Private Tales Choosing Sides

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
Arwyl had been hoping to join some groups around the streets. There would normally have been more people milling around the town. As the closest settlement of humans to their own, he had it watched regularly.

He headed for the bar where the dirt tracks that counted for roads converged. There were plenty of people inside. He found a stool and hoped to listen out for some gossip.

The woman behind the bar stepped in front of him, still wiping down a wooden mug with a cloth. She looked at him and then turned to look over his right shoulder.

Arwyl started to turn too, but he stopped when an unrolled scroll was slammed down on the bar next to him. Arwyl looked down at a drawn out likeness of himself.

"Well...the reward is better than it used to be."


"Why would it be quiet at this time?" Caulden asked. Not knowing when the most popular market day was, it hadn't seemed so out of place for him.

"We should..."

A loud crash echoed across the town. A flash of unnatural blue light illuminated to stalls.

A figure was flung through a window, shrouded in an eerie blue light that carried him tumbling through the air and crashing through a table of vegetables. The magic, and the light, faded.

Arwyl slowly picked himself him. He looked up and Caulden and Tessa.

"We've got a Dreadlord problem," he announced. "Caulden get the others..."

"I told Kaius I would protect you and..."

"We're not winning this one and she's after me. Get the others." Arwyl's cloak was torn, he was bleeding from his brow.
 
Tessa jumped when the crash sounded and then gaped at the blue light. She had never seen anything like it. It did not even cross her mind that the blue light was dangerous until she saw the figure come flying towards them.

She tilted her head to the side and raised a brow as Arwyl stood. A Dreadlord? That was a strange name for something. She wanted to ask what a Dreadlord was but she quickly figured out that they were not good.

"Arwyl...we can help you. I have some kind of earth magic. I can control plants and I know basic self defense." She tried to sound confident but she was not. Tessa had never been a fighter.
 
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Arwyl looked to Tessa. He smiled fondly and wiped some blood from his brow. She had no idea the peril they faced and yet she offered to stand alongside them.

"You are very brave," he declared. He turned about on unsteady legs to look for the danger. Merchants were abandoning their stalls.

"Drealords are living weapons. Trained from birth in the twisted magical arts of humankind and the sword."

Another voice, flat and even rang out. The Dreadlord stepped through a doorway, next to the window frame she had launched Arwyl through.

"More elves?" She asked rhetorically.

"Caulden, fetch the others. She might take me alive. Tessa I can't give you order, but I suggest you run."

That pale blue light coalesced around a market stall, lifting it from the ground.
 
Tessa didn't need to be told a second time. She turned and ran. She wanted to help but she couldn't even fight the men from the previous day. She would stand no chance against a living weapon who was trained from birth. It would be impossible.

She didn't look back. She could only hope that Arwyl would be alright. That was the only hope she could have.
 
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Arwyl ran to his left, taking shelter behind a large wagon. He heard the stall splinter and crack as it was smashed against the wagon.

He pinched his fingers together and drew a crack in the fabric of magic. Twisting around his cover, he tossed the blade of spirit glass.

A blue hue formed around it as the Dreadlord tried to use their telekentic magic. Fortunately her power couldn't grapple with the nature of Arwyl's own. The blade stuck in her armour. She swatted it aside, the spirit glass shattering. An annoyance.

She lifted her hand and the entire wagon Arwyl was hiding behind flew apart.


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Tessa would see a shadow loom out of a space between houses on her left for a mere moment before a solid weight barrelled into her.

Tregart was a hound. Nose to the ground he led his master on her hunt. He had circled around to try and cut off their route of escape as soon as the fight had started in the bar.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be," he growled as he drew himself to his feet. He didn't draw his sword, not yet.
 
Tessa did see the shadow but she didn't register the threat until the breath had left her body and she hate her head hard on the ground. Her breathing was quick as she looked up at the man who had hit her.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be..."

"What? Her head was killing her now and she only understood some of his words. They seemed to make sense in his head though so they must make sense to her too. Sure.

Tessa just stared at the man like a helpless doe as he stood over her. She couldn't run.
 
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Arwyl darted forwards, changing direction enough to avoid the objects thrown at him. He drew a long blade, akin to his sword, and picked his target.

She was armoured. Plates smoothly overlapping over most of her body. Chainmail was exposed under her arm. It was nothing more than a web of holes to a sharp piece of spirit glass.

He got within two paces when her magic slammed into him like a wall.

"Bored now," she professed.


"Tregart, did you get the other one?" She called out. The two hunters from Vel Anir met up again across the bridge beyond the two. Each of them had an elf clapped in irons.

"Other one?" Tregart gave Tessa a firm shove between the shoulder blades.

Seria rolled her eyes. Arwyl tilted his head forwards to try and wipe some blood off on his tunic. He looked up at Tessa and tried to offer some encouragement. He looked to Tregart.

"Elf ears on a string, how fucking original," he snapped, seeing the bounties hanging from his belt.

The dreadlord struck him with the back of his hand so hard he fell to the ground.
 
Tessa yelled when the dreadlord his Arwyl. She tried to run over to him but it was futile. Tregart had a firm hand on her bicep. There would be a bruise later. Tessa bared her teeth and tried to kick the man in his shin.

Her foot connected and he grunted. He was an asshole who had no qualms about hitting a woman. Tregart spun her around and punched her hard in the face.

Tessa crumpled to the ground.
 
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Arwyl took a few seconds letting the line between the trees and the sky settle down again. The Dreadlord hadn't even put much force behind the blow, but she'd been accurate enough to send his world spinning.

"Up," she told him firmly. There was a distant impatience to her. It gave the impression that the mage was barely interested in events. Like they were beneath her.

It was awkward with his hands behind his back, but he managed to roll to the side and then find his feet.

"Never mind," she continued to her hunter. "We'll have him tell her where the rest of them are."

Tregart didn't seem disinterested. He seemed very much in the moment. He looked over the two elves, reaching down to yank Tessa back up.

"Maybe I can have a play with them later," he suggested. "Make em talk."

Something about the way he looked over them as he spoke made Arwyl feel even more nauseated. The Dreadlord merely shrugged.
 
Tessa came to her feet when Tregart pulled her up. She swayed on her feet and slowly brought her head up to look at Arwyl. She couldn't see where she was bleeding from but she was indeed bleeding. Her head was killing her and she just wanted to sleep. Why had her life taken such a terrible direction recently? What had she done to deserve it?

She didn't know and there was nothing she could do right now.

Her eyes widened in horror at Tregart's words about playing with them later. She struggled again which just caused a terrible laugh to come from the man.

"I will start with her," he said as he stroked Tessa's hair.
 
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"She doesn't know where the others are," Arwyl declared. "Just because she's an elf...ask around town she loved here."

Tregrt gave him a smile that suggested he didn't care what the young Prince had to say on the matter. It also suggested that he wouldn't be missing out on mistreatment himself. His hand trailed across her neck and shoulder slowly.

Seria sighed. She turned a blind eye to his indulgences because the elves deserved no mercy, but she did find it boring.

The blue hue surrounded the two elves and they were lifted and shoved forwards on the track that wound ahead through the trees.

"Get moving," Seria called. "Tregrt, go ahead and find us a campsite for the night."

Arwyl took a breath. Respite, but not for long. "I'm so sorry," he said quietly to Tessa. "You shouldn't have been caught in any of this."
 
Tessa felt like she was going to throw up with Tregart ran his hand along her shoulder. She flinched away but it didn't stop him.

"It's okay, Arwyl," she replied quietly. "I made my choice to join your group. It just seemed to be terrible timing all around." She tried to smile but it was more of a grimace.

The four of them were eventually at the campsite with Arwyl and Tessa sitting and tied up. Tessa was waiting for the Dreadlord and/or Tregart to start whatever horrible things they had planned.

Tessa was terrified. She did not have any answers for them. They would torture and kill her.
 
Arwyl tried to keep his focus. He had been in difficult, dangerous situations before. To Kaius' frustration, he had always approached them with the same unshakeable confidence. This was different. They already had him bound, he was facing a powerful Dreadlord. On top of that he had drawn someone into their path that hadn't signed up for this.

Yes, she had agreed to help them farm. That wasn't the same as putting her in the line of danger. If he hadn't come to town then this wouldn't have played out like this.

Seria finished washing down some biscuits and dried fruit with water from a waterskin. Arwyl could sense Tregart shifting in nervous anticipation.

She stood up. Tregart sat upright.

"Remember, I want to know where the rest of them are camped. I want them both alive," she said this with a stern glare and a sharp nod. "My House has those with less crude methods if you fail so do not take things too far."

Clearly, she didn't have the stomach for any more and she turned and walked beyond the light of the fire.
 
Tregart looked at Arwyl and Tessa with a terrifying glee in his eyes. He was looking forward to this. Tessa looked at Arwyl with pleading in her eyes as Tregart came to crouch in front of her. A glint of steel flashed in his hand as he brought the knife to her cheek.

"She said she wanted you alive. She didn't say you couldn't have some new scars." The knife traced a small line down her cheek. Tessa did not flinch away or cry out as the pain blossomed. "Where are the rest of ya?"

"I don't know! I live here! I barely know them!" Tessa pleaded.
 
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Arwyl was ashamed of the part of himself glad that the knife wasn't in his face. There was a big difference between catching a wound in battle by surprise and having pain slowly and deliberately inflicted upon you.

"She doesn't know," Arwyl hissed. The larger part of himself knew that this was his responsibility. He also knew that if he gave their position away there could be an armoured company on top of his people within days.

Arwyl could only offer Tessa an apologetic look for that reality. He would not give them all up. Hundreds more deaths would be on his hands.

Arwyl flexed his hands. Perhaps the Dreadlord had assumed that he was like a faerie and than irons would stop him using his magic. She was wrong. It wasn't much good with his hands behind his back.
 
A tear slid down Tessa's face. She couldn't hold it back. She had known the glares and whispers of the townspeople but this...this was downright hatred just because she an elf. She did not understand how people could be so cruel. So evil.

"It seems that if I hurt her, you will talk though," Tregart said with that smile that made Tessa want to vomit. Tregart may not seem like the sharpest man but he knew the techniques to get answers. The joke was on him though because Arwyl barely knew her. He didn't - couldn't - care what happened to her over his people.

Tessa looked at Arwyl with a resigned look on her face. She knew this was going to get ugly if the man didn't get the answers he wanted and she was going to be the fodder.
 
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Arwyl tried to meet her eyes. She deserved that, at least. If he could give her his strength he would. She had agreed to join them, that made her one of his people.

Kaius had finally managed to get through to him. To make him understand that his people would make great sacrifices for him, but that he couldn't repay that with his irresponsibility. If he was to be a king, Arwyl had decided that he had to be willing to pay the price in return.

"I will get you out of this," he promised her, but he had nothing to offer their captor. They needed time for the others to track them down. Maybe he could find a way to bring Tregart close enough to despatch him quietly.

Loudly would do. The Dreadlord clearly didn't have the stomach for torture. If they remained captive but this filthy beast perished it would be better for all elves.
 
Tessa had managed to get her hands touching the ground and she sent her magic into earth asking for help. She had never asked for help. Honestly, she didn't fully understand her magic. She just knew that the earth communicated with her. Almost immediately, she felt the cut on her face heal and she smiled. It did work both ways.

She looked over at Arwyl and took a chance that if she got Tregart close to him, he could take care of the rest. "Fine fine, I will talk!" She said suddenly. "There is a map to where everyone is in the pocket of Arwyl's pants..."
 
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"You bitch!" he hissed. Arwyl wasn't very good at selling the lie. He'd never been a good liar. Drunken bringer of chaos, irresponsible leader of free elves, but not a liar.

He didn't know whether this was a desperate ploy to buy more time or a genuine plan from Tessa. She had seen him use his magic, he supposed. It didn't matter.

Arwyl backpedaled along the dirt towards a tree. He was going to get one chance at this and he needed the brute right on top of him.

Tregart struck him across the side of the head to discombobulate him. Arwyl hadn't expected that. Everything span and he wasn't even certain he could call upon his magic, let alone use it accurately.

He felt rough hands turning him over onto his front, shoving his face into the ground. His skin was cut, mouth filled with dirt that wedged between his teeth. The world started to spin more slowly. The hunter was kneeling on his left side, patting him down.

Arwyl steeled himself. He grabbed Tregart's hand and rolled. It didn't do much. The hunter swore as he fell forwards across Arwyl, promising bloody retribution for his behaviour.

His words ended sharply. The shard of spirit glass extended from between Arwyl's hands and through Tregart's chest. Warm blood spilled down across his hands, over his back.

Tregart tried to shout, but the air in his lungs had been replaced with blood. He struggled and rolled away, shattering the blade. Arwyl stayed where he was until the gurgles and desperate gasps came to an end.
 
Tessa felt a little bad for sending Tregart after Arwyl but it was the only plan she could think of. Arwyl was much more skilled than she was so she hoped he would be able to kill him. He had. Tessa had seen more death in the past day than she had seen in her entire life. She didn't know what to do about it. She knew it wasn't going to change now that she had joined Arwyl's group.

Tessa made her way over to the leader and looked at him. She couldn't do much because her hands were still behind her back. "I am so sorry, I couldn't think of anything else to tell him!" Tears streamed down her cheeks now.
 
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Arwyl was breathing hard and fast, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He wriggled onto his back, twigs and leaves sticking to the bloody mess across his back.

"Shh," he went sharply. The Dreadlord wouldn't have gone far. Maybe far enough not to hear any screaming. It might not have been the blood that turned her stomach, Tregart might have had more unpleasant vices.

"Shh," he went more softly. He stood up awkwardly and started to use his boot to shuffle through the man's jacket for keys.

"You got him close to me, that was very clever," he whispered. Behind his back, his fingers were shaking.
 
Tessa was still crying but she stayed silent like Arwyl had told her. She didn't know what to do. Her hands were behind her back, her cheek was bleeding, the salt from her tears was burning the cut. She was useless, per usual.

While Arwyl tried to find the keys to their manacles, she hoped, she kept watch for the Dreadlord woman. She would eventually return and Tessa could only hope they would be free by then. Neither of them were a match for her power.
 
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"Oh thank fuck," Arwyl sighed as something gave a jangle.

Turning his back to the corpse, Arwyl dropped onto his haunches and fumbled around behind himself until he had them.

"Come on," he said, darting into the shadows around the camp. He didn't go far. Just enough to put them out of immediate sight.

"Back to back," he said, turning away from her with the keys in his hand behind him.

His heart was racing. The Dreadlord couldn't have gone far. The absence of any commotion was soon going to be as suspicious as any noise they made.
 
Tessa turned around and backed up to Arwyl. It took a little bit of fighting with the key and lock before she felt felt one of her wrists come free. She let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding and turned to take the keys from his hand.

She undid her other wrist and then quickly got to work on Arwyl's. She was quicker with his since she could actually see and it only took a few moments.

Once they were both free, she looked around to make sure they were still alone. "I am going to need you to teach me how to fight. This trouble stuff seems to follow you," Tessa teased.

"What now?"
 
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His bloodied hands made a mess her Tessa as he struggled to get the shackles undone. It wasn't long before both of them were released.

Kaius hadn't rounded all of the edges off of him yet. He grinned when she said that trouble seemed to find him.

He had spent so long actively seeking it, that he supposed fate owned him some in return when he was trying to be responsible.

"Follow me, watch my feet and keep your head low," he said, turning and darting into the undergrowth. He explained more as they went.

"We can't head towards the camp, so we're going to make South for your farms. See if we can throw her off before we change directions. My people will be coming armed and ready to face a Dreadlord so if she meets them first...that will be the end of her."
 
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