Setara

Setara was used to wandering the Citadel alone, listening for what little whispers and hints of deeper troubles she could find. But now, she was listening to one jade earring she had taken from Periwinkle after the apparition appeared in her lair. It was difficult to tune out all the sounds and feelings that swelled through the lair in favor of this one gossamer thread. She hoped it would be worth it.

She listened to the earring for weeks, finally caving and taking lessons from Periwinkle on how to say some things in the old tongue. And while frequently the ancient words could be spoken without trouble, every now and again the temperature would drop and a small breeze would flit through the corridors.

Setara took thorough note of the way things felt when she had stirred the spirit ever so briefly. And those moments made picking out the spirit's thread among the others in the Citadel much easier. She was able to track it, then. And if she could track it, she might be able to confront it.

She was no stranger to the tombs, though the structure to some areas had become less stable since the seals had been lifted. She took Chandra with her as she delved deeply into the corridors, chasing an echo of what was becoming more and more legible as fear and confusion and loss.

Once or twice, they caught sight of the spirit in its entirety, and Setara was shocked to see the wounds, still bleeding, that covered the spirit's form. She stared with horror-laced eyes, then disappeared into what looked like solid stone.

Chandra led the way, then. She used her talents as one of the Stonetouched to know where to place her hands to open the passageway that Setara would have passed hundreds of times before she may have seen it.

The passageway that opened was high-ceilinged, and Setara marveled at the sight of the night sky through a small crevice above. Moonlight fell on several markers and skulls, including a pile that seemed heaped together in a rush.

"You poor darling," Chandra said at one. She turned a sad look to Setara, who pocketed the earring to help Chandra sort the bones. Some were broken cleanly, as if they had been cut with something extraordinarily sharp. There was a residual sadness to some of them, and there was horror to others. Chandra sorted them into three heaps with certainty, and Setara trusted her judgement over her own here.

"What happened with these bones?" Setara asked, meaning the ones that had been cut.

"Robbers," she said, explaining the mess of bones. "Eleven knows what scared them off before they pilfered the rest of the bones, but the earring..." She trailed off, then pointed to the bones that had been cut so neatly. "They were hers."

Setara helped Chandra return the bones to the markers. The two of them prayed for the release of the spirits, and Setara sat in meditation for a long time, trying to establish a contact with the spirit from Peri's quarters.

Chandra took it upon herself to return eventually with Sangue, who stood silent watch while Setara worked.

Setara had begun to suspect the spirit would not return when it suddenly did. Setara was considering packing up and returning the earring to the grave and turning the chamber over to Sangue for his consideration. Instead, the spirit appeared between her and the tomb, and it spoke the words it had said in Peri's quarters about finding 'the other.'

Then, a shrill scream filled the corridor beyond, and Setara and Sangue hurried to investigate.

The hall was empty, aside from what looked like blood welling up from the earth like a stain spreading through fabric. Setara looked at Sangue who in turn looked to Chandra. None of them knew what to do about this, but Setara tried to take a sounding of the spirit, and she followed the sharp, panicky feelings that filled her as she led the way down the halls and into the depths of the tombs.

"Should we be going this deep?" Sangue asked after a time. "Is this not where the horror that Torch and the others fought once laired?"

And Setara realized that it was true. She was following the markers left by Sixten when he first found signs of the lich. But there was none of the oppressive weight in the air that she had heard about from the others who had gone into the tombs.

"We'll be alright," she said, and she hoped it was true.

They took glowstones from one of the caches as they wandered more deeply. Setara's runes glowed softly in the darkness, but it was never enough to safely guide their steps. The chill of deep earth persisted, and each of them was glad of the accouterments they wore as they headed deeper and deeper.

"Father, where are we going?" Chandra asked, her voice high and strange.

And Setara knew they were on the right track at the very least. She turned to Sangue. "Please," she said. "Keep an eye on her. I'll be handling whatever spirits there are. I can't handle her, too."

Sangue nodded.

"Angus outdid himself with the moon garden, don't you think?" Chandra gushed.

Setara felt the corridor lengthen, then shorten ahead of her. Her eyes were drawn to footprints in the dust, and following them with her eye she saw the second apparition.

He was at the far end of the corridor, but she could see his every feature clearly. He looked panicked, and he ran towards them with a gust of icy air. And just before he reached them, his face contorted in a silent scream and he faded away.

"I didn't see anything. I swear," Chandra whispered, her voice sounding like it would break from fear. But a glance at the old tundra showed her face astoundingly placid.

Sangue looked uncomfortable, and Setara lay a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get it sorted out," she said softly.

He only nodded, but he didn't look convinced.

It was a bit more walking before Setara saw the footprints turn into an alcove that again took her by surprise. And when they entered, the room surged with a darkness and malevolence she had not anticipated.

Sangue cursed beside her, and it was then that she saw the room as he did. A ring of plinths filled the room, each stained with ancient ichor and lain with withered bodies, each cut in the same way the remains above had been cut. At its center, a series of ancient runes had been cut, binding the souls in black magics. Chandra wept, and Setara turned to Sangue.

"Do what you can," she said, then approached the runes in the floor. In the years that she worked with the Hunters of Oakrest, Setara had learned to essentially read necromantic sigils, and this one was no different. She saw the anchors, the payments, and the goal - immortality, what less? And with hands filled with water magic, she eroded the carved runes for the anchors and the payments. She wondered if the room was of use to the lich that Torch and the others had stopped weeks ago.

If it was, then so much for immortality. If it wasn't... She tried not to think about it. She tried to keep her wits about her.

She worked for a long time, tearing the seals apart, and as she did the deep evils in the room started to abate. She felt weight lifted out of the room, and when she was finished, Chandra looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time.

"We'll have to clean it," she said. "How disgraceful, leaving blood around for years like this."

Setara smiled a little, and a return to the hall showed no footprints beyond their own, no residual hauntings of a pearlcatcher's death.

They investigated a while longer, but Setara could no longer find the strong emotions that had led her down here in the first place. After a time, the three returned to the Citadel. Chandra returned to her usual studies and duties, and Sangue had other Hunters accompany him to the tombs to ensure the dead were properly interred.

But Setara still could not settle the earring. She still had not found 'the other', not as far as she could tell. And when she spoke the words that Periwinkle had taught her, she still felt the cool breeze and smelled old blood.

Torch caught her staring at it once, twisting the little bauble by candlelight as he repaired his coat. "What's that?" he asked.

Setara held it out to him, and he looked for an instant as if he would be ill. "Peri had it," she said. "Remember how she caused such a fuss the other month?" She told him of all the things they found in the tombs while searching 'the other,' and she told him how she still felt unsettled that she hadn't finished the job.

He was quiet for a long time, watching the gem as if it would bite them.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He drew a deep breath. "I've seen that before," he said.

It was the middle of the night, but Torch led Setara out to the canyon floor and into the tunnel dug by the Bleachbone Horde. As he led, Setara kept close to him. She could feel the oppressive energy seeped into the stones, the horror and the greed.

"This is where we lost Hodges," Torch said. "And where we fought the Withered King."

"Twice," Setara said, staring around at the scrolls turning to dust in a corner, the spare but destroyed furnishings, and the blood stains on the floors.

Torch wandered around for a short time, then called her over, poking something with his foot. Setara hurried over, and there was the shattered remains of a green gem set with a golden end cap.

"The phylactery," Setara breathed.

Torch nodded.

Setara picked up a large chunk of the stone and held it up to see runes similar to the earring's stone carved across it. "This is it," she said softly. "Thank you."

She returned the pieces of the shattered phylactery to Periwinkle the next morning, explaining the story as she understood it. She told a tale of those deceived into their own deaths, of souls trapped within the 'other', the mate to the earring.

"So much," she said, "is lost to history. One day, maybe we'll know the truth of it. For now, I am glad to have seen so much put to rest."

Periwinkle considered the gems swaddled in a box on the table between them. "Perhaps," she said, "someone else should keep them." She slid the box back to Setara, and she could tell the coatl was discomfited.

Setara reached out to touch Peri's claws. "You didn't know," she said. "You couldn't have known."

Peri looked at her long and hard, then nodded. "No," she said. "You're right. But I have worn that stone in pride while its mate held others captive for centuries. It is not an easy **** to swallow." She rose from the table. "I've got another, much more recent stone in mind for my concert. Please, see that these are respectfully handled."