Below the Earth

Sitting in the dim cavern before the Barrow Gate, Liam and I trade tales and laugh for an hour or so. A watch Liam fished from a pocket says it's three in the morning, far too early to wake Djhuety. I should probably get rest while I can. But my Dratsie way of sleeping makes it difficult; it's hard to sleep when your body is not tired, and I have slept four hours already, more than is usual. But in time, I try, curling into a ball and closing my eyes. I know I'm not going to fall asleep, but...
The river burbles and winds around my limbs. I smile, relaxing into the sweet grasp of the water, dark as night and soft as silk. I raise my head from the water's depths, but all is darkness and the scent of stone. So, a river beneath the earth. But a river is a river. A river is home. I turn a somersault in the water. Only now do I realize I'm in my four-footed shape, sleek of pelt, long of tail. It's been so long since I shifted. So long. I roll, tumbling in the water, chasing my own tail, reveling in the freedom of an otter's body in the water. This is what I am. This is where I belong. I rise to the surface, letting myself float.
It's then that I see her. A woman, keeling on the bank. Her hair is the color of rowan berries, deep red, the color of fish blood freshly spilled. Her skin is white in the darkness, almost glowing. And she is staring at me, grass green eyes sharp as glass.
"Why do you walk here?" I ask, forgetting in the dream that my four legged shape can't speak. The woman stares, and I meet her eyes.
Pain. I sit up, and growl to myself. I'd kicked out in my sleep, and kicked the rock wall hard enough to send pain shooting up my leg. Stupid.
I lay back down, eyes staring at the wall. A dream. What was it about? Something important, I know that. I don't dream save when it's something I need to know. But what was it trying to say?
The woman. A lady? A kinswoman? A goddess perhaps? Or a ghost...
And I was in my second form. Without the pain of transformation. Oh, that had felt so good....
I shake my head, and settle myself again. If I'm meant to know the meaning of that dream, it'll come in its own good time.

Seeing Liv start in her sleep I tense checking Dejhuty as I watch over the two. it feels good to be on the quest, even if we are Below the ground. they say that riding is easy in a beer hall, but much harder astride a good horse, and this quest has already shown us much. I still wonder what possessed my friends to help a walking corpse on what some would have called a fools errand. yet my body was restored already now it is the search to restore life to this frame. I still had not shared what I saw when I drank the water from wyrds well. Only that I had my memories back.

There is no morning beneath the earth. But in time, we rise, and there comes a moment where we stand together, staring at the Gate. No one says very much. The Gate stands pale against the darkness of its moorings, as if the three stones that make it up are regarding us. I take a deep breath, pull the collar of my jacket about my neck. "Well." I say, my voice loud in the still air, "En-battaille-la."
"Meaning?" Djhuety asks, his voice quiet. I smile; a slight, fierce quirk of the lips. "French. It means 'to battle!'." Then I step forward, and through the Barrow Gate.

Beyond the Gate, the cave opens out into a true cavern, the walls only shadows in the distance. Cool air brushes through my curls, running up my spine like an icy finger, smelling of age and stone. The darkness is not total, but it is hard to see more than twenty feet ahead. I look about me, noting the great stalactites. Somewhere, water drips.
"Halt!"
The bark cuts across the air and my ears like a knife blade. A man's voice. Harsh. Commanding. I whirl. Somewhere, the click of a cocking gun reverberates. A big gun. Bloody hell, I hate guns. I raise a hand. "There's no need for that!" I call, controlling the quaver that wants to worm its way into my voice. "We're not after a fight."

"Do you know what happened to the man lying dead in the nearby chamber?" i called out not letting the sights wander off the group while doing so

My eyes widen. A body?! Damnu ort, "We only just arrived ourselves." I call. "We know nothing of it. And if you've got any sense of decorum, you'll lower the gun. Not a nice way to greet anyone." The tension in the cavern is thick, sharp as lightning.

i curse and holster my gun, i hoist myself up from the ground and pick up my duffelbag.

walking towards the group i say "sorry about that y'know nighttime makes me jumpy and when i found out someone had killed my bounty i wasnt pleased" i smile and stretch out a hand "Ignacy Remulo here and you are?..".

Before the woman can answer a voice calls from across the cavern. "You know if I was an enemy you'd be dead by now!" the voice has a hint of urgency and struggling sounds are heard slightly in the distance. "Perhaps, could I request a little help? I seem to have gotten myself into a kind of... pickle. Hah! Pickle! That's what my mum calls me." he clears his throat and speaks again. "I'm sorry, I do tend to get distracted. So, help?"

Retracting my hand i drop the bag and walk over to where the sound came from "what seems to be the problem?".

The man, who now is clearly stuck inside the wall at least partially, grins up at the man who approaches him. "You know if I was your enemy I also could have placed a landmine in the darkness and lured you to your demise! Life is full of surprises, for instance I had no idea that when you combine a few choice elements, namely this strange element I found everywhere that nobody from my time seems to understand, and combine it with say... hydrogen out of the air you get a rather large explosion." the man seems to be covered in a thick layer of soot and grins with his arms and legs still firmly stuck inside the rock wall. "Now be a good lad and pull my torso please."

"well i hardly think an enemy would openly announce his prescence" i scan the man up and down "howd you get in there anyway?".

The man struggles against the rock he's being held by. "Well enemies announce their presences in all sorts of ways, and for all sorts of reasons." he grins widely. "I was tearing this new element I found out of the dirt down here and I happened to slam it into hydrogen instead of oxygen like I intended and instead of getting a new compound I found a chemical reaction." the man pauses after his long winded explanation. "And if you're not a learned man, that means I was slamming things together and I happened to get blasted into the wall."

I smile. Despite the dangerous way he talks, I like this man; his grin, and the colors in his head, all bright as new crayons and fired with the shining whites and yellows of curiosity. "Nice job you've done on yourself too. I can probably get you out of there; give me a second..." I lay my hand on the rock beside him, and close my eyes. The song in the stone is disturbed, jumbled and a little bewildered. I raise my voice, reminding it of the joy it once took in running as a liquid, being free in the heat of some long ago era, calling up the feeling of freedom and joy in movement. The stone responds with a will, running like water below my fingers. Quickly, I pull the man from the stone, before my song ends. He stares wide-eyed at the stone as it runs, pools, and grows still once more.
"Much better. " I say, with a pat on his shoulder. It's like patting a bird; below his layers of clothes, he feels thin as a bundle of twigs. His fever-bright blue eyes dart this way and that. "You all right?" I ask.

The man twirls bending low to pick up a fedora and then stops himself as he puts it on his head. "Professor Edgeworth at your service! And yes I am quite fine." he brushes himself off and stands up straight again, seeming to take his hat off his head several times to examine it before replacing it. "You are much better at getting the molecules in the stone to vibrate than me. You'll have to teach me that trick sometime." he claps his hands together and leans backward at the waist bending over. "Now comes the matter of what's down here, life is the adventure!" he looks around, noticing nothing here but cave. "Well... that's disappointing"

Watching the two Newcomers carefully I can't help but smile. Liv is smiling at the one from the wall and I can't help but like the one who has "caught me with my pants down" so to speak, my abilities on watch must have dimmed over the last number of years "I am Liam, Well met in this Dark place." the spear stays close to hand at all times and I am loathe to just trust them, yet they seem, decent. the sent of determination and mischievousness seems to come from the two of them.

"And you can call me Liv" I say, holding out a hand to the skinny Professor. I glance at the other man, watching him. Him I don't trust. There's too much violence in his head for my tastes. "And I'm not sure I can teach you how to sing to stone, but we'll give it a shot."
In short order, introductions are made all around. The dark bounty hunter watches us all, his green eyes half lidded, predatory. On Djhuety's shoulder, Sylus stares back at him, the ridge of fur along his spine rising. Djhuety whispers something in the griffin's ear, but it only makes Sylus mutter and hiss.

I walked over to my bag again and i could practically smell the suspicion hang in the air like a wet fart, i scanned the gang of people around me noting that they would probably not be much of a threat should they decide to try and loot me, i told the one who had introduced herself as liv "nifty trick you got there".

I nod politely. "Thanks. It comes in handy." I glance up at his face, briefly. There's no magic in his mind...but something about him is just...wrong. I can't pin it down, but something about him sets me on edge. I give myself a mental shake. There's no need for me to react over a nebulous feeling. All the same, I activate the glamour over my hands, leaving them looking human. Just in case.
"Well," I say cheerfully, "I'll wish you fellows luck with whatever you've got going down in these caves. We've got our own business to attend. Best of luck!" I turn, Djhuety giving me a slight smile as he falls into step beside me. But Liam hangs back. I glance at him, questioning. We need to get on. Why is he pausing?

I stay back a moment appraising the two who made it to the caverns through methods different from ours " tell me, do you always greet others with a gun pointed at them? i understand caution but still, and in turn what would you do if said weapon did nothing to stop the person who you fired on" for once missing the grafted eyes that made my 'undivided attention' so unnerving. then I smile to My boon companions "as Liv Said we are in a bit of a hurry" leaving unvoiced 'on to Helheim's gate' as I turn away "Just remember here, if you can't see the sucker you are it" a good rule to live by in the nightside and hopefully not our undoing. as i hurry to catch up to Liv

Like a flash, the birdlike man is beside me, his suitcase slung on his knobbly walking stick over his shoulder. "Hold up! You owe me a lesson in sound-based isolation and vibration patterns in rock. Besides, I've got a lot of research to do down here. More the merrier?"
I glance at my friends, unsure. I like him well enough, but do we trust him? Djhuety shrugs, a 'why not' gesture. "Well..." I say carefully, looking to Liam for his opinion.

I shrug the fellow seems to be at worst a minor distraction, but could be useful "why not" glancing at the other individual we met wondering if he is going to join our motley expedition

"Well," I think to myself, "This is where Sayliyn brought me, so it must be where to find that good for nothing brother of mine..." I continue walking in a straight line ahead of me and before I know it, I can clearly hear Liv's thoughts. She's seeming almost nervous...

"yeah sure whatever kiddo" i said dismissively as i slung my bag over my back, i walked until i was out of sight and then dropped it again leaving a tracker so i could get back to it when i was done, i dropped into the shadows and followed the party.

I follow the sound of her thoughts hoping to eventually find my friend.

The little fellow who's joined us is a good antidote to the darkness, his chatter bright and energetic, even if it's a little sensless. But in the middle of his enthusiastic study of a stalactite, something catches my attention. Power, close at hand. I raise my head. "Something up?" Djhuety asks. I hold up a hand. "Whist..." then I smile. "Kiaja!" I call, "We're over here!"