Private Tales A Small Matter of Iron

[Iskra]

She first felt a spark, as if something slithered through her veins and filled her with something crackling and hot. Magic flowed through her instantaneously as soon as he tore the cuff away, and Iskra dropped her gaze to see the scarred flesh beneath it. All the wrong attempts at freeing herself, burned her skin and led her to the apothecary she now resided in and worked for board. Without magic, she had to reacquaint herself with healing properties and ointments.

Nothing would improve her scars, now bared to the world as Iren successfully lightened her wrist of the restraint.

The second thing she felt, as his fingers wrapped around the second cuff, was a stinging sensation. The more he tried to force it apart, the more she lost the feeling in her hand. Iskra gasped, pained but unfeeling to it, her body knew how to react to it as if it were her nature now.

But he had been unsuccessful this second time around, and with disbelief trying to find balance with her relief, Iskra fell back against the wall. Both hands hung pathetically at her sides, breathing slowly to calm her racing heart. It was anger, trying to burst through under the guise of frustration, but no matter how Iren came to do this service for her, she could not fault him.

"No, it's fine." She heard herself say, not at all aware of her wits in that moment.

Iskra lifted the newly freed hand, and without much thought to call on it, her magic responded. The mage sucked in a breath, relieved to see something or the arcane arts springing to life in the form of an orb of glowing white light.

"I know, I should be thanking you right now... but fuck. Fuck, we were so close and..." And still, she had been fed a morsel of the power she had once wielded. "I am not ungrateful, I just..." Words failed her. Even her emotions could not settle on something as she lifted her gaze to his own crimson specked purple hues.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

It took him effort... and momentum to gain control back.

He took several steps away from her because even in this moment he could practically taste the heat coming off of her skin. All that Iren wanted to do was hold her down and start to consume her again. It was almost painful how difficult it was to deny himself this pleasure.

"No thanks... is necessary." Iren gritted his teeth as he forced himself to relax. To unwind the tension in his shoulders and hands making fists. Ready to pounce and that was the beast in him.

"I promised I'd help... and I only managed half of the help."

Finally Iren stepped back in, once he was certain the leash was back in his fist. "Maybe... it requires time." He murmured softly as he squeezed her shoulder. "This is a good step forwards. I apologize I couldn't do more than that for now."

 

[Iskra]

Her eyes followed where his arm came to rest, hand at her shoulder. He had used it to free her, so easily that she had wondered why the fuck she had wasted coin with the smiths that only ended up saying she needed documentation from the Wardens to use her magic again.

"Thank you." She tried the words on her tongue, but the sour frown that flashed on her face was a glimpse of her true feelings.

"You're right. We just need to find another way without going to the Wardens. I do not want to owe them any favours." Nor did she want to get close enough for them to keep their sights upon her.

Favour. Did she now owe Iren too for his gracious help? Or was her blood enough to sate his curiosities?

"Well? You've had more of my blood, how do you feel?" She did not forget seeing his reactions, his physical restraint. There had been something animalistic in the way he extracted himself before the humanity fought for control over the instinct he no doubt had been stowing. "I guess I can thank you, truly, for I now no longer need to buy many drinks to get drunk tonight."

 

[Iren Brightmane]

A thin smile in response.

"You know, they are not all bad." He paused and measured that response for size. "Okay. They are all bad, but in my view we can make them work for us... if we are cautious and measured." Iren was extremely biased in this regard and he recognized it. He could not remember the last time he was this full. This satisfied. On some level he realized they were barely a step up from regular prisoners.

"But yes, owing them favors is not the right way to go." The better way would be to ensure they owed them. To break their chains and take control.

Iren was still pondering on the best approach for that.

He smiled softly, a bit absent, as she asked him how he felt. He leaned into the wall, close to her. Wanting to be closer to her heat on a subconscious level.

"Good... real... real good." His eyes glancing down to her lips... then to her neck and back to her eyes. All slow, almost languid. "How about you? How did it feel for you?" Iren would have commented on her alcohol use, but that would be like a pot calling the kettle black.

His addiction was just as bad if not worse.

"Have you had enough of me yet or should I buy you a drink?"

 

[Iskra]

Iskra watched his gaze slowly trail a path, of points she could only guess but gave him a show as she loosed a sigh from her lips. "Good." She smirked, a small curve of her lip. "Real good." Her hand went to her neck, feeling the small beads of blood come away sticky as it dried.

"I knew it was a dangerous feeling... to succumb to it. Not because of the pleasure or the high, but because one could simply forget..." If Iskra had not gone into it without knowing how to stop him, would she have had the same chance to fight through the fog? "And I bet it was all too sweet for you to willingly pull away from my neck."

Iskra rubbed her bloodied fingers with her thumb, until the blood dried and rubbed away clean. "I think you do owe me a drink for failing to get rid of the other cuff. Might as well help numb the loss." She huffed softly before lifting her non-cuffed hand and watched as her dropped knife lifted and came to rest in her grasp, magic present.

"It feels as if... I am a puppet, and someone else is casting. That this is not my own..." Iskra flicked her wrist, the blade flipping befor being caught by the blade, nicking her palm. A thin line of red could be seen after she sheathed it.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

Obviously Iren knew the effect he had on those he fed on, but he had been curious to see if she'd admit it to him now or if she'd try to deny it. It was... interesting that she was truthful about it. "Oh, it would have taken a lot of effort... but I would have pulled out eventually." Iren murmured as his hand reached out to stroke his finger tip against her neck, between the two marks left by his teeth.

"Painful? Perhaps two drinks then. One for failing to remove both cuffs and one for... hurting you so."

Her observation was met with interest from his side. However that faded slightly once her palm was nicked and he glanced down to the blood welling up.

His eyes growing noticeably darker.

"You should be careful, darling. One such as I will never have his fill... the hunger will always... remain."

 

[Iskra]

Iskra gave him a dry laugh, her other hand going to pull the hairpin from her hair and let the dark hair fall. She gave it a tousle, draping it over her shoulders and hiding the two punctures at her neck. Not something she wanted advertised. "I could cruel and lick it myself, but I wouldn't want to try my luck with you either."

Without so much as giving indication she was going to move, Iskra shot out from the wall and back where they had come from. A sea breeze blew into her side, giving her light seaspray.

"Two drinks, but it the pain didn't last as long as I thought it would. Even now, it is just only tender to the touch if you used some pressure." The mage absentmindedly pressed her thumb into the light cut in her palm, feeling the sting that came with it but soon disappeared. "If I was in the right mindset, I could withstand the pain."

 

[Iren Brightmane]

Iskra

"Oh, I am so glad you aren't cruel, I don't know if my little heart could take it." Teasing her lightly as he stepped into the walk with her. They'd have to leave the fortress, but that was fine, he had so much energy in his step currently that Iren felt he could fight a small army.

This was probably not the case, but try telling that to a newly energized blood-fueled vampiric body.

"Truly..." Listening to her speak about the pain. That part he had been unaware of. His victims usually didn't live to tell the tale or he'd leave before they came to and could tell him.

"And what would take it to get you in the... right mindset?"

A lazy glance her way.

 

[Iskra]

Iskra met his gaze with a side glance. "The work I used to do, in order to get through it and not break, I had to learn to shut myself off. I have endured worse than what you did to me."

She slowed her steps some, now moving to weave through a crowd milling about before continuing for Iren's ears only. "I am quite skilled with illusions and hypnosis. Mental manipulations... finding that weak spot in individuals and exploiting it for my own gain. I learned... to do that for myself. Turn it off and trust that my spell will wear off eventually. When I wake, either I would pull myself out, or go back under." There had been times that she rued the day her magical capabilities came true, that she could have done some use with even a morsel of power as a child to fight off the slavers that pulled her by the hair from a home she would never see again.

Not even when she became a free person did she dare return to the Badlands, despite her features heavily resembling those found in those parts.

"If you want to know more, you're going to have to get a drink in me."

 

[Iren Brightmane]

Head tilted there.

Truth to be told Iren didn't expect her to reveal anything so... intimate to him. But maybe the intimate nature of what they had just done opened doors that had been closed before.

"It sounds... useful." He murmurs softly as he crossed his hands behind his back mid-walk. "I have had to find different avenues for the same problem." As a vampire you had to deal with a lot of aggression and violence, most of it entirely earned, of course.

"I took to carving my own flesh for hours a long time ago." Absently, his voice detached from the cruelty he was describing. "It heals very quickly when you are properly fed. And eventually your mind becomes numb to the pain. Minds are very flexible things, they can get accustomed to horrors you might not expect them to."

It seemed fair.

She revealed something intimate of herself and he responded in kind.

"Well, it only seems fair." Iren finally smirked at her, mirroring her words. "After all, you got a drink in me."

 

[Iskra]

It felt as if she should offer him assistance for his plight, but Iskra herself did not think everyone wished to be healed. They both had found their ways to endure the worst, a way to survive, and she was no heroine.

"Oh, please," She snorted, "do not tempt me. I may just ask you to jump through hoops for my entertainment. See what my blood does for you." Iskra turned her head back to face forward, sensing a momentary unbalance as the world titled. The mage came to a stop, a foot falling forward to keep her from stumbling as she waited for her vision to stop moving.

"Clearly, you had quite your fill." She murmured, closing her eyes for a few seconds before exhaling and slowly opening her eyes once more. "I feel normal... healthy..." All things seemed normal after coming down from the high he had given her, unless his bite still had lingering effects. Her hand went to touch her neck, brows knitting together in slight frustration.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

That was an amusing thought.

Right after Iren had first realized just how much the vampiric powers had enhanced him he did consider a brief career in a circus. Quickly he decided against it however. There was so much bloodshed, a surprising amount, and he wouldn't have been able to focus on the work.

Or keep his colleagues alive.

His hand lashed out before he knew what he was doing. His arm wrapped around her waist and kept her steady on her feet.

"Careful there." Iren murmured in her ear. And didn't that just evoke the voice that had welled up deep inside of her when they were in the midst of the feeding? "We wouldn't want you to stumble even before getting a drink in us, do we?"

 

[Iskra]

Iskra noticed how warm he was against her, a stray thought wondering if that had been due to her blood filling him, or if she had simply never noticed until now. Her hand moved to lightly rub at her neck, her frame coming to a still as her subconscious wished to angle her neck to him again. The mage ceased the underlying thoughts, now paying attention to the words he spoke.

"As if any tavern would turn away my coin." Slowly, she moved her head to lift her gaze to meet his. "I wouldn't be falling over my own feet if you are here to keep me standing, Iren."

If she weren't disappointed at her half strength magic, she would have insisted returning to her lodgings, to the apothecary where there no doubt was a concoction bottled up that would help her regain strength after the loss of her blood. Perhaps something to remember in the morning, for the only thing she wished to pass her lips at that moment was the burn of liquor.

"I can manage." She murmured with finality. No sudden movements, a slower pace to walk, and she should be right.

The tavern in mind was not far from the Fortress, willing to put up with any Wardens should they make an appearance.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

Manage or not Iren was there regardless.

His arm going around her waist. It was a rather possessive move, the way it clung around her hips, but it could be chalked up towards concern after failing her just a moment ago. However... there was just something about the way he glanced at her every once in a while.

Clear hunger, tension in his shoulders and arm, desire.

He could still taste her on his tongue.

"What can I say? I am merely trying to be... helpful." Iren murmured warmly as they exited the fortress proper and the settlement itself came into view. "I hear you started working at the local apothecary. Is that as fun as it sounds?"

It sounds absolutely dreadful.

But Iren didn't want to piss her off by stating that yet.

 

[Iskra]

It seemed Iren took the matter of her condition seriously as he kept a hand around her as they walked out from the fortress, feeling eyes on them as they strode out. She would have been irked by anyone else that would do this to her, but after the act they had both done minutes ago, she was sure it was the call for more feeling by him that made her bear his proximity. Perhaps he too wished to run his tongue against the bloodied wounds her left upon her neck, one last taste.

"Nelly had the right things to sooth the burns the cuffs gave me when someone was not careful in extracting them." But she had nothing for the scarring. Her sleeves hid the ugly cuff of skin, such a gruesome contrast to her otherwise smooth and silky skin on the rest of her arm. "I do not do it for fun, I tend to her shop in the after hours to keep my lodgings." And the woman took pity on the Kaliti mage, giving her a small wage.

But Iskra knew how to turn a little coin into more.

"I am not here for fun, Iren. If I was, then..." Iskra left it said with the smirk on her lips.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

It was helpful to have an apothecary on hand.

Iren assume as much anyway. His vampiric self meant that he didn't really have to worry about those kind of things. But there were vague memories of ailments and aches that could only be soothed by the correct application of this or that herb.

"Mm... but darling, if you are here anyway..." He murmured in her ear as they walked. Teasing her as they approached the border of the settlement.

"Having no fun at all seems like a terrible fate..."

Their ideas of what constituted as fun had probably been different. At least until his teeth sunk into her neck and she felt the pleasure of being fed on.

Then again now that he had so much essence burning through him Iren felt... more alive. Desires he hadn't had in such a long time slowly reawakening. He had a close hold on it and it wouldn't pose a problem unless he wanted it to be.

It was... interesting how those kind of aches could wake back up so quickly.

"It starts with a drink... and then... perhaps a drink."

 

[Iskra]

Iskra looked up at him, arching a challenging brow at him. There was no denying that the vampire certainly looked better and more life to his being while being well fed than she had seen him on the outskirts of Amol-Kalit and on the ship. Perhaps his condition on the ship and washing up on the beach had been the worst state she had seen of him, but even now... his looks alone were not enough to tempt her.

"A true celebration will be had once this second cuff is gone. I want to be at my full power before I take my eyes off of the goal." Yet she did not move from his arm or shy away from his whispers at her ear. "Having fun will have to remain in the form of whatever wine is nicest in these parts. Nelly said the whiskey here is good enough."

She had wine and other beverages that were the perfect blend touch her lips in the years she spent abroad. Had tasted the finest dishes across Liadain and Epressa. Iskra had indulged in the luxuries of the world, but having to refine her palette existing in this backwater city only contributed to her bad moods each day she was stuck here.

"If it's a drink you would like... then you are going to have to grovel for a taste and hope I am benevolent to your cause."

 

[Iren Brightmane]

A soft laugh that sounded like music to an ear tuned to the bliss offered by a vampire's bite.

"One such as I doesn't grovel, my dear. Usually... I am the one being begged." Iren murmured casually as they wandered through the streets in search for a bar that was good enough for them. Presumably the same bar that Nelly had suggested that contained the whiskey they required.

"But I am rather polite when I want to be." Adding that there as a concession as he pushed the door open to the bar for her.

"My Lady." He teased her with a twinkle in his eye as he gave her entry and would follow suit behind her. The bar itself was packed, but that didn't surprise Iren so much. A place like this could presumably use all the pleasure and fun it could take.

What with being a depressing borderline tyrannical ruled crap fest otherwise.

"Whiskey then? To start with..."

 

[Iskra]

Iskra could not recall the last she had begged, perhaps a fuzzy memory from when she was small and hungered in the small village she sought refuge from. Hands upon her person, dragging her towards what she remembered as a cage. She had begged then, for them to listen to her, to leave her there.

She was glad for him to step away from her for a moment to open the door, admitting the mage to step in before he would.

"Whiskey." An agreement as she now turned her attentions to shouldering her way past the folk milling by the door, slowing once she set her gaze wide to secure them a table. It seemed nothing to be available for two, but Iskra seemed to challenge those taking up a table on their own to move on.

Finally, one such person did. She did not make a move for it once vacated, not when the young male had blocked her view of it and smiled down at her. "Kaliti, yes?"

A dark brow lifted in answer, making the stranger chuckle. "There is a ship from the Empire in the port. Lots of produce to sell, but I suspect the merchant is giving me the run around. I'd hate to get the Wardens involved, miss, and so I thought just now, seeing you... perhaps you would like to give your countrymen a hand and help me strike a deal."

Her feet shifted, feeling a sway about her person when the words ship and Empire were spoken in one sentence. A chance of freedom? A ticket back home? A slight sheen to her forehead started, the symptoms of her blood loss now finally giving clue to her condition now.

"I am here to drink."

Iskra shouldered past him too, ignoring the narrowing of his eyes. Slowly, she lowered herself into a seat and sighed.

"Twenty gold coins!" A voice called out.

Iskra looked to see where Iren was, brows raising. "Is he trying to buy me in accompanying him to speak Kaliti?"

But something inside her wished to go, without anyone following behind her. The need to be aboard the ship, to return to her home after being led astray for so many months. A homesickness she never thought she would have.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

He didn't interfere in the original exchange, because it was frankly none of his business. This wasn't a smart move at all and Iren was suspicious of the entire situation. Then the lad tried to press forward by offering gold in turn for her assistance.

Iren had followed her close-by but hadn't taken his seat just yet. Instead he took her by the shoulder, squeezing softly and leaning in there.

His lips brushed her ear. Almost reminiscent of what they had been doing just a while ago.

"Careful, Iskra. The Wardens have spies everywhere. Who is to say this is not one of their tests?" What a nice coincidence after all. Right where Iskra was her countryman suddenly appeared. With a ship and a sob story and a fervent need for assistance.

Perhaps next the captain would suggest that he could take her away from here.

She'd step foot on the ship... and suddenly the Wardens would show up... or one of them at least. Clicking their tongue and shaking their head in disapproval.

"Decline, politely... and if he keeps pushing, allow me to handle it. But do not think for a moment that it would be above the Wardens to keep testing us given the opportunity."

 

[Iskra]

Never had she felt hope snatched away from her than she had in that moment Iren murmured at her ear. Involuntarily, her head moved to the side to meet his gaze, but she saw it in those peculiar eyes of his. It was most certainly something the Wardens would do, and they had been testing Iskra ever since she was made their acquaintance. Each prod and experiment had shown the Wardens Iskra was not like any other, and that she had been trained or weathered to be like this.

But testing her word, how desperate she was to leave Cerak...

"I only wish for your help and kindness, friend." The man spoke, but Iskra's gaze held Iren's still.

Whereas he had almost lost himself in tasting her blood, the mage needed him to help her keep still. To keep her present and not at all hearing the siren call of the Empire and safe passage back home. She needed this vampire to be her anchor in that moment.

"Please! When I speak Kaliti, he still does not trust me. If you help me, then I will share my deepest gratitudes! Please, friend, in the name of the Regent!" To hear Kaliti spoken to her almost made her crack. Her eyes closed, and she let out a shuddering breath.

"What if he speaks true?" There had to be something true. Perhaps it was the mention of the Regent that summoned a guilt in the Kaliti woman, for she was here in Cerak and not going about her job as a Sapphire Hand trained in espionage.

 

[Iren Brightmane]

Iskra

It was clear that every fiber of Iskra's being wanted it to be true.

Iren sighed and shrugged softly.

"How far do you think his ship will make it with you onboard it?" He absently gestured to the very persistent captain behind them some distance away. "What is going to happen to him, to his crew, when the Wardens board his ship and find you among them?"

Truth to be told Iren doubted there was any way it was true. It was too big a coincidence. A Kaliti Captain who needed assistance just so happened to be in this bar specifically when Iskra arrived?

He was desperate and needed her help so much he'd even help her get out?

Too thick by half.

"Don't just think of your own freedom. Consider the fates of those around you as well." He squeezed her shoulder and then sat himself down opposite of her. Paving the way for her to approach the Captain if she truly wished it so. Iren wasn't sure what he would do if she actually attempted it.

It could be a test for them both.

Would Iskra betray the Wardens? If so, what would Iren do when it happened right in front of him?

The vampire hoped that she wouldn't put that question to him.

 

[Iskra]

Iskra held her breath as Iren left her side, moving to seat himself across from her. Her hands curled into fists, but only to dig in her nails and draw red crescents that were yet to break skin.

"I left the Empire for good reason. I do not help anyone that serves Amol-Kalit." Iskra did not turn to the man as she responded in her mother tongue, her back to him. Her eyes closed only for a moment as she felt a pang of ruin rip and spill inside her. It hurt her to say the lie. It was perhaps the hardest lie she could sell, but she remained still. "And if do not cease this begging, then I will show you the anger I have to use against the Empire."

Magic glimmered about her, serving as an outer shell of herself. It was angry, a reflection of her innermost thoughts about the Wardens. Magic crackled and charged, stopping the man from thinking of advancing now that the vampire was no longer in the way.

She was met with silence for a minute, and another minute later she heard the door open and close. A simple spell swept the room and told her the man was gone.

Iskra dropped her magic, found herself sinking in her seat and staring hopelessly onto the tabletop between herself and Iren.

"They will not stop, won't they? Not until they find something to hold against me..." Her defiance to bend to them, to serve for them or with them had been seen as a grave insult. To test her out here where she could hide, and now with some grasp of her power, Iskra felt better protected now.

Iskra now looked up at Iren, a coldness steeling her expression. "Are you here to test my loyalty?"

 

[Iren Brightmane]

Iskra

"I suspect they do not trust me enough yet to employ me in such fashion." He said simply after watching that exchange pass between the two. It was a long time ago that he had first learned Kaliti and even then he had been rusty at it. Now he barely could follow the exchange besides the basics of it.

"But I also suspect that if you had boarded his ship they would have send me after you."

Iren was nothing if not honest... perhaps to a fault.

It would have been better to leave that part out, but his eyes were on hers and he did not see a reason to mince words about it.

"Do not give them an inch, Iskra. Because they will take everything from you." He accepted the glass of whiskey put in front of him and once the servant was gone he took a soft sip. Looking over the rim to her. "Make yourself useful to them, assist them. Gain power... and then leverage said power."

At least that's what Iren was planning on doing.

 

[Iskra]

She stiffened at the thought of Iren being the one to stop her from leaving. Her brows deepened into a furrow, watching him closely as he sipped his whiskey.

"I already made an oath to serve another. I can only be released of it upon death." But she would show him the brand she burned on the back of her hand with magic. It had been her way to secure her future, to help her see a life outside of Annuakat.

A glass had been set before her, whiskey ready to pass her lips, but the mage did not move for the drink just yet.

"If you were to come after me, Iren... then I may have to see what piercing your heart with a dagger will look like..." She watched him, keenly watching for his face to change as she spoke these words. "Only once I am at my full power, then I will leave Cerak. Anyone that dares to stop me..." There was so much she was capable of, the way she grew her magics to make her formidable and elusive of capture.

Where she had shared a moment of vulnerability with him as he helped her with the first cuff, the test of refusing the man moments ago had brought a wall back up before the mage.