Private Tales A Fallen Knight

[Talus]

He grabbed the charcoal stick from as the words from whatever lay down below reached his ears.

Immediately Talus could feel his skin rise in goosebumps, his fingers tightening around the small piece of charcoal as he stopped himself from suddenly whipping around. Lips thinned, and then he turned to Finn. "At least they're talking."

Zombies didn't do that, neither did Ghouls for that matter.

He wondered what the hell they had gotten themselves into, then quickly moved towards the entrance of the stair and began to scribble half a dozen runes.

The Magic was not strong, but it would create a barrier that would at least last for a few moments while they made their choice of where to run to next.

"We need a place to hide." He said quietly. "So I can trace whatever magic is making these things...go."

 

[Finn]

The girl shouldered on her pack again.

"Agreed," couldn't help the linger of her gaze on those runes he drew. She wasn't lying when she said she didn't know much about magic. Even Wes knew more about magic than she did. She just knew to run away from those Elbion mage guards.

Blues cast out on the town again.

"If we can climb down the other side of this building, maybe...," she paused still scanning. "There?" Looked like a set of doors that lead to a basement beneath the butchery.

 

[Talus]

Talus glanced for a moment, following where Finn pointed and offering her a nod. "We'll have to go quick."

He told her.

"And as quietly as possible." With his off-hand he returned the sword into it's sheath on his back, knowing that it needed to be away for them to move faster. He still wasn't at his best, but he could make it down the building.

Once they were in the basement he could use Rune Magic to trace whatever was happening here.

After his encounter with Fraeya in the woods Talus had made it a habit to study more of the Runes, and since then they'd come in handy more than once.

 

[Finn]

She went to the opposite edge and looked down. There was a small stone roof.

"Okay." Shoulders squared. "We can do this."

She hoped anyway. The alternative would've pointed that it might've been better to stay skyward longer. Or stay back with those orcs. Going to the edge, she swung a gangly-leg over and straddled the lip. Turning on her stomach, she slowly let herself slip down, fingers clenching onto the stone, knowing that she'd have to drop a little.

 

[Talus]

Talus followed after Finn, frowning for a brief moment as he looked down the ledge she was lowering herself from.

His stomach dropped slightly at the idea of having to move like she was. His arm still wasn't working right, his ribs were bruised, and the gash in his side was still burning with pain. If he tried to move like that he'd end up falling the whole way.

Fingers tightened for a second, and he glanced down to make sure that Finn was preoccupied with her climbing. Then he took a breath.

An odd shimmer ran across his skin, and then a ghostly apparition sprung from his skin. It moved in three great strides, jumping off the building and flying behind Finn before landing on the ground behind her. Then Talus' own body suddenly seemed to snap forward, his form replaced with that of the ghosts below in the speed of a heartbeat.

 

[Finn]

Finn felt something strange. Her magic tugged. Teeth clenched as she fought to keep it under control, probably saving Talus from getting stuck in a wall.

Palms slipped on the roof, flesh scraping. Arms strained as she tried to maintain her grip. But she couldn’t.

The girl slipped and fell.

 

[Talus]

Talus dropped the sack of supplies that he'd been carrying since the store.

The moment Finn fell Talus moved to catch her. Luckily for him he did not need to use his magic to be fast enough to close the gaps. Within three steps he was beneath her, his arms extended.

Finn fell into his arms, and although she did not weigh much it was enough to strain his wounds. A grunt of pain escaped him and the combined momentum of Finn and his own injuries was enough to send him tumbling to the ground.

With a clatter of armor he splattered back onto the earth underneath them.

 

[Finn]

An oomph escaped her mouth as bony butt fell atop clanking armor. Not comfortable. She supposed it was better than spraining an ankle on the ground.

Finn scrambled off him.

Blues widened as she picked herself up. Brushed herself off. “How did you...,” she thought he’d still be on the roof. Head shook, not wanting to try and figure it out now.

And they didn’t have time. They’d made some noise.

“Come on,” she whispered and sprinted for the basement opening.

 

[Talus]

Talus had to drag himself up off the ground. His body strained under the weight of itself and the armor still adorning him. Fingers tightened, and he couldn't help but notice that breathing was a tad more difficult than it had been before.

Slowly he picked himself up, grabbing the bag of things he'd dropped in order to save Finn from breaking her neck. "Some help up would have been nice."

The young Knight commented as he followed after her and took the first step into the basement. From his pocket he fished the charcoal stick she had given him, tossing the bag of supplies down into the basement as he drew quickly on the steps.

"Close it." He told her as he drew. "This will buy us some time."

 

[Finn]

She heard him mumble something behind her. Grumble something?

“What was that?” The girl looked back at him, worried. Oblivious to her social faux pas.

In the basement, she nodded and closed the basement door entrance. There was one small flickering sconce on the wall, providing them with a little light as the doors sealed them in.

She looked over at him as she held the doors closed, huddling with him in the small space of the steps. “Thanks,” she whispered. For catching her. The runes. All of it.

 

[Talus]

"Don't worry about it." Talus said as he scribbled the last Symbol and half turned to face her.

He decided now was hardly the time to hold a grudge for someone not offering him a hand off the ground, particularly when that person had saved his life just two days before.

Besides, it hardly seemed pressing.

"There's something off about those things." He said as he began to clear a space in the middle of the basement. "They look normal, but...somethings making them show their true faces. Whatever they are."

Which Talus still had no clue about. "They're not regular undead. Even Ghouls dont move like that."

 

[Finn]

The girl sat on the bottom step, letting her gangly arms rest across her thighs. She looked to Talus. How old was he?

He seemed older when she first saw him. But younger at the same time. Just in the eyes. A vulnerability he seemed to want to hide.

“I wonder how many people came to this town like us and ended up like them.” She gulped and pushed back blonde hair.

She squirmed under his observation.

“Well,” she took a breath, wondering if she could trust him enough. He had caught her. Hadn't tried to kill her yet.

“I think I’m the one making them show their true faces,” she confessed slowly, eyes panning down to the tattoo along her arm.

 

[Talus]

His head shook for a second, not really wanting to contemplate how many of those people up there had once been...normal. The thought was a sickening one, even to him.

When she continued to speak he looked at her, confusion drawing over his face. "What do you mean?"

He asked curiously.

"Are you a witch of some sort after all?" It was half joke, half serious concern. She had denied the charge at first, but he'd never really ruled it out. The balloon she'd built had been admittedly amazing.

Hell, Vel Anir would probably pay her a fortune just for the idea. Much less a running model.

 

[Finn]

Arms shifted down, drawing knees up to her chest. She looked scared because she was scared. She was always worried, like the authorities and ruling families of Elbion, would want to use her.

Blues lifted to meet Talus’ gaze in the flickering light.

“I do have magic. I don’t think I’d call myself a witch, though. My magic nulls other magic around. And sometimes in magical creatures I can reach out and turn it off.”

Thoughts drifted to the ship with Wes and those harpies. How she’d been able to control their essence. It was a terrible thing.

 

[Talus]

Well that was certainly something. Fingers danced over the hilt of his sword for a brief moment, and he wondered what would happen if she tried to do that to him.

The thought of fear quickly ebbed away as he remembered he could probably kill Finn without even a hint of magic in his own body. A benefit of the training he'd received from the Proctors. Magic was handy, but not the end of all combat.

"I see." He said slowly.

Certainly such an ability was handy, but Talus had never heard of it before. That wasn't saying much of course, his own powers were as rare as could be.

"Handy." He offered. "Especially if we're gonna get out of here."

 

[Finn]

She wondered briefly if there was a curse, if that meant the magic would t touch her. Probably. But she’d still have to deal with all the half ghouls walking around.

She didn’t miss his fingers over his sword. It caused her to shuffle back and up a step. Closer to those ghouls and the Rune protected closed doors.

She eyed him cautiously, like a scared little mouse. She wasn’t stupid. She knew most folk without magic would be able to take her down easily.

“Yeah, I guess,” she breathed.

It was one thing she missed about the gang. The protection it offered. Gristle too.

“How’re you going to try and figure out what’s going on out there?”

 

[Talus]

"Oh." Talus had half forgotten about that. "Rune Magic."

He told her as he took out the piece of charcoal again and looked down at the space he had cleared in the center of the basement. His sword was placed against one of the walls, kept out of the way of everything and he stepped back into the center of the room.

College Magic might have helped here too, but Talus did not know the right incantation to do what he actually wanted. He could create some water, make a fire, but trace dark magic? There wasn't a chance in hell.

"Magic creates waylines." He told her, forgetting that he had told her he was a simple soldier.

"Even curses." Talus said as he began to draw. "With the right Rune, we can see the lines, then trace them to their origin point."

 

[Finn]

She remained on her second step. Though, she did lean forward slightly. A quick and wary glance to the sword. Then back to his work.

Blonde brows drew together in thought.

“You said you were just a soldier?”

 

[Talus]

A frown touched his face as he suddenly stopped writing his rune. He looked up at her, lips thinned, then he spoke. "I may have lied also."

The two of them had deceived each other. Whether or not it had been just Talus couldn't say, but he did not regret being cautious.

"I'm an apprentice mage." He told her. "I wasn't entirely sure what you would do with that information."

He drew another line of the Rune.

 

[Finn]

She stood suddenly. Torn between wanting to run and not knowing what to do. She eyed that door over her shoulder. St this point, maybe those ghouls would be more trust worthy than Talus. Then again, he’d probably lied as much to protect himself as she’d had herself.

The girl turned around to face him.

“I was gonna say. Must be quite some soldiers they have in Vel Anir. First your ghost trick. Now Rune work.”

Head shook once.

“What do you think I would’ve done?” She wasnt used to people beingg afraid of HER.

 

[Talus]

"Killed me." He shrugged. "Left me to die."

Knowing Finn more now he doubted that she was even capable of either of those things, but at the time it had all been a shot in the dark. He'd just wanted to live, just wanted to make it back to Vel Anir.

"I didn't know. I just wanted to live." So he'd lied.

Talus did not see anything wrong with it. He'd done what he needed to do in order to survive. Just as Finn had lied to him, just as she had tried to run away.

It was black and white.

Another line of the Rune was set into the rock.

 

[Finn]

“Wanting to love isn’t so abnormal,” she mused quietly. Guarded arms I cursed and her hands stuffed into the pockets of her pants. She slowly stepped off the stairs and closer to him.

The girl stopped on the opposite end of what he was drawing.

“I have a feeling we won’t like what we find.”

She was giving up a little fear and mistrust she felt from him. Just a teeny TINY bit. Enough to get them outta here. Enough for her ship to get skyward again.

 

[Talus]

Talus stopped short of drawing the last line. "I suspect the same."

He hesitated for a moment, looking up at her.

"Do you have a family?" It seemed an odd question to ask at this point, especially given what was roaming around above their heads. For some reason though he couldn't help but pose the thought to her.

Strangely, he thought he already knew the answer.

 

[Finn]

“No,” thin shoulders shrugged. Lips pursed. Blue eyes darted around his work. She didn’t want to get too close. She needed this magic to work.

“At least, not in the traditional sense. I grew up on the streets of Elbion. In the slums. I guess you could say the gang that took me in was my family.”

Finn didn't know what it was like having a mother or father so she couldn't really imagine something else. Didn’t know what it was like. Couldn't really feel sorry for herself.

Eyes lifted to a Talus.

“You?”

 

[Talus]

"No." Talus answered with a shake of his head.

Family was not something he often talked about, hell, his own feelings were not something he often talked about. That sort of thing was seen as weakness among the Dreadlords.

The last thing you wanted was to be seen as weak.

"I was taken from my family when I was six. I can't even remember my mothers face." Lips thinned for a brief moment and then he shook his head again. "I suppose I have a family of my own, friends."

Though one had killed another.

The grim thought hung over him, and he took a breath. "When I finish this we'll see the lines in the map that gets drawn."

Talus switched the subject, not wanting to continue down his own line of dark thoughts.