1Rya, stumbling despite her will to walk with her head held high, nearly collapsed for the third time in mere minutes. Her body was in dire need of rest. She knew that with every step she took the muscles of her insignificant form strained with the exertion. Rya could feel the sharp pulling on her bones at the tightening of those very muscles, those weak muscles, she drove to insane physical limits. Said limits had been exceeded long ago, yet Rya refused to cease her trek, knowing that in doing so she risked everything.
Rya had only recently begun to delve into her being and discover the many secrets within herself, secrets that had been "granted" to her the day the Erkai inside of her died. Remembering that day was painful, but remembering her shame from the night nearly equaled it. She chose to push it from her mind, close the doors of her barred soul to lock it all away.
"Yessss," a voice whispered mysteriously, the sound seeming to reverberate off chasms of rock that were nowhere to be found, "avoid your mistake. Leave the wound to fester beneath the scar. Yessss."
Rya looked about her, faintly wary, but she could neither sense nor see another presence. This was impossible, a mere trick of the mind.
The voice, very feminine in nature, resounded again. This time, its eerie sound was closer, more direct. "Lock it away," it said quickly, a hushed hiss subdued within the folds of sound. Slower now, it said again, "Come to me. Come to me and let all your cares evaporate. Let my warmth fill you to the brim of your soul."
To no avail Rya tried to shake the heaviness that seemed to wrap around her. Her head fell back, her body limp, suspended in the air by some unnatural force. An unknown predator paced behind the nearby boulders dotting the barren mountain landscape as the scene played out in eerie mystery.
Plan for the rest of this chapter: ~A/N~ It's going to be a long chapter; there is a lot of background information going into it and a long chapter is much better than a cut off that makes no sense. Sorry if it is any inconvenience to any of my beloved readers. Here goes. Rya was just succumbing to and eventually becomes trapped in a Nolcum's trance A Nolcum comes and is going to attack (trance is how they trap their prey) Saiorse shoots it with an arrow from her long bow right before it attacks The arrow does not kill it, but it is mortally wounded. Saiorse goes to it and slit its throat, killing it The moment the Nolcum dies the trance is lifted and Rya is free, but poisoned from the spell Saiorse will lead her through the Pass of Candor to the Fortress of the Mountains where she may recuperate and receive the interrogation given to all those who travel through the Pass of Candor. On the way Saiorse (as well as the reader in the process) discovers Rya's history, but will only tell Rya that she knows the village of Taibar'r' well, having frequented it often in her earlier years, and is a scout at the Fortress of the Mountains, as well as the fact that she is not human and has seen many many moons.
~Pronunciation Key: Saiorse (SAIR-shuh. sair as in hair with an "s" in place of an "h")