Dreadlords Crime and Punishment[Fate]

[Edric]

Fame.

The very notion was a foreign thing to him. It was what he had wanted, wasn't it? For people to know his face, for someone to see him, make the connection. It had been why he'd done all of this, wasn't it?

A frown pulled at Edric's lips, and slowly he began to shake his head. "No."

He said slowly taking a step back and looking at Ralene. Doubt crept slowly into his chest, and a decision cemented itself. Edric had wanted to know, had wanted a clue, but...maybe he wasn't ready for more than that. Not now. Perhaps not ever.

"Let's get out of here." Edric said as he glanced down the empty streets towards those wandering out of the coliseum. "I've learned enough for today."

For many of them, family was a distant and almost esoteric thing. A distant memory, something that most had tried their best to forget. Ghosts that haunted them in their sleep and nothing more, and maybe it was better that way.

With a quick turn and a motion to Ralene, Edric headed off in the opposite direction of the crowd.

 

[Samantha Black]

That was about what she'd expected from Ed. Somehow, fame just didn't really suit him - though Ral couldn't help but think he'd make an iconic figure for the city. With a glance back toward the stands and the sound of the crowds pouring back toward the street, she shifted to quickly fall in stride with him back along the streets and footpaths he'd walked the night before.

"The stables are that way," she motioned down the left path as they approached an intersection worn with wagon wheel tracks. Everything she'd arrived here with was stored in her saddlebags and on her horse's gear, so there was no need to go anywhere else if Ed meant to leave.

 

[Edric]

Without a word Edric turned towards the stables.

Behind them the clamor of the crowd could be heard. Dozens of whispers mixing together to form stories, rumors, and tales. Some painted the harsh light of reality, others already spun fantasy. Edric didn't care to listen to any of them.

The two Initiates turned down the left path, and within just a few moments found themselves standing with a pair of horses. A stable boy was perched just above them, watching the two Dreadlords with no small amount of wonder.

As they moved to leave the Stable, Edric suddenly stopped.

He paused, as if considering something, and then slowly looked over at Ralene. "Thank you."

Edric said quietly.

 

[Samantha Black]

Already shifting her thoughts to the next step of making the trek back to the Academy, the sudden pause caught her off guard. She looked over with a questioning gaze. Had he changed his mind? Then Ed hit her with two words that were seldom ever heard and Ral felt a strange weight settle behind her ribs.

The measure of success here was almost impossible to define. Though she'd learned information for him, there was no real evidence to support anything of what she'd heard. Just rumors, stories, nothing verifiable. He could search for years and find no one meeting the description, but they didn't have years and, frankly, they didn't have that option.

Couldn't help that creeping feeling of failure again. Ralene frowned, brow knit, and briefly broke her gaze from him while she struggled to find a way to respond. In the end, a faint and sober look returned to her face as her eyes met his again. It wasn't quite a smile, but a level warmth of acceptance.

Ral lifted a hand to his near shoulder and gave it a squeeze, then nodded.

Somehow the weight in her chest had traveled to her throat and stuck there like a walnut, forbidding passage of a verbal response. Couldn't find the right words, just like before when Holstag had questioned her motive to stay, but she wouldn't leave his words hanging unacknowledged. After a moment she released him and turned to mount her horse. Ral cleared her throat of that damned walnut and circled round to face the road out.

"Let's get the fuck out of here, yeah?"

A nudge of her heel to her horse's side and she lead the way off at a lope. The crowds arrived on the edges of the road as the pair made their way out, pointing and waving and gawping at Stratholm's savage hero.