Whispers from the shadows

As they led their horses towards the stalls of the Keep, Alexis fingers found the tiny note again that Tarmen had taken from the dead assassin the night prior. They had to report this, especially if what she deduced was correct. Not so much the part on how she came to those conclusions, however.

With a rough plan for the day decided, the current inhabitants of Greyriver Steading started to prepare. Ekero, bless his heart, seemed to be rather content to explore and tend to the farm, even promising not to scare the farmhands to death with his inventions. He didn’t promise not to tinker, though, and Alexis didn’t make him, other than maybe try to not blow up the lodge. For whatever reasons the diminutive man had decided to throw himself in with the underdogs, she would not deny him such little pleasures. And who knew? He might even come up with something useful for the coming battle. Gods knew they needed any advantage they could get.

Alexis walked over to the fireplace with the intention to extinguish it while everyone was absent. She felt strangely hesitant about it, as if she’d rather have the flames keep burning and go out on their own terms, but houses tended to burn down due to such negligences, so she pushed herself to do it anyway. As soon as she could get herself to stop staring into the fire at least, gods dammit.

She shook her head in an attempt to clear it and looked to the wall, watching the shifting shadows born from the fire’s glow instead.
As she stood there looking, deep in thought, something tugged at her perception, demanding attention. She frowned, trying to focus and find out what it was.
Alexis blinked. Was there… something off with the shadows?

She looked closer and tensed up a moment later. She could see her own shadow moving about on the wall. While she was standing still. A quick glance around the room confirmed that she was by herself. This was indeed her very own shadow displaying a life of its own.

Returning her gaze to her shadowy counterpart, she could not shake the eerie feeling that it was looking back at her. Not that she needed that addition to be thoroughly creeped out. And as if it had confirmed it had her attention now, its movement became more deliberate. Slowly it raised its arm and pointed its hand.

Swallowing her apprehension, Alexis tried to follow its guidance. Her eyes landed on a tiny parchment resting on a side table. The… note Tarmen found on the brotherhood assassin? She glanced back to see her shadow incline its head as if in affirmation. Hesitantly she walked over and picked the parchment up. They had not been able to make sense of it, even with Ekero’s help who had managed to confirm it seemed to be a random jumble of words. So probably indeed coded.

Now she tried to read it again. She felt a familiar wave of short headache as she focused on the minuscule writing. Though… not quite as harsh? Maybe? Her vision didn’t blur, at least. And there was no sudden crystal clear understanding of the words before her. There was something else. Whispers, not in her ear it seemed but directly in her very conscious. Apparently the Voices had decided to break their long silence. They didn’t bother to imitate her voice this time though, which Alexis counted as a small blessing. A moment later the mercenary realized she was… being read to.

As her eyes wandered over the small parchment, the whispers provided a translation to the words she didn’t know. That was something Ekero had not been able to, given he, too, was still starting to learn Helian. And while the writing did, indeed, seem nonsensical, it hit the mercenary that there were descriptions of landmarks in there. Landmarks that seemed very familiar to her. From deep in the forest. And with the Brotherhood’s attention so far focused on damage in the city proper- well. That invited certain speculations about what kind of place was described here.

Alexis took a deep breath and looked back to her shadow. But it had forsaken its independence again. She closed her hand around the note.

“I understand. I think.”

A moment of silence.

“Thank you.”

She wasn’t sure she liked to be certain that her words were received, but as with a lot of the craziness in her life, it was what it was.
She straightened up and went to find and update her friends.

And here they were again, forever foolish enough to keep walking into the lions’ den.
Not that there were better choices aplenty.

So, order of business: Get that equipment and find someone to hand over that note. Zane, preferably, but ultimately anyone capable of making decisions, really. She would have preferred to handle this on her own, but she was not stupid enough to think she could square up against a whole division of assassins without backup, even with the help of her friends.

… she might be still stupid enough to seek them out anyway if she didn’t get said backup, however. Wasn’t like she had that much to lose left.