Fable - Ask A Trail of Blood

[Sloan]

Sloan made a face at him that said his claim was questionable. She felt his anger, and knew she was hurting his pride. Sloan was never trained in the art of people skills, she saw no need for pleasantries or small talk or pretending you liked someone when you didn’t. She had a job to do and pandering to Ein wasn’t one of them.

Her gaze narrowed as he had the audacity to speak to her in the way that he did. She was glaring, but she couldn’t decide whether she was annoyed and insulted or whether it gave her a little hope that he had at least a little courage buried deep.

“We’re not here to be nice. We’re here to do a job and do it well. If it’s nice you want then fuck off to Alliria.” Her jaw clenched.

 

[Ein]

Ive thought about it more than once. Ein thought to himself with a deep scowl. He had half expected her to use whatever magic she had to strip the flesh from his bones. When all he got was a verbal rebuke he couldn't help but be relieved, and slightly emboldened.

She needed him in this situation, that much was more than clear now. Though that didn't mean punishment wouldn't come later.

"Here." He tossed her some of the hard tack. It was made by the Guard specifically for situations like this. Tasted awful, but supposedly it had enough in it to count as half a meal. "You're welcome."

Ein said as he walked to the other side of the fire and sat himself down.

 

[Sloan]

That scowl. How petulant. Sloan smirked to herself and caught the cracker which she lifted to her nose to sniff at curiously before taking a bite at a corner. As disgusting as it was, Sloan didn't comment, and her expression remained stoic. She wasn't exactly used to fine delicacies, and she needed the sustenance..She'd have said thank you if he hadn't already been so snarky about it.

She watched him as he sat and her head tilted as she chewed.. "You know if you spoke to me in that way back home I'd flog you in the street..Right?" she asked, a slender brow arching in question. "We have a long ride ahead of us. Try to not be so utterly hopeless and I'll try not to frighten you so much." she smirked.

 

[Ein]

Ein gritted his teeth.

His problem had always been anger. It had gotten him into trouble more than once and it was the reason that he'd been thrown into the Guard in the first place. Fingers scrunched into a tight fist, and he couldn't help but quip back. "Good thing we're not home then."

The Guardsmen commented, knowing full well he'd probably feel the lash if they did make it back to Vel Anir.

And we'll see whose hopeless when we get on the horse tomorrow. Ein thought to himself bitterly.

He could survive a few lashes, but he didn't have a death wish.

 

[Sloan]

Luckily for Ein, Sloan couldn’t hear thoughts. Not anymore.. She could however feel the anger radiating from him and growing more intense. Perhaps she shouldn’t have given him that knife...

“Yes it is..But soon enough we will be, so I’d suggest you stop sitting there scowling like a petulant child. That anger of yours will drown you, I can feel it bubbling away...” she looked up.

“I saved your life, you saved mine. At least I have said thank you.. Now get some rest. I’ll take first watch.” she told him and bit off another piece of the hardtack.

 

[Ein]

Stupid magic. Ein thought to himself as his eyes slowly dropped from Sloan and fell onto the fire.

In the end he knew that she was right. Anger had always been his problem. He was impulsive, and sometimes it made him do stupid things. That was why he'd ended up here in the first place, why even the Guard had had difficulty disciplining him.

He shifted in the dirt, sliding down the dirt wall before grumblings. "Thanks."

The word was so quiet that she probably wouldn't even hear it, but it was the best Ein could do before closing his eyes.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan replayed the entire day's events over in her head again and again as she stared at the flames. Her head was pounding from blood loss and dehydration, and she subconsciously pulled at the energy from the fire and it began to dwindle again. She stoked the flames before they went out, and curled up to bathe in the heat from them.

She wouldn't bother waking Ein for watch, she'd let him sleep. Sloan could last days without sleep if she had something to leech energy from. It didn't mean she didn't feel tired, she always felt tired, but as long as she could function she'd deal with it..

 

[Ein]

Ein woke with a sudden start.

His head whirled around almost instantly, looking from one place to another as he grabbed for the long knife as though someone were trying to slit his throat. His chest slowly rose and fell, then his eyes slid towards the Dreadlord.

Cheeks colored for a few seconds and then he cleared his throat. "You uhh."

His lips thinned.

"You didn't wake me." That much was obvious from the sun casting into the cavern.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan's golden hues moved to settle on the startled man with a soft frown as she sat by the fire..

"You're welcome." she stated in a blunt echo of his words from the previous night.

"I ate some fire. I'll rest tonight for a while." she muttered and lifted the rocks to throw onto the fire to dowse the flames. "We should get moving.."

 

[Ein]

He grimaced, knowing full well exactly what that tone meant. Briefly he thought about what was going to happen if they actually made it back to Vel Anir.

"Well." Ein began. "Ready when you are."

The Guardsmen pushed himself up the wall and made a show of stretching both of his legs out fully before stepping towards the Horse and grabbing it's reigns. With a slow walk he headed towards the exit of the cave and then stopped. "Oh sorry Sloan, do you need help?"

He was just leaning into the execution now.

They probably weren't going to make it out anyway.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan's eyes rolled as he was clearly enjoying his theatrics. Her jaw clenched though, she wouldn't be made a fool of, she was a second level Dreadlord and he was a fucking welp making a joke of her suffering. "Yes..Please." she asked of him and reached out a hand to let him help her up.

She'd allow him to help her toward the horse before stepping a foot out behind his and slamming him with a little extra strength into the wall of the cave, fingers curled into a fist around his collar as she glared at him.

"Lets get some things straight, you useless sack of shit. I can kill you without so much as breaking a sweat. You think you have the advantage here because I'm wounded, think I'll just sit here and take you talking to me like a fucking common guard because of this!?" she pointed to her thigh. "I'm not here to be your friend, so how bout you just do what the fuck I tell you to do and we get home. Hm?.."

 

[Ein]

It took every single ounce of willpower for Ein not to suddenly break into a blubbering mess of tears and sobs.

The wall of the cave was ice cold, goosebumps rushed over every inch of his skin. He knew that his eyes were probably the size of saucers, his fist had to clench into tight balls to keep them from shaking. He could see the rage in her eyes, the anger.

Ein knew that she could kill him in an instant.

Yet he couldn't help but feel the fire of resistance in his belly. He knew the stories. Knew what Dreadlords had done to people like him. Knew that they were the ones who propped up the nobles that got his father killed. The fingers in his hand tightened even further, knuckles white. "If I'm so useless then kill me now you, Bitch."

His voice was quivering, shaking, almost breaking, but he still said it.

"You think you're better than me just because of magic?" His brain was SCREAMING at him to stop, but he couldn't. "Try living this shit without it. Try running around doing as your told, marching to your death every other day with just a sword and a shield. There's plenty of shit that can kill me."

Ein scowled, his voice steadying a bit. "You're not better than me. You're in the same situation as me."

The words passed from his lips, and in that moment he fully expected to die.

He knew what he'd just done. What he'd just said. No Dreadlord would stand for it. No weapon of Vel Anir would ever put up with it. He'd just signed his own Death Warrant.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan's brows rose as he took it a step further. Bitch?!

"I KNOW I'm better than you. I'm better than you because I have nothing in my life BUT this - every minute of every day of my entire life has been dedicated to this, you think it came easy to me?!" she stared at him with more venom than a viper and she pressed him back harder against the wall.

He clearly held some sort of grudge, she was used to men like him resenting women like her, whether they were fearful, envious or just plain hateful of her was irrelevant, she didn't have time for it.

"You're lucky we're on the same side, boy. I don't know if you have a fucking death wish but I'm sorry to disappoint you, I'm not the monster that you seem to think that I am." she growled and threw him down hard.

"There's plenty that can kill me too, but I trained to make sure they don't succeed. Quit fucking whining about it and start putting some of that anger to good use, stop taking it out on me." she warned. She'd wanted to hurt him and teach him a lesson, but she'd only be giving him further cause to fear her and more reason to believe that she was one of the monsters that her sort had been painted as.

"Get up."

 

[Ein]

Ein spat on the floor, but did as she told him.

For some reason even that wrankled him, but he couldn't very well remain face down in the first rolling around just because she had told him to do otherwise. He wasn't a child.

Without a single word Ein pulled himself up from the ground, turning away from the Dreadlord and stepping over towards the horse. He practically snatched the creatures reigns, pulling the saddle into place and leading the beast outside.

She wouldn't get any help from him.

Just beyond the mouth of the cave things were quiet. His eyes quickly swept through the trees, searching for any sign of the enemy they had escaped yesterday. He saw nothing, and even heard birds chirping quietly as the dawn came.

It didn't mean anything of course, they were likely still searching. A frown touched his face as he heard Sloan approach behind him. "Who were they?"

He decided to outright ignore their previous...conversation, and focus on the future. Anger still lurked just beneath the surface, but he was determined to at least live to see the executioners block back in Vel Anir.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan tried to bear weight on her leg but leaned on the cave wall to limp out to the horse. There were a few extra steps without aid and she clenched her jaw as she drew a glare across Ein's face. She could just kill him and leave him here, nobody would know, would anyone care? She huffed at the thoughts, she needed him to corroborate the events, questions would be asked..

"Hired mercenaries by the looks of things.." she frowned and pulled in a breath as she made the attempt at making the last few steps toward the horse, but she fell to her knees and grit her teeth.. "Question is who hired them, they knew we'd be passing through, it wasn't a coincidence." she frowned whilst trying to pull herself to her feet. Her hamstring had been severed entirely, and it made walking near impossible.

 

[Ein]

Ein let out a muted sigh, scowling slightly as he quietly cursed about being the better person.

That was what his father had always said.

Trying to hide just how much he hated helping her Ein slowly walked over towards Sloan and offered her a hand. "Why would anyone pay to attack a full Platoon of Guardsmen, and a Dreadlord?"

As a guardsmen and ordinary citizen of Vel Anir, Ein was of course entirely oblivious to the Great Game of the Houses. He did not understand the concept of infighting, and to him the King was the only true power in Vel Anir.

Just as it was to most citizens.

"That's basically declaring war." Ein said, assuming it was a foreign nation.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan lifted a dark gaze to him as he offered his hand, and she tried to hide just how much she hated accepting his help as she reached her hand to grip him and allowed him to help her up. “Because another house paid them to do so. Vel Anir is a chessboard, you don’t think we all just happily coexist under the king’s rule, do you?..” she asked with a grimace.. “They all want power.”

She made it to the horse with his help and sighed out a quiet “Thank you.” as she reached to grip hold of the saddle. She felt exhausted and she’d only taken a few steps from the cave. Sleep would help, hopefully, but she needed a healer.

 

[Ein]

Shock painted his face. "Another House?! But we're supposed to follow the King!"

Ein sounded incredulous. Obviously he knew that the Great Houses had power, but never in a million years did he imagine that power was used against themselves. That just seemed utterly idiotic, though, it did remind him of the gangs back home.

Lips thinned for a brief moment as he contemplated what she'd just said. It had been only a throwaway comment Sloan had given as fact, but...it made things in his head suddenly click into place.

Did others know this? Did Donric and Colette?

Slowly as Ein pulled himself into the Saddle he reached down to grab her and help her up. "So you're telling me another House tried to kill us?"

Why? What would be the benefit.

"Was it just to get rid of you?" That seemed the most likely.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan couldn’t help but laugh at Ein’s outburst. “Don’t be so naive..” she muttered.

“I’m saying it’s highly likely. Houses are always trying to bury other houses. Luana is one of the richest houses in Vel Anir, so yes, it’s likely they were sent for me and the number of household guard that I just watched die in that field.”

She reached a hand up and groaned as she climbed into the saddle.

“So you’ll understand, why I must get back sooner rather than later. For all I know they’ve burned our house to the ground.” she frowned, her worry evident in her tone.

Sloan had ambitions, she loved her house but in reality she’d do anything to gain rank and achieve her own goals. It didn’t mean there weren’t people she cared about, and the thought of Zana in particular caused a flare of panic.

“Let’s go.”

 

[Ein]

Ein did as he was told this time, but only because he wanted to and not because she had said so.

Without any further protest they set off, though their pace was slow. The forest was heavy here, and with no true path to cross over Ein had to make sure the great beast didn't hurt itself by stepping on a root or getting tangled somewhere. As they moved though Ein decided to ask questions. "If you serve House Luana that must mean you also go against the other houses sometimes."

It only stood to reason.

"Was our mission something like that?" Everything had been incredibly vague at the start of this. Ein hadn't even known why he'd been there in the first place. He was a Guardsmen and had followed orders like a good soldier, something Colette had told him he should do more often.

He was regretting that now.

Especially if this entire mission had been some game between the great Houses. The idea that friends of his died just because of some petty Gambit for power made his blood boil.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan didn't answer his question, and she made a huff that said it was a stupid question.. "House Luana exist for the people. I'm not quite sure what you're suggesting.." she muttered quietly, but of course, all houses fought for power whether or not they tried to hide behind their so-called righteousness. Still, it was dangerous territory and well above her authority to speak about, and much further above his.

"That's not your business either. Nor is it mine. We do as we're told, and don't ask questions." she told him sternly and cleared her throat, trying to think of something to change the subject and make him stop asking her questions she couldn't answer. She wasn't much of a conversationalist, she preferred silence, but she wasn't getting any of that.

"Did you grow up in Vel Anir?" she asked. Most of them did, she knew that, but humans also travelled from all over Arethil to train and become part of their army, there were none better.

 

[Ein]

Ein was almost entirely sure that she was bullshitting him. Over the years he’d picked up a pretty good sense for it, one had to in the streets where he came from. Fingers tightened on the reigns, but he decided not to push the issue.

Sloan already seemed like she was ready to stab him at any given moment, and Ein didn’t really need to offer her any further encouragement for the act. ”Kind of.”

The boy answered her.

Though the slums outside the wall were considered by many to still be Vel Anir proper, most of the residents didn’t. They had their own names for the little villages that had sprung up, especially those who were not as well off.

”Grew up in the slums.” He told her. ”Bleakhold.”

It was a small shanty town that sat on a river just outside Vel Anir, known for it’s ties to several large criminal gangs.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan's brow lifted and she gave a light nod as he spoke of where he'd grown up and she cleared her throat.. "My mother was from Bleakhold.." she offered quietly in response.. "I haven't spent much time there, but our aid has been required a number of times over the years.." her shoulder shrugged.

Sloan wasn't much for small talk and generally struggled with conversation, but if it would ease the tension in the atmosphere they both seemed to create then she'd deal with it. He'd proven already to be particularly loquacious, and it was better than talking about things she wasn't supposed to.

 

[Ein]

Dreadlords had moms? He'd never really thought about it all that much, but he supposed it made sense. Just because they were magic didn't mean that the bastards just randomly sprung into existence.

For a second he chewed on his lip, then asked.

"Do you know what street?" He wasn't entirely sure what he was hoping to accomplish with the question, but perhaps he was just sicking of arguing with her over everything. This was the first time they had even an inkling of a connection.

Might as well seize on it.

Bleakhold was like a town unto itself really. Different streets meant different kinds of people, and more often than not...who you would associate with for life.

 

[Sloan]

Sloan frowned as she tried to recall the vague memories she had of her home..."I.. something to do with Ash I think.. I can't quite remember.. My brother and I were taken to the city when we were three or four.." she shrugged, a pang of pain in her chest as she mentioned her brother and she realised how long it'd been since she had.