Muirgheal\'s Revenge

It\'s somewhere around 2 in the afternoon on a hot summer day, the sun beating down relentlessly, drying out the land even further. No soudns come from the woods around the path here--it\'s too hot even for the birds, it seems. Walking briskly back toward the way that leads to the north gate, Cordelia hurries along--cloak on for some reason, but her hood down, and distinctive black hair falling down her back.

[Muirgheal(#32535)] Normally, for a trip into Bree\'s market, Muirgheal would have had to leave much earlier in the day to get there at a decent time. But now that her Elven mare has been returned to her, she can come and go from Bree at her leisure. She\'s out on the road this afternoon, looking pretty as the summer sky in her bright handmade clothing, riding her horse into town. There\'s no mistaking the young woman, though her long, beautiful hair has been cut drastically short. Still, her gold curls bounce cheerfully around her face as she urges her horse onward.She\'s a beautiful mare, Aurlalaith, sleek and black with a white diamond on her forehead. Her eyes are deep and intelligent. She\'s quick to obey, and slows at Muirgheal\'s command. There\'s someone up ahead on the road...as they near Cordelia, and Muirgheal recognizes the black hair of an unwelcome figure, the woman begins to frown.

At the sound of hoofbeats coming up behind her in the woods, Cordelia automatically pulls her hood up so that it shades her face and hides her hair--too late, as Rhifaroth\'s wife has already spotted her through the trees. The Mordain woman steps into the thicket of trees and thickly grown shrubs the clog the sides of the path, meaning to get out of sight and out of the way. Then she freezes as Muirgheal comes into view and she recognizes her.

[Muirgheal(#32535)] Muirgheal is very surprised to see Cordelia, but despite being stunned, she is quick to anger. She\'s pulling her horse to a halt by the side of the road, and she slips a little as she slides down off of the mare\'s back. Muirgheal has even forgotten the knives strapped to her arms, the sword at her side, for the moment. Her eyes are dark and glitter, almost fey. She\'s eager to get closer to Cordelia. \"What are you doing here?!\" She shouts, hoping that this isn\'t some sort of hallucination, walking very quickly toward the woman. Aurlalaith watches, standing patiently where she was left.

Carefully, Cordelia backs up further into the undergrowth. It will hinder her movement, but it also means that Muirgheal won\'t be able to chase her down with the horse, either. And the trees might provide some protection if the other woman comes after her with her sword. \"Rhifaroth lives,\" she says quickly. \"I returned with Giliath and his wife--they were going to tell you themselves, but perhaps they haven\'t yet? The people from...from my family who forced me into it...they\'re dead.\"

[Muirgheal(#32535)] As Muirgheal stalks toward Cordelia, she finally remembers to pull a knife from its sheath, a silver sound meant to inspire fear. Her knuckles are white around the hilt. But then, when she\'s gotten closer, and Cordelia\'s words resonate, the knife falls from her hand, now limp. \"He...he what?\" She asks softly. Her lips part in quiet shock. It\'s wonderful news- the best- but right now, Cordelia is standing here. Someone she\'s spent so much time loathing. Her expression hardens again. \"I don\'t care if your family\'s dead,\" Muirgheal sneers. \"You killed mine! Well...I suppose...you didn\'t, after all. But you took him!\" Her voice crescendoes at that last, until she\'s screaming. Her words lose no volume as she demands, \"Where is he?\" She lunges at the other woman suddenly, attempting to pin her roughly up against a tree.

Muirgheal attacks you with her Bare Hands!...

...and she hits! Ouch!

Moving into the undergrowth might have stopped Muirgheal from running her down with her horse, but it also means that Cordelia can\'t move as quickly--and Muirgheal\'s lunge reaches her, so that Cordelia is rudely pushed into a tree. She doesn\'t answer the woman\'s question, though--instead, with a quick thrust she lifts one knee hard, trying to knock the wind out of the other woman so that she can make a break for it.

You attack Muirgheal with your Bare Hands...

[Combat(#13388)->Cordelia]

Your attack against Muirgheal mildly wounds her!

[Muirgheal(#32535)] Cordelia\'s knee makes rather unpleasant contact with Muirgheal\'s stomach. She doubles over, one arm covering her stomach as she coughs and tries to catch her breath. \"Bitch,\" she growls when she\'s recovered. She\'s counting on Cordelia not being able to move very fast back here, as she reaches for the sword that hangs by her side. She\'s good at swinging that wicked looking blade- many folk would attest to that. When she thinks she\'s close enough to the woman, she pulls a new favorite manuever she\'s been working on with Uannve Muirgheal aims for the backs of Cordelia\'s knees with the blade. That would certainly slow her down.

That move is unexpected, and the sword blade catches Cordelia, tripping her up so that she sprawls to the forest floor. Her left hand goes out to break her fall--but her right moves under her cloak to her waistband, and stays hidden there.

[Muirgheal(#32535)] \"I asked you a -question-, you stupid girl. I asked you where my husband is, and what you did with him. Now speak.\" Muirgheal barks at the woman, then grins, flashing her teeth, and it\'s not friendly. Now that Cordelia is down, Muirgheal intends for her to stay there a while, and so she keeps her sword pointed at the woman, near Cordelia\'s throat. \"Tell me what I want to hear and maybe I\'ll let you go.\" Playing games with Muirgheal sounds anything but fun.

\"He...is with ...the rangers...\" The words are said very slowly, and Cordelia turns equally slowly from her stomach--where she had fallen--so that she is on her left side. \"He went with the rangers who killed Asht and Addie. And Giliath and Caelwen escorted me, Keldean, and Liuni home,\" she continues, her voice gaining some measure of calm. She pauses, the silence of the woods settling about her. \"Do you think that Giliath would have let me live for a minute if he thought I had intended to hurt Rhifaroth? Giliath is angry with me, yes, but he knows the truth and he let me live.\'

[Muirgheal(#32535)] \"Went with the rangers? You\'re lying!\" Muirgheal shouts. \"He would have come back to me!\" She growls, her voice low now, \"I don\'t care if Giliath let you live. He and I obviously think different about some things. You\'re a liar and I hate you. Tell me what your \'family\' did with my husband. I want to know.\" The last sounds softer, reasonable almost, but her eyes are dark and livid. She tries to keep her sword steady, but it shakes a little with her anger.

A slow, deep breath, and Cordelia\'s eyes close briefly as she tries to stay calm through this. Her voice, at least, is very calm, if not soothing--she doesn\'t respond to Muirgheal\'s anger or insults. \"He is with a ranger called Strider and Sparrow and Hare....and Neal. They were all together. My...my father\'s associates tortured him. I freed Keldean and Liuni when I could, and when I could have run, I stayed with your husband to try to free him. They whipped me too. Scars...fresh ones--on my shoulder.\" She indicates her left shoulder.

[Muirgheal(#32535)] Tears are slipping down Muirgheal\'s cheeks now. \"Tortured him?\" She screams, though that is exactly what she had imagined as his fate. The rest of Cordelia\'s words are falling on deaf ears. \"Whatever they did to him, girl, I\'m going to do to you even worse!\" After that, she can\'t wait any longer: she raises her sword and strikes out blindly..[Combat(#13388)] Muirgheal wields Longsword.Muirgheal attacks you with her Longsword!...

...and she hits! Ouch!

Reacting on instinct, Cordelia puts an arm up to block the sword\'s blow. She\'s wearing a thick cloak--for this very purpose, likely, since it\'s too warm for it in the heat of summer--and that takes some of the blow. Still, the sword blade slips down her arm and cuts deeply into her left shoulder. She can\'t help it--she screams as the blade cuts, then starts sobbing, putting her right hand up to try to ward off further blows. \"It\'s the truth! Ask Giliath! I told him everything!\" Well...sort of...

[Muirgheal(#32535)] Muirgheal pauses a moment, and looks down at the sobbing girl. Suddenly she feels like a bit of a monster- something not unfamiliar, remembering the folk she\'s buried before. \"Um. Oh, dear...um. Please stop making so much noise. I\'ll uh...Rhifaroth wouldn\'t like this, oh, I\'m so bad...\" Her face is pale..she must feel a little awful about what she\'s done. \"Give me any weapons you have, girl, and I\'ll take you someplace to heal you. You can ride LaLaith.\" She keeps looking at Cordelia and wincing. Her anger went a bit too far, this time.

There\'s blood soaking the front of Cordelia\'s cloak, matting the material, and blood oozing out onto her neck and the front of her dress--and then it\'s on her hands, too, as she lowers her right hand at Muirgheal\'s words, pressing her hand to the wound instead. \"No....Liuni...\" She starts to sit up, stubbornly fighting against the pain and looking like she\'ll pass out at any moment. \"Can\'t leave my sister..not after all this...\"

[Muirgheal(#32535)] \"I\'ll uh...send word to Liuni, somehow. Besides, that little girl is just as ev- clever- as you are. She\'ll be fine on her own for a while.\" Muirgheal, feeling a little sick over the guilt of what she\'s done, scoops up Cordelia quite easily. She\'s a strong girl, Muirgheal is. She looks down, trying to assess what she\'s done as she tries to move Cordelia back toward the mare Aurlalaith, only to find that the woman has passed out. \"Well, at least now I can search you for weapons. Bet you\'ve got something fun, and dangerous.\" She\'ll have to put away her sword and knives, and then they\'ll be riding the road back to Archet, back to Muirgheal\'s own house, where her children and Arabella will be waiting with dinner.