Iron Quill - (Loss) In the Shadow of Ruin

[E.T.A. Hoffman]

In the Shadow of Ruin

The Chronicles Vena’s Violin

 

Part I: http://wyrd-games.net/community/topic/99431-iron-quill-the-hunt-venas-violin/

Part II: http://wyrd-games.net/community/topic/100502-iron-quill-absent-friends-tomorrows-town/

Part III: http://wyrd-games.net/community/topic/101371-iron-quill-honesty-the-ashen-landscape/

Part IV: http://wyrd-games.net/community/topic/101985-iron-quill-metamorphosis-drawn-to-chaos/

 

Theme: Loss

Character: Leader by Force

Line: “Curiosity Killed the cat”

Item: Tophat

Location: Carnival

 

                “You know that old saying? What was it? Curiosity killed the -,” the young girl named Nell was cutoff before she could finish.

                “Do not dare!” hissed Bingles, her tiny fury companion, a powerful creature once named Vena but now trapped in the service of Nell.

                “Don’t be so tense. Besides, I reckoned this place was more towards your fancy,” replied Nell. She walked gingerly upon the soft ground; each step released another squelching splash. Nell tried not image what she was walking on.

                Bingles, a few paces ahead, remained silent.

                They were in pursuit of a man… a thing, which called itself Goodrich Fairweather. It was not dissimilar to many of the monsters Nell had come across on Malifaux. What made it special was its heritage; it was the offspring of something old. Ruin was its name. The Great Arachnid. Nell had made a promise to destroy it. In return the Children of Char, the haunted memory of a long dead people, would reward her.

                More than many times Nell had lied awake at night in fear of what was to come. Not the beasties and darkness she would have to wade through. Not the threat of pain and death or betrayal by her reluctant companion. No, what kept her awake on those long cold nights in the deserts or sewers of Malifaux was the reward. They had promised to fill the hole in heart left in the wake of her great tragedy. What would it be? What could it be? At times the only answer seemed to be death.

                Whatever this place was, Nell knew it would not be safe to stay in. They were in a tunnel with soft red walls of strung sinew. There was no light; she had to play a soft continuous note on her violin so that the inlaid soul stones would release their emerald luminance. Her arms were getting tired. How long had she been walking now? It was impossible to tell.

                Something chittered, the sound echoing along the tunnel. Nell was torn between walking without the safety of light and the need to leave some strength left in her limbs for when they caught up with Fairweather.

                A spot in the distance caught her eye. Just at the very tip of her vision, she made out something pale and white. There was light at the end of the tunnel. For some reason she didn’t find that very reassuring. But, she resolved to focus on the light. Hopefully if something was to come towards her it would block out that light. She let her arms drop and the darkness enveloped her instantly.

                She could always rely on Bingles, whom she was certain could see in the dark. But, she would never trust that thing. No matter what bound them, she knew it would turn on her.

                Eventually she reached the tunnel’s end. It opened onto a grassy hill under the unnatural pale light of the six moons. Even with all she had seen, the sight of those six ominous blue orbs in a perfect circle above her was beautiful.

                The beauty of the sky was robbed from her the instant she realized that she wasn’t standing on grass. To her best guess, and she wouldn’t inspect it closer, it was hair. Long, black, and covering all the land as far as she could see.

                There was something in the distance. Nell couldn’t make it out, but there was nothing around. After her skin was done crawling she continued towards it.

                It was… well she had no idea what to call it. It was a cluster of buildings and tents, enclosed by a fence of lashed bones. The gates swung open for her with a dull clank.

                Violin at the ready, she walked in. Everything was dead. No lights inside any of the structures, nor any noise. Except for the largest structure, a tent at the center of it all, where a loud chattering was growing. As she passed the other buildings, she saw they were made from the same sinuous meat as the tunnel.

                The tent was made from leather and bones. Nell hesitated to touch the flaps that worked as the entrance. Mostly, she just didn’t want to touch it. Inside she heard laughter and clapping. It didn’t help her rising apprehension.

                Bingles slipped passed the folds. Nell swallowed once then followed.

                Inside was a ring and around it were benches full of people. Nell walked through the gap between them. But even this close she couldn’t make out any details of the audience who continued to clap and hoot at something in the ring. The audience seemed trapped in shadows.

                Quietly, she approached the front bench. There was a person sitting on it. She still couldn’t make anything out. She inched closer, barely a foot away now. It was a man. His skin and cloths the darkest shades of grey and black. His face was frozen in a wide and horrific smile. It was as if the skin had been stretched back and pinned in place. He was laughing and clapping in extremely ridged movements.

                If he noticed Nell, he made no indication of it. His eyes were locked on the center of the ring.

                Nell turned away, though she constantly expected him to suddenly lunge at her. She looked to the center of the ring.

                It was full of children. Not fake children like the audience, but real and pathetic looking children. They had to be no more than ten years old; there were a dozen of them. Each was dressed in rags and covered in years of filth and dirt. Where inside Nell pity should have welled, she only felt mistrust.

                Standing before them, with a top hat and whip, was Goodrich Fairweather. His chitin-skin and many clawed limb glisten in the light of the candles at the tent’s peek.

                His mandibles chittered as he spoke. The crowd broke into mechanical cackling. Nell slunk back behind the stands at their sudden outburst. Whatever Goodrich had said was lost to Nell. When she leaned back around he was gone and the children were moving towards her.

                Instinct told her to hide, but common sense told her they had already seen her. Their eyes were locked right onto hers. What she saw in them surprised her. That might have looked monstrous, covered in filth and drawing small knifes and sharp bits of glass right before her eyes, but it was plain how utterly terrified they were. They weren’t advancing menacingly. They were shuffling reluctantly.

                The power to destroy them was in her hands, the strings ready to be plucked. The coldness that had frozen her insides didn’t melt before these wretched souls. Nell didn’t feel a need to weep for them. Yet, that feeling wasn’t replaced with a need to kill them either. Maybe… there’s another way. From the corner of her eye, Bingles watched.

                “What will you do? Save the souls? Retire them from this realm? How much will they slow you down?” he asked.

                Nell gave the cat a spiteful look. With her violin still at the ready, she leapt from her cover.

                The children cringed, raising their makeshift blades.

                “Wait!” breathed Nell. “Wait, you don’t have to do this.”

                A dozen pair of eyes exchanged looks of doubt and terror. One of them mustered the courage to speak. “We aft ta, or… or hell ge’ mad.”

                The others nodded vigorously.

                “Or, you let me pass. I kill him and you’re free?” she asked.

                A few of them looked hopeful. But, the boy who spoke, the eldest Nell assumed by his height, shook his head with more grief then should have been possible for a child. “Un’ go where? We ah’ unwan’ted. There ah’ no ‘omes for us.”

                At his direction, the children marched forward.

                Nell scowled. She played a quick melody, something loud and fast. An explosion of hot air blasted the children backwards. They cried and they moaned but Nell had not hurt them.

                “Ah! Boo hoo!” she yelled in a mocking voice, “We’ ‘ave’ nah’ ‘omes! So let’s just stay and live with a monster!” She stomped forward.

                The children, still on their backs, cringed.

                “Now, get your asses out of my way so I can kill Goodrich,” she said.

                And they did, with great terror they fled.

                “Interesting,” said Bingles.

                Nell rounded on him. “Is that all you ever have to say?”

                Bingles remained silent; Nell knew he was mocking her. She stormed off past the cat and the shocked hooligans.

                “Wait,” said the Eldest Boy. He stood and dusted himself off for nothing better than the dignity of it. “Well come too.”

                “Like hell,” replied Nell without stopping.

                “We con ‘elp! We…” he paused, thinking, “We con tell ‘im we got ya’. Ya’ can surprise ‘im then.”

                It wasn’t the worst plan Nell could think of. And she was only maybe six years older than some of these kids. Sometimes she forgot that she was just a child herself. In those moments she would scorn herself for thinking so weakly.

                “Fine, do you know where he is?”

                “Yes,” he said, a cold fury falling over his eyes.

                He led her out of the tent. A hundred years away was a trailer, it was different from the rest of the park. It was made of a dark wood; the kind that Nell knew only grew in the worst sorts of place.

                Twenty feet from the trailer they stopped. “Well go tell ‘im ya’ dead.” He said the word with such ease, Nell noticed.

                The band of hooligans knocked on the trailer door. The door flew open immediately. “What? You’re alive?” said Goodrich.

                “We… we got ‘er!” said the Eldest Boy.

                “Really?” asked Goodrich slowly, his eyes scanned the distance behind the boy as he raised a clawed hand.

                “He knows!” yelled Nell. She read it clearly in the beast’s voice. She knew now kids were only meant to have delayed her.

                It happened all too quickly. She was running. One of Goodrich’s claw limbs skewered the Eldest Boy. The children brook and ran.

                Goodrich flung the boy’s body aside and closed the door to his trailer. Nell didn’t stop to even glance at it. She wrenched the door open. The trailer was small and overstuff with all manner of common and uncommon oddities but Nell gave them no notice.

                At the back of the trailer Goodrich was kneeling before an altar of bones and stones arrayed in an oblong shape. He was muttering with all his limbs held high.

                Nell played. A spear of light erupted from her bow. Papers flew up, candles blew out, and one of Goodrich’s arms was ripped from his body. He screamed as black ichor splattered the walls.

                “Where is he? Where is Ruin?” she yelled.

                “I’ll take you to him! Just don’t hurt me!” he cried, clutching his dripping stump. He hunched over, his back facing her.

                “Where?” asked Nell.

                “Belicka,” he said with a sigh. The incantation was complete. The stones turned to orbs of white energy and the bones erupted into a fiery ash. “Into that portal, it’ll take you to him.”

                “That easy, hun?” asked Nell.

                “I was going to run there,” he panted heavily.

                Nell looked at Bingles. “What do you think?”

                “To Ruin it will lead you,” he replied.

                Nell was too used to Bingle’s way of speaking to hear what he actually said.

                “Before I go, you’re going to open another portal; one of the kids can use to escape.”

                “No,” he said then rolled forward into the portal.

                Nell played without thinking. A spear of light hit Goodrich in the back and carried him through the portal. Instantly, the gateway began to fade.

                “Quick!” Bingles leapt to the foot of the portal.

                “But,” she looked back. “The kids?”

                “Them or Ruin!” replied the Cat.

                Nell saw the wavering outline of the portal. She had less than a moment. She took it. As she fell through the strange dimensional door her heart ached for the first time. Suddenly the feeling of responsibility she had for the children made itself known. Her face was placid, unable to express what she felt. But, Bingles could see it and it delighted him.