The Marraketh Connection - "A Study in Crimson"

by Techincian Brynhild, VRDET R&D

Segment 8 of ?

	o/~ And you got your reasons / And you got your lies / 
	And you got your manipulations / Cut me down to size o/~
		- Tonic, "If You Could Only See"


	It must have been about 4 a.m.
	There were no lights anywhere when I was woken up. To 
this day I can't remember what I was dreaming, and indeed if I 
was dreaming at all. All I can remember of it was the darkness, 
feeling groggy from being woken up at such an ungodly time, and 
the druid who had dared to wake me.
	I could tell it was a woman, but even in the night I 
could tell that there was something wrong about the face. 
Perhaps, if I had been on guard, I might have noticed in 
time....
	No matter. Hindsight is always 20/20. Anyway, I could 
hear the woman whispering: "Come with me. There's danger if you 
stay here." Too tired to argue, I let her drag me out of my room 
and through one of the labyrinthian hallways.
	*Who is this woman, anyway? I don't think I know her; 
the voice doesn't sound like one I know. Oh, well, I think 
Lothar mentioned that there were drifters-in from other 
villages. This is probably just one of them that I haven't met 
yet.*
	At the end of this little journey, we came to the cave on 
the outskirts of the village that this drifter called her home. 
The furnishings were threadbare, and they didn't exhibit the same 
level of quality and care that I had come to expect from the rest 
of the Druids. She sat me down in one of the hard-backed chairs.
	The drifter picked up an earthenware cup from a shelf 
hidden by the shadows. "Here, traveler, you must be thirsty. 
Drink." Again, I was in no mood to argue, so I took the cup and 
drank its contents.
	This, after blindly trusting the drifter, was my second 
mistake of the evening.
	Whatever was in the cup - a drug? a potion? a poison? - 
worked surprisingly fast. My mouth went numb first, and the 
feeling spread quickly through my entire body. Almost before I 
could register the problem, I couldn't feel anything at all. I 
tried to move, an arm or a leg or anything, and couldn't.
	The drifter smirked. "Trust me, you'll thank me for that 
later. As you may have noticed, you've just ingested a paralyzing 
agent; luckily for you, it's also a painkiller. Once you learn 
what's going to happen to you, you'll be very very thankful 
you're feeling nothing."
	I tried to speak, to scream, to make any noise at all. 
*Who in the hell are you, and what in the hell are you going to 
do to me? Am I going to die tonight, or are you going to string 
this out for a few days?*
	"I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, I won't hurt 
you... that's what the painkiller is for. And you won't die... 
not in the literal sense. Most of what you may think of as 
yourself may die ... but it's simply a trade. You'll have all 
the power you want, whenever you want it; what could be better 
than that? I knew you talked about that bloody Crystal of yours, 
how to manipulate it more, but what I can give you outshines that 
rock by a million times!
	"Oh, and if you still think you might be 'rescued', " - 
she said the word like a joke - "forget it. There's a shield on 
this room that prevents the magic I'll start soon from being 
detected, not to mention anything smart you might try. Your 
little friend with the fashion sense is sleeping peacefully, and 
by the time he wakes I'll be done with this little chore. And 
don't think you'll scream or escape; the drug has taken care of 
that." She smirked more and continued.
	"Admittedly, the process of acquiring this power is 
usually voluntary, but I'm making a very special exception for 
you. Subconsciously, you know you want this! I really am doing 
you a favor." I still have no idea why she said it; she couldn't 
have been trying to appease a nonexistent conscience, we both 
knew it wasn't true, and she probably knew it wouldn't convince 
me. It was an attempt, though. She went on.
	"I also see that you don't recognize me. Shame. How 
quickly we forget our old friends, eh? Well, I guess I'll just 
have to show you." My fear nearly became blind panic as what I 
thought was flesh began melting off her face. *My god ... it's 
all makeup! What's under it all?* I learned soon enough ... 
something I hadn't seen in reality before, but that I knew all 
too well. A Lyran mask. *Jamie! Goddamnit! That's why I sensed 
her out there ... a mind game to lure me in. I'm dead meat.* 
There was a sinking realization ... she would succeed on her 
revenge this time. No one could stop her.
	She responded as if she was reading my thoughts (which 
she probably was). "My name is Jah'meh'il, you repulsive human, 
not 'Jamie'. Fortunately, I'll be careful to hardwire that 
little fact into your mind. You see, you are about to join the 
ranks of a J'curr ... be proud; you shall serve me well.
	"Enough talk! Let me begin. This may take a while, and I 
don't want to have to give you another dose of thar'qek." One 
final, evil smile from the Lyran, now clad in the crimson robes 
she had worn under her Druidish disguise; by this time, most of 
my rational thought had fled. For a while, all I could comprehend 
was my own horror - and a small, latent undercurrent of anger.
	Jamie - *Why the hell shouldn't I call her that!? It 
pisses her off!* screamed the anger in my mind - began a chant of 
some sort. I noticed she held a book in each hand - one a heavy-
looking, leatherbound spell manual, one a familiar beat-up 
paperback. *She has my copy of _The Hobbit_ ... why do I suddenly 
have a very bad feeling about this? Well, worse than I already 
have.*
	This train of thought abruptly ended as I noticed the 
spell beginning to work. It was slow and gradual, but even that 
way, each second seemed to take eons. My perspective shifted and 
distorted horribly; everything around me seemed to grow larger 
and larger, both the Lyran and the room. *No way! There must be a 
hallucinogen in that witches' brew she forced down my throat! 
This can't _really_ be happening ... * More fear, more anger, and 
more sudden need for rational thought.
	*Listen, I need to keep as clear a head as I can if I 
want any chance out of this. The chance will still be slim, but a 
chance nonetheless. First of all, the hallucination or whatever 
it is will stop if you can just will your eyes shut. Not too 
hard, eh?* It was more of a force of will than I thought, but 
finally I got my eyelids closed. Now I could concentrate, since 
my only stimulus was the quiet chanting - I still felt 
disembodied, sensing nothing.
	*That's better. Now, Bryn, you have magic and you have 
willpower. If you utilize both to their maximum, you may just be 
able to break this drug's hold on you and escape. Concentrate!* I 
did so, concentrating completely on my goal of breaking free of 
the numbness and the haze. I must have done it for a long while, 
since the chanting soon stopped for a bit.
	"There, was that so bad?" the Lyran began again. "I see 
you closed your eyes on me, but that's really not worth the effort 
for me to fix now, is it? Besides, I've finished the part of the 
ceremony that deals with your body. You can open your eyes now, if 
you like, since none of what I'm going to do now is visible. This 
is the heart of the operation - I'll give you power beyond your 
imagination, in exchange for a little memory and personality. You 
won't feel a thing." She cackled.
	*Now!* All the concentration and compressed emotion in my 
mind burst free. A flare, nothing more than an intense burst of 
light to my closed eyes, and I could feel the numbness pass from 
my limbs. I opened my eyes; I could move! I could escape!
	Within a millisecond of this revelation, another struck 
me. The drug's two effects had been joint, and I had nullified 
both in that blast. I understood why she said I'd be thankful for 
the painkillers; it seemed as if my every atom was burning. It 
was the purest, cleanest, most strangely beautiful pain I've ever 
had the misfortune to experience, but to my manic mind, this 
meant nothing.
	*Ignore it! Move!* Scrabbling to my feet, disoriented 
(*The perspective change is still the same! WTF?!*), I made a mad 
dash out into the hallways. I could hear Jamie screaming after 
me: "Damn you! You just wait! The ceremony has tired me, but I’ll 
get you soon! You can't run long!"
	Suddenly, in my terror, I knew what I must do. I paused 
and screamed at the top of my lungs, in a voice that seemed 
ridiculously high: "Dear god, someone help me! Please! I'm lost 
and sick and hallucinating ... or worse! Please, someone!" I 
doubt anyone heard me, but I didn't have time to pause and listen 
for a response. My run in a haze of pain and fear continued.
	Soon, I got lucky. There was a large, cave-sized crack in 
the wall above me which no one had bothered to fill in, with what 
looked like a fairly easy path to climb. With unearthly traction, 
I scaled the wall and hid in the crack.
	My head throbbed, my pulse raced, and my pain continued 
unabated. It was all I could muster to hide against the far wall 
of my hiding place, sob a little, and watch my world go black.

				***

	I did not wake again until I heard the noises. 
	*People out there! Is she with them ... am I about to be 
dragged back?* I wondered. Cautiously, I peered out of the crack, 
expecting to see Jamie ready to capture me again.
	Instead, I saw familiar faces: a contingent of Druids, 
led by a young one I didn't know, the elder Kendren, and Red. 
They rushed along the halls, obviously nervous and in a hurry. I 
watched them pass me by wordlessly. 
	*Are they looking for me? For Jamie? I should have 
screamed ... * But I knew better: that I had neither the strength 
to scream nor the stupidity to do something that rash. The pain 
had subsided to a strong dull ache, but it was still 
overpowering. *They'll find me. I'll find them. Something.*
	While I was up, I decided to examine what the Lyran had 
done to me. First of all, I was relieved to see, I was still 
humanoid; I didn't have any new limbs, and no old ones had been 
removed. My skin was still skin, for that matter, and exactly 
like it had been the night before. *Thank IDH for small mercies.*
	My hair, however, was a different matter. At first, I 
thought it was covered with blood; then I touched it gingerly and 
realized that Jamie, as some kind of sick signature, had merely 
turned it crimson, the color of her robes. *I can write off a 
hair color change, but what did she _really_ do?*
	Around this time I noticed my clothes (but not my 
glasses, watch, or the Crystal) fit badly. They were far too 
loose and baggy, almost ludicrously so. I cast a quick spell over 
them to return them to a proper fit, but I knew it meant 
something was much more wrong. She couldn't just have changed my 
clothes.
	Next, I could single out one area of my body that hurt 
more than the rest: my feet. *How odd ... with the spell, my 
shoes should fit the same.* I carefully untied my shoes and took 
them off, setting them gingerly to the side. [1] I looked at my 
feet ... and almost shrieked. 
	*What's happened?!?* At first, I thought the pain had an 
obvious cause; my feet seemed to hemorrhage, covered with what 
looked like blood .. but which I quickly realized was hair of the 
same color as that on my head. *Hair!?! Blood I could 
understand... but hair?! WTF is going on??* 
	Then I realized what was happening. It all fit together 
so well... far too well...
	The thought made me dizzy. I went under again.

				***

	I came to again on what must have been a stretcher. I 
barely opened my eyes, but I could almost see the druids looking 
at me and murmuring in Marrakethian. I couldn't really hear what 
they were saying, but I could guess easily enough.
	Their topic, inevitably, must have been what I had been 
turned into.
	I still wasn't very sure myself, but I had that 
uncomfortable hunch lurking at the back of my mind. For the time 
being, I willed it away; there was time to worry later. It 
certainly wasn't like I could do anything about it now.
	Life was getting better, at least. I was back with the 
druids and safe. Jamie was most likely dead, and, even though 
Lyrans have a bad tendency not to stay dead long, she was out of 
my hair for a while. I was alive, very much so, and she hadn't 
gotten to my brain. The pain was almost gone; a few aspirin and 
it would probably disappear. There _were_, indeed, things to be 
happy about. 
	Next I saw Kendren at my side. "Good, good, you're 
awake," he said in English, which surprised me. "All you all 
right?"
	"Under the circumstances, I guess so."
	"Thank the Old Man! We will probably be able to help you. 
That... person... who did this to you is dead. You're under our 
care now; you'll be fine."
	I smiled weakly as he continued.
	"I have a question, though: what exactly _did_ she do to 
you? What are you now?"