After Belladona was tricked into curing herself of her vampirism, the
former Queen disappeared from the face of Sapience. Many wondered where
she could have hidden in such a weakened state, but one man knew.

Handel, the Choirmaster of Enorian, had long been bringing orphaned
children into Enorian's choir to protect them from the outside world and
in her cured state Belladona was very much like these abandoned children:
bereft of her power and family. So, it was to Handel that Belladona
went, begging in the middle of the night for a safe place to stay.
Handel accepted Belladona's heartfelt plea and promised to address the
problem to the Sultan. Belladona hid once more and awaited word from
Handel.

Fearful that dangerous people would assume he knew Belladona's
whereabouts, Handel fabricated a letter from Belladona and a messenger
to deliver it. He told the Sultan that he had been entrusted with the
letter when the imagined messenger that was supposed to deliver it to
Cuchulainn had been unable to locate him and, in receiving the letter,
knew something of its content but not much. The letter asked for
sanctuary for Belladona and gave instructions that in a few months the
messenger would come again, this time for affirmation of Belladona's
allowance or a dismissal of her request from the council.

Days passed and Enorians council weighed the costs and benefits of
action, in the end, the council decided to allow Belladona to stay
within the city for protection, but that they would keep a wary eye upon
her on the lookout for deception. But, Handel never had an opportunity
to tell Belladona the good news, for he was kidnapped, tortured, and
murdered by Zsarachnors vampire scouts and sentries. The vampires
invaded the city using an attack on the village of Shastaan as a
diversion and only after the ruckus quieted down did anyone realize
Handel was gone.

News of Handels disappearance passed to the denizens of Jaru and their
priest, Father Garron, said he had heard a lot of commotion on the
bridge, but hadnt thought anything of it because many people often
passed between Enorian and his small town on a daily basis. Many people
discussed what could have possibly happened to Handel some felt that
Bloodloch had had a hand in his capture, while still others had noticed
the increased presence of vampire sentries throughout the land and the
activity of Zsarachnor's scouts near Enorian.

Days later, it was Father Garron who found Handel's body in a warehouse
in Jaru. He alerted several citizens including Iereas and Thalian and
together, they carried Handel's body to the Prophet Averroes house to be
prepared for burial. The funeral went off without incident, several of
Enorian's notable citizens and guild tutors in attendance. If anyone in
attendance wondered who the figure dressed in tattered grey robes was,
no one mentioned it, but after the service the woman asked to speak to
the council members in attendance.

Surprise and shock radiated through Enorian's council as the woman
dropped her grey hood, revealing herself as Belladona. It was then that
Belladona explained that Handel had known where she was, that he had
endeavored to help her, that he had kept her secret even in the face of
death, and in the end he had been murdered because she had had no where
else to turn. Guilt-ridden, Belladona told how she had heard about his
funeral, but could no longer hide in constant fear of being found.
Enorian's council eagerly told her that had decided to allow her to stay
and took her to the Palace for safekeeping.

Thus it was that Belladona came to be revealed to Enorian's council
members, though not to the world and Handel, the beloved Choirmaster of
Enorian was murdered and buried, in the Garden of Faith atop the Priests'
tower.

Many months had passed since Belladona came to stay in the Sultans
palace. Daskalos introduced her to the joy of eating pie as a mortal and
many council members came to her and went, discussing the cure to
vampirism and other things of import.

Enorian had found not a replacement for the Choirmaster, but a young
knight named Ta'lionu felt that he could be of service. He got up the
courage to ask his mentor, Sir Syvelium, about the position and Syvelium
promised to support him in his venture. Calling fellow paladin and
Sultan, Cuchulainn, to his side, Talionu effectively submitted his
resume for the job of Choirmaster in the Beacon of Light. Cuchulainn
discussed Ta'lionu's offer with his council and all decided to accept the
young Tsol'aa as Choirmaster.

Ta'lionu, however, knew that his duty to the Paladin guild had to come
first and decided to forgo celebration until the guildmaster of the
Paladin guild, Koron, gave permission for him to take on the extra duty.
Koron gladly assented to Ta'lionu's bid for Choirmaster. He supported the
youth so much so that he and Sir Syvelium hatched a plan to make Ta'lionu
Choirmaster as well as a Knight in the same ceremony. Talionu had long
been a knight-in-training, and acted as a mascot for the novices and
probates of the Paladin guild, but Talionu felt that he had to do
something noble and important and befitting of a knight before he
deserved to be Knighted. Koron felt that offering to be Choirmaster, a
difficult task in itself, plus giving up Ta'lionu's current life as a
Paladin was a grand act and the action of a man worthy, even by Ta'lionu's
standards, of Knighthood.

The ceremony was performed, after some initial reticence, by the
Cardinal of Enorian, Lothorien and everyone in attendance was encouraged
and delighted by Ta'lionu's joy at his new task and his newfound
Knighthood.

Belladona had been in Enorian for several months, her presence secret
from everyone but the council of Viziers. Locked within the palace,
everyone around Belladona felt that she was well-protected. But,
Zsarachnor's mental attacks had weakened Belladona's restraint. She had
become a raving madwoman and in her fervor and failure to guard her
mind, had given Zsarachnor enough information about her whereabouts that
he could launch an attack.

Sending in a special trained scout and sentry team, Zsarachnor was able
to gained entrance to Belladona's chambers. The guards were distracted
and it took some time for Enorian to react to Belladona's frantic screams
of pain. When citizens did arrive, however, the vampire was no match for
them and was quickly dispatched.

Many tended Belladona's numerous wounds, but her true frailty was
beginning to show. Her garbled speech and nonsensical warnings could not
help anyone decipher the cause of her discomfort.

Frustrated by the death of his servant, Zsarachnor sent a whole company
and sentries and scouts to fight against the citizens of Enorian, but
true to form, the citizens defeated two waves of attacks and dragged
Belladona to safety in the Luminary guildhall.

Long days and even longer nights past while Belladona was held there.
Many of her former family called out to her, but she was angry that they
hadnt come to help her sooner, that they hadnt helped to kill
Zsarachnor, and that they had betrayed her intentions to him, a fact of
which she was sure. Necia, the guild tutor of Luminaries, reported
hearing Belladona's frightful sobbing from the upper levels of the hall,
and often citizens looked in on her to comfort and listen.

Even with the company of her new friends, Belladona felt isolated.
Zsarachnor's psychic attacks weakened her ability to even speak
coherently, but the fire she possessed as an Ankyrean had not died and
the tenacity she bore as a Queen had not drained from her with the
disease. Belladona remembered a book that she had once wanted to procure
in order that she might study it. The writer had been something of a
prophet and his words, in the long-dead language of Kalsu, had been
thought powerless. But, Belladona knew that soon she would succumb to
Zsarachnor and any hope was better than none. She told anyone who would
listen to scour the libraries of Sapience for the book, written in a
strange tongue. Unsure, people spread out across the continent searching
for an amorphous idea of an old text.

It was Iereas, traveling to the island of Ulangi, who located the text.
Oorangu said that one of his scholars had procured it. Adia was left on
the island to discuss the book with the scholar, but to everyone's dismay
the pages of the book were missing. The chagrined scholar told Adia how
hed procured the book with some deceit from another traveler who had
been bragging about its contents, but that the pages of the book had
fallen out of the binding gradually along his trek home to Ulangi.

In the spirit of hope, Adia asked the grook to recount his journey and
an entire group of people began searching where the grook directed: first
in Shastaan, then at the statue of Vlar, next in a cavern in the Ithmia,
still more pages in the Crystal Leaf Inn, a few more atop the Great
Rock, and finally the last pages beside Hycanthus' pool. Belladona was
pleased to receive both the binding from Oorangu and the pages from her
helpers and she commenced a ritual immediately. Many doubted that it
would work, as Belladona read steadily the first few pages, but the wind
picked up and a strange voice wafted in on the air.

Belladona knew what no one else did, though, that the ritual had to be
finished before Zsarachnor himself in order to banish him, as it was
designed. When monk guardians on the lower levels of the Luminary
guildhall warned of attack, Belladona knew she would be taken and
clutched tightly to the tome within her hands.

Turning her mind over to Zsarachnor, she allowed him to think he had
won. Feeling herself carried over the distances of space and time,
Belladona soon stood before Zsarachnor in his crypt. Bereft of her
friends and weakened by her capture, Belladona didn't know if she could
finish the ritual she had begun. Soon, people piled into the crypt, all
threatening to attack Zsarachnor if he did not allow Belladona to leave.
But, Zsarachnor merely laughed and attempted to delay their anger until
he killed his mortal enemy.

As Zsarachnor grabbed Belladona's throat, lifting her off the ground,
Belladona whispered the final words of the ritual, the words of power,
and Zsarachnor's face went from triumphant, to confused, to pained. The
Vampire Lord was banished in a chaotic chorus of screeches that ripped
from his creations as they followed him to places unknown. The book,
carefully clutched in Belladona's hand, exploded outward, its pages
fluttering across the continent and the binding faded from view.
Belladona's mind was released from its captivity and she looked visibly
better, though still frail and beaten.

Traveling back to Enorian, Belladona was installed in the Prophet
Averroes' home and asked to help Aren with his scientific research. Necia
found a suitable dress for her, as she had been wearing rags, and Iereas
ensured she had more than enough pie.

But what has become of the ritual book? Who wrote the book and why? What
will Belladona do with herself now that she is no longer a Queen
vampire? And, where has Zsarachnor gone?

Penned by my hand on the 10th of Lanosian, in the year 157 MA.