7.4a - Kain's Decent

Anneleigh did not return to Thalin Tor as instructed, but instead continued to search for the others.    She was beginning to lose hope when she heard scuffling from behind one of the large gravestones in a cemetery she was investigating.

“Oh thank the Vigil you are here, Anneleigh!” cried Dame Levitia Voyla when Anneleigh rounded the stone.  “I only pray you are not too late.”

“What has happened,” Anneleigh said as she knelt to address the gash on Volya’s leg, “Where are the others?”

“Don’t worry about my wounds, madam!  Captian Ledisko is here in this cemetery, buried in a shallow grave!”

Anneleigh gasped.

“She isn’t dead, or at least I hope she isn’t yet!”

“But, what....”

“There isn’t time to explain now.” Volya said, almost pushing her out from behind the rock.  “I’m in no position to help you, as you can see.  You have to find her.”

Anneleigh scanned the ground for a patch of loose earth and finally spotted one several plots to the east, the way in which she had come.  She had passed this very plot on her way up the slope, but had not even given it a second glance.

She raced to the spot and began to dig the hastily buried coffin from the shallow grave.  When she opened the lid Captain Ledisko gasped for air but did not sit up.  Anneleigh handed her the water skin but she turned it away.  After a few minutes of lying in the grave, staring open eyed at the sky, she finally sat up.

“I thought I would never see the sky again, Anneleigh.  You might not understand, but I had to make sure that I would never forget that feeling of openness and depth.”  She sat up and then stepped out of the coffin.  “I’m fine, really.  I’m going back to Thalin Tor to warn the others.  Please help Dame Levitia.”

Anneleigh returned to the grave where Dame Levitia hid.

“She’s alive.” Anneleigh said as she rounded the corner.

“Thank the Vigil you saved her, Anneleigh!  It was the Marshal.  He did this.  But this tragedy is not over yet...”

“What do you mean, Marshal Kain did this?”

“He’s truly lost to us and a traitor to the Vigil.  He is mad!  He claims that the Remnants of Aedraxis are everywhere in this accursed land, in the air, in the water and trees, and in the people who live here, and he is killing them for it.  He killed everyone in the nearby village, saying they were all thieves and that he was only claiming his Vigil-promised destiny...“  Volya said in one breath, as if she believed if she stopped to breathe she would not have the strength to continue.  She tried to stifle a sob.  “...and poor Sir Martyn is down there, dead as well.  They all deserve better than to die like that.”

Anneleigh stood.  “I will see what can be done to help pass their souls to the Vigil, even if all I can do is light a funeral pyre and say a prayer.”

“Thank you, Anneleigh.”

Anneleigh made her way to the village behind Thalin Tor and was overwhelmed by the sight of death.  Slowly, she began to carry bodies towards the outskirts of town.   When she was sure she had found every one of the villages, she took a moment to pray.  Before she could even strike a match to light the funeral pyre, however, the souls began to step from their lifeless bodies.  Anneleigh watched with a mixture of delight and sadness as one by one the souls ascended to the Vigil.

Pleased with her work, she turned, and was startled to see the ghostly figure of Carwin Mathos standing behind her, watching her efforts.

“Carwin?  What are you doing here?”  She asked in surprise.

"You honor these innocents where the Vigil failed them, hero.  We enter a new, dark, chapter in our history.  You have seen the slaughter here, the death of innocents and noble warriors.  You know it was no endless horror who committed this act, no vampire thirsting for the spark of life.  I shall show you what has happened here.  Steady yourself, for this is too gruesome for words.”

Anneleigh took several deep breaths.

“Are you ready to see with divine sight?” he asked her

Anneleigh nodded, and he motioned for her to turn and watch the events unfold.

The empty courtyard before her became hazy and the figure of Marshal Kain approached the center.  He was dressed for war, in armor Anneleigh had never seen him wear, even in his greatest battles.

“Do you peasants think you could steal from me?  I will take what the gods have promised!” he shouted at a woman as she cowered before him.  Her denials were drowned by the swishing of his axe and she fell to the ground.

Sir Martyn Myrsol, at that moment, came running from the cemetery.  “Marshal, Please!  You cannot do this!”

“Do you stand against me now as well, Sir Martyn?”  Kain asked, almost with delight, “You know the cost of treason!  None will stand between me and my destiny!

“Sir!  This is not what the Gods wanted!”  Sir Martyn tried, “You have become twisted by these remnants, corrupted by Regulos.  This is evil!”

Kain challenged Martyn.  “If I have become a vessel for evil it is the gods that made me so... and if that was their will, then so be it.  I will not flee my fate!  I will show the Vigil what a terrible gift they have given to the Great Destroyer.  The gods may have feared me before, but they will tremble at my feet now!”

He took up his axe and delivered a death blow to Sir Martyn.

As Marshal Kain ran from the village the scene became clear.  Anneleigh turned to Carwin.

“Kain is lost to us now.  The great man I once knew is consumed by hatred and darkness, and Regulos has a new, powerful ally.  Now, more than ever, the Vigil needs its heroes.”

Carwin approached the body of Sir Martyn and touched his head.  “Rise, Sir Martyn Myrsol.  Ascend into the light of the Vigil and become one of their chosen!”

Sir Martyn’s eyes opened in surprise and he drew himself to his knee before Carwin.  “My Lord!  I am not worthy.  I have failed the Vigil, and my friend and commander now sits in the court of Regulos!”

“He was my friend before he was yours, noble Sir Martyn.  Perhaps we all failed him in some way.  In the end, he chose his path.”  Carwin raised Sir Martyn from his knees.  “Come, sir, you and I have much to discuss.”

Carwin turned to Anneleigh.  “Go now, hero.  Warn Sanctum of what you have seen here this day, and the grace of the Vigil go with you.”