For A Thousand Years

To whom it may concern:

We hope this letter finds you well, and we hope that the King in Gold and the Queen in Silver are at peace within your halls.

I'm writing today to confirm that we have received the packages you sent, and are very glad for them. You have saved us years, if not longer, and we will not soon forget this boon. Our Man is at your service, and will be always, now and into eternity.

As for the crates themselves, they are currently being held in dry dock, as some of our subjects are...sensitive, and we hope to avoid startlingly them unnecessarily.

They will be transferred to the safety of the Blind Vault by the next Gibbous Moon. Plenty of time to spare for both our purposes.

As requested, here is a copy of the shipping manifest, if something has failed to arrive – please let us know immediately – neither Our Man nor your Regents wish to see this moon pass without decisive action.

In the first crate we received:

1. 3 large, round stones – silver, amber and bronze respectively. The third was chipped, as would be expected.

2. Copper wire, twenty-one feet in length, clipped into three foot segments.

3. Three eyelashes, human.

4. Three eyelashes, distinctly not human, all from what I can only assume is a right eye.

5. A length of rope, rune-bound, knotted at both ends and twelve feet in length. While we would have preferred it to be a bit longer, we'll make due.

The second crate was too heavy for our men to lift, so we opened it on the ship. Within was a ten foot tall steel cage, sealed with an iron lock and the King in Gold's own signet.

When we looked inside, we saw that it was filled with four hundred pounds of red clay and sea sand, and made the most sonorous weeping sound when struck with a hammer or spike – the Queen's doing – I'm sure.

We can't thank you enough for this, and we promise your work will not have been in vain.

The third crate we opened with great difficulty, as it rendered every man who touched it blind and dumb. After contact, they seemed capable only of beating their breasts; letting out great, sloppy wails, and scratching into their mortal flesh, with anything available to them, the Names Which Shall Never Be Spoken.

After failing to bring them back to sanity, we were forced to put them out of their misery, and burn their bodies on the plague pyre, so that their spirits would not be made to walk again.

Their families were duly compensated, and we learned soon after that women and children are not affected by the charm. Subsequently, we were able to safely retrieve the feather and the down. We wish only that you would have let us know sooner, but Our Man understands that in these times, sacrifices must be made.

Which brings us to the final crate.

I want to know nothing of where it's contents came from, or what you had to do to acquire these tools. I write this here only because it is a part of our deal, and deals must always be served.

Inside:

1. Sixteen lengths of meat, from the lower bowels – human.

2. Twelve teeth, all molars, nerves intact – human.

3. A pound of flesh, various colors – human.

4. Three mortal breaths, bound in a jar, suspended in oil – human.

5. An ankle bone and a knuckle, left hand, third finger from the right – human.

6. Twelve tears, fresh – human.

7. Fear, rune-bound, etched into a marble block – three feet by three feet – human.

8. And that final thing, which I shall not name here because it is not part of our deal, nor am I so ghoulish as to make it.

Everything has arrived intact, and will be in place in time.

Our Man is pleased.

Our enemies will fall.

And our lands will survive for ten thousand years.

That is of course, unless something is missing...

Please let us know, and thank you again, may all of our souls survive this.

Yours,

X