Xalakae aka Adelina aka Newt, A Few Days Before Up To Present

The last time Xalakae saw hiers parents, Leoniax and Phorissital, they were wearing the faces of the savage killers. They were no longer Ulmar and Saeva, the gentle fisherman and fishwife whose faces they wore for those who were not of the greater family of the Double Goers. That night they had become the savages, blending into the skull painted howling horde that burst out of the rank darkness that hemmed in the small trading post at the juncture of the Javan and Hool rivers. S/he had looked out from under the overturned boat in the creek they had thrust hierm in and saw them looking back at hierm with the skull painted faces they had taken on, backlit by the burning stockade. Xalakae covered hiers ears to shut out the screams of the ravaged and dying to clear hiers mind for hiers parent’s thoughts.

We will come back for you Newt, hiers womb-parent thought to hierm, using the nickname s/he used for Xalakae. These ones are watching us now, so we must go with them. Hide, and remember all that we taught you. Keep the amulet safe. It will hide your heart from the evil ones. Xalakae clutched at the amulet hiers womb-parent, Phorissital, had hung around hiers neck. The amulet was bronze and quite appropriately blank. When shiny it was a mirror, reflecting anything it looked upon.

We must go Xalakae, thought hiers fertilizing-parent to hierm with urgency. These ones are heading back to their boat and we must go with them or they will know something is not right. Stay safe, and remember our love for you. We will come back as soon as we can get away from them. They are too close now. Hiers parents were no longer looking at hierm, they were just thinking to hierm.

All too soon they moved away. S/he could hear the boats moving away from the shore. The skull faced savages continued to whoop and howl with murderous glee.

The last thought from hiers parents had been, If we do not return, find the cities of men. You must become the girl whose name and form you created from the thoughts and forms of those you saw from afar. Be Adelina. Survive. Send out your thoughts and open your mind to the signals of our kind. There are other Double Goers. Find them, learn from them, but until then, become Adelina and hide among the cities of men. The thoughts receded as the boats turned the bend of the river and were lost into the dark night.

Xalakae was left under the rotting boat, warmed by the blazing fire of what was once the small stockade and trading post called Cypress Hill. In the morning s/he dared to crawl out to sift through the ashes of the largest settlement s/he had ever been permitted to see. Besides the flaying knife s/he started with and hiers one gold eagle, s/he soon found a hand axe left behind in some poor wretch’s skull, and a long spear. Of course there was also the amulet. The amulet that would hide the compassionate and gentle heart s/he had grown up with, lest those lost to darkness seek hierm out as well.

Xalakae’s parents were not like some of the other members of the greater family of Double Goers, who felt no compunctions against killing a being and taking their place, stealing their face, their thoughts, and their relationships. Rather, Xalakae had been taught to only watch and model hiermself upon others, but never to cause harm or malicious trouble. While the talents of the Double Goers could be used for trickery and deception, Xalakae’s parents had chosen to use theirs as a way of observing unnoticed without interfering in order to learn with greater and greater appreciation the ways of those among whom the Double Goers hid throughout lifetimes of becoming.

Xalakae stood among the ruins. There was no one left. The night had passed and still no sign or thought from hiers parents. There were no thoughts from anyone, nor any sound. All s/he could do was hope and continue to hide when hostile thoughts encroached. The hostile thoughts preceded the return of the Amedi savages painted like skeletons who called themselves Deathwalkers. They worshipped some god named Thanatos, whom s/he had never heard of. They were hunting the lizardfolk, and waiting to ambush any ships or boats traveling up or down the river.

Now Xalakae knew that others might come, others like the good and gentle people whose bones now lay scattered among the charred remains of Cypress Hill. There is another town s/he learned from their thoughts further downriver named Westkeep. Perhaps people will come from there, enough people to drive away the Deathwalkers and take hierm to safety. So for now s/he must become Adelina, sometimes called Newt. It was less dangerous that way. If a boat or ship came from Westkeep, they might not wish to rescue Xalakae the Double Goer, but the girl Adelina could hope that they might take ‘her’ to safety. So she continued to stand among the moss hung cypresses, waiting for friendly thoughts to come from around the bend in the river.

On Fireseek the 7^th, the second day after the raid, the morning was rainy and the whole day has been overcast and windy. Now, as the sun begins to set, Adelina sees a boat coming up the river. As it gets closer, she sees that it is a keelboat. About 70′ long and 20′ wide, with a deckhouse in the center, atop of which is the boat’s wheel and its sail. The sail is furled as it is rowed by perhaps eight oarsmen into the wind that is blowing from the west. They are still too far away to see what they look like. There are a number of other people on board as well. There are at least two above the deckhouse, one steering, and one seems to be scanning the shore with a spyglass, including the reedy area in which Adelina is hiding. His scan is slow and he didn’t seem to stop when he passed over the reeds, but she can’t be sure. As of now, all the figures are silhouettes against the setting sun.

The keelboat moves in closer, right up to the ruins of the dock. She sees that the rowers are eight strong looking Olman tribesmen, the slaves of the Sea Princes and then later the conquering Scarlet Brotherhood. They are now freemen in the Hool Marshes Protectorate of the Kingdom of Keoland. She also makes out the captain at the wheel on top of the deckhouse. He is wearing worn, rather befouled white clothes and a ratty straw hat. He has a long face, dark hair and eyes, and a couple days growth of beard. His upper lip bears the scar of an old wound. Just fore of the mast the boat has what looks to be a giant crossbow on a swivel mount. It is manned by what appears to be another Olman, though perhaps a head taller. As the boat gets closer, it can be seen that there is a reddish glint in his eyes, and his ears have the hint of the lupine in their shape, and his lower canines are far more prominent than they should be. She sees that the name of the boat is the Javan Queen.

After the boat is anchored, three bowmen in leather armor wearing red tabards bearing the lion rampant of the Crown of Keoland take up stations at the bow, the stern, and atop the deckhouse. They have longbows and shortswords at their sides. Then more bowmen, perhaps a dozen, jump down into the muddy waters and head for shore. There they split up and begin combing through the ruins.

One group heads over to the downriver side of the shore, east away from the dock. They are led by a plain looking man of average height, but rather thin. There is little about him that is remarkable, neither displeasing nor notable. His olive complexion and dark brown hair and eyes mark him as a descendant of the Oeridians. He is constantly looking around, scanning his surrounding, even as he speaks to the others. He does not wear the red tabard. His clothing, boots, and tack are permanently stained from wear and mud even when cleaned, as they are now, but in good repair. Tucked into his belt is a hammer that looks more mud stained than bloodstained. His longsword, shortsword, and buckler look new and unblemished. Slung on his back is a longbow. With him are four others in the red tabards. One of them, however, is not armed and armored like the others, though a subtle shimmering in the air seems to envelop him. He carries a light crossbow at the ready and a dagger is in his belt. His light brown hair is cut so that his slightly tapered ears are noticeable, and his eyes are green. Otherwise he seems human enough. On his shoulder perches a ferret of a honey brown color with dark patches around his eyes, like a raccoon, and similar dark fur on his tail, front and back paws. The other three are men with blond or light brown hair.

A tall, heavyset man with thick dark hair and a full beard, both now showing some grey, leads the middle group. He wears a camouflage cloak, and a dark tunic. He also carries a wooden shield, longsword, dagger, morningstar, and a composite bow that all seem to be of very high quality. With him are three of the bowmen in red tabards, one is blue eyed blond and the other is dark skinned, with curly black hair, who seems older than the others though not as old as the leader of the group. Adelina notes that the third is a dark tan woman with curly dark brown hair, light brown eyes, with tattoos on her arms. This group heads towards the ruins of the trading post and begins looking around.

The last group heads along the westward side of the docks, in fact towards the reed bed where Adelina is hiding. They will soon be within range for her to read their thoughts. Two of this group have fair complexions, with slightly tapered ears, and raven black hair cropped short in a military manner. The taller and heavier of them has startling elvish emerald eyes, while the shorter and slighter has eyes so dark as to almost be black. Both are wearing traveler’s clothes. The shorter carries a compound shortbow, and from his belt hangs a shortsword, a throwing axe, and a dagger. The taller has a longbow slung on his back but carries a longsword and a buckler, and from his belt hangs a dagger and morningstar. The third member of the group has a deep dark brown complexion, dark eyes, and black wavy hair (shaved in a bowl cut) beneath a steel cap. He is likely a member of the Flan tribes. His russet tunic and leggings, the hornwood quarterstaff he bears, and the carven Green Man pendant around his neck all mark him as a devotee of Obad-Hai, the god of untrammeled nature. He seems to be muttering and touching everyone around him in blessing. With them are two other bowmen wearing the red tabards, one of them is a blonde blue eyed woman, and the other a red haired man with green eyes. 

She thought to herself as she watched the troops disembark that two days had seemed so long while she waited for her parents. Now she saw that she had squandered her time. She had hoped her parents would return as they’d said, but it was clear that she would have to make another plan – or keep waiting and starve.

Now, with a better look at the folk from the keel boat, Newt felt certain that these were not the same people that slaughtered her neighbors. Instead of risking exposure of her ability to read thoughts, she resolved to approach the group closest to her.

Thinking quickly, she cobbles together a plan. She will have to persuade them to take her to a large city. Surely there she can find her own kind. To gain the aid of these, she could cook, clean, mend clothes – all the things people hated to do, and she would do them cheerfully and better than any slave. She’d keep up that act as long as necessary. When they became accustomed to having her around, she would press them to teach her – anything. Any tricks, magic, or even fighting that they’d help her with would be useful. Her mind was full of possibilities for the future, and how to convince these others to help her, but most of that would have to wait.

Taking a few quick moments to compose her thoughts, Newt decides to focus on the man giving the blessing from Obad-Hai and try to appeal to him. A cleric of nature seemed more likely to help others (perhaps) than the more warrior-like among them. Ready to drop into the water and hide in the reeds should they shoot at her, she stands.

Dropping her axe and spear in the reeds to appear less threatening, she calls out, “Milord, help, milords!” 

Now they know she is here. She moves slowly to the edge of the reeds, making no attempt to be sneaky and hoping they won’t shoot her out of hand.