Bruce Cordell: Lady of Poison

On the floor level, squat bookshelves overflowed with tomes on all sides, while a great desk in the very center of the chamber contained piles of books, scrolls, and sheaves of unbound paper. Ususi was obviously very scholarly, if an avid collector of strange hangings.

“Come in. I will make tea, as you showed me, Elowen.” Ususi retreated, sighing, and began to finger through various herbs hanging above their heads.

“You taught her to make tea?” Marrec quietly asked Elowen as they pulled chairs from one wall. Marrec picked up Ash and put her on one knee.

“Yes.”

He’d hoped Elowen might elaborate. He wondered about Ususi’s background. The woman’s skin-tone indicated a place of origin even farther away than Gunggari, possibly.

“Now then,” continued Ususi, as she found a mortar and pestle from a rear shelf, apparently to grind the leaves she had selected, “Please tell me the purpose of such a large gathering in my dwelling. Who is the child?”

Ash sat staring up at the throng of suspended items. Her expression remained unchanged as she made a single comment. “Ash.”

“She does that,” explained Marrec. “That’s all she does. I mean, that’s all she ever says.” Unaccountably, he felt a bit tongue-tied talking to Ususi. Must be those night black eyes. Her eyes were dark, like twin wells with un-plumbed depths.

Ususi raised an eyebrow as if to ask, ‘and so?’

When the cleric didn’t respond immediately, Elowen said, “She’s the reason we’re here, Ususi. At least, she’s part of the reason. I’m afraid we are also here because of the Mucklestones.”

At that, Ususi paused as she was about to pour the crushed leaves into seeping spoons. She looked concerned, but waited for Elowen to continue.

Elowen obliged, “Corruption is abroad. I’ve been tracking a group of blighted volodnis for over a month, south and east out of the Forest of Lethyr. We have determined that the volodnis were searching for this girl, Ash.” The elf pointed to the child.

“Blighted volodnis?” wondered Ususi.

“I call them rot fiends,” offered Marrec helpfully.

“Yesblighted in a way that I do not fully understand,” Elowen continued. The elf bit her lip as if keeping something back. “In any event, I knew you would want to know, because they emerged from the Mucklestones.”

“By the Hidden Delve,” exclaimed Ususi. “I knew it. I’ve been trying to access the portal stones for tendays, unsuccessfully.” Before Marrec could ask what she meant, Ususi continued, “It’s all interference, on every theurgic channel I am able to probe. Nor could I contact Briartan, the keeper of the stones. One other name keeps popping up, though, through the interference: Gameliel. That name means nothing to me, but…”

The hunter balled her fists.

Marrec asked, “Who is Gameliel?”

Elowen took a breath, said, “Gameliel is a blightlord, a being of terrible, corrupt power.” Her eyes grew flinty. “If a blightlord is in the Forest of Lethyr, he must be rooted out. The corruption of the volodnis I followed must have been his doing. His doing, or his masters’.”

Marrec turned the words over in his mind, looking for a connection with Lurue or Ash. He came up blank. He said “I’m as much in the dark as ever. Why is this Gameliel seeking Ash?” The problem, he decided, was that he still couldn’t come up with a connection even between Ash and Lurue. Until he figured out that bond, he would likely continue to be at sea.

Ususi mused, “Why indeed? More information is required. Elowen, tell us more about this blightlord, and this master of which you speak. If we bring all the facts to the surface, perhaps connections can be made.”

“Gameliel is but one of three currently active blightlords. Each is powerful in his or her own right, but all serve a still greater master. I’ve been afraid Gameliel was active beyond the Rawlinswood, but I had no proof until now. The other two blightlords are called Anammelech and Damanda. The blightlords all serve a single master: the Rotting Man, also called the Talontyr.”

Ash, silent for so long, drew in her breath, as if in response to the last name.

All eyes found the child.

Ash was gazing at the hanging items, apparently without a care in the world, or cognizance of anything other than hanging roots, grasses, and bulbs.

When it was apparent that no further response was forthcoming from Ash, Elowen continued, “The Rotting Man is more aspect than mortal, but he is an aspect of decay. He is one of the Circle of Lethe’s most potent and long standing enemies. If the Rotting Man’s servant, Gameliel, is abroad in Lethyr, I must find and stop him. Even if I should succeed in that task, I must report back to the Nentyarch himself, who must be warned of the Rotting Man’s newest embassy. He already holds most of Rawlinswoodhe can’t be allowed to infect the Forest of Lethyr.”

“What are these Mucklestones? Why would Gameliel desire their control?” interjected Gunggari.

“They are ancient and potent,” responded Ususi. “Though not all their powers are understood by any one person, save possibly for Briartan, one thing is certain: they serve as magical portals, allowing access to and from distant places across, and under, Faerun.” By the significant tone in her voice, Marrec wondered if the strange woman knew more than she was saying concerning the Mucklestones, but he didn’t press the woman.

“Gameliel would want them for the same reason anyone mightin order to quickly transport himself, or his forces, without the need to physically travel the distance in between,” said Elowen.

All were quiet for a time, considering.

Ususi poured hot tea into dainty blue stone cups and offered them to each traveler, except for Ash.

Marrec took a sip. Interesting. Something like a cross between citrus and cinnamon. He felt some of his travel-induced weariness melt from him.

“Thank you,” said Gunggari, also enjoying his tea.

Elowen merely sipped and smiled, evidently familiar with the revitalizing effects of Ususi’s brew. For the moment, she was content watching the steam from her cup rise in simple loops and ribbons.

Ususi observed, “What about this child? I don’t understand her rolewhy is she here? And the rest of you?” She pointed to Marrec and Gunggari. The woman seemed impatient, as if lack of understanding was a position unfamiliar to her.

Marrec’s stomach sank. He realized then that Ususi knew nothing of Ash.

Marrec sighed, “None of us understand her role. My friend Gunggari and I are here because of her, and her apparent connection to these Mucklestones. All I know is that she is somehow important to my goddess Lurue.”

Marrec launched into the story, telling Ususi about the goddess’ growing silence over recent years, and the signs that finally led him to Ash, supposedly as an answer to these troubles.

When Marrec finished, Ususi frowned, sipped her tea, and offered no immediate response.

“Well?” asked Marrec, a little impatient in his own right.

“Your goddess is unfamiliar to me… she has not been one of my areas of study, but,” Ususi raised her hands, forestalling Marrec’s frustrated sigh, “I do have a strong feeling about this. Unless my eldritch intuition is astray, Briartan of the Mucklestones can provide you some answers to your questions.”

Elowen nodded, saying, “There is little knowledge that Briartan does not gather to himself.”

The unicorn warrior settled back, looking again at Ash. He had hoped to return Ash to her father after the Two Stars trip, but that was not to be, at least not immediately. The cleric would have to take the only other option available. He’d have to travel to the Mucklestones and confront mysterious Gameliel and demand an answer.