The older, once beautiful wife of Clen Thoran bolted upright at the noise. Her long graying hair hung about her shoulders and her first thought was, "Oh no, the time has come..." almost with strange frightened relief as she was certain she was about to be assaulted and left for dead by the notorious raiding Wyvern Gang regardless that there was actually very little left to steal here. Yesterday, when Marel had refused to open the door, Mrs. Witherspoon slid a note under it warning her of just that very horror.
But there were no further sounds, no raiding group thundering through the house. Only the wind tunneling in through the room through a crack the split pane of the window. Marel sat back against the pillows, terrified, with the covers pulled up to her nose. She watched the curtains billow and tried to gain the sense of courage she knew she had deep inside before she'd lost most of her sensibilities. Suddenly the covers were tossed off in a move of hastiness that spoke of her sudden impulse, her bare feet hit the wooden floor boards and carried her nightgowned form across the room like a shimmering ghost. Marel could see the luminous O - O etched into the frost. Two holes for eyes to peer through! She grabbed the dust-caked temple prayer book along the way, whether for praying purposes or for some lame attempt of protection remained uncertain. One more step and then the window fell apart, glass crunching under her foot. She cried out in pain as the shards sunk into her flesh and she leaned against the wall a moment. Rather than turn away in pain, Marel continued on her quest. She tried to look out of what was left of the frosted panes. She stared right through the giant P that had been carved on there, not noticing. The O-O-K were shattered and the I-E were smudged together. But as she pulled back, Marel glanced down at the sill and saw the golden boar winking up at her in the moon's light. That was Clen's pin! She reached for the insignia desperately, delusions filling her mind. If she could just touch that shining object, she would find her way to him or he would appear to her magically. The golden object remained elusive however and slid off the window sill, falling into the snow below. She gasped and leaned forward, heedless of the broken panes that cut in against her as she stretched to reach the pin. With a muffled cry of painful sorrow, that spoke more of her loss and desperation than her superficial injuries, she inched further out of the window and soon fell into the snow below. As the blood seeped from her wounds and sprinkled the snow around her, and bits of glass lodged in her breasts and along her stomach, she clutched the insignia to her and triumphantly whispered, "I'm coming Clenny....wait for me...." She closed her eyes to rest just a moment from the exertion. And as the cold morning's light flooded the Isle's land, Mr. Witherspoon noticed, from his vantage point in his yard, what appeared to be a crumpled figure in the snow under window of the Thoran household across the way. Upon closer investigation, Arthur would find the gruesome discovery of Marel Thoran frozen to death. Clutching her husband's pin and covered in shards of glass, it would be assumed the distraught woman had leapt to her fate. But as time would pass and word of the Vekkelmaril incident got out, Mrs. Witherspoon would question if poor Marel had been pulled through the window by a winged monster with Clen's face. -- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives & Other DMI Lists: http://www.dragonmyst.f2s.com/lists.php3
