Crows Murder

[16:11:51] Huntsy Silverpath  rinished the letter as well as the scroll and held them out to you, then turned sharply ot the woman who hears songs, ” what have the songs told you Lady, what have you learned from them that you believe will help remove the artifact safely, and I caution you, the bio-matirix of the artifact itself has become symbiotic in nature, they have been joined too long, the artifact shell is an organism

[16:15:04] Niamh Strömberg   nods “Yes. I learned this. ” she sighs. “Strangely enough … I need to sing it so I do not get the words wrong. So bare with me.” she started.

“The first verse goes like this …
In the hollow of a chest, beneath the cage of bone
A shard of ancient starlight sits upon a throne
It doesn’t breathe the air, it doesn’t feel the cold
It only remembers a story never told
When the sky was a mirror and the sun was a chime
Before the great sundering at the edge of time.”

[16:15:45]   Vesper took the scroll and put it back into a pocket but would let the physician hold onto the scroll ((textures sent)) that Niamh had given him as that may have use to keep them wrapped. He kept his ears open and was glad the doors were locked. “Hall is closed for fumigations!” he would shout out.

[16:16:25] Niamh Strömberg   would continue

“Deep in the silt of a riverbed miles away
A sister piece is sleeping in the heavy clay
And high on a mountain, where the hawks never fly
A jagged edge is reaching for a piece of the sky
They are calling through the dirt, they are calling through the sea
A choir of the broken, a ghost melody.”

[16:17:21] Huntsy Silverpath  heard the pounding on the shield, ” tal whoever is there I have sealed the kennels for possible quarantine purposes please stand away i may be sequestered several Ahn until I know for certain what the slave girl has!”

[16:17:57]   Vesper would move toward the fountain and grip tightly as she sang in order to keep him standing, “Solomon, it’s what you and I spoke of…and here it has come to pass. I am a Captain at BCTC.”

[16:18:28] Niamh Strömberg   would say “Now this is the important part as I think it shows us what it needs.” she would take another breath and sings the next

“The host feels the tug, a north in the mind
Leaving the safety of the world behind
Every step is a stitch in a shroud
Every breath is a prayer said out loud
The metal wants the metal, the soul wants the rest
The weight of the ages is heavy in the breast”

[16:20:36] Lʏʀɪᴄ    looks nervously over her shoulder. “Maybe we should omve closer to the office, my Master, Mistresses?”

[16:25:52]   Vesper would listen to his girl, he was compromised now and he knew it…and knew that she was protective. He would move toward the inner part of the room. He would look to Niamh now and say, “I had no idea why I put this in my chest….and now there is a song that tells me, that I have never heard before, that THIS was EXPECTED!!!”

[16:29:40] Niamh Strömberg   nods slowly “Those that rule upon Gor had always this hold upon the caste of assassin. I am sure it was no accident that most of the killers of a certain age and time were those effected by it.” she would look to Huntsy “I know all thes parts long to be together. I have a small heirloom. It might help to persuade the piece to let go of his host ?” she suggested. “But it is clear that silver and gold have something to do with it too.”

[16:32:48]   Vesper would pull out a piece of silver from his last and currently ongoing task, and then he would pull out the first coin he was ever given to take a person’s life. Each coin, one representing life and the other representing death were handed over to whomever would take them. He whispered, “I am the man between these coins. Take me as I am.”

[16:34:52] Huntsy Silverpath  shook my head hearing her words and knowing that hith was hearing voices himself, ” I have only just returned my journey took me to the lands of my past not long after the rise of my uncle in Ar, Marlenus was always one who sought power and would stop at nothing to possess it not even treason would deter his ambitions,  this object power unimagined, from what I have learned if united the cataclysm could destroy two worlds, but the steel worlds can no longer allow that to happen, and the Artifact must be kept separate however we have a problem for it has bonded with Vesper, I chemical and physical dependency has occurred, removing it can be done but you will be vulnerable at least two hands and from your blood sample I took last visit, ive begun culturing rejuvenation serum, it has a short shelf life and takes a long time to culture, it is almost ready for use codded specifically to you Vesper, and you Naiamh provide the last link in the removal process, the only way for the artifact to let go of Vesper

[16:34:52] Huntsy Silverpath     will be through song, it must feel it is about to unite to another piece can you do that do you feel?”

[16:38:51] Niamh Strömberg   nodded “I can do that.” she replied in all earnest. It wasn’t a first that her songs had done strange things. It had unfrozen pieces of the North. It had melted a heart of a man of iron. It had given guidance and comfort. As Vesper offered the coin to Huntsy “So I understand that he will be extra vulnderable. Can he remain here guarded ? I can take him to the lodge, but there are no gates  only the understanding that the land isn’t as often visited by strangers.”

[16:40:05] Huntsy Silverpath    he can remain under my care, I will allow no harm to my patients

[16:44:23]   Vesper would turn his head and say, “I’m tired of the chest pounders too Colton.” to no one…”but what matters is what will happen in the future…you remember I said that….Colton?” He squinted his eyes. Shook his head. Looked confused. Then he was back.

[16:46:23] Niamh Strömberg   would smiled “Good. So when do you wish to start the proceedings ? Do you need to prepare anything ?” she asks. The song strangely enough started already to form in her mind. A song to seduce the fragment to let go.

[16:46:31] Lʏʀɪᴄ    gulps, not daring to tell her Master that Colton had been gone to the city of dust these many years, and she wrings her hands in distress.

[16:48:49] Huntsy Silverpath    Vesper are you ready to have this removed, and understand the consequences to you if the procedure fails? the artifact will revert to Parasitism once the symbiotic relationship is broken, if Nia falters in her song in the slightest it will not latch on to the false vessel, you body will begin to fail as soon as i remove it so she must not falter for I will be keeping you alive at that point”

[16:50:33] Huntsy Silverpath    pain and a deep sorrow brought tears to my eyes as my heart caught in my throat a the mere mention of Colton’s name and my eyes flashed to Lyrics, but i did not comment as i awaited his reply

[16:52:00] Niamh Strömberg   felt the words push to the chambers where her songs were sprouted. The irony. The girl that once was considered dead due to her leaving the boot of her Master had now been the one that had helped several men of the caste to remain alive. She would smile to reassure them all. “I will not falter. That is not where I come from.” she stated.

[16:53:03]   Vesper looked to Huntsy and said, “I am ready to be done with this…13 years it has remained in my body…far too long, keeping me dogmatic and brutal…keeping me rigid and demanding without sway. I was once the snake, now I must be the weaver of the loom moving and swaying with the cloth upon the loom…looking towards the evening light. And if I am done, then it will be as an Assassin of the Black Caste of Gor and I will have lived a good life. then to the exam bed and you will need to be naked absolutely no metal near you

[17:00:07] Niamh Strömberg   would follow. Humbled by the idea of what was to be done. The mere thought of someone at the mercy of song. And yet had it not been more then once ? Was it not for a purpose ? She would wait and go by what directions she would be given.

[17:00:57]   Vesper would place his weapons aside for the moment as his mind moved to the past, each weapon pulled off was a story, a hunt, a kill, a death, a protection. He would move into this with vulnerability and it was that sway and bend that would help him survive. He whispered under his breath, “Cam…Pot maker of Lydius at your service.” the first disguise he ever wore.

[17:01:36] Huntsy Silverpath  quickly scrubbed up then prepared bed setting up 4 oval pads along the side railings of the bed, I then connected the leads to box that ran the energy bulbs and the pads hummed until i switched them off for when i was ready

[17:06:06] Huntsy Silverpath  adjust the positions of each pad that would generate a strong magnetic resonance I turned to his girl ” you wil lneed to keep his ring safe unless its made of gold is it solid gold vesper/”

[17:08:09]   Vesper moved to settle onto the bed, naked as the day he was born. This too was a birth of sorts. He would look down at his rings and take each one of them off. Each ring, one for each finger on both hands, given to him over the years by various Camp Master Assassins, “Xaz….Hemaca received this from you….” He let his rings come into one hand and gave them to his girl.

[17:08:42] Lʏʀɪᴄ    nods, taking the ring, keeping a distance since her collar, as well, is made of  metal. “I will keep them safe,” she promises.

[17:12:27] Niamh Strömberg   would stand quietly as she waited for everyone to be ready.

[17:12:30]   Vesper nose and lip scritched up into a snarl of sorts behind his mask, the sociopath holding out the memory now of the dogmatic past he led. “Serpent, I have fought my promotions all along the way because I was sure that with only a few kills; despite the work for the Caste I have done, I was not worthy of each title. Tell me, point blank, if I am to see him, do I have permission to kill him?”

[17:14:32] Huntsy Silverpath  pulled from under the bed an empty shell except it moved and was eerily similar to the artifact shell, I liad it next to your wound site and said when you sing visualize this empty shell, of its warmth and life ” focus your thoughts on it your song must feel it comes from the empty vessel, when I turn on my switch here the magnetism will  release the inner mechanical locks that imprison the artifact, it will consume the fragment and transfer to the new shell as you sing are you ready?”

[17:15:38] Niamh Strömberg   would smile as she would listen to the instructions. “yes. Give the word and the words come natural.”

[17:16:51] Huntsy Silverpath  set up the plasma drip, and cleaned the inner arm found a good vein and started the IV, my surgical equipment stood at the ready

[17:16:55]   Vesper came back to the present a moment looking determined, “Let it be done…it takes more than it gives.” That was a measure of the dark life the Hith had led if anything.

[17:18:52] Huntsy Silverpath  begin your song please

[17:19:51] Niamh Strömberg   would smile and close her eyes as the words came to her in this ancient and sacred way

” Oh, little spark in the cage of the rib
Come away from the cradle, come away from the crib
The blood is too warm and the bone is too thick
The clock of the mortal is starting to tick
You are a titan bound in a reed
We are the harvest, and you are the seed.” her voice clear and melodious.

[17:20:25] Huntsy Silverpath  switched on the magnetic pads as she began to sing, doing nothing all would depend now upon her song if it was to be coaxed out of his chest without force

[17:22:48]   Vesper voice was quiet as the song moved him, but he would say to the lad at the fireside in the back of his brain, “I never fail a lad. I have never once failed a lad.” He paused and continued gently, “They fail themselves….and so do Assassins if they do not learn the lesson of the tree of hierarchy.” As the procedure began though he would grit his teeth and clench his fits. The artifact screaming in multi-voice clamorous noise.”

[17:24:13] Niamh Strömberg   continued while she visualizes the undoing of it within his chest as the words become more forceful – almost hypnotic. “Come out to the light, come out to the air
We have the silver, we have the snare
The mountain is calling, the river has dried
There is no more reason for hiding inside
Unwind from the marrow, unspool from the vein
To be whole is to never feel hunger again.”

[17:26:56]   Vesper eyes went wide and he screamed out with the furious indignation of his youth, “Call a court session…see who will come…let him die a slow death…you think I care!” The ravages of time were upon him as the shard of the artifact held sway fully.

[17:29:09] Lʏʀɪᴄ    watches silently, clutching her Master’s rings so tight they would leave indentations in her palm.

[17:33:48] Niamh Strömberg   didn’t falter as her voice remained steady and clear. The words as ribbons cutting through the air.  Her voice held that force as if it truly tried to persuade and prod.

“Do you feel the vibration? The pulse of the sky?
Your sisters are waking, they’re singing nearby
The piece in the silt has been scrubbed by the tide
The piece on the peak has the stars for a guide
They are waiting for you to complete the design
To turn all this copper to something divine.” 

As she held that melody she continued – unwavering as she sang with conviction.

“It’s a gentle release, like a breath in the frost
To find in the world what the centuries lost
Let the host be at peace, let the traveler go
You were never meant for the valleys below
Rise like a fever, rise like a flame
We are the voices who whispered your name.”

[17:35:13] Huntsy Silverpath  heard each claw like appendage in the chest snap back as the artifact reacted to the magnates i gave him the first injection that would allow his genome to react to the rejuvenation serum and at the same time it would alter his genome every so slightly enough to make the parasitic  artifact lose its taste so to speak for him, a souring of the milk that once nourished it and as the tones of her song changed i felt the impact as the artifact and left and slammed into the new host already attuned for it, I removed the abandoned bios-hell and dropped it down the shoot to the incinerator where contaminated clothing and clothes were destroyed the song and treatment was beyond pure science and yet was born from kurri innovations, I immediately triaged the damage left and began to excise the dead tissues wound packed with surgical sponges as i let the IV flow replacing the blood we were losing, no signs of damage to the heart past some scarring the serum would repair, organs everything were untouched as I sterilized the cavity ensuring no trace of the organism could reproduce then I closed him up carefully and applied healing salve to the outer would so it would force knit the new tissues over a few Ajn

[17:38:41]   Vesper face became the stone, his jaw tight. The song pulling the dark cave forward. The time in which the anger and rage was like bile in is throat…but also the time he went stone cold inside and became the Killer, the Hith. He did become all that he was trained to be even as his hand drummed along his leg in a slow four time beat. “I wonder Clansman, if someone has ever broken you hmmm?”  His voice was steady because it had to be. His resolve was firm because it MUST be. His fight or flight response would create distractions and deceptions easily. But he was never settled inside. But as the artifact released, he was reborn. He was calm….deeply so. He was patient, precise, directed, ruthless. He was weak, but fully what his Caste would need him to be for the coming future.

The gangplank groaned under the weight of a man who carried death in his pockets and a ghost in his chest. As Vesper stepped off the boat, his hands moved with the practiced rhythm of the Black Caste—checking the sand, the grapples, the tharlarion oil, and the whetting stones. Beside him, his girl Lyric scanned the docks with wide, wary eyes, noting the shifting barrels like a bird sensing a storm.

From a high balcony, Niamh Strömberg watched the unmarked Assassin. He was a familiar shadow from a life she thought she had outrun, a reminder of the “Crow” and the ruthless men who served him. When her mate, Portus, stepped forward to challenge the stranger’s quest, the air grew thick with the unspoken codes of Gor.

They moved to the privacy of the captain’s quarters, leaving the open air for a setting where truth could be told. There, amidst the steam of jasmine tea and the weight of old scrolls, Vesper’s calm facade began to fray. He spoke of fragments and serums—and a decade-old shard of an artifact buried near his heart that had begun to sing. As the melody of the relic pulsed against his ribs, the distance between past and present vanished, leaving Vesper caught between the man he was and the weapon he had become.

Vesper   would pull out two scrolls. They were old, they were dusty, but they were all that he had that would tie his memory together…scraps…like his own memories over time. He would let the woman take a look but he would want them returned. He took the tea from his girl’s hands and wrapped his fingers around the cup and drank the subtle brew. He closed his eyes a moment and then said, “Thank you mine.” He set his cup to the side and looked at what was laid out on the table and he went cold and hot all at the same time…his hands moving swiftly under his cloak to press against the artifact shard that was suddenly very much present with him. His jade eyes clear…and the he felt the song…not heard it…felt it. “Solomon…I hear you. Please stop yelling.”

Niamh Strömberg  would read the letter and would drop to the seat. “That is … He is my brother.” she stated. “I never knew of it until Mia spoke of it. She tested his dna and spoke of the resemblance.” she stated. “I was taken from Earth by the Kurri. Most likely for the knowledge I have on manipulation of dna. The ship crashed before it reached them. And from there my adventure upon this world began. I was taken to the collar of the man named Byron. Later known to be the killer Scar. Crows mentor.” she recalls. “The kurri .. They nearly found me before I met the village in which I found my mate. By his doing and that of the killer Pariah and Crow have made me remain safe.” she sighs. “I guess the shard is connected to my brother?” she asks. As if the voice within the man was recognized.

Lʏʀɪᴄ  rises to her feet as her Master takes the cup of tea, but then her jaw drops, and she stares at him. Did he just… thank her? That’s just… he doesn’t DO that. She racks her memory for any precedent for this… nope, nu-uh. She also doesn’t miss the way he presses his hand against his abdomen. Chills creep up her spine and her anxiety spikes again, and she gulps silently. “Um.. you are very welcome, my Master.”

Vesper   looked up from the scroll and to Niamh, “Who is your brother?” It was as if the memory of speaking to Solomon was no longer present. As if now the message had been received and the memory no longer needed to remain. He looked to his girl and growled, “Welcome? Welcome for WHAT?! You served me tea! That is your purpose!”

Niamh Strömberg  smiled “Solomon. And although I have met him several times. I never knew back then he was my brother.” she shared. She would look to the girl in what seemed to be care and understanding. She wouldn’t speak on it though. That was not her place. “I so hope to meet him … but from what I have learned he has not long been spotted.” she added to the fact Solomon was her brother. “Crow worked on his escape from the Kurri. He was there when he was ill … very ill even. It was why Mia tested his blood and learned of what she later told me.”

Lʏʀɪᴄ  stifles a sigh of despair… that damned artifact is messing with her Master and she hates Hates HATES that thing! All in all, it’s probably just as well he doesn’t remember thanking her, or he might slit her throat just on principle. So she clears her throat, and replies. “Yes ,my Master, I beg forgiveness for..” she breaks off.. what is she asking forgiveness for? She wings it quickly. “um… for being displeasing, my Master. I hope you enjoy your tea, my Master.” The conversation isn’t passing her by, but she’s storing it up to think about later.

Vesper   shook his head, clearing it. He gathered the scrolls and put them back into the pockets on his belt. “I have met your brother.” He let his mind wander back. “He and I would walk on the banks of the marshes and he would speak to me while I was a new Killer. Then, later, I built him a house at the edge of my camp’s land for Skian Codice Compound and let him live in peace.” He would pause a moment upon the memories returning and say to his girl, “entirely displeasing, but you are absolved.”

Niamh Strömberg  would hold the girl in her gaze. Conveying a silent sense of understanding. “If you found me here and now … I think it is time to continue with your quest to remove it. If Huntsy needs assistance I can offer her help. I have a medical degree and have been in practice for a long time now.” she stated. “Take those papers .. I have been told that when the shards are wrapped they are easier to carry.”

Lʏʀɪᴄ ‘s lips part in protest, as his words of absolution reference an event that happened over ten years ago, yet he speaks of it as if it was about the tea she served him just now. Resolutely she closes her mouth, but casts a look of almost desperation at the Mistress.

Vesper   would take the scroll and place it into the pocket on his belt with the other scrolls and say, “Mine, there is a usually a Caste Member with a golden slash on his helm waiting near the port of most trading posts, give him this message to send to the Physician of Olni Huntsy Silverpath. “It is time. We have knowledge and the experience present in a person. It is time to be only a man and nothing more.” He then held out a coin for her to take in the way that was appropriate for a slave “And give him this for the message delivery.”

Niamh Strömberg  would watch the interaction as she knew of the ways of these men. “Only a man ? I doubt any killer is truly only a man.” she reasons. “But I can imagine you long to be a tree in spring. “

Lʏʀɪᴄ  listens carefully as her Master addresses her, She takes the scroll and the coin, and nods vigorously. “Yes, my Master.” she makes haste out to the harbor to see if there is one of the Messengers available.

Vesper   when the slave would leave he would say, “What should I know…quickly!”

Niamh Strömberg  would look up to him “You of all men should know that at times it isn’t only about what one knows but one feels. It might be good to listen when the voices stop whispering.”

Vesper   would shake his head and press his fingers to where the object lay in his chest and say, “That is the problem…Niamh…I only know fragments of my life. I know moments but not all. I hear echoes of the men of my Caste and they drive me insane with their mission for our survival. I know everything and nothing all at once.”

Niamh Strömberg  smiled warmly “I think many of these men will look at you in envy. How they desire to forget and not know. Too lose some of the parts of their life.” she reasons. “You are here. You are healthy for the most part. What is it that these memories will bring  you ?” she shook her head “Those memories will bring you mistakes, pain, anxiousness, regret and a lot of coldness. While it is all the opposite you are looking for. Have it removed … so the whispers and voices no longer feed your mind with their wisdom.  But feel what is right and trust that once you were without those voices – and taken as a trainee. A man valuable and worthy.”

Lʏʀɪᴄ  returns at a run… which is pretty much her normal… and reports her success. “I found such a Messenger, my Master, and he has said he will make his way to Olni and deliver the message directly to the Mistress post haste.”

Vesper   would whisper his name, “I am known as Vesper….Niamh…the evening star…the first light….and you are right. I am ready.” As his slave returned he would only say to her, “Niamh knows my name, Mine.” with the deep implications that would mean. “She is to be trusted in times of need.”

Niamh Strömberg  would watch the girl report back and she would dip her head – of course not lost on the significance. She knew these names and how one tried to live up to them. She had seen more then enough to know so many. “Thank you. Killer. That says a lot.”

Lʏʀɪᴄ  takes note of her Master’s words, and relegates them to memory, along with that of Mistress Huntsy. “Yes, my Master. I understand.”