Editing Journal - Flames and the Guardian (section)

==The Drained Lake==

Weirdly, it looked as though the water had dropped from where we stood only in the last season or so, with the exposed land showing signs of having been a lake bed before. I hadn't known a lake to so rapidly diminish, and it seemed strangely unnatural. There was a clear step in the lake bed about a hundred feet down that extended for a mile or so before it dropped again for the final hundred feet. We started to skirt around the cliff edge towards where a river should be in the west, continuing until the light faded.

We made camp, but Falcor woke me in darkness and warned that he had seen Elvrabor appear. I rolled onto my front and peered in the direction he indicated, seeing them too - three some way to the north. They crouched down and looked towards us, then I got the sense of dweomer being used as they wrapped themselves in cloaks. It was a similar essence to Kraldar's realm, but different... definitely opposed to life, though. Whatever the dweomer was it stopped me from seeing them, and I tried to call on the power to detect evil auras instead, sensing one as it backed away and to the side.

Falcor used a mental power to sense them himself, and again warned that we were being watched - this time from the east! I scanned around, looking for more, and just as I turned to the south (behind where we had first looked) I saw four more appear and charging to attack us! This seemed to be the trigger for the attack, as two more appeared and charged at Falcor. I quickly drew more power, causing a couple of those to the south to stop in irritation, scratching furiously at their skin. Falcor used his mind against one, lashing out powerfully, and caused one foe to flee.

A couple had been hanging back, and it was clear why when they summoned missiles of dweomer that flew at us both, striking me painfully. Falcor, though, seemed unaffected as they flew around him and dissipated. Falcor was also able to parry an attack to remain unhurt. The dweomer, despite the pain, had a familiar sensation to it - like the fire and dust in my dream. I activated Aramat, the intense cold flames licking around its blade as usual, and rushed at the spellcaster. I couldn't reach him, though, before I was surrounded by the others in a fierce melee.

I hadn't realised it at the time, but Falcor saw Aramat like a beacon in the strange way that he could see heat and cold in the night and quickly used dweomer to move right behind one of my attackers, leaving the ones that had tried to separate us with no target. I connected with a solid blow but then was immersed in a swirling cloud of dust, with the heat of the desert building within it. I managed to step aside and away from its effects whilst still fighting, with three of the foe on me. They were a strange folk these tree-men, lithe and nimble but with surprising strength. Thankfully, like most men, they underestimated my ability to fight back and the wounded one fell with my next blow as I ducked under and around the others' attacks.

Falcor engaged the spellcaster, killing them with two swift blows, whilst I set to work on my next victim. The cold flames seems to work well against them, as if they were given power from heat and Aramat was sucking it from them. As I slashed the throat of my foe, Falcor conjured a pattern of lights, seeking to calm some, but it didn't have any obvious effect and he was attacked by two foes he had left behind to join me. We were both hit by blades, but my armour deflected the strike and I used his slight lack of balance to thrust my blade into his chest hard. I was out of melee for a moment. That didn't help much as the other spellcaster sent a bolt of lightning straight at me causing me to bend backwards with pain and giving me a fleeting vision of a barren, scorching desert viewed as if through a tear in the world.

Falcor struck one of his attackers, and seeing that they were losing the fight the spellcaster reached into a pouch and threw something, causing a rift in the world to appear which he stepped through and disappeared. I could see now what Falcor had meant about using the marble things to travel. Falcor finished off his wounded assailant and shouted at the other one to surrender. I was not that surprised that he did so at once, throwing down his weapons. Falcor turned his attention to me, noting my wounds and offered me aid. I was a little reluctant, not wishing to draw the attention of any Gods, but I was badly hurt so I gritted my teeth and agreed. The power flowed into me easily, not like anything I had felt before... well apart from time's healing perhaps; it was clean and felt untainted by the Gods as far as I could tell. I relaxed a little, enjoying the moment.

It was soon over, though, and I moved to tie up our captive as Falcor searched the bodies. He found one of the magic marbles, but also a scroll and a poisoned blade. I had a little chat with the prisoner, who seemed somewhat entranced by our little conversation, almost begging for me to join them, or him perhaps? It seemed that they served a power they believed was greater even than Kraldar, although I wasn't sure who that would be - certainly not Treddar by their actions. He also told me that it was a brother of Kraldar that possessed the power that Falcor sensed from the island in the centre of the lake. I asked the name of his master and he said it was &quot;Itlak Alna’a&quot;... not a name either of us knew. When I asked what relationship his master had with Kelditch his faced screwed up and he revealed that Kelditch was the only thing standing between his master and the domination of this land.

Falcor was insistent that we let him go, which was the right thing to do of course... my mentor had taught me that much - he had only fought us, and had surrendered quickly. So, yes, let him live. I threw his weapons over the cliff and untied him. He immediately lunged at Falcor's belt, where he kept a marble, but Falcor slapped him hard with the flat of his sword and knocked him out. He seemed to regret hitting him quite so hard, and as a token he left the marble beside his limp body for him to use later and we left. We both used mental powers - another sign that he could be the Guardian - to descend to the base of the cliff, then walked the mile to the next step and descended again to the new shoreline.

Something in the water broke the surface as we landed, possibly headed towards us, so we stayed close to the cliff until we were sure that been no sign of it for a while. Falcor approached and tried to test the water, but recoiled in fear the moment he touched it. He recovered himself after a moment, but it was clear that there was more to the water than it appeared. I tried to get a sense of emotional residue from it, and I got a sense that there had been a long history of traumatic deaths in this place.

We continued along the waterline but I caught sight of a figure up on the cliffs above, probably a legionnaire, so we tucked in tight to the cliff to stay out of sight and stayed close until the island was much nearer. We knew we couldn't touch the water, so we roped ourselves together and Falcor turned us invisible again. We stood at the water's edge and I climbed onto his back as he finished chanting a spell. We lifted into the air (he was just in human form this time) and flew steadily towards the island.

About a couple of hundred yards out an unnatural rainstorm started covering a large area, and we suspected it was a reaction to our presence. It deed mean that we were now obvious to anything close by, as the rain was heavy enough to outline our invisible forms. Falcor climbed higher, worried about attack from below, and then continued. We got past what we thought was the halfway point and then the rain started to get even heavier, with a wind rising from ahead of us as well. It was harder to see now, but it must have been about three-quarters of the way across when we were attacked. The dragon-like creature we had caught a glimpse of earlier burst out of the water from below us, surging straight up to slam its body into us before falling back into the water. I was crushed between its scales and Falcor and was stunned for a minute or so, losing my grip. Falcor was able to hang onto my legs, stopping me from falling, so at least I wasn't dangling under him like some kind of bait.

Falcor tried to climb higher, as the serpent seemed to be at the top of its arc when it hit us. The storm was intensifying, and our hairs started lifting on our arms as the air grew charged with static. Ahead on the surface, the water started to fountain up and grew until it was about a hundred feet tall and seemed to form arms and a head of sorts. The massive figure was entirely shaped from water but seemed no less threatening. It moved under us and its arms reached up, extending towards us until water splashed over us with some force, although not damaging, before it fell away again.

I asked Falcor to descend, quaffing a potion I knew could help, and I was able to exert my will over the creature, telling it to leave us be. It crashed abruptly back into the water and thankfully we did not see it again. Instead we faced a new threat as lightning started to arc around in the air in small areas of the storm; one bolt shocked us badly, and with no end in sight to the storm we decided that we could only try to talk to the guardian that assailed us. Falcor descended towards the water, and we found that the lightning was not as strong at a lower level. Falcor called out with his mind that we just sought an audience with her lord and meant no harm. There was an immediate and unexpected reaction - the dragon surfaced again and a voice reached us that was full of joy! She simply asked, the joy and hope infusing her question: &quot;Is it you, my Lord&quot;?

The sky was literally clearing and the sun emerging as she spoke with Falcor about how he was the Guardian, but how he wasn't ready yet or not himself - it was hard to follow to be honest, but this meant he really was who he claimed to be, didn't it? She unhelpfully pointed out that I reeked of death, which is apparently why she didn't recognise Falcor. She also said that it was He that had ordered her to defend this place long ago, and her name reflected her task: &quot;The Last Defender of the Infinite Paths&quot;. She knew of the &quot;False Elvrabor&quot; as they had tried to cross many times, and agreed that they were probably the ones draining the water. There was a bit of an awkward conversation about how I was Falcor's &quot;daughter&quot; (the Elvradrak apparently have no words for more distant relations). I sort of understood what she meant, but it still seemed weird looking at the young man that allegedly fathered my mother's clan and others beside. She confirmed that Kelditch was definitely here, as he had created the paths. She claimed that he could be weak of mind, and that he sought power, but also that he could be a powerful ally if he could be controlled. By the time we had finished this exchange the sky was clear again as if had never changed.

She told us to seek the high point of the island if we wanted to find Kelditch, and we continued our journey safe in the knowledge that she would protect us. She stayed to carry on her task, at least until Falcor understood more about the place and the importance of it. Once we had flown as far as Falcor dared we landed and walked into the forest away from the cliff edges, still invisible until we decided it was time to rest.

With the relative calm came the moment I'd been dreading. The Elvradrak had pointed out what Falcor clearly hadn't noticed, because I doubt that he was just politely ignoring it: that the stink of my father's realm hung around me and tainted everything I tried to do. Falcor asked what she had meant when she said that I reeked of death. At first I avoided answering, instead talking about my mother and how being somehow related to him didn't make me a fire-breathing beast that could transform and fly, and it followed that who my father was wouldn't make me like them either. Then I half-pleaded with him not to judge me by association, asking that he wouldn't abandon me just because of where I had come from. It was like I was a little girl looking for favours, Ohh I'm so mad with myself. He must think I'm pathetic!

Eventually though, I just had to tell him, still nervous despite his promises that he had come to find me and wasn't about to just up and leave. Yes, my father is Kraldar, ok?! That doesn't mean I serve Death or owe anything to him. I hate him! His face said it all - amazement, realisation, oh my fucking... what?! To be fair he didn't just leave, which I half expected, or brand me a curse. It remained to be seen if he would think differently after a night's sleep. Damn that dragon for forcing me to tell him!

We camped for the night undisturbed, and I felt safer than I had for as long as I could remember. Somehow being around the Elvradrak seemed right to me in a way nothing else quite had. I was well rested in the morning, and took time to meditate and train a little before we packed up. It was as we were doing this, however, that we heard a loud screeching somewhere to the southeast.

It sounded like the creature we had seen over the legion camp in the north, and after a minute or so we caught sight of it, probably a mile or so away. It started circling ahead of our path, but we continued until quite close. It was then that we noticed a stone structure just beyond where it was circling. It was not a design I had seen before, being some twenty to thirty feet high with slightly sloped sides. It looked old, and rubble on top suggested that there had been more to it at some point. There was a horned figure kneeling near the structure holding a sword point down and looking contemplative. The creature was taller than Falcor, with red baggy trousers but no top. The flying creature continued to circle and was to our northeast as we drew closer still. The temple, if that was what it was, seemed sunken into the land, and all the sides were similarly sloped but not steeply. The rubble looked from this distance as if it had once formed a statue, but there was no obvious entrance on the side nearest to us.

We tried to sneak around the far side, but just as we had got there a twig snapped loudly underfoot and &quot;red pants&quot; reacted immediately. He chanted and we were outlined in glowing red and orange light, making our invisibility somewhat ineffective. He gave a shrill, trilling call and the flying beast dived towards us, swerving around the trees as it got lower. Falcor made a noise that sounded a lot like &quot;fuck!&quot; and started chanting just as I did - both calling on our unusual dweomer (neither of us seemed to know where the power came from). Falcor's power was directed at the rapidly approaching beast, but didn't seem to affect it noticeably. I tried to protect us from evil instead, and this proved wise as the creature reared in front of Falcor raking at him with its claws but being repelled by the dweomer.

I warned Falcor to stay close, not used to having someone I wanted to protect; in fact it took a moment before I remembered to warn him not to attack anything physically if he wanted to keep the protection. Falcor tried a psionic attack, but again it had no impact - the will of the flying creature was strong. Red pants summoned a great dusty, swirling creature between us and, although it seemed focused on Falcor, the debris whipped up by the strength of the wind within it was a danger to us both. At least the flying creature had veered away - it landed beside red pants, although we weren't sure what it intended next. Could it use dweomer too?

Falcor chanted again, this time affecting red pants. He visibly drooped, struggling to hold his sword up and eventually sheathing it, clearly weakened. He struggled to climb on to the flying beast, and then it leapt into the air and climbed lazily to the west. Falcor tried one last attack with his mind, but again it was able to resist him. He started to sense that another mind was beginning to notice his mental assaults, and he ran forward towards the building, ignoring the dust creature's attempts to strike at him. I moved forward as well and the dust creature dissipated harmlessly behind us.