A scratching, seeming almost furtive, comes from the Box. Ortyn knows who it is immediately - long years have taught him to recognise the cramped and careful hand holding the Quill. He can see Tarvaunt in his mind's eye, hunched over the parchment, squinting horribly as he chooses every word with an eye to economy...and concealment. For what feels like an age, but probably isn't, Ortyn of Heth waits for the other wizard to finish his missive. After several false alarms - particularly long pauses as Tarvaunt tries to find the correct phrasings - the Quill finally comes to rest. Hobbling awkwardly on his painful leg - never again would he attempt to reach the island at the centre of the Well! - he makes his way to the Box.
Ortyn of Heth is not one of the circle of guardians - none of them know, although some suspect - that he is here as the representative of parties unknown. In fact, he is in Chelmsey as an agent of the Order of the Owl, a group of scholars whose sole purpose is the gathering and preservation of knowledge. He is not there to protect against the Chaos Well, but to study it. A knight-diplomat turned scholar he is now old and somewhat tired, but is enjoying the Chaos Well as an intriguing object of research. He also likes the village and those who dwell there, although most of them are a little uncertain around him, due to his carefully cultivated air of bland but affable disinterest. Folk find him hard to read. When not specifically engaged in researching the Well (and learning as much about the villagers as possible), he spends his time committing a record of his career in writing for the Order to archive.
Ortyn is quite short, but retains some of the musculature of a warrior, and most of the bearing. Now quite bald, he has a meticulously trimmed short beard (mostly white), calm blue eyes, a proud beak of a nose and - currently - a limp gained when he was attacked by the mutant crab that lives in the Chaos Well.
No comments:
Post a Comment