Ephemera — The Ghost Of Amsyr
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At the start of his fourth year of searching, Indrodar cut a fourth line onto his forearm, to remember the passing of years, and three nights later he found the lines had moved into a Spirit Rune. He asked his companions what it might mean, and none knew.
In the months to follow they were plagued by many minor spirits, but none that could overcome them, until one day they paddled into the Marsh on reed boats, and deep within they found and island that seemed inhabited, for it was well tended with a plot of vegetables and a small thatched cottage. Clever Laisdan warned them away, but curiosity got the better of the band, and besides, they hoped to see someone living, and so they landed, and called out, and walked to the cottage, but Laisdan refused to go.
Mirilip knocked on the door, which opened, and there stood Amsyr, who was the beloved of stout Farharst and had disappeared bare weeks ago. “You are my doom,” said Amsyr, “But you are welcome, as my guests.”
Mirilip drew his sword, but Farhast pushed forward, and fell to his knees before his love, saying that she was found and would return with him. Indrodar asked of Jang, “What is the roof made of?” and Jang replied, “Bones.” Indrodar asked of Imilso, “What grows in this garden,” and Imilso replied, “Gravestones.” Indrodar asked of Aran, “What are the walls of this house?” and Aran replied, “The flesh of the newly dead.” Then Indrodar stepped forward and told Amsyr, “You are dead, I so name you,” for with those three truths her truth could not be hidden.
Amsyr’s body dropped down, but her spirit left her mouth and wrestled with Farhast, who would not fight against his lover, and so she overcame him, so the stout warrior turned against his comrades, and raised his sword against them, and in doing so he broke a geas, and a spirit formed about him that he could not conquer, and struck him down.
Then the ghost came out of Farhast’s body, and in its spirit form it struck at Aran, who had run loyally towards his friend, but Aran knew Death better than he knew Love, and he cast magic upon himself that deflected her strike, but he could not touch her. Amsyr’s ghost flew at Jang, who swung his great axe but could not strike her, and it struck at Indrodar, past the great bronze cross he held.
Then Laisdan called out, “Amsyr, I have a thing for you!” and the ghost heard his voice, and followed it to where Laisdan sat on the reed boat, and she stepped onto it as if it were land, and with a pole he cunningly pushed it away from the land where she was a prisoner. “What do you have for me?” she asked. “A riddle. Where are you?” he replied. “I am on a boat,” she told him. “And where is the boat?” he asked. “In a Marsh,” replied the ghost. “And what can live in the Marsh?” he asked her gently, for they had been friends a long time. “Nothing,” she said, and he picked up his sword and chanted over it words of death, until it could strike her.
Thus Laisdan Kanlaison killed the ghost Amsyr, and they took two bodies back for burial, leaving the island behind them with its tale of blood and bones.
