Days 19 thru 20

Day 19:
Before dawn, Vanity woke me up.
"Many men are riding this way, fast. I can't tell their intentions, but they are looking for all of you."
Holding her, she extended my senses to reach the riders. With me awake, both of us could sense more than she alone. Three of the riders were the ones we saved from the bandits, but the rest were unknown and of mixed emotions. A lot of them were simply curious about the girls with swords. A few of them were wondering about the swords' values and how to get us to give them up. One had the darkest of intentions and wanted us dead. Vanity and I calculated how far they were and how much time we had before they reached us. The other swords were listening but did not wake anyone else. Fixing a point ahead of the riders but far from us, the swords encircled me and projected an image of me at that point. I held Vanity before me and was able to see them in her mirror-like disks that resembled eyes.
The party skidded to a halt before my image. The three from before identified me as one of their rescuers. I told them it was nice to see them again. Someone from the back interrupted.
"Enough idle chatter. Hearing these three describe your swords, our lord surmised their identities. He has sent us to bring you to him so he may be sure that they are the fabled swords."
I looked at him. He was not the dark one but he was one that wanted us parted from the swords. He seemed agitated.
"Sorry, " I replied, "but we cannot do that. We are not willing to go with you to some unknown lord who's true intentions we know not. I do know that you and a few others seek to separate us from our swords while that one with the blond hair on the spotted horse wants us all dead."
The others turned to the one I indicated. He did not even deny it, but charged at, and through, my image. He was quickly subdued. The others looked at me. One come forward.
"I understand your caution. When you are ready, Lord Carmon of Thantos wants to speak with you. He is a just man. Please, see him soon."
I nodded and my image vanished. I returned my awareness back to myself and and saw the other girls awake and looking at this strange scene: four swords rotating around me as I stared at Vanity and spoke with no one. The swords returned to their partners and they were instantly filled in on my activities. We verbally explained to Lisa. We agreed that finding both Lisa's sword and the last guardian were of utmost importance.
We set off to the north. Lisa's military background was evident as she settled into an easy march. Around sunset, she didn't want to stop, but we assured her that continuing in the dark was unsafe. We made camp and ate. Lisa fidgeted and kept looking to the north. We assured her that we understood what she was feeling and how she ached for her sword. We promised her we would set out as soon as it was light.
Day 20:
Before dawn, we broke camp as soon as there was enough light to safely travel. At times, we has to physically hold Lisa to keep her from running towards her sword. Finally, she reached that point where the feeling seemed to come from everywhere. It took Callie, Gretta, and myself to hold her as we tried to get her to focus.
"Lisa, running around won't get it found. Stop, breathe, regain yourself. Call for you sword to guide you," We told her, shouted to her, right in her face.
She regained her composure and called out, "Sword of Power! Gluttony or Envy, I am here! Show me where you are!" She looked towards a group of trees, "Over there, that way."
We all took off that way. After working through the trees, we stopped at a truly bizarre sight. We looked upon a field covered in all matter of stuff. An area of about ten acres was between chest and head deep in all kinds of items: swords, armor, helmets, furniture, chests, wagons, harnesses, and clothing of all sizes and styles.
 Lisa nearly collapsed, "Where can it be?" she said, almost weeping.
The other five of us gathered around her. We felt something stir in us. Instinctively, we drew our swords. I instructed Lisa.
"Stand before us. By our swords, through you, we will summon Gluttony to you."
Lisa nodded and stood facing the field. We touched the sword tips together and placed them on her head. In my sight, I saw the power pulse through Lisa's body. She raised her arms to the mess before her.
With a magically enhanced voice, she called, "Gluttony! Partner! Rise from this rubbish and come to me!"
We saw the heap shutter and items fly off. A sword almost as large as Sloth rose from the heap. He was suspended for a few seconds then flew to Lisa's outstretched hands. She held it with awe on her face. I took one of her hands and gently cut her finger on Gluttony's large blade. She gasped until she remembered Sarah's action. She pressed her bloody finger to the place where it was cut. We all saw the blood vanish and felt the click of connection. Finally, Gluttony spoke.
"This trash was my prison. Many of these items have magic, however small. Together, they were enough to bind me to this place. Ogres view this place as the holy site of their deity. My influence made them believe that their god wanted this stuff. My previous guardian was brough here to be sacrificed to their god. At the time, only a tenth of this was here. A strongly magical chest was near and they placed me in it. They, then, covered it with a cloak infused with strong magic. I would not see her death, but I would feel it. Over time, all of this was piled and the magic intensified. I have been in darkness and silence ever since."
Lisa was crying as she felt his pain the most. The rest of us found it hard to speak for a while. Sloth broke the silence.
"There is an orb close by that will aid our search for the last sister."
Following his lead, we located a bluish orb about the size of a large apple. We also found a cloak more suitable to Sarah's size than the huge one she was wearing. It only had a keep dry spell on it so we took it. Gluttony also recovered his old sheath and belt which Lisa strapped on with the ease of practice. We found a better fitting sheath for Lust. We also found some coins.
With our finds, we left the heap. I made a note of it on our map, in case we needed something to sell on our journey.
Lisa was so happy and smiling more than we has seen her since our meeting. We walked away from the heap and back towards the road. Before we got there, we stopped in a clearing to use the orb Sloth told us to get. We sat in a circle, swords before us, touching tip to pommel, and the orb in the center. Anna placed our finding stone on top of it. We began a chant for our last sister to be known to us. Our energy built and built until we, the swords, and both stones were glowing with it. In the air above us, an image formed. A girl in a regal pink gown materialized before us. She was very pretty, but seemed sad. We changed the chant to show us where she was. Our map floated to the image. A dot appeared on a spot near the coast of a river. We did not stop the chant, but I noticed that it marked the city state of Thantos, where that lord who wanted us lived. We changed again to ask for Envy's location. To our amazement, the girl's image changed to show her holding Envy. A couple of us faltered in the chant, but the image held. Together, we dismissed the image. As we stood and sheathed our swords, Lisa began fuming.
"I knew it! Lord Carmon means to trap us! He has Envy and her guardian and want the rest of us too. Damn him! We're going to have to deal with him to get them free."
I piped in, "While she seemed sad, I don't think she is a prisoner. I did feel that she is lonely, but nothing to indicate she is a captive. It is hard to get more so far away."
Lisa seemed to calm some, but she still clenched her hands like she wanted to punch or strangle something. As it was getting dark, we made camp where we were. Callie whispered if I could do that projection thing I did earlier with the soldiers to let our last sister know we were coming. Vanity and the other swords hummed. An answer popped into my head.
"Too far away, we can try in a day or two."
Callie accepted that answer. We made a fire, ate, and went to sleep.