Category: The Winter Witch

Briana aproached the exhausted warrior, preparing to deliver a fatal blow that would end his life and his usefullness to her. Mericc struggled to rise but Brianna smiled wickedly, spoke a few words and the now familiar pain pierced him at the back of the neck, sending him reeling. The Ice Witch walked confidently, slowly, relishing every moment of this, her final triumph. Soon this foolish man would be dead and Brianna could begin the long, exhilarating wait until the child was born and the sorceress’s true plans could begin to unfold. She watched Mericc attempt to rise again and she laughed, a cold merciless laugh that echoed throughout the cavern, and she mocked him in her cruelty and malice.

Mericc struggled against the pain, knew that he had to fight it, knew that he had to resist. He would not fall like this, helpless and alone, without even a sword in his hand or companions by his side. Anger began to well up inside him, anger at the prospect of dying like an animal at slaughter, powerless and impotent. And then suddenly, as if answering his pleas, something rose from inside the warriors heart.

From the center of his chest a hidden reserve, impenetrable and formidable, started to grow from a place stronger than steel. It came to him when he was in greatest danger and it would serve him well in years to come when the paths he walked would become perilous and dark. A look of intense determination crossed Mericc’s face as he ignored the agonizing pain at the back of his neck. He put his hands on the ground, lifted his head, and rose unarmed to face the Ice Witch.

Briana’s face, went from a look of triumph to a look of utter shock as the warrior stood up to face her and beyond all reasoning began to approach. Her lips curled in a sneer and she muttered a few words but this time nothing, the pain that she knew must be wracking the powerful soldier before her had no effect. She backed up, the dagger that moments ago she wielded with such malicious glee, hung limply by her side as Mericc approached threateningly. The warrior was unarmed but radiated such an imposing presence that his lack of armor or weapon didn’t seem to matter. Briana continued to back away, looking for something to return the advantage to her favor, but all of her twisted machinations and dark artifices seemed worthless now against a threat so grim and immediate. She looked past the warrior towards the entrance to her abode and saw something that returned her confidence and advantage. Mericc noticed the change in the sorceresses’s contenance and turned around to face an old adversary.

The ice grim blew into the cavern, finally returned to it’s mistress’s home after an unsuccessful hunt for living beings. Briana shouted a word of command and the grim, noticing the the faint amounts of heat still emanating from the strong warrior standing opposite the sorceress, attacked with a furious hunger and desire. Mericc did his best to fight off the grim and it’s ever-changing form, but unarmed and exhausted as he was, the warrior’s chances were slim.

Now it was Mericc backing away deeper into the witches’ cave and Briana and the grim who were advancing. The warrior looked around for something to help ward off the grim and from the corner of his eye, under some ragged blankets, he saw the hilt of a sword. Summoning up what strength he could, Mericc ran towards the niche, and recovered his blade. He was still unarmored but at least now he could die as a warrior should. The grim attacked and Mericc fought back with all of his skill and experience.

The fight went back and forth evenly for a while, the grims multitude of shifting forms and shapes matched by Mericc’s instinctive battle prowess. But eventually the trials of the past few days and the strain of the last few minutes began to take their toll on Mericc. He was losing ground and the grim’s attacks were starting to find their mark more and more through his ill-equiped defences. Briana cackled and instructed her servant to finish the job. The grim sensed it’s victory and it took on the form of a ravenous wolf, cold and unforgiving. Before it could deliver the fatal blow though, it’s color went from a bright white to a flaming red, it’s growl became a piercing scream and it vaporized in a maelstrom of bitter cold and sudden flame.

Mericc looked to the ground where the remains of his opponent lay and saw an elvish arrow, covered in the tell-tale marks of fire-oil. He looked up and saw his companion at the cave entrance, standing with his bow nocked with another of his deadly fire arrows, a grin splitting his face from ear to ear.

Aqualondo had tracked the grim through storm and crevice, using all of his skills as a woodsman and his peculiar gifts as one of the Eldar to stay out of the creature’s sight. He had figured on a fight and so had splashed a few of his arrows with a special fire-oil, a fitting weapon against a creature of ice and cold. Following the grim into the cave he saw the last minutes of the fight between the grim and his friend Mericc and decided that he wasn’t about to let the warrior have all the fun. And now they both turned and faced Briana Frost, the Ice Witch, standing alone without any more servants or evil devices to save her. Mericc approached the witch, backed by Aqualondo whose bow was aimed at the still dangerous sorceress.

Briana knew that she was out of options, all options but one. She moved quickly towards the rearmost recesses of her home, followed quickly by her pursuers, deflecting a flame arrow by quickly summoning a gust of biting wind to blow it off it’s path. She ran towards something that resembled a crystalline globe atop a rocky dais. It swirled and moved like a frost grim, and within it’s facets many different faces and forms appeared and then quickly disapeared only to be replaced by something else.

Before either Mericc or Aqualondo could stop her, Briana took the globe from it’s pedestal, lifted it up and smashed it at her feet. Her form became less solid and stable, and in a flash Briana Frost had transformed herself into a spirit of wind and snow, not unlike the grims whom she had as servants. She blew past the two adventurers, laughing as she made her way towards the entrance and into the mountains beyond. She knew this emergency form was temporary, her plans not fully realized, but soon she would find some new hiding place, and she could still feel, as she raced and blew across the peaks of the Misty Mountains, the heat of the child that would soon be hers.

Mericc stood, half propped on the elf’s shoulders due to his extreme fatigue and watched his adversary as she disapeared into general chaos of the storm. Later on they managed to find the warrior’s lost armor and equipment and packed a few of the more interesting and movable devices in Briana’s cave into their packs. A dread hung over Mericc that his companions jest’ and assurances couldn’t assuage. This was not over and the full damage that might be done couldn’t even be imagined by the deliberate and single minded guardian.

He rubbed his fingers over the back of his neck, feeling the scar that had been placed there by Briana. He took a drink out of a flask in his pack that was quickly taken up by Aqualondo along with a vow from the elf that he and his drink would never be parted again. Mericc was too tired to berate the elf, it would do no good. He looked out into a storm that never seemed to end and Mericc wondered if it would only get worse. The only thing that he did know was that when it blew it’s hardest, Mericc Angadraug would be there, fighting it to the bitter end.

 

Epilogue – 9 months later
———-

Dawn broke over the vale of Rivendell, Master Elrond looked up from his writing and watched with a smile the flowers change from their dull night-time browns to vivid reds and golds and blues. A knock on his door woke him from his thoughts and one of his servants approached the lore-master deferentially.

“You have a visitor that wishes to see you Master Elrond” The servant spoke. “He brings….very strange tidings. I tried to convince him to wait, I know that you are busy with your histories, but he is very insistent.”

Elrond surpressed a tinge of annoyance, he hated to be interupted during his work but ‘very strange tiding’ interested him.

“Do not worry yourself too much about it, in fact I was just finishing up. Let them come in and I’ll see about these strange tidings.”

Into his room walked a strange sight indeed. A man walked into Elrond’s personal chamber, clad in intricate armour, a sword sheathed at his side. He knew the man to be a capable warrior from Dale, and he had helped him months previously with some dreams that were troubling him and nursed him back to health after a terrible ordeal in the Misty Mountains. But it wasn’t what he was equiped with that was strange, it was what was in his hands. In one hand the warrior held a frozen blue tinted hand and cradled in the other was a small child, covered warmly in soft blankets.

The warrior spoke “It is done. After a long search I have found the Ice Witch of the Mountains and this is all that now remains of her evil”. He threw the hand on the floor at Elrond’s feet. The next words came slow and difficult, “Well that and…this” Mericc said as he brought the child closer to Elrond to see.

Elrond stared at the child with wonder. How it had survived such a trip was a miracle but then a thought and a fear came to him, maybe not so miraculous at all. He struggled with whether to voice his concern but decided against it. The master of Rivendell spoke, “You have done us a great service Mericc of Dale. Briana Frost has been a thorn in our side for some time, making passage over the mountains even more perilous than it already was. I thank you”. Elrond looked to the child wrapped snugly in Mericc’s arms. “I take it the child is yours?” A formality, Elrond already knew the answer.

Mericc nodded, his brow creased with worry. “She is, though…”, The guardian seemed to waver for a moment “I was hoping that I could entrust her to your care.”

Elrond’s eyebrows raised “The child is your responsibility, Rivendell is not a repository for unwanted offspring.”

Mericc seemed to stifle an angry retort but calmed himself and looked out the window. “It is not that I do not want the responsibility of the child, I do not fly from my obligations. But I have traveled perilous paths and will do so many times yet and have made some dangerous enemies. For them to know that Mericc Angadraug had a child would put both me in danger and more importantly her. I cannot have that. I will give whatever I need to make sure that she is taken care of and check in when I can.”

Elrond considered the offer carefully then made his decision. “I cannot do this at this time, I have many pressing matters”. He saw the warrior’s chest sink, “But, I do know someone in the town of Bree to whom I can send messages too. I will send them right away.” Elrond continued “But know this, neither you nor the girl will be able to avoid who you are. She is the daughter of a great warrior and I see a strength in her that mirrors that of her father’s. Her fate and yours may be forstalled, but not avoided.”

Mericc nodded, taking in what he had been told. “Does the child have a name yet?” Elrond asked.

“Aniwen” Mericc said “If any name is too be given.”

“Aniwen it is then” Elrond replied. “Safe journeys Mericc of Dale”, Elrond said with a slight bow.

Mericc bowed to the learned loremaster, gathered up little Aniwen and prepared to leave for the town of Bree. She reached out and grabbed one of his fingers and Mericc felt a surge of conflicting emotions well up inside him.  He hoped that the person Elrond had mentioned would take good care of her and part of him wished that his obligations didn’t take him so far away. But he convinced himself that this was best, the life of a guardian is not an easy one and often-times brutally short. Aniwen would be better off with a quieter life, if such was still to be found in the world. He looked down at the girl and smiled, this is the kind of thing he had fought his whole life to protect, and every bruise and cut he experienced would be well worth it if she could have a better life because of it. The sun was shining outside, the wind, light and playful, the darkness pushed back for just a little while.

The End.

 

A few hundred yards away, an ice grim whirled and twisted its way through the snow and rocks and crevasses of the mountainside, making its way towards its master’s cave. The grim was famished, its hunt across the wastes of the mountains had not proven successful but maybe its Mistress would help. Perhaps she would let it dine a little on the morsel that the grim had discovered for her and sate its neverending hunger for warmth and heat.

Unbeknownst to the grim, it was being followed from behind and observed by someone, someone who was very curious about the grim and of the cavern that it now wound its way towards. The hunter stayed as far away and out of sight as he could while remaining close enough to not lose the grim in the storm. It was a difficult thing to accomplish since the grim was almost indistinguishable from the whirling maelstrom surrounding it. Aqualondo didn’t know what he would do once he confronted the grim, but then plans and repercussions were never his strong suit and this was the only lead he had as to what might have happened to his friend.

Meanwhile, inside the cavern above, Briana continued her own explorations. She swam through waters of memory, dug tunnels into walls of instinct and discipline, and finally drifted silently through clouds of dream and longing. And there, amongst pools of desire and reget she found it, something she had never seen before nestled in spaces deep down and remote. Not a memory or a dream, but like a vision of places and people from a previous existance that had past long ago into nothing more than faint ripples in time. And something else, something that excited the sorceress like nothing she had found yet. A smile crossed Briana’s lips and she laid her hand upon the man’s head, spoke in a tongue course and yet powerful, and entered.

Mericc stares across a strange sea and an unfamiliar land. The platform that he stands upon juts out into the water, planks creak and groan as he shifts his weight and looks around, trying to find something familiar to tell him where he is, but nothing makes any sense. He is obviously standing on a dock in a harbor, but what is this city, and what is this sea. His eyes rise to the horizon and a look of shock crosses his face. No familiar constellations greet him, the stars paint a different picture, tell different tales in the sky. But that is not what shakes him.

Where the moon should be, perfect, circular and unchanging, there lay nothing but an unholy mess. It is as if some god took a hammer in his anger and smote the moon across its side, rending it into pieces. A sound behind him shakes him from the sight and he turns to see where it originates.

A woman in dark blue robes walks down a dusty unkempt street. Long black hair half covers tanned skin and an alluring smile. She carries a staff with a mystic rune across the top and walks towards the Guardian with an easy familiar gait. Mericc feels a sense of knowing recognition, but does not know why. It is as if he is meeting someone from another life, someone he knew very well…maybe even loved. But then she turns and disappears down an alleyway and he is left with that feeling of overwhelming uncertainty. 

It is cold here, uncommonly cold, a sharp wind picks up and Mericc covers his arms. A sharp pain at the back of his neck flares up and he falls to the ground in pain. His hand quickly goes to the origin of the pain, runs his fingers over what feels like a scar in the shape of a strange rune, carved right into the flesh. He tries to get up, but he suddenly finds that he cannot. A wave of unbearable weariness courses through every bone and sinew in his body, weariness like he has never felt before in his life, and then she is there.

Arms fold in around him and Mericc is lifted up into the gaze of the woman he saw earlier. A feeling of deep familiarity washes over him as he stares into a face both beautiful and strong. With one arm around his shoulders and the other by his side she helps him to his feet and begins to take him up one of the dusty streets towards a low roofed house that also strikes a chord with the weary warrior.

Mericc looks at the woman as they walk, trying to understand why she seems so familiar to him and why feelings of longing and affection rise up within his heart with each troubled step. She opens the door and they enter, and Mericc is flooded with a sense of belonging and comfort as he observes rooms and objects both unknown and yet familiar. A painting on the wall draws his attention and he see’s himself and the woman, arm in arm, two people in perfect harmony with each other. The woman leads him over to a bed and lays him down upon it, tells him to rest himself while she finds some things to tend to him.
     
She returns a moment later, her movements that of someone confident and sure in their strengths and abilities but demurr and graceful as well. She sits down besides him and begins to wipe his head with a damp cloth, following it up with a warm salve that eases the cold and weariness that permeates Mericc’s whole being. He asks her who she is and she smiles, telling him that he knows exactly who she is and that the feelings of forgetfullness would fade with time.

Mericc looks around as she tends to him and once again that feeling of place and belonging comes, even stronger than before. This is where he belongs, this is where his heart lies. She begins to speak again, telling him of their adventures, their struggles and triumphs but always together. Something nags at the back of Mericc’s mind but it is so faint now in her presence that it goes unnoticed by him as she tells him of their eventual binding as husband and wife. And now he was back with her and everything would be wonderful again.

Mericc finds himself putting her hand in his and she lays down with him, placing her head upon his chest. He doesn’t fully understand why he does it but knows that it feels right and soon they are in a loving embrace and all of the pain and numbness and weariness is washed away as they fall into each other. Everything feels right when suddenly a pain such as Mericc has never felt pierces him. It is so intense he screams out, his face wracked and contorted with such agony as if someone had plunged a sharpened icicle into his belly and twisted it until every muscle and nerve was frozen solid. The dream is gone, the vision shattered and….*

The Ice Witch stood above the warrior, a look of triumph and horrid ecstasy etched across her face. She had finally broken him, had finally found the key, and now her evil designs were almost complete. There was one thing left to do and Briana smiled wickedly, her fingers wrapped around the hilt of the curved dagger as Mericc raised himself for what Briana knew would be the last time. The warrior looked up with great effort, struggled to focus his overworked senses and tired bones. What he saw was not a beautiful maiden, strong female warrior or loving wife. What he saw was Briana Frost, the Ice Witch, gaunt sorceress of the mountains in all her terrible glory, saw the dagger in her hand and knew that it was meant for him.

Far away, Mericc stared outside the cave at the same landscape his elvish friend was looking at with a dwindling sense of hope. The Guardian could see no way of leaving the cave without risking not only his life, but now the life of a young woman whom he felt obligated to protect. He felt far too weak to make such a journey even by himself and somehow getting her through it as well seemed impossible no matter how he tried to figure it.

She stood at his side and a little behind now, every once in a while her beautiful blue eyes giving Mericc a look of both admiration and worry that unsettled the warrior with how they made him feel. But her eyes were not the worst or best part, that was reserved for whenever her hand would stray to his shoulder, or her body would gently brush up against his side. At those times Mericc would feel this rush of heat and warmth that would temporarily banish the terrible feelings of cold and weakness that would return as soon as she stopped touching him, breaking down his discipline and making it difficult for him to think straight. He tried to maintain his composure. Courage and clear thought were what mattered now even though he couldn’t help himself from time to time, wishing for her to touch him again and relieve him from the unnatural weariness that drained his very spirit of it’s potency.

Briana noticed the warrior’s flagging resolve, knew that the essence and lifeforce she was giving back to him was doing its’ damage and decided that now was the time to make her move. Feigning exhaustion, the sorceress’s legs went slack and she fell towards the icy cold ground. The warrior, noticing the movement from the corner of his eye, caught Briana in his arms, stopping her fall. The now familiar warming flooded Mericc’s body and as he picked her back up she threw her arms around his neck and began to sob.

Mericc did his best to keep his head straight as she poured out her feelings of loneliness and despair, the endless nights in this unforgiving land, the realization that she was probably going to perish there and the sudden hope she felt now that he had arrived to save her. He did his best to console her, told her that he would find a way to get them both out although internally he was at a loss for how. She gave him a radiant smile and thanked him and then before Mericc knew it, she pressed herself closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck tighter, bringing her beautiful face close to his.

Mericc checked her as best he could, fighting the urge to keep her close, to feel the warmth emanating from her that kept back the cold. He had to maintain discipline, something was not right about this, and he had to figure it out before doing something rash. But still she came on, whispering in his ear to relieve the loneliness she had been feeling, to lie down and banish the freezing cold with their bodies. A sense of growing unease grew within the warrior’s breast as she tugged at the undershirt that he wore under his armour and then it struck him, something that had bothered him earlier but been pushed to the side by the appearance of the girl and their predicament. All other feelings were quickly put aside and his soldier’s discipline and good sense took hold in a flash.

Where were his armor and weapon? Internally he cursed himself for his foolishness. He had noticed it when he had awoken but the pain in the back of his neck made it impossible for him to look around to see where they had gone. He pulled a surprised Briana away from him and questioned her about his missing equipment. How could he be so careless and stupid? How could he have let a girl, no matter lovely, make him forget years of training and experience?

Briana was taken aback and a bit flustered that her attempt to seduce the warrior had failed and made up something about his armor being lost in the storm, but Mericc was unconvinced. Forgeting the girl, forgeting the wave of unnatural weariness of spirit and cold that he began to feel now that he was no longer in contant with the maiden, he began to search the cave more closely.

He found it very unlikely that the spirits that attacked him could or would pull him out of his armor after defeating him and wondered why Briana would make up such an obvious lie. The armor had to be here somewhere, perhaps he would take a closer look at the strange runes towards the back of the cave, past the stone altar. But before he could make it very far, he felt Briana’s hand on top of his shoulder and then a cold so shockingly bitter that it drove all thought and memory out of his mind.

Briana stood over the fallen warrior, an evil smirk crossing a face that no longer seemed quite so helpless or radiant. The momentary anger she had felt when her first attempt to seduce the man subsided and she prepared to continue on with her designs to completely break the man’s spirit. The more she thought about it, the more she was glad that her first attempt had failed, it showed just how strong her captive was and hinted at how strong a child born of him might be. This did mean that she would have to drain him a little more, but she felt confident that he would be able to survive. The trick was to keep just enough of his essense inside to keep him alive without killing him or robbing him of all memory and spirit.

Rolling up her arms to prepare a fresh set of incantations, Briana decided to risk probing around the warriors mind to see if she could find something to exploit to her advantage. It was dangerous digging around someone’s mind, the risk of damaging it beyond repair was great and if you were not careful, you might leave the victim a useless vegetable even if you manage to find something. And Briana had to keep the warrior alive.

What followed the next day was a seemingly endless series of nightmares and dream-states for the warrior Mericc as the Winter Witch plunged deeper into his subconcience mind. Over and over Briana would dig into his thoughts, create illussory scenarios, and attempt to break his spirit. She would take the shapes of old flames, beautiful woman, elvish maidens, and then play out different scenes, trying to find a weak spot in Mericc’s internal armor. And every time she would fail she would put him under, drain him of more of his life essense and probe once again into his inner thoughts. But still he resisted, even as every bone in his body was drained to the dregs of all willpower and self determination, he always managed to break the spell and push back the sorceresses’s advances.

Rage started to build up inside Briana’s frozen heart, mixed with a sense of desperation and frustration. She had expected the man to resist, in fact was glad of it because it showed a strong inner core that would serve her dark designs well, but she didn’t expect him to hold out this long. She found herself at a loss for what to do. She had drained him of almost all energy, too drain him of any more would more than likely kill him. Already the amount she had taken would have slain lesser men a long time ago, leaving them an empty husk, one more body buried in these unforgiving mountains. She had delved into every corner of his memory, looking for anyone and anything that would help to seduce the indomitable guardian before her, but nothing had worked.

She looked down at a wickedly curved dagger she had laid on the altar beside Mericc and wondered if she should just cut her losses and end his life right now. She had gained more than enough heat and energy from him to last her for some time and it was not like there would be no others to play out her dark thoughts on. But Briana shook her head, one more attempt she thought, and if that failed she would end it, and with it end Mericc as well. She rolled up the sleeves once more, muttered incantations and pried once more into Mericc’s head.

Meanwhile, back at the campsite, his traveling partner was returning. Aqualondo brushed snow off of his shoulders and hair as he entered the make-shift lean-to that he and Mericc had hastily contructed in a ring of trees. The Elf was aggravated, not only was his usual emaculate appearance disheveled and wind-blown, but the guardian was not even there. Aqualondo snorted at the nerve of Mericc, taking his sweet time while Aqualondo was out for a day proving that the path he had argued for taking was not in fact the way to go and that the guardian’s path was the correct one.

Not that Mericc would see it that way, Aqualondo thought as he stared out into the storm and weighed his options. His companion was strong and skilled, but had the tendency to be quite unimaginative and dull and the wood elf had to remind himself why he traveled with him in the first place.

Finally, when Aqualondo had decided on staying in the tent and dreaming of loose elf maidens, he reached into a pouch on the inside of his leather jerkin and came to a horrifying realization. He had given his flask of Mirkwood’s Finest to the Guardian to ward off the effects of the cold that humans felt. In an instant the wood elf was outside and making his way up the pathway that Mericc had taken, sometimes one had to make sacrifices for what was right.

Back at Briana Frost’s cave, the sorceress stood over the man she had captured. Her initial test of the warrior’s strength and willpower had yielded some promising results and Briana was pleased that she had been fortunate to fall upon such a perfect specimen for her plans. Certaintly the guardian’s apparent inner strength would make the process take longer, but this only meant that the final result when she broke him, would be that much better, and Briana had all the time in the world to work. All she needed to do, was find that chink in his mental and emotional armour, exploit it and then wait while her dark plans came to fruition. Briana placed a pale white hand on the chest of the man and began to whisper strange words, the smallest flicker of a smile crossing her face.

A child, Briana never thought in her life that she would be excited by the prospect, dismissing it as a weakness of lesser females. But this was different, this was months of warmth to slowly feed upon and enjoy. And if the child proved strong enough, and looking at the man under her, she had no thought that it wouldn’t, something to influence and shape into plans and designs more lofty than Briana could ever hope for. Also, she had to admit, it would be nice to have someone besides her frost grim servants, to keep her company. Even if she would not confess to such a weakness, Briana did at times feel a pang of loneliness that even her hatred of other people and cold hard heart could not wholely assuage.

Briana continued to mutter her incantations, occasionally taking her other hand and drawing complex symbols above her captive’s head. Then, her first spells complete, she placed her fingers on the sides of his face, bent down so that her lips were a mere inch away from his and took a deep intake of breath. The man began to glow with a faint aura that centered in his chest and began slowly to make it’s way up towards his mouth.

Brianna stared straight into his eyes and continued to inhale, drawing out his life essence, sucking out that warmth that was so important to keep the spirit going and the body strong. She could feel the warmth passing into her, increasing her strength, feeding that constant biting need that hounded her in her solitude. The aura surrounding the guardian grew fainter and Briana pulled away with difficulty, fighting the urge to siphon off every last remaining ember of human life out of her victim. She wanted him weaker, not dead, at least not until she had gotten out of him what she wanted.

Feeling fresh power and energy flowing through her, Briana took a step back from the altar and contemplated. She could force herself on the warrior, but something told her that it was central that the man succumb to her willingly, that he be a willing participant in the proceedings for success to be assured. The sorceress, realizing that her current appearence would make seducing the man impossible, walked towards one of the faintly pulsing dwarf runes at the back of her cavern and raised her arms.

A fresh wind started to move it’s way through the cave, making it’s way towards the witch as she started to once again mutter soft words at the rune which glowed with an evil light. The wind, while at first faint, began to pick up and was soon a swirling maelstrom, surrounding the sorceress who continued her slow soft incantations. Changes began to happen to the sorceress’s appearance, starting with her skin which began to lose it’s pale, slightly blue tinge and turn a healthier pink. Her long hair became once more lustrous and full, her eyes lost their emptiness and turned once more into their former crystaline blue. Finally her normally gaunt form, filled out and Briana stood as she once had, a beautiful maiden, young and alluring. The man on the altar began to stir from unconscienceness and Briana made her way over to him, an unwholesome light shining in otherwise bright blue eyes.