Private Tales Flame of the Hearth

[Innis]

Two by two the Knights of Anathaeum ever marched, even in the monotony of everyday chores. This was their oldest rule, tried and true, but it didn't stop Innis from kicking her feet that bright and gentle morning in less than quiet protest. She had been hoping for an orderly day of study. An orderly, solitary day. Instead, she found herself in a party of three - herself and another squire trailing behind a proper knight on horseback.

The Knight was Guernot the Seabearer, Flame Pursuant. Ask him why he wasn't of the Loch and you were likely to get second degree burns.

At the bottom of the woody hill they were descending, a flat sprawl of village curled around a bend in the river. The town was so close by that its little thatched roofs and paddocks could be seen from the higher points of the monastery. It was also called Astenvale, in a very boring turn of conventions. All the name meant was East of the Vale, which there was a lot of around here, considering that the were about due East of the Vale.

"Do we really need an escort to go grocery shopping," Innis pouted. She shot a sour glance at her fellow squire, daybound as he was. It wasn't that she was mad at him specifically, only that he happened to be there, and she certainly couldn't get mad at a higher ranking member of the order.

"Any journey outside of the Monastery must be taken by at least one of Dawn and Dusk," the Knight Pursuant sitting atop his noble steed called back patiently. "And since you two aren't officially in a sanctum yet, be happy that our numbers were deemed sufficient." The man raised up four fingers in the air, thin blue webbing warmed green by the sunlight. "There could have been four of us to do the shopping."

The trees were beginning to break around them, and in their place, hilly grazeland and squat farmhouses. Sir Guernot's horse slowed its pace to nip at a long tuft of grass. Dismissively, he pulled at the reins and kicked his spur-less heels against the mare's side. She snorted back to attention and trotted a ways ahead, Guernot rolling side to side to try and balance out the sudden movement. "Hey now Nessie," he chided her, but the mare was determined to make up for her moment of guilty respite and kept hurrying down the incline in long strides.

Looking skyward with a sigh, Innis put both her hands atop her hatted head and kept her same pace. She might've even slowed down a bit. "I'm not running to catch up," she called out as Sir Guernot and his steed rounded a corner out of view.

 

[Hector]

Hector eyed the other squire, and smiled nervously as she yelled out to the Pursuant. "It's not so bad," he said mildly. "It certainly could be worse," he added as he stepped after their mentor and picked up his clip, his tall shield slung onto his back. "'sides, Innis, you never know what the traders might have brought, maybe some new supplies from the west?" He looked back and smiled at her. "Maybe even a book or manuscript from Elbion?"

 

[Innis]

Innis scowled and glowered and darkened her eyes under the rim of her hat. She knew that Hector was trying to cheer her up, and she knew that it was going to work, eventually. "That's not the point," she bit back, but with less venom in her words. "You and the Pursuant both. Just because things aren't bad doesn't mean they're not a waste. We're not going to learn anything from a trip like this."

The other squire's pace picked up, and Innis had to put in effort not to match him, intentionally lagging behind. She caught sight of an interesting fencepost in the distance and watched it flag along to keep her own gait steady.

"I'll see you in the village." She called out, her voice getting louder as Hector got further away. A few strides more had her thinking about sky merchants and faraway puzzles. "Save any books for me!" she added with a wave.

 

[Hector]

A warm laugh came from the taller squire. "Not everything has to be about efficiency, you know?" he looked ahead, and could see the houses on the horizon, their cobblestone walls and thatchwork roofs more than familiar. "I take it the old rule has something to do with inspiring people, you know?" he said, dreamily. "Two knights bring more confidence than one, after all," he looked to Innis, but she was already behind. He shook his head, and picked up his pace.

"Hector!" called Pursuant Guernot, who was tying up his mare. "Where is Innis?"

Hector jogged over to him. "She is enroot, Sir, and not too far behind," he said with a nod.

"Hmm, well, I trust she will be fine enough," the merfolk said with a nod. "Here is the list," he said and handed over a rolled piece of parchment. "I shall go speak with the mayor, to see if there is not any service we may provide for the village before we make back for the Monastery, see to it Innis and yourself take care of gathering the supplies."

The squire took the parchment, and nodded to Guernot. "Yes sir, I will make sure of it."

The Knight Pursuant smied. "I trust that you will," and he turned away and made for the gathering hall.

Hector looked about, and saw the ornate wagons of dwarven traders, parked near the trading stalls, his lips spread into a smile and his eyes gleamed with excitement. "Might be they have some special ores in stock," he whispered to himself.

 

[Innis]

The walk was nice. A clean breeze had the farmland smelling fresh and springy, the rot from the river not reaching this far. She had a blissful few minutes for her own thoughts in the gentle country, though unfortunately she spent them thinking about what Hector had said. She didn't know who they were supposed to be inspiring when they were picking out vegetables. But there was no one next to her to hear that counter, so she kept it to herself until she reached the main street of the village, where the sharpness of her mood softened until she might've been having a good time.

It took her awhile to find Hector. She'd been looking for a big, blue kivren in sleek armor, instead.

"Have you got the list?" Innis asked as she approached, but immediately lost interest in her own question as soon as she saw past Hector. In front of the squire, the back of a gilded wagon had been thrown open to reveal a library on wheels. Books and reading glasses and other worldly trinkets lined its shelves. A bespectacled dwarf with a long, grey beard sat on the down step of the wagon, nose deep in one of her own wares. The air thrummed with magic.

 

[Hector]

"Right here," he replied, raised the piece of parchment up and waived it around. "See, I told you," he said with some satisfaction in his voice, but his eyes cast away and he gave a sad sigh through his soft smile. "But, your fortune brings me little,"

"Oh?" the dwarf woman sounded with surprise, though her eyes never left her book. "Not a lettered one, are ye?"

Hector looked over at the bearded lady who sat so easily on the step of her cart. She licked the pad of her thumb and turned a page. "N-no, that's not it, I can certainly read," he affirmed.

"Can you now?" her green eyes glanced up at him, though her nose stayed pointed down at the pages before her. "Then, what makes you so sure there is no book in there for you, hmm?"

A nervous curl of the lips spread across Hector's mouth. He laughed some and scratched the back of his head with his gloved hand. "Well, I suppose there is no harm in looking," he gave in, and tucked away the parchment list into a pocket on the inside of his gambeson. He stepped up into the wagon, boots knocked against the wooden steps of the cart, and the whole thing creaked some under his weight. He scanned the spines of the leather bound volumes, and saw something of interest.

Forefinger and thumb dug it out. "The sword of Hearth and Home," he said aloud as he felt the weight of the thin collection of pages.

"Ah, now that is a good one," the old woman said with a smile, and went on reading her book.

Hector looked at the cover, and the careful stamps and emboss work that marked it. He cracked it open, and began to read.

 

[Innis]

All nose, Innis got on her tiptoes to read over the taller squire's shoulder. Her brows scrunched up in disappointment when Hector said the title aloud. "Oh, I've read that one already." Heavily, she plopped back down on her heels. "That's a kid's story."

Disinterested now, Innis wandered a few steps away to peer deeper into the wagon's interior.

"Be sure to know that all wisdom is held in children's stories," the old dwarven woman said, her smile turning bemused. She did not look up from the book in her lap. "And sometimes a little bit of magic, too."

 

[Hector]

Hector's eyes never left the page. So engrossed was he in the tale that came to life. "Well," he said with half his mind in another world. "I've never read it, ok?" he heard her boots echo away against the floor of the wagon and he held the book closer to his eyes, as if the change in proximity would help him take the words in faster. He stopped a moment, scanned about, and took a seat on a strategically placed stool.

"Innis! This story takes place in the Vale!" he sounded out excitedly.

 

[Innis]

"Huh?" Innis called back from inside the wagon. She shelved the green tome she had been flipping through and peeked her head out. Tricorn hat tinkled against some glass ornaments hanging from the covered roof of the wagon. "...in the Vale... I know, I've read it!"

The other squire was stooped atop a stool that was too small for him, curled into the book, turning each page with an eager twist of his whole body. Innis blinked once at the sight until a realization finally washed over her. The wagon creaked as she bounced off its edge and landed in the dirt once more. "Its about one of the gods in the Eldyr tree, when they still wandered the forests and had adventures."

She came to squat next to the stool, trying not to lean in too close as she grazed the words off the page. With a sudden burst of patience, she waited in stillness for Hector to get to the good part.

 

[Hector]

"Ho!" he exclaimed with a small hop up from his stool. "He pulled a sword out of the earth itself! Innis!" And while he smiled big and bright, his eyes kept on with their reading, kept on taking in all each letter had to give.

"For all those gone and taken," he read aloud, and the words felt hot on his lips, and spiced on his tongue. "the lord of the hearth did make a home, deep of root and stout of bough." He looked up at his fellow squire, her hat shading him from the sun.

"Hey, this sounds like something Pursuant Dejan would teach us about, doesn't it?" his eyes went back down to the book, and he turned the page. "Of the wild, and those old spirits that live there in." He went on reading.

 

[Innis]

She'd read the words before, of course, but they took on new light spoken aloud. Innis watched with steady gaze as her fellow squire shifted his attention from her to book, sharing the brightness he found within its pages. As Hector went on about spirits, she was about to respond, but a deep and watery voice beat her to it.

"Too bad Pursuant Dejan isn't here," interrupted Sir Guernot from behind the pair. Startled, Innis wheeled around to face the knight. A sack was slung across one of his shoulders, and a missive with the mayor's seal was clutched in the other hand. Towering, Sir Guernot overshadowed the sun completely as he leaned down over them. A burning mirth flashed through red eyes, and he smiled with sharp teeth.

"Though I can imagine what he might say..." The Flame Pursuant straightened and put a fresh frown on his fishy face. He reached out an ungloved finger and tapped the edge of the book expectantly. "Squire, are you certain that item is on the list?"

 

[Hector]

Hector snapped his eyes toward the voice, and his hands instinctively shut the book tight as he smiled and laughed nervously. "Sir Guernot, we were just," his eyes darted to see the sack already rested on his shoulder, and then back down to his book, which he instinctively hid. "We're just..." he could not formulate the excuse in time, and simply deflated before his superior. He sighed and closed his eyes. An admission of defeat. He bowed his head deeply toward Sir Guernot. "The fault is mine, Sir Guernot," he said as he popped up onto his feet, heels togeher, head still bowed, and a fist to his chest. "I lead Squire Innis to this wagon and-"

"Lady Olga, it has been some time, has it not?" Guernot said warmly to the dwarven merchant.

"Bout half a year now, if my memory still serves, Sir Guernot," she bowed her head ever so slightly in the Pursuant's direction, then thumbed to the next page in her book.

Guernot took the book from Hectors hands, and scanned the title. Then gave it back to the young man with a friendly nod. "I see your wares are as distracting to our squires as ever,"

"Don't go pretending like you didn't find a tome or two to your liking when last we met, Pursuant of Fire."

Guernot laughed, and nodded as he looked over the tomes. "Yes, I must admit, reading of the Tales of Princess Piriyin, and her fateful tryst was quite entertaining," he walked over to the old dwarf. "You wouldn't happen to have any more stories of the like, would you?" hope sounded high in his voice.

 

[Innis]

Innis sneered when the pursuant said the title out loud, her nose wrinkling high in dramatic disgust. "Ugh, that's worse than a kid's story," she said, only loud enough for Hector to hear from next to her.

Guernot would not have noticed anyway, as he stepped away from the pair of squires and asked after Lady Olga's wares. And with something like joy in his voice, or at least a distinct lack of shame.

As the two elders fell deeper into their conversation, Innis took one blind step backwards. She tapped on Hector's shoulder, urging him to follow. "C'mon," she said. "Let's get going. Sir Guernot might let us off easy, but Mistress Brambleshell won't if we come back without her supplies."

 

[Hector]

Hector was too engrossed in the story to hear her dismiss Syr Guernot's taste in literature, but when she tapped him on the shoulder, his mind was pulled from the realm of the imaginary, if only enough to hear her words of warning.

"Uh, oh, right, the supplies," he said half-minded as his eyes still tried to read the letters so neatly pressed against the yellowed paper. When he failed to get up off of the stool Innis' suggestion turned to a demand, her hand grasping the leather strap that rested against his shoulder, and pulling him up. "H-hey!" he called, hurridly closing the book.

Lady Olga smiled wide and cat-like, but she said nothing to Guernot just yet, only went on listening to him prattle on about how he felt Piriyin should have chosen Jacobin, and how Reynalt was truly the worst option for her.

 

[Innis]

Some hours later...

With an exhale, Innis hefted the last of the supplies onto the back of Syr Guernot's steed. The horse gave its own disgruntled sound and shuffled under the weight, until its reins pulled taught, tied against a fence post. Innis patted the horse and muttered her apologies until it calmed.

"Should be the last of it," Innis said to her squire companion, glancing in his direction. "But where's Syr Guernot?"

She hadn't seen scale nor fin of the Knight since they'd left him behind at the book wagon. Which wouldn't have been too unusual, except the trading outpost they were at was the sort that could be surveyed in totality with one quick look up and down the dusty road. The only places that provided any kind of cover were the low-slung farmhouses off in the distance, some hedged in by thick lines of foliage. Surely he hadn't wandered that far away?

Hector

 

[Hector]

With a grunt, Hector loaded the last of the rough spun supply sacks, stretched fat with grain, dust fell from the fabric as hemp rope was tied tight against the horse's saddle.

"What?" He asked and huffed as he turned about and wiped sweat from his brow. "I don't know, wasn't he at the..." he looked over at where the old dwarven merchant's cart had rested. "Oh," he looked back to Innis. "Kind of odd that he's the one missing, isn't it?" There was a slight smirk at the crook of the young half elf's lip.

His dark eyes scanned about. "But you know," and saw no trace of the Pursuant. "There aren't really many places where he could have gone,"

The horse snorted.

"Ey now, Nessy," Hector smiled at the creature, and placed a hand upon the stead's broad side. Felt its fibers flex and ripple with its movements. "We will find him, don't worry,"

But when he looked into the creature's eye, he saw no trace of worry. Did it know something they did not?

"I suppose," Hector began, and looked at the empty spot where upon the cart had been stationed. "We search for the cart?" He shrugged, "I don't know, Innis, you are the one who'se good at this sort of thing."

 

[Syr Guernot]

Some ways away from the lane of carts and buildings and wandering wagons, Syr Guernot was stopped on the side of a village house, unable to return to the squires that he had left behind. In front of him, lay the greatest challenge he could ever face as a knight of the people.

"Ah well, the sun is setting, and I really ought to be getting back," Syr Guernot said. He shifted his weight to one foot, crossing his arms in front of an unarmored chest. Next to him, a cart full of turnips was laying unmoved in the dirt, and had been unmoved since a sweet, old, very old, woman had accosted him.

"But the well's gone sour, Syr, and I thought such a brave young man like yourself could..." The woman trailed off, looked towards the trading outpost that lay some ways away, and past it to where the monastery sat underneath a crown of foliage. "You Anathaeum folk have always helped my family. When a famine hit this land, my pa told me a story of a shining knight who descended from upon the High Hill and made the land grow with a wave of his sword. His eyes always lit up when he talked about you."

"That's all well and good, ma'am, but I am no Wild pursuant," Guernot was trying, and largely failing, to back away from the old lady and towards his cart.

"You've got to pursue what?" The woman hollered in that old person way, matching the volume that she wanted to hear. "Surely it can wait."

"No, no. There are six pursuits of magic," Syr Guernot said loudly, holding up one hand and a thumb. "Life comes twice in the Dawn and the Dusk, then Flame and Loch forms thought of each, and Wild and Death come to manifest. I am a FLAME KNIGHT, I don't know how to cleanse the water in your well."

"... So you can't fix my well?" the old human woman asked, squinting at the towering blue knight in front of her. She wobbled in defiance of the ground, propping herself up with two palms on a crooked cane.

Syr Guernot sighed. "Not unless setting it on fire will fix it, no."

Hector

 

[Hector]

It took them some time. Checking the wagons, asking the locals. Luckily, a tall frilled blue skinned man was not exactly a common descriptor, and after a few asks...

"He's over there, talkin to Mildred," one of the villagers said as he pointed a thick and calloused finger over at the big blue man talking to a hunched old lady.

"Oh, um, thank you!" Hector said with a quick bow before he turned on his heels and marched over to Syr Guernot. "Syr!" He reported, overly loud and eager. "The supplies have been loaded up Syr and Innis is off looking for you, Syr!"

Hector stood tall and at attention.

Mildred blinked. "What's all this then?" she asked Syr Guernot. "You have a whole platoon of knights, and you won't take the time to help little old me?" she sighed, and her gaze fell as she spoke crestfallen. "My, what dark times we find ourseleves in," she said as she turned away from Syr Guernot and the young Squire who had reported so ardently. "Where we can't trust the Knights of Anatheaum." she said as she shook her head in disappointment.

Hector blinked, big eyed and full of surprise. "Umm," he asked as he watched the sad old woman hobble away. "Syr, did I miss something?" The young squire asked, his eyes looked on, expectant.

 

[Syr Guernot]

"Ah, Hector, good timing." Guernot said as the young squire approached. "There's one last thing that needs to be done before we head back. Miss Mildred here--" He started to nod in the direction of the old woman, before he realized that she had already started to wander off, her cane clacking sadly against the cobble stone as she picked her way home.

"Hold on Mildred, you're in luck after all. The platoon's arrived!" He called after the old woman, who had only managed to get a few yards down the road. Uncrossing his arms, Guernot motioned at his reinforcements, though it was just the one squire.

"WHATS THAT YE SAY?" Mildred positively hollered. The flame knight blinked his red eyes, taken aback at the sound. Then he puffed out his chest in a deep inhale.

"I SAID - COULD YOU TAKE US TO THE WELL? I think we can help!"

"Oh, why didn't you say so from the start?" The old woman beamed, and waved them down the way. A few long strides had Guernot catch up, and then he had to shorten his gait to keep from rolling past her.

---

When they reached the old well, Innis was already there. She leaned over the side of it, her iron lantern held high in one arm, its eerie blue light reflecting off the shadowy stone within the well's rim. Soon as their footsteps came close enough, she glanced up at the rest of them, the usual umbrage that drove her gaze gone. In its place was something like worry.

"Syr..." Innis said, directing her attention back to whatever she was looking at down there. She perched gingerly at the edge of the stonework, ready to leap away at the slightest disturbance. "There's something alive. I can see it in the water."

"Alive?" Guernot stepped forward and peered down the well too. Sure enough, a sleek and slimy thing coiled dark rings in the water, filling up nearly the whole drink with its slowly swimming bulk. Its head couldn't be seen underneath the long wraps of its body, and it resembled a snake or eel in that regard. Except snakes and eels didn't come that big, or that nasty. "Hm," he grunted. "Haven't seen one of those in awhile." He leaned away from the well, scratched at the gills on his cheek. "Well, I'll let you two take care of this." The decision was as abrupt as it was careless. Guernot wandered off, still well withing sight and shouting distance, and went to lean against a nearby fence post.

"Just ask ol' Mildred there if you've got any questions!" He shouted after them for good measure. Then he pulled out his book and settled in for the long haul.

Hector

 

[Hector]

Hector looked back at Syr Guernot, who, well, all but abandoned them before the well. "Is this... is this some sort of trial?" he asked, brows raised and his eyes peeled, as he looked back to the well. He stepped to it, and his thin boots rustled the grass of the field. He grasped the rim of the round stonework.

Silent wings fluttered, and were only heard when within a yard. Hector craned his head to meet the fluttering shape of his owl, Oskar, who perched upon his shoulder, talons pressed in to his leather gambeson with all the force of a predetor's grip.

"Oskar," Hector winced. "Well, it's nice to see you," the little raptor blinked, its gaze fixed on Innis. Hector looked to his fellow squire, then looked back down at the well. He loomed over its mouth, and looked down into its depths. Saw the thing writhe down there. Long of body, but, almost flat. It was covered in a thick slime, and Hector could see it was more viscous than the well water, even from here.

"Catfish-newt?" he asked his compatriot, not breaking his gaze. "I think they spawn during this season, and... no, nevermind, its autumn, they spawn in the spring," he went back to pondering.

Innis

 

[Innis]

"Hey, Oskar," Innis greeted the owl absently as it turned its round face towards her. She only spared the bird a nodding glance before looking back down into the depths of the well.

Catfish-newt? Hector posited a guess, but then just as quickly retracted it. She nodded along to his logic. The thing down below continued to churn, the sounds of splashing water muted by what she assumed was copious amounts of slime.

"I don't see any legs on it," Innis mused, thinking through it out loud. "There's not that many amphibians without legs. And it's got to be amphibious, right? How else could it get down there?"

"Colder!" Called out Syr Guernot from the background. He wasn't even looking at them, his nose buried in his book, but he must've been listening. Innis wasn't comforted by that fact.

She let out an annoyed huff of air. "Fine. Whatever it its, let's just try to get it out." The lantern wicked out its cold blue light as Innis hooked it back onto her belt. She bent down and picked up a loose chunk of rock next to the well's base. Standing as far away as she could reach, she held the stone out and let it loose. Before it reached the bottom of the well, Innis was already bolting back a few feet, drawing her sword as she did so.

Plop! Went the stone into the slime. Then a strange wuffling sound as the waters were disturbed. Seconds passed with no sound at all, and then... flapping?

With a burst of water and viscera, the slippery eel thing jetted out of the mouth of the well, wide, spiny, semi-transparent wings launching it into the air above. "Whoa!" Holding on to her hat, Innis ducked as the thing dove straight for them, swooping over their heads.

"wHY THE fuck does it have wings!" She shouted, spinning around to see which direction the creature would come from next.


Hector