Private Tales Light After Dark

[Audreyn]

She frowned but said nothing, trying to puzzle out what that would mean for her. She would... either be facing him soon, or would have to seek him out herself, neither of which she was sure how she felt on. One thing was certain. She was wasn't ready to do anything to him like this.

Her eyes were still red from the popped blood vessels that happened on her last attempt.

She forced herself to dismiss these thoughts, too drained to dedicate the mind space in this moment.

"Why this town though?" She asked, digging into the ground with a twig. "Do you have family there?"

 

[Gerrard]

Gerrard peered up at her from behind his brow. He had leaned forwards to watch the embers of the fire. Nature was governed by laws. Magic too. Everything failed in the end. Yet he was certain that there were possibilities within those laws that would make them seem impossible to the wizards of the college. They just lacked foresight. There must have been a time where harnessing fire had seemed impossible.

"No family. Not for a very long way. It's just a town on the road I'm following. Do you have any friends or family in the region?' he asked her. For once his tone sounded almost friendly. As if this time it wasn't a test, but just some conversation.

 

[Audreyn]

"No," she dismissed automatically. She frowned, reconsidering that answer. "At least.... I don't think so. Father always said it was just us but now..." Now she wasn't sure what to believe. It was a strange sensation, losing trust in a parent. The world felt strong and solid around them when you're little, not a single word said that you didn't whole-heartedly trust.

Now Gerrard could tell her the sky was purple and she'd actually consider it.

"If he is tracking us ... and one day... he gets me... what happens then?" She asked carefully, not looking up.

 

[Gerrard]

"I don't know," Gerrard said, affording her some honesty. "You have great potential Audreyn and someone paid money for you. They'll try and use you somehow."

He mulled something over in silence for a few seconds. "I'm not going to join you on some crusade against some of the most dangerous mages in the West. But I'll help you kill that man.

"He fled, so he's not stupid. I haven't sensed anyone testing the magic wards I set to stop us being tracked with magic. I suspect he will go and get more help first."

 

[Audreyn]

She dug harder into the ground, her gut churning at the thought of serving her families killers. She shook her head wordlessly, protesting it to herself.

"Then ... I'll make use of what you can teach me in the meantime," she concluded, finally given him a vague answer on her ambitions.

"It's not like I could ever pick up a sword. If I want to do anything I guess... I guess I have to accept it." But that didn't mean she had to like it. She was stubborn on that fact. Magic was evil. Destructive. Dangerous. Period.

"But I'm not making silly winged lizards," she dismissed, chucking the stick harmlessly at his feet.

 

[Gerrard]

"Magic can be much more than just revenge," he told Audreyn, sparing a glance for the stick on the ground. "Turn water into wine, heal the sick, change the weather. They say the elves were once able to weave entire cities from the trees with magic in just one night."

"And if I tell you to make a dragon from the flames then you'll learn to make one," he told her bluntly. It was entirely at odds with his attempts to make her choose which path to take with her learning, but he did not greatly appreciate this sudden defiant streak. It amused him, but he didn't want to see it grow out of hand.

 

[Audreyn]

She looked up at him, the defiance replaced by deep, accepting exhaustion. "Fine. But I won't like it," she warned, reaching out to ... oh. She had declined a bag, along with a blanket. She immediately regretted it, realizing that in her attempt to be strong, she denied herself simple sleeping comforts.

Well, more like her family's killer did. But still.

She huffed again, laying as close as she could to the fire and making use of her arm as a pillow.

"Goodnight."

 

[Gerrard]

"Here," he said quietly as he fetched one of his coats. He rolled it up and passed it to Audreyn. "Rest your head on that."

He returned to sitting by the fire, waiting for the last of the embers to die down. Waiting until there was no smoke and no flame to give their position away.

There wasn't much light at night. Lessat was chasing the sun across the day sky, Pneria provided barely more than the stars. There was enough to see that she seemed more peaceful asleep. Perhaps it wasn't the introduction of sleep, but the pain she felt by day was no longer rolling around her mind.

Silently, he chastised himself for his behaviour. He was unrepentant in not being considerate of other's feelings. In his view life was too short to worry too much. People died every day from thousands of the dangers that waited across Arethil to claim the unwary.

Yet none of this was her fault. It was different to see how these events had affected her up close. The story would have been just that from a distance. Just words. Gerrard hadn't seen the different of the people of Murant. It had all been over by the time he was able to walk through the remains of the village.

Tomorrow he would try harder, he told himself. At least a little bit.



Audreyn would wake to a soft sizzle. She would probably smell eggs being cooked first. Having found a nest he had stolen them to have for breakfast with some cured meat and bread.

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn stirred, feeling remarkably well rested for having slept on the forest floor, a fact which surprised her as she looked around to gain her bearings.

"Hmm?" She murmured incoherently, sitting up and rubbing her face. She shivered at the brisk dawn air and pulled his jacket closer around her, having long since switched it for a blanket instead.

She yawned, squinting sleepily at the fire as she sniffed the air. "Is that... breakfast?" She asked, excitement hitting her tone as she straightened and scooted closer. "Where did you get eggs!"

 

[Gerrard]

"Found them..." his voice trailed off as if he had more to say. Gerrard shifted uncomfortable where he sat cross-legged by the fire.

"I am not a patient man Audreyn. Consider it some token of apology for my behaviour."

With a nod he grunted. As if mentally turning a cog now that the required deed was done and would not need repeating any time soon.

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn blinked at him, her brain moving too slow to make sense of his words. A slow heat built in her gut, a sense of bad news clutching at her. "...A...pology?" She asked carefully, braced for news that he had been more involved in her bad twist of fate than she was currently aware.

It made more sense than anything else.

Why else would he be extending so much effort to help a stranger?

 

[Gerrard]

Gerrard rolled his eyes. For the love of Khekri's Staff she was going to make him explain in more detail. He assumed she was deliberately drawing this out but he chose to humour her.

"Yes. Apology. I am sorry that I am was rude and demanding yesterday. You... Probably need some space to think about everything that has happened."

 

[Audreyn]

She stared dumbly at him for a moment, then slumped back into a more relaxed pose, her tension fleeing from her.

"Oh that?" She laughed in relief, shaking her head and rubbing her face. "You should see papa after a few pints and a bad day. An ill mood is nothing I can't handle."

She shivered, slipping his coat on and scooting closer to warm her face.

"'Sides. After everything you've done for me ... " She swallowed hard. "It's not like you owe me any kind of kind treatment."

 

[Gerrard]

"I owe it to myself not to act so poorly," he told her. The stern tone in his voice could have been for either of them. He couldn't see her papa with an ill mood, and neither could see. Gerrard was no hero, he was no champion of the needy. He believed that everyone had to stand on the own two feet. Audreyn hadn't be giveg the chance to stand tall, her gifts had been surpressed.

That irked him. It was just like the College trying to put an end to his experiments just because they didn't have the foresight to see what he could have achieved. Gerrard wasn't even a particularly good man, but he was the best chance she had of survival right now and they both knew it.

"Well, get some food down you. We need to get back to the road."

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn understood more about him in that moment than she had up until that point, his comment leaving her to blink and silently reel back from a layer of him not previously revealed.

For a moment she wondered what he had been through. Before her, what hell had magic reeked through his own life? He had made a brief mention of it, but nothing to the degree that owed the chastising tone he just used with himself. For a flashing second she felt sad and relieved. Sad for his experiences and relieved that she was not alone in her own.

She quickly shoved that down, ashamed of herself for it.


With a silent nod, she obeyed him-- accepting his apology and reveal without dragging through any further chitchat.

Breakfast was eaten without fan fare, though her pleasure at a warm meal with so many flavors was evident across her features. At home, it was usually bread made out of flour and water. Today, she felt like a queen.

She helped him kick off, not entirely sure how to pack up camp but adept at following orders as she tied a bag off on his pack.

"Will we go far today?" She asked, trying to not think on her sore rear.

 

[Gerrard]

"You're not used to the long horse rides are you?" he asked, picking up on a hint of trepidation in her voice. He gave some thought to how far they really needed to travel in the space of the day. There was no specific time he wanted to arrive at Grenn Green, but he didn't want to tarry unnecessarily.

"If we ride through the morning, we can give the horses a rest after our meal and walk if you would prefer."

Saddle bags were all strapped, Gerrard taking the time to check everything was secure before the left. Almost as soon as they reached the well trodden dirt road he started to explain the laws of magic. Given their conversation the previous night it seemed a good idea to explain what the true limitations were. At least to the degree they were known. He suspected that many were merely a facet of their lack of knowledge more than a hard limit. Then he gave a brief introduction to the structure of the college of Elbion. He talked at length about how classes were formed, how magic was only part of what the college did and the years of arduous study it took to graduate.

 

[Audreyn]

And Audreyn listened in a perpetual state of disbelief, each line of information overloading her more than the last. "I... never thought there was so much to be known. So many... parts of the world you could talk about," she breathed as he paused to refresh his pallet with water.

"I didn't sign up for this..." she breathed, shaking her head in shock and not true refusal.

"Does your head always feel like it's going to explode or do you chose to forget a few things to make room for others?"

 

[Gerrard]

"I wrote notes and then I could review those after my lessons and pick up the pieces that didn't settle the first time. However, if I speak too quickly or move subjects too often then interrupt me and tell me so. I would rather you learned one important fact than failed to grasp three. If anything focus on the laws. Most importantly that there is always a price for magic. You spent two days shivering and unconscious after the incident at the lake. After learning to summon smaller, more controlled flames you might find yourself feeling drowsy.

"That said, the more you practise with the flames the less the price seems to be. Focus on that and suddenly you will find that drawing on your magic does not cost your mind and body what it did before."

Several birds flapped furiously to hover above the shrubs that lined the road. One of them suddenly dived and vanished from view. Fortunately it was a relatively safe road. Patrols rode it often and rangers did a good job of ensuring the most dangerous wild creatures kept away. The old stories of trolls under a bridge were not unfounded. The horrid creatures would set their lair near a road if they knew humans would frequent the path.

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn swallowed hard at the reminder of what she had done to herself. He had never exactly told her what had occurred to her body, just that she had slept. But the thought that it had lasted two days while she shivered relentlessly ...

She rubbed goosebumps off her arms, deeply uncomfortable.

"I don't want to end up like that again," she told him, soft but firm. She considered his suggestions, her lips pursing, "I don't know how to write though, cou-"

An arrow whistled an inch past Gerrard's face, embedding into a tree on the left


Audreyn mulled her docile horse to a stop, gaping at the quivering arrow tail in confusion ."Is that a-?"

 

[Gerrard]

Gerrard didn't look frightened as he turned to regard the arrow embedded in the tree. He looked furious. He quickly muttered something under his breath.

Another two arrows shot out of the trees and these two missed on either side of his body. If one had been looking very carefully they might have seen them slightly divert from their original flight as they closed on him.

"Fuck, told you to take the wizard with the first arrow," a gruff voice could be heard from the trees.

"Audreyn, hang on we're going to ride hard and..."

Too late. Several armoured men rushed out to block the road. They carried heavy billhooks and wore partial plate. He span his horse around to see another group behind them. There was still no sight of the archers.

Magic was a powerful tool, but a group of well trained men with quality weapons and armour were not to be dismissed. If he went on the attack to scatter them then he would leave himself and Audreyn vulnerable to the arrows. Something the assassin would likely have known.

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn screeched as more arrows came through. Thank the lucky stars he had secured her a calm, old horse, for it held steady and unaffected in place. She strained in her saddle, trying to turn with him.

He had found them. Her family's killer. Her magic sparked into the air around them, no where near as overbearing and poignant after a fresh round of fireballs last night, but present all the same.

She tried to clamp it down, but found herself otherwise distracted.

"You said it was just him," she breathed, her hands shaking in distress. "What do we do?"

"Yes, well. He was moving," said a voice through the trees.

"Wait 'till he's distracted, and careful of the girl," came an annoyed response.

All the while the shoulders crept forward on both sizes, closing in, most of their attention directed toward Gerrard, betraying their orders. He was disposable.

The first solider tried to slip in from his behind, though Audreyn had yet to manage to coax her mare around and called out. "Gerrard!"

 

[Gerrard]

"Yar!" Gerrard spurred his horse forwards and gave himself some room. The bill hook swept out and cut the air just inches from where he had been.

"Keep your calm Audrey!" he shouted, doubting that was going to be possible here.

Had to deal with the archers first. The soldiers behind came forwards, trying to separate her from Gerrard. He started speaking rapidly in a foreign tongue, doing his best to keep the casting as subtle as possible. There was a crack deep in the woods and a serious of pops.

"Keep close!"

The ground beneath the soldier went dark. His feet slipped into the liquid mud before it set once more, holding him on place.

 

[Audreyn]

Calm? Calm? What calm was there to be had! She was stuck helpless on horse as armed men kept trying to push past their defense and kidnap her! There was no calm!

She needed a spell.

"Zera ignea!" She cried out desperately, her palm not out to direct or give the spell a place to land. She barked it at the magic rippling off of her. And it obeyed.

Forming a ball of licking fire around her and the mare, a wall of flame whose shape began to waver the moment her shock took in.

The men that had been closing in on her yelped or cried out in turn, one reaching hand that meant to yank her off her horse abruptly becoming coating by flames. Said hand retreated, yanking out of her circle.

 

[Gerrard]

The first scream came from the woods. A chilling cry of pure terror that was followed by a sickening series of cracks. The arrows stopped flying from that side of the road.

Gerrard snapped out his right hand. A loud hiss followed as the length of crackling blue energy leapt into life. A midnight spear, the assassin had called it. He swung it through the air in a wide arc. The two soldiers several meters away fell back, a thick gouge cut through their breastplates. If they had been without armour they would have been cleaved in two by the unseen force. Steel always seemed more resistant to magic than flesh and blood.

"Audreyn, ride!" Gerrard shouted. He wasn't sure if she would hear him within the flames she had summoned but he had to try and get her moving. From the right side of the road an animal burst forth from the trees. A second glance revealed that it was no animal. Formed of treebark and moss, it was fashioned in a twisted visage of a human or perhaps a small troll. It was covered in blood. It darted across into the trees on the other side of the road and started to hound down the other archers.

 

[Audreyn]

As life would have it, that would be the the thing that startled her horse into a gallop, the woman near knocked off as it took off.

The mercenaries yelped and jumped to the side, none of them managing to reach up a hand and yank her down as she went tumbling past. The fire stood as a wall in the way, a glowing shield that spun rapidly around her.

"Gerrard!" She screamed, straining in her saddle to make sure he was not left behind. And so she didn't see the ground begin to rumble, the first sign of her assassin's magic as he attempted to stop her escape.