Private Tales Four Horns and A Crown

[Malphias]

He huffed sharply, flaring his nostrils as he did so. "Get on with it then." he waved a hand toward their path and rolled his eyes.

"Why the fuck do I agree to these things?.." he muttered to himself, his tail staying curled around him for protection as though afraid she might touch it again.

"I swear. If this gets messy you're buying me a new jacket." he growled, and ran his fingers into his hair to push it back into place.

 

[Kala]

"Excellent." Kala said with a wide smirk. "Jacket?"

She echoed a second later. "Help me get a crown and you might be wearing something else by end of the night."

The Tiefling gave a wink and then quickly moved down the street.

Their path from there was a quick one. Like many towns in this region almost everything was centered around the Keep itself. The smoke was now rising, and they quickly reached a far wall. A simple card was pulled from her satchel, and with a single wave of her hand rope began to fall from it.

She pulled it free, and then with a smooth toss threw it up into the upper window.

 

[Malphias]

The tiefling's brow arched.. Was she flirting with him? Perhaps she wasn't as boring as he'd expected after all. He couldn't deny her a roguish smirk before he followed behind her.

Malphias' red orbs scanned the vicinity warily and pressed his back against the wall, a glance up at the window and his lips parting about to spill out a question before his gaze settled on her tricks. His brows lifted as she threw the rope up into the open window, and he stepped back to keep watch.

"Ladies first.." he whispered. He'd let her test it.

 

[Kala]

Kala only smiled, grabbing onto the rope and quickly pulling hand over hand.

She was no stranger to climbing up ropes like this, and with quick movements she managed to shimmy her way up and to the window. Fingers curled on the ledge, and she quickly slipped inside with muted steps. A moment later she poked her head out the window.

A swift motion called to Malphias from above.

The room that she had entered in was a simple thing, just a bed and what appeared to be a few wardrobes. She thought it might have been some sort of guest room, not that it mattered all that much. The illusions would begin almost as soon as they stepped outside the room.

 

[Malphias]

Malphias watched her climb and huffed as he gripped the rope with another wary glance around before he started to climb. He was strong, the climb wasn't a problem for him, but he wasn't exactly used to such barbaric means of breaking in.. He pulled himself through the window and straightened himself out, smoothing the sleeves of his jacket and adjusting his collar before raking his fingers through his hair once more.

When ready, he strode toward the door and opened it to stand chivalrously aside and gesture for her to go first. Of course, it wasn't as chivalrous when she was likely walking straight out in to some sort of danger.

 

[Kala]

Kala rolled her eyes at the man.

There was no doubt in her mind that Malphias wouldn't have made the same gesture if they weren't walking out into a trap. From what she'd learned earlier with the prostitute, this man was no gentlemen.

Pulling one of the cards from the satchel on the small of her back Kala stepped through the doorway and out into the hall. There she was met with...an ordinary hallway. There was nothing special about it, no flickering lights, no shifting walls, nothing.

"Well." She said dryly. "I expected..."

Kala cut herself off as she looked towards Malphias and realized the doorway was seemingly more than a hundred feet away. "Ah."

 

[Malphias]

"Ah?..." Malphias' arms folded across his chest as he leaned in the doorway staring at her, waiting for something to happen. He looked up at the ceiling with a huff and his tail flicked irritably at his back as he stepped into the hallway and glanced around warily.

"Well..what now?..Or is this where your plan ends I wonder?" he frowned and looked at her with an unamused, crimson glare.

 

[Kala]

Kala have the man an indignant look. "No, this is all part of the plan."

That was a lie, but she didn't really care if he realized that or not at the moment. They had to make it through this maze, and a part of that would be her making the correct decision. For a brief moment she peered around, and then pointed to the left.

"That way." Kala said, and as soon as she took a single step the walls seemingly began to move.

They slowly shifted and rearranged themselves, turning into one another until the hallway before them split into four separate corridors. Kala stopped mid stride, looking back at Malphias.

"You're up, bitey." She told him. "I need you to make it look like we're walking down all four of these at once."

Tricking the trickster as it were.

 

[Malphias]

Malphias gave her a look that said he wasn’t entirely convinced. He followed anyway, treading warily as he watched the walls seem to shift. He wasn’t used to being inside anyone else’s illusions and it made him more than uncomfortable.

Bitey? Malphias didn’t know whether to smirk or scowl so he did a bit of both. “As you command.” He dipped his chin and pressed a hand to his chest

In an instant there were four of each of them. The illusions of him stretched casually and smoothly draped their arm over each illusion of Kala, to which they swooned and have a smug grin before turning away and strolling down the corridors, each casting a wry smirk back at the real Kala.

Malphias folded his arms and grinned.

 

[Kala]

Kala rolled her eyes. The display was not exactly gentlemanly, though it accomplished exactly what Kala had hoped.

As soon as the illusions moved in tandem through the four corridors there was an odd shift. Magic was not limitless, pushed to it’s boundaries it would always break. The illusion before them did just that.

It could not compensate with four beings moving in the opposite direction, and allbut the left hallway seemed to shimmer and then suddenly snap. ”There.”

She pointed left.

”Now we just have to do that again until we reach his room.” The Tiefling gave a smirk and practically danced forward.

 

[Malphias]

Malphias quirked a brow as he watched as the illusion collapsed, though he was sure there would be more. Following after Kala, his tail flicked anxiously at his back.

They came to another impossibly long corridor with an unfathomable amount of doors and Malphias huffed. Work like this took energy, it’d been one thing to make four of them but hundreds at once would cost. He knew not all of the doors were real, most of them would likely lead to further illusion, but the only one his figments couldn’t open would be the physical one they were supposed to find.

He looked down at her and huffed, and at once, hundreds of the pair stood again in front of the doors, gave Kala a wink as the phantom of her image turned to kiss their Malphias madly as they each stumbled into their rooms and the doors slammed shut, and disappeared. All but one, and the corridor slowly shrank back to size.

 

[Kala]

She let out a low groan as she slapped her face and shook her head in shame.

Part of her was regretting bringing him along. "Can't believe i'm putting up this."

The Tiefling grumbled to herself as she walked through the corridor and directly towards the door. In the back of her mind she decided that Malphias would have to be punished for his little displays, though just how she wasn't quite sure yet.

For now she would focus her attentions on the mage.

A knife flicked from her belt, and she grabbed the handle of the door. With the most unthief like behavior of the night Kala ripped it open. Inside was a massive room the size of a grand dance hall decorated with dozens, if not hundreds of different experiments.

Bubbling vials, long tables, cages with animals and every other thing one would imagine they could find in a wizards laboratory.

 

[Malphias]

Malphias gave a devilish grin at her discomfort and his tail lifted to slide across her shoulder “Come now. Like I believe you could resist..” he mused. He was exceedingly handsome and he knew it. Why wouldn’t everyone desire him? “It’s perfectly natural, no point in denying it, precious.” He teased with a smirk.

He watched her, eyeing the knife with a quirk of a brow, and narrowing his gaze with anticipation as she opened the door, half expecting something horrible to erupt from the room. It didn’t, and he wandered inside after her. There were so many things to grasp at his attention and he gazed around with a childlike curiosity.

He was particularly drawn to the labelled vials of blood, and he glanced back at her before deftly pocketing a few of the bottles labelled Fae#1 to Fae#4. “What now?...” he muttered and continued to rummage.

 

[Kala]

Kala peered around the lab. "You're not going to like my answer."

The Tiefling frowned as she glanced around the room, her eyes slowly sailing over the different equipment. She didn't seem to care in the least that he was pilfering vials of blood, though her lips pursed in a slight bit of contempt at the chosen type.

"I..." She walked over towards a desk in the corner, pushing some papers aside. "Have no idea."

Her contacts in the Palace had assured her that the wizard always kept himself in the lab. The entire plan had been to grab the man, force him to undo his illusions, and then go for the King's room. Without the mage she and Malphias would essentially have to guess their way through the rest of the Illusion.

Something that could take hours. "He was supposed to be in here."

She frowned as she found an odd book, the leather on it a bit more pale than it should have been. A face seemed almost etched into the front.

 

[Malphias]

He continued to rummage around and was prodding his clawed fingers through the bars of a cage, causing the snake within it to coil up. He loved snakes, they were never dull, and they reminded him of his new friend the half naga. He smiled at a fond memory and turned his attention back to Kala as she looked over the book.. "Perhaps he is.." Malphias' brow rose and he gazed around.

"Lets set it on fire, see if he comes out to play." he shrugged, and picked up a flickering candle and a random vial of dark liquid.. "This flammable y'think?" he asked and held it out, apparently about to drop the two together.

 

[Kala]

"STOP!"​

A desperate pleading voice erupted suddenly from one of the coat racks by the door. Kala immediately turned her head, his bugging out a bit as she watched one of the coats pull away from the rack and suddenly transform into a man.

He was elderly, white hair and white beard decorating his face. There were creases in his skin, and concern pulled over his features.

"You'll kill us all you fool!"​

The old man rushed towards Malphias, clearly intent on snatching away the candle and vial. "Did you...hide yourself as a coat?"

Kala said with a deep frown.

 

[Malphias]

Malphias didn’t flinch at the bellowed demand, he’d half expected it and his lips curled into a grin as he looked over his shoulder at the man as he appeared from the rack of coats. Of course, he hadn’t intended on following through with the little experiment, and he happily handed the candle and vial over to the flustered mage with a musical chuckle to himself.

His tail swished out of his way and he leaned himself casually against the man’s desk as his blood red orbs studied him, tongue sliding thoughtfully over his row of apical teeth as though considering whether their use would be necessary.

His arms folded across his chest and grinned, hoping to make the man feel as uncomfortable as possible as he allowed Kala to do the talking.

 

[Kala]

"Fools!"​

The man bellowed, completely ignoring Kala's question and setting down the things he'd taken from Malphias. A frown touched the Tiefling's lips, watching her partner for a brief moment before she took a few steps over towards the Wizard.

Her fingers snapped to catch his attention. "Undo your maze."

She wasn't going to mince words with this man, he hardly seemed like he was of sound mind.

"What? No. I couldn't possibly. The King would have me hanged and..."​

The man stopped, as if finally noticing who Kala and Malphias were. His lips thinned, and he took a step back, hand reaching towards something. "Don't do that."

Kala said as she flipped a knife in her hand.

"We don't want to kill you, but if you make trouble." She glanced at Malphias. "I will let him eat you."

 

[Malphias]

Malphias was examining his dark clawed fingernails with a look of boredom until Kala suggested that he kill the man. Only his eyes lifted to stare at the man with a sickening smile meant to frighten.

"You might want to listen to the lady.. I'm particularly famished.." he mused and looked back to cleaning his nails.

With that the door would appear to barge open, at least in the mage's mind, and an image of a cloaked demon dragged the quivering king into the room with a knife held to his neck..

"Please, do as they say, take down the maze, let them through!" .. Malphias didn't bother to look up. He'd let the little illusion play out with a quiet yawn. He expected it to work, but mage's were tricky, and he'd up his game if he had to.

 

[Kala]

Panic very clearly crossed over the wizards features as mention was made of being eaten. His eyes flickered to the knife in Kala's hands and he was about to open his mouth when the door burst open.

His eyes widened for a brief second, though not in fear. Surprise and shock pulled across his features, and he let out a curse as he took half a step back and away from the two Tieflings that were surrounding him.

"Alright! Alright damn it."

He called out.

"I'll dispell the maze. You don't have to keep your illusion."

The effect of Malphias magic had not been to stoke terror in the man's heart, but instead had forced him to realize that his situation was utterly hopeless. The two Tieflings had him physically outmatched, and one of them at least had magic. That was enough for the old man.

"Splendid." Kala said with a wide grin. "Now go on, and no warning the king of course."

She glanced at him. "Otherwise you'll be in pieces."

Her voice was flat, the knife flicking up again.

 

[Malphias]

The illusion disappeared in a smoky purple haze and he smirked as he lifted his malicious gaze to settle on him with a slow dip of his chin. "Wise choice.."

His grin widened as he watched Kala flick her knife in threat, it was somewhat adorable, but he wouldn't go risking his neck by saying so. He pushed himself away from the desk and stood expectantly, waving a hand toward the man in gesture for him to go ahead.

"Hurry up about it." he quirked a brow and shone him a dangerous smile.

 

[Kala]

The Wizard did something, she was not really quite sure what, but in the air she could feel the change. A frown touched her lips, and she glanced at Malphias as if to confirm.

"It's done. Now get ou-"​

Words died on the man's tongue as Kala swung her fist and struck him in the face with a single powerful blow. The man went reeling, smashing his face on the table before he slumped to the ground into unconsciousness.

"Let's go take a crown." Kala said as she stepped over the ragdolled man and headed towards the door.

The hallways were the ordinary sort now, magic dispelled Kala knew exactly where she was going.

 

[Malphias]

Malphias grimaced as the man crumpled to the ground with a smashed face and he quirked a brow at Kala.. "My. You are a charmer.." he laughed and shot her a roguish grin as though to say he was clearly impressed.

He took a quick step to the door to open it for her with a gentlemanly dip of his chin, a hand pressed to his chest. "After you, my lady." he mused and gave her a wink before stepping out after her, and following behind with a skip in his step...

 

[Kala]

Kala walked with about as much purpose as was physically possible. Her steps seemed quick, hasted, and as she moved a card was drawn from her satchel.

She held it up for a brief moment, and then twisted her wrist. From the white card a spear began to grow, and Kala seized it with her off hand as it proceeded to drop from the card itself. A scowl pulled across her lips, and as they turned the corner two Knights were waiting for them.

"ALA-"​

Before the man could finish his sentence Kala flicked the knife in her hand forward, planting it in the man's throat and sending him sprawling to the floor.

The other guard made a move to stop her, but he was quickly cut down by her spear.

There was an odd sort of determination to her as she moved towards the door. Far more than there should have been for an ordinary thief stealing a simple crown. She stepped with purpose, kicking open the doors of the King's bed chamber.

 

[Malphias]

He watched the woman's magic with curiosity and made a quick mental note to be careful with her. She was clearly unpredictable and he doubted she'd have any qualms about shivving him if she so desired. The thought caused his lips to curl, it was endearing, really..

Malphias strode lazily along behind her, his feet dancing as though in a slow waltz up the corridor, moving to the sound of anguished cries that seemed to delight him. He stepped over one of the guards and made to follow her into the chambers when he heard the rush of more guards filing along the corridor toward them.

He turned back and clicked his fingers, and the corridor's floor would appear to crumble and fall away into nothing but flame that roared up from the depths and the men skidded to a halt and backed up, fully convinced that they'd fall to their deaths with another step forward.

"Best hurry, Princess.".. he chanted to her musically as the guards spears were drawn and aimed at him..