TheLadyInTheKeep

From IMiA

Sean and Cassandra stand alone in the darkness.

O'Donovan looks primed to set off, pausing merely to get his bearings -- and as he glances around, he suddenly stops and stares at the scars on her hand. Then, with a wince, he closes his empty eye.

"Cass -- the scar on your hand -- it's *glowing*. So white..."

Cass glances at his face, closing her hand into a fist and pressing it against her breastbone. "Good," is all she says. After a moment, she manages a wan smile.

"Might it be our way home? There's power there..."

She opens her hand and lets her arm fall to level before her, palm up. She looks back up at O'Donovan as she begins to swing her arm, first to the right, then to the left, gauging his face for any change in the light.

O'Donovan, following the movements of Cassandra's hand, sees something in the darkness. It appears to be something solid and quite large.

"There's something this way," Sean says, pointing in the direction. "Can you shine your light that way?" He seems surprisingly eager to start walking that way.

She looks in the direction he is pointing, and begins to move toward whatever he is pointing to...

Cassandra and O'Donovan walk through the darkness. For how long they do so, they can not tell. There is no sense of distance or even of movement. They reach a structure. A tower. A keep.

Cass looks as Sean to see what he is thinking...

Sean looks at it puzzledly. "Well, it's not Hell." He shrugs. "I suppose we should try to go in."

She gives him a deeper quizzical look, "You would know?"

He flashes her a grin which is all teeth, brilliantly white in contrast to his skin. "Let's find a door."

She can't help but return that grin, and they proceed around the base of the structure, seeking entry...

They eventually come to a rather standard looking entrance. The gate is closed. There is something about it that seems oddly familiar to Cassandra, but she can not place it.

Cassandra steps forward and lays that palm against the wood. Her face is still with concentration as she listens for anything that might indicate there are others in this place, and Sean can feel the tension in her as she momentarily encumbers her sword hand in this task.

Sean squeezes her arm gently in a fashion which he hopes is approving and reassuring.

Two things happen at once. Cassandra feels much better as O'Donovan does this. The gate opens.

O'Donovan nods at it. "Shall we?"

She nods, "Let's."

With each step, it becomes more and more familiar for Cassandra. It's someplace OLD. It's someplace she's been. Then, it hits her like a gunshot. She has been here or someplace very much like it. With the General. It's one of the oldest sections of the castle in Amber.

Cass stops abruptly, her arm on O'Donovan's tightening. She glances at him with a small smile. Her eyes flicker around the walls in recognition, "This is part of the castle, Sean. The core of it, first built." The fingers of her right hand reach out to brush the ancient walls as she begins to move forward again, "Amber's first defense." She looks back up at Sean, her eyes bright with speculation...

He looks around in wonder. "And it let us in," he says quietly, awed.

She stops again, abruptly, and turns to face him, the grip of her left hand tightening and shaking him slightly. "Yes, you!" she holds his eye fiercely. "You have what matters, Sean." Her glowing hand comes up to rest over his heart. "Don't you ever forget that." Her eyes promise trouble to him if ever he does. Then the fierceness fades, and she smiles. "I mean it."

This part of the castle has fallen into disuse over the centuries. Much of it, in fact, is sealed off in the much larger castle that is is more familiar to Cassandra. Still, assuming its original purpose, Cassandra can roughly gather her bearings and navigate . The place is lit, but there is no sounds of activity.

"Whose memory is this, I wonder?" O'Donovan muses. "Not mine, certainly. Not yours either, I take it?"

She gives him a startled look and shakes her head, "Basic training had me learning some the castle backways. This area wasn't really included in those maneuvers." She continues to look around as they walk and talk, memorizing her path and what she sees. "I was under the impression that the core was unused in modern times. Let's see what remains at the center."

"After you," O'Donovan says. Following her, he continues to ponder his earlier question. "Has the King been alive since the founding of Amber?" he mutters bemusedly.

She shakes her head, she doesn't know... but that brings another thought to her mind. "Sean?" she hesitates before asking, "Did you recognize that face?" Her hand wraps a little tighter around his arm.

"No... why?" he starts to say, followed rapidly by, "Oh, fuck. Do you think we in _its_ memories?"

"No," she says, waving her hand. "I don't think so. I don't think this would have let us in so easily if it were... that one..." She continues a few a steps, "This is old. You may be right, in your guess." And a few steps later, "Does this seem deeper than it should be, to you? We ought to be near..."

Sean shakes his head. "I've never understood how the castle is laid out. it always surprises me."

Cassandra and O'Donovan reach the doors of the great hall of the old keep. The doors are closed. Cassandra remembers this as an area made inaccessible in the castle she knows. In fact, many of the routes to this place have been walled off. She has the nagging memory that Benedict ordered everyone armed if they were in this ancient section of the castle. Indeed, he himself did not walk it unarmed.

She looks at Sean, "The General was leery of this area. And this was definitely one of the no-access rooms. I remember it being bricked up. You want to go in?" Her hand hovers at the door, and her body tenses in anticipation of a conflict - she's ready to draw her sword.

O'Donovan opens his left eye socket -- and a moment later covers it with his hand and peers through the cracks. Finally he closes it again. "This entire place is bright -- real, I guess," he explains. He looks at Cass and shrugs. "Might as well go in, I guess." He checks to make sure he still has his sword at his side.

She nods, still tense, and puts her palm against the door...

The door opens. There is he odd sensation of searing light pouring from The room almost like a liquid in the air.

Cass looks at Sean for his reaction, she's following his lead, here.

O'Donovan places his hand over his missing eye, and very cautiously opens the eyelid...... only to jerk back, curse viciously and slam his other hand over the first, as he looks away from the door. "Ow, ow, ow..." It takes him a minute to regain his composure. Finally he says, "Bright," as an explanation.

She gives him a dry look. "We going in?" Her demeanor seems to have relaxed slightly, but she still is poised for a fast reaction... she is less apprehensive, perhaps. She gives Sean a moment to recover before she begins to move forward into the room...

"Guess so," Sean replies. "Damn, but there's a lot of power in there." Holding his left hand firmly over his shut left eyelid, he places his right hand on Cass's shoulder. "Shall we?"

She pushes the door fully open, then steps in, wary for things in corners...

The great hall is much as they expect a more mundane great hall to be. A fire blazes in the fire pit. Though, properly speaking, it is not truly a fire as much as a writhing and pulsating tower of something too bright to be flame.

The only occupant of the room is a woman. She leans against a pillar as though for support. Her coloration is beyond fair. It is like perfect porcelain. Her hair is long and seems almost like spun silver. A golden circlet is about her forehead. The green of Arden and the sea pales next to Her eyes. The dress She wears is white and sparkles like noon sunlight on fresh snow. She is tall and thin. She appears both fragile and formidable all at once. The only mar on Her perfection is the dark stain on Her dress. Blood flows slowly from Her left side.

Sean tries to squeeze Cass's shoulder, but she is already striding quickly forward.

Cass skirts the pillar, to stand in front of the figure. All the color has drained from her face. "Lady," she breathes, "What has happened to you?" Her hand reaches forward and then hesitates. She swallows and casts a glance over her shoulder to Sean.

Sean is down on one knee, bowing his head toward the bleeding woman.

"You should not be here," the Lady replies. "This is not a place that you can long abide."

Cass shifts restlessly, and looks at Sean...

For a moment, Sean pauses, looking for a word. Finally, without looking up, he starts, "Lady..." It is obvious he finds the word inadequate, but has none better of his own. "We seek a way back to our world. And we would help you, if we can."

Cass merely nods and waits on the Lady.

Rise," the Lady says to Sean.

Awkwardly Sean climbs to his feet, still covering his left eye with his hand.

She studies both Cassandra and O'Donovan in long silence. There is a terrible and wonderful familiarity to the gaze as though She sees everything there is to know in their souls.

At last, She speaks. "You poor, dear children. You both sacrifice so much and so willingly walk into the flames. Would that I had tears that I could weep them in your names."

Cass remains silent. Watching O'Donovan. Aware of the Lady in her peripheral vision.

"Thank you, Lady," Sean says, touched. "We do our best. Though we do not always know what we should do."

"Do what your heart tells you, childe. You have both followed your hearts. You two have made sacrifices and willingly thrown yourselves into the darkness to aide another." The Lady smiles a loving smile.

She then looks to the left side of O'Donovan's face and frowns. The look is rather like that of a mother tending a dying child. She studies both Cassandra and O'Donovan. "You both try. You dare. You suffer in my name and service. The prices have been high." A look of great sadness crosses Her face. "The prices will yet be higher still. All I can promise you is darkness and danger and death. If you continue on your path, you may lose life and love and honour and name. You will be thought mad or worse. In the end, you will be all alone in the night with none knowing what you have done. All I can offer you in return is my blessing. I am sorry."

O'Donovan simply says, "Thank you."

Cass's gaze shifts from O'Donovan to the woman, "Lady, what has happened? Is there aught we can do to aide you?"

The Lady looks at Cassandra with a look somehow mixing gratitude and pity. "Dear Cassandra," She says, "three times we have met this night and three times you have bound yourself to me. You will make your general proud."

She is silent for a moment and Her head tilts as listening to things unheard by O'Donovan and Cassandra. "The ancient enemy has at last found us. They wail and gibber and howl in the night ever circling closer. My foremost defenders are lost to us and we are betrayed from within. A great storm is coming. All that can be done is to hold fast against it and hope that it can be turned aside. In the end, all we have is hope."

Cass swallows and again looks at Sean.

"Then hold fast and hope we will," he says. "With everything we have."

Cass nods, and gives the Lady the same salute she did earlier, her fist wrapped around that scar, over her heart. She is silent.

"Go now," the Lady says. "Go with my favor."

"Thank you again," Sean says. "But... umm... how do we leave this place and return to the waking world?"

"The way is blocked by one once as dear to me as creation entire," She says a great sadness in Her voice. '"You will have to walk in the darkness and hope for a guide. But, you leave here rested and your pains diminished."

As She says it, O'Donovan and Cassandra both realize that their injuries have not troubled then while in Her presence.

Cass's hand finds Sean's arm. She's ready to leave.

"Thank you, my Lady," Sean says. He turns and walks out with Cass.

She pulls the door closed again behind them, then staggers - blinded by tears and the darkness... her grip tightens on Sean's arm.

"Come on," Sean says quietly. "We have a long walk in front of us."

-- Main.GingerStampley - 11 Jan 2005