Posted on: Sunday, 17 May 2009
There were no further encounters as they made their way through Spellhold’s halls. The commotion of Cassie’s transformation seemed to attract no attention whatsoever, and it was not long before they puzzled out why. They made their way to the upmost level of the asylum, the main floor, and passed each room with increasing confusion.
The inmates were dead. Most lay inside their cell curiously unmolested, with neither mark nor blood upon them, almost as if asleep. The libraries and studies had been rifled through by a practiced hand, with only a few select manuscripts missing from each shelf. Labs stood still stocked with equipment, some experiments seemingly still in-progress, which Imoen, with her knowledge of arcana, was able to identify as alchemical solutions. Food lay out in several rooms, half-eaten or completely untouched; wardrobes were still stocked with clothing; storerooms still full of supplies. But there was not a single living person, not a single sign of violence.
Imoen had crept closer to her as they explored the halls, and now followed with one nervous hand grasping Cassandra’s tunic. The fighter had located a new set of clothing, a set of men’s traveling clothes, from one of the abandoned wardrobes. It was a little large on her, but not unattractively or awkwardly so, and it gave the younger girl all the more cloth to grip. Imoen’s gaze darted constantly from shadow to shadow; fear practically radiated off of her in waves.
“I don’t like this,” she whispered.
“What do you think happened?” the older sibling responded in a low voice.
“I dunno.”
“Well, I mean, all the food is still out, clothing still in the chests. Normally that would mean they left in a hurry.”
Imoen bumped into Cassandra’s back as the latter slowed to peak around a corner into the hallway beyond. She muttered an apology. “Why, though? Maybe they’re dead. They could be dead.”
“The only bodies we found were the inmates, though. No Irenicus, no Bodhi, no helpers...” Cassie pursed her lips thoughtfully. The hallway was empty. She started down it. “You know... Bodhi said ‘Irenicus will know of this’ when I, uh, changed the first time. Do you think that could be it? Was I really that frightening?”
“I think so – but of course, you were trying to kill me at the time.”
“Other than that.”
Other than that? Imoen gave her a scything look, which Cassie’s turned back utterly failed to appreciate. “Well, I can definitely see how finding out the person you left for dead ended up not only surviving, but also turning into an avatar of the God of Murder and ripping people apart like rag dolls, could be just a little bit disturbing.”
“Hrm.”
