have had at least some fresh water to drink"

[Soleus Blackthorne]

Soleus nodded and began to wander about the time frame of their meeting. Months and years seemed nothing in this place, could he be sure he would exit this place in a time frame suiting him? Or would he come out fifty years after the destruction of his lands, or worse before his lands ever existed? Such things could not be pondered or worried over for long for there was no way to be sure. Soleus came to the steps where he had entered and looked over the bucket rope. He looked to the golem and back to the bucket rope.

" Ertos you said that you fled down here, where was it you entered, perhaps there is a passage way I did not discover?"

The golem smiled and walked up the steps and with a thundering punch of his fist the rock wall fell. The rocks had been placed there sealing up the existance of a hidden door. The golem pushed the door open and they could see a storage room. The door to the storage room was sealed, and the shelves held many magical herbs and spell casting reagents. Soleus was amazed for he'd not discovered this room as of yet. Walking into it he pushed open the storage door to reveal a cellar of sorts with various items about it. On the wall were stones which glowed lighting the room, there were large cask with spigets, no doubt holding wine. There was a loom and bails of yarn, spindles, and various sewing instruments.

There was a table with clothes upon it still in good condition and another table with various weapons and armor upon it. This table was next to a forge with molds, and ores, an anvil and bellows. They were apparently in some sort of shop cellar, in the back of this room were stairs heading up the wall. The wall had a certain shape to it which spoke of a hidden door. Looking about Soleus found a lever behind some crates holding crossbow bolts. He pulled the lever and the sound of stone grinding on stone could be heard as the secret door slowly slide open.

There was also food down here which was still in the condition it was after it was made. For even the food in Luskan never age nor ruined which is how they had survived for some time besides the gardens which existed above. There was a stack of books near the crates which Soleus looked through finding one entitled " The arrival of the Blackthornes" he put this book in the satchel at his side. It was curious that this was the first item he'd found in Luskan which hinted that Blackthornes had been here before. It might prove interesting reading later on, maybe give him some insight to his family that had gone lost.

" Luskan never ceases to amaze me with it's mysteries...Lady Sherbrooke I think you'll find some clothes there maybe some which fit you. Take what you want and need of this room I'll see to it you are giving lodging so you can bath and rest. After you've recovered some of your strength meet me at the castle."

Soleus wrote down the directions to a small tavern in the far north of the city which had houses around it for guest. She could rest there and then they could continue their talk. He'd not over tax her in her condition and he knew how valuable rest could be to one who'd been through imprisonment.

Soleus escorted her to the tavern and it's lodgings after she had gathered supplies from the shop. He wrote down the directions to the castle from the tavern so she could find her way. Even though he'd done this he left guards there to help her find her way when she awoke. So she knew his father...perhaps it was fate which played it's hand in this game. Soleus went to the castle and sat in the throne room reading over the book he'd found in the shop. It was in a language similar to his own, but it had vast differences which made it almost ancient. The book was proving to be very interesting for none of the accounts in it had been recorded in his family's history. It was written by someone who travled with another Blackthorne from his family whose story had never been recorded because he'd come to Luskan and died in Luskan.

[gem_sherbrooke]

Gem felt tired but relieved to be out of the muck from the river, content to follow this Blackthorne as he led her.  When they stopped at the bucket, she frowned...how would she ever find the strength to climb to the top?  Thankfully Soleus already was asking the Golem of another way out....

Once in the shop cellar, Gem looked at Soleus "I have no money to pay for equipment...she pulls a simple gold and silver ring made of elven craftmanship and places it on the table  " this will have to do"She then grabbed a simple dress and cloak, some fruit and a leather bag and herbs to use as a medicine bag.  She also took a daggar and hilt. All of this she wrapped in the cloak and carried to the tavern.

As she entered the tavern, many faces turned to looks at the filthy bedraggled woman with the nobleman.  Some mistook her for a slave, others for servent.  None could imagine the woman hidden by the filth.
Soon she was bathed, and sleepting in a warm soft bed with a fire burning softly in the fireplace. T

he night passed uneventfully and after breakfast the guards escorted the healer to the Blackthorne stronghold.....

The woman who entered was slight of figure, lithe and graceful.  Her very contnence radiated tranquility and optimism.  Her flaxen hair contrasted to the dark blue cloak on her slender shoulders. It was a mass of soft almost unmanageable curles that fell down her back. Yet it was her eyes that drew a person to look at her.  They were an unusual shade of lavender blue which were filled with wonder and amusement.
Her voice was warm, clear and soft when at last she spoke as she approached Soleus she bowed respectfully to him "M'lord Blackthorne, I am deeply indepted to your kindness "

Looking up at him she smiled then began  to tell him what she could....

(OOC to be continued on next post)

[gem_sherbrooke]

Soleus offers her a seat and she mvoves gracefully over to it, removes her cloak and sits.  Her dress is simple and slightly big for her but considering how she came by it, it was good enough.  The daggar and leather bag both hung at her waist.....

"I would imagine you you have many questions as to who I am, so I will begin at the start...
I was born on a small farm, my father left when I was a toddler.  My mother, a healer, taught me her trade until her death when I was 15 but my powers were much more thne hers even when I was a child...I have a gift beyond the realms...that was 3 years ago.
After that time I wander the realms, looking for my father, using my healing gifts to keep myself in coin enough to survive.

Once day I was in a tavern and I met Rebecca Blackthorne...she was very kind to me and allowed me to live in the Blackthorne Castle.  I had a small room on the second
floor. That is where I met all the other Blackthorns...Reese, Vincent, Stormie, and your father Desmond.."  She pauses a moment, thinking back to her friends a moment

"I don't understand how it is that time has passed so much for your family and its been only 2 years since I was last with them...." She shakes her head confused then
looks at him "Desmond, your father, saved my life last year...He was 22 at the time and I was 17"

"Desmond  dissappeared a few months ago and I have been looking for him, I came here a few weeks ago " She pauses " But there was no war between the Blackthrones and the Darkthornes when I came here....."

She leans back looking at him "Last week I was walking from the forest where I had been looking for goldenrod, and herb...someone grabbed me from behind...who ever it was was twice my size and despite my fighting I was no match...He threw me in a cell somewhere in Luskan...where I am not sure.... the cell was tiny it had no window and a hole for ...well you know.....A grown man would not fit in a hole that size....but I did and after 6 days of starvation, abuse and indications of my fate, I escaped.  From  there I simply swam in the sewers "  She shudders remembering the vile smell " Until I reached the grate..."

She smiles looking at him.."Why would fate, keep me here, where the passage of time scewed, until the son of Desmond, my life saver, would find me?  and why would I be a prisoner held in a cell...If it was for my healing skills, it would not pay to keep me ill...had it been to be a slave or breeder...they would not have kept me in the cell...and why didn't they just kill me? .....No they were keeping me FROM something and the fates or their fears wouldn't allow my death...so why am I here?"

[Soleus Blackthorne]

Soleus had retrieved her ring from the abandoned shop, respecting her need to pay. When she was done speaking Soleus presented the ring back to her. For Luskan had been abandoned when they came to it, the shop's owner was long dead. Time had a way of being distorted here in the lands of the Blackthornes, but here in Luskan it seemed worse. It was a natural distortion used as a means of defense for Gaia's cradle which he still had no idea as to where this place was. Though now he now longer needed it's healing abilities, there were only a few healers in his rag tag little army.

" Why are you here, why are we here it is a question everyone asks of themself. When we came to Luskan it was abandoned, but it was the only refuge offered to us in our flight from the pressing Darkthorne army which pursued us. A villain by the name of Mythocles had overthrown the Blackthorne family and using a powerful spell took our longevity from us. Slowly he also took our magic, which made the elder Blackthornes weaker and though my uncle Reese tried he failed in defeating Mythocles, ascending to a god in front of my father and mine very eyes. My father Desmond and my uncle Vincent defeated Mythocles after Reese had weakened him enough for such an event to happen. But they were doomed no matter whether they beat him or not."

"Their time was over and it was time for their children to take their places upon the stage. I did not want to lose my father and when a Darkthorne blade pierced his heart I fled with him here to Luskan in hopes to stall death's embrace so that he could be healed. But slowly the magic and longevity came back to our family, only after my father's death. I'm not sure if any of the others Blackthornes survived. If so they've no doubt labeled me a coward by now for leaving them to fight off the remaining Darkthornes..but my father and sister were all I had in this world. My sister...I know not if she survived either, but I had to do what I had to do. Father had risked his life so that our family could once again takes it's rightful place in old Velusia."

" By my accounts which took place some odd forty years ago and your's which took place two years ago. It would seem one is guided to where they are needed in time here. Also by your accounts my fears are true the Darkthornes have been getting supplies outside of the Luskan Veil, but they have not got any reinforcements so that must mean the Blackthornes survived, for we are deep in Blackthorne land on the outside. A the Darkthornes would not want to cause too much of a ripple outside or they would give away their presence to the surviving Blackthornes... This book I found in that shop details the life of another Blackthorne who came here when the lands of Blackthorne were new. It talks about a fruit, an apple which our ancestors took of and became cursed."

" This other Blackthorne came to Luskan seeking passage into Gaia's cradle to plant the apple so that the land would once again become balanced. It seems this took place nearly a thousand years ago, when the recorded history of the Blackthornes was first written. He was the second generation of the sons and daughters of Merrlin, but he was followed here by the children marked with Cain's mark. I think this means he was followed here by Darkthornes. This would mean that our family has been here longer then even the known recorded history, which is odd because this time in history is blank in the outside world's history." Soleus took a breath for what he was about to ask her was not good.

" This means that perhaps there is something within the tombs which could aid in our fight against the Darkthornes so that we can finally leave this place. But the book also talks of some great evil which prevented my ancestor from getting the apple to Gaia's cradle. It talks of a powerful artifact which was lost to my family for many years, the accounts are all written by the resident sorceress of Luskan whom apparently fell in love with my ancestor and recorded the events of his coming to Luskan up to before his attempt to find the cradle. I hate to have to go into the crypts in search of something I'm not even sure exists there, but it might be important. It says the staff of Merrlin will show the way when the way is not clear. I'm thinking this staff might be able to help us out of the veil of Luskan once we defeat the Darkthornes which our time is running out."

" The veil will only allow our exit for another fourteen days according to this book which means... we have to be swift. I didn't think of asking to you to come with me, until you told me your tale. I think that somehow our destinies our joined, but it could be dangerous. I'm going to give you this signia ring, which only those given nobility in the lands of Blackthorne can own. It allows Blackthornes to communicate to the wearer of the ring from great distances. My cousin Arteas once owned it before his death...if you don't want to go I understand, for it shall be full of peril, but this ring will allow me to know that your safe whether you come or not." Soleus had found out a lot from the book, but he was not finished reading it. There might be more in it that he should know, but he was already determined the staff of his ancestor's could lead him and his people to freedom.

According to the book the staff's location had some strange ward protecting it. Soleus had seen a vision which told him this was the path too take, but in his vision Gem was there as well. He wasn't sure if this had something to do with her or if she came with him in his quest.