Private Tales Lost In the Woods

[Talus]

He moved alongside her, keeping pace. The rune in his thigh was still burning slightly, but he managed to mostly ignore it. The energy it provided was well worth the slight discomfort, even if it meant he'd pass out for three days later.

"I was separated from the others." Talus explained simply.

There was no reason to go into why those others were here as well.

"There was a beast." He told her. "Some sort of creature with ten legs, I didn't quite get a good look at it."

Things had happened too fast. "I doubt most of them survived without me."

A frown touched his face. He was supposed to have protected him. They had just been loggers and a few workmen.

 

[Fraeya]

There were rocks up ahead that seemed to form a natural bridge. Unfortunately, the water around it wasn't any calmer. One slip and they'd be swept gods knew how far down the river. Probably end up drowning with this current and the eddies.

Fraeya pointed and slowed.

"Might be our beset chance for crossing." The girl shot him a curious look. "They only had one protector?" And silently - it was you?

"And I told you. Whatever you're trying to protect. It's causing a war. The trees might even come alive soon and fight back."

 

[Talus]

"I am not a Proctor." He told her. "Just an Apprentice."

In truth, they had proven more than capable over the last few weeks that they had been here. The only reason that he had gotten separated was because the beast had surprised him. If he'd been more aware things would have gone smoother.

A frown touched his face, but he simply shook his head. "I just do as I am told."

The young apprentice explained.

"I do not decide these things." Perhaps an excuse, but he was just a boy. What could he do against the might of Vel Anir. He didn't dare question, not when he was likely already to be punished after this.

Shaking his head he walked over to the natural bridge, tying his armor a bit more tightly in preparation.

 

[Fraeya]

"Proctor?" Pristine face scrunched up in thought. She didn't know the meaning of the word. She'd been a slave and prisoner for quite some time. And before that, the Falwood was fairly secluded. Made sense that he seemed to be speaking gibberish.

"Some kind of officer?" The elf guessed. She could read.

The girl tightened the straps of her own pack. She couldn't afford to fall in with Ember inside. The fledgling could only hop and glide. Wasn't a true flier yet. That would come soon enough.

"After you." There was no malice or hidden intent behind her words.

 

[Talus]

Talus realized that he'd made a mistake by mishearing her. "A teacher."

His lips thinned. Did she want to hear more?

"My teachers." That was all he said as he turned towards the odd bridge and decided that it was time to shut his mouth. How much did the Elf actually know about Anirian Culture? Apparently not all that much.

Talus moved towards the rocks, grasping the sheath of his sword and holding it tightly so that it didn't move too much.

Then with surprising grace and agility Talus hopped across the stones of the river.

 

[Fraeya]

She watched him closely. Magic pooled at the tips of her fingertips to manipulate the river's water if need be. She'd rather not have to dive in to try and save him. Then again, would she? Would it be her fault if he got himself hurt? Would her end of the bargain still be fulfilled?

No.

She'd promised to take him to the edge of the wood and she'd do it.

"So you're a student of Vel Anir?"

It was her turn. Footsteps traveled quickly and lightly across the slick rock's surface as she followed in his footsteps.

 

[Talus]

Talus stood steady on the other side of the river, his expression grim as he studied the black trees set out ahead of them.

He felt like death lay in those woods. "I am."

There was no real point in denying it at this point. She already knew that his teachers were named Proctors. Asking anyone within a hundred miles a question about them would get you pointed straight towards Vel Anir.

Best to just deny the plausible things now.

His off-hand gripped his sword hilt, glancing back at her as she landed on the other side of the river alongside him.

 

[Fraeya]

"Let's hope your experience is better than mine," she commented cryptically, eyes set to the woods. There was a chill in the air as she moved closer to the trees. It was high summer. There shouldn't be a chill at all. The elven girl canted her head to the side, scales near her temples catching a bit of the sun that filtered through the trees.

"Stay close," she whispered though they were the only ones here.

Booted feet stepped further and deeper in. She didn't like this. It felt as if the very forest was breathing. A breath of malice.

 

[Talus]

"Doubt it is." Talus said quietly as he fell into step behind her.

The Academy was not kind to it's students. They had none of the pleasantries found in Elbion or Alliria. Most of the time they were little better than prisoners. Arguably they had it worse. His fingers tightened at the thought of some of the tortures, but her brought none of them to voice.

Instead he focused himself on their surroundings. His gaze wandered from tree to tree, eyes focusing on branches and whatever else stuck out to him.

"How long have you been here?" He asked. "These woods."

Talus didn't want to know her age.

 

[Fraeya]

Fraeya cast a lavender-eyed glance at the boy over her shoulder. There was a lot left unsaid in that glance. A silent measure of who he was. A glance as if she could see more than the front he pushed like a shield. A glimmer of darkness and a life of pain-filled memories she shared.

Eyes cast ahead once more, hands coming to carefully pick aside the lower hanging branches and twigs so they wouldn't scratch, snag, or tangle her clothing or skin.

"A lunar cycle."

There was the sound of something larger treading just ahead.

 

[Talus]

What an odd way to measure time, the moons. Talus thought that he could never really quite understand Elves. Then again he'd never tried. "Ah."

The young man answered.

His hand was still on his sword, gaze sweeping through the woods as he spotted an odd sort of shine within the trees. He frowned a moment, then reached out with his other hand and gently grasped Fraeya's shoulder to stop her from moving.

"Look." He gestured towards the light.

It was a reflection of the sun, just barely breaking through the canopy and illuminating a thin silky string that seemed to hang in the air. "Is that a..."

His lips thinned, a web.

A massive one.

 

[Fraeya]

A curious glance to the offending arm on her shoulder before a sweep of her gaze forward. Eyes tracked upwards. She saw it. Head titled, gaze panning around them.

“A weaver’s nest,” she whispered. “All around us.” There was skittering above them. And behind them.

There was the quietest growl from inside her pack. Fraeya quickly shrugged off his hand and stepped to the side, drawing an elegant dagger from her belt.

“Look,” she spoke closely to the human. “They’ve already added web from the way we came in.” Hard to see. But there was a shimmering strand hanging across.

They were being hunted.

 

[Talus]

Talus drew his sword.

The ring of his scabbard echoed out quietly among the trees, a call answered by the skittering of spiders just above them. His lips thinned slightly as he glanced upward, gaze swallowing the Abyss that was the canopy. "Weavers?"

He assumed it was some sort of creature, spiders, probably, but this forest was not his home. The Proctors had told them of a few of the creatures in this grove, but giving an exact list had proven to be impossible.

This place was home to more monsters than the Ixchel Wilds it seemed.

"How will they atta-" Talus cut himself off as before them within a small tunnel of underbrush a figure appeared. It was the silhouette of a man, though it stood rigid and too upright to be human.

 

[Fraeya]

Elves were an ancient race. Fraeya wasn't old in terms of how long she would eventually walk this world - if she lived that long. But because of how long their race typically lived, they'd had a lot of exposure to the beasts and dangerous things in this world. Legends of animals long gone. Rhymes told to her as a little girl as warnings.

And for once, the closeness of the human next to her didn't bother her.

Lips parted as she recited the warning song. Voice a tuneful melody.

"Weavers webs come to bed,
Never lose the light.
Tilt your head for their sound,
As they point you somewhere else.
Take a care and watch your head,
For here they come a second round."

Head whipped up suddenly as a thin strand of nearly invisible, sticky-silver latched onto her shoulder.

 

[Talus]

Before Fraeya could reach Talus grasped her shoulder and pulled her back. At the same time his blade swept upwards, cutting the string and severing it as a massive creature suddenly showed it's face within the trees.

Talus had never quite seen anything like it.

The closest thing to it would have been a spider, but this creature was far larger and far more ugly. Instead of eight legs it had ten, four mandibles marked it's face, and the young Apprentice could not have counted it's eyes if he'd had an hour.

It's foreleg had already been pulling back on the thin string it'd attached to Fraeya's shoulder. When it attempted to pluck her up and felt no weight the creature let out a screech.

"Run." Was all Talus said as he turned to bolt back towards the river.

 

[Fraeya]

Breath was still caught in her throat as she ran. Webs slllrrrrckd around them, trying to snag them as they went. Leaves and dirt went flying as the sticky lines came up empty.

Fraeya blinked, catching a freshly woven trap in front of them. Her hand lashed out, fingers to curl around Talus’s wrist on his sword free arm. Heels dug in as she shifted her weight and tried to sling the boy and all his armor with her, to avoid running into the trap.

The river was so close.

 

[Talus]

Talus skidded to a stop, but not soon enough.

As Fraeya caught his sword arm the young Apprentice went half wheeling. His boots dug into the ground, tossing mud to the side as his body was slung in an odd half circle. He tried go catch himself, but suddenly found his sword sticking to half the side of the web.

"Shit." He swore as he pulled at the blade.

The web clung to it, refusing to budge even an inch as he tugged.

He gently pulled himself free from Fraeya's grasp, using the hand to try to pull his sword free again. Every time he moved the weaver above moved closer, the echoes that ran through the web acting as a beacon of trapped prey.

By the time Talus was about to give up one of the ten legged arachnids was about to strike. It's massive foreleg swooped like a scythe, aiming to cut Talus arm in two.

 

[Fraeya]

As the weaver lunged, Fraeya threw her dagger at its face of many eyes. It hissed, its strike for Talus stopping just short. Fraeya’s eyes formed toward the metal of his sword. Words were whispered beneath her breath and the blade started to heat up and steam, melting through the web.

The handle would remain cool to the touch.

“Grab it free!”

The weaver with the handful of missing eyes was lunging again.

 

[Talus]

Spindley legs sharp as a knife found no purchase as they tried to swipe through Talus.

For just a brief second his body turned into an odd, almost ethereal version of itself. His skin became a ghostly pale blue, his armor shifting and everything becoming translucent. The weavers legs passed straight through him, cutting nothing but air and following through to the other side of the ghostly Talus.

As soon as the legs passed through him Talus' skin became normal again.

He reached out and grasped the hilt of his sword, catching it before it fell to the ground and turning the blade upward. He swung and sliced through the weavers leg. A guttural screech echoed out within the cavernous canopy, the creature reeling back and fleeing back up into its web. "Let's go."

Talus tried to force himself to sound calm, but panic fell into his tone.

 

[Fraeya]

Silvered-purple eyes bulged as Talus all but disappeared and then...reformed?

"Eyah-shep," she swore in elvish. Was his a spirit? A skin walker? For the first time, a flicker of fear crossed her scale-speckled face as shes tared at Talus as he reformed.

"What are you?" She whispered and then ran. At first, she ran with him. Then she broke ahead. Long legs and light stride able to be faster. The river was on her left and she ran down the bank, putting more distance between herself and the den of weavers. More distance between her and Talus. Weavers dens could be miles wide and long. They didn't have the option to try and go through the nest. It would be suicide.

And for the first time, she seriously thought about leaving the strange boy behind.

What was he?!

 

[Talus]

Talus ran, not quite able to keep up with the Elf.

He did not hear her whisper, nor did he understand her panic was half about him. To the Apprentice, the Elf was simply running from the weavers. The creatures seemed to doggedly chase them, running through their nest and attempting to spit more strands of their odd web.

Twice he had to slice through the silken vines, and once he was nearly caught by one as it landed just before his feet.

Fingers tightened on his sword, sliding beneath a low branch as he saw the Elf just a little ways ahead of him on the bank of the river. He frowned for a second, and then looked towards the water. A realization struck him then. "IN THE WATER!"

He shouted to her, turning on his heel and heading towards the river.

Weavers wouldn't follow there, right?

 

[Fraeya]

A silky web shot just at her feet, pulling back sand. An angry hiss from a weaver sounded just over her shoulder. Fraeya heard the human's suggestion. A quick glance over her shoulder saw the boy plunging into the swift waters of the river.

Thank the moons it was summer.

Slinging her pack so it was across her chest instead of her back, she veered directions and plunged into the swift waters. Currents tugged at her ankles as she splashed frantically to get deeper and further away from those mandibles and shooting webs. She could hear the splash of spider legs just behind her as one tried to follow.

She didn't know which was worse. The weavers or the unknown of Talus.

 

[Talus]

Talus practically jumped into the rapids of the water, half turning to spot a waver plunging into the rapids just behind Fraeya.

A curse escaped him.

At the Academy he was probably the best of the students with a sword, but a bow or anything else of the sort and he was practically useless. It was what the Proctors called his 'greatest' disappointment. He was often losing archery competitions and the like.

Still, the elf had saved him when he'd nearly lost an arm, so he felt the need to help her in the same way. Thoughts wracked his memories until he found something, an incantation spilling off his tongue.

The words could be recognized by even the most novice mage, a simple incantation that was taught to even first year students.

As the weaver attempted to take a step forward it suddenly found itself pushed by a massive gust of wind. The press would not have been enough to turn it over, but with the rushing tide even the creatures ten legs were not enough to keep it stable.

The creature flipped onto it's side, surging into the rapids and falling further down the river.

 

[Fraeya]

Fraeya gasped as the waters sloshed over her head. The girl struggled to stay on her back with feet pointed down river. Arms wrapped tightly around her pack, cradling it tightly against her chest. She didn't miss the sudden burst of wind behind her and the screeching howl of the massive weaver as it was swept down ahead of her.

She had no doubt it would drown.

"Talus," she gurgled as the rapids sloshed her around.

She tried to look behind her, purple hair plastering against her skin. She could feel what was ahead by the whispers in the river. Danger. A plunging falls.

"Get to the," another wave washed over her head. "Bank!" She struggled herself, trying to kick closer to the edges of the river. But she couldn't afford to let go over her pack and use her arms.

 

[Talus]

There was little he could do to help Fraeya as she struggled to bring herself towards the bank. While the Elf had to contend with her pack, Talus was wearing full plate armor.

Even under normal circumstances one didn't really want to be in water with armor on, in a river like this? It was a full on nightmare. The wetness of his clothing underneath and the weight of the heavy plates tugged at him hard.

Panic seized him as the river pushed him further down, his hands grasping at fallen trees and larger boulders.

Desperation filled him, and with it came a knife from his boot.

There was no choice in the matter. Talus took what little strength he had left and sliced through the bindings of his armor. One by one he peeled away his pauldrons, breastplate, and greaves. He left only his gauntlets, boots, and the clothes he'd worn beneath.

Without the weight of the armor Talus was able to seize a branch overhead, grabbing onto it and using it to hold himself steady in the river.

He waited a second, waiting only long enough to reach out and grab Fraeya as she was swept by.

His fingers dug into her skin, grip as tight as death as he held onto her. "LET GO OF THE DAMN BAG!"

Talus screamed at her as he felt the branch begin to bend.