Geni heaved, the floors having been stained by a river of redness—stinking. Really disgusting stuff. Fortunately, the SpaceRunner surveyed herself. None of the blood had touched her. That was good, intentional, of course, but still good. After all, even blood can often misjudge the direction between her and them. Geni smiled at that. "Now that's done, I wonder if the brightCrowns of this castle still live."
Geni hoped so. Not because of the paperwork, but for the reason that they should. Otherwise, it would become a hassle to find yet another brightCrown to occupy Ravenhall—the castle.
Genu paused. "Well, it's not like it's the duty of the church.. The Odium clan can handle that." She nodded. This was the Redstones—a series of 12 islands near the Odium Clans castlerock and Valehall. This one, Geni recalled the name: Ravenland was home to Ravenhall, a castle.
And as for the name, supposedly, Ravens were indigenous to the island. Thus, the Odium Clan, in order to maintain a claim to the land, left a member of the noble house here—not from the High family, but close enough.
"What was his name again?" There was nothing. "Did I not read it?" Geni punched the sword into the earth, digging then calmly into the depths of her pouch. Her book, yes, that—that was the thing sought for. "I know it's in here somewhere." A gasp. "There." Something was retrieved from the pouch, except it wasn't the wanted thing.
A frown creased her brow. The book was different—bound with brownish dark leather. Not hers.
"I'm still with this?" The book that was found in the cognitive realm—a rarity in on its self, yet outside some dreary words about a dark castle, a sky of swirling colors, and a glowing white orb in the sky, nothing was of import.
To the SpaceRunner, the words read like the mad ravings of a Caster—one likely in the thralls of Discord. It did happen. Once a time, a SpaceRunner would observe something within the cognitive realm, something strong enough to shatter their minds. In that eventuality, all they could do was rave.
Although the words: 'sunBringer' were intriguing to her. Via the Oral History, which only the Highnesses were permitted to learn by the Church, she knew there once existed a man: Baldwin Sevraz, called the sunBringer. Although unsure, she knew he was known for some great war. Nonetheless, there were also rumors in the north of a group that adores a man with that same title.
An Imitator? Who knew. Regardless, the man or whatever existed somewhere in Nightfell. Geni shrugged. "Maybe that's why the Comes of the North is being sent there—after Valor, that is." Geni sighed, stuffing the journal back into her pouch, taking out another—a dark one.
"There it is!" She read through, fingers trailing across the darkly inked surface of the books. Geni found it. "Lord Merwin Odium the second." A nod. "He shares a name with the first lord of Ravenhall... Hmm." The book was stuffed back into the pouch.
"It seems he had very few children, a son, nine years old." Geni frowned. "His likely dead."
A tragic thing…But reality nonetheless.
Her legs stepped atop the bloody earth, the arching heels padding with a click click over the solid grounds. It was disgusting, the blood, that, and the discomfort provided by the high heels.
She had a mind to prefer sandals... Except, she sighed. "Hope she notices this at least."
In the end.
Geni traversed the rest of Ravenhall, searching out for any remnants of life; there was none. Not the handmaidens that usually existed in such noble houses, not the cleaners, the CleanseWitches, not even an Excubitor or two. Surely, given the need for the protection of this island, the Odium clan could at least have commissioned an Excubitor from Brightstone.
But what did she know? Nobles, Lords, brightCrowns, all of them, despite the acclaimed connection to the mindForce, acted with surprising stupidity. In any case, the hallways of Ravenhall had paintings adorned on both sides of the walls—pictures of the past lords of the castle. There was Merwin the first, a square-jawed man with a brutish glare to him. Red-haired, of course. That and many more.
Geni, however, found little of interest in such things.
Eastos had countless clans, Vassal clan, lords, villages, towns—all of which had a tapestry of history to them. Thus, to learn them all, even for a Caster, was simply impossible. More of an exaggeration, she realized. But the truth nonetheless. Even if one could store all that data mentally, what use did they have?
Geni opened a door, eyes quickly locking down on a pond of blood spilled around the room.
In the center stretched a long black table, six high-backed elastic wood seats on both side. On each of them, men, women, and children had their heads pinned atop the desks. Eyes wide, blood dried over the gashes on their throats.
"I think I've found the missing workers." She winced, looked away. The stench was nauseating, flowing from all sides. Bugs, too, were crawling in and out of them.
A child, male, likely the son of Merwin the second, had his teeth knocked out. No, not knocked. Geni approached, a frown ever present across her features. What was it?
She rounded the table, edging towards the now dead boy. Leaning, the stench wafted into her eyes and nose. No matter. She dug her fingers into the boy's mouth, opening it.
A mess was the discovery; the teeth were shaved, more like pried from their sockets, blood and pain the obvious consequence of such action. What agony the boy must have known. Screaming and wailing. She gritted. "They did this to a child?" More and more, Geni drowned whatever pity Geni had for these people. These reivers.
Mist them all!
Mist them all into damnation.
Geni observed the rest of them, found nothing outside the scars, the obvious signs of rape on the women, and torture for the men. There was no Excubitor to be found, just a few guardsmen that were added to the pile of corpses.
Ravenhall was a morgue for the dead!
Sick to the stomach by the stench of the rotting, Geni spewed out into the yard of Ravenhall. Far cleaner a place than the interior—here, she noted, the sky churned with that ever-present foamy darkness, lightning cracking white within its tenebrosity. Gloomy.
In the distance was a range of mountains, hills, some hidden in the rolling steam off the earth.
But between the SpaceRunner and those mountains was a forest of elastic woods—their tops like tents that protected against the constant batter of the Everstorm. They surrounded the yard, riming the grand statue centered in the compound.
Geni observed the muscular white marble statue, now stained with moss, the man's hair carved into the shape of wind fluttering. He stood strong, fingers pointing at the distance, eye watching out.
"Morgoth the Tyrant," She muttered. That was his name. A highness of the Odium clan that had taken power directly after the darkening. Geni was unsure why he was named the 'Tyrant'. To her, all Highnesses of Odium were cruel by nature.
"I wonder if his crime was on par with that of Rose Odium." Geni thought, recounting the story: Supposedly, in an attempt the end the blood feud that spanned since the time of Shirera and the sons of Odium, Rose had invited Mel Valor, the foolish, to the Redstones. The exact island was unknown to her, but there, a great massacre had been done. And although Mel had survived, Rose vanished from that day onwards. Not dead, just gone.
Not even the greatest of loremasters could figure out why.
Geni rubbed her temples, hearing just then the cawing of birds swarming around. Countless of them. She turned, regarding the little creatures perched atop the branches of the Elastic woods. Hundreds of them, all cawing in that ear-piercing quality.
"I suppose that's why it's called Ravenhall." She sighed, observing the totality of the yard. There was nothing of import to be found here, not even a single skyship. "I suppose the neckslitters do not travel by skyships... Boats then."
In that case:
Geni's legs lifted off the earth, the Elastic woods, lowering as she hovered up into the sky, nearing the overhead spread of endless darkness. "I should search the nearest river... Maybe that's where—" Something grabbed onto her legs.
Geni yelped, the world twisting as her back smashed into the hard solidity that was the ground below. The pain swelled in her skull, a realization that death would have come if not for the altered weight of her body. Fortunate.
Unlike the boring Casters that utilized the wind to achieve some measure of Flight, Geni did it with more of a critical style.
But seriously, she panted. The pain was irritating. What had attacked her?