Day 248 (226th)

Day 248 (226th):
We were not invited to the fountain this morning nor to the Crowns' apartments. We were given breakfast in our chambers and told not to leave the room. We were puzzled. As we ate, I felt a growing tension building around us. We found the source outside the windows. Hundreds of elves stood around the castle. The mixture of emotions was dizzying. Anna and Alice explained that our summons was causing quite a stir. Some who claimed kinship to the Founding Fifteen were angry at not being summoned while those that were certain they were not kin came to prove us wrong. I could see the historians we had met in the archives standing off to the side, watching this spectacle with sadistic grins.
We kept ourselves busy. Lisa treated Bo. Alice found that Dawn's feet, due to the cold, needed attention. The cream worked well on them. We went through our clothes to see if any needed mending. Intent upon these tasks, the knock on the door actually startled us. Janesh and Orania stood side-by-side at the door.
"Sisters," Janesh formally bowed, "the Crowns await you in the Throne Room. The families that were summoned have assembled. Be warned, many other families are not happy with you."
"We are aware of their feelings, Major," I told him, "We are prepared."
He nodded slightly. Janesh led the way with Orania following. We quietly inquired about her presence.
"The Crowns felt you needed a representative of what is called the 'Old Order'. I have tended Sarvicnal as a babe, his father all of his life, and his grandfather while his grandmother was pregnant until their deaths. I'm a bit of living history."
Not really understanding, and seeing that she was not telling us everything, we accepted her explanation.
We entered the Throne Room amid chaos. People were yelling, shaking fists and fingers, and being just loud. The horn announcing the Crowns' arrival had to blow three times to get everyone settled. I noticed the historians watching, outwardly blank, with arrogance encasing them all.
Once quiet, the Crowns entered and sat down. Narisha stood before the assembly and explained.
"Half of you are here because you were told that you are related to the Founding Fifteen. The other half of you think you are and have come to prove it. Research has shown your relationship to them."
"False!" came a yell from the corner of the room. The historians came forward, "The research is false! They used the writings of traitors and heretics to 'prove' these lineages. The official records show the truth."
The room exploded into noise again. The historians looked smug. Two horn blasts got the room quiet again.
"Many sources were used both official and not," Narisha continued, "plus magical means of discerning truth and facts. We are here to confirm or refute these findings."
"How?" a historian barked, "Are we to trust these humans to tell the truth? We all know how 'honorable' humans are."
Groans resounded throughout the room, plus a few noises of disgust.
From somewhere, a small voice said, "What about the chalice?"
For a moment, I thought only I heard it. Then, a chant began.
"Bring out the Chalice. Bring out the Chalice. Bring out the Chalice."
Slowly, elves stopped arguing and began the chant. The historians looked both horrified and confused. Behind us, Orania appeared with a large gold goblet, rather plain, but heavy from the way she carried it. Gretta smacked her hands over her ears, telling us without a doubt of its authenticity. Orania's voice carried in the hush that her arrival had created.
"This Chalice has held the blood or all fifteen of Crialas' founders. That blood was the foundation of the gate around the portal. It responds to those of their line. Observe."
She handed it to the King. Even before touching it, it began to glow. When his skin made contact, it became a beacon. Orania took it back and the glow died. It reacted the same to the Queen's touch. To show everyone Lisa's tie, Orania handed it to her. Not as bright as the Crowns', but it did glow. Alice got a small glow from it.
"Now," Orania called to the assembly, "first, we confirm your link, then, these girls will see to whom you are tied."
The assembly began lining up before Orania. Those who did not get the Chalice to glow at all left, dejected. Those that did remained for our turn. To the historians' chagrin, everyone we summoned remained while the "official" families left. With the room cleared of hopefuls, it made our task easier. Janesh stood guard over us. A basket of ribbons was brought out. Each Founder had a specific color. When the link was found, that elf received that color. Each elf walked in front of us. Knowing that it was the tenth, eleventh, or twelfth generation made the search easier. As we progressed, the historians fumed more, going from arrogant to angry. When the last one was linked, we all noticed one Founder's color had not been touched. No link was made to Rondal Song Weaver. The historians began to use this as an argument against us. Something about the Chalice pulled at me. Looking at my riding set, I got an idea. I picked up the Chalice so my rings and bracelet touched it.
Speaking words that just occurred to me, I said, "Spirit of the Chalice, tell us your nature."
While the historians gathered to argue with me, a fog began to roll from the empty chalice. Like Starlight, it piled upon itself until man height. Then, it condensed into a male elf in ancient clothing.
"What trickery is this?" the historians asked as the male elf became solid, "There is no 'Spirit of the Chalice'."
"Silence!" the male elf bellowed, "You show your ignorance with every word you utter. I am Rondal Song Weaver."
The assembly gasped. Muttered comments were whispered from elf to elf. One historian braved the new arrival and spoke up.
"The Founders are eons gone. How do we know you are not some illusion created by these girls?"
"He is no illusion," Orania piped in, "We Chalice Keepers have always known his spirit resided within. We just could not bring it forth."
"You had not the power," Song Weaver told her, "Only by this child's god item can I be as you see and hear me now."
Orania bowed in acknowledgement. Song Weaver turned back to the assembly.
"To originally build the gate, a life was sacrificed. My life. I had no family, no ties to anyone. Willingly, I became the mortar that held the gate together. By mixing their blood with mine, the other fourteen forged their connection to the gate. One of you, children of the Founders, will also sacrifice your life to rebuild the gate. This person, as I did, will go willingly, without coercion, threat, or bribe.
"Kayla," he said as he turned to me, "Many will ask you, as a seer, who it will be. For this to work, you are to say nothing, not even to your sisters. Vanity and Set, that goes for you as well."
The three of us promised not to reveal the sacrifice.
"Fortunately, no line will die out because of this. Take my color for other uses, as no one will ever claim it."
King Sarvicnal gathered the ribbons, "This color will mark the graves of those who sacrificed themselves to save others."
"A fair tribute," Song Weaver said.
"Sir," I interrupted, "do you know where the original ritual was stored? We have been told it was written, but have yet to find it."
"Yes, it was written by a scribe. He told us it was to be stored in the Memory Cave. I do not know if the ritual is there still."
"Where is this cave?" I asked.
"It was two thousand paces from the portal to the northwest. I cannot tell you if the cave is still there."
"Thank you, sir," I bowed to him.
The historians wanted more, but Song Weaver became mist again and returned to the Chalice. I handed it back to Orania. Defeated, the historians left. King Sarvicnal told the families to elect one of their number as a family representative to take part in the rebuilding of the gate. They were dismissed. We watched them file out in clusters, trying to decide who would be their family's speaker and if any of them could, willingly, sacrifice themselves. Orania took the Chalice back to its storage while Janesh stayed with us and the Crowns.
With the room empty, we saw a pile of items in the corner. Curious, we seven went over to look, bringing Set, Bo, and Dawn with us. We noticed that most of them were for infants. A few more things were brought in and added as we stood there. The Queen joined us.
"They have been arriving since the flags were raised. The birth of one heir is great. The news of three is astonishing. I think it has improved the people's attitude towards us."
"Removal of the other Palace members did as well," Alice informed her, "They were causing distrust between the populace and the Palace as well as the Crowns."
Elenvarna nodded. Set, Dawn, and Bo were examining the pile of gifts when one of the boxes moved. Set growled. Dawn hissed. Bo smacked it with his tail, causing it to move again. The King and Janesh came over to see what was going on. Lisa and I picked it up and moved it out to a clear area of floor. The Crowns held each other as we carefully moved to open it.
"I don't sense any evil, but, then, I don't sense anything from it. It may be shielded," I told them as we moved it.
All of my sisters concurred that they, too, got nothing at all from the package. When the top was opened, I felt waves of anger, hate, the need to destroy, just a great surge of harmful impressions. I slammed the top shut again. My hands were not the only ones closing the package. Lisa, Sarah, Alice, and Anna had a hand upon it. Callie and Gretta had stepped between the Crowns and us at the same moment.
"Sisters? Care to enlighten us?" King Sarvicnal asked.
"It was directed at your children," Alice told them.
The Queen began to cry. The King became enveloped in red.
"Set, being still a baby, caused it to come alive. If he had not, it would have looked like a statue until a baby, a royal baby, came near it and reached for it with intent," Anna informed us.
The Crowns stared at the box. I told the others to back away while I kept it closed. It shifted and shook under my hands.
With all my will, I commanded, "FRIEZE!"
The box quit moving. Carefully opening it, pushing past the waves of emotion, I extracted the box's inhabitant. It was a hideous creature, a man man's version of Bo. Huge head, massive fangs, sickly green body, and a barbed tail. Its red-orange eyes stared blankly ahead.
"What is it?" many of them asked.
Holding it, I watched, as if they were in the room, the makers of this creature assembling it.
"Four people, skilled in necromancy, took parts of dead animals, molded them together, and brought it to life. Then, placing a very specific spell and instructions, they froze it and encased it in a statue of a guardian spirit. Only when a royal baby reached for it would it come to life, break from the statue, and kill the infant," I relayed what played before me.
"When her eyes are white like that," Lisa told the Crowns, "you can be certain she tell you the accurate and whole truth."
The Crowns were aghast. Janesh was furious.
"You mean they were willing to wait the entire pregnancy, birth, and who knows how long until one or more reached out to the statue to kill the heirs? Why so long?" he asked.
"To remain hidden," Anna took up the tale as I returned the thing to the box, "No one would remember who gave the Crowns the statue or when they had received it. The shield on the box was for us, so we could not warn you and, by the time it became active, be long gone when the child died. They, even, hoped to throw suspicion on us."
Janesh was so furious, he drew his sword and stabbed through the box into the creature within. My freeze spell was broken and the thing roared wildly as Janesh pushed all the way through it and hit the floor out the bottom of the box. Foul black liquid oozed out the hole and seams of the box. After a moment, the noise died and it was still. Janesh grunted as he pulled his sword free. The black liquid clung to his blade.
Lisa stopped him from wiping it off, "It is poison, Major. Only fire can remove it safely. Water will only spread it and it will contaminate any cloth used to clean it off."
Janesh held his sword to Set, "Will you aid me, young emperor?"
Happily slapping the floor with his tail, Set blew a steady flame over the blade. The poison bubbled and steamed. In short order, the sword was clean, but red hot. Janesh laid it to the side for it to cool. The Crowns looked at us somberly.
"Can you identify these people?" King Sarvicnal asked, barely controlling his anger.
Anna, Alice, and I held our hands out to each other. Parchment fluttered in from somewhere to land on our hands. Four faces, names, and crimes materialized upon its surface. Once complete, we handed it to the Crowns. They looked puzzled.
"We do not know these people. What have we done that would prompt them to such action? Against babes? Why?"
"Chaos," we seven responded as one.
Janesh snapped his fingers, "Of course, even with one dead, the question of birth order arises. Plus suspicion, doubt, fear, all of those bubble to the surface."
Understanding bloomed upon the Crowns' faces. Their anger also rose. Guards were summoned to round up these people and bring them before the Crowns. The servants were questioned about the package. None remembered seeing anyone drop it off. They recounted finding it among others at the door.
Lunch passed and it was nearly night fall when news came of the four being in custody. We met the Crowns back in the Throne Room, along with the Palace and a small group of judges. The four, three men and one woman, stood in fear in the midst of this assembly. I could see that they had no idea why they were here.
"State your names for official records," one of the judges ordered.
In turn, the four told their names.
Once recorded, another judge rose, "You have been charged with attempted murder of the heirs of Crialas."
The four stood in shocked silence.
The judge, still standing, asked, "How do you plead?"
"Not guilty," one of the males said, coming out of his shock.
The other three responded likewise. The box and the dead creature were brought out and set before them.
"Did you construct this creature?" a third judge asked them.
All four responded that they had never seen it before in their lives. I could tell they were telling the truth. They were told that "a seer" had witnessed them making the creature. They, again, denied it. The judges, Crowns, and Palace looked at us seven.
"What do we tell them?" Lisa asked mentally.
"I see their history. I see them making the thing," Alice stated.
"I, too, see them making it," Anna sadly reported.
"There is nothing in their minds of making it. They do not remember their actions," I told them.
"Ladies," King Sarvicnal interrupted, "can you provide some answers here?"
"Your Majesty, some trickery is at work," I told him. Turning to the four, I approached and addressed them, "I believe something made you do this and forget. Do you have some new item, a recent acquisition, that you got yesterday or early today?"
The four looked at each other. Each of them began digging out pieces of chain, flat pieces of metal, and shattered glass. To their amazement, the four produced identical items.
The female spoke, "A halfling gave this to me, free of charge, last night. He said it was in celebration of the royal news. I slipped it on. Next thing I remember, it is past mid-day and I was in my laboratory. The talisman was shattered around me. I have no idea what happened between sunset yesterday and mid-day today."
The three males echoed her story. Each of them were missing several hours of their lives. I took the pieces from all four. The room vanished.
I saw a female halfling, a badly scarred female elf, a human male, and a being that look like a female child made of seaweed. The halfling was linking the chains. The elf was carving the flat metal. The human was making the glass. The seaweed child was forming shadows into spheres. Each was muttering to themselves. When each was done with their task, they brought their items to a central table. Four chains were laid out. Four small flat carved plates of metal were attached to the chains. Four still hot orbs of glass were dropped upon the flat metal inside the carved area. They flattened slightly as they adhered to the metal. Four shadow spheres were placed on top of the warm glass. The shadows sank into the glass, both darkening and hardening it. The four talismans were scooped up by a male halfling wearing gloves. The male halfling left. The group began gathering parts of the creature from the box and laying them out on the table that had previously held the four talismans. This took some time. The male halfling returned with the four before us in tow. Their eyes were blank and they walked strangely. The male halfling herded them to the table while the other group backed away as they approached. The male halfling gave them orders and they proceeded to assemble the creature. The two halflings, elf, human, and seaweed child assembled at another table and began forming the statue that would house the creature. This, too, took a long time. When the creature moved on its own, the two groups came together and finished installing it inside the statue. Satisfied, the seaweed child left and returned with the box. They all helped to place the statue into the box and seal it. The shielding was put into place and the elves, still in a trance, took it and left the room. They placed it among other items at the castle door. Each went to their separate homes where the talismans shattered, releasing them with no knowledge of what they had done or where they had been.
The room reappeared to my sight. Those assembled, even my sisters, stared at me. In confusion, I turned to ask why they were looking at me like that. However, my tongue seemed too heavy to move. Set's whine was the last thing I heard before everything went dark.

I don't normally write in an other's chronicle, but, my King and Queen have ordered it. I am Narisha, the royal chronicler of Crialas Pagoue.
When Kayla took the broken bits from the accused, an odd thing happened. Her eyes became snow white without a pupil. Fog rolled from her and formed a cloud about her. On the cloud, scenes materialized. We watched the true criminals perform their hidden tasks. The fact these worked together to complete this vile task struck many of us hard. Some Palace members became ill over it. Likenesses of the five were made. Alice was able to give us their names. When the last scene faded and the fog cleared, we were in awe of what we had seen. Kayla looked at us strangely, then collapsed. Her dragon was so quick. He must have sensed a change in her. His body kept her from colliding with the floor. He did not move until the others picked her up and fashioned a soft place for her to lay. Set stayed beside her, allowing only the other six and their animals near her. Once they were satisfied that she only slept, they told Set to take her to their room. I wondered how he would accomplish that, even as a dragon as big as he. In a blink, both of them were gone. We all rose to our feed, looking for the pair. The girls informed us that they were fine and safely in their room. We pushed that aside for now. The four before us were told they were free to go, but we asked that they would help us punish the real culprits. As hoped, they agreed. Guards were sent with the new sketches and four wizards. We waited. The girls told us about kirlan and how dragons travel. It took a moment or two, but we finally understood.
It was well past dark when the guards, wizards, and accussed returned. Just as they appeared in Kayla's cloud, we recognized the five easily. The two halflings looked smug, but avoided eye contact. The scarred one stayed hidden, using her hood to hide the scars. The human stood tall, trying to use his height to intimidate us. The green person was a bit taller in person. We surmised that this one had been slumped over or was not wearing shoes as we observed them in the cloud. The wizards stood with the guards, staring angrily at the five.
A judge stood, "You stand accussed of planning the death of at least one of the heirs of Crialas."
No one protested. The box and its contents were placed before them. All but the scarred elf remained unmoved. She flung herself at the box and tore it open. Seeing the dead creature, she broke into sobs.
"My baby! You killed my baby!"
She grabbed the dead thing and held it to her body. She rocked it like an infant. The other four did nothing. A guard came forward to pull it away. She shreiked as he pried it out of her arms and plopped it back into the box. Another guard grabbed her. The judges pronounced her guilty and she was nearly dragged out of the room. Still, the other four did nothing.
Another judge stood, "What say you? How do you plead?"
They continued their stoic silence. The human was losing his composure. He kept looking at the others, particularly the green one. Hoping to get something, the judge standing approached the human.
"What did you hope to gain, sieluuy (bastard), by this plot? Did you hope we would turn on each other and let humans take over Crialas and control the portal?"
The human chuckled, looking down at the judge from his human height, "Crialas is not worthy to have human rule. Capture, yes. Enslave, definately. Rule of Crialas would be given to the weakest, most stupid, laziest human because even such would be superior to any elf."
The assembly murmured at this outrage. The judge called for silence.
"So, why plot with these other to kill babes yet to be born? How do you benefit from an action that may not come to fruition for years, decades even?"
"What? 'Decades'? I was told this would kill them in their first year, not decades," he said, looking at the others.
Another judge stood, "Elf children do not walk until they are five years old. They do not grab for things above their heads until the age of eight. It may have been nine to fifteen years before any of them attempted to grab that statue."
"No, that's not true!" he looked around the room, "I am the oldest one here. Elves live and die before they see fifty. I am fifty-five. They walk nearly as soon as they are born, talk within days, and are able to breed by the age of two. Your Crowns have only recently become old enough to take the throne and they are only sixteen."
The room erupted with laughter, even the Sisters laughed. The human was even laughed at by his compatriots. The King stood, ending the laughter.
"Sir, I am five hundred twenty-seven years old. My wife is five hundred eighteen years old. The oldest one in this room is the Palace Elder who recently turned nine hundred ninety-three years old. And, yes, we count years the same as humans. You have admitted you took part in the plot to kill my, as yet, unborn children. By the way, she will be pregnant for seventeen months, so you had almost two years before they were even born to wait for your plot to be fulfilled. Guards, remove him," the King sat and waved him out.
The human was dragged out of the room, still trying to tell a room full of elves how we grew and aged. The two halflings and the green one remained. The judge near them turned to face them.
"Who is going to tell this assembly why this act was committed? Do any of you wish to explain?"
They stayed silent. The judge faced us, unsure of how to proceed. Alice asked if she could talk. It was allowed. She strode forward with her bird on her shoulder.
"I am Alice of Thantos, decendant of the Tree Singer clan. My gift is seeing a person's history and their family line. The halflings are siblings, same parents. They entered this agreement for money only. They are assasins, she by magic and he by sword. The agreement they think they made was to, eventually, get a payment for this job from rebels to overthrow the Crowns."
The smug look on their faces shifted a bit as Alice spoke. Alice faced the green one.
"However, there are no rebels and no money would ever be paid to these two. Nor would the scarred elf or human see a copper either."
The male halfling was near the green one. A slender knife appeared in his hand and he pressed it to her. She stood still.
"Is this true? No money? No rebels? You played us?"
With unusual strength, the green one snapped the knife in two and flung the pointed end far away. Very quickly, she clamped her hand around the halfling's throat and lifted him.
"I told you what you wanted to hear, so you would do my bidding. The Triad cannot rule Crialas. The Three-Fold Throne would make all life nearly impossible. For the sake of all in Crialas, it had to be done."
The judge stopped her, "What is this? Did you foresee the future?"
Dropping the nearly unconscious halfling, she turned to us, a wild look in her eyes.
"Not I, but it was shown to me. A true power has shown me that the three children will rule with such an iron fist that even the smallest crime will be punishable by death. I got these criminals to aid me so Crialas could become a free kingdom. No one I told would believe me. Palace, please, even your lives are in danger from the Triad."
Her face was begging us to believe her. We were confused. Anna, the smallest Sister, spoke up.
"She went to a pool to the south. A place called 'The Well of Truth'. However, I get the sense that it, too, has become corrupted. If we could go there, I would know for certain."
The green woman seemed encouraged. As they were taken out by the guards, she begged us to go to the Well and see for ourselves. The Sisters asked if they could go and see Kayla. I handed this chronicle back as soon and I wrote the last word.