Open Chronicles Levels of Light

[Naghi]

Kellen considered for a moment, smiling and then nodding his head. "A day."

That was when he had originally been planning to do so.

"I have a ship in the harbor." Oddly enough, it really was his ship. The Vessel had been given to him by a man in heavy debt. The thin was nothing to brag about really, just a small schooner that could traverse the coastline. Perfect for running between Elbion and Alliria.

Made the trip a hell of a lot shorter than a few months across the continent.

 

[Finn]

She frowned.

A boat made sense. She just didn't like the water. She preferred the air. Or land. But since she wasn't an air mage and the airship she'd been wanting to build wasn't done yet...well, this would have to do.

"Do you think it'll be smooth seas?" She was hopeful. Wasn't sure if it was monsoon season or not. It also meant she had to pack. Standing, she began rolling up her bedroll and blanket, then went to open up some bags, wondering just how many scrolls and parts she could pack into each.

 

[Naghi]

He smiled. "We don't take the sea."

Kellen had never minded the ocean himself, though he well understood why she might be hesitant about traveling through the open seas.

"We will travel along the coast down into the Allir Straits." An almost direct path, and an easy one. "There will be stops along the way. Fishing villages mostly."

Places for him to sell off some of his more...illegal goods before reaching Alliria. "It's an easy journey. We pull in for storms and the like."

That would make the trip longer of course, but also a hell of a lot safer.

 

[Finn]

The girl nodded and stood, grabbing those extra satchels. She imagined her stomach would be able to handle the journey in that case. Thank the maker it wasn't over the sea.

She began quietly going through the scrolls, stuffing as many as she could into each bag. It would be a miracle if she could carry it all.

 

[Naghi]

Kellen only watched in silence.

There wasn't much else for him to do. He would need to go back to his hotel and retrieve his things of course, but that could wait until just an hour before their departure. It was better to stay here and hideout until they knew the Guards were no longer looking for them.

Or at least searching a different area. "So why a gang?"

Kellen asked as she continued to pack her things.

 

[Finn]

Two hands were pushing into her satchel, trying to cram in the last scroll she wanted in the bag. Well, maybe the almost last. Blue eyes flickered up, a bit surprised at his curiosity. Thin shoulders shrugged. A hand came up to rub at the tattoo down her arm.

"Grew up on the streets here. Can't remember a time when I wasn't in the gang. Without them, I don't think I would've survived."

Food. Protection. At a cost but that was normal. Right?

"What about you?"

She knew he was a pretty powerful dude.

 

[Naghi]

"Alliria." He told her quietly. "Slums."

There was no real need to compare their youth.

Elbion didn't have slums, at least from what he knew, but the streets here would be every bit as tough as they were back home. Kellen was confident of that. No matter where you were, no matter who ruled you, every city had it's own slums.

In a way at least. "Grew up in a gang."

He chuckled.

"Didn't like following orders though." It was the best way of putting it. "Started my own thing."

A shrug rolled over his shoulders.

 

[Finn]

For a moment, blue eyes looked up from her packing to connect with Kellen's. It went unsaid that she understood. No matter what city, the streets were harsh. Unforgiving. Perhaps that's why he was the way he was. She remembered all too well the look on his face in the square. It seemed as though he was burning up - a dragon within human skin.

With a bit of effort, she grunted and managed to get her over-stuffed pack on her shoulders.

She nearly tipped over.

"I'm ready," she said quietly. "Is your own thing working out for you so far?"

 

[Naghi]

"Pretty well." He'd made it out here after all, that was saying something.

He frowned for a moment, glancing around the workshop and everything that she had left behind. It seemed a shame to leave it like this.

"What will your boss do when he finds out your gone?" Kellen wasn't really worried about it in the sense of there being danger, if the man could catch up with his ship then he probably deserved to catch them in the first place. Not that it would do him much good."Wreck this place?"

It seemed something a petty crime boss might do.

They were usually too dumb to think ahead.

 

[Finn]

Finn let her eyes travel slowly around the room. Her workshop. She'd found and built this place since being here. She had a lot of memories here. A lot of inventions left behind.

Was she making a mistake by leaving?

"I dunno," she breathed out slowly, eyes finding Kellen's again. Hesitantly. "I don't think he knows about this place. He'll probably set a bounty on my head."

Finn was underestimating her value. And that one of Elbion's ruling families knew about her gift. And if Kellen knew that, perhaps he'd never make the offer to help Finn in the first place.

"Ready whenever you are," she said quietly, hoping one day, she'd come back to this place.

 

[Naghi]

He shrugged. "Alright."

Kellen said, deciding that it was probably no use to dwell on something that he had no control of and likely wouldn't effect him in the least bit.

His head shook, and without another word he headed towards the secret door that she had revealed to him yesterday. Stepping through it Kellen moved quickly, motioning for Finn to follow after him. She knew this city better of course, but the Underlord knew where they were going.

"Lets hope we don't run into any familiar faces." Guards or her gang. "It'd be...unfortunate."

To say the least.

 

[Finn]

She grunted, deciding not to give her shop one last look over her shoulder. Better to tug the bandage wrapping off fast. Not slow.

Less painful that way.

"Here's to hoping. Are we going to the docks now?" The slight girl tried her best to keep up with the man. Normally, it wouldn't have been a problem. She was small, fast, and light. But not when she was carrying UMPTEEN scrolls.

"Finn!" Her heart sank. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. Gristle. It came from the alley they'd just crossed behind.

 

[Naghi]

Kellen immediately stopped where he stood.

His first instinct was to grab the dagger that was sitting at the small of his back. Of course, he immediately stopped himself when he realized that this person had known Finn's name.

Likely someone she did not want stabbed, or someone she wanted stabbed even more?

The Underlord looked at Finn expectantly.

 

[Finn]

Gristle was a big man. There were a lot of folk who whispered he had some Orc blood in him. The giant of a man was as gentle as a field mouse. And Finn knew him better than anyone. And he knew her better than anyone.

If she'd had a brother, she imagined it would've been like this.

"Gristle," her voice choked out. The giant of a man took a step closer.

"I saw the wanted posters. I was worried." Eyes narrowed on Kellen. "Are you in trouble?"

Finn shook her head, blonde wisps of hair flying around her face. "No, I'm just...," voice trailed off as she looked helplessly at Kellen. What should she say?

 

[Naghi]

Kellen was still holding on to the handle of his knife.

For him, stabbing the man in the throat and walking away from all of this would likely be for the best. Gristle was likely a member of the crew that Finn was running away from, and if that was the case it meant he was likely going to be the ones coming after her when things became clear.

"She's taking a trip." Kellen offered.

It was really the only thing that he could think to say. It wasn't a lie either of course, though for some reason it seemed like that wouldn't matter all that much here.

Better to push it anyway though. "Just down the coast. There's a village there that sells something she needs, I'm headed that way, offered to take her along."

 

[Finn]

"It's okay, Gristle," Finn followed up, quietly. A silent look of gratitude passed from her blue-eyes to Kellen. "I just, need you to trust me on this."

Gristle looked between them both. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but he wasn't completely blunt. "You take care of her," his gaze settled quite seriously on Kellen, eyes flickering to the knife he was holding. Something passed unsaid between them.

"I'll cover as long as I can with the boss. Better take the South gate. The others are heavily guarded."

Finn nodded as she turned to Kellen.

"Let's go."

 

[Naghi]

South Gate?

Was that near the docks? Kellen wasn't entirely sure just yet. Elbion had a layout that didn't make much sense for any sort of city. Many people thought that Alliria was confusing, but this place?

This place was like a maze.

The Underlord preferred Vel Anir in truth. There things made sense. Carefully and meticulously planned in order for the city to survive through war. It made it dangerous, but at least one could get around without getting confused. "Let's hurry."

He whispered to Finn.

"No telling whose coming to us next." What other friends may be looking for her.

 

[Finn]

The girl was red-faced with sticky-clothes by the time they made it out of the city and to the docks. She'd never spent much time here. It had been considered not their gang's turf. Another rival one of the city, for sure.

Shoulder bobbed as she caught her breath, back and neck aching from the over-stuffed pack on her shoulder.

The quiet girl became even more quiet, though she couldn't help the curious gaze at the ship itself as she followed Kellen.

It was large. She wondered if the airships of old had been this large. A thousand questions about how things worked bubbled to her tongue but didn't quite make it out. Naturally, the little inventor wanted to know how everything worked. Shy, blue-gaze flitted to the others on-board.

Did they work for Kellen?

 

[Naghi]

"We're casting off!" He shouted, an indirect answer to Finn's question.

This ship belonged to him, and the men and women who crewed it were much the same. Kellen did not like working with outsiders, not when it came to things that would revolve around his own personal safety.

A ship was far too dangerous to hire out. Being out on the sea meant being out alone with whomever was surrounding you in that moment.

Best it be someone you trusted.

"This is Finn." He said heading up the gangplank. "She's coming with us."

No further explanation was necessary.

 

[Finn]

Finn shuffled aboard. It was hard for her to find a spot where she wasn't in the way. She finally retreated to the starboard side by the railing, dumping her pack in a corner of the ship, well away from the risk of toppling overboard. Wind curled through her hair as she watched the city getting further and further away. She'd never felt this way before - that she could be her own person without answering to anyone else.

It felt very strange.

The first hour was wonderful. Then, the rocking caught up with her body. Face turned a peculiar shade of green. Finn found herself clutching the side railing for dear life as she moaned, head hanging over to relieve the small contents of her stomach. The girl wanted to die.

 

[Naghi]

"Breath into your stomach." Kellen commented as the stepped up behind Finn.

Casting off in Elbion had been a surprisingly quick thing, and profitable. His crew had managed to secure an entire cargo bays worth of Residium, an alloy that would fetch a healthy price both on the black market and the regular ones.

Quite pleasing.

"It'll keep the vomit down." Kellen told Finn. "Make sure to drink too. Pretty easy to end up dehydrated on a ship."

Which he'd always found Ironic. "My assistant is the same way."

Suze hated ships.

 

[Finn]

She moaned.

"Mmmrrrnnnng," half-lidded eye flickered to Kellen before her head drooped back down.

"Is it too late to go back?" She cracked a weak smile. Then clenched her teeth closed and tried to breath through her nose. Her stomach? This was a peculiar form of torture and she wondered if she'd ever get used to it.

Grip tightened on the wooden railing.

"You don't want to see this," she huffed to Kellen, tattooed arm tensing as another rolling wave of nausea racked through her system with a lurch of the ship. Good thing there weren't any mages on the ship, otherwise they'd come to find none of their powers were working. Finn didn't exactly have control of her gift yet, or necessarily know what it was.

 

[Naghi]

"It is." For them anyway.

A moment passed before he decided to give the bad news.

"The City Guard knows our faces." Kellen wasn't entirely sure how but he had received word of it by raven this morning. He shouldn't really have been too surprised, bad luck seemed to follow him as of late, but this turn was...unpleasant. "They put bounties on both of us."

Though they did not have his name. "I am unsure if they will pursue."

He doubted it, Elbion wasn't exactly known for it's navy.

 

[Finn]

"WHAT."

Finn turned around, sickness momentarily forgotten. Fingers ran through tangled, blonde hair. The small of her back pressed into the ship's railing. Who would've seen them?

She wouldn't be surprised if one of the ruling families had posted it.

The little inventor knew she wouldn't be returning to the city anytime soon but now this news added an unexpected level of danger. Would she always have to look over her shoulder for bountyhunters? Would she even be able to attend that school?

"How much did they put on each of us?"

 

[Naghi]

"Ten thousand." It wasn't enough to found a kingdom, but just enough to gather the attention of more than a few bounty hunters.

Kellen wasn't overly concerned of course, they had not known his name and he was already wanted in several different cities under several different aliases.

In his line of work it was to be expected, really.

"Not an insubstantial sum." He mused. "But a bit too high for beating up a few Guards."

His fingers rapped against the side of the ship. "I suspect someone else's hand is in this."

Kellen gave her a pointed look.