Completed A Head Full of Dreams

[Salak]

Salak ignored her cheap barb. Rank be damned and his sense of intellectual superiority never garnered him much more than fleeting satisfaction anyway.
"So I'm wrong? Good. I want to be wrong. I would be happy to be wrong but I'm not am I?"
His hand went to his bad leg. It was hurting more now.
"You ARE a traitor and it's my duty to stop you but... Powers be damned I don't want to. I don't want to see you taken. I know what they'll do to you. I've DONE what they'll do to you, and the boy."
His face hardened not because he was about to turn her in, but because he was turning his back on over fifteen years of service to a cause she made him question.
"Oh yes, they'll take him too. You've involved him. Regardless of what he knows, who he is, he'll be taken to those dark places where he'll never see the light of day again and if he's lucky he'll die before they can turn him into a monster."
Was he going too far?
Everleigh needed to understand his fear for her but all the same. He didn't want to hurt her or Miklan but he didn't know how else to get her to understand.

Everleigh Ebersol

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everleigh rolled her eyes.

“You have three things wrong.” Everleigh said. “First, I am well aware of would be done to me, to Miklan, and to our families. Second, you keep calling me a traitor but all you have is this half-assed conspiracy theory. Third, whether it’s your duty or not you couldn’t stop me even if you wanted to unless you want to be six feet under.” Now her violet eyes narrowed, some of the wrath from before returning.

“Because let me make one thing very clear since you are so very stupid.” She took that step forward. “Anyone hurts Miklan and I will fucking destroy them and every single thing they fight for. I am a dreadlord and I do not understand the meaning of the words ‘to give up.’ I’ll try again and again and again until I get the result I want, as many times as it takes, even if it means I have to go through every single fucking layer of hell there is— you will not be able to get rid of me.

“So don’t ever fucking threaten me again, Salak or you can watch what the fuck I do to you.”

Salak

 

[Salak]

"They won't need much more than I already know."
He stood up, straight as he could and backed against the door.
"The details don't matter to them. They work on suspicions and I guarantee that if they take either of you, nobody will ever find you. So stop acting like you can bully your way through the world, you cannot. Nobody can. Sooner or later everyone yields but you can do it on your own terms."
His theories were wrong, good that meant it was simpler, more personal. Easier to ignore. Even now she gave him scope.
"You've been far too recess already. Your ways are known, they'll follow you. Powers, they're watching you right now!"
He hoped she'd have taken his meaning earlier, before this messiness but it couldn't be helped. The had begun to pass through this tunnel. Dark and full of secrets, now they had to come out the other end.

Everleigh Ebersol

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

So she had to leave soon. Tonight at the latest. She had no time. What she had been preparing wasn’t ready, wouldn’t be for weeks. Neither were any of her other plans, she’d have to skip Plan A all the way down to Plan… ha, look at that, Plan Z.

“Are they?” She sounded uninterested and bored now. She took a step back down and another. She needed to get to Initiate Vern immediately. “What are they going to find out about me that everyone doesn’t already know? The proctors here already call me a bear fucker, the initiates already speak of how I’m undeserving of my role as proctor, and you believe me to be a traitor because of things that have happened outside of me.”

She had to act like everything was normal, there would be no time to gather supplies, no time to tell Erland of her plan, no time for all of the things she still wanted to do.

Another step back.

“Thanks for wasting my time.” Hours. No, not even hours, minutes at best to prepare. How was she going to do all of that in minutes while pretending everything was fine? Everleigh’s back turned to Salak.

Salak

 

[Salak]

At last she seemed to understand.
How long had she planned this, how far was she going?
Better he didn't know. The target would transfer to him as soon as she disappeared.
And with that realisation he knew he had made up his mind and for the first time in a long time he didn't question himself about it.
"I don't believe you fucked a bear. Initiates are fools who literally don't know any manners. As for me. I tried to warn you when you first came to me about Miklan. I am trained to think as an enemy. To see the slightest signs of seditious intent no matter the source. You might not be the danger they think you are but that won't matter.
They're not coming for you, or the boy. I'll see to that."
He didn't move, not really. A strange peace had settled in him. Like calm waters.
This was the right thing to do. He knew it.

Everleigh Ebersol

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everleigh looked over her shoulder.

“Some rumors are actually true, Salak.” She looked forward, intent on what she must do now. She didn’t trust Salak any longer. All she had was herself, only herself. All she needed was herself. There was going to be a lonely road ahead of her. A long, lonely road.

“And many promises are just pretty little lies. You can’t stop them and you know you can’t. Stop making promises you can’t keep.” Just like she couldn’t keep hers to those in her class that had asked her to protect the initiates. She wasn’t strong enough to do that, never had been, never would be. But there was one promise she could keep to Miklan.

She’d keep him safe no matter what. Protecting one initiate was a start, wasn’t it?

With that in her mind, finally Everleigh could move forward and began her descent down the spiral staircase.

Salak

 

[Salak]

"Everleigh, Everleigh stop."
He didn't touch her but moved in her way to block her passage but she barreled past him.
"You'll give yourself away."
He hobbled after her, having to take the steps slower on account of his leg. He knew he couldn't catch her but she could still hear him. He knew she could.
"If you do this now, then... it's too rash. DAMNIT EVERLEIGH LISTEN TO ME!"
He was still trying, still fumbling. Trelain, still looked up at him as he looked down. Still his shoulder hurt or did he hit the stone wall of the staircase in his haste?
His face felt wet, so he brought his hand up to it and clear venom was leaking from his scars.

Everleigh Ebersol

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

She whirled on him, easily adjusting her weight and stance so she wouldn’t fall back.

“Hurt me. Try to stop me.” Or else, her eyes seemed to say, or else they’ll hurt you worse, just as you say.

Salak

 

[Salak]

That took him aback.
There in the seclusion of the tower staircase. Where the stones told no one.
"What? No no that's foolish and needless. Powers, why are you like this?"
He knew of course, he knew what turned her into this. It was this place. The institution. It corrupted.
He rooted in his robe for a key and pulled it out and handed it to her.
"To my office third drawer down on my desk. There's letters of passage, all Stalkers have them. The names are left blank. Use them. I'll... I'll give you time."
He didn't know if she'd take them, trust that it wasn't some elaborate trap.
*I wouldn't trust me!*
He heard himself think.

Everleigh Ebersol

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

There was a pause, Everleigh glancing from his face to the key and then back at his face. Why was he crying? What reason did he have to cry? He had brought her up her, accused her, called her a traitor and it was him who was crying?

She hadn’t cried since losing her virginity but that was only because of the pain— and yes, thinking of Zael and how she wanted him and not Erland— but Salak wasn’t hurting, was he? Everleigh hadn’t even touched him. Was it because he had tried running on his bad leg? Or was it because of something she couldn’t see, something inside of him? Because the last time Everleigh had truly cried, when it felt like the tears wouldn’t stop and her body couldn’t stop shaking, that had been when Zael left.

And it wasn’t just sadness but anger, too. At herself, at the Academy, at Vel Anir— shit, she was even cursing fate and destiny despite not believing in them. Her shoulders slumped as she looked over Salak. Yes, there was something about men opening up in the little ways that they knew how that made her soft.

Everleigh went to take the key from Salak yet her hand wrapped around his wrist instead of the key. She pulled him forward, and with him higher than her and her lower than him, could perfectly angle her head to headbutt the underside of his jaw, hopefully knocking him out now before she felt compelled to let him fall down the stairs.

She could hear the key clatter down the steps.

Salak

 

[Salak]

There was another brief surprise for him.
He didn't expect to get headbutted but he didn't fight it. Whatever happened he knew where Everliegh was in her head, or thereabouts.
Make it look like she turned on him completely. Still trying to protect him. And she no doubt thought she was a monster?
The idea was laughable as he hit the floor. His jaw rattling and blood dripping from his mouth.
Everleigh Ebersol.
Too good for the Dreadlords of Vel Anir, too pure for this wretched Academy.
Take the key at least.
Let me do this one thing.
Some small amends.
The pain on the front of his face shook hands with the shape pain as the back of his head struck the stone stairs. He bled into his hood and it flipped back, revealing his face.
He wasn't crying. He was leaking.
Thick and clear blobs of venom, a dreadful mixture of his bodies own complex chemistry bubbling over to the surface.
But Salak couldn't see it or feel it. He was no longer conscious.

Everleigh Ebersol

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Who would’ve thought that her hard head would be good for something?

“This is so,” she muttered under her breath, already beginning to pull Salak’s limbs up, squatting low to get him over her slight shoulder. He was heavier than he looked. “So lame.” She huffed, rising up and feeling the exertion in her legs. Salak was a lucky man that she hadn’t ever skipped leg day but there were definitely some dreadlords much better suited to heavy lifting than she was.

Heavy steps and soft grunts could be heard as she moved up step by step, bringing Salak to the top. She wasn’t sure how long he’d stay out, but she couldn’t just leave him as be. It wasn’t like her to leave a enemy alive and capable. She was thankful that Salak was like her. It meant it could be plausible on why she hadn’t tried killing him. Clearly she had to run and what was more important? Getting Miklan and leaving.

She placed Salak’s limp form into a corner and then pushed him upright. She used his cloak to rip off lengths of fabric to tie up his wrists and ankles and stuff into his mouth, the laces from his boots to make it seem like she had tried to restrain him for as long as possible. When it was all done she looked over to where his cane was and went to it, picking it up and inspecting it.

Everleigh had to use a foot to break it in half. She began her descent down the stairs, throwing one half of the cane behind her and throwing the other down at the bottom. She was certain someone would find him. She just hoped it wouldn’t be before she left tonight.

Now where would Initiate Vern be?