Journal of Lady Shal

[Prometheus]

Journal of Lady Shal (XX Month, XX Day)

I am still worried about my brother, it has been over 2 weeks since he departed on his mission ... I still remember that day clearly when it all started ....

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[Three weeks prior]

Shal awoke slowly from her dreams and blinked. Ever since she had established the strange telepathic bond with her pet ostard, Regis, she continued to have the strangest dreams. Her nightmare and dragon had become quite ornery as of late, to the point where they would not even obey the simplest of commands. She had been forced to place them in the Trinsic stables for the time being. She had already recieved enough complaints from the angry stablemaster about their behaviour, but she could only shrug and give the poor man a few extra gold pieces as pennance.

She woke up, flushing the distant sqauks and warbles of Regis out of her mind. The ostard did NOT like being cooped up in a stall with other smelly, dirty packhorses and the other animals usually kept in the stables.  As convenient as the bonding had seemed, it did have its side effects.  With the bonding, she found she could hear her pet's thoughts. She knew when it was in danger, and when it was happy. But after a while, it got just plain annoying, especially when she was tryign to sleep.

She quickly stepped over to the wash basin and tidied up when suddenly she heard a knock at the door of the log cabin she shared with her brother, Prometheus.

"Coming!" she called, quickly changing form her nightgown to her normal everyday clothing. She climbed quickly down the rope ladder and came to the front door. Out in front of the house stood her old friend, the Praetorian Fing.

"Hey there, Shal," he said, bowing slightly. "Is Prom around?"

"No, I didn't hear him this morning, so he must be out," she said. "Why, what's up?"

Fing glanced around, as if scanning for a hidden enemy. "Can we talk about this inside?"

"Why, what's wrong? You seem upset," Shal said, noting the look in his eyes. A nervous Fing was something to be worried about. She had hunted with him against the lich lords during the occupation of Trinsic, and her brother had hunted balrons and ancient wyrms along side him as if they were mongbats. The thought that something could make this fearless mage nervous was an unsettling thought.

"We really should talk about this inside," he said firmly. Shal nodded and opened the door. As Fing stepped in, he noticed the rather empty first floor of the cabin. "Yeesh, ever since he gave up being a gardener, he hasn't done much with this place."  He kicked a small pile of leaves still left over from the plethora of plants that once occupied this floor, which Prometheus had dubbed the "greenhouse."

"Yeah," Shal said. "He has plans for it, but I'm not sure what he has in mind yet. So what's going on?"

Fing reached into his pack and produced a thick, heavy scroll, tied with a purple ribbon. It bore the seal of the Emperor Borg himself.

"See that Prometheus gets this," Fing said. "It's a special message from the Emperor, topmost priority, secrecy, and all that good stuff. For his eyes only, in other words." He grinned slightly.

"Why not just send him a carrier pigeon?" Shal asked. "IT'd be easier to locate him that way ... sometimes he is away for days at a time, and if this is so important ...."

"Well, the emperor didn't want this message to be intercepted by ... by anyone who shouldn't see it," he said. "He felt it would be better if it was hand delivered by a Praetorian."

Shal nodded in understanding, but she was still very curious. What exactly did the Emperor have to say that was so secret?

"Well, I had better get going. I must report back to Ser and Borg and let them know that the letter was delivered. I'll catch you later, Shal." He bowed again, and uttered "Kal Ort Por" and was gone.

Shal sighed and went back upstairs to the bedroom.

"Well, this note may too important for a pigeon, but I can't exactly hand deliver it if I don't know where my brother is!" she said aloud. Almost as if on cue, she hear the distinctive sound of magical energy being displaced ... someone had just recalled outside.  She waited for a few seconds, and heard the door open below.  Sure enough, a bright red crop of hair appeared moments later.

"Morning sis," Prometheus said, still clinging to the ladder. His hair was immacuately neat, as usual, and tied back behind his bandanna. "Sorry I'm late with breakfast, but I ran into some old friends near the bank."

"Oh that's fine, I just woke up anyways. You just missed Fing," Shal said. "He had an important delivery for you." She held out the scroll.  His eyes widened slightly, and he took the scroll from her.

"Hmmm, from Borg himself," he said as he untied the purple ribbon and tossed it aside. He unrolled the scroll and with the veteran eyes of a scholar, he began to read. His eyes darted quickly across the paper, and within seconds, Shal knew he was done reading ... but he continued to stare at the scroll as if it had somehow enchanted him.

"Is everything OK?" she asked.

Prometheus hesitated, but then said "Oh yes, everything is fine. Borg just want's me to do a little investigating of ... some of the recent activities." He paused in thought for a few minutes. "Contact Charsi in town, and tell her I am going to need her to prepare my battle armor."

Battle armor? This was no ordinary "investiation" if it required battle armor, thought Shal.  However, it was not her place to question the Emperor's decisions.  "Of course," she said. Charsi, their servant, lived in Trinsic still, even though her prefered workplace was the log cabin. It just simply wasn't large enough for the 3 of them.  

"Now is not the time to worry about this, Shal," said Prometheus, as if sensing her tensness. "Let's just eat our breakfast and we'll talk more on this later." He produced a small pack, filled with fresh fruit and muffins fresh from the bakery in Trinsic.

"You're right," she said. "You're always right." She giggled, took the muffin he offered her, and chewed it thoughtfully. She heard Regis squawk faintly in the back of her mind, as if he could also sense her uneasiness. 'Don't worry' she said to him in her mind. 'Have faith in my brother and the emperor.'