Private Tales Horns and Halls

[Kasimir]

He wanted to ask but then to know would create a desire to go there. And that wasn't something he could do. So he didn't ask and instead he led them to a painting in a wall. With a few deft movements behind the frame he pulled it to the side and then waiting for her to climb inside before following and closing it behind him. Then he was off once more. It wouldn't do very well for her to get caught. If she was then she would be tortured if she wasn't killed straight away. And then she might tell them he had been there and that was not acceptable. Kasimir was good at his job and he intended to stay that way so he had use.

So that he wasn't disposed of.

"If it is so far away, then why would a petty thief come all this way for a few jewels? To a dangerous place at that. I am sure there are nobles where you are from to rob as you please."

 

[Kala]

Secret tunnel, of course this place had one of those. These Anirians were so afraid of each other that the wives probably didn't even tell their husbands when they were going to eat dinner.

"A few jewels?" Kala shook her head, clicking her tongue as if she were shaming Kasimir.

"Don't you know your history, Red?" She patted her satchel. "This is the Heart of Trill. Famed around the world."

Kala lied through her teeth of course. The only reason she was in Vel Anir was because it had been a convenient stopping off point on her trip. "The gem that launched a crusade. Coveted by man and mage alike."

She had no idea if the thing was actually magic, but there were a few rumors.

"Besides. Don't you just love the thrill of what might happen if you get caught." She purred.

 

[Kasimir]

"No," Kasimir said quietly as his eyes moved to the satchel and then to her. An odd expression passed over his face and then he was looking back to the tunnel ahead of them. "I don't know my history I suppose," there was no need for the Forsaken to know the histories. They were there to kill and do as they were told nothing more nothing less. If he were to learn history it would probably not be about petty jewels anyway.

Finally the two came out into a small alley way and Kasimir held the door open for her. Once she was through he shut it behind then and covered it with the dirty looking banner than hung down the side of the building. His hands slid into his pockets.

"I know what will happen to me if I am caught and it is not something I particular wish to see first hand," Kas replied quietly and then headed off to the North of the street. It was safer if he just got back to the under city now and stayed there. This late at night not many would be walking the streets but those that did were probably the worst of the worst.

It was why Kasimir prowled them after all.

 

[Kala]

Kala lingered for a brief moment, glancing around at some of the other palaces that lay in this district. Some of them were oh so tempting, but for now it would be best to stay away from them.

Soon the woman's corpse would be discovered, and once that happened things would spiral out of control in this area. Anirian Guardsmen were frustratingly competent, and she didn't have any interest in being caught this day.

With two quick steps she fell into line besides Kasimir.

"So." She began nonchalantly. "Whose pulling your strings?"

It was obvious that someone was. The murder had most definitely not been personal. A rock would have been able to figure that out.

 

[Kasimir]

"It was a job," Kasimir replied calmly and he kept walking, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. There was a slight wind this evening and the clouds were gathering. It seemed it might rain tonight and he was keen to be back in his room for when that happened. His eyes slid towards her. She had been interesting but now she was becoming a slight irritation. The burning of the rune had gone but if he did not return to the undercity soon then people would ask questions about where he had gone.

Then the rune might do more than burn.

"You should get away from me and here. It is not safe for your kind," his eyes moved away and he lengthened his stride.

 

[Kala]

Kala let out a bark of a laughter.

"My kind?" She couldn't help but smirk, skipping in front of him and twirling on her heel to come to a stop directly in his path. Kala didn't seem to care if anyone saw them, didn't seem to care that they would catch eyes if anyone did.

There was a boldness to her, something that spoke of a confidence held deep within her. Her eyes narrowed, the tattoos on her cheek moving as she seemingly inspected him.

"Hate to break it to you, Red." She poked his chest. "We're two peas in a pod."

The finger that had poked his chest reached up. "My ears are longer, horns curvier, and well..."

She flicked her tail in front of her.

"I'm undoubtedly prettier, but the idiots who trawl these streets would swear we're both devils." That much she was sure of.

 

[Kasimir]

Kasimir was forced to stop when she danced in front of him and his eyes narrowed a little. His left hand came up and he gently pushed her as he stepped further into the shadows. Her loud and bold nature would attract all of the wrong attention and whilst she would skip away and leave this city, Kasimir would not. His tail twitched across the ground in a sign of his annoyance.

"Perhaps," he took the finger she was wangling under his nose and then gently but firmly curled her hand back to his chest. "But we are not the same and you do not have the same protections as I do," a gift or a curse, Kasimir couldn't really decide in this moment. It would be... disappointing for the first Tiefling he had ever met to be sentenced to death. Knowing the twisted way the handlers worked probably by Kasimir's own hand.

"You asked if what would happen to that woman would happen to you? If you continue to dog my steps it will," it wasn't a threat so much as the truth. Calmly he put a hand either side of her shoulders, picked her up and moved her to be out of his path before continuing on his way. "Go home, Blue," he called over his shoulder.

 

[Kala]

As she was plopped down Kala let out a frustrated sigh.

"Dear great Elistraa." She said with a roll of her eyes, invoking the name of one of the gods and making a rather rude gesture with her hand.

Though it was not true for every member of their species, Tieflings tended to have a certain nature about them. They were cunning, intelligent, and more often than not playful.

The latter could be dangerous of course. She had known more than one of their Kin with a reputation for using their guile to trick and kill the unsuspecting. There was more than one reason that people referred to them as devils, and it wasn't just their appearance. "What the hell did they do to you?"

He had none of the nature of their kind, like it had been beaten out of him.

For some reason that bothered her.

 

[Kasimir]

What didn't they do to him?

Kasimir took a few more steps than stopped. There was a war going on inside of his mind; the need and urge to talk to someone of his own kind who might be able to answer. To just... know more. But everything he learned would be punishable by her death and torture before his own. If they caught her, and they would. Because the Forsaken always did their job.

"In a city where they do not like anyone who is not human it does not pay to be born here," he glanced over his shoulder then shook his head a little and continued on his way.

 

[Kala]

Disgust floated over her features, though the feeling was not with him. Vel Anir was a cesspit on it's best day, the only redeeming quality of the entire place being the people were rich enough to rob. The idea that any of her people would be born here was utterly despicable.

"Then leave." She argued, entirely ignorant of the Rune branded into his flesh.'

Kala glanced around for a moment, frowning as she wondered why he simply hadn't used his magic to exit the city and step away. Perhaps he didn't know he could, perhaps the thought had never even really occurred to him.

The mindset of a slave. "Hell, I can show you eight ways to make a living."

Not to mention ten ways away from Vel Anir.

 

[Kasimir]

Kasimir's lips curled into a rare half smile. She was keeping up surprisingly well considering his strides and he slowed them a little for her. He wouldn't be punished too badly if he just took a little longer getting back to the Undercity. He could claim he was taking precautions because a thief had infiltrated the manor before he had.

"I cannot leave," the rune burned hot for a moment and he grimaced, moving a hand back to rub at his neck once more. Forbidden to talk about what he was he could give no more than that. If the mere thought of saying something was a white hot poker then who knew what the actual breaking of the pact would be. "It is the punishment for being born not human here. Death is the only alternative," it was a sombre truth and he had won his life with the blood of his classmates. It was not something he would squander lightly.

 

[Kala]

He was a slave, one without a collar, but a slave nonetheless. Lips turned into a scowl, and instantly she felt a bolt of rage boiling through her.

How dare this human scum denigrate her kin. How dare these savages pull down one of them. Who did they think they were? Lips turned to a scowl of disgust, and the lines tattooed on her flesh seemed pulse for a brief second.

"That." Kala began through gritted teeth. "Does not deserve a punishment."

Though holding Red by a leash most certainly did.

Kala rarely became incensed about anything. She had never really taken up a righteous cause nor sought to better herself, but their kind was rare. Tieflings did not have the numbers of humans or even dwarves. How could she walk away from one bound in chains. "Who holds your leash?"

She demanded, not able to keep the indignation from her tone.

 

[Kasimir]

Kasimir went to say something but another shooting pain ran through him and he clamped his mouth shut. This conversation was going to cost him in one way or another but he didn't want it to end despite the pain.

"I... cannot answer your questions. Without consequences," he rubbed the back of his neck again in irritation. For a moment he was silent and then he sighed. "It is not too bad an existence, there are other half breeds like me," there was a warning warming of the rune but he hadn't said anything about the Forsaken and their purpose yet. Perhaps he was even imagining it knowing that one slip would be more pain.

"Why don't you tell me about you instead," he was quick to change track. "Are there... are there more of us where you come from?" there was a small hint of yearning in his voice.

 

[Kala]

"Consequence? Breeds?" The word seemed to anger her even more, and she took a step forward and pointed a finger in his face. "You're not a dog. You're a person, a Tiefling."

Her eyes flickered towards his neck as he grabbed after it, her lips thinning as she instantly made the connection.

The anger in her chest was difficult to contain. They were a free people. Manipulators, scoundrels, whatever the hell they wanted to be. Not slaves, not servants. Most certainly not captured little puppies doing as they were told. "Let me see your neck."

She told them.

"Then I'll tell you." If she could keep her rage at bay.

 

[Kasimir]

Each of her exclamaitions had him wincing more and more. They were words that when she said them sounded horrible, debase, inhumane. But they were the only ways he knew to describe himself and the other Forsaken.

Kasimir seemed to freeze when she demanded to see his neck and he clamped his hand over it rather protectively. He hadn't necessarily told her about it, she had picked it up from his nervous habits on her own. Did it count? He had never had someone else touch it before and he was unsure of what exactly it would do. After a moments hesitation he lowered his hand, his face had a defeated and resigned look about it.

"Do not touch it, I don't know the depths of its magic," and then with a deep sigh and the likelihood of this causing him physical pain and perhaps even death playing in his mind he knelt in the street for her to see. He had to lift his hair

 

[Kala]

Kala was no expert in Rune Magic, but she knew more than most.

Her own abilities were similar from what she understood, though her mother had never quite been able to explain the connection. As soon as Kasimir knelt down and turned around she let out a small gasp. Eyes quickly followed the lines of the carving in his flesh.

The Rune was complex beyond anything she had ever seen before. There seemed to be a thousand lines, each one as small and intricate as she could ever have thought of. "Fuck."

She exclaimed, biting her tongue almost immediately.

There was no possible way that she could help him with this. She didn't have the knowledge, and her own magic would likely do more harm than it would good. Kala felt her stomach drop and her rage grow.

 

[Kasimir]

"Now do you understand?" Kasimir looked like a dog who had been kicked. Ashamed, confused. He stood back to his full height and rolled his shoulder slightly to ease the growing tension spreading across his back and up his neck. It was like playing a game when it came to what he couldn't and couldn't do or say with the tune.

"This is why you need to leave Vel Anir, it is a dangerous for you. If they catch you here the kindest thing they'll do is kill you," a shake of the head. He wasn't one for words but he had to warn her. Perhaps now she had seen why he feared them she would listen to him to.

 

[Kala]

Kala scowled. "Nobody can catch me."

It was hard to tell if she was simply prideful or feeling particularly like she had to take a stance somewhere. The fact that she couldn't help him aggravated her to no end, and the idea that she just had to leave him to his fate even more so.

"It stops you from talking? From running away?" She asked, not really expecting him to give an answer.

It was obvious that he wanted her to leave, the urgency in his tone was more than clear, but Kala couldn't pry herself away. Not without knowing a little more.

There had to be a way to help.

 

[Kasimir]

The burning began as soon as the answers were forming in his mind.

"Yes and from talking about it, doing anything that isn't related to orders, it tracks me, argh," the rune reached a fever pitch and he began walking to try and ease himself through the pain. He didn't bother to try and press a hand over it to stop the pain this time it would only burn his hands. He had already said too much and he was paying for it. He stopped once it had dulled back down to a throb and put one hand out to steady himself against the side of the building, his other hand coming round to run down his face.

He had tried many things to try and get rid of the thing on his neck including taking a knife to the skin but nothing Kasimir did worked. There was only one way for that rune to come off and that was for the person who had branded it into him to do it as far as he knew.

 

[Kala]

Kala followed after him, scowling and pulling something from the satchel at the small of her back. "Hold still."

The young Tiefling already knew that she could not get rid of the Mark. Her skill with Rune Magic simply wasn't enough and any attempt would likely just end up hurting more than helping. Yet doing nothing wasn't an option either.

As he stood against the wall Kala put a hand on Kasimir's shoulder.

He would feel an odd wave of something echo through him. A bright flash would erupted from the card in her hand, and then an exact copy of the mark appeared within the center of the blank card. It held none of it's magic, but was a simple imprint.

"There." She said with a frown, flipping over the card in her hand a few times as she inspected it.

 

[Kasimir]

Kasimir was not too keen on the idea of having her touch the mark but she didn't give him much time to protest. The feeling left him a little shaken and once she was done he rubbed the back of his neck again and frowned down at the card. He recognised it as similar to one of the ones she had dropped on the carpet back at the manor house and his head canted slightly to the side. Talking about her was a safer conversation topic.

"And what do you plan on doing with a copy of that?" his lips thinned into a line. If she learnt to break it and remould it he wasn't particularly sure he wanted to be her servant either.

 

[Kala]

"I'm going to take it to Elbion." She had connections at the Mages College.

One of the Professors there was a frequent purchaser of some of the more...unique artifacts she managed to steal. The man was extremely discreet, and over the years he'd started to owe her a few favors. Cashing one in wouldn't be too bad.

"I'm not a Rune Mage." Kala told him as she slipped the card into her coat pocket, keeping it closer than the others. "But I know someone who is."

Well, she knew someone who knew someone.

That was all that mattered. "I'll figure out how to break it."

Kala told him confidently.

 

[Kasimir]

Kasimir's thin lips turned downwards further into a grimace. This was protected magic, secret. If anybody found out that the Rune was being discussed outside of Vel Anir there would be an investigation and that would turn into an interrogation of the Forsaken. He caught sight of two guards rounding the corner and he pulled her gently into the shadow of an alleyway.

"If they get wind you are doing, they will hunt you down," Kas warned. It wasn't meant to terrify her or put her off. The surge of hope he had felt when she had spoken was a foreign entity to him entirely. Fragile, beautiful. He didn't want for it to die so soon. "If they ask me questions I won't be able to lie about them," better she know the truth and the risks if she went ahead with this.

 

[Kala]

"You don't know my name." Kala said as they slipped into the alleyway. "You don't know where I'm from. How I travel."

A smile touched her lips. "Or even my motives."

She was a tiefling after all. For all anyone knew she was doing this for herself, to monetize the Rune. That would probably make them chase her even more, but that hardly mattered to someone like her.

"Don't worry, Red." Kala smirked. "I've tangled with Dreadlords before."

She didn't mention that it had nearly killed her and it was only by the grace of another Reesh Reckoner that she'd gotten away.

 

[Kasimir]

Kasimir clearly didn't look convinced and he turned so that he was no longer in front of her but leaning against the wall beside her and then ran a hand down his face with a sigh. This was too dangerous. He hadn't made it this far in his career as a Forsaken by taking stupid risks like this. Small ones here and there, yes, for the sake of his own mentality but something like this could easily come back to him. If they found out she was a tiefling... where else would they turn?

"What I am... what my people are..." he took a breath. "Dreadlords have their own minds at least. The Forsaken would hunt you to the ends of the Earth and rip you apart whilst their masters watched," there was a hint of disgust in his voice at himself. He, he had been that Forsaken on many a mission.