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Altriona: Journal the Fourth
Nov. 5th, 2009 06:14 amHow does one bear such pain? The pain of the flesh is quite sufficient this night without the vexation of spirit caused by the events of this day.
I must slow down my racing thoughts, calm my wounded soul, and compose myself to write. Should I fail, I fear my future readers will make no sense of my ravings.
The ship was attacked this afternoon, as we sailed into a deep patch of fog. Norsicans, chaos-tainted and a monster leading them, rammed our ship and swarmed it. Our men acquitted themselves well, taking out many more of the pirates than we lost ourselves. The dirges for those lost yet echo in my ears all the same. It is but one more grief to this night.
Mallion heard and felt the ship being attacked. He must have left via the window, circled around, and attacked the pirate ship from behind. It was he who killed the beastman, though how I know not. Lorandara used her magic to good effect, buying time for our sailors to arm themselves and fight, and indeed dispatching one or two on her own. I did less well, for I saw Mallion appear on the other ship and lost my focus long enough to get wounded. After that the act of parrying new blows was enough to keep me busy until the battle was over.
Gallos disappeared below decks with the doctor when the battle began, hiding in the latter's cabin as ship's doctors and cowards are wont to do. Lorandara and I went in search of him afterward. We had already discussed with the Captain the necessity of finding a way to rid the ship of Valadar's leech, and were looking to create an opportunity if one did not present itself. But before we could truly make his leavetaking seem the desertion it was, Mallion threw a stick into the spokes.
Instead of flying around back to the window, he came to kneel on the prow of the pirate ship, even then taking on water. His bow was a full high court elven bow, such as I have seen him perform so many times before. It was not meant to be performed while sorely wounded, though, nor while balancing oneself with wings, nor while attempting to hide long talons, and I could see how it hurt him. The sailors either did not recognize it or did not trust it, for they brought up their bows to shoot him. My cry stopped them, and it was followed by the Captain's, who bid him speak.
He explained to them that he had been enslaved by the beastman on the pirate ship, and that he had welcomed the chance to kill his captor and escape. As he had once been an elf like us, he asked our mercy and help, that he might be transformed back into himself. The name he gave, Morethlaine, belonged to an acquaintance from many years ago.
After some discussion, and the seeking of the opinions of the doctor and Lorandara, he was brought on board and bound while a cage was constructed for him on deck. He submitted to these indignities with his own gentle composure, mixed with a shame I had not fully recognized before. It broke my heart to see him chained and caged like a dog suspected to be rabid, who though seemingly gentle could turn vicious at any moment.
After Lorandara and I convinced the Captain to take this new development one day at a time, and see where it took us, I returned on deck and stayed close to Mallion, not close enough that he could have touched me through the slats but sufficiently near that any abuse hurled at him would be clear to me. There was little; the sailors who walked past treated him as either a dog, with sharp and simple commands, or ignored him altogether. Mayhap the presence of a lady prevented more? For I had championed him, giving him leave to speak. Who was the poet who said that we are responsible for those whom we have tamed? Am I equally responsible for he whom I seek to tame again, in form as well as spirit?
The doctor offered Mallion a concoction of poppy juice and other herbs, to dull his pain. I beseeched Lorandara to heal him, for I mistrust a concoction designed to make the patient sleep. After some discussion about the effects of white magic on a chaos-tainted being, she agreed to try. Mallion is still hurt, but not as much as he had been.
In one of the brief moments when he and I could converse, my brother told me that the doctor and Gallos had determined to continue their observations while no one was around that evening. I decided to remain close and hide myself nearby in case the doctor and the leech attempted something on my captive brother which would undo our subterfuge or hurt him. Accordingly, after the sun went down, I laid down behind some coiled ropes to wait. It did not take long. the doctor and the leech came on deck, with Lorandara, who apparently had been invited to observe their work. She learned what it was that they were going to attempt, and it made my heart quail to hear it.
They planned to hypnotize Mallion, for they believed he was not telling the truth about himself. Gallos claimed the process was relaxing, a form of induced meditation, but the doctor shared that it could make someone tell a truth they had meant to conceal. Quietly I readied some items in my belt pouch to throw at Mallion should I need to distract him, but he avoided whatever spell Gallos was trying to put on him. Lorandara acted fascinated by the procedure, asking questions and generally interrupting as much as she could; I have no doubt it was a-purpose, especially when she encouraged Gallos to put the doctor into this state of hypnosis. It was difficult to control my mirth when the doctor was intoning a self-satisfied phrase about learned men not falling for those tricks, even as Gallos put him under and asked him several questions. When Gallos allowed him to come back to himself, he did not realize he had been hypnotized. Lorandara enlightened him, with a wide-eyed innocence that I am beginning to deeply mistrust and greatly appreciate.
Gallos asked Lorandara if he could return to her cabin with her to go over some of the notes he'd made about Mallion. She said that she suspected Altriona would be back, so that would be fine. Hearing this, I ascertained that Mallion was fine for the night and followed at a leisurely pace.
When she screamed for me, I ran.
I arrived to find the door to my cabin closed, with Gallos inside the room and 'Dara outside, quite distraught. I sent her for the captain, and guarded the door. Gallos kept making noises that it was just a misunderstanding; I informed him in no uncertain terms that the misunderstanding would get much worse if he dared to open the door. When the captain arrived, Lorandara told him that Gallos had attempted to bespell her to sleep. When he tried to defend himself, I asked him what possible defence he could have for accosting another man's wife. Gallos protested, of course, but Lorandara's word stood, and it is true that he meant to harm her in some way, though not necessarily THAT way. The captain ordered Gallos tied on deck until he could be put off in the morning.
I went to the deck to make sure the leech had been bound far from my brother, for I had no doubt he had overheard the altercation and I wanted to reassure him. He was standing up in his cage, simply staring at the Bretonnian. I recognized the look, for it was in my own eye. I promised him that if any were to hurt Lorandara, I would run them through myself. And I told him that she was acting, and the event had been staged to get rid of Gallos. It was not entirely true, but it calmed him and that was its intent.
I have seen the fever of attack descend upon my brother. Tonight I saw him coldly calculate murder of one who had threatened his wife. There is little I would not give up to know if he would have reacted the same way had he retained his elven form.
And so I sit, unable to take my sorely-needed rest, still wounded in body but more so in spirit. For my brother is curled around his chains in a cold cage on deck, believing that he deserves no better. What right have I to comfort when he has none?
I must slow down my racing thoughts, calm my wounded soul, and compose myself to write. Should I fail, I fear my future readers will make no sense of my ravings.
The ship was attacked this afternoon, as we sailed into a deep patch of fog. Norsicans, chaos-tainted and a monster leading them, rammed our ship and swarmed it. Our men acquitted themselves well, taking out many more of the pirates than we lost ourselves. The dirges for those lost yet echo in my ears all the same. It is but one more grief to this night.
Mallion heard and felt the ship being attacked. He must have left via the window, circled around, and attacked the pirate ship from behind. It was he who killed the beastman, though how I know not. Lorandara used her magic to good effect, buying time for our sailors to arm themselves and fight, and indeed dispatching one or two on her own. I did less well, for I saw Mallion appear on the other ship and lost my focus long enough to get wounded. After that the act of parrying new blows was enough to keep me busy until the battle was over.
Gallos disappeared below decks with the doctor when the battle began, hiding in the latter's cabin as ship's doctors and cowards are wont to do. Lorandara and I went in search of him afterward. We had already discussed with the Captain the necessity of finding a way to rid the ship of Valadar's leech, and were looking to create an opportunity if one did not present itself. But before we could truly make his leavetaking seem the desertion it was, Mallion threw a stick into the spokes.
Instead of flying around back to the window, he came to kneel on the prow of the pirate ship, even then taking on water. His bow was a full high court elven bow, such as I have seen him perform so many times before. It was not meant to be performed while sorely wounded, though, nor while balancing oneself with wings, nor while attempting to hide long talons, and I could see how it hurt him. The sailors either did not recognize it or did not trust it, for they brought up their bows to shoot him. My cry stopped them, and it was followed by the Captain's, who bid him speak.
He explained to them that he had been enslaved by the beastman on the pirate ship, and that he had welcomed the chance to kill his captor and escape. As he had once been an elf like us, he asked our mercy and help, that he might be transformed back into himself. The name he gave, Morethlaine, belonged to an acquaintance from many years ago.
After some discussion, and the seeking of the opinions of the doctor and Lorandara, he was brought on board and bound while a cage was constructed for him on deck. He submitted to these indignities with his own gentle composure, mixed with a shame I had not fully recognized before. It broke my heart to see him chained and caged like a dog suspected to be rabid, who though seemingly gentle could turn vicious at any moment.
After Lorandara and I convinced the Captain to take this new development one day at a time, and see where it took us, I returned on deck and stayed close to Mallion, not close enough that he could have touched me through the slats but sufficiently near that any abuse hurled at him would be clear to me. There was little; the sailors who walked past treated him as either a dog, with sharp and simple commands, or ignored him altogether. Mayhap the presence of a lady prevented more? For I had championed him, giving him leave to speak. Who was the poet who said that we are responsible for those whom we have tamed? Am I equally responsible for he whom I seek to tame again, in form as well as spirit?
The doctor offered Mallion a concoction of poppy juice and other herbs, to dull his pain. I beseeched Lorandara to heal him, for I mistrust a concoction designed to make the patient sleep. After some discussion about the effects of white magic on a chaos-tainted being, she agreed to try. Mallion is still hurt, but not as much as he had been.
In one of the brief moments when he and I could converse, my brother told me that the doctor and Gallos had determined to continue their observations while no one was around that evening. I decided to remain close and hide myself nearby in case the doctor and the leech attempted something on my captive brother which would undo our subterfuge or hurt him. Accordingly, after the sun went down, I laid down behind some coiled ropes to wait. It did not take long. the doctor and the leech came on deck, with Lorandara, who apparently had been invited to observe their work. She learned what it was that they were going to attempt, and it made my heart quail to hear it.
They planned to hypnotize Mallion, for they believed he was not telling the truth about himself. Gallos claimed the process was relaxing, a form of induced meditation, but the doctor shared that it could make someone tell a truth they had meant to conceal. Quietly I readied some items in my belt pouch to throw at Mallion should I need to distract him, but he avoided whatever spell Gallos was trying to put on him. Lorandara acted fascinated by the procedure, asking questions and generally interrupting as much as she could; I have no doubt it was a-purpose, especially when she encouraged Gallos to put the doctor into this state of hypnosis. It was difficult to control my mirth when the doctor was intoning a self-satisfied phrase about learned men not falling for those tricks, even as Gallos put him under and asked him several questions. When Gallos allowed him to come back to himself, he did not realize he had been hypnotized. Lorandara enlightened him, with a wide-eyed innocence that I am beginning to deeply mistrust and greatly appreciate.
Gallos asked Lorandara if he could return to her cabin with her to go over some of the notes he'd made about Mallion. She said that she suspected Altriona would be back, so that would be fine. Hearing this, I ascertained that Mallion was fine for the night and followed at a leisurely pace.
When she screamed for me, I ran.
I arrived to find the door to my cabin closed, with Gallos inside the room and 'Dara outside, quite distraught. I sent her for the captain, and guarded the door. Gallos kept making noises that it was just a misunderstanding; I informed him in no uncertain terms that the misunderstanding would get much worse if he dared to open the door. When the captain arrived, Lorandara told him that Gallos had attempted to bespell her to sleep. When he tried to defend himself, I asked him what possible defence he could have for accosting another man's wife. Gallos protested, of course, but Lorandara's word stood, and it is true that he meant to harm her in some way, though not necessarily THAT way. The captain ordered Gallos tied on deck until he could be put off in the morning.
I went to the deck to make sure the leech had been bound far from my brother, for I had no doubt he had overheard the altercation and I wanted to reassure him. He was standing up in his cage, simply staring at the Bretonnian. I recognized the look, for it was in my own eye. I promised him that if any were to hurt Lorandara, I would run them through myself. And I told him that she was acting, and the event had been staged to get rid of Gallos. It was not entirely true, but it calmed him and that was its intent.
I have seen the fever of attack descend upon my brother. Tonight I saw him coldly calculate murder of one who had threatened his wife. There is little I would not give up to know if he would have reacted the same way had he retained his elven form.
And so I sit, unable to take my sorely-needed rest, still wounded in body but more so in spirit. For my brother is curled around his chains in a cold cage on deck, believing that he deserves no better. What right have I to comfort when he has none?