Chapter 25
Apparently Telwern Starum and his companion Dorna Trapspringer had been traveling with the band of halflings through the Anuroch Desert on orders from one only known as Drogan. They were in charge of something called a mythall crystal. They had walked off looking for something called Undrentide, an ancient city that was also being sought out by someone else, someone of great power.
Donnia bid good-bye to the halflings and to Mori early in the morning heading off if the same direction the other two had taken, promising to return soon if she found something, but also saying that if there was trouble, she would find its source before coming back.
With the bath and a full night of rest behind her, Donnia found the day's travel much easier than the day before. She had not ventured far into the day before coming across a small settlement of people. She went through asking if any of them had noticed two other strangers coming through within the previous few days, one a male elf, the other a female dwarf, she was constantly directed to the main building in the settlement, which was a temple to Ao.
She walked up to the temple, an impressive sight against such a barren landscape. The building itself was not very tall, but looked enormous compared to the small tents set up around it. The stone was well weathered, speaking to the fact that it had been there for quite some time. The entrance was just a small wooden door, but it was very intricately carved with various designs and wording in a language she did not recognize.
The inside of the temple was all but deserted save for three people, one of whom she imagined to be a priest. If she wanted information, that would be the place to start.
As she approached him, he looked up at her and smiled, "What can I do for you, child?"
"I'm looking for friends of mine; perhaps you've seen them?" Donnia was hoping he would know at least something; she was not fond of wandering the desert lost until it claimed her for its own.
"What did your friends looks like?" His voice was very calming, relaxing her ever more each time he spoke.
Donnia tried hard to remember how Mori had described them, "There were two of them. One is an elf man with brown hair. He's slightly taller than I am. His companion is a female dwarf. She too has brown hair. Do you remember anyone like that coming through your settlement in the past few days?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact they were just through here two days ago. I can't quite recall what they were looking for, but they seemed to be in a dire hurry to find it and then leave once they had. I believe I remember one of them mentioning the name Heurodis. Does that mean anything to you?"
Donnia searched through every memory she could reach, but the name meant nothing to her as well. "I don't believe so. But I too must hurry. I fear that they may have met some trouble. Do you know what direction they headed when they left here?"
The priest took her to the door and pointed to a large canyon about 500 yards away from the settlement, "They went through there at a pretty fast pace, even for a dwarf. Is there anything else you need, my child?"
"No, thank you. You have been a great help to me, is there anything I can do to repay you for your help?"
The priest smiled at her, "Just get to your friends, my child."
Donnia smiled in return and bid him farewell. As she left the building she dropped a bag of gold coins on one of the tables.
The priest went to call after her, but Donnia turned and smiled again, "I have more gold than I will ever need or use. I know you'll put it to good use." With that, she walked for the canyon looming ahead.
Despite the blazing midday sun, the canyon was dark, the great walls casting their shadows on the ground. There was no sound save for Donnia's silent breathing and her muffled footsteps in the sand. She tried listening harder for any sounds, but knew that the sand would swallow every sound like the much needed water it craved.
She approached a turn in the canyon walls and pressed herself close to the wall. She hoped that no one had heard her coming and were waiting for her on the other side. She stood there with her sword at the ready, all her sense working on overload to try and see what might be around that vital corner in the canyon.
Donnia figured she knew as much as she was going to just standing there listening to her own heart beating, and turned the corner braced for the oncoming ambush.
No one was there. The canyon spread out before her, widening from the narrow walking path she had just turned from. She saw a few standing stones...those weren't standing stones. Just as she walked closer to one to get a better look at it she heard a voice.
Donnia whirled around to see a small dwarf woman running toward her. She assumed it to be Dorna but she wanted to be entirely sure before she lowered her weapon. She called out to the rapidly approaching dwarf, "Are you Dorna?"
The dwarf woman slowed at the name, "I am, but that's not important right now. Who are you? But even that's not important. You have to hurry and get away from here. She's coming and boy is she pissed!"
"Wait a minute! Slow down. Who's coming?"
"Heurodis. She already got Telwern and I'm not about to become a fixture in this place." She started to run again, but Donnia stopped her.
"What are you talking about?"
Dorna looked up at her questioningly, "You mean, you don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Just look around you; you'll get it quick enough."
"Just wait here a moment, don't run off." Donnia turned to look back the stone she had been looking at before. The closer she got the better she was able to see that carving on it. It looked like a statue; a statue of a man with his arms raised trying to defend himself from an unseen foe. She turned back to Dorna, "They're just statues."
"They're not 'just' anything."
Donnia puzzled over that for a moment before she realized what was being said, but it was too late. Dorna shoved something over Donnia's head, a shining crystal that now hung from her neck, just as a hooded form appeared from almost out of thin air.
Donnia went to step forward but found herself frozen in place. She could not move at all. What kind of spell was this? she wondered.
Dorna stood with her, but Donnia knew her to be scared, she was too. The hooded figure came and stood before the two of them and spoke, "Little dwarf, you only postpone the inevitable, but since you have done this, it only seems fair to add the two of you to my collection before you cause me more trouble than you're worth." With that, the figure reached up and removed the hood. Donnia would have gasped in horror, shock, fear, anything, but she could not. Snakes seemed to be sprouting right out from the woman's head, her eyes were glowing a strange yellow, and Donnia felt herself slowly turning to stone.
The strangest thing was that she could still see, could still hear, could still think. The medusa spoke again, "I see that you have been pulled into this. You have something of mine. But I shall remedy that now. Just know that you were involved in the greatest uprising this world has ever seen and will ever see again. I hope you enjoy the view, because you won't be able to do a thing about it." The medusa took the crystal in her hands and ripped from Donnia's neck and walked away. She could only guess that Dorna too was in the same condition she was.
Failure. Donnia had failed. She was to find Telwern and Dorna, but had come too late for Telwern and probably too soon for Dorna. Now they were to stay here as statues frozen in time for the rest of time.
She hoped that Mori would not send anyone after her. She did not want anyone else to pay like this just because she had failed in her task.
The tears wanted to come, but not only could she not cry Donnia willed them back. She just didn't have the strength to. Within the hour Donnia was welcoming the eternity before her. Her heart just stopped caring. She did not want to anguish over nothing that she could change for the rest of time so she just stopped feeling. She gazed out over the land before her and began counting the grains of sand as they blew past her stone face.
* * * * * * * * *
Time passed. Days came. Days went. The dunes were ever shifting before her eyes. It rained once.
Donnia had lost all concept of time. As far as she knew she had been standing there frozen forever and would continue to do so for the rest of forever.
She wondered occasionally what Dorna would be thinking about. Did she have any family? Was there anyone out there who would miss her if she were to never return? How had she gotten mixed up in all of this to begin with?
The clouds rolled by overhead in the bright blue sky that Donnia stared at endlessly.
The worst part of being frozen was that Donnia had nothing but time to remember, and she remembered everything. This time though, she saw everything from an objective point of view, like a silent observer. Her life played through her mind. The people she had known came and went as did the days.
These memories no longer seemed important. They were almost like reading a book about a person she cared nothing for.
Before long, she ran out of memories. She began counting again.
* * * * * * * * *
She slept. She did not know for how long, but she knew she was sleeping for she had had this dream many times.
The same dark-skinned woman with the glowing white hair stood before her again. "Donnia, why have you given up hope?"
"There is nothing left to hope for. I have let them all down. I have no idea what kind of things that medusa is up to, what terror she may be causing. It is all my fault. It is better to turn off hope than drown in its falseness. There is nothing that can change what condition I am in, so I have resigned myself to an eternity or eternities of counting the grains of sand." Her voice was dull and lifeless. It carried little distance in the vastness of wherever she was. She cared not. Whatever this woman needed her help for she was just going to have to find someone else. She was busy.
Donnia almost laughed but the woman spoke again in her soothing voice, "There is no one else. You are our only hope. You give up hope, we lose it too."
"Then you'll have to find someone else. I can't help you. I doubt that I ever could have in the first place."
The woman's face saddened, "Do not give up hope. Someone is waiting for you. Without you, they will lose and so will you."
Donnia was surprised at what the woman had said, "Who is waiting for me? Why do they need my help? I would probably just make it worse anyway."
"Please, have hope. It will feed you. It will free you."
Again, just as before, Donnia wanted to say more, to ask more, but the light faded and was replaced by the utter darkness that came just before she woke each time with this dream. The cold laugh filled every sense, every part of her. It seemed to be choking her, killing her. She wanted to give in to it this time. It would be so easy to just stop fighting it and embrace what was to come.
Somewhere deep in this dark place she heard someone calling out to her; a voice she recognized, but could not quite identify. She followed its sound, trying to block out the harsh laughter coming from all around her.
The other voice was growing stronger and louder. Just as the darkness had come, it disappeared. Donnia was left staring at herself.
"You can't give up hope. You've done too much. If you give up hope, I die, and that means you do too."
"That doesn't make any sense. You've done nothing for me but make it all worse. If you die then it will just make this a lot easier on both of us."
"You don't get it still. I've never left you. I've never abandoned you. I've bled for you, and still you won't listen. I've been screaming for you, but you can't hear me."
"I blocked you on purpose. You nearly broke me, and that won't happen again."
"No. I won't let you. I'm going to keep screaming at you until you hear me."
"I've blocked you before, and I can do it again."
"Sorry, but you're wrong. Now that we've spoken, you won't be able to get away from me. And until you breathe, I'm going to keep screaming. But our time is short, wake up."
Slowly she faded, and Donnia was left staring at empty space that had just been occupied by herself.
She opened her eyes. The landscape was the same. The dunes had shifted slightly, but the canyon still loomed before her as it ever did. Donnia was ready to start counting again in the silence of her mind, but it was not silent anymore. A small voice could be heard...
["Going Under" – Evanescence (obviously I don't own these lyrics...)]
"Now I will tell you what I've done for you fifty thousand tears I've cried Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you and you still won't hear me Going under!"
Donnia shot back to the voice,
"Don't want your hand this time I'll save myself!"
It grew a little louder in reply,
"Maybe I'll wake up for once now tormented daily, defeated by you just when I thought I'd reached the bottom. I dive again! I'm going under! Drowning you! I'm falling forever! I've got to break through! I'm going under!"
Donnia called back louder,
"Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies so I don't know what's real and what's lies. Always confusing the thoughts in my head so I can't trust myself anymore!"
The voice grew stronger, more powerful,
"I'm going under! Drowning you! I'm falling forever! I've got to break through! So go on and scream scream at me so far away I won't be broken again!"
Donnia screamed inside her head,
"I've got to breathe I can't keep going under!"
The scream came from her lips, her real lips. She opened her eyes again, but the scenery had changed. She had no idea where she was or how long she had been fighting with herself. At last the precious air entered her body that had been yearning for it for so long.
Donnia stood still for a moment, trying to understand where she was, but she could not stay still for long. Her body ached to move and when she tried to, she could feel her arms moving; slowly and painfully, but they were moving. She slowly worked her arms back and forth, breaking the hold of the stone on her flesh, remembering to breathe, to hold on to her hope.
Just when she did not think she could take the pain any longer her arms broke free from their hold. The sudden free movement caught the rest of her body by surprise and she fell forward, barely able to brace her body with her arms against the stone floor.
She rolled over on to her back and stared up at the stone ceiling, breathing, just breathing. She lay like that for several moments before she realized that the fall had broken the stone on her legs and they too were free to move.
Slowly, Donnia stood up, almost as though for the first time. She allowed herself to catch her balance before setting off to find out where she was and to find Dorna. A determined smile found its way to her lips for the first time in years, at least in the 10 years she had spent as a statue gazing into the horizon.
Apparently Telwern Starum and his companion Dorna Trapspringer had been traveling with the band of halflings through the Anuroch Desert on orders from one only known as Drogan. They were in charge of something called a mythall crystal. They had walked off looking for something called Undrentide, an ancient city that was also being sought out by someone else, someone of great power.
Donnia bid good-bye to the halflings and to Mori early in the morning heading off if the same direction the other two had taken, promising to return soon if she found something, but also saying that if there was trouble, she would find its source before coming back.
With the bath and a full night of rest behind her, Donnia found the day's travel much easier than the day before. She had not ventured far into the day before coming across a small settlement of people. She went through asking if any of them had noticed two other strangers coming through within the previous few days, one a male elf, the other a female dwarf, she was constantly directed to the main building in the settlement, which was a temple to Ao.
She walked up to the temple, an impressive sight against such a barren landscape. The building itself was not very tall, but looked enormous compared to the small tents set up around it. The stone was well weathered, speaking to the fact that it had been there for quite some time. The entrance was just a small wooden door, but it was very intricately carved with various designs and wording in a language she did not recognize.
The inside of the temple was all but deserted save for three people, one of whom she imagined to be a priest. If she wanted information, that would be the place to start.
As she approached him, he looked up at her and smiled, "What can I do for you, child?"
"I'm looking for friends of mine; perhaps you've seen them?" Donnia was hoping he would know at least something; she was not fond of wandering the desert lost until it claimed her for its own.
"What did your friends looks like?" His voice was very calming, relaxing her ever more each time he spoke.
Donnia tried hard to remember how Mori had described them, "There were two of them. One is an elf man with brown hair. He's slightly taller than I am. His companion is a female dwarf. She too has brown hair. Do you remember anyone like that coming through your settlement in the past few days?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact they were just through here two days ago. I can't quite recall what they were looking for, but they seemed to be in a dire hurry to find it and then leave once they had. I believe I remember one of them mentioning the name Heurodis. Does that mean anything to you?"
Donnia searched through every memory she could reach, but the name meant nothing to her as well. "I don't believe so. But I too must hurry. I fear that they may have met some trouble. Do you know what direction they headed when they left here?"
The priest took her to the door and pointed to a large canyon about 500 yards away from the settlement, "They went through there at a pretty fast pace, even for a dwarf. Is there anything else you need, my child?"
"No, thank you. You have been a great help to me, is there anything I can do to repay you for your help?"
The priest smiled at her, "Just get to your friends, my child."
Donnia smiled in return and bid him farewell. As she left the building she dropped a bag of gold coins on one of the tables.
The priest went to call after her, but Donnia turned and smiled again, "I have more gold than I will ever need or use. I know you'll put it to good use." With that, she walked for the canyon looming ahead.
Despite the blazing midday sun, the canyon was dark, the great walls casting their shadows on the ground. There was no sound save for Donnia's silent breathing and her muffled footsteps in the sand. She tried listening harder for any sounds, but knew that the sand would swallow every sound like the much needed water it craved.
She approached a turn in the canyon walls and pressed herself close to the wall. She hoped that no one had heard her coming and were waiting for her on the other side. She stood there with her sword at the ready, all her sense working on overload to try and see what might be around that vital corner in the canyon.
Donnia figured she knew as much as she was going to just standing there listening to her own heart beating, and turned the corner braced for the oncoming ambush.
No one was there. The canyon spread out before her, widening from the narrow walking path she had just turned from. She saw a few standing stones...those weren't standing stones. Just as she walked closer to one to get a better look at it she heard a voice.
Donnia whirled around to see a small dwarf woman running toward her. She assumed it to be Dorna but she wanted to be entirely sure before she lowered her weapon. She called out to the rapidly approaching dwarf, "Are you Dorna?"
The dwarf woman slowed at the name, "I am, but that's not important right now. Who are you? But even that's not important. You have to hurry and get away from here. She's coming and boy is she pissed!"
"Wait a minute! Slow down. Who's coming?"
"Heurodis. She already got Telwern and I'm not about to become a fixture in this place." She started to run again, but Donnia stopped her.
"What are you talking about?"
Dorna looked up at her questioningly, "You mean, you don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Just look around you; you'll get it quick enough."
"Just wait here a moment, don't run off." Donnia turned to look back the stone she had been looking at before. The closer she got the better she was able to see that carving on it. It looked like a statue; a statue of a man with his arms raised trying to defend himself from an unseen foe. She turned back to Dorna, "They're just statues."
"They're not 'just' anything."
Donnia puzzled over that for a moment before she realized what was being said, but it was too late. Dorna shoved something over Donnia's head, a shining crystal that now hung from her neck, just as a hooded form appeared from almost out of thin air.
Donnia went to step forward but found herself frozen in place. She could not move at all. What kind of spell was this? she wondered.
Dorna stood with her, but Donnia knew her to be scared, she was too. The hooded figure came and stood before the two of them and spoke, "Little dwarf, you only postpone the inevitable, but since you have done this, it only seems fair to add the two of you to my collection before you cause me more trouble than you're worth." With that, the figure reached up and removed the hood. Donnia would have gasped in horror, shock, fear, anything, but she could not. Snakes seemed to be sprouting right out from the woman's head, her eyes were glowing a strange yellow, and Donnia felt herself slowly turning to stone.
The strangest thing was that she could still see, could still hear, could still think. The medusa spoke again, "I see that you have been pulled into this. You have something of mine. But I shall remedy that now. Just know that you were involved in the greatest uprising this world has ever seen and will ever see again. I hope you enjoy the view, because you won't be able to do a thing about it." The medusa took the crystal in her hands and ripped from Donnia's neck and walked away. She could only guess that Dorna too was in the same condition she was.
Failure. Donnia had failed. She was to find Telwern and Dorna, but had come too late for Telwern and probably too soon for Dorna. Now they were to stay here as statues frozen in time for the rest of time.
She hoped that Mori would not send anyone after her. She did not want anyone else to pay like this just because she had failed in her task.
The tears wanted to come, but not only could she not cry Donnia willed them back. She just didn't have the strength to. Within the hour Donnia was welcoming the eternity before her. Her heart just stopped caring. She did not want to anguish over nothing that she could change for the rest of time so she just stopped feeling. She gazed out over the land before her and began counting the grains of sand as they blew past her stone face.
* * * * * * * * *
Time passed. Days came. Days went. The dunes were ever shifting before her eyes. It rained once.
Donnia had lost all concept of time. As far as she knew she had been standing there frozen forever and would continue to do so for the rest of forever.
She wondered occasionally what Dorna would be thinking about. Did she have any family? Was there anyone out there who would miss her if she were to never return? How had she gotten mixed up in all of this to begin with?
The clouds rolled by overhead in the bright blue sky that Donnia stared at endlessly.
The worst part of being frozen was that Donnia had nothing but time to remember, and she remembered everything. This time though, she saw everything from an objective point of view, like a silent observer. Her life played through her mind. The people she had known came and went as did the days.
These memories no longer seemed important. They were almost like reading a book about a person she cared nothing for.
Before long, she ran out of memories. She began counting again.
* * * * * * * * *
She slept. She did not know for how long, but she knew she was sleeping for she had had this dream many times.
The same dark-skinned woman with the glowing white hair stood before her again. "Donnia, why have you given up hope?"
"There is nothing left to hope for. I have let them all down. I have no idea what kind of things that medusa is up to, what terror she may be causing. It is all my fault. It is better to turn off hope than drown in its falseness. There is nothing that can change what condition I am in, so I have resigned myself to an eternity or eternities of counting the grains of sand." Her voice was dull and lifeless. It carried little distance in the vastness of wherever she was. She cared not. Whatever this woman needed her help for she was just going to have to find someone else. She was busy.
Donnia almost laughed but the woman spoke again in her soothing voice, "There is no one else. You are our only hope. You give up hope, we lose it too."
"Then you'll have to find someone else. I can't help you. I doubt that I ever could have in the first place."
The woman's face saddened, "Do not give up hope. Someone is waiting for you. Without you, they will lose and so will you."
Donnia was surprised at what the woman had said, "Who is waiting for me? Why do they need my help? I would probably just make it worse anyway."
"Please, have hope. It will feed you. It will free you."
Again, just as before, Donnia wanted to say more, to ask more, but the light faded and was replaced by the utter darkness that came just before she woke each time with this dream. The cold laugh filled every sense, every part of her. It seemed to be choking her, killing her. She wanted to give in to it this time. It would be so easy to just stop fighting it and embrace what was to come.
Somewhere deep in this dark place she heard someone calling out to her; a voice she recognized, but could not quite identify. She followed its sound, trying to block out the harsh laughter coming from all around her.
The other voice was growing stronger and louder. Just as the darkness had come, it disappeared. Donnia was left staring at herself.
"You can't give up hope. You've done too much. If you give up hope, I die, and that means you do too."
"That doesn't make any sense. You've done nothing for me but make it all worse. If you die then it will just make this a lot easier on both of us."
"You don't get it still. I've never left you. I've never abandoned you. I've bled for you, and still you won't listen. I've been screaming for you, but you can't hear me."
"I blocked you on purpose. You nearly broke me, and that won't happen again."
"No. I won't let you. I'm going to keep screaming at you until you hear me."
"I've blocked you before, and I can do it again."
"Sorry, but you're wrong. Now that we've spoken, you won't be able to get away from me. And until you breathe, I'm going to keep screaming. But our time is short, wake up."
Slowly she faded, and Donnia was left staring at empty space that had just been occupied by herself.
She opened her eyes. The landscape was the same. The dunes had shifted slightly, but the canyon still loomed before her as it ever did. Donnia was ready to start counting again in the silence of her mind, but it was not silent anymore. A small voice could be heard...
["Going Under" – Evanescence (obviously I don't own these lyrics...)]
"Now I will tell you what I've done for you fifty thousand tears I've cried Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you and you still won't hear me Going under!"
Donnia shot back to the voice,
"Don't want your hand this time I'll save myself!"
It grew a little louder in reply,
"Maybe I'll wake up for once now tormented daily, defeated by you just when I thought I'd reached the bottom. I dive again! I'm going under! Drowning you! I'm falling forever! I've got to break through! I'm going under!"
Donnia called back louder,
"Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies so I don't know what's real and what's lies. Always confusing the thoughts in my head so I can't trust myself anymore!"
The voice grew stronger, more powerful,
"I'm going under! Drowning you! I'm falling forever! I've got to break through! So go on and scream scream at me so far away I won't be broken again!"
Donnia screamed inside her head,
"I've got to breathe I can't keep going under!"
The scream came from her lips, her real lips. She opened her eyes again, but the scenery had changed. She had no idea where she was or how long she had been fighting with herself. At last the precious air entered her body that had been yearning for it for so long.
Donnia stood still for a moment, trying to understand where she was, but she could not stay still for long. Her body ached to move and when she tried to, she could feel her arms moving; slowly and painfully, but they were moving. She slowly worked her arms back and forth, breaking the hold of the stone on her flesh, remembering to breathe, to hold on to her hope.
Just when she did not think she could take the pain any longer her arms broke free from their hold. The sudden free movement caught the rest of her body by surprise and she fell forward, barely able to brace her body with her arms against the stone floor.
She rolled over on to her back and stared up at the stone ceiling, breathing, just breathing. She lay like that for several moments before she realized that the fall had broken the stone on her legs and they too were free to move.
Slowly, Donnia stood up, almost as though for the first time. She allowed herself to catch her balance before setting off to find out where she was and to find Dorna. A determined smile found its way to her lips for the first time in years, at least in the 10 years she had spent as a statue gazing into the horizon.