The Elven Tower - Part Three

Disclaimer
The following is a excerpt from a manuscript recovered from the ruins of Ihram of the Pillars. Research shows it was written by a third century scholar named Furud al-Wahhab al-Bayati and recounts the legend of the Light Bringers during the chaos after the fall of the Immortals.

Journey Into the West

Chapter IX– The Elven Tower (Continued)

After the last of the beastmen were dead, the remaining Lightbringers brought order to the chaos in the tower. Never have I been so busy. My Khanum put me in charge of the kitchens and feeding all of the slaves who had been set free. The Wolf and his men-at-arms with the help of Arnie worked to get the freed slaves organzied and working on the defenses of the tower. My Master, the Blade Dancer and the Mamlūk were both bed ridden with serious injuries. The Hashishi I saw sulking around the camp, looking suspiciously at everyone. Occasionally he would come to the kitchen late at night looking for a hot meal and I would see fresh blood on his garments. Evitable someone would missing the next morning,

I asked the Wolf what was the column of light we saw upon the top of the tower and where did the Khanum get her armor and spear from. He told me that the Khanum had opened the door to the House of the Rising Sun and was whisked away by a djinn known.* When she returned from where ever she went, she was armed and armored as such.. He would say no more, the other membrers never openly discussed what happened other than they were ambushed by the villains known as Leonius and Gemini, confederates of The Demon. I remeber this Leonius from thenattack on the Hastinov Estate a couple of months ago.

*Dept. of Arcane Archeology: During the course of translating this text, there was vigorous debate as to what this House of the Rising Sun was. Some argue it is a gateway to the mythical realm of the Djinn. Others however argue that it is a reference to the Gates of Don and the Djinn was actually a being from the elven pantheon of gods known as the Piper.

The injured members of the Lightbringers were slowly recovering; all of them had been grevely injured in some way. The right side of the Bladedancer had been laid open taking her eye. The Mamlūk has lost his left ear and a portion of his jaw. My master leg had been shattered and he could barely move. The Bladedancer would have normally used her divine gifts to speed along their healing but her injuries prevented this. There were no priests or priestesses of sufficient rank or skill among the freed slaves. 

The Khanum ordered horses and a wagon made ready, she planned on taking them to the elven shrine in the hopes that its ancient magic would heal them. She left the Wolf and the Hashishi in charge of the Tower, both of whom protested this greatly. She however was adamant and they conceded to her wishes.  I, most faithful servant and retainer, was allowed to go; maybe I would finally see the Unicorn.

The journey to the shrine took three days as the terrain was rough and hilly. We had an escort of ten heavily armed men-at –arms, most of them were elves except for Arnie and one of the humans from the valley, a Thracian woman named Letta.  During our journey to the shrine I had an opportunity to observe the Khanum. She had changed since she entered the tower. There was now a strong air of otherness about her; in the same manner as a swanling sheds it down and becomes a swan, she was shedding her humanity.

In the company of so many elves, I could see how much more like them she had become. There were times when she was very quiet and would stare off into the distance. Once I was bold enough to ask her what she was looking at. She would smiley sadly and only say “That what was and is now gone". To this day, I am not sure what that was suppose to mean, but it sounded very elvish to my humble ears.

We finally made it to the shrine and we made camp. When the sun had set and the stars awoke, the Khanum left us to walk deep into the shrine.  She returned shortly after, had us bring the wounded and followed her. She guided us to what looked like a large natural pool which glowed with a blue light. Out of the center of the pool grew a large white tree which was in bloom. Its flowers had white petals with a deep blue throats and gave off a wonderful smell. She bade us undress the wounded and place them in the pool. Once we were done, she told us to leave, and that she would call us when they were ready. Three days passed as we waited to see if the ancient elven magicks would heal her comrades.

When we returned to the pool, we were surprised..........................