2c: Echoing Silence

[Prologue: Some Days, Episode 1, Episode 2a, Episode 2b]

Worldweavers Guildhall and the Renara Council Chamber, Atharin City, Kingdom of Renar, 4 Alana 1507 AC

"But in the last two years, not a single traveller from those cities has been seen, and not a single traveller to those cities has returned."

Tezhla pasued again, waiting for his pronouncement to percolate. This time, just about everybody seemed to understand the import of what they were being told. A couple of the councillors -- one older one I recognised and one younger one I didn't -- seemed unimpressed, and another new-seeming younger one seemed to still be puzzled.

Even so, it seemed to take a while for the full impact to percolate around the room. The effect was, if you'll forgive the imagery, not unlike the after-effects of eating food that doesn't agree with one. You can't un-eat it -- it's going to go through your system one way or the other and all you can do is hope that your system digests enough of it to get by.

But what interested me most is that the justiciar, while clearly taking Tezhla seriously, was not surprised. She had either already heard this news, or something like it...or else something similar was already afoot here in the north.

The Noliri who had been bold enough to ask the "dumb" question now ventured another, not nearly so dumb. "Has magic been attempted, brother?"

The two youngest councillors looked openly derisive at the suggestion, while the older one who had seemed unimpressed before perked up a bit for the answer.

"It has, brother, in several forms. Simple scrying, mental bonding with an agent, animal familiars of various sorts. Scrying returns...nothing. A blank. Redirect the spell north of the line and the same mirror works perfectly. That, in fact, is how we've kept track of the progress of this...pheonomenon...now that we know it's happening. Bonded comminicators simply go silent and never return; the same with familiars. They cross an invisible line and they're good as gone.

"We sent a bonded pair right up to the estimated border, along with other observers who stood a bit further north but well within view. One member of the pair stood firmly on the safe side while the other bondmate walked south. The minute they crossed the line, the mental link was broken, and the southgoing bondmate kept walking until she was out of sight. No entreaty or mental projection could re-establish the link or convince her to turn around and return to safety. This experiment was repeated four times. The second time it was much the same as the first.

"The third time, the stationary bondmate was also lost, as the border drifted further north while he was still trying to retrieve his partner. The observers watched helplessly as he suddenly began marching south, following his bondmate.

"The fourth time, we actually attached the south-going volunteer with a rope to a stout rock, so there was only so far he could go. We hoped we might at least be able to reel him back in and maybe learn what was happening. Magic was used to alleviate the need for knots that could be easily untied -- we didn't know if the victim would think of it or not, but it seemed an obvious precaution.

"When he reached the point where he could not walk any more because the rope held him back, he turned around and gnawed through the rope, instead. We were trying to pull him back, but he dug in his heels with greater strength than we would have expected. He was looking right at us at one time, but if he actually saw us, he gave no sign. There was nothing...significant in his eyes. No abjection, no pain, no concern... I had fancied that, if we could see their eyes when they become caught, we might see some spark of their personalities fighting what was happening to them.

"There was no sign that he was even aware there was something strange about his circumstances. It wasn't a blank look, mind you. There was thought there. But no sign of struggle, and no interest in us on any level. Not even annoyance at the rope. It was a hinderance to be eliminated, and he was eliminating it with the tools available to him.

"When he was done, his mouth was a bloody mess with bits of rope embedded in his gums and lips and at least two teeth missing. If he noticed that, he gave no sign, either. Once freed, he resumed his walk."