City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

Right, I didn't get any other suggestions so here's the new chappy. Enjoy!
----------------------

Chapter Twelve: The Bridge of Sorrows

Some say the Bridge was built from tears shed by those who had retreated from the Dark. Others say it was created by the Terrian Mages to commemorate fallen brethren. No matter how it was created it remains to this day, and with it remains the Toll Keeper. The Toll he collects is different for each group of Travelers, but none pass without payment.
-The Chronicles of UnderDark vol. 5
-Unkown

Ceddon sat there nonplussed. "Is that all?" Pink patches appeared on Layla's cheeks as her eyes grew hard and flinty. Her hands knotted into fists, nails digging into his own white skin, blood making their palms slick. "You forget," he said flicking some hair out of his eyes. "I was the mortal shell for Fallon. It'll take a whole hell of a lot more than a Dark Lord twin brother to get my blood going. So now that your dirty little secret is out, how's about you quit your damn moping and flinching and just deal with it. Otherwise we're not going to get anything done."

He turned around, sliding his battered hands from her grip and losing more skin in the process. "And get your nails trimmed please. It's going to be damn ackward to weild a sword with slick and skinned hands." Callix was carefully staring straight ahead, ears pricked forward, following the others down the passage. "And you, you say a word of this to anyone..."

Callix snorted. "Fine I won't mention this...but can I mention you fancy her?" Ceddon thunked a heel into Callix's girth and listened to the kession's whoof of breath.

"I do not, filthy animal." The denial was vehement although the insult was jokingly spoke. Callix shook his head, black mane scattering like ebon spray on some far off sea shore.

"You seem to forget who's back you're riding on. You like her." Ceddon didn't happen to have a response for that one save to swat Callix a bit and tell him to keep his horsey opinions to himself. He spared a glance back at Layla but she seemed too deep in thought to have heard any of the conversation. He shook his head. Layla was...pretty...but not his type. Besides, he seriously doubted there was any time to spare from their 'quest' for him to find out if she was his type.

For a long time the silence hung thick, all of them preoccupied with their own thoughts. Ceddon found his mind drifting back to Fallon and wondering what he was doing now. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs as the sounds of the horses' hooves changed. The tunnel they were on suddenly gave way to a massive open cavern on one side. Spanning the massive canyon that seemed to drop away forever, was a single massive bridge.

The black span glittered ominously in the blue magelight that danced in holders along it's sides. It joined smoothly into the rock, the sides seemingly made of some black liquid, permenantly frozen in a lacey pattern of spray and droplets. The holders for the mage fire were all the likeness of leaping fish-maids, their great conch-shells held aloft and filled with flame. Still, for all it's beauty, something about the bridge seemed...wrong.

The smooth, flat, black surface looked slick and difficult to cross. When Ceddon voiced this concern, Darith took him seriously and Asalia looked all the more frightened, Callix snorted. "I can just fly across."

"No you can't." They all twisted to look at Layla, her eyes fixed on the bridge. "The Toll Keeper would see to it that you tumbled into the Abyss for the Lost and Damned to feast upon." For a moment the entire group exchanged wide-eyed stares.

"Well that's a cheerful thought, thank you for sharing Layla. Happen to have any useful information or is it all just bad news." She shot him a glance that would have put the fear of the Gods in him if he hadn't known the Gods were frauds. So he just smiled back at her and gave a small wave when she didn't stop glaring. "It's not too late for that portrait..."

"Oh don't pretend you didn't know about this." Ceddon shrugged at her accusation.

"Of course I knew the Bridge was dangerous. And yes I knew about the Toll Keeper. Too bad my knowledge extends no further. There was very little about the Toll Keeper in the Chronicles and Fallon didn't seem very interested in him anyway. But then I seriously doubt he'd be dumb enough to attempt to collect a toll from Fallon."

Asalia just sat there worrying the ends of her hair a bit. "I just know something bad will happen." Ceddon's sword rang clear as he struck it against one of the fluted cave pillars. He glared at Asalia with eyes turned stormy grey before pointing the blade, crackling with magical energy at her.

"I felt that one...you've illwished us LifeHeart. Something bad will happen now...and it's all your fault." Callix danced around under him, his talons striking sparks from the cave floor as he pawed deep furrows into it. His tail switched around and Layla slid to the groud, barley managing missing the black silken strands. Callix continued to move, causing Ceddon to swear and continually adjust his seat. "Hold still."

"Why? So you can do something you'll regret the next moment? Ceddon we both know better than that. I'm not going to let you hurt a young girl who's let her fears get the better of her." Instantly Ceddon saw where Callix was going with this argument and returned the steed's covert wink.

Asalia, sitting atop Stormwing, huffed a bit. "I'm not a young girl. I'm a young woman. Yes I'm afraid but only a fool wouldn't be! I mean look...really look at what we're doing!" She swept her arm toward the bridge and Ceddon had to admit, that bridge made him feel uneasy. He didn't show it though, folding his arms instead as he rammed his blade back in it's sheath.

"You've still ill-wished us. I've no doubt things will be worse now than they would have if you'd just kept thinking happy thoughts. Like springtime in the fields around Byrith, the Midsummer Fair and the Festival Night or maybe," he grinned slyly. "A certain tall, dark, handsome somebody humm?" Asalia flushed and Darith peered at her then looked back at Ceddon.

"I've missed something. What's going on that I don't know about." He looked at Ceddon who innocently, as if he was innocent, shrugged before his sardonic smile crept back into place.

"You're missing any half dozen things but I won't spoil the secret. You'll just have to ask little miss Grown-Up over there what I'm talking about. Well...if she can quit blushing long enough to tell you. I find it kind of cute in a hopeless and pitiful sort of way. What about you Callix."

The kession snorted and flicked his wings. "I don't find it funny at all. It's touching and sweet and..."

"And can we please get moving before Fallon shows up and wants to know why we havn't gotten anything done?" Ceddon helped Layla back up on the pillion pad, making sure she was secure again. He twitched an eyebrow at her before turning Callix toward the bridge.

"What the lady said." He had the kession pause for a moment just before stepping onto the bridge. Turning to look at Darith and Asalia he leaned toward them a bit. "Well? Are you coming? Or am I doing this all by myself?"
---------------------------

Took me forever but it's getting easier now.

[Kalanna Rai]

And next...
-----------------------


Chapter Twelve: Bridge of Sorrows pt 2

Asalia said nothing as Ceddon's harsh visage, cold as the ice of Midwinter, swung back around to peer across the span. Darith leaned out of Neverstar's saddle to rub her arm, the touch causing her to flinch. He smiled warmly into her frightened eyes. "It's alright, really it is." A shadow clouded his eyes. "I'd still like to know what secret you're keeping from me."

She shook her head a moment before forcing a laugh. "No secret. Just a foolish maid losing her head over a handsome man, that's all." Darith's eyebrows jerked up and he glanced at Ceddon's back sharply. Asalia almost laughed. "No, not him. He's handsome enough but...not as handsome as..." She broke it off, realizing she'd said enough for Darith to figure it out.

She almost couldn't stand the flash of pity she saw in his eyes before it was replaced by the usual warmth. "It's alright Asalia. The first time I fell in love I mooned over the maid for weeks. It didn't matter that she was only the daughter of a minor noble lord, and already betrothed, I worshipped everything about her."

Asalia nodded, memories bright and sharp having never been used. "I remember now that you've said something. She dragged you around like a puppy on a leash and everyone pretended not to..." She looked at him and his comforting smile. "You knew the whole time didn't you!" She went white with shame and his quick hand-squeeze did nothing to alleviate that shame.

"I wanted you to tell me, yourself. I wanted you to trust me enough to tell me. I didn't want to drag it out of you like this but...well...I couldn't go on playing dumb forever. Sometimes I can just stand back and watch you live your life. And sometimes I've got to be the nosey big brother if it keeps you safe." Asalia was crying now, tears sliding down her cheeks silently. "Don't cry."

"But I've been such a pain and a bother." He slapped a gauntlet against his greaves, cutting her off with the sharp sound.

"Now you're being a pain. You stopped whining years ago...why start again now." He straightened up as Ceddon called something back to them, his eyes boring down on her like that of some strange knight staring at an in the way damsel. "Where's the strong sister I know?"

She watched as he kicked Neverstar into a trot, quickly catching up to the others on the Bridge. She didn't want to go, she could feel the sense of wrong and danger pouring off the obsidian span, but she had to. "Oh Fallon...where are you?" All at once the vision took her.

She was in a place that extended all around her, white blankness in every direction. A thin smudge, a soft creme line, denoted horizon in the otherwize uniform blankness. Suddenly she noticed colors, power auras, crackling just behind her. She recognized Vathos instantly, his aura indistinguishable from the surrounding space since it lacked much of it's power. His form was human, the other eight though...

There was a woman with red skin and golden horns, thick black hair like Callix's but finer. Her thin whip-like tail flicked a bit, her golden talons glinting with every finger movement. Wings, like tattered shadows, clung to her shoulders. A ghastly aura of black nothing whirled around her as she whispered seductively in the ear of another.

There was a man with rams' horns and a long white beard. White hair flowed along his arms and his legs were bent and knobby, back bowed and hunched. Yet his skin was blue and he wore a grey cape, leaning heavily upon a grey ash staff from which hung a glowing lanturn. Blue power flashed from his hourglass shaped eyes.

Another woman, her aura clear grey, sat in her folded gown. She gazed dimurely at the others, clearly angery from the flat set of her fox ears. The brush of her tail switched near her large lower paws, her slender fingers tapping together against prim lips. She seemed peaceful enough but...

Another woman leaned her chin upon her hands. Her long hair flowed away from her fine face, pert nose wrinkling. Her long, rainbow hued, fish's tail curled up and around so that it's fluttering fan-shaped fin brushed over her eyes like a vale. Delicate webbed ears stood out like fans along the side of her head and her pearl green skin seemed to shine damply from the light of her seafoam colored aura.

Yet another, surrounded by an orange glow that brought to mind pillaged villages and broken lives. He was tall with pale yellow skin. His head was bald, massive ears like wings pointing up off his head. His feet were cloven hooves, filthy brown fur crawling up his lower body and fading out on his back and torso. Long yellow fangs glinted in his mouth, knarled claws on his fingertips.

The last that made her shudder was merely a black shape, his arua the color of a festered wound, sickened red, lashed out around him. He looked much like a cluster of tatterd black shadows, vauge arms and limbs, and ropey tentecles of darkness that lashed out at odd intervals just to keep the others away from him.

Another, pale pink light emenating from her vibrant insect wings. Her long body seemed to be that of a serpent, save that it shimmered and glowed warmly and was covered in long silken hair, her long limbs with their long digets twitching. Her head was that of a ferret, save that long tufts of hair flowed down for her ears. Her massive eyes seemed wise and clear.

The last was a centaur...of sorts. He seemed to have the lower body of a stag, his green aura like a forest in summer. A crown of antlers topped his head, deers ears laying benieth them. A circlet of oaken leaves dangled from one hand, thick fur covering his strong shoulders. He looked every inch the regal forest lord.

Suddenly the all turned as one, staring in her direction. Looking Asalia saw herself bathed in that particular shade of amythest violet that marked someone she knew all too well. Whirling she found herself nose to chest with Fallon. He gazed down at her, shaking his head. "You travel far with that Sight of yours. But right now you're in my way."

He quickly stepped around her, his blade coming free of it's sheath in a single fluid motion. He flipped it around, holding it straight before him, so close his lips brushed it's razor edge as he spoke. The words had no meaning to Asalia, nor did the glowing gesture he swiftly traced in the empty air. It hung for a fraction of a heartbeat before he swept his blade through it. The force of the blow sent the glyph hurling through the nothing toward the Gods.

It struck them and suddenly Asalia saw them trapped, their own auras feeding the spell that bound them inside the lines of the Glyph. She turned and looked at Fallon who was now sitting on a patch of nothing, sitting on air. He looked at her, his stare burning through her. "Remember Asalia...three days. That's as long as that Ward will hold."

Suddenly she snapped back to herself. "Asalia! Asalia! What's wrong." As her eyes refocused she felt Darith shaking her, holding her. She ached slightly and realized she was on the ground, head in Darith's lap, Ceddon kneeling beside her, Layla and the equines standing above her looking down. "She's awake!"

"She was never asleep Darith...why don't you try talking sense into your brother." Asalia gingerly sat up, realizing she must have fallen off Stormwing's back. She rubbed her shoulders.

"We've got to get moving. I've seen Fallon, he's got the God's penned up in something called a...Ward." Layla and Ceddon, as the only two mages, exchanged an unreadable but definetly 'oh shit' glance.

"A Ward...you're sure?" Asalia was already swinging back up on Stormwing's back. Once there she glared back at a very doubtful looking Layla.

"Yes, that's what he called it. Said it would only hold three days and the Gods looked none too happy about being held like that. I think we need to get moving." Ceddon had already sprang on Callix's back and was helping Layla get settled behind him, and Darith was just getting a leg in his stirrup.

In a few moments they all stood at the edge of the Bridge. Ceddon looked at Asalia. "The Toll Keeper won't appear until we reach the other side. He collects tolls to cross, not to set foot on. I seriously hope that you havn't..." Callix jolted him and he fell silent.

Still as they crossed the Bridge, Asalia wondered if she had indeed illwished them. And if so...she clenched her reings all the tighter.
-----------------------

Still working.

[Kalanna Rai]

Work work work...
-----------------------

Chapter Twelve: The Bridge of Sorrows pt 3

Layla felt the cold wind swirl up from the depths below them and shivered, clinging a little tighter to Ceddon's back. Damn the man but he'd taken her revelation well, even if he'd been a little cavalier about her feelings. Still, he'd made a good point. Being Fallon's physical shell for all your life must leave it's own marks. Marks one would want to keep hidden, just like she did.

Beneith her the kession moved as if he were knee deep in mud, each step carefully chosen to keep good footing. Even Callix was having trouble with the mirror-like bridge surface. Layla had glanced down once, to stare at their reflections, and had been horrified. The reflections had been...wrong.

Callix had seemed sick and weak, as if some great battle had sapped everything he had left. He looked as much like a broken down cart mule as any kession could. Ceddon had had angery red marks, tattoo like almost, that criss crossed his now bare skin. His long white hair, tipped in something red, had been chopped in a rackish style and his eyes had been like blood diamonds, glittering and red. He'd become something vile...a villian of great power.

Asalia had been lashed to her saddle, the loll of her head displaying a slash across her throat, terrible wounds riddling her body. It looked as though a company of archers had used her for their practice target. Darith had been a skeleton, mounted on a skeleton, their twisted bones belying thier tragic end as surely as the blackened colors and sundered armor.

Layla herself...she shuddered. She'd been alive but her belly had been heavy with child and her eyes had been haunted. She had seen the signs of ill treatment, marks and scars on her skin. She'd known instinctivly she'd been running from something, or someone. But who or what...and why. Legends said the bridge would show you visions of the future...but they never said how accurate they were.

Still...they'd also all had wings. Full wings, not the false wings they had as birthright. She wondered where they had come from, save in Ceddon's case he'd been born with them. It was something she hoped they could achive without the rest of the horrors coming true. "I wouldn't mind a child though..." She didn't realize she'd spoken aloud until Ceddon shifted under her grip.

"Good to see someone's planning for the future. I'll be satisfied if I come out of this alive and with all my limbs in their correct places." Layla grinned. She liked Ceddon's attitude...some of the time. He was obviously one of the most irritating men ever born...but much the same had been said about her. And he didn't mind she had a brother that was more evil than alive.

"I don't like this." Layla turned to Darith who was peering straight ahead. "It's too quiet. I realize that nothing should be hear besides us...but even the noise we're making is muted somehow. It's just not right." Personally Layla agreed with the young warrior. But he'd chosen this route, now they were committed. Turning back would gain them nothing save lost time and more troubles.

Suddenly they were across the midspan, the high point of the Bridge's gentle arc. Now the mounts were nearly sitting on their tails to keep from sliding down the other side. Callix snorted in disgust. "Are you sure I can't just fly? I mean I'm blunting my talons on this...stone?...for no good reason other than that you say I have to."

Layla chuckled as Ceddon patted the kession's neck and said..."I havn't steered you wrong...yet." The kession snorted again.

"Really reassuring Ceddon. Ever consider motivational speaking?"

"Ever consider becoming a glue ingrediant?"

"Point taken." Layla let out a snicker, noticing that both Asalia and Darith had managed thin smiles. Instantly she grasped what Ceddon and Callix were trying to do. They felt the tension as much as any of the others, but instead of falling prey to fear and worry, they were trying to lighten the mood. She decided she needed to be a little nicer to the Gallaeni boy and his mount from now on.

Suddenly they were on the way to the end, the flat expanse that ran from the arc of the span to the rock of the other side. Everything crashed down around them then, a cold chill that bit deeply into them and wrapped their beating hearts in stoney fists of icey dread. The mounts came to a halt, all on their own. Even Callix, struck dumb by the terror that was surrounding them.

Suddenly terror gave way to a sense of loss, a sense of suffering...of sorrow. The generations of tears that washed over them then left them shaken to the core, save maybe Ceddon who'd never had family and friends to lose. Yet as Layla clung to him, tears running down his armor like morning dew off a rock, a flicked feather brushed her cheek.

Looking up at him he smiled down at her. "Come on Priestess. The darkest hours are those just before daybreak. Smile and break the hold upon you."

Callix's voice was hoarse as he called back. "See, you like her!" Layla looked at the mount, his head swung back around and looking slightly smug, then back to the man. She expected some sharp retort, instead he shrugged.

"If it stops everyone being mopey I'll admit I see something in her."

"And just what is that?" Layla acted irritated but the slow grin on her face defeated her purpose. No doubt this was just another act for the benefit of morale. To her surprise, Ceddon acted serious, as if he was really contemplating her virtues from his eyes.

"You're strong, strong enough to handel what a life in this world throws at you. Strong enough to handel the breaking of your faith. Strong enough to throw in with total strangers that just ruined your existance." He though some more. "Your witty, you can return a sharp jab almost as fast as I can. You can also fight like a demon with that bow of yours. I saw those Cabodise. You'll take risks, make mistakes, and admit them afterwards for good or ill."

He was frank and open before sitting back and grinning. "That's all I can think of...but I'm sure you can add to the list."

Layla laughed. "Well...I'm ready to cross the rest of the bridge now at least. Thanks Ceddon. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

Callix snorted. "You could always..." Ceddon whacked his nose before he could finish.
-------------

I'll finish this tomorrow.

[Kalanna Rai]

And the last bit.
---------------------

Chapter Twelve: The Bridge of Shadows pt 4

Darith noted that all their mounts had stopped at some invisible line, even Callix, as surely as if there were a barrier before them they could not pass. Yet, now that that horrible wave of sorrow was gone, he could see nothing as he peered around into the darkness. He looked at the others who seemed just as puzzled. "Callix...can't you go forward?"

The kession shook his head. "Nope, even though my life depends on it. It's like...I can't describe it but I bet if you dismounted you'd see what I was talking about." With a shrug, Darith slid from his saddle, boots hitting the stone of the bridge with a clang. Had he not been holding onto Neverstar's saddle still, he would have slipped and fallen on the smooth, shimmering surface.

He walked forward and came to a dead hault as something pressed against his chest. Looking down he saw his toes were in line with the horses' hooves and the kession's talons. He tried to go forward and only felt himself repulsed all the more strongly...like someone had planted their hands on his chest and was shoving him back with all their might. It didn't help that he couldn't get good purchase on the surface of the bridge, suddenly realizing this was the reason why.

After a few moments he gave up, remounting and trying not to see the kession's smirk. "I told you so." He shook his head and sighed, brows twisted as he tried to puzzle out what must be keeping them there. A question sprang to the front of his mind.

"Where's this Toll Keeper?" Ceddon shrugged and Layla bit her lip, thinking hard for a moment.

"He's always just appeared in the legends. I don't know why he's not here now." A flicker of motion caught Darith's eye and he turned to face Asalia as she shifted in her saddle.

"Maybe we came when he wasn't here?" Darith shook his head. That couldn't be the reason. Even with as little as he knew about magic he knew that something like the Toll Keeper, a guardian of some kind, was bound to that which they gaurd. Be it person, place, or thing the could not venture more than a handful of steps from it. As if to confirm his thoughs Ceddon gave a bark of mocking laughter.

"That's not the case. I think we just need to give him some incentive." Drawing his sword, which Darith had already forgotten the name of, he wheeled Callix around like some corse adventurer seeking nothing but his own gain. His voice rang out as clear as the clash of steel on steel and just as hard. "Toll Keeper! Come and collect your Toll so that we might pass."

A sound rolled over them, flattening the ears of the mounts and resonating inside the helms of the party like some massive black iorn bell foretelling doom. Like the great carrion bell that had hung in the belltower of Byrith Castle. It was not a pretty sound in any sense of the word and Darith gritted his teeth as it rolled away, leaving his head as wobbly as a pudding.

Ceddon laughed, although it seemed to Darith that it lacked it's usual edge. "Is that all you can do? Some cheap sound effects? Hurry up will you, before I die of boardom." A thick fog boiled up out of the Abyss below them. Swiftly, the Bridge's surface and the ground beyond it were lost in the thick carpet of boiling white. Ceddon glanced down at the pulsing mist. "And now you blow smoke, cute but rather unimpressive. Are you afraid to show yourself to me?"

The smoke suddenly boiled up, whirling and twisting, wrapping itself into an impressive shape. Worse, the whirling smoke outlined the figures that had been invisible only moments before. That resistance Darith and the mounts had encountered, the one that had felt like hands pushing him back, was illuminated briefly. Thousands and thousands of souls, each bearing the wounds that had felled them, each with cheeks wet with tears, stood blocking their path.

In that moment of distraction, he missed the final moments of the Toll Keeper's appearance. Thus, when the creature spoke, it startled Darith and his subsequent jump spooked Neverstar a bit. Yet the horse was too well trained and too frightened to bolt, locking it's legs instead and refusing to budge another inch. That voice, as deep and menacing as the bell-like sound had been, rolled over the party.

"You wish to pass?"

Ceddon sheathed his sword with an audible rasp and Darith admired his cool as he surveyed the creature. Then he glanced at Darith and jerked his head toward the Toll Keeper. "Well now you learn another of the perks of commanding...dealing with little surprises like this."

Darith shivered as the scrutiney of the Toll Keeper fell upon him. "You wish to pass?" Darith stared openly as every detail of the creature imprinted itself on his memory.

It was centuar-like in appearance with dark grey skin that shimmered like stone. It stood well over the hight of any man he'd ever seen, the size of a minotuar nine, perhaps ten, feet tall. It balanced itself on four pillar-like legs, each of which ended in a massive tri-cloven hoof that the mist shied away from. A long, thick tail dragged the ground, vanishing into the mist that stirred behind it. It's shoulders were wider than an ox was long, as heavily muscled as anything Darith had ever seen.

A tattered mass of shadows clung to it's shoulders, stirring with every breath the creature drew. It's face resembled a horse's skull only deep grey in color, white power blazing from where it's eyes should be. It's broad hands were clasped on a long weapon that would have resembled a shepard's crook if sheep had been demons. It repeated for a third time. "You wish to pass?"

Swollowing the lump of fear in his throat Darith nodded, amazed that when he spoke his voice was even and clear. "Yes, we seek passage."

The creature nodded. "You will pay the toll?"

Darith almost agreed blindly, then remembered it would be prudent to ask what the Toll was. He flushed a bit but continued in that same even voice. "What is the Toll's price?"

The creature shuffled it's hooves, stirring the mist as it tried to creep out from under them. It seemed to be considering, looking over them. "A choice of prices, as befits all attempting the noble work in this sorrowing world," Darith frowned as the creature paused to think some more. What did he mean by that.

He looked at the others, who were just as puzzled as he. He repeated his question again. "What is the price?" The creature returned it's gaze to him.

"The first price is power, all the power held in each of you. Is this the price you will accept?" Layla gasped, hand over her mouth, and Asalia stared in shock. Ceddon gave Darith a glance with raised eyebrows.

"Steep price, commander, considering that your sister is a LifeHeart." Darith had been thinking much the same thing.

"What is the other price?" He asked the impassive Toll Keeper.

The creature shifted again. "The second price is time, one of you must remain with me until your release is paid in tears. These are the prices, these are your Tolls. Choose one and choose wisely."

Darith turned back to the others and spread his hands. "We are well and truely bound here." Asalia was crying silently but her chin was high and her gaze was level. She was fully willing to sacrifice her power...or even her life. But Darith couldn't let that happen. "Ceddon...your counsel?"

Ceddon sighed, a hand running through his hair. "We can't leave our power behind. Something tells me going for the Sphere of Magic and Darkness without magic is a futile thing. And besides, Asalia's power is the power of her life. Take that and she'll die Darith." He sighed again. "No, one of us must remain here until enough tears have been shed over us to buy our freedom. I think that rules me out since Fallon's not likely to cry over me and neither are any of you."

Darith grimaced at Ceddon's selfish, but accurate, assessment. "It won't be Asalia either. I can't let that happen." He glanced at Layla. "It seems that it's either you or I lady and it cannot be you."

Layla stare levelly at him. "Why not?"

"Because you're the only one who knows the way into Ebon Spire. Because you know more about it than any of us. Because," He looked at the creature and shuddered. "Because this is what must be done if I am to ever call myself a man." Just like that Neverstar was drawn forward until Darith was face to face with the creature.
"I will pay the toll of time."

The Toll Keeper nodded. "So be it." Mist crawled up Neverstar's legs, quickly encircling horse and rider. Darith felt as his flesh was stripped away benieth his armor, dimly heard his own screams as the screams of another. His mount was screaming to until it was suddenly silenced. As the mist climbed higher, Darith caught the eyes of the horrified party as they quickly passed.

His arm came up, maps clutched in a hand of black bone. "Ceddon, take the maps!" He hurled them to the white Gallaeni who caught them deftly with a grim nod. "Layla...watch over Asalia for me." The Priestess gave her assent, lips tight pressed. He caught Asalia's eyes at last, feeling every tear she shed even as the mist began to strip the flesh from his face. "Asalia...tell Fallon..."

His last words were cut off as the flesh of his throat and face were stripped away. But he knew that she understood. He'd hurled the thought with everything he had at her. He knew she'd get the message across...
--------------------------

What is the message Darith gave Asalia?
-------------------------

Hope you liked.

[Glyph]

I loved the chapter Rai, however, I'm sorry to say that I don't know what the message should be. I don't know the character associations well enough. It is appearant that you want the message to be of great weight with the story. I eagerly await my next visit to this world you have weaved of words.
Respect, Honor, and Power to you,
Glyph

[Lilith]

Absolutely lovely Rai! An honorable end to a noble warrior... and I loved the banter between Callix, Layla, and Ceddon. As for the message,... I dunno. Maybe something like 'I'm sorry' or 'I'll kick your ass if you hurt my sister' or 'Thanks for saving my ass numerous times..' To be honest, I can't think of anything for Darith to need to tell Fallon that Fallon wouldn't already know..... or does he?

[Kalanna Rai]

Nice to see you stop by Glyph, enjoy the show.

As for Fallon knowing everything already...not true. Fallon is watching the Gods, not concerning himself with the party. Otherwise he'd just go after the Sphere himself.

Darith's message could be anything, even a plea to be saved from his now hellish existance...

[Kalanna Rai]

Poll's up.

[Lilith]

Muahaha! I broke the tie! Get started Kalanna! Just kidding, lol!