Post by Tallaith on Jan 3, 2009 20:11:49 GMT -5
This is the chat log from what Ealdread called, in other terms, the best RP ever.
((This takes place in the same campsite in the Far Chetwood where Coltsfoot was poisoned. She and Kedwyr have just arrived to look for clues as to the origin of her poison and the person behind it. Ealdread and Ciaphias, who she hasn't seen since his disappearance, are already there looking for clues as well. The campsite is a half-circle of ruined walls facing a lake; there is a tent, where Colts has been staying, a blazing fire, and a few assorted camping supplies scattered around.))
Ealdread grins. "We were looking for you, friend."
Ciaphias strains to keep a small smile on his face as he lowers his voice, "How bad is it?"
Coltsfoot almost touches Ciaphias' cheek, but pulls her hand quickly away.
Kedwyr furrows a brow, then glances back to Ealdread with a slight focus.....then to Ciaphias with a similar focus, then out towards the wooded area a distance from the camp
Coltsfoot smiles brightly, her eyes dull. "Not so bad."
Ciaphias looks up to Kedwyr, smile disappearing. He says, 'So what do we do now?'
Coltsfoot tilts her head to the tent as she sits down near the fire. "There's a dead rat over there. Er a squirrel. Looks like he had a similar experience, aye?"
Ealdread looks to Kedwyr. "What do your elf eyes see, mellon?"
Kedwyr frowns a bit andlooks to Ealdread. "It is not what my eyes see so much as what I smell."
Ealdread nods slowly. "What, then?"
Coltsfoot looks up at Ciaphias with a small smile. "I can't be near you, love. I'll kill you surely."
Ciaphias shakes his head, "I'll be fine."
Kedwyr glances back out of the camp. "I know all of you by sight and by scent.....but there is another scent in the air....I cannot make it out....rather pungent."
Ealdread frowns deeply, and casts his wary gaze hither and thither. "From whence does it come, mellon? Can you follow it?"
Ciaphias looks to Colts with a pained expression, "We'll cure you..."
Coltsfoot holds her hands out to the fire, her sleeves betraying a ring of bruises and welts fading now around her wrists. "I'm happy ta see ya. But this is tha worst day o' my life fer it."
Ealdread looks over his shoulder at Ciaphias, making a sign to 'be ready' with his expression.
Ciaphias clenches his jaw at the bruises, "Who's doing?"
Coltsfoot says to Ciaphias, 'I don' know.'
Ciaphias glances back to Ealdread with a small nod.
Kedwyr leaps onto the crumbling stone wall to get a better line of sight. He frowns, shaking his head. "I cannot locate the source of the foul scent.
Coltsfoot takes a flask from her pack and greedily gulps down the water, her hand trembling the tiniest fraction.
Ciaphias says, 'Hell, you're a mess...'
Coltsfoot says to Ciaphias, 'Are... Are you well?'
Ciaphias shakes his head slowly. He says, 'Not as long as you're sick, I'm not...'
Coltsfoot shakes her head slowly. "I'm fine. A bit ill feeling."
Kedwyr shakes his head. "Let us put our attention on Coltsfoot for now. She needs our aid."
Coltsfoot says to Ciaphias, 'I mean since ya left? Are ya well?'
Ciaphias says, 'Not at all... I've been utterly fruitless in my search...'
Coltsfoot looks to Kedwyr. "There's somethin' that saw tha end o' it's days by tha tent. A rat maybe. Maybe it ate some o' tha poison I spit out?"
Ealdread frowns, listening to the conversation. "I know you would both likely prefer to be alone with one another, but it is undoubtedly unsafe at this point. My apologies for lingering so, in any case.'
Coltsfoot says, 'It's not safe fer me ta see him at all. Where did ya find him?'
Ciaphias glances back to Ealdread. He says, 'It's fine, friend, we could use the company.' He pauses as he kicks the rat corpse.
Coltsfoot nods softly. "I can't keep a decent watch fer myself right now. I welcome wary eyes about me."
Ealdread lowers his voice to a whisper. "The Forsaken Inn, near Weathertop. He happend into the common room there while I was eating." He nods, offering a slight smile.
Ciaphias grabs the rat's body by the neck, holding it up to Kedwyr.
Kedwyr furrows a brow.
Ciaphias says, 'See what you can do with it, Immortal.'
Coltsfoot nods, starting to speak but instead gasping softly, closing her eyes as she clenches her teeth.
Kedwyr looks to Ciaphias. "That is not the scent I first wafted.
Ciaphias looks back to Colts with a worried gaze.
Ealdread says, 'Easy, gehola. No need to tax your already weakened self. Do you need anything?'
Ciaphias shrugs disappointedly.
Coltsfoot smiles at Ciaphias. "I'm fine. Alla ya, I'm fine. An' no. Nothin' ya have now, I fear.'
Ciaphias says, 'Then this place isn't helping us whatsoever...'
Ealdread frowns, and nods. "Then I shall keep an eye out, if it is all I can do.
Coltsfoot looks sadly up at Kedwyr. "I thin' ya should find a good hidin' spot fer Ciaphias. He ain't safe aroun' me."
Kedwyr looks to Coltsfoot, 'Perhaps, but we must first discern how to best aid you. This was the place you were poisoned at?'
Coltsfoot nods to the other side of the fire. "Right here."
Ciaphias glances agitatedly about, eyes roving nervously.
Kedwyr looks to the spot and begins searching intently.
Ealdread scans the perimiter, a stalwart figure against the incoming light of the afternoon sun.
Coltsfoot sighs in exhaustion and kicks the dirt. "I was tied up right here. I musta been drugged somehow. But here. I wasn't tired at all on my ride here." She gets up and goes to the nearby tent, sitting down just inside.
Kedwyr frowns a bit at having found nothing, then suddenly his eyes go stern and he glances up to Ealdread. 'Ealdread, hand me your flask of water, please.'
Coltsfoot props her chin on her fist as she watches Kedwyr.
Ealdread looks down at his Hobbit friend with a weak smile. "I am sorry, gehola. I could not keep this from happening to her."
Ciaphias shakes his head, speaking quietly, "It wasn't your fault..."
Ealdread chucks a flask down to the elf.
Coltsfoot mumbles softly to herself. "I couldn't help it happenin' ta me either."
Ealdread nods slowly, a deep, frustrated frown etched onto his visage.
Kedwyr immediately pours a small amount of water onto the soil that Ciaphias kicked up and begins mixing it into the ground.
Ciaphias keeps his face set as he whispers up to Ealdread, "I don't like this... he could be anywhere..."
Coltsfoot watches carefully, shuddering as Kedwyr mimick's the hooded Man's actions.
Ealdread nods. "It is likely that he is, aye."
Kedwyr looks up to Ealdread. "Do you see what I have found my friend?' He frowns a bit and then picks up some of the mud onto his finger.
Ealdread hops down from his lookout spot in the wall. He says, 'What is it, mellon?'
Ciaphias arches an eyebrow at the mud.
Kedwyr frowns as he smells the mud and then glances to Coltsfoot.
Coltsfoot closes her eyes, moaning softly. "What is it?"
Kedwyr Looks back to Ealdread. "What we have here is a vile concoction of very rare properties, equalled only by it's deadly potency.'
Ealdread frowns. "Know you what it is, gehola?"
Coltsfoot goes even paler, her eyes dark as she hangs on Kedwyr's words with no hope.
Kedwyr wipes the mud off his finger and then looks to Coltsfoot once again. "Winter's Kiss is what it has been called.'
Ciaphias shakes his head slowly. He says, 'It has to have an antidote.'
Coltsfoot exhales slowly, looking at Ciaphias with longing.
Spectre narrows his eyes, wondering what the Elf is up to then frowning when realization stirs. He eases closer still, if only to confirm his suspicions.
Ealdread frowns deeply, his face creasing into myriad lines of worry.
Kedwyr glances to Ealdread. "One of the more deadlier poisons known among the people of the far east. It derives it's name from the Winter's Bloom found in the far east and it renders the victim cold and grants them a slow agonising death.....and.....'
Coltsfoot shakes her head, fluttering her hands through her blankets for a flask of water. "All this worry about me. Ciaphias should be runnin' far from here..."
Kedwyr frowns. "I do not know the antidote. It is possible to find one if I had the plant.....but they only grow in the far east from what rumor tells.'
Ealdread nods. "What if we were to find this plant, somehow?"
Ciaphias shakes his head again, looking sadly at Colts. He says, 'We have to find the assassin...'
Kedwyr glances back to Ealdread. "If the plant can be found, then Coltsfoots chances at an antidote would increase tenfold.'
Coltsfoot meets Ciaphias' gaze for only a moment, longing clearly written on her face. She drops her eyes to her lap in shame.
Ciaphias says, 'He has to have it. Why else would he give her a slow working poison?'
Spectre lifts his lips into a grin. It mattered not if the Elf recognized the poison. The cure would only be found in one place in all of Eriador...
Coltsfoot finds her flask and gulps the water down. She shivers and shakes her head. "What if there ain't one at all?"
Ciaphias peers away, thinking to himself, "There's no reason he'd go to this length just to kill her..."
Kedwyr puts a hand on Coltsfoot. "You must not give in to dread. There is always hope. And I think he is right, he that poisoned you should also have the antidote. We need only discern who did this.'
Ciaphias looks back to the others.
Coltsfoot says, 'But... it seems that he's pure evil. Makes sense that he'd do such a thin'.'
Ciaphias says, 'Can any of you think of any other reason why he'd poison her?'
Coltsfoot looks again intently to her lap, her little hands clenched tightly there. "Evil. He was evil."
Ciaphias says, 'He still wouldn't poison ten gold pieces just because.'
Kedwyr says, 'He is calculated, not brutish. Those who know of this manner of poison are not fools. They know it's properties and it's use is timed. No.....he wants her alive for a shortwhile, at least.'
Ciaphias says, 'He wants me to come to her rescue.'
Kedwyr says, 'If he wanted her dead, there are much easier ways to have done so.'
Ciaphias says, 'It's a simple, straight-forward plan.'
Kedwyr nods.
Coltsfoot tilts her head in response to Ciaphias' words, thinking carefully. Ten gold pieces...
Ciaphias says, 'And so far, it's worked well.'
Kedwyr says, 'At the moment, that seems the logical plan.'
Ciaphias says, 'What he does now, we'll see.'
Kedwyr says, 'And I think I may have a counter to that.'
Ciaphias says, 'Do you think kingsfoil would slow the effects?'
Coltsfoot closes her eyes. "He's likely here now. Listenin'. He put a note in my pack in Brockenborings. So don' speak it yet!
Kedwyr says, 'if he chooses to use Coltsfoot to lure Ciaphias out in the open, why should we not do the same with Ciaphias leading the assassin out as we lay in waiting?'
Ciaphias looks to Colts, interest piqued. He says, 'Note?' He glances back to the others. He'd expect that.'
Coltsfoot groans. "He'll know what yer doin' now!" She looks terrified, her eyes huge as she glares at Kedwyr. She says to Ciaphias, 'Aye. A note. He knew where I was stayin' at. An' paid a bairn ta bump inta me and slip it in my pack.'
Kedwyr speaks to Ciaphias as he walks by him. "Kingsfoil would only speed the poison, that is why it is so deadly. Many a fool has tried kingsfoil only to hasten their death.'
Coltsfoot says, 'Mae... she's tried ta help me. Tha only thin' she can do is make me tea fer tha pain and it drugs me ta sleep.'
You say, 'Shes' scared she'll do more harm that help wit' any sorta medicine.'
Ciaphias says, 'Well, what did the note say, love?'
Coltsfoot looks to Kedwyr with urgent panic in her huge, dark eyes. "Shouldn' ya be gettin' Ciaphias somewhere safe, far away from me?"
Kedwyr says, 'I feel the only way to find the antidote, is to find the assassin, and to find the assassin we must give him what he wants.....and be ready to intercept before it is too late.'
Ciaphias shakes his head. He says to Coltsfoot, 'I'm not leaving you...'
Coltsfoot sighs shakily and looks very sad. "I... did somethin' wrong. Very wrong. An' he wrote ta me ta mind my business an' follow orders. Not ta come up wit' my own ideas."
Ciaphias says, 'Please, we don't have much time... what did he say?'
Coltsfoot says, 'What I tole ya! That I should keep my mouth shut an' think only o' leading ya to him.'
Ciaphias says, 'That's all?'
Coltsfoot says, 'I thought I found a way fer a cure faster.' She nods. "Thass all."
Ciaphias looks down, confused.
Coltsfoot glares for a moment at Ciaphias, her old self barely visible behind her pale face and muddy eyes. "I *can* read, love."
Kedwyr says, 'I am afraid the assassin is in control.....for now. We must play his game until we find an upper hand.'
Coltsfoot hugs her knees, hiding her face behind her legs as she sighs in frustration. "You should be far from here."
Ciaphias says, 'What now?'
Kedwyr says, 'We wait.'
Ciaphias says, 'I'm out of ideas.'
Kedwyr stirs the coals in the fire.
Ciaphias says, 'We can't wait! Who knows how long we've got...'
Ealdread says, 'It is all we can do, gehola. I can think of nothing else...'
Kedwyr looks to Ciaphias. Hesays, 'We can do nothing until her assassin reveals himself.'
Coltsfoot sniffs softly from behind her knees. "I think we're takin' care o' tha lesser prollem right now. What if ya get caught, love?!"
Ciaphias clenches his fists with a pained sigh. He says, 'I'm not leaving you with you this way...'
Spectre steps out of the shadow of the tent, a smirk crossing his face as his hands move to the hilts of his daggers. "Ah...true love...ya haveta wonder what high'n'mighty Elf came up with it..."
Ciaphias unslings Jaded Revalation with a start, glaring up at the Man.
Ealdread hisses through his teeth, dagger flashing into his hand.
Ciaphias says, 'I don't even have to ask...'
Kedwyr wheels around to face the shadowy figure, arrow already nocked and drawn.
Spectre looks from man to Elf and back again. "Best be standin' yer ground an' stayin' yer weapons less ya won't this lass' death on /yer/ hands.."
Coltsfoot moans in dread, clutching her axe as she peeks up at the sound of the voice. "Be wary! He knows tricks ta catch ya! He'll drug ya... Kill ya all!'
Ealdread grips the dagger tighter still, but lowers it slightly.
Kedwyr watches the man intently and lowers his bow slightly
Ciaphias says, 'What do you want, assassin?'
Ealdread says, 'I have half a mind to put this between your bloody eyes, fool. What say you?'
Spectre does not shift his gaze to the Hobbit but replies to her, regardless. "Good lass. Tell yer dogs ta disarm, less ya wanta see 'em lyin' on tha ground like I had you."
Kedwyr says, 'For now, you have the upper hand, man of the wild. Speak your business.'
Spectre chuckles at the man's threat. "Half a mind be all ya got, if ya think it'll be savin' yer wee friend."
Coltsfoot pushes herself back into the tent with her boots, groaning as she nearly doubles over, the stress taking it's toll on her body. "Lay down yer blades, if he says so. He'll... Do what he says so nobody else gets hurt!'
Ciaphias keeps his hammer to him.
A guttural growl roils out from inside Ealdread's chest, but he drops his dagger nonetheless. "Fine, it is done."
Kedwyr slowly loosens his arrow and reslings his bow over his shoulder.
Ciaphias walks slowly to Colts, getting between the man and her. He says, 'You won't touch her again...'
Spectre watches the Hobbit move to his mate, allowing it as he keeps the other two in view. He steps to one side. "Kick 'em over here by the wall, if ya do no' mind."
Coltsfoot stares at the ground just before her, her face scarlet in shame. She squeezes her eyes tightly closed.
Ealdread says, 'I do mind, you ass. If you want this dagger, come and get it.'
Kedwyr places his bow by the wall. He glances to Ealdread.
Ealdread snarls in anger, his eyes feral and fierce.
Kedwyr says, 'We will have our moment, Ealdread....but not now. For Coltsfoot....'
Coltsfoot moans softly, her hand trembling on her axe handle. Her eyes are wild, searching for some sign of what her next move should be.
Spectre's smirk widens into a sneer. "Got 'em trained real good, lass. Just be watchin' that mate o' yers while we three big folk have a little..talk."
Tense as a reed, Ealdread stares coldly at the assasin, unmoving.
Coltsfoot reaches out and takes Ciaphias' hand in her own, trembling. "I'm so sorry."
Ciaphias narrows his gaze, crouching as he takes Colt's hand, "It'll be ok, love..."
Spectre holds the gaze of man and Elf while he slips one hand from dagger hilt to a small pouch at his waist. Moving quickly, he snatches the pouch up and swings it outward, releasing the sleeping herb inside to carry on the wind to the two before him.
Coltsfoot moans quietly, terror etched in her face as she watches the Man's actions. "Thass what he musta done ta me!" She staggers to her feet to face the Man.
Ciaphias jumps back from the cloud, eyes widening.
Ealdread staggers, face moving from anger to shock. Wide-eyed, he collapses in a heap, smashing his head on the stone of the fire-pit which still rages.
Coltsfoot says, 'Please! Don' do this!'
Ciaphias says, 'What do you want, you cursed thing?!'
Spectre chuckles as he steps over, shoving his foot against both to be sure the drug worked as expected.
Coltsfoot crouches before Ealdread, growling in fury. "Don' hurt them! Er I'll hurt ya worse!"
Spectre says, 'Yer little miss here knows what I be wantin'. Yer hide. Or tha 100 gold yer hide be worth.' He looks over to Coltsfoot, his attention diverted for a moment as he grins widely. "Still no' tha time, lass."
Ciaphias clenches his jaw, throwing off his hood. 'You have the antidote, I take it?'
Coltsfoot looks to Ciaphias, her meaning clear in her eyes even as she groans and clutches her belly. *Don't do anything stupid!!!*
Ealdread 's head begins bleeding profusely, soaking the hood of his cloak in scarlet blood which pools in the soil.
Coltsfoot says, 'Aye. Not tha time...'
Kedwyr deftly places a small pouch into the cuff of the mans boot as he lays there feigning unconsciousness.
Spectre looks over to Ciaphias. "Now, what good would a deal be if I did no' mean ta keep my end o' it?"
Coltsfoot cries silently as she kneels before Ealdread, using her cloak from her pack to wrap his head tightly. She looks over her shoulder, hate gleaming in her dead eyes.
Ciaphias says, 'So? Show me the vial!'
Ealdread moans faintly, nearly a whisper. "Ai scinan alls'aer hulle oir Meduseld, eie faemne..." Another moan, and he is out again.
Coltsfoot winces at the tone of Ciaphias' voice, shivering as she collapses to a crouch by the fire.
Spectre chuckles, hesitates, then shakes his head. "You think I'd be havin't it with me an' risk the wind no' takin' these two out? What good be losin' tha deal ta stupidity?"
Ciaphias says, 'Then where is it?'
Ciaphias says, 'You dont get me until I see it.'
Coltsfoot says, 'Don't.... do it... love. Ya do it an' I'll kill myself before ya come back, ya moronic hobbit!'
Spectre narrows his eyes, though the expression goes unseen beneath his hood. "Now yer soundin' like yer missus. Tryin' ta dictate terms.. I be makin' tha rules here, Hobbit. Do no' be forgettin' that.'
Ciaphias grinds his teeth, face set in stone.
Coltsfoot cringes away from the Man.
Ealdread cries out suddenly, a wordless scream as if trapped in some nightmare.
Ciaphias says, 'Let's just end this...'
Ealdread begins to sweat profusely, the blood still gushing from his wounded head.
Ciaphias says, 'Tell me what to do.'
Coltsfoot nearly tumbles over, shocked by Ealdread's cry. She falls forward, huddling over him, weeping as she tries to stop the flow of rubies from his head. She says to Ciaphias, 'Don' do it... Please love, don' do it!'
Ciaphias closes his eyes, shutting out Colts' cries.
Spectre grins. "Better an' best, lad. Ya learn quick. What I be wantin' ya to do is wait. In two days time, I'll be sendin' ya instructions where ta come. Just you. No' these two an' no her." He gestures to man, Elf and Coltsfoot. "If I be seein' anyone else within a mile, her life be forfeit an' so be yers.'
Coltsfoot looks at her hands, sticky with Ealdread's blood, and back over her shoulder to Ciaphias. "I'd rather die than see you do this. Listen ta me! Don' do anythin' stupid!"
Ciaphias nods shakily. 'So be it...'
Coltsfoot moans through gritted teeth, turning back to Ealdread again, desperately blotting his head with her cloak.
Ciaphias says, 'How do I know you even have what we ask for?'
Ealdread awakens slightly, and smiles at Coltsfoot then, his eyes suddenly bright. "Eie'rn erfaest, gehola." Then, he collapses again.
Coltsfoot says, 'He doesn't, love, an' I knew it all along! Don' listen ta him! Don' go! I'm lost no matter what ya do!'
Spectre sneers and nods. "Good lad." He glances at the two on the ground, no reaction at all to the blood of the man, then turns and walks past Colts, pausing only long enough to reach down and tussle her hair. "Hope ya be feelin' better....soon." He pauses and looks back over.
Coltsfoot shivers and shrinks from the touch, looking like she could faint from terror.
Spectre says, 'I reckon you'll just be havin' ta trust me on that, lad.'
Spectre then turns and heads out of the ruins.
Coltsfoot speaks nearly silent words of comfort as she tends to Ealdread, her attention only on him.
Ciaphias yells to the Man, 'Wait! Why not give us the antidote now? The others are out cold!'
Coltsfoot looks up at the two, tears on her cheeks as she grinds her teeth in hatred. 'What are ya sayin', love?'
Ealdread stirs suddenly, and cries out again, a sharp, clarion thing that resonates against the ruined walls that surround them.
Spectre turns to face the Hobbit. "'cause I do no' like bein' told what ta do, boy. Tha rules be mine or there ain't no rules."
Coltsfoot bends over Ealdread, her nose almost touching his as she wipes the blood from his face. She murmurs softly to him, humming as she tries to tend to his broken head.
Ciaphias cracks a slight grin, "Then you have it?"
Spectre moved his hand to a small pocket on his right side, in which the vial of antidote rested.
Ciaphias says, 'All I needed to hear... plan better in the afterlife, you bastard!'
Coltsfoot glares up at the Man suddenly. "He ain't a boy! He's a..." Her words stop. She stares at the vial with longing. 'No! Don' do it, love! He cheats!'
Ciaphias pauses for a moment.
Coltsfoot jumps up to her feet, almost falling on her face as she nearly looses consciousness.
Ciaphias says, 'Love... it's the only way...'
Coltsfoot says, 'Don' do this... Don'! There isn't a cure! I tole ya! Just... let him go an' run away!'
Spectre narrows his eyes sharply at the Hobbit's shout, his hands moving to his own weapons. "Foolish lad. Very foolish."
Ciaphias says, 'I'm doing anything I can... including this.'
Coltsfoot says, 'Don't! Run away, love!'
((Here Ciaphias and Spectre begin fighting in the ruins.))
Coltsfoot watches the fight, every movement between them burned into her memory for all time.
Ciaphias falls to his knees from a blow to the head.
Coltsfoot draws her bow, her trembling hands too weak to pull the string as she fits an arrow. She growls in fury, useless. 'No!'
Ciaphias trys to return to his feet to no avail.
Coltsfoot begs the Man... "Don' do this! Please..."
Spectre tires quickly of the battle, not wanting to damage the merchandise, and tosses a handful of dust into the Hobbit's eyes. Growling deeply, he takes out the vial from his pocket and holds it up between thumb and two fingers. "Stupid Hobbit....
Coltsfoot says, 'No!'
Spectre says, 'Now yer gonna have to pay for it.'
Coltsfoot says, 'Pay... fer it?'
Spectre then presses his thumb and fingers together, crushing the vial and rubbing the contents against glove and armour. 'His life an' tha bounty.....'
Coltsfoot focuses only on the vial, dropping her bow from numb hands.
Ciaphias reaches out for the liquid, crying out in defeat. 'No! Dammit, no...'
Coltsfoot says, 'I'd die fer his life. Ya can kill me now... Take him if ya must, but my frien's will find ya!'
Ealdread murmurs softly, and stirs gently where he lays, out like a stone.
Spectre brushes the remainder of glass from his fingers. "Two days..." he says simply before turning and vanishing into the dark of night.
Coltsfoot says, 'Wait!'
Ciaphias strains to pull himself up, tears mixing with blood from his beaten head.
Coltsfoot looks at Ciaphias coldly. She speaks almost silently to herself... "I ain't worth alla this trouble."
Kedwyr waits a few moments then leaps to his feet and quickly grabs a small pouch from his sack and begins to tend to Ealdread.
Coltsfoot kicks dirt in Ciaphias' face. "I'm leavin'. You'll not find me easy."
Ciaphias grasps Colts' hand tightly, not letting go.
Kedwyr reaches over to Coltsfoot and three or four long hairs from her head.
Coltsfoot says, 'This ain't worth it, love. I'm goin'.'
Ciaphias says, 'We... we can still find a way...'
Kedwyr begins to sew Ealdreads wound together.
Coltsfoot says, 'No. I don' love ya enough ta care what happens now. So I'm off. I tole him that because I had a cut comin' o' yer bounty.'
Ciaphias says, 'No...'
Coltsfoot watches the two by the fire. "Watch yerselves. That soil is tainted. He gets it in that cut an' he's lost too."
Ciaphias stands, motionless, eyes wide.
Ealdread moans softly, muttering incomprehensibly. His cloak is soaked in his blood.
Coltsfoot says to Ciaphias, 'Aye. I was gettin' paid.'
Ciaphias says, 'You lie... You couldn't have...'
Coltsfoot looks to Ciaphias, her face made of stone. 'Aye. I'd betray alla ya if tha price was high enough.'
Ciaphias says, 'I can't believe that...' He lets his hand slowly slip from hers.
Coltsfoot says, 'I get ten gold an' tha cure ta this poison. So it's in my interest ta leave ya now. Now... All I get is tha cure. No coin thanks ta you.'
Ciaphias shakes his head slowly.
Coltsfoot says, 'You spoiled alla my work. Now I been sick all this time fer nothin'. Coltsfoot nods in exaggerated slowness, mocking Ciaphias.
Ciaphias turns silently away.
Coltsfoot says, 'You coulda made this easier, ya idiot. Ya coulda listened ta me an run off, inta tha fellers waitin' in tha woods there. But no. Ya had ta be brave.'
Ciaphias says, 'What happened...'
Coltsfoot stares from the Man and Elf by the fire to her husband, her eyes icy. "What do ya mean?"
Ciaphias lets his arms hang loose, his hammer falling quietly to the ground.
Ealdread stirs quietly, his eyes opening slowly.
Coltsfoot says, 'You chose ta leave me with no word o' where ya went. An' no word if ya were even alive. So... Goodbye.'
((Here Ciaphias silently and slowly calls his horse and rides away without looking back.))
Ealdread groans.
Coltsfoot looks to her friends, biting back a miserable howl. "I lied! He must be kept safe, an' if he thinks I don' love him..."
Coltsfoot delicately strokes Ealdread's hair back from his face as Kedwyr stalks off into the night. "I won' see him again, I think. An' I'll die thinkin' he thinks I don' love him."
Ealdread looks up groggily at the hobbit, and winces in pain, sucking in sharply. He looks at Coltsfoot then, and smiles weakly. "What....?"
Coltsfoot says, 'I'm gonna die now, ya know. Promise me ta keep him safe. I lied ta him. Drove him off. Tole him I was paid ta betray him... An' he left without a word.'
Ealdread looks confused, a pained expression deeper than the overt wounds from which he suffers washing over his features. "Why?" he croaks, barely even audible.
Coltsfoot says, 'That Man. He had tha antidote an' Ciaphias fought him fer it. An' fell. Tha Man broke it ta bits right before us! He tole Ciaphias that if he fought him, alone, with no one near him, Ciaphias could have tha cure. I saw tha Man best Ciaphias, an' I drove my husband away. Ta keep him from me. I'm too easy ta watch now.'
Ealdread closes his eyes, brow furrowed, his face contorted into a pained grimace.
Coltsfoot delicately picks clotted strands of hair back from Ealdread's eyes. "Ya need a healer. I'd... I'd rather die than keep this trouble among my frien's. Too dangerous.'
Ealdread breathes raggedly, and nods, wincing. "Aye." Another croak, like the dry rustle of gravel under a boot.
Coltsfoot places her tiny hand on Ealdread's cheek. "Tha evil Man is too good. He drugged ya an' ya split yer head on that rock." She looks around slowly, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Ya need a healer."
Ealdread opens his eyes and tries to sit up, but is unsuccessful.
Coltsfoot says, 'I'm gonna get Mae. She's near at hand, gatherin' herbs fer a tea fer me. I'll... not see ya again.'
Ealdread whispers, "Water, gehola."
Coltsfoot nods, taking her almost drained flask from her pack. She opens it and presses it to his lips tenderly. "Drink. Is 'gehola' a word fer friend?'
Ealdread drinks thirstily, allowing much of it to spill down his mud- and blood-streaked face and beard. 'Yes, it is.' His voice is clearer, if no less soft.
Coltsfoot says, 'Ah. Don' call me that again. I'm off. Ya need a skilled healer.'
Ealdread says, 'I cannot walk...' He winces in pain, sucking in air between clenched teeth as he tries to rise once more.
Coltsfoot says, 'Take some advice as my last words ta you. Don' keep involved in this madness. You'll get killed. Just... Just keep an eye on Ciaphias fer me. I'm getting Mae fer ya right now. Stay still.' She looks down at Ealdread for a long moment, then whistles for Torla.
Ealdread nods, and closes his eyes, drifting once more into a deep sleep.
((Here Coltsfoot rides her pony from the camp as fast as she can to Bree-Town to fetch Mae.))
((This takes place in the same campsite in the Far Chetwood where Coltsfoot was poisoned. She and Kedwyr have just arrived to look for clues as to the origin of her poison and the person behind it. Ealdread and Ciaphias, who she hasn't seen since his disappearance, are already there looking for clues as well. The campsite is a half-circle of ruined walls facing a lake; there is a tent, where Colts has been staying, a blazing fire, and a few assorted camping supplies scattered around.))
Ealdread grins. "We were looking for you, friend."
Ciaphias strains to keep a small smile on his face as he lowers his voice, "How bad is it?"
Coltsfoot almost touches Ciaphias' cheek, but pulls her hand quickly away.
Kedwyr furrows a brow, then glances back to Ealdread with a slight focus.....then to Ciaphias with a similar focus, then out towards the wooded area a distance from the camp
Coltsfoot smiles brightly, her eyes dull. "Not so bad."
Ciaphias looks up to Kedwyr, smile disappearing. He says, 'So what do we do now?'
Coltsfoot tilts her head to the tent as she sits down near the fire. "There's a dead rat over there. Er a squirrel. Looks like he had a similar experience, aye?"
Ealdread looks to Kedwyr. "What do your elf eyes see, mellon?"
Kedwyr frowns a bit andlooks to Ealdread. "It is not what my eyes see so much as what I smell."
Ealdread nods slowly. "What, then?"
Coltsfoot looks up at Ciaphias with a small smile. "I can't be near you, love. I'll kill you surely."
Ciaphias shakes his head, "I'll be fine."
Kedwyr glances back out of the camp. "I know all of you by sight and by scent.....but there is another scent in the air....I cannot make it out....rather pungent."
Ealdread frowns deeply, and casts his wary gaze hither and thither. "From whence does it come, mellon? Can you follow it?"
Ciaphias looks to Colts with a pained expression, "We'll cure you..."
Coltsfoot holds her hands out to the fire, her sleeves betraying a ring of bruises and welts fading now around her wrists. "I'm happy ta see ya. But this is tha worst day o' my life fer it."
Ealdread looks over his shoulder at Ciaphias, making a sign to 'be ready' with his expression.
Ciaphias clenches his jaw at the bruises, "Who's doing?"
Coltsfoot says to Ciaphias, 'I don' know.'
Ciaphias glances back to Ealdread with a small nod.
Kedwyr leaps onto the crumbling stone wall to get a better line of sight. He frowns, shaking his head. "I cannot locate the source of the foul scent.
Coltsfoot takes a flask from her pack and greedily gulps down the water, her hand trembling the tiniest fraction.
Ciaphias says, 'Hell, you're a mess...'
Coltsfoot says to Ciaphias, 'Are... Are you well?'
Ciaphias shakes his head slowly. He says, 'Not as long as you're sick, I'm not...'
Coltsfoot shakes her head slowly. "I'm fine. A bit ill feeling."
Kedwyr shakes his head. "Let us put our attention on Coltsfoot for now. She needs our aid."
Coltsfoot says to Ciaphias, 'I mean since ya left? Are ya well?'
Ciaphias says, 'Not at all... I've been utterly fruitless in my search...'
Coltsfoot looks to Kedwyr. "There's somethin' that saw tha end o' it's days by tha tent. A rat maybe. Maybe it ate some o' tha poison I spit out?"
Ealdread frowns, listening to the conversation. "I know you would both likely prefer to be alone with one another, but it is undoubtedly unsafe at this point. My apologies for lingering so, in any case.'
Coltsfoot says, 'It's not safe fer me ta see him at all. Where did ya find him?'
Ciaphias glances back to Ealdread. He says, 'It's fine, friend, we could use the company.' He pauses as he kicks the rat corpse.
Coltsfoot nods softly. "I can't keep a decent watch fer myself right now. I welcome wary eyes about me."
Ealdread lowers his voice to a whisper. "The Forsaken Inn, near Weathertop. He happend into the common room there while I was eating." He nods, offering a slight smile.
Ciaphias grabs the rat's body by the neck, holding it up to Kedwyr.
Kedwyr furrows a brow.
Ciaphias says, 'See what you can do with it, Immortal.'
Coltsfoot nods, starting to speak but instead gasping softly, closing her eyes as she clenches her teeth.
Kedwyr looks to Ciaphias. "That is not the scent I first wafted.
Ciaphias looks back to Colts with a worried gaze.
Ealdread says, 'Easy, gehola. No need to tax your already weakened self. Do you need anything?'
Ciaphias shrugs disappointedly.
Coltsfoot smiles at Ciaphias. "I'm fine. Alla ya, I'm fine. An' no. Nothin' ya have now, I fear.'
Ciaphias says, 'Then this place isn't helping us whatsoever...'
Ealdread frowns, and nods. "Then I shall keep an eye out, if it is all I can do.
Coltsfoot looks sadly up at Kedwyr. "I thin' ya should find a good hidin' spot fer Ciaphias. He ain't safe aroun' me."
Kedwyr looks to Coltsfoot, 'Perhaps, but we must first discern how to best aid you. This was the place you were poisoned at?'
Coltsfoot nods to the other side of the fire. "Right here."
Ciaphias glances agitatedly about, eyes roving nervously.
Kedwyr looks to the spot and begins searching intently.
Ealdread scans the perimiter, a stalwart figure against the incoming light of the afternoon sun.
Coltsfoot sighs in exhaustion and kicks the dirt. "I was tied up right here. I musta been drugged somehow. But here. I wasn't tired at all on my ride here." She gets up and goes to the nearby tent, sitting down just inside.
Kedwyr frowns a bit at having found nothing, then suddenly his eyes go stern and he glances up to Ealdread. 'Ealdread, hand me your flask of water, please.'
Coltsfoot props her chin on her fist as she watches Kedwyr.
Ealdread looks down at his Hobbit friend with a weak smile. "I am sorry, gehola. I could not keep this from happening to her."
Ciaphias shakes his head, speaking quietly, "It wasn't your fault..."
Ealdread chucks a flask down to the elf.
Coltsfoot mumbles softly to herself. "I couldn't help it happenin' ta me either."
Ealdread nods slowly, a deep, frustrated frown etched onto his visage.
Kedwyr immediately pours a small amount of water onto the soil that Ciaphias kicked up and begins mixing it into the ground.
Ciaphias keeps his face set as he whispers up to Ealdread, "I don't like this... he could be anywhere..."
Coltsfoot watches carefully, shuddering as Kedwyr mimick's the hooded Man's actions.
Ealdread nods. "It is likely that he is, aye."
Kedwyr looks up to Ealdread. "Do you see what I have found my friend?' He frowns a bit and then picks up some of the mud onto his finger.
Ealdread hops down from his lookout spot in the wall. He says, 'What is it, mellon?'
Ciaphias arches an eyebrow at the mud.
Kedwyr frowns as he smells the mud and then glances to Coltsfoot.
Coltsfoot closes her eyes, moaning softly. "What is it?"
Kedwyr Looks back to Ealdread. "What we have here is a vile concoction of very rare properties, equalled only by it's deadly potency.'
Ealdread frowns. "Know you what it is, gehola?"
Coltsfoot goes even paler, her eyes dark as she hangs on Kedwyr's words with no hope.
Kedwyr wipes the mud off his finger and then looks to Coltsfoot once again. "Winter's Kiss is what it has been called.'
Ciaphias shakes his head slowly. He says, 'It has to have an antidote.'
Coltsfoot exhales slowly, looking at Ciaphias with longing.
Spectre narrows his eyes, wondering what the Elf is up to then frowning when realization stirs. He eases closer still, if only to confirm his suspicions.
Ealdread frowns deeply, his face creasing into myriad lines of worry.
Kedwyr glances to Ealdread. "One of the more deadlier poisons known among the people of the far east. It derives it's name from the Winter's Bloom found in the far east and it renders the victim cold and grants them a slow agonising death.....and.....'
Coltsfoot shakes her head, fluttering her hands through her blankets for a flask of water. "All this worry about me. Ciaphias should be runnin' far from here..."
Kedwyr frowns. "I do not know the antidote. It is possible to find one if I had the plant.....but they only grow in the far east from what rumor tells.'
Ealdread nods. "What if we were to find this plant, somehow?"
Ciaphias shakes his head again, looking sadly at Colts. He says, 'We have to find the assassin...'
Kedwyr glances back to Ealdread. "If the plant can be found, then Coltsfoots chances at an antidote would increase tenfold.'
Coltsfoot meets Ciaphias' gaze for only a moment, longing clearly written on her face. She drops her eyes to her lap in shame.
Ciaphias says, 'He has to have it. Why else would he give her a slow working poison?'
Spectre lifts his lips into a grin. It mattered not if the Elf recognized the poison. The cure would only be found in one place in all of Eriador...
Coltsfoot finds her flask and gulps the water down. She shivers and shakes her head. "What if there ain't one at all?"
Ciaphias peers away, thinking to himself, "There's no reason he'd go to this length just to kill her..."
Kedwyr puts a hand on Coltsfoot. "You must not give in to dread. There is always hope. And I think he is right, he that poisoned you should also have the antidote. We need only discern who did this.'
Ciaphias looks back to the others.
Coltsfoot says, 'But... it seems that he's pure evil. Makes sense that he'd do such a thin'.'
Ciaphias says, 'Can any of you think of any other reason why he'd poison her?'
Coltsfoot looks again intently to her lap, her little hands clenched tightly there. "Evil. He was evil."
Ciaphias says, 'He still wouldn't poison ten gold pieces just because.'
Kedwyr says, 'He is calculated, not brutish. Those who know of this manner of poison are not fools. They know it's properties and it's use is timed. No.....he wants her alive for a shortwhile, at least.'
Ciaphias says, 'He wants me to come to her rescue.'
Kedwyr says, 'If he wanted her dead, there are much easier ways to have done so.'
Ciaphias says, 'It's a simple, straight-forward plan.'
Kedwyr nods.
Coltsfoot tilts her head in response to Ciaphias' words, thinking carefully. Ten gold pieces...
Ciaphias says, 'And so far, it's worked well.'
Kedwyr says, 'At the moment, that seems the logical plan.'
Ciaphias says, 'What he does now, we'll see.'
Kedwyr says, 'And I think I may have a counter to that.'
Ciaphias says, 'Do you think kingsfoil would slow the effects?'
Coltsfoot closes her eyes. "He's likely here now. Listenin'. He put a note in my pack in Brockenborings. So don' speak it yet!
Kedwyr says, 'if he chooses to use Coltsfoot to lure Ciaphias out in the open, why should we not do the same with Ciaphias leading the assassin out as we lay in waiting?'
Ciaphias looks to Colts, interest piqued. He says, 'Note?' He glances back to the others. He'd expect that.'
Coltsfoot groans. "He'll know what yer doin' now!" She looks terrified, her eyes huge as she glares at Kedwyr. She says to Ciaphias, 'Aye. A note. He knew where I was stayin' at. An' paid a bairn ta bump inta me and slip it in my pack.'
Kedwyr speaks to Ciaphias as he walks by him. "Kingsfoil would only speed the poison, that is why it is so deadly. Many a fool has tried kingsfoil only to hasten their death.'
Coltsfoot says, 'Mae... she's tried ta help me. Tha only thin' she can do is make me tea fer tha pain and it drugs me ta sleep.'
You say, 'Shes' scared she'll do more harm that help wit' any sorta medicine.'
Ciaphias says, 'Well, what did the note say, love?'
Coltsfoot looks to Kedwyr with urgent panic in her huge, dark eyes. "Shouldn' ya be gettin' Ciaphias somewhere safe, far away from me?"
Kedwyr says, 'I feel the only way to find the antidote, is to find the assassin, and to find the assassin we must give him what he wants.....and be ready to intercept before it is too late.'
Ciaphias shakes his head. He says to Coltsfoot, 'I'm not leaving you...'
Coltsfoot sighs shakily and looks very sad. "I... did somethin' wrong. Very wrong. An' he wrote ta me ta mind my business an' follow orders. Not ta come up wit' my own ideas."
Ciaphias says, 'Please, we don't have much time... what did he say?'
Coltsfoot says, 'What I tole ya! That I should keep my mouth shut an' think only o' leading ya to him.'
Ciaphias says, 'That's all?'
Coltsfoot says, 'I thought I found a way fer a cure faster.' She nods. "Thass all."
Ciaphias looks down, confused.
Coltsfoot glares for a moment at Ciaphias, her old self barely visible behind her pale face and muddy eyes. "I *can* read, love."
Kedwyr says, 'I am afraid the assassin is in control.....for now. We must play his game until we find an upper hand.'
Coltsfoot hugs her knees, hiding her face behind her legs as she sighs in frustration. "You should be far from here."
Ciaphias says, 'What now?'
Kedwyr says, 'We wait.'
Ciaphias says, 'I'm out of ideas.'
Kedwyr stirs the coals in the fire.
Ciaphias says, 'We can't wait! Who knows how long we've got...'
Ealdread says, 'It is all we can do, gehola. I can think of nothing else...'
Kedwyr looks to Ciaphias. Hesays, 'We can do nothing until her assassin reveals himself.'
Coltsfoot sniffs softly from behind her knees. "I think we're takin' care o' tha lesser prollem right now. What if ya get caught, love?!"
Ciaphias clenches his fists with a pained sigh. He says, 'I'm not leaving you with you this way...'
Spectre steps out of the shadow of the tent, a smirk crossing his face as his hands move to the hilts of his daggers. "Ah...true love...ya haveta wonder what high'n'mighty Elf came up with it..."
Ciaphias unslings Jaded Revalation with a start, glaring up at the Man.
Ealdread hisses through his teeth, dagger flashing into his hand.
Ciaphias says, 'I don't even have to ask...'
Kedwyr wheels around to face the shadowy figure, arrow already nocked and drawn.
Spectre looks from man to Elf and back again. "Best be standin' yer ground an' stayin' yer weapons less ya won't this lass' death on /yer/ hands.."
Coltsfoot moans in dread, clutching her axe as she peeks up at the sound of the voice. "Be wary! He knows tricks ta catch ya! He'll drug ya... Kill ya all!'
Ealdread grips the dagger tighter still, but lowers it slightly.
Kedwyr watches the man intently and lowers his bow slightly
Ciaphias says, 'What do you want, assassin?'
Ealdread says, 'I have half a mind to put this between your bloody eyes, fool. What say you?'
Spectre does not shift his gaze to the Hobbit but replies to her, regardless. "Good lass. Tell yer dogs ta disarm, less ya wanta see 'em lyin' on tha ground like I had you."
Kedwyr says, 'For now, you have the upper hand, man of the wild. Speak your business.'
Spectre chuckles at the man's threat. "Half a mind be all ya got, if ya think it'll be savin' yer wee friend."
Coltsfoot pushes herself back into the tent with her boots, groaning as she nearly doubles over, the stress taking it's toll on her body. "Lay down yer blades, if he says so. He'll... Do what he says so nobody else gets hurt!'
Ciaphias keeps his hammer to him.
A guttural growl roils out from inside Ealdread's chest, but he drops his dagger nonetheless. "Fine, it is done."
Kedwyr slowly loosens his arrow and reslings his bow over his shoulder.
Ciaphias walks slowly to Colts, getting between the man and her. He says, 'You won't touch her again...'
Spectre watches the Hobbit move to his mate, allowing it as he keeps the other two in view. He steps to one side. "Kick 'em over here by the wall, if ya do no' mind."
Coltsfoot stares at the ground just before her, her face scarlet in shame. She squeezes her eyes tightly closed.
Ealdread says, 'I do mind, you ass. If you want this dagger, come and get it.'
Kedwyr places his bow by the wall. He glances to Ealdread.
Ealdread snarls in anger, his eyes feral and fierce.
Kedwyr says, 'We will have our moment, Ealdread....but not now. For Coltsfoot....'
Coltsfoot moans softly, her hand trembling on her axe handle. Her eyes are wild, searching for some sign of what her next move should be.
Spectre's smirk widens into a sneer. "Got 'em trained real good, lass. Just be watchin' that mate o' yers while we three big folk have a little..talk."
Tense as a reed, Ealdread stares coldly at the assasin, unmoving.
Coltsfoot reaches out and takes Ciaphias' hand in her own, trembling. "I'm so sorry."
Ciaphias narrows his gaze, crouching as he takes Colt's hand, "It'll be ok, love..."
Spectre holds the gaze of man and Elf while he slips one hand from dagger hilt to a small pouch at his waist. Moving quickly, he snatches the pouch up and swings it outward, releasing the sleeping herb inside to carry on the wind to the two before him.
Coltsfoot moans quietly, terror etched in her face as she watches the Man's actions. "Thass what he musta done ta me!" She staggers to her feet to face the Man.
Ciaphias jumps back from the cloud, eyes widening.
Ealdread staggers, face moving from anger to shock. Wide-eyed, he collapses in a heap, smashing his head on the stone of the fire-pit which still rages.
Coltsfoot says, 'Please! Don' do this!'
Ciaphias says, 'What do you want, you cursed thing?!'
Spectre chuckles as he steps over, shoving his foot against both to be sure the drug worked as expected.
Coltsfoot crouches before Ealdread, growling in fury. "Don' hurt them! Er I'll hurt ya worse!"
Spectre says, 'Yer little miss here knows what I be wantin'. Yer hide. Or tha 100 gold yer hide be worth.' He looks over to Coltsfoot, his attention diverted for a moment as he grins widely. "Still no' tha time, lass."
Ciaphias clenches his jaw, throwing off his hood. 'You have the antidote, I take it?'
Coltsfoot looks to Ciaphias, her meaning clear in her eyes even as she groans and clutches her belly. *Don't do anything stupid!!!*
Ealdread 's head begins bleeding profusely, soaking the hood of his cloak in scarlet blood which pools in the soil.
Coltsfoot says, 'Aye. Not tha time...'
Kedwyr deftly places a small pouch into the cuff of the mans boot as he lays there feigning unconsciousness.
Spectre looks over to Ciaphias. "Now, what good would a deal be if I did no' mean ta keep my end o' it?"
Coltsfoot cries silently as she kneels before Ealdread, using her cloak from her pack to wrap his head tightly. She looks over her shoulder, hate gleaming in her dead eyes.
Ciaphias says, 'So? Show me the vial!'
Ealdread moans faintly, nearly a whisper. "Ai scinan alls'aer hulle oir Meduseld, eie faemne..." Another moan, and he is out again.
Coltsfoot winces at the tone of Ciaphias' voice, shivering as she collapses to a crouch by the fire.
Spectre chuckles, hesitates, then shakes his head. "You think I'd be havin't it with me an' risk the wind no' takin' these two out? What good be losin' tha deal ta stupidity?"
Ciaphias says, 'Then where is it?'
Ciaphias says, 'You dont get me until I see it.'
Coltsfoot says, 'Don't.... do it... love. Ya do it an' I'll kill myself before ya come back, ya moronic hobbit!'
Spectre narrows his eyes, though the expression goes unseen beneath his hood. "Now yer soundin' like yer missus. Tryin' ta dictate terms.. I be makin' tha rules here, Hobbit. Do no' be forgettin' that.'
Ciaphias grinds his teeth, face set in stone.
Coltsfoot cringes away from the Man.
Ealdread cries out suddenly, a wordless scream as if trapped in some nightmare.
Ciaphias says, 'Let's just end this...'
Ealdread begins to sweat profusely, the blood still gushing from his wounded head.
Ciaphias says, 'Tell me what to do.'
Coltsfoot nearly tumbles over, shocked by Ealdread's cry. She falls forward, huddling over him, weeping as she tries to stop the flow of rubies from his head. She says to Ciaphias, 'Don' do it... Please love, don' do it!'
Ciaphias closes his eyes, shutting out Colts' cries.
Spectre grins. "Better an' best, lad. Ya learn quick. What I be wantin' ya to do is wait. In two days time, I'll be sendin' ya instructions where ta come. Just you. No' these two an' no her." He gestures to man, Elf and Coltsfoot. "If I be seein' anyone else within a mile, her life be forfeit an' so be yers.'
Coltsfoot looks at her hands, sticky with Ealdread's blood, and back over her shoulder to Ciaphias. "I'd rather die than see you do this. Listen ta me! Don' do anythin' stupid!"
Ciaphias nods shakily. 'So be it...'
Coltsfoot moans through gritted teeth, turning back to Ealdread again, desperately blotting his head with her cloak.
Ciaphias says, 'How do I know you even have what we ask for?'
Ealdread awakens slightly, and smiles at Coltsfoot then, his eyes suddenly bright. "Eie'rn erfaest, gehola." Then, he collapses again.
Coltsfoot says, 'He doesn't, love, an' I knew it all along! Don' listen ta him! Don' go! I'm lost no matter what ya do!'
Spectre sneers and nods. "Good lad." He glances at the two on the ground, no reaction at all to the blood of the man, then turns and walks past Colts, pausing only long enough to reach down and tussle her hair. "Hope ya be feelin' better....soon." He pauses and looks back over.
Coltsfoot shivers and shrinks from the touch, looking like she could faint from terror.
Spectre says, 'I reckon you'll just be havin' ta trust me on that, lad.'
Spectre then turns and heads out of the ruins.
Coltsfoot speaks nearly silent words of comfort as she tends to Ealdread, her attention only on him.
Ciaphias yells to the Man, 'Wait! Why not give us the antidote now? The others are out cold!'
Coltsfoot looks up at the two, tears on her cheeks as she grinds her teeth in hatred. 'What are ya sayin', love?'
Ealdread stirs suddenly, and cries out again, a sharp, clarion thing that resonates against the ruined walls that surround them.
Spectre turns to face the Hobbit. "'cause I do no' like bein' told what ta do, boy. Tha rules be mine or there ain't no rules."
Coltsfoot bends over Ealdread, her nose almost touching his as she wipes the blood from his face. She murmurs softly to him, humming as she tries to tend to his broken head.
Ciaphias cracks a slight grin, "Then you have it?"
Spectre moved his hand to a small pocket on his right side, in which the vial of antidote rested.
Ciaphias says, 'All I needed to hear... plan better in the afterlife, you bastard!'
Coltsfoot glares up at the Man suddenly. "He ain't a boy! He's a..." Her words stop. She stares at the vial with longing. 'No! Don' do it, love! He cheats!'
Ciaphias pauses for a moment.
Coltsfoot jumps up to her feet, almost falling on her face as she nearly looses consciousness.
Ciaphias says, 'Love... it's the only way...'
Coltsfoot says, 'Don' do this... Don'! There isn't a cure! I tole ya! Just... let him go an' run away!'
Spectre narrows his eyes sharply at the Hobbit's shout, his hands moving to his own weapons. "Foolish lad. Very foolish."
Ciaphias says, 'I'm doing anything I can... including this.'
Coltsfoot says, 'Don't! Run away, love!'
((Here Ciaphias and Spectre begin fighting in the ruins.))
Coltsfoot watches the fight, every movement between them burned into her memory for all time.
Ciaphias falls to his knees from a blow to the head.
Coltsfoot draws her bow, her trembling hands too weak to pull the string as she fits an arrow. She growls in fury, useless. 'No!'
Ciaphias trys to return to his feet to no avail.
Coltsfoot begs the Man... "Don' do this! Please..."
Spectre tires quickly of the battle, not wanting to damage the merchandise, and tosses a handful of dust into the Hobbit's eyes. Growling deeply, he takes out the vial from his pocket and holds it up between thumb and two fingers. "Stupid Hobbit....
Coltsfoot says, 'No!'
Spectre says, 'Now yer gonna have to pay for it.'
Coltsfoot says, 'Pay... fer it?'
Spectre then presses his thumb and fingers together, crushing the vial and rubbing the contents against glove and armour. 'His life an' tha bounty.....'
Coltsfoot focuses only on the vial, dropping her bow from numb hands.
Ciaphias reaches out for the liquid, crying out in defeat. 'No! Dammit, no...'
Coltsfoot says, 'I'd die fer his life. Ya can kill me now... Take him if ya must, but my frien's will find ya!'
Ealdread murmurs softly, and stirs gently where he lays, out like a stone.
Spectre brushes the remainder of glass from his fingers. "Two days..." he says simply before turning and vanishing into the dark of night.
Coltsfoot says, 'Wait!'
Ciaphias strains to pull himself up, tears mixing with blood from his beaten head.
Coltsfoot looks at Ciaphias coldly. She speaks almost silently to herself... "I ain't worth alla this trouble."
Kedwyr waits a few moments then leaps to his feet and quickly grabs a small pouch from his sack and begins to tend to Ealdread.
Coltsfoot kicks dirt in Ciaphias' face. "I'm leavin'. You'll not find me easy."
Ciaphias grasps Colts' hand tightly, not letting go.
Kedwyr reaches over to Coltsfoot and three or four long hairs from her head.
Coltsfoot says, 'This ain't worth it, love. I'm goin'.'
Ciaphias says, 'We... we can still find a way...'
Kedwyr begins to sew Ealdreads wound together.
Coltsfoot says, 'No. I don' love ya enough ta care what happens now. So I'm off. I tole him that because I had a cut comin' o' yer bounty.'
Ciaphias says, 'No...'
Coltsfoot watches the two by the fire. "Watch yerselves. That soil is tainted. He gets it in that cut an' he's lost too."
Ciaphias stands, motionless, eyes wide.
Ealdread moans softly, muttering incomprehensibly. His cloak is soaked in his blood.
Coltsfoot says to Ciaphias, 'Aye. I was gettin' paid.'
Ciaphias says, 'You lie... You couldn't have...'
Coltsfoot looks to Ciaphias, her face made of stone. 'Aye. I'd betray alla ya if tha price was high enough.'
Ciaphias says, 'I can't believe that...' He lets his hand slowly slip from hers.
Coltsfoot says, 'I get ten gold an' tha cure ta this poison. So it's in my interest ta leave ya now. Now... All I get is tha cure. No coin thanks ta you.'
Ciaphias shakes his head slowly.
Coltsfoot says, 'You spoiled alla my work. Now I been sick all this time fer nothin'. Coltsfoot nods in exaggerated slowness, mocking Ciaphias.
Ciaphias turns silently away.
Coltsfoot says, 'You coulda made this easier, ya idiot. Ya coulda listened ta me an run off, inta tha fellers waitin' in tha woods there. But no. Ya had ta be brave.'
Ciaphias says, 'What happened...'
Coltsfoot stares from the Man and Elf by the fire to her husband, her eyes icy. "What do ya mean?"
Ciaphias lets his arms hang loose, his hammer falling quietly to the ground.
Ealdread stirs quietly, his eyes opening slowly.
Coltsfoot says, 'You chose ta leave me with no word o' where ya went. An' no word if ya were even alive. So... Goodbye.'
((Here Ciaphias silently and slowly calls his horse and rides away without looking back.))
Ealdread groans.
Coltsfoot looks to her friends, biting back a miserable howl. "I lied! He must be kept safe, an' if he thinks I don' love him..."
Coltsfoot delicately strokes Ealdread's hair back from his face as Kedwyr stalks off into the night. "I won' see him again, I think. An' I'll die thinkin' he thinks I don' love him."
Ealdread looks up groggily at the hobbit, and winces in pain, sucking in sharply. He looks at Coltsfoot then, and smiles weakly. "What....?"
Coltsfoot says, 'I'm gonna die now, ya know. Promise me ta keep him safe. I lied ta him. Drove him off. Tole him I was paid ta betray him... An' he left without a word.'
Ealdread looks confused, a pained expression deeper than the overt wounds from which he suffers washing over his features. "Why?" he croaks, barely even audible.
Coltsfoot says, 'That Man. He had tha antidote an' Ciaphias fought him fer it. An' fell. Tha Man broke it ta bits right before us! He tole Ciaphias that if he fought him, alone, with no one near him, Ciaphias could have tha cure. I saw tha Man best Ciaphias, an' I drove my husband away. Ta keep him from me. I'm too easy ta watch now.'
Ealdread closes his eyes, brow furrowed, his face contorted into a pained grimace.
Coltsfoot delicately picks clotted strands of hair back from Ealdread's eyes. "Ya need a healer. I'd... I'd rather die than keep this trouble among my frien's. Too dangerous.'
Ealdread breathes raggedly, and nods, wincing. "Aye." Another croak, like the dry rustle of gravel under a boot.
Coltsfoot places her tiny hand on Ealdread's cheek. "Tha evil Man is too good. He drugged ya an' ya split yer head on that rock." She looks around slowly, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Ya need a healer."
Ealdread opens his eyes and tries to sit up, but is unsuccessful.
Coltsfoot says, 'I'm gonna get Mae. She's near at hand, gatherin' herbs fer a tea fer me. I'll... not see ya again.'
Ealdread whispers, "Water, gehola."
Coltsfoot nods, taking her almost drained flask from her pack. She opens it and presses it to his lips tenderly. "Drink. Is 'gehola' a word fer friend?'
Ealdread drinks thirstily, allowing much of it to spill down his mud- and blood-streaked face and beard. 'Yes, it is.' His voice is clearer, if no less soft.
Coltsfoot says, 'Ah. Don' call me that again. I'm off. Ya need a skilled healer.'
Ealdread says, 'I cannot walk...' He winces in pain, sucking in air between clenched teeth as he tries to rise once more.
Coltsfoot says, 'Take some advice as my last words ta you. Don' keep involved in this madness. You'll get killed. Just... Just keep an eye on Ciaphias fer me. I'm getting Mae fer ya right now. Stay still.' She looks down at Ealdread for a long moment, then whistles for Torla.
Ealdread nods, and closes his eyes, drifting once more into a deep sleep.
((Here Coltsfoot rides her pony from the camp as fast as she can to Bree-Town to fetch Mae.))