[Emmon/Elektra]

More voices......one awoke a wistfulness in him.....but Emmon was hard
put to place where, or when, he had heard those voices.....

~Darkness....open your eyes....~ Such a logical idea. One couldn't see
much in the dark....

An alley suddenly filled with shadows. Knife-wielding shadows. A scream..

Emmon cried out and thrashed out at something only he could see.

Quickly Elektra leaned forward to grasp his flailing arms. "Mr. Filgers,"
she said firmly, "You're safe. You're in Brion Hillrover's house." Wake
up..." She considered touching his thoughts to help him to wake, but with
his confused state she feared any interference would make his memories
even more muddled. And she felt torn whether his remembering would serve
any good purpose; while she firmly believed in the law she also knew that
young William was far beyond help, and any leads could send Mr. Mayce, and
maybe Emmon Filgers, to hunting the murderers. Men, or women, who might
have been the focus of Emmon's and William's inquiries. Or they two could
have fallen foul of the many other predators that stalked the streets of
Montfort - a case of poor timing and worse luck. She felt confused by her
own reaction - normally she erred on the side of duty to the Law.

The half elf's eyelashes fluttered open and he lay gasping away the last
vestiges of a nightmare. Slowly he unfocused gaze traveled around the room
- touching on Elektra - then on Perrin.

"Notes," he answered, staring at the lawyer. Emmon could remember that
Perrin Mayce got notes.

[Perrin]

"Yes,"  Perrin said eagerly.  " Yes, the notes... you worked for me.
Investigating a very important case."

[Emmon/Elektra]

Elektra sat down on the side of the bed, and kept a restraining hand
resting on the investigator's arm. "Mr. Mayce has come to ask you about
William," she prompted.

The wounded man stared over at her with worry in his blue
eyes. "William..?  I gave him notes..."

He could remember the warm light and loud laughter of the Dragon's Inn,
and William's delicate shade of green from too much good beer and strong
coffee.

They'd gone out to get some air....

Then the shadows came...........

"Run!" he cried.

[Perrin]

Perrin's heart sank slightly as he saw poor man's mind slip further
away from reality.    He was reliving the attack, most certainly...

...but, dammit, he wasn't SAYING anything!

"WHO WERE THEY!"  Perrin demanded.  The anger was false;  the shout,
intended to jar Emmon's mind loose from the dark place where it was now
lodged.  But whether it would return to reality or sink deeper into the
abyss still remained to be seen.

[Emmon/Elektra/Morrighu]

At Perrin's shout Emmon's eyes flew open wide, but he only thrashed
harder.

Elektra wasted no time in getting a firm hold on his arms. "Emmon," she
said, "We need to know what happened."

A familiar voice - a voice that meant safety!! The investigator tried to
grasp her arm, but after finding himself unable to do so he grasped at his
covers with his good hand. He stared up at the young secretary and
frantically, earnestly, told her, "William...here....."

"I know...I know...," she said to the wounded man; then looked over her
shoulder at Perrin. "He's remembering when Brion and I found him...." She
sighed, remembering the long hours Soillar had fought to save Filger's
life, and added, "It may not be so much shock as the head injury...."

Behind them Morrighu waited. She had brought up a tray with a pot of tea
and cups, and had softly opened the door. Quietly she cleared her throat
to let them know she was there, and said, "While there is little I can do
for his injuries......" (no, her music had never healed her husband of his
- greater, far more brutal, forces had accomplished the restoration of his
mind) "I do have a way to sooth his nightmares and shock, perhaps enough
to let him speak of what he does remember."

"Its not control or mental tampering," Elektra added, but had to turn her
attention back to her restive patient.

[Perrin]

"Mmmm..."  Perrin hummed doubtfully.    "I don't know if I trust this
magic of yours.  But if you wanted to tamper with his mind, you'd have
had plenty of opportunity to do so before I arrived.     Do what you can..
but ONLY as much as you need."

[Morrighu/Elektra/Emmon]

"Its nearer a lullaby then magic," Morrighu said, stepping over to the
dresser to put her tray down.

~A lullaby....,~ Elektra thought, ~For many her song has been the last
lullaby for a sleep that bridges the time between one life and the next.~
She knew that Morrighu could sing far less permanent songs, but she could
remember the soft, insistent tug on her spirit as the Bean Nighe had sung
for other victims of the terrors wrought by the Republic and the Church. A
gift of peace the spirit girl had refused in order to fight those who had
murdered her.

The white haired elven woman moved to the foot of the bed and began to
sing in an tongue now archaic amongst the High Elves; the sound slipping
soothingly along the nerves.

Gradually Emmon began to quiet, but the Elven woman's song did not given
him the freedom to sleep.

It was the conflict between his desire to sleep and the restraint upon him
that brought the wounded man's attention to focus on Morrighu. His eyes
widened at the sight of her - he had been too near the abyss not to know
the nature of her chill. His gaze took in the pale beauty of her face,
with her burning blue eyes, and her long icy hair, and he murmured,
"Time...? Have you come ......?" A tinge of fear shown in his eyes.

"Not for you," she answered, "Your hour is not now nor here. But there is
another whose soul needs aide. Who needs justice and what you have seen
may help for him to have peace."

Emmon looked briefly puzzled.

"William...?" he asked, turning to look at Elektra, and then at
Perrin; realization and despair awakening in his pained gaze.

In his mind's eye he could see William trapped between two shadows; of
course, from his vantage point in the refuge he mostly had seen shadowy
legs scrambling about.

Before he could sink back into the grip of the nightmares Morrighu resumed
singing; she stepped back, out of his view, but kept up a low melody.

Elektra looked over at Perrin. "Perhaps now," she said quietly.

[Perrin]

Perrin's attention had been equally divided between Emmon and the strange
woman's song.  It wasn't that Perrin didn't like magic... on the contrary,
it had been an invaluable tool in certain of his cases.  But it was a
tool that was far too prone to misuse, deception and malice.  Perrin
remained generally neutral on the subject of magic itself... but the USERS
of magic tended to abuse it more often than not.  Whether that was the
case here remained to be seen.  The 'song' did seem to have a calming
effect on Emmon... but what OTHER effects were being illicited along with
it?

When it was apparent that Emmon was about as calm and lucid as he was
going to get, Perrin decided to try his questions again.  He'd try a
different approach this time:  perhaps if he started with the known and
worked toward the unknown, he could have better results...

"Emmon?  Tell me about the case.  Tell me about the things you found.. the
things you put in your notes.  What do you remember?"

[Emmon]

Emmon's brow furrowed and he turned pain-filled, confused, eyes toward
Perrin, but for now the nightmares seemed distant - almost severed from
himself. "Notes....," he focused on the word, "Sore feet......"

Yet for his rambling he didn't seem to be slipping - just thinking
hard; trying to cut through the greyness of his mind. "Couldn't find," he
said, "No one knew......anything......"

He tried to reach towards Mayce, but Elektra gently pinned him to the
bed. "I....I ....gave William my notes....."

[Perrin]

"Yes,"  Perrin said in soft, almost gentle tones... as if trying to coax
the words from Emmon's memory like a mouse from its hole.  Perrin smiled,
and added a few more bits of information as bait to draw out the rest...

"Yes, that's right.  You gave them to him at... what was the place?  The
Dragon's Inn?  Yes, that was it.  You and him were there.  But then you
went outside.  Both of you.... you went outside because...?

The last of Perrin's words hung expectantly in the air.

[Emmon]

"Too much .....good beer....best ....in Mont...," Emmon answered with a
hint of a chuckle, though the sound faded nearly the moment it began.

The wounded man's expression became more focused on Perrin, and the
private investigator said, with the tones of deepest regret, "I'm
sorry.....Three of them....too damned fast....Too damned fast......"

[Perrin]

"Hmmm..."  Perrin nodded.    Finally, he was getting to some
useful information.     "What did they look like?    What did
you see?"

[Emmon]

Emmon focused on the far wall, somewhere beyond Perrin's left shoulder,
and sought to nudge, or rip, away some of the darkness that had eaten his
memory. Slowly he began to realize that not all was caused by lack of
memory, but by the state of the alley. That darkness was filled with
William's long scream.

"Never had a....good look," he said, "Had...no torch...no light.....three
of them hit at once....."

His thoughts began to fill with a jumble of words, and shadows tipped
crazily, but that, he decided, must have been when he had fallen. He had a
vague memory of the world twisting at weird angles.

He sighed tiredly, "Three.....that's all I remember.....three...."


[Perrin]

"You remember more than that,"  said Perrin... his voice forming the words
into a soft but assertive statement rather than a question.  "Remember,
detective.... remember.... you saw nothing more, but you have more senses
than just that one.  What did you hear?  What did you smell?  There were
three attackers... but were they all male?  All human?  Even a shadow can
tell you that much...."

[Emmon]

The song wrapped around his conscience like a warm blanket, protecting him
from the terrors those random images brought; let his heart stay at a
steady rhythm, as opposed to a wild pounding while his body remembered a
battle his mind had refused. Nor, for the moment, did guilt and
aggravation at his helplessness, drown him.

He could nudge at the greyness. He could remind himself, ~I am an
investigator.~

"Almonds.....," Emmon murmured, finding in the shadows the persuasive
aroma of almonds....and piss. ~It was an alley,~ he reminded himself, ~By
an inn....but that doesn't explain the almonds.~

"Like....someone dropped a case of extract....."

Encouraged, he sought further.

Always finding William's scream waiting for him. And his own.

A leg. He remembered a leg!!

"One...had boots on..." Emmon shook his head and winced. Just about eighty
percent of Montfort wore boots. "Cut at a leg....couldn't cut through the
leather...might have been a boot or armour...."

His brow furrowed as he tried to grasp another elusive thought. "The
one...who stuck .....me.....I think it .....might have been a woman....."


[Perrin]

Perrin wrote all of Emmon's words down... scribbling them greedily as they
emerged from the detective's mouth.  It was good.  All of it...  Good
information. Indispensible.

But not nearly enough.

He had to get more.     Emmon KNEW more... Perrin was certain of it!

"...and William,"  said Perring.  The eager edge had returned to his
voice, displacing the soft calmness he'd used before.  "The one who
attacked him. Did you see?  Did you see the struggle?  Or hear anything...
anything that was said between the attackers?"

[Emmon]

Even with the song protecting him Emmon shifted restlessly at the memory -
and at the fact that he found only blackness when he tried to remember the
other attackers.

"William's screaming......," he said tiredly, "All.....I can....remember
is his screaming......I told him to run....No fair maid....but I
knew....always the alley....for me....."

Emmon sighed, "I know he didn't get far.....too dark....and one attacker
moved on me....thought I heard a lot of scuffling....probably two
attackers pinned him.....sorry........."


[Perrin]

"...but they SAID nothing!?    They said nothing at all to each other!?!
 No words... no whispers, no signals...?   THINK, man, you had to have
heard something!"

[Elektra/Emmon]

Rare it was that Elektra used the gift of telepathy left from her days as
spirit beyond communicating with her "kin," but during the last few
moments of Perrin's interrogation she had been "reading" Emmon. Not even
Morrighu's song was keeping Emmon from turning restive under Mayce's
growing demands and Elektra decided to see if those questions served any
use.

After easing Emmon back to his pillows she looked up at the lawyer and
said, "Mr. Mayce, I doubt there's much more to learn. Mr. Filgers is
tiring and needs rest _now_."


[Perrin]

"Now you look here, woman-!"  Perrin snapped.  But when he heard the tone
of his own voice, and saw the growing agitation on the detective's face...
he did something he never would have considered doing prior to William's
death: He relented.

"...very well,"  he continued.  He made no attempt to hide his disapproval
or frustration.  "We've got something to go on.  And I'm sure he'll
remember more tomorrow.  Isn't that right, detective?  After a bit of
rest, you'll be able to tell us more, won't you?"  He spoke to Emmon as if
giving orders... drilling commands into the man's subconscious mind...
instead of merely stating a wish or asking a question.

[Emmon/Elektra/Morrighu]

Unbeknownest to Perrin Mayce the song had begun to ease Emmon into deep,
healing sleep - far from nightmares or questions. Giving him, at least
briefly, the freedom he craved.

Morrighu noted two things - Elektra's protective glare as the young woman
smoothed the patient's blankets, and the pain that surrounded the lawyer.
Too many years...too many songs....she had no need to actively read him to
feel the anquish radiating from him. She brought her song to a halt and
said, "Mr. Mayce, it will be an hour before Brion can return you to town.
Would you care to join me for lunch?"

[Perrin]

"Lunch?"  Perrin glanced at his notes, and then at Emmon, who was already
drifting off to sleep.  "I'm... not hungry."  And most importantly, he
wasn't thirsty...  at least not the kind of thirst he was suffering under
just a few hours ago.

"But I suppose I must eat,"  he said after a pause.  "And I can work here
just as easily as anywhere... for a while, at least."

[Morrighu]

"You can eat in the parlor," Morrighu said, closing the door behind them,
"And its quiet there so you can work till Brion can take you back to
town."