Private Tales Long Days of Rest

Cassidy tensed again. He'd been asking himself the same question since they'd left the safe haven of their home. Neith, bless her soul, had already been so patient with him over this ordeal: his sudden suggestion they leave home, his refusal to tell her what he sought, and now his obvious concern as he brought the wagon to a slow stop just beyond the graveyard.

No matter how many times he relayed the question in his head, though, he always came to the same conclusion. It wasn't the one he wanted to hear, but it was the truth.

"You needed to help your Father and confront Cyrus before you were willing to leave Elbion with me." Cassidy was careful not to use the word 'saved' or 'rescued' in regard to Neith's father. Such terms would only serve to reopen the wounds left by his death.

Despite what Nee may have said, Cassidy truly believed she had helped him. Dying in the arms of his loving daughter was a far better fate than wasting away in a drug lab, never knowing what became of her. "This is something that I need to do. For myself. For closure."

Knowing why he needed to do it didn't make it any easier. Still, knowing where they were going was the first step completed. With a tug, he began to turn the wagon around. "I promise, you'll understand what I mean when you need to. For now, we should find an Inn. I don't think we'll have a clear shot at this until tomorrow."

Neith

Neith's support was always invaluable, but now more than ever it held Cass together when he would otherwise have crumbled. The very notion of being this close to his estranged family, of being this close to the person who hated him more than any other in Arethil... it was mortifying in ways he hadn't expected it to be.

As they turned to look for lodgings for the night, Cassidy passed the reins to Neith and leaned back in his seat with a heavy sigh. Just a moment, to think and process what had happened, and to prepare himself for what was to happen next...

A large part of him wanted to tell her why he'd brought them here, and what they were after. Cass knew, though, that she'd try to talk him down. She'd tell him he didn't need to do it, and that it wouldn't change anything. Gods knew Cassidy hated telling Nee no.

She'd know. Tomorrow. He couldn't wait to see the smile on her face.

As it turns out, being a member of Oban's wealthy upperclass meant not being particularly privy to where all of the affordable inns and taverns were. As long as he'd lived in the massive city, he'd never once gone into the lesser fortunate sections. It took them a bit of time before they found a place that wasn't so ritzy as to draw eyes to them, and by that time the sun had disappeared behind the walls of the city and night hung over them once again.

"How about we have some dinner and wine, and take a long bath.."

The dread that had lingered on Cass's grizzled face melted away just a bit at the combination of the warm, lively atmosphere of the inn and Neith's suggestion for tonight's festivities. Reaching out to loop an arm around her waist and pulling her close, Cassidy snickered into her ear.

"How about dinner and a bath, then we take the wine up to our room instead?"

Neith

Just like that, with the flirtatious laugh of the woman he loved pouring into his ear, all of the strife in his mind was painted over by the deep, vibrant colors of love. Neith was absolutely right, the nightmare that he had to face had waited years to stare back at him, and it would just have to survive one more night. Tonight wasn't about his fears or his foes. It was once more about her, about their bond, and about the joy they brought one another.

And, for one final night, Cassidy allowed himself to enjoy the finer aspects of a city with the wealth of Oban. Even the mid-range inn they'd chosen served food that could be considered exquisite when compared to most of the meals he'd eaten on the run. The fire was warm, and the bath that came after even warmer. They reveled in one another, pressed flesh-to-flesh in the steaming waters, letting hands roam and soak for far longer than was truly needed. It was involuntary between them, whenever their lips touched it as addictive as the drug they'd liberated Elbion from.

They returned to their room to find the wine they'd ordered waiting on a small table by the bed, and their private festivities only continued. Before long the empty bottle lay on it's side upon the wooden floor, along with most of their clothes. During the day, Neith was what fueled Cassidy's fire, what drove him to fight on. At night, she was the opposite; the cool stillness that allowed him to rest, that soothed that inferno inside of him. When the candle on the table finally dimmed and extinguished in a puff of smoke, the pair lay tangled in one another, exhausted and content.

It would be the last time that they made love as they were now.

Neith

He could feel the tension in the air, lingering from the moment she roused him awake with the tender touch of her lips against his. It would have been naive of him to think this wouldn't affect Neith, being back in Oban, chasing after some mysterious magic that he refused to elaborate on. It wasn't fair to her, and it obviously weighed upon her shoulders.

But it was worth it. Gods, he knew it would be worth it, just to see her face...

Cass sat up from the bed, eyes lingering on her back as she stared out of the foggy window looking out toward the rich and ritzy district, manors and mansions and castles towering above meager buildings like their inn. It was a hard juxtaposition, one that spoke to the reality of a place like Oban.

"Wear something nice, with a hood." He grumbled, swinging his legs off of the bed and retrieving a pair of trousers to wear. She would hear the buckle of his belt as he fastened it, then his bare footsteps against the hardwood floor as he approached from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist, his fuzzy chin resting on her shoulder. "We're attending a parade in a few hours, and if everything goes well we'll be out of town before it's over."

It wasn't enough... No, he had to give her something more to work with. She deserved to know the plan, at least.

He draws his head back, sighing against the back of her neck before placing a chaste kiss upon her nape. "The main attraction of this Parade is going to be a little kid, my half-brother. He's going to have what I'm looking for. I'm gonna rush him, nab it, and then we're going to bail out of here..."

Neith

Cassidy stepped back as Neith's frustrations boiled over, a startled expression washing over his face. She'd never shouted at him, never shoved him or stood against him on something he felt so strongly about. As she pushed him aside and began to gather their belongings, Ackerson could only watch with lips slightly parted and mind racing with a thousand thoughts a minute.

"Nee, I--" His shirt collided with his face, and he brought his hands up to pull it from his head. Maybe she was right in that he should have expounded upon their reason for being here sooner, and maybe the risk was well beyond the norm she would tolerate, but as she continued to chastise him for his plans, he felt a particular memory gnaw at the back of his mind, and felt his lips crease in frustration.

"Now hold on a minute, you don't get to scold me for not keeping you in the loop!" Cassidy stepped forward, tossing his shirt back onto the bed. "You didn't give me a choice in Elbion! I had to watch you walk alone into a den full of Lyrum-Heads, even when I pleaded with you to let me help! Do you have any idea how hard that was? How terrifying?"

Cassidy rose a hand, clenching it into a fist to stave off his anger. No, he didn't want to go so far as to make her feel guilty when she'd only wished to save her father. His point, however, stood: Neith hadn't asked him how he felt about her facing Cyrus alone, hadn't told him ahead of time that she planned on making him stay outside. And if he hadn't disobeyed her, she'd be dead.

"...But I endured it." He continued, now with a calmer voice. "Because I was in love."

Exhaling all the breath from his lungs, Cassidy turned and sat on the foot of the bed, resting his arms on his knees. The nature of this trip... what he wanted out of it... Telling her would defeat the entire purpose. Maybe, in the grand scheme of things, it truly wasn't as important as saving one's father or ending a cycle of pain... but in his heart, it was.

"I can't make you go along with this." Cass eventually admitted. "If you truly feel as though I need to let this go... I will. For you. But it's going to hurt."

Neith

"I've never had this much to lose before."

Cassidy felt himself wince. Of course she was right. All that they'd gained together, the home they'd bought, the love that they'd forged... A mistake in a place like this, against people like his family... It risked everything. In Cassidy's single-mindedness, he'd again lost sight of such intense risks. All he'd been thinking about was the reward, what he stood to gain, what they stood to gain.

It was selfish, doing this to her.

And if Cass was being honest with himself, the pain he spoke of wasn't future-tense. It had been the pain that throbbed in his chest for years. Every day when he awoke, and every night when he fell asleep. Because he'd escaped the confines of his oppressive step-mother, he'd left the city that wished him dead, and made something out of those broken pieces the ordeal had left him in. He'd found new love, a new home, and the possibility of a true family in his future.

But he still hadn't been able to save Ariella. A failure so massive that it still squeezed his brain like a vise.

"They've got the only physical piece left of her." He mumbled, in little more than a whisper, casting a glance to the ethereal cat curled up in the corner so that Neith knew exactly who it was he referred to. Cass's hands gripped at his trousers, tugging at the old material in an effort to stop from trembling. "They... dug her up and took it, or yanked it right off of her body before she was cold, I don't know which, but..."

Cassidy looked down at the floor, his voice wavering.

"I couldn't save her, Nee. I was supposed to protect her and I watched her die. I... How can I sit here and let them parade her around?"



Neith

Outside of the darkening gloom of the pair's room, free of the pressure of pain and heartbreak, fanfare began to sound throughout the streets of Inner Oban. The usually busy and crowded roads were cleared of pedestrians both rich and poor, man and woman, in their place sat festive and colorful gewgaw, and above hung garishly colorful tapestries from the walls.

Crowds gathered at designated spots along the parade's route, roped off, and guarded by armed men with both heavy purse and heavy club. Handmaidens of the Ackerson household stood atop the rooftops that were flat enough to accommodate them, tossing shredded, colorful paper down upon the attendants like merry rain. An army of lutes and horns seemed to bounce off every brick and stone, and the sound of laughter and chipper chatter filled the space between the music and the sound of approaching wagons.

"You could almost be tricked into believing this a happy place..." Muttered Cassidy from his spot hidden amongst the rabble in one of the waiting crowds, a hood hiding his face. Beside him stood Neith, her head similarly concealed. They'd had little time to go over their plan, but it would have to do for the time being. "None of them realize the blood that these celebrations are built on, and if they do, they're paid well enough to ignore it."

Nothing Neith wasn't aware of, he was certain. Elbion had its own issues with a shiny coat hiding an ugly interior. Turning his head and leaning closer, Cassidy whispered to her quietly, taking her hand "The wagons are coming. When I give you the signal, return to our cart and wait at the end of the route." As he spoke, Mar seemed to appear from nowhere and furl herself around her ankles. "If anybody gives you trouble, Mar will help you."

This would have been far easier with Damascus, but it wasn't as though Cassidy could smuggle such a large blade into the parade grounds. No, he'd be relying on his finesse and muscle here. The thundering of spoked wheels against the road grew louder as the first Wagon came into view, if you could call it that. No, it appeared much more akin to a royal chariot, painted in bright red and violet, gilded with shimmering gold where there would normally be iron, and with the visage of a Scarlet Bird carved in the side of the cabin.

Two surly-looking guardsmen drove the cart, and in the open cabin sat an older couple, a thick, bearded man with long and greying red hair and a wiry thin, black-haired woman with sunken, dark eyes who looked more crow than human. They waved and smiled at the crowd, who cheered and applauded even their presence.


Cassidy squeezed down on Neith's hand as he watched his Father and Stepmother pass.

Love for one, and raw hatred for the other.

Neith

Neith's tightened grip on his hand told Cassidy everything he needed to know about her willingness to help him. Her touch conveyed every ounce of fury and shared sorrow that ran through her body at the sight of Cassidy's pain personified. Any fear that she would falter or waver was dispelled, and his trust in the woman at his side was complete and total.

The wagon carrying Cassidy's parents slowly passed them by, continuing on further down the road to more waiting onlookers waiting along the parade route. As intense as his feelings were about the wretch of a woman who'd so brazenly stolen everything from him, who'd ruined the life he'd had and sent him to a life of trial and struggle, she wasn't Cassidy's target.

Cass had learned an important lesson in Elbion; In killing Cyrus, Cassidy slew a man who had been the focal point for so much of Neith's misery and anguish. Yet when he lay dead, none of that pain died with him. It was not a solution, only one more blackened mark upon the floor. No, harming an aging and defenseless woman wouldn't bring him peace, and it wouldn't undo what had already been done.

With a final tight squeeze of Neith's hand, Ackerson pulled away from her grip and began to slide his way through the dense crowd of observers, seeking to get eyes upon the second wagon. Further down the road he heard the celebratory hoots and shouts of the crowd as it rolled slowly down the street, painted with an emerald green and guarded by at least a dozen men.

Yes. He was.

Cass saw him from behind the shoulders of several broad-backed labor workers watching in the front row, their bellies hanging over the ribbon that marked the parade route. The green vehicle was less of a traditional wagon and more of a throne: a wooden platform on wheels with a single, velvet cushioned seat atop it. It was no wonder so many guards protected the one sitting atop the mobile emerald dias, when that person was a small child, no older than two years of age. The boy was draped in the finest of scarlet robes, so colored to match his messy mop of hair.

It wasn't the boy he was interested in though. Cassidy's eyes flew immediately to the necklace around the child's neck. He felt his heart leap when he spotted it, his breath quickening as he laid eyes upon what dangled from that necklace for the first time in years...

A glimmering engagement ring, set with dazzling jewels of ruby and sapphire that sparkled in the morning sun like a fire beside crystalline waters. Ariella's ring, the one he'd given her before she was taken from him.

Neith

Cassidy himself had long given up on breaking his Father out of his stupor. He'd tried, even before he'd been to callously ousted from the family. Garreth Ackerson was blind to the true colors of his wife, and even if he wasn't, Cassidy wasn't certain that would be enough to sway him. No, his only objective today was the ring, the final piece of his lost love and the only piece he had a chance of saving.

The little wagon throne rolled ever closer, and Cass felt his fingertips dig against his palms, felt the sweat begin to bead on his forehead as the moment for action drew nearer and nearer. Everything had to go perfectly in one shot, or he'd be crowded by the guards and the wagon would speed away before he ever got a chance at the ring. There was no way he was getting to this kid once he was back in the estate, either.

Mar continued to circle Neith's legs as she watched Cassidy from afar, but came to a stop between her legs, arching and letting out a quiet hiss slightly off to Cassidy's rear. Two figures were roughly shoving their way through the crowd towards Neith's lover, and they were all too familiar.

"Make way, people! I said make way!" Said the tall, wiry figure, wrapped in a gaudy beetroot-colored robe, his face covered by a mask bearing the visage of a dragon. "Lady Ackerson wants this section cleared out!" Jerrok's mask was sporting a few dents that it hadn't had in Elbion. Whether those were from the raucous barfight that Cass and Neith had left him trapped in, or as a result of some punishment from his Lord and Lady for failing to bring Cassidy in with him was a mystery he'd not share with anybody.

Some of the folk stood up to the slim man's pushing and shoving, but they were quickly dissuaded from fussing by the second figure, the burly, yet well-dressed Orc named Rae. Amazing what a sharp look from an orc could do to bring somebody over to your way of thinking. "Mmhmm. Criminal scum hidin' in these crowds. I can smell it."

Neith

Cass had been biding his time, waiting for just the right moment, not realizing that a pair of old friends were hot on his tail. Jerrok and Rae were like sharks smelling blood in the water, and as soon as the crowd dissipated behind Cassidy, he'd have nowhere to run. The dense cluster of men and women was just beginning to break apart, and the two hired hooligans were about to spot their target when a noisy clatter pushed through the murmuring voices, and a glimmer of gold against the sun caught the eyes of everybody in the section.

Any decorum that remained was instantly dispelled, the sight of the shining coin more than enough to warrant ignoring two buffoons who may or may not have been telling the truth about criminals. In seconds bodies began to flock towards the money, flooding the man and the orc with company they'd rather not have, crushing them together with no small amount of protest.

"H-hey! What in the-- Stop it, you idiots! Ow!"

"Touch me there again and I swear I'll squish you like grapes! I mean it-- Agh!"

Their approach hadn't gotten Cassidy's attention, but Neith's efforts did. He turned at the rise of the commotion, and his blue eyes widened at the scene unfolding behind him. The cheeky bastards! They were going to come at him from behind! He'd been so focused on the boy and the ring that he hadn't even paid attention to what was happening around him.

He whipped his head towards Nee, who was already looking back at him. With a wide smile, and a mouthed 'I love you', He made sure that her efforts weren't to go in vain. The time to act was now, he wouldn't get a better shot than this; even the guards escorting the rolling throne were casting odd glances towards the swelling crowd of greed. Ackerson sprang out from behind the rope border of the parade route like a bandit from the shadows, landing in a full sprint towards the emerald wagon carrying his young half-brother.

"It's him!" The call of one of the guards came, with others following in short order, "Kill him! Don't let him near the boy!"

How nice it was to be remembered.

The two leftmost escorts raised spears to intercept him as he approached the vehicle, fire in their eyes and arms poised to kill. Cass was ready, changing course to charge at one of them and waiting until just before they lunged their spear at him to drop down and tuck one of his legs under the other, sliding across the polished stone of the main road and delivering a blisteringly fast kick to the guard's leg, sending him toppling forward onto his face.

Funny... last time he'd done that one was in an Elbion alleyway, saving some weird girl from a couple of thugs.

Rolling forward and pushing back up to his feet, Cassidy leaps up onto the side of the throne wagon, grasping the bright-red bird carved into its side. Behind him, more guards aimed to have his blood smeared against the green paint of the cart. A lunging polearm found his backside, only a last-second shift to the side saving him from being impaled. His coat wasn't so lucky, speared and torn from his body by the spear.

Now there was something even more interesting than money on the ground that recaptured the crowd's attention.

The missing Ackerson son was exposed to all eyes, even unkempt, and with a much heavier build, the hair on his head was identical to that of the young boy atop the throne he climbed.

"Oh my Gods, is that Cassidy?"

"I thought he was dead?"

"He's come back for the rest of his family! I knew it!"

Neith

Cassidy sneered back at the onlookers, but he paid no mind to the chatter of the growing crowd, as the masses that had been stretched across the parade route began to converge on the singular wagon that carried the Ackerson heir. There was a time when he'd dreamed of returning home, confronting those who'd cast him out and making them pay in front of every pair of eyes here.

Then he'd found Neith. Revenge isn't what he needed any longer. Her touch, her love had tempered that ugly flame inside of him. The only thing he needed now was freedom: to spread his wings and be rid of this place and the chains it bound him with forever. If these people got in his way, he would blow them away.

Using the momentary distraction created by the reveal of his identity, Cassidy hoisted himself up onto the emerald wagon and delivered a kick to the large bird carving bolted onto the side of the vehicle, knocking it loose of the fastenings holding it in place and sending it falling off of the cart and down onto the guards pursuing him. It fell upon the one who'd nearly impaled him, and the other barely evaded before scrambling to his feet and climbing up after the exiled nobleman.

He was far from the only one, from her spot behind the growing wall of flesh, Neith could see no less than a dozen guardsmen leaving their posts and heading for the calamity. The only blessing was that they were just as impeded by the curious crowd as she was.

The child sitting atop the throne now met Cassidy's eyes, and for the first time since putting his plan into action, he felt the tug of remorse and regret pulling at his neck. The fear in the young boy's eyes was a sobering reminder of his innocence; He'd not been responsible for anything that had happened to Cass, had no part in inflicting the suffering he'd endured. Now, he likely thought himself about to be slaughtered by a man he'd done no wrong to.

Any second thoughts were interrupted by a pair of guards climbing up on either side of Ackerson, each armed with blade and shield.

Reaching behind him, Cassidy grasped the child's collar, causing him to wail and the approaching guards to stiffen and stall, afraid of any act that would bring harm to the heir. Instead, they approached with slow steps, as Cassidy ripped his prize from the necklace hanging around the boy's neck and pocketed it.

In the seconds he had left, he pulled the shard of his sword from his pocket and squeezed tightly.

Get the wagon, get the hell out of here.

---

Neith's panic and fear did not make the crowd any easier to navigate, and the obstacles between her and her lover only seemed to multiply the longer she struggled against the riotous crowd before her. She had no way of knowing if Cassidy had succeeded, was waiting for her help in escaping, or if he'd been apprehended or even killed.

But she wasn't alone.

Mar never left Neith's side, clinging to her even as she fought to get through the bodies blocking her path. The harder she struggled, the louder the feline mewled and hissed down at those stopping them from helping Cassidy. It seemed their efforts may have been in vain until the cat's ears perked up at the pressure exerted on Ackerson's sword fragment. The order given was a direct one, but even the residual intelligence inside of the familiar knew that Cass wouldn't last until they'd retrieved their wagon.

Something strange happened then, something Cass wouldn't have thought possible, nor the wisest magical minds in Arethil. Confronted with following her master's orders and letting him take on an impossible challenge, Mar instead chose a different route... A route quite unlike any ordinary familiar...

Neith would feel a surge of power within her, a rush of adrenaline filling her body as the cat riding her shoulders ignored her orders, and instead bonded herself to that of her Master's lover. With their strength together, they could save him.


Neith

Things already weren't looking good for Cassidy; He was surrounded on all sides, with more guards likely on the way to back them up. Their escape was blocked off by a horde of people a city put on high alert by his vindictive step-mother and a community that had been convinced he was a murderer.

One could imagine his concern, then, when he felt the shard go cold against his palm as the magic left it. Pure horror settled in the pit of his stomach. Had Neith even received his message? What had happened to Mar to make his sword's power die? A thousand worries at once came to him, and he had time to process none of them as the guards began climbing up the wagon to put an end to the commotion Ackerson had stirred up.

All that Cass could do was grit his teeth, raise his fists, and hope that by some miracle he could fight them all off barehanded, and somehow move fast enough to get back to Neith before he got piled on by the reinforcements. It was a long shot, but maybe--

Before he could step forward and take the first swing, a bright flash or crimson light nearly blinded him, the sudden pressure in the air sending him onto his backside as a barrier suddenly formed around the wagon and sent the approaching guards flying back down to the street. The child curled up in the seat yelped in fear, and Cass rolled onto his side to look over and make sure his half-brother hadn't been wounded before springing to his feet.

He recognized this energy, this was...

Cassidy's head whipped down to the surrounding crowd. She stood out like a sore thumb among them, enveloped in the magic that had been his own until just a few moments ago. Disbelief crossed his features as it dawned on him what had happened.

"Gods, I love that woman..."

There was no time to dwell on it any further. The guards she'd knocked away were stunned, but not out cold. Neith had given him a window, and it would close in mere seconds. Cassidy leapt through the barrier with his prize in hand, tucking into a roll and sprinting into the dense crowd, who screamed and fled from who they thought a killer, ironically making it all the easier for him to flee towards Neith.

"GO! NOW!"

Neith