Wander West, in Shadow

"I want you to tell us all you know," Martimeos said, eyes like a dark forest, as he sat puffing on his pipe.

The Crosscraw women still sat, bound by their hands and feet, along one of Madame Ro's tables. Martimeos, Elyse and Kells sat across from them, Kells having gone and fetched a jacket from his room so he did not have to sit by shirtless. Behind the three women, Madame Ro and her massive guard, Harald, stood with their arms folded, scowling down at the troublemakers. Vincent stood leaning lazily on his quarterstaff, a strange look of amusement on his face, blue eyes bright and surprisingly cheerful, considering what had just happened. The only light in the room came from a candle that sat in front of the Crosscraw women, and the dim moonlight streaming in through the windows.

The older Crosscraw woman, the one dressed as one of the townfolk, shifted her shoulders uncomfortably. "Aye, Ah'll tell ye. But first, how aboot ye unbind me. Ah'll nae run, ye have mah promise. 'Twould do nae good fir me anyway."

"Keep yer bletherin gob shut, Maddie!" cried one of the younger Crosscraw women, her face contorting in a snarl. Then her eyes went wide as the older Crosscraw gave her a frank look, and she blushed furiously, staring down at the table, clamping her mouth shut.

"Cute," Vincent said, examining his fingernails. He glanced up towards Martimeos, giving the wizard a knowing look. "But I can't say that I would recommend that. She was able to put Harald here to sleep with a wave of her hand."

The older Crosscraw woman, apparently named Maddie, sighed. "Ah know a bit o' th'Art, 'tis true. But so do yon witch and wizard." She nodded, her red curls bouncing, in the direction of Martimeos and Elyse. They can tell if Ah try sumtin' funneh, and ye can wallap me wit yer stick right quick if Ah do. Ye'll be wanting me tae blather long, Ah think, and Ah've no desire tae cramp as Ah spek."

Martimeos blew out a long cloud of blue smoke that wafted lazily in the candlelight. "No. We'll unbind your hands, perhaps, but not your feet - after we see how cooperative you are. First, tell us why you are in Twin Lamps."

"Och, a right cruel one, ye are," Maddie muttered, shifting uncomfortably once more, as she glared at Martimeos.

"I don't take kindly to people who try to murder me in my sleep," the wizard replied wryly. "Now speak."

Maddie glanced at her two companions, then shrugged. "We came here tae hide from the Bogge-man," she replied. "Months ago, 'twas. Shoud hae known better than tae get our hopes up."

"How?" Kells asked, narrowing his stormy grey eyes at her. "Somehow you entered town without being spotted."

Maddie just laughed in reply. "Ye lowlanders think yer walls are impassable? Ah climbed bleaker cliffsides when Ah was a wee bairn. Up and over, we went, in th'dark o' th'night."

"But wait," Elyse piped up. The witch had been considering the three women oddly for some time now, and now she shook her head, dark hair falling over her shoulder in waves. "The....Bogge-man, said he was after his kin. How can you possibly be brethren to that...thing? Are Crosscraw men so tall and fearsome?"

Maddie opened her mouth, then closed it, simply staring at the three for a while. Her bright green eyes grew dim; she seemed to withdraw in upon herself a bit. "'Tis easy tae ferget," she said quietly, "Ye lowland folk dinnae ken what takes place upon yon crags, though ye live in their shadow."

"So tell us," Martimeos prodded. "I want to know. What is the Bogge-man? And how are you its kin?"

All the Crosscraw women had grown quiet now, staring down at the table. Maddie did not lift her eyes as she spoke. "'Twas years ago," she began, "Not long after the Witch-Queen had fallen - curst be her name." She pursed her lips suddenly, and leaned over to spit on the floor.

Madame Ro regarded this with an outraged look of disgust, then gave Maddie a slap over the back of the head. "Don't do that, you savage," she snapped, dark eyes gleaming. "Neither spit, nor curse the name of the Queen under my roof."

Martimeos frowned to himself, as Maddie muttered under her breath at the innkeep. It had been, after all, Crosscraw men who had made up the greater part of the force that had burned down his village, under the Queen's orders. "I thought - no, well, I know the Crosscraw served the Witch-Queen," he said, as he brought out his pouch to pack more tobacco into his pipe before it ran out.

Maddie snorted, as some life came back to her, her face growing hard with anger. "Aye, we did - she took our menfolk away tae serve in her war. An' then Reinhast One-Eye, her damned right hand, betrayed them at th' Battle of th' Black Crossing."

Martimeos blinked. He had heard the names of a few battles, during the war against the Witch-Queen - usually named after the places they happened. The Battle of Grimwold's Barrens, The Battle of Durnholde Fields. But he had never heard of that one. "And what happened there...?" he asked.

Maddie pursed her lips, looking as if she was going to spit again, but caught herself with a cautious look at Madame Ro. "'Twas a battle by a mighty river, th' one ye lowland folk called th' Queen's river, but we called Black Waters. Th' Queen had already bin kilt by then, an' old Reinhast struggled tae retreat ahead of th' forces pursuing him." He face grew dark, snarling. "He let his lowland troops cross th' bridge over the river first, then sapped it, collapsing it behind him - leaving our menfolk trapt on th' other side. 'Twas a massacre - our men were kilt, or drowned as they jumped intae th' river and tried tae swim tae safety. Precious few made it back." She wiped a tear from her eye. "If only they hae known that they never should hae come home."

"Aye," one of the younger Crosscraw girls spoke up suddenly. She lifted her head, glaring at Maddie. "Betrayed they were, by th' lowland folk. And here ye are, talking wit them!" She whirled around to glower across the table, but she seemed to have special heat in her eyes for Kells and Elyse.

Martimeos thought he knew what battle they were talking of now. The Battle of Wygand Bridge, he had heard it called; the last battle of the Queen's war. The way he heard it told, men from both sides had been battling on the bridge when it was collapsed. It was deep within the Queen's lands; after that, with all the conquered townships freed, the Queen and most of her men dead, and the main artery further into her territory cut off, the war had been declared won. There was a dark part of Martimeos that felt a little joy at hearing that the Crosscraw had been slaughtered. He wondered if any of the men who had attacked his village had died there.

But Elyse frowned, and slapped the table. "I care nothing for your battles and your history," she snapped. "Tell us of the Bogge-man."

"Ye asked me," Maddie muttered. "Fine. 'Twas not long after th' Queen was dead, that th' Bogge-King appeared among our crags." She became quiet and subdued once more, her voice dropping to almost a whisper as she spoke, shadows dancing across her face in the flickering candlelight. "Ah dinnae ken from whence he came. No one does. Some call him a daemon. Others say he is a curse put on us by th' Queen, fer failin her. An' others still, say he himself were a man, once. Fer he makes th' helms, ye see; aye, an' forges the swords too." She lifted her eyes to stare at Martimeos, lifting her hands to tap at her head. "Th' curst skulls, ye have seen th' Bogge-man wearing. He puts them on ye, and ye....change. Not all at once. But ye become a Bogge-man...ye grow, yer skin hardens, and soon enough ye cannae speak in any tongue folk can understand. Th' longer ye wear it, th' more twisted ye become. That is how he is our kin, ye ken? That Bogge-man was once a Crosscraw. An' Ah think this one has bin wearin his helm fer quite some time."

"Wait," Kells said quietly, leaning forward across the lamplight to peer at the Crosscraw. "Do you mean to tell me that there are more of these things?"

Maddie gave a mirthless, dusky laugh as she looked back at Kells with haunted eyes. "More than one, he says. Aye, Queensman. There are many among the peaks. They hunt the Crosscraw, regardless of clan. An' between their strength an' their dark power, they hae us trapped upon th' mountains. They hae turnt the crags and cairns intae a killin' grounds."

There was silence in the room, except for the gentle creak of floorboards as Vincent leaned on his staff. Madame Ro was aghast, now looking at the three hushed Crosscraw women with sympathetic eyes; even Harald looked a bit green. The shadows in the room seemed to deepen. Martimeos thought of the terror, and the horror, just one of these Bogge-men had brought to an entire town. To be hunted by bands of them...not even the Crosscraw deserved that.

"We would hae all bin dead long ago," Maddie continued quietly, when no one spoke, "If 'twere not fir th'Art. A Bogge-man can kill many normal men, but they are afeart of th'Art. They will try tae strike down a witch or a wizard, if they think they can - but they will be more cautious around them. Still. Nae many of us left, now."

Martimeos thought about this, as the room fell silent once more. Was this why the Bogge-man had simply given Elyse and him a warning, when it had talked to them in the alley out behind the inn? Was that what it had been doing, when it had simply stood and stared at them? Had it been considering trying to kill them? He shivered.

Elyse was the first to break the silence. "Give me your hands," she told Maddie, softly. When the Crosscraw woman held them out across the table to the witch, Elyse took a dagger from her robes and cut through the sheets binding them. Maddie rubbed her wrists appreciatively, giving the witch a look of thanks. "If they had you trapped upon the mountains," Elyse continued, "How did you escape...?"

"Fortune only," Maddie murmured. "They guard th' passes, but an avalanche buried one of their bands, an' a group of us were in th' right spot tae take advantage. But th' strongest of them must have clawed his way out, an' down th' mountain he pursued us. Kilt many of us, as we split apart tae avoid him. Th' only reason that we made it, was...." Maddie was silent for a moment, then she buried her face in her hands. "Mah familiar," she choked out, holding back her tears, "Led him away, and was kilt for it. Mah poor brave Longtooth. Ah felt him die, once we were in the streets, an...oh..."

For a long moment, the room was filled with the quiet sound of Maddie weeping into her hands, bitter, wracking sobs. Vincent hesitated, then reached forward to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, bright blue eyes full of sympathy. Maddie's companions leaned in to murmur comfortingly to her. After a while, the Crosscraw witch gathered herself, and continued. "...but..he had purchased us th' time tae sneak past yer walls. We wanted tae be gaun quick, but fer a month and more Ah couldnae move fer weeping fer him. Ah wanted tae die." She raised her head, and smiled bitterly at her two younger companions. "Ah told these two tae git gaun, but they refused tae leave me. What we needed, we stole. An' by th' time Ah could bring mahself tae move, the Bogge-man had already struck terror intae th' town."

Elyse felt her heart freeze upon hearing Maddie's words. She had heard before that a witch who lost her familar suffered dire consequences; there were even tales of some simply dying from grief. She could not imagine what it would feel like to lose Cecil herself. She thought she might very well go mad, if she did. She suddenly wished Cecil were here, rather than upstairs, so that she might hug him.

Kells, though, sat back, his arms crossed, face stony and impassive. "So," he asked, "Why did you not go to the town guard? You simply...waited, watching people get killed, knowing it was you this Bogge-man sought? What you knew..." anger began to creep into his voice, he gritted his teeth. "What you knew might have helped. People might not have died."

It wasn't Maddie who answered him; it was one of her young companions, giving Kells a withering glare. "Och, aye, Queensman. Go and tell the lowlanders, so they might hand us over tae the Bogge-man tae be rid of it. "

But Maddie was shaking her head, looking ashamed. "Ah wanted tae tell, after a while," she murmured. "But Ah was outvoted. These two dinnae trust lowlanders. Ah tol' them ye are not all the same, but they didnae want tae risk it."

"But why stay here, then?" Kells pressed them. "Why not try to escape - take your chances on the roads? The Bogge-man could not watch every path..."

The Crosscraw witch gave him a long, silent look. Her eyes seemed glassy, almost as if they stared through him, staring at nothing. "Ye hae no idea," she said softly, as shadows crept across her face. "Ye dinnae ken. What it were like tae bide among the crags, with the Bogge-men. Tae wonder whether every shadow hid them. Tae walk among th' pines, always listening fer the clack of their teeth. Tae feel yer blood freeze when ye heard their Bogge-hass scream in the distance, knowin' death were nae far behind, every time. Tae wake every morn', wonderin' whether ye'd find one of yer clansmen witout a head, or nailed tae a tree, or jes' driven mad by fear." Her voice rose, and her hands began to shake as they gripped the edge of the table. Her eyes were wide, wild now, almost as if she could not stop herself. "Tae watch yer folk die, an' know that this is the end of ye - all dead, in darkness and terror. Tae feel th' world grow dim around ye. Ye cannae ken. Even wit' the Bogge-man outside th' walls, this...this felt safe, compared tae that."

Kells was stunned into silence by her intensity, opening his mouth as if to say something, and then closing it, shaking his head, as if he thought better of it. Eventually, Maddie's shaking calmed, stopped, and she stared down at the table once more. "Besides," she continued softly, "It makes fir nae difference. We hoped he would leave, an' we could make our escape. But though we nae be marked by him, he can sniff us out still. He can tell we're in th' town, if nae exactly where. We may hae made it a day or two away, but he would track us down." She lifted her eyes to stare at Kells, then shifted her gaze to Martimeos and Elyse, eyes haunted. "An' now that ye've seen us, we're doomed."

Elyse watched as Martimeos packed yet more tobacco into his pipe. The wizard was going to burn his way through his entire pouch in one night, the rate he was going. It was a habit of his, she had noticed; he would smoke more when he became anxious. She couldn't blame him here, though. "Why do you say that?" she asked. "You said before we were marked - what do you mean by that?"

Maddie thought for a long moment before answering. "The Bogge-man," she replied, "has great strength, an' hard skin, an' more besides. He can disappear or appear through doors, open or nae - mah teacher said they were movin' between th'Outside and here, when they did so. He has his Bogge-hass, which can nae be kilt 'less you hack it apart or poison it, and his blade which makes the dead walk. In th'end, though...the Bogge-man's greatest weapon is terror. Th' way he can make even the brave freeze in their steps. An' some, he can take a step further. Ah dinnae ken entirely how it works, but some folk, if he can see ye, he can mark ye. An he..." Maddie frowned, searching for the right words. She put her hands up to her head and made an odd squeezing motion. "He...takes root in yer mind, ye ken? Puts a wee seed of hisself in there, an' it grows."

Elyse's eyes widened. She thought back over her time since she had come to Twin Lamps. How the dark shadow of the rider had slowly crept further and further into her thoughts..."And...then what happens," she whispered.

"He finds a little nest o' fear, in yer memories," Maddie went on. "An' he beds down, an' spreads. After a time, ye begin tae remember him where he never were. And soon enough, ye begin tae think he were haunting ye yer entire life - that all ye ever feart were he. And eventually, all ye can think of is him, and ye go mad - ye become his slave. Ye think that the whole world bides in his shadow, and all ye can do tae avoid his wrath is serve him."

"You mean to tell me....the memories, they are not real?" Elyse's voice was cold fury. Her eyes flashed with such heat that Martimeos thought he could feel the temperature in the room rising, her mouth a thin grim line.

Maddie looked almost surprised, nervous, as she looked at the witch. "Nae, lass," she replied. "The Bogge-man put them there."

And then they all jumped back as with a howl of almost inhuman rage, Elyse slammed her dagger deep into the wood of the table. The shadows from the candle danced from the force of the blow, and as they flickered and leapt, they seemed to wrap around Elyse, until her face was hidden entirely in darkness beneath her hat, and all that could be seen were her blazing, dark blue eyes. "He dares," she snarled, with such rage in her voice that Vincent's eyebrows rose and Madame Ro took a step back, "He DARES! He dares to darken my thoughts - dares to make a home in my mind - to enter without my leave!" She raised hands hooked like talons, the shadows seeming to grow darker around her in her anger. Her voice took on a strangely lyrical quality - discordant and strange, like a fiddle played oddly. "I will make him suffer long for this, I will - he'll beg forgiveness, before I am done with him, he'll howl for mercy! Choking on blood, he'll plead! I-"

Suddenly she stopped, looking to her side. Martimeos had put a hand on her shoulder, his dark green eyes full of concern. Elyse realized she was shaking, and looking around, she saw the others regarding her oddly, with more than a little fear and nervousness on their faces. All except for Martimeos, who just looked worried, and Vincent, whose bright blue eyes simply seemed curious. Damn them, she could not help it. She had thought her memories...that either the ones with the Bogge-man in them were real, or that it was she herself that was going mad. The moment she had realized that no, it was the Bogge-man himself, that this thing was in her mind, she had felt vile, and a dark fire within her had roared into an inferno in her outrage. Even now, she thought she could feel the Bogge-man - a festering darkness, an open, rotting wound somewhere in her head. She sighed, and the shadows seem to drain from her as the candle flame steadied.

"I...I had thought the memories true," she said quietly, her voice normal once more. She removed her dagger from the table with a tug. "Or at least...my own mind's work. I...suppose now that that I know they are not, the threat is gone...? You cannot be tormented by memories you know that are false, put there by something else....can you?"

Maddie still seemed taken aback by Elyse's outburst, glancing around at her two companions before answering. "The knowin' helps. But nae, 'twill nae save ye fir good. Ye may ken the memories are nae real, an' 'twill slow things down - but ye will lose yerself eventually, regardless. An' once marked - it is nae as if the Bogge-Man can see through yer eyes - but he can sense, sniff, ye ken? He can haunt ye, an' now that ye hae seen us, the Bogge-man - he can sniff us, too." The Crosscraw witch gave an almost frantic sounding laugh. "'Tis only a matter of time 'fore he comes tae take our heads."

"How do you know we're marked, though?" Martimeos kept an eye on Elyse - the witch still muttered and snarled darkly beneath her breath, barely containing her rage - as he spoke. "Can you be certain?"

Maddie formed a triangle with the thumbs and forefingers of her hands, placing it over her left eye. "Och, aye, Ah'm certain," she murmured, her bright green eye gleaming as it peered at them through the triangle. "Ah was traint tae spot it, ye ken. An' 'tis more than that." She lowered her hands, glancing at her two companions, biting her lip. "When we first saw ye - when first Ah saw ye were marked - we...had another wit us. Fool she was, she went to track ye - an' never returned."

Martimeos thought of the woman who had followed them, one day, in the streets of Twin Lamps - and the Crosscraw head the Bogge-man had carried, the next time they had seen him. After he and Elyse had spotted their stalker, the Bogge-man must have sensed her through them. He felt a sudden pang of guilt, though he knew that was foolish. He had not known - could not have known. But he thought he felt some of Elyse's rage, now. The Bogge-man was a vile and awful thing, to be able to turn an unknowing glance into murder. The thought of it dwelling in his mind was sickening; he wondered exactly what it was it sensed, through him. He wondered if it were watching this very moment.

From the expression on Kells' face, the soldier was having similar thoughts. The soldier looked as grim as he had ever been, his eyes hidden in darkness, his face all harsh angles and shadow. "Well," Kells muttered, "that explains why you tried to kill us, I suppose. Which of you was the archer in The Middens?"

"Me," piped up the Crosscraw woman on Maddie's left. She looked to be the youngest of the three - wiry and lean, Martimeos would not have even thought her old enough to handle a blade reliably. She glared fiercely, but then her face fell, abashed. "Ah didnae want tae kill ye, Queensman," she muttered. "But ye were marked, and ye came lookin' fer us. We..." she glanced at Maddie and the other Crosscraw woman, who was giving her a withering look. "We thought ye must already be the Bogge-man's slaves. What else were we tae think? But ye dinnae seem so far gone yet. Ye kilt us either way, though. The Bogge-man could walk through the door any moment tae take our heads." She nodded towards the entrance to the inn, and the friendly, worn door with its little bell that rang whenever somebody entered suddenly seemed much more sinister.

"Is...that true?" Madame Ro said, her eyes wide, as she suddenly glanced around the shadows in her common room in panic. "Ought we to be standing here...?" She gave Harald a slap on the shoulder, scowling. "Go start a fire. 'Tis far too dark in here. And light some candles."

"I ain't one of yer maids," Harald grumbled, and Martimeos blinked in surprise. He didn't think he had heard Madame Ro's lumbering bruiser of a doorguard speak before. The man had a surprisingly gentle voice. Despite his protests, Harald stomped over to the fireplace to gather logs, striking flint to begin a blaze.

"'Tis certainly possible," Maddie answered the innkeep. "An' if he becomes desperate enough, he will. But most like, th' Bogge-man will wait, tae try tae take us in some dark and lonesome place. That is how they like t'kill. When 'tis just ye and them, alone."

She fell silent. The room was quiet, except for the sound of Harald muttering and striking his flint by the fireplace.

Madame Ro was the first to speak. She crossed her arms, the long sleeves of the silken pyjamas she wore gently brushing against the tavern floor as she did. She frowned, opening her mouth, then closing it, before finally speaking. "I...if all they say is true, I cannot help but be sorry for them. Not that I can forgive them for trying to kill my guests, mind," she added swiftly, glancing to Martimeos and Elyse.

Vincent, meanwhile, seemed deep in thought, furrowing his brow and staring off into the distance, his golden hair catching the candlelight as he leaned on his staff. "I think she speaks the truth," he said quietly, after a moment. "Though I wish she might have spoken it to someone sooner."

"Ah wish Ah had as well," Maddie said bitterly, glancing to her companions. "Fir Ah knew some time ago..." she bit her lip, looking at the folk that surrounded her. "We are at the mercy of you lowlanders," she murmured. "We could nae run before, and cannae even more now. An'...even if these fools hadnae got themselves caught by ye, Ah couldnae take the guilt much longer. Lowlanders ye may be, aye, but ye hae suffered because we hid ourselves among ye. Ah only ask....if ye are tae be rid of us, please...give us a quick death yerselves. Dinnae let the Bogge-man have us."

Silence fell upon the room once more. "What are we to do...?" Madame Ro asked, after a moment. She looked at Martimeos, dark eyes wide and gleaming. "Should I call the guard...?"

Martimeos looked across the table, at the three Crosscraw women, red hair blazing in the firelight, staring down at the wood, not meeting his eyes. He glanced to his side. Kells was stone-faced, unreadable, his arms crossed, grey eyes flat and unblinking. Elyse clenched and unclenched her hands, her face still mostly hidden in shadow beneath her hat, the fires of rage still burning in her eyes. He thought about what Taavetti had told them - how the mayor had said that they'd be trapped until the Bogge-man were gone. He thought about the dark shadow in his mind, like a fissure, a hole, that whispered false memories to him.

"Hold on that, a moment," he said quietly. "I have a plan."