Private Tales The Choice of Freedom

[Edric]

Waves lapped gently upon the rocks, sea winds brushing down the cliffs and tussling Edric’s air as he sat upon one of the boulders scattered on the beach.

The sun drifted slowly down towards the horizon, casting a steady orange glow over the landscape. Behind him stood half a dozen figures, each of them conversing quietly among one another. Some cheered the day, others quietly whispered about the time that had been wasted.

Edric heard every word they spoke, but said not a thing. Instead he watched the sea, his chin resting upon his arms. Fingers gently drummed upon his arms, a steady beat playing a song he had heard only once before. His lips pressed to a thin line as he watched the sun continue it’s slow descent. “Chasmine.”

His voice was soft.

If asked, he could not have said how long they had spent together in that prison cell. He guessed it might have been a month, though if it was shorter or longer he did not truly know.

What he did know was that Chasmine had been there. For whatever reason she had stuck by his side for all the time he had been trapped in that cell. Whether it had been by Gilram’s word or her own word, Chas had stuck by him. She had been a shoulder in a moment of silence. She had been a comfort in a second of weakness.

She had been there.

She was there now.

“I was wondering.” Edric said softly, his eyes closing as he allowed the sunlight to wash over him. As he allowed the warmth of dusk to catch on his skin for the first time in who knew how long. “I was wondering if you would take a trip with me.”

He asked softly. “Half-way around the world.”

Edric continued as he opened his eyes. “And then maybe back.”

 

[Chasmine]

There had been a raid on the headquarters over the duration of Edric’s stay at the prison. Somehow their hideaway had been discovered and not only had it been beset upon by squadron of Anirian Knights and a Blackguard, but they were working alongside elves. That last part had been the most interesting for those presently invested in conversation.

Chasmine, present but only vaguely so after receiving her praise from Gilram for her efforts in Edric’s extraction, had begun to let her mind wander as the topic of discussion shifted to that of exile management. A handful of those that had been at the HQ had been apprehended by the Anirian Knights, though she thought she heard Duncan say they were of no consequence. Maybe she heard wrong.

Was she of no consequence as well?

Chasmine.

Something about him simply saying her name that got her attention. She didn’t even necessarily hear it so much as felt it. There again, that strange connection between them that allowed Edric the ability to make contact in ways that no other had been able to. Shifting across the sands to join him on his boulder, he’d feel her settle down beside him to look out upon the waters and the horizon beyond.

“Only half way?” Chasmine’s gentle voice replied to him.

 

[Edric]

Edric smiled slightly.

Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if it was half the world, or the whole length. He had never much been the best student, and geography beyond the basics had hardly sparked his interest any more than most subjects.

But nevertheless, he knew where he wanted to go. “I’m not sure how long it will take to get there.”

He admitted to her quietly, glancing over to where she ‘sat’. His gaze lingering for a few moments before he returned his attention back towards the Sea. He knew that she cared about Gilram’s cause, knew that she wanted to be here. There was no telling how long he would be gone, how long she would be if she came with.

“But.” Edric added, glancing towards Chasmine again. “I don’t want to go alone.”

He wasn’t trying to guilt her, but he had found over the last few weeks of their time together that there was no point in being anything but blunt. The truth would come out eventually, whether because of his own blithering, or Chasmine’s digging.

She could make her choice, but he knew which one he wanted her to make. “I want to go to the Wylds.”

Edric explained finally. “I want to go where no one can find me.”

Or would even think to look.

 

[Chasmine]

The Wylds. There was nothing in the Wylds for Chasmine and the idea of going there did not presently hold any interest to her. Current goal to return to the living aside, she was a born and raised city girl and had never much cared for roughing it in the wilderness despite how much of a love she held for nature and her gardens. She liked people, events, the genius of the human kind and all the many ways it manifested in society.

But in her current state, the Wylds was just another landscape of the spirit realm yet unexplored. Perhaps she was jumping to conclusions. Perhaps there was something to be found out there. Maybe an answer or another stepping stone toward her goal.

Her ghoulish eyes lingered on the horizon, never sharing the glances Edric had given her way. What trust she once held inherently for others had been tarnished so deeply that it felt impossible to take one’s word at all anymore and Chas held no compunction to go simply for the asking.

“Is it simply that you do not wish to be alone,” she began at length of silence, “or that you want me to go with you?”

Chasmine was not willing to be or go where she was not actively wanted, valued, respected, and appreciated. She would no longer act for another for the simple convenience of her good nature or the perceived desperation of her own loneliness. Lonely she was, but Edric wasn’t wrong in thinking that she wanted to stay with Gilram.

Gilram was the only person who had made any effort for her at all in the last near decade of her life.

 

[Edric]

Edric looked over at Chasmine as she asked her question.

For the longest time he stayed quiet. Staring at her as if the gears in his head were slowly turning and working towards some solution. He frowned for a brief moment, a hand coming up to slowly take through his hair. "I want you to go with me."

He admitted.

"I don't know what it is." The Rogue Dreadlord began, his head slowly turning back so that he could watch the sea. It was easier to say the words without having to look someone in the eyes. "Maybe it's whatever you did in Janix, telling me what I don't have, or the time in the cell."

A frown pulled at his lips. "Maybe it's because you're a loose soul and I'm…whatever I am."

Edric glanced down at his hands, frowning for a moment as he took a second to look at his digits. Furling his fingers slowly, calmly, before he slowly turned his gaze back towards the vast ocean.

"You make me calm." He said quietly, finding it difficult to admit even that small vulnerability. "I need that."

He knew that he would, even if he wasn't entirely sure what he was going to find. "I need you."

Edric said quietly.

 

[Chasmine]

It was perhaps the most honest answer she’d ever received and part of her deeply respected that fact. Yet she could not help the doubt. The reality that had become her life not just once, but twice over, to the point that she’d ended up dead.

The lies. Abandonment. How Azzerin had filled her ears full of lovely ideas and promises only to leave her stranded in the end, having used her as his key to get home. And Dorian? All the conversations she thought had been heartfelt falling flat against the emptiness of his disappearance. She had meant something to him?

Clearly not enough to take her with him or say anything to the fact of his plans.

“Edric,” Chas began after another length of silence, “I don’t trust you.”

Chasmine hated speaking ill of others, but she was learning that sometimes honesty really was the best practice for all involved parties. It saved her from being taken advantage of. From being used. And this felt like that. Clarity of mind was a curse, she was learning, but perhaps the pain of knowing better now was worth it in the end.

“I’m not your chamomile tea or your valerian root,” though her frown was faint, it was there, “I may be just a ghost but I am still a person. What happens when I no longer make you calm?”

 

[Edric]

“I don’t trust you.”

Fair. Edric thought to himself, having already come to the conclusion that more than half of his own class would give him the same answer. There would be more than a dozen conversations he would need to have, and he already thought that most every single one would go in the same way.

Chasmine was entirely right, she had absolutely no reason to go with him, no reason to help him or come along. “I don’t know.”

He said honestly.

“I don’t know a lot of things. I never did.” She had been there to hear almost every conversation he’d had in prison. Everleigh, Kristen, all of them. She knew, strangely enough, more about him than most did. “I can’t promise you that I’ll be fine and everything will be okay. I don’t really have a good argument for why you should go with me.”

The brute shrugged as he looked out towards the ocean. “I just know I need you to.”

She was the only thing that had ever made him feel calm. Truly calm.

Others had offered a salve in their own way. Maui beneath the sheets, Ral with her words, Noel with her comradery, even Hal with a stubbornness that matched Edric’s own. All of it helped, but the only time Edric had ever felt calm was with her.

He couldn’t deny that.

“I don’t have any right to ask, and you’d be smart to say no.” Edric glanced over towards the ghostly form. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

The Rogue Dreadlord said softly, but then added before she could answer. “But I promise, I really do, if you ever want to leave or go back. I will bring you home.”

A promise that Edric had always kept.

 

[Chasmine]

Being needed was a novel idea. No one had ever told Chasmine before that they needed her. Gilram didn’t need her, of course, but he had made it clear she was a welcome entity among his ilk and that so long as she wished to have a purpose with him, she would, and that he would help her however he could. But he’d never said he needed her for anything.

“I do not need your help getting home,” she replied, “I have learned to navigate the world alone just fine.”

It was her way of telling him that his promise held no value. She did not mean it in a cruel way, but that it held no sway over her decision.

“But I will think about it and give you my decision in the morning.”

 

[Edric]

Edric nodded his head. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

There wasn’t really much else to say. He couldn’t argue with her needing time. He had dropped this on her seemingly at random, his decision only coming after the weeks he’d spent in prison. Considered in solitude.

Well, partial solitude. He’d been accompanied by a ghost most of the time.

Shaking his head, Edric knew it was best not to push his luck. Chasmine would decide either way, and he would wait as long as she needed him to. Mostly because he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to do it without her.

He knew that he could go, he knew that he could survive, that was never in question. He just…wasn’t sure that he could find what he was looking for without her.

That sense of calm that she brought him.

Edric knew that was why he needed to go out there. He knew that was why he wanted to go. The wylds had no politics, no factions, no strings. Nothing that could pull on him, no one that wanted him to do one thing or another. Out there he would be free, out there he could think, out there he could finally decide.

With Chasmine, he knew he would be able to think, knew that he would make it there without tearing apart half the world. “I’ll wait here.”

He told her.

“I don’t…” Edric glanced towards the others. “Intend to stick around for long.”
The rogue Dreadlord said.

 

[Chasmine]

“I will not keep you waiting,” was her simple reply. The ghost of Chasmine Grey did not linger there after those words, but dissipated from sight as quickly as it took him to breath in and then out again.

Edric was left to his own thoughts and devices for the remainder of the day and evening. Chasmine did not appear to him again until sunrise the next day where her translucent form shimmered in the warmth of the morning’s first light like a shipwrecked maiden’s soul still wandering listlessly.

She could not feel the breeze from the sea or the warmth of the sunrays. Nor could she feel the ocean spray. The view was far less spectacular in her form - lost of it’s many glorious hues for a landscape bathed in strange grayish blues and greens. Here and there the flicker of life energies signified living creatures and their spirits, while elsewhere in the spirit realm there were, indeed, many a lost soul wandering about.

“I will join you on your journey,” Chasmine said to Edric, turning her gaze from the waters to wherever it was he stood, “but you must take the gemstone amulet and you must swear that you will aid me in my own endeavor to return to the living.”

 

[Edric]

Edric stepped up behind Chasmine, having spent most of the night simply sitting and waiting.

The rest of the time he had used to write letters. Ralene, Noel, Hal, and a few others would all receive one. None were great works of poetry or art, but a few were longer than some of the others. He hoped they conveyed…something of where he stood now, hoped that they would understand what it was he was doing.

Though he already knew that to most of them this would seem like utter nonsense. As most of his actions always had.

A smile touched his lips for a brief moment, but it faded as he finally reached his spectral companion.

Her head turned, and his eyes narrowed someone as she spoke. A smile touched his face again almost the moment she acquiesced, only to disappear as she gave her conditions. His head tilted for a brief moment, like a puppy who had heard something curious. His lips pulling to a frown for a brief moment. “You can do that?”

Edric asked, thinking about all of those spirits he had set loose.

Then immediately banishing the thought and tilting his head in a nod.

“I mean, I will.” He said before Chasmine could even answer his first question. Wanting to make it clear that he did not object in the least to ensuring that she returned. “If that’s what you want.”

He said. “I’ll help you get…back. I promise.”

And just like every other promise he had ever made. He would keep it.

 

[Chasmine]

Was it so surprising that she meant to break one of the great laws of magic for her very own self? Perhaps it was only unorthodox in practice - most people sought to retrieve treasured loved ones from the clutches of death or simply to make themselves immortal. Chasmine wanted for neither. In fact she did not even wish or want for immortality.

Chas simply wished to live.

She did not reply not because he had not given her the chance, but only because she felt a reply was not necessary. Chas was not a stutterer and she spoke only what she believed and meant. If Edric had not learned that by now then he had not been paying attention.

“Very well,” she said lightly upon receiving his promise as if he’d decided they would spend their afternoon collecting seashells along the shore, “Duncan has the amulet. Once he has given it to you I will be ready to depart.”

As a ghost she needed nothing else.

 

[Edric]

Edric nodded, turned on his heel, and then made an immediate b-line for Duncan. Finding the other, older Dreadlord didn’t take much work. He had positioned himself as something of a mentor to the young Rogue, and the man always made sure to at least let Edric be vaguely aware of where he was.

“You’re…leaving?” Duncan said, blinking slightly as if he wasn’t quite sure that he had heard Edric right. The conversation going back and forth with a quick, and shockingly pleasant tone after the newer Rogue explained that he was not returning to the Republic, but instead departing on a mission of his own.

Of course eyebrows shot up once again when he asked for the amulet, but true to Gilram’s words neither Duncan nor anyone else tried to stop Edric at any point.

Not as he took the Amulet. Not as he returned to his things and collected them, or went to some of the others and began to borrow money. Promising them an almost immediate return on their loan by telling them about coin he had stashed back at some of the Exiles various hideouts.

Some was from back before he’d left the Republic, some from Gilram, and the rest he had stolen from the dozens of noble houses Gilram had now sent him to over the last few months. Though most looked at him dubiously, a few liked Edric enough to give him the leeway.

Thus it was only an hour after Chasmine had told him that she would come with, that Edric found himself ready. Coin in his pocket, clothes packed, and amulet in hand. “Okay.”

He said, knowing that his ghostly companion was already there.

“Lets find ourselves a ship.” The Rogue declared happily.

 

[Chasmine]

The expression and tone of ‘happy’ on Edric was a bit like seeing him in a pink dress. It was strange and unexpected, but Chasmine did not altogether hate it. Edric was a pretty man after all, so a smile and the lightness of positivity worked well for him. Brought out his complexion and if nothing else, Chasmine had always rather liked the oddities of the world.

Ironic Edric should now become one of them.

It was good she had required he bring along the amulet if he intended to travel by ship. While Chasmine had already discussed with Gilram her intentions to go with Edric, she had not spoken with Duncan. The only reason to take the amulet was for her use, so Duncan would without any doubt be asking after Gilram later on. Edric would be missed and she surmised so would she. While Ed had been good for killing things, Chasmine had been useful for spying, infiltration, and gathering intel.

They were about to lose two of their tools and it was a small wonder there had not been any argument against it.

“I have never traveled by ship before,” Chasmine’s disembodied voice remarked wonderingly to Ed, “do you suppose we might see some mermaids?”

 

[Edric]

“I suppose.” Edric said as he began their trek up the beach. “I didn’t see one on the way to Tyr.”

He noted. “But the journey is going to be pretty much the same, I think.”

While plotting this out in his head, he had tried to remember as much as he could from that particular mission. Though mostly it’s outset. Their journey then had taken them from Aniria’s portal stone to Alliria, and from there a ship to Tyr itself.

This would be different. They could go directly to the Wylds, the only problem being…where the fuck were they going in the Wylds.

Edric couldn’t have explained it if someone asked. He just knew that he wanted to go to a place where there would be…no one. No Dreadlords, no Politicians, no Nobles. No one to whisper in his ear. No one to give him a command. He wanted to be himself, truly himself, and the way to do that was to be alone.

…With Chasmine.

“Do you want to see a mermaid?” Edric asked as they continued, the town coming into view up ahead.

 

[Chasmine]

“No,” Chasmine’s reply after a few moments of silence which could have been construed as thought and consideration, or just the typical Chasmine lost in thought, “I would like to meet one.”

She did not elaborate from there, but Edric might be able to sense the wonder of the subject from her. The pale effervescent curiosity of a ghost who, at the end of the day, was still just an odd young girl at heart.

“Edric,” her voice began gently after another few moments, “will you travel by Alliria?”

 

[Edric]

Edric glanced over towards Chasmine for a brief moment, eyebrow perking. "I'm sure we can find one."

Probably.

He had absolutely no idea how rare the damned things were, but they hadn't exactly been looking on the way to Tyr. Maybe if he actually kept an eye out this time he could spot one and fulfill that particular wish.

Obviously, it wasn't the same as bringing her back to life, but he figured keeping Chas happy could only be good. He needed her for…whatever it was that he actually wanted, and more than that, he needed her to actually want to help them.

Their relationship was hardly the most stable, and neither was Chasmine!

Another glance was quickly shot over towards where he knew she floated. Consideration flickering over his features for a moment. Lips drawing to a thin line before he let his gaze flicker back towards the town slowly coming into clearer view ahead of them.

"Probably." He said. "I bet someone here will be going there."

A lot of ships went to Alliria, even he knew that. It was practically the merchant capital of the world. "Then from there…well, we can grab another ship to Tyr or somewhere. Get them to drop us off on a beach."

The more he spoke, the more it became apparent that Edric's notorious lack of planning had not improved all that greatly.

But at least he had a plan.

 

[Chasmine]

“I should like to visit my family’s home in Alliria,” Chasmine replied with a finality that suggested it was not a request, but simply another term for their journey, “I hope to speak with my grandmother one last time.”

A beat, silence, and then, “What is in Tyr?”

 

[Edric]

Edric glanced over briefly at Chasmine, wondering if he’d already known if she was from Alliria and forgotten it…or if more likely he’d never paid enough attention to recall. His lips pressed to a thin line as he thought of how he had once been, how he’d treated those he would now call family.

It’s going to be impossible to get them to trust me. He thought to himself, and then quickly let another pass through his mind. Is it going to be worse now that I’m leaving?

For the first time, for just a brief second, Edric felt a flicker of anxiety in his chest. It bloomed for just a moment, a passing second before he pressed it down. Whatever doubt crept in, he knew would do him no good. Either he did this, or he didn’t, and he knew which one he wanted more. “Sure.”

Edric said finally, never having intended to argue.

“Hm?” He intoned to the question she asked. “Uhh, I mean…Kings, slaves, swords, but doesn’t really matter for us. It’s just the only place I know that’s…over there.”

There were a few other cities in that direction, he knew, but none of the names came to him when called. He figured taking a ship already going east would be easier than chartering one on their own. It wasn’t like he and Chasmine couldn’t get to shore from a safe distance.

 

[Chasmine]

“Oh,” her reply came wistfully after a moment of imagining. She knew nothing of Tyr and Edric was not a particularly descriptive or poetic person. Chasmine was left to daydream of a kingdom like any other she might’ve read about because she’d never been to any other Kingdom save Vel Anir.

Consequently, Tyr simply looked like a backwards Anir.

“That sounds nice.” And entirely inconsequential to her, either way, it wasn’t as if she knew any better than the roadmap … or sea map as it were … eastward beyond Alliria.

“Perhaps Alliria may enlighten you to more places. There is a Cartographer’s Guild in the city, if my childhood memories serve me correctly.” Logic did not always equate to lucidity, but she was feeling fairly clear minded today and finding a cartographer that might educate on more potential locations would not be so hard to do.

Edric had drawn quite close to the town now, his footfalls carrying him just within the outer limits. As he continued to walk he would feel Chasmine’s presence diminish from beside him until that hollow cold pooled within the amulet - wherever it was he carried it now on his figure.

She was tired and needed rest.

 

[Edric]

“That’s a good idea.” Edric noted, about to say something else to Chasmine when he suddenly felt a chill on his chest. Glancing down almost immediately to notice the amulet shifting in place there and sending goosebumps crawling over his skin.

A shiver ran down his spine, and he couldn’t help but shake slightly. “Oh.”

He remarked quietly to himself. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”

Shaking his head, the young Dreadlord let out a sigh and collected himself before heading into town directly. There it did not take him long to find the docks, and from there negotiations quickly began to find himself passage to Alliria.

In the end, Edric spoke to three boat captains. The first two either insisted on outrageous payments of gold, or offered only a room suitable for a man half of Edric’s size. The third, a man who named himself ‘Captain Half-Patch’ was found to be far more agreeable. Apparently a Cortosi, he offered Edric passage for a few coppers a day as long as he helped with some of the ship's tasks.

The Dreadlord quickly agreed, and by the evening Edric found himself perched at the prow of The Fool’s Heart, a small schooner carrying Anirian Wild Peppers to Alliria for trade. Sitting cross legged bowsprit, Edric half heard a shout behind him.

“If ye fall in! We ain’t fishin’ you out!”

Half-Patch called, but by the bemusement on his face it was clear the young boys antics didn’t bother him too much. As twilight began, Edric sat once more, watching as the sun began to set and the tide began to make their way.

Their journey to Alliria would take them ten days. Journeying through the Cortosi sea, down below the spear, and then once again up along the coast. The first five days went without much notice, Edric helping as directed and using what the Academy had taught him to pose as a fisherman’s son.
On the sixth day, or rather during the sixth night, Edric lay in his hammock, gently swinging back and forth. A crack of thunder echoing in the distance.

 

[Chasmine]

The amulet remained cold to the touch all six days and Chasmine did not grace his presence at all. Time moved differently for a ghost in the spirit realm, but ensconced within the amulet as she was, held between realms in a state of ethereal limbo, she had no concept of the passage of days.

All she knew was the slow rekindling of her energy, fueled by rest and partially by the warmth given off by Edric’s body.

“Edric,” her voice echoed quietly from the amulet, “are you awake?”

“I sense death.”

 

[Edric]

Edric’s eyes snapped open as soon as he heard Chasmine’s voice. The part of him trained for battle, for war, almost instantly kicking him up and awake at the very possibility of some kind of threat.

“I’m awake.” He noted, his eyes flickering back and forth through the small dormitory within the bottom of the ship.

Almost instantly he noted the lack of anyone else in their hammocks. Dogger, Tully, even Owen wasn’t there. Not unusual, he figured out that most of the sailors enjoyed gambling well into the night after their shift, but things were far too quiet. Usually the others were playing cards just in the other room.

Slowly he pulled himself up, glancing around as his boots hit the deck of the ship. “The others should be here.”

He commented quietly as he pulled himself up, bowing his head so it didn’t smash against the ceiling.

 

[Chasmine]

“Above,” Chasmine commented.

On deck a night sky as clear as one could possibly imagine greeted Edric with the bright silver wash of moonlight. The crew had left their gambling to gather above, watching in stark silence off the port side. Not a single man made a sound.

In the distance, beyond the lapping of the sea at the boat’s hull, Edric would spy the scene of another much larger ship tipping backwards into the sea. Around its hull and sails the coiling lengths of tentacles. Fire had erupted within the bow, perhaps in a vain attempt to dissuade the attack.

“Blimey,” hushed a wiry man nearby, “I heard stories it awakened. Thought they’s all just rumors.”

The sea was known to have its many beastly threats, and krakens were known by many even if not very common. At such a distance it was hard to tell, but this one looked abnormal. Its very presence could be felt by those sensitive to magic and it felt ancient.

“Kalamek,” Chasmine whispered to Edric, the tone of her voice filled with a frisson of equal parts alarm and awe, “Kiva’s child.” A fairy tale told over long centuries of a kraken so monstrous it could swallow entire armadas. Not even seasoned Captain’s believed in it as anything more than a cautionary story to pay homage to the Goddess of the Seas to stay her rage.

 

[Edric]

ere were very few things in the world that could scare Edric. Fewer still that could make him feel truly in awe.

He had spent most of his life surrounded by Dreadlords. Men and women who could kill most at the drop of a hat. Magics that could sunder, tear apart, and rip into the very atoms of a persons being. Yet most of them had been unable to kill him, even through their greatest efforts. He had always managed to come back.

Somehow.

Yet staring at the thing in front of them now; watching as the massive tendrils swept from the waves and wrapped around the hull of the ship in the distance, Edric couldn’t help but feel goosebumps roll up his spine.

It was that sliver of fear which told him deep down he was still human after all. A person, capable of thinking, feeling, and dying just like everyone else on this ship. Edric had no idea if that monster was the child of a Goddess, but for a brief second, a fleeting second; he couldn’t help but wonder if it would bring him the end that called to him so.

But within that fear whispered something else. A voice. A Craving.

For a brief moment, Edric felt a strange sort of compulsion enrapture him. He felt his feet moving without his command, his boots calling out against the deck of the ship. One step, two, and then before he knew it half a dozen.

“ALRIGHT! THAT’S ENOUGH GAWKING!” The Captain’s shouts snapped Edric back into the moment, fingers wrapped tight around the railing of the ship. Some spray from the sea below peppering his face with cold water as the man continued to bark orders, the desperation in his voice hidden by the urgency that all of them suddenly seemed to feel.

“Do you want to be it’s next meal!?” Demanded their commander. “Turn the sails! Get us towards the coast where the damned thing can’t follow!”

Edric stood where he was, fingers still clutched around the railing as he watched one of the massive tendrils twist and then slam down into the water. It’s huge expanse breaking in the midst of the massive ship in the distance. The sound of it’s breaking hull echoing even over the miles of the sea. “Maybe we should have gone by land.”

The Rogue Dreadlord said, more to himself than his ghostly companion.