THE MYSTERY DEEPENS

More to come to terms with today. Just as I was beginning to appreciate my gifts, I find out that i'm already in hell.

We'll start where I left you off in my last entry. I was thinking on what I had seen, and what I had felt and speaking to Pepper. I should probably explain at this point that Pepper is my hunting falcon. I don't know when I got her, just that she has been around since the time I awoke six months ago, and she seems to listen to me. This time though, I wasn't just speaking to her, she was replying. Replying, just not in any language. I could understand what she was saying fine and replying in a whistling language of my own. Turns out that Pepper's mind is on a completely different level from my own though, concentrated entirely on the hunt and on prey.

It wasn't long before I heard another pair of voices in conversation. Of course, Tal had a hawk of her own. Wait, did this mean we could all speak to the birds? Since nobody else was joining in conversation, I guessed not. Convenient, a private way for the two hunters of the group to communicate and organise things. I had a feeling this would come in useful in future.

It was then that Tal started speaking English again, reminding the others that we had a village to save. Good girl. The pair of us, without even needing to confer on the subject - not even via bird - set Pepper and her Hawk Cal into the air. Pepper circled above us and Cal went ahead. One thing that I had picked up in our conversation was that Pepper didn't seem to like Tal speaking to me. Could my pet Falcon have some sort of crush on me? Awkward.

Wuyi, as usual ran through ahead, but I moved after her quickly, just to discover the trees here had shifted as if to hide the exit of the forest from us. Didn't matter, I could see tracks we had made earlier, smell the direction of the wheat fields. No need to worry, the way out to me was obvious. It was then that Tal came close behind me and pointed the same was I said to go. "I trust her instincts" I agreed. No need to take the glory away from her, she has enough trust issues as it is.

We came to the same skeleton from earlier, and knew we had found our way out. The skull tried to speak to us, but as Pepper had reported that the village was under sttack and a group of riders were moving off on horses with the others. Nobody else could reach the riders, but I had my rifle and could hit them from the vantage point at the top of the hill. Once again, my eyes locked with Tal's and she nodded. The other five ran down to the village, and from what I heard, it was a massacre of the riders which had been left.

As they did that, the two birds flew ahead, and harried the escaping riders horses, actually managing to kill one and crushing the rider underneath it. The villager on the back managed to land safely.I managed to get two shots in before the riders got too far away, knocking the riders off of horses as well, and ensuring the safety of two more villagers. Cal let out a terrific cry, warning us that the villagers had been stopped at the edge of the Misty River andwere waiting for some vessel. I ran, not paying attention to anything else, when suddenly I found myself on Tals back. I stabilised myself, and hardly had time to pull out my HK before we came to the riverbank. The girl was fast.

Elder Joshua had been loaded up, and the boat moved away, whilst the others were held as hostages. I didn't give enough of a damn to listen to their threats and just let out a burst of HK fire, killing two more of the riders. The villagers they were holding onto just kinda stood there in shock at how close to death they had come. At the same time, Tal had managed to loft a spear through the air, and right through the middle of the chest of whatever it was issuing threats and commanding the zombie riders. It fell into the drink. Game over for him. I'll remember not to piss her off in future.

To our side, Wuyi came bouncing along with Rhiannon in her arms. Didn't even say "Hi" as she leapt through the air, flying god knows how far and reaching the ferry, which had made it's way into the mists. Girl could jump, but I didn't get to see what was going on up there, until the two of them found themselves in the water. The rest of the group finally started turning up on horseback themselves, and I realised how awkward it must look to Rupper, me sitting on Tals shoulders still. I decided to slip off and stand next to the other man.

Kelly took the descision to swim in the Misty River to save the others, but they seemed fine. After beating off the creature which had previously been on the boat (and was somehow still alive) those two got to shore. It took Rupper with a hastily assembled Lasso to pull Kelly in, who after swallowing some of the drink, had forgotten her own name all over again. I gave her a slap for being stupid, and in the hopes it would knock her brains back in place, but all it did was cause her to act even more airheaded.

I saw a bunch of stuff on the ground, and went for the little bell that was waiting there, but Kelly got to it first because I had suddenly found myself surrounded by crowds of villagers, all wanting to get close to their 'Hero'. What the hell? Why pick me? Rupper looked a bit annoyed at the fact himself. The girl started ringing the bell as soon as she got it, but I managed to get a hand around her wrist through the crowds and stop her. I didn't want that damned boat coming back for us as well.

Tal had brought up the possibility that we were in Hades, an idea which didn't exactly thrill me. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to talk it through much, since the Ferryman had returned for Kelly after she rang the bell.