The MemoryStone                                                 Makela Leki                                                                                                                                                     
    )	   P      	  
    =  L  `  \"      From The MemoryStone  of Makela Leki        This is a faithful reproduction of  the thoughts recorded in Makela   Leki's memory stone, found in the  Bankorai pass, in the year of  reckoning 1E 973.  Seven years  before the fall of Orsinium due to  the combined efforts of the armies  of Daggerfall, Sentinel, and the  Order of Diagna.     Almost all of this is in the first  person, as Makela was unfamiliar  with the protocols and scholarly  formalities of recording herself  into a memory stone. None the less,  her heroism and heroic deeds live  on, her memories fresh in the stone  for all to feel and hear.         " . . . muuu uhh, I wonder if this will really work?"   "The Mages guild took me for 25,000 gold crowns if it doesn't.  Imagine?  This stone will record my thoughts? What did they say? Just unwrap it from the silver foil and leather bag and as soon as it touches my flesh it will begin to record.     "Ahhhh, the pain, I must block it out, no one would want to hold my  stone and hear my thoughts if I let it record my pain. Thank the Ebonarm and the training I received in The Hall of the Virtues of War.  I CAN block out this pain. Ummm just, ah,  there, it's walled off.   "Yes I can still see it there just beyond my consciousness lurking like a hungry wolf - a wolf that will soon  consume me. I see also my inevitable death from these damned wounds.  No potions left, the healing crystal and ring are used up, and me, with not even magic enough to light a candle.   Oh but the gods did give me other gifts, the gift of sword singing, the thrill of battle, Frandar  Hunding's Book of Circles, THE WAY OF THE SWORD. Ah but then that is my story, I get ahead of myself.     I am Makela Leki a warrior, a sword-singer, a second level Ansei. In  my cradle I could form the Shehai, the spirit sword - The mystical blade,  mine formed of pure thought serpents intertwined with vines of roses to  form the blade, as beautiful as ...     Ah, but I'm about to tell you all about that, to tell you my story, a story of valiant battle, of my loves, of my wars, of. of betrayal and of this last glorious victory. To tell you of how I came to this distant lonely pass me and five companions, to fight these men and monsters to  defeat the army that would fall on my people like cowards in the night, but again I get ahead of myself.     I am a simple warrior. I grew up as a Maiden of the Spirit Blade.  As early as I can remember I wanted to be a Singer, to feel the hunger of  the blade in my hands, to feel it come alive and take my enemies. I am  told our people were artisans and poets long ago in our desert homes.   Here in new home now known as Hammerfell, many of us have returned  to those ancient ways, but to me there is but ONE WAY. THE WAY  of the SWORD.      Ah this is hard to tell. I grew up in my noble family, the only one of  three brothers and two sisters that felt the calling, the Song of the  Sword. Father understood, for he too had felt the call. He had become a master, and Ansei long before settling down with in our estate to raise a family. At eleven, I entered the Hall of the Virtues of War and joined the Maidens of the Spirit Sword. In my band there were six of us. Daring Julia, solid Patia, big Kati, svelte Cegila, wise Zell, and me - all are gone now, save me, and soon I will join them. ... Join them in the halls of the unknown gods of war.   We drank together, we fought, we  wept, we grew in the way of the sword. We joined in our learnings in the Hall with our Brothers of the Blade. Learning from each other, we all sat at the feet of the Hall Master striving to learn the depths of the  Shehai - making the spirit blade into a real weapon as Frandar Hunding had. Only a few have the purity of heart and virtue to be able to take the step and learn the mysteries of Ansei. Sword Sainthood.     Somehow, of all the Brothers and the Maidens, I only possessed the unique qualities, the faint but strong enough flicker of magicka to call forth the Shehai. Many times I called it, seldom would it become substantial enough to be a weapon. To be a Ansei of the first level you just need to be able to call it, and that I could, so I became the first Ansei from our local hall in two generations.    Oh I have so much to tell, so many memories, so many treasures to share with you, my unknown companion. How do I start?   Umhhh, the pain is still out there lurking hungry, slowly consuming what's left of me. I guess I had better tell of the final battle, the one that has left me here, and then if I have the will left tell you of my life, of my love  Raliph. OH what a lad he was. What times we shared ... Ebonarm ... Forgive me, my mind wanders ...  Let me go to the  Final Battle.     Umm to start, in the middle humm. Yes. We Maidens grew, learned, mastered the Way, and upon completing the Walk-About. To you who are not Singers, this is a wilderness trek emulating the times of Frandar Hunding - where we each wander the country side righting wrongs, defeating monsters, performing quests in the name of virtue. Some of us in our Hall took years to finish. Always there is danger, we six Maidens each returned in our own good time, but many are they who do not live to return from the Walk About.      We returned, each to our own lives, to meet in the hall once a week to tell our stories to the new Maidens and Brothers, and to perform as instructors in the Way of the sword.  All was well till the night of the MidYear Festival.   All our people were reveling and ...  excuse ... enjoying the repast, but for we six Maidens.  It happened that the  festival day fell on our day of meeting in the hall, our day of prayer and  fasting and honor to the Way of the Sword.     As we met, late into the night, a knocking rang on our door.  When I opened, it there was a guardian the Bankorai Pass in the Wrothgarian Mountains, wounded and near death ... He told us of betrayal from the  north, an invasion sponsored by the Crystal Tower of High Rock, led by King Joile of Daggerfall -- our ally in the war with Orsinium!   Quickly we used up a crystal of healing in restoring him to vitality. We sent him on to the king, while we six grabbed our weapons and armor of power, and as many potions, marks, and crystals and rings as we could carry.     We flew to the pass hoping upon hope that we would not be too late. Our journey was not in vain, for we arrived just at the very point where the last three guardians were overwhelmed by the horde.  Into the pass we ran forming the old battle line, six abreast.   OH did we FIGHT.   The Song of the Sword was a joyous noise slicing through the ranks of evil.  We fought for hours. Julia was the first to fall, a cowardly poisoned dagger finding a rent in her armor. Then one by one all fell, save me.   ... oh cruel Ebonarm ...    Then my beloved sword, the sword of my father, the one with the serpent's crest, fashioned by the master sword smith Singer Tansal broke in my hands. All was lost, our six lives spent in vain. Now, many many of them would pour through the pass. I would be easy prey for them, like a newborn child. I wept in frustration.     Then I remembered the hearth in our home - the book.  Frandar Hunding's Book of Circles, the Way of Strategy.  I reached for the Shehai the spirit sword, that which I could never reliably form when I needed it, and behold ... it was alive.     Alive with fire. It formed in my hand. Ablaze with power --- OH I slew mightily, right and left, like a scythe through wheat.  All the way to the Lord of the Tower I fought.  With one blow I cut his magical armor asunder, one more took his head.   But to do that deed cost me dearly, wounds by the dozen, for although I had magical armor, it was not formed of spirit like my blade, it was not as invincible as my blade or my own spirit, and I was sorely wounded.     With the felling of King Joile, his army crumbled. They fled before my wrath. All ran back through the pass not even pausing to collect their dead and wounded. All who could stand ran for their lives, and I slew all I could reach, but my breath was coming short, and the pain ...   Finally I rested, on this rock where you find me now. I don't know why I chanced to bring this stone along. I bought it on a whim really, with the loot from ... ah well I guess I need to really stop and  tell my story in order. I feel able to go on to tell you more ... the eternal night is descending more slowly than I thought.   Not just yet, am I ready to compose my death poem.  A little sip of water and ... well I think I will go back and tell you of my life, maybe some details about the battle. And Oh yes. About Raliph and our children, humm where will I start.     ... oh ... rrr ...   I am ... a simple warrior ... I grew up as a, a Maiden of the Spirit Blade ... As early ... as early as I can ... remember ...       